I will be posting a blog about raising autistic children this week. I have an autistic son and grandson. People need to understand these special children.

America and the Constitution died this week, November 6, 2012

A friend in our community wrote an obituary for our Uncle:

Qoute of the day by Paul R Bean-I am mourning the death of my uncle. My uncle was born on July 4th 1776 and passed on near midnight November 6th 2012. Once he was disrobed and the examination by the corner began. It was apparent that one of the reasons for his death was anemia. You see, a once vibrant giant, who fought for freedom had been the victim of parasites." 

On Tuesday, I could not believe my eyes and stop the hurting in my heart. The tears for my country and Constitution did not start until the next day when I explained things to my sister. I am astonished that so many people voted for a man who is a traitor to our country and is a professes Socialist and wants us to be that way. He is a Muslim and a friend to the Muslim Brotherhood. Obama should be tried for high Treason. But he isn't evil by himself. He has a staff, Hilary Clinton for one, and George Soros to finance his treasonous acts. Are there really so many so called "Americans" who wants free stuff that they would put this man back in office? 

For those of us who have lost our joy, we need to read Psalm 137 and Isiah 40.  The Isaelites were in captivity to the Babylonians. These were not nice people. They stopped to rest by a river with weeping willows growing along the bank. The court musicians hung their harps on the trees, heartbroken and their hope that God would rescue them receding. The Babylonians began taunting the Israelis. 

"Go on, sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

The Israelites replied with bitterness in their voice, "How can we sing the songs of the Lord-in a foreign land?" The harps were hanging silently on the trees beside the river where the captives were kept. 

The Babylons knew that the people didn't feel like singing. Their parents had been murdered, houses pillaged and robbed, infants bashed against the cobblestones and killed Who could sing after witnessing that kind of slaughter and then being herded together like animals?  

Out of the darkness they began to hear it. The sound of one lone harp. An old man with fire burning in his eyes was singing! He was singing one of the songs of Zion. A Beautiful song of comfort and hope, a song about the Shepherd gently leading those with young. A song about eternity and a God who inhabited it, owned it, and was offering to share it with those who would put their faith in Him.

This old man was one of Israel's temple musicians and like the others he was sitting by the waters, held in captivity. Imagine trees festooned with harps hung up after a days hard labor but under one of those trees the temple musicians gathered their harps and joined the old man. They sang a message from the writings of the prophet Isaiah to God's discouraged people.

                 Comfort, comfort my people,

                     says your God..

                     Those who hope in the Lord

                     will renew their strength.

                      They will soar on wings like eagles;

                     They will run and not grow weary,

                      They will walk and not be faint (Isiah 40:1,31)

   What do we do? Is it status quo? I don't know. I've had my couple of days of mourning and now it is time to take action. I've prayed to God and asked direction, I am waiting on some answers but I feel I know what is going to happen. As a Tea Party member, I am prepared for disaster and I expect the help of my God. We must group together as like minded people, helping each other, lending a hand. American and her people are going through a judgement and the only way our American and Constitution will be restored is through God's hands. Pray to be God's hands and feet. Look for answers to your prayers and remember to be a grateful child and say Thank You.

We may have a Muslim, Socialist, Traitor in the White House, but we have God to hold on to. Don't give up. Take your harp from the tree and sing the songs of Zion. Show these lazy, incompetent people that Government isn't the answer, The Bible is and helping one another is the answer.

Remember, be prepared for anything, keep your powder dry and pray without ceasing. 

 

Note: The story of the Israelites and harps came from the Bible and also from a book entitled Heart Strings by Jill Briscoe. 

 

Friendship/Sisters

Can you place a value on friendship? No, it has no intrinsic value, but it is priceless. We can't exist without it. Our souls would be lost and starving in a vast wilderness without the love and nurturing of friendship. It is something God placed within us, a kernel that reaches forth from the muddy waters of life and sends it shoots upwards to the light, blossoming forth on the top of the waters in search of friendship.  That little shoot begins as soon as we are born and continues growing and strengthening until we leave this earth to begin another journey.

Friends come in many sizes, shapes, colors, sexes, and even species! Our family members can be our friends, our spouses definitely are our friends but there is something about having a girlfriend you can call at midnight and know she will be glad to hear your voice and share your happiness or concerns.

