The world is a judgmental judgmental place…

Take a look around…Around every corner, behind every wall, under every roof, someone somewhere is passing judgment on someone or something. Judgmental people are everything. I can be extremely judgmental. Everyone passes judgment. Me, you, and yes, even you over there.

Judging someone on how they dress, or their income, or what they drive…how they eat, or drink…how they control their finances, or how they don’t…How they parent…or whether they should be allowed to… How someone speaks, or how they are grammatically challenged… How they run their home..or how they don’t…We all do it. We even judge ourselves. It’s such an easy habit, and so hard to break. We all have these preconceived notions about things.

You see a nicely dressed woman in a store with a child who might appear to not have been bathed in days. Instantly you think that she chooses to spend her money on herself, instead of taking care of her child’s basic needs and cares. Instantly you think unkind things of this woman. What if she had just picked her child up from a fun filled fantastic day at preschool, where it was outdoor field day? What if she is between her first and second jobs, because she needs to work? Whether it be for financial reasons, or because she enjoys her career, and needs it to maintain mental stability and sense security?

You see a father disciplining his child at the park for unknown reasons. The child is sobbing and pleading that daddy not take him home. It instantly makes you wonder if there are other more serious issues that happen behind closed doors that you should be concerned about. When in reality, the child may have been acting out all day, and despite the child’s prior actions, Daddy brought them to the park because he thought that it might deflect some negative behavior and put the child in a different mood, therefore altering his demeanor.

A young lady in line, with what appears to be stair step children ranging from infant to young toddler. Instantly you think that this girl has certainly been busy, and you start to wonder if all of the children have the same set of parents. How she affords to take care of them, and then you assume she is certainly getting government assistance.  In reality, they are her siblings that she has been left to care for after her parents were killed in a tragic accident. She wouldn’t ever dream of allowing them to go anywhere else, so she put her dreams on hold indefinitely to care for them.

A young man with baggy pants, gold chains, expensive name brand clothing, standing on a street corner with other men and women dressed just like him. Instantly you think that he is selling drugs, or guns, or up to no good. When in reality he is a minister, trying to be a witness to young ones in need. Trying to save the world one person at a time. Devoting his life to his passion, and his beliefs.

It’s so easy to pass judgment on anyone and anything we see fit. I have to wonder if the reason we are so judgmental is because of something we are lacking in our own lives. Day to day it’s a trap we all fall into. While it may be possible to assume something and it be entirely accurate of someone, or the happenings in their lives, you never know the entire story. Things get left out either on purpose, or on accident. More than likely the unsaid things, are the important genetic makeup of the truth.

I’m not entirely sure that it is possible for people to completely stop being judgmental. Myself included. Some consider their judgments to also be their intuition. I don’t really know if that’s true. Certainly I can understand how someone would tangle the two together.

How can we be less judgmental……

Fungus Among Us…Or the things I do for the man I love…

I’m unsure about anywhere else, but up here in Yankee Cornville a major delicatessen is Morel Mushrooms. This is prime mushroom hunting season…I do not hunt mushrooms. I prefer to buy my mushrooms from the local grocery store or farmers market. I require my mushrooms to be bug free, and cultivated in a beautiful greenhouse somewhere far far away. My husband doesn’t like fancy schmancy mushrooms, as he calls them. He is a hunter by blood. Whatever FREAK!

Tuesday night this is what he brought home…

The entire top of our deep freezer is covered….and this isn’t all of them. We sent home about forty with my father in law, and gave my neighbor about twenty.

HUGE MUSHROOMS!

After slicing them all in half, and soaking them four times in cold salt water..I dredged them in flour, and fried them in olive oil..

After removing them from the hot oil, I put fresh gound sea salt and fresh ground black pepper on them.

I ate leftover taco salad for supper….they had steak and mushrooms.

Oh CRAP! Whoops! or words you never want to hear come out of your husbands mouth…

This evening when Scott came home from the family farm, he tried on some new jeans I picked up for him at the local farm supply store today. Yes, his preferred jeans can only be bought at a farm supply store in this area. Carhardt if you must know. He decided to wash them, and threw in the jeans he had just removed from his body in as well, to make a full load. He didn’t clean his pockets out. He washed his two week old bottle of NitroQuick. Did you know that Nitro isn’t exactly supposed to be carried in your pocket? It isn’t. Even though when you are prescribed Nitro, you are to keep it with at all times. Your pocket is the most logical place to keep it. When our pharmacist told us this, it made absolutely no sense. She agreed and instructed him to keep it in his pocket. Also, you should never open a Nitro bottle to inspect the pills. Because air lessons the effects of the medication. It’s all so very confusing, and obviously Scott isn’t used to having to keep them safe just yet. Luckily, Nitro comes is given in standard form to all patients, and if needed his co-worker carries them as well. Although this evening when I suggested we start duct taping them to his chest to keep them safe, he didn’t think I was all that funny.

