No Place But in the USA

     I just got back from what has come to be known as the best little Post Office satellite in Denver where I had some things to mail. I just love going to these folks instead of the regular Post Office. The lines, when there are any, are friendly and it makes for a great "small town" feel.

     Part of the eclectic ambiance is the non-post officey merchandizing that is going on at this place. Like today, I purchased a 3 pound jar of my favorite honey!! Yes! Honey at the Post Office. Also, there are white chocolate sweets from a small biz in Utah, a wonderful after the Holidays Sale table with all the left-over Christmas items. Really neat stuff.

     But all my adjunct to the primary task shopping came to a stop when I came upon T-shirts imprinted with the message " Get Them Out - 11/02/2010" The shirts were right next to a display of decidedly extreme right wing conservatism books. And CD's for listening and DVD's for watching.....

     At first I was appalled. I am a wholehearted independent who prefers to develop her own conclusions. (Keeps the ability to think in tact.) But how could the federal government allow such decidedly one-sided propaganda to be sold where I buy my stamps? Would it not seem that the Federal government is supporting these ideologies above others at work in this country? What does it mean to my "ever-formulating his own ideas" teen who sees this? Will he think that the government has gone "wack"?

     My brain began to hummm.....

     ....I thought... maybe this would be ok if there was another Post Office satellite that sold left-wing extremist items, and then there could be one for the new Tea-Party too...yeah.....this could work!

     Then I began to think about how amazing it is that this satellite Post Office selling one-sided politically charged merchandise could happen at all....

                                         Pretty Neat to live in the US. :)

                                                                          

Recovering News Junkie

You know I made a change in my life over the past few months. I used to be a news junkie. FOX, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR...all running as background noise in my life. In the car, at work, during dinner... news... News...NEWS! At the end of each day I felt literally pounded with the weight of the world, but believed I was being a good global citizen keeping up with it all.

Then a good friend of mine got frustrated with me and all the random NOISE and my split attention during our skype calls and I stopped. Yep. Cold turkey. Turned it all off.

The first few days I was definitely in withdrawal. What was the President doing or saying? hummm? Did Michelle get criticized again for wearing sleeveless blouses? Will I ever get healthcare so that I can get my broke ankle fixed?

I played KBCO, "WORLD CLASS ROCK" on my laptop continuously...with no relief.

Then I got one of those sure-fire ideas. You know, the kind that Wile E. Coyote gets right before the 2000# weight drops from the cliff above, missing

Roadrunner but flattening him like rolled out pie dough.           

What if I acted like nothing mattered in my life except the things I did each day. The people, places, circumstances and issues that found their way into my sphere of life and influence. After all, that is all I really had control over anyway.

Now, mind you, this took several months to accomplish.  Like Wile E Coyote, it took focus and determination. But, just as Wile E. Coyote finally DID catch Roadrunner,  I am very proud to say that I am a recovering news-junkie and I have been news-free for 4 months and have found a new background noise to listen to - my heart.

OMGoodness! Has Anyone seen my last decade?

This is just ridiculous.

Really. 2010?

OMGoodness! Has anyone seen my last decade? I must have misplaced the thing. I mean, how could I have lived another decade and not feel like I am more than say, maybe, 10months older? Is that ginkgo doing any good at all? I think not.

My personal BIG DADDY epiphany over the last decade is that I have dedicated my entire life to making the needs and wants of others happen. Why is that? Why do women feel that they must be last on the list and that putting others first makes them top on the list.

What list? Whose list?

And all the while we convince ourselves that making others happy makes us happy, too.

Bull-pucky.

I personally have put my kids, husband (until he passed this decade) employees and professional business associates, my banker, my baker, my candlestick maker....everyone else....FIRST. Funny thing is when I tripped over the candlestick maker running out the door to get to my son's lacrosse game, it hit me......

I hope he doesn't sue me....what was my medical injury coverage on my homeowners insurance?