Protected: How about a end of the year update…

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After a while, it tends to get old…

You probably thought you would never see me say this, but I am totally over this election. Don’t worry, my passion and interest in politics will never waiver. Some get it, others don’t.

But after having been contacted no less than eight times in the last forty eight hours by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. One woman calling twice from her home phone, from the same phone number, and not utilizing the feature that hides the phone number. I’m OVER IT! Let’s be clear here to…They are not calling and asking to speak to my husband, they are calling and asking to speak directly to ME. They are not the least bit interested in what my husband thinks about this election. Or the way he intends to vote. Probably because he has been a registered republican for seventeen years. Never once flipping the fence. I switched my party affiliation eight years ago to republican, but apparently my name wasn’t removed from the logs.

It started out nicely. Listening to what they had to say, let them finish reading through the transcripts provided by the campaign managers. I remember those days so clearly. Cold calling from a list of registered voters from the mayors office my Junior year in high school, the judges campaign headquarters my Senior year. It really sucks being hung up on, scream at, cussed at, and shot down before you get the words to come out of your mouth. Especially when you are that young, and are just thrilled by the buzz and chaos. Working elections is both exhausting and exhilarating.

So while the phone calls become burdensome I tried to be kind, and understand where the worker was coming from. They are as passionate about their preferred candidate as I am about mine. They try to be as convincing as possible, rambling on their candidates promises, and proclamations. However, when the same woman called less then thirteen hours apart, I lost my cool. It wasn’t pretty, nor am I proud. She deserved it, and should be more diligent in her organizational skills. Like putting a giant red X next to my name. I’m pretty certain she won’t make that same mistake a third time.

I’ve gotta hand it to Hillary, she has some fierce folks working her cold calling lines. I am sure that my entire weekend, as well as Monday & Tuesday will be filled with these calls. We vote Tuesday, Thank heavens!

*EDITED TO ADDDDDDDD* I just read an amazingly written blog entry EVER! that I have to share. It pretty much completely squashes all of the utter bullshit I’ve seen posted elsewhere on this topic.

The weather here is sketchy, and mother nature is leaving her uglies behind all across the midwest. I’m not really in any mood to don my ruby red slippers and play Dorthy tonight.

Interesting weather *yawn*

I know, how boring to talk about weather…Whatever, you take what I give and you like it, because you are sweet kind caring people!

Pea sized hail on our brand new deck and patio set.

It’s been kind of wacky weather wise around here…From High 80’s and HOT, to low 40’s and chilly.

Love Spring! Love IT!

We all have to clean, so why not use environmentally friendly stuff that smells good!

This is not a paid advertisement, just me professing my love for my favorite cleaning products! Also, when you tell a company you love the products they make, they reward you, this is proof!

So I am about a week late in posting this for Earth Day, better late than never I say! Every day should be earth day!

I am an avid Method Product User. I first discovered the Method line of products about three years ago when I was out of town. It’s not exactly the typical kind of thing you buy when you are on a mini vacation, but I hadn’t ever seen these products in my area, so I bought a few to try. The smell of things is really what attracts me to new products. The fact that they are good for the environment is just an added plus. That sounds as though I don’t care about the environment, but I really do. But it is hard when so many “green” things aren’t as appealing in smell sometimes. I’m most certainly a smell kinda gal first. If it stinks, I’m not using it! After I used the products I picked up, I emailed the company to profess my love, and sadness. Sad because Method products at that time weren’t sold in any stores near me, and I was driving forty five minutes to buy them. Which wasn’t actually great for the environment. Now I can get them at several stores in my area, so that is no longer an issue. After emailing them, I started to received boxes and boxes of samples periodically as an appreciation for my support in the company. It’s great that companies reward customers like this. Not all do, but a majority appreciate continued support. They have a fantastic website, that details what is in the product. I love that I can pronounce every ingredient in these products. That is a major plus!

Some of my current favorite products are…

Method Best In Glass Cleaner in Mint -$4.00

Method All Purpose Cleaner in Cucumber - $4.00

Hand Wash in Sweet Water - $4.00

Aroma Pill in Vanilla Apple - 2/$10 I also love the Gingerbread Spice Aroma Pill

On Tuesday of last week I received a package that I wasn’t expecting…

I opened the outside box and this is what was inside. I instantly started laughing hysterically. Who in the hell is sending me Baby stuff…

This was inside…Methods New Baby Products. Just what The Baby needs!

On Wednesday I received another package, again, not expecting anything…Thinking back to the hilarious baby package I received, I wondered what other surprises were in store for the week.

Method sent me the Squeaky Green Book for free, which you can buy on there website as well. This book is full of fantastic tips and ideas on keeping your house green. There is a section for every room in your house, along with a Pets tip section.

It pays to profess your love to companies that you like there products. Especially to companies like Method who stand behind there products 110%.

You should never ask someone how old they are unless you’re certain they are under 25…

Today I was reminded of a very strange conversation that took place between myself and my Great Aunt S last weekend in Music City…

Since we had gotten there, she had been nonchalantly questioning how old I am. She would make subtle comments inquiring about various things that would make me reveal my age. I am and never never been someone who is ashamed of my age. I’m very proud to be in my thirties, and I have had the most fun, the most stress, and the most excitement in my thirties. However, I was always taught that you never ask someone their age, unless you are certain they are under 25. Even still, I try very hard never to ask anyhow. If they want me to know, they would tell me in my opinion. It was very funny making her squirm when she would try to inquire and I wouldn’t reveal.

It’s always easy to chalk someones attitude, demeanor, or opinions up to them being to young to understand, or to old and set in their ways. I’ve been guilty of it absolutely. Jack is an example of that. His attitude is of a sullen fifteen year old who knows everything there is to know in and about life. I was that way at fifteen. I very clearly remember thinking my parents were dumb, and hadn’t a clue. It’s great that I was in fact wrong!

My Great Aunt S is an odd duck. Though, I am not the only person in my family to think this. She is very snarky, and  has an odd demeanor. She will NOT look you in the eyes when she talks to you. It is rather strange if I must say so. I think for the most part, she has in fact aged very well. I think she means well, she just doesn’t always know how to come across that way.

Finally on the last morning at breakfast she came right out and asked me how old I am. I happily told her I would be thirty three in June. She started to ramble on endlessly about how well I have aged (because I am SO old), and that I have great skin, etc..etc..etc.. Very uncomfortable situation. Besides saying thank you, how else do you respond to something like that? It’s would have been far less uncomfortable if she had just stopped at “you’ve aged so well”…But then, exactly how did she anticipate I would age? I didn’t really take great care of my skin in my teens and twenties. I used bar soap, and water only as a cleanser, and never used sunscreen or moisturizer until the last two years of my twenties. I still use regular bar soap and water on my face, but only after removing my make-up with a professional remover. I use moisturizer daily, and sunscreen is a must, always! I’ve always wished I could tan, but I’ve since embraced my inner white girl and moved on. Besides, they make GREAT tanning lotions now, and I enjoy using them as opposed to sitting in the sun baking for hours on end.

Do you think you’ve aged well? How do you take care of your skin to fight against aging?

I hope this doesn’t scare you…

Scott took this picture this evening as I was sitting in the middle of my bed folding towels…

I was kind and cropped the laundry out of it. I also played with some editing tools on Photo Bucket. Rather neat tools if I must say. I’ve never been one to spend ridicules amounts of money on photo editing software. Not when I can spend it on, ohh, hand bags or shoes. Priorities Priorities!

Nothing more than a week ago…

Well that was interesting!

Scott’s appointment was at 3:30, and the clinic we went to is notorious for being behind hours. Which I find absolutely ridicules, and unacceptable. I had far more patience today since we were dealing with a cardiologist.

We don’t have any more answers today then we did yesterday or a week ago. Which I find absolutely worrisome. The results of the treadmill stress test didn’t provide any answers. So he will be taking a Cardiolite Stress Test as well as an Echocardiogram (Ultrasound of the heart). If those two things do not result in some answers, he will have a Heart Cath done.

Scott is no less worried now then he was before the appointment. If anything he is even more freaked out because the unknown. His cardiologist is concerned that it may be Cardiomyopathy. But at this point, it is still hurry up and wait. They will be calling to schedule these tests in the next few days.

Thank you, all of you who have given your thoughts and prayers to us. Your continued support means a lot to the both of us.