A girlfriend is the one you camp out with in the local coffee shop, bouncing ideas off for that newest novel. Or run down to South Texas with just to pick up corn, tomatoes and homemade bread to can. She takes care of your children when they are sick, gives you respite when your special needs child has stomped your last nerve.

Who else would meditate with you? Wear a prayer shawl and understand the meaning? Jump up and travel at the last minute? Learn Italian? Cook around the world and not complain when our middles look like marshmallows? Yes, this is ground that a spouse could occupy, but not often. Only a friend lives in this area.

A girlfriend will gladly share a cup of coffee or a bottle of wine with you, be there with a sympathetic ear when things seem to go awry. A girlfriend is a blessing from God. A friend with angel wings. A treasured earth goddess. And sometimes a Sister.

Truly Friends are priceless.

A Proper Southern Woman

My husband was recently watching a documentary on the making of one of our favorite films (and books) To Kill A Mockingbird...

It gave me pause...I am a card carrying Southern Woman. After all I have more than one deviled egg plate. No self-respecting Southern Woman would NOT have a deviled egg plate. In fact you can't even be in the Souther Belle Society without having one. I did have a china pattern - in a previous life - held open houses for church, posessed the appropriate attire for funerals and weddings, could whip a casserole for the bereved or someone with a new baby in 2.5 min. and not even blink if I had to hostess a wedding, funeral or homecoming at a moments notice. I was young and didn't know better. Ask me now and I might need interevenious adavan.

Yes, when I was younger I was a girly girl, I played dolls, paper dolls, wore dresses every day, could leap puddles holding my train case purse in a single bound, wear loafers and bobby socks and could kill anyone with  kindness. We were born that way. Out of my four girls, only one was partially a girly, girl. the rest detested dresses, and I won't even go into their antics as a tomboy. But I managed to scar them by making them wear dresses, hats and gloves on Easter Sunday. They remind me of that torture once in a while.

I was the only little girl on my block of Darling St. - yes,  I lived on Darling street in a pink brick house. My Daddy built be a playhouse with a real glass sliding window. It held baby cribs and dolls, doll cloths, tea sets, etc. I saved my allowance (25cents), go to the Good Will and buy net formals from the 50's and my Mom would fit them to me. So my dress up dresses were also in the playhouse. I don't know how many times my Mom would go to Weingartens (our grocery story) with my little girl friends all dressed up in net formals. We were the original princesses. No one called us that, we were Southern Bells. My house we THE house all the neighborhood girls wanted to play. The boys always dressed as cowboys and indians and tried to attack us. Boys. It makes me sad to think that my play house now holds lawnmowers and lawn chemicals. Does the owner even know the magic it once held?

Now don't get me wrong, I was a playmate with my brother and learned to catch snakes and lizards, run through the woods, give some one an "indian rope burn" and play Tarzan and swing off the roof of our house on the tiny branches of the trees. Mom would have whipped our hid if she knew half the stuff we did. That was fun but I knew what I was supposed to do and how to act. Even if I did regress occasionally.

When I lived in Natchitoches, Louisiana as a young Mom, I got to be an extra in Steel Magnolias. I wore on ugly had an dress and set in a bench in the wedding scene for 12 hourse for a 3 min. scene in the movie. But I was also a tour guide to the plantation houses and I learned to get my hooped skirts into the suburban in a flash and drive down Cane Rive to my job, be my "sugary sweet" self and then go home to 4 kids and cook dinner.

I won't ever give up my Southern Belle membership card, wear white shoes after labor day, smoke in public like Princess Margret, wear velvet after Febuary and will always use mayonaise and white chicken meat to make chicken salad - not dark meat and Hellmans! But I could care less about being in the Jr. League or who made what Sorority in college. There is more to life than that!

My kids grew up laughing at the silly rules I taught them about Southern Ettiquete. They don't adhear to those rules except - say yes mam', no mam', please and thank you, always mind your p's and q's. Don't cuss in public, never spit, open doors for ladies, ladies first and always try to help.

Make your Momma Proud.

How can you forget your age?

I have come to terms with how old  I will be this year. It took me two days of crying every time I thought about it, once I was out of shock to realize this won't be so bad. I guess the alternative is not to have a birthday, right? WRONG.

I have a little grandson that was born on my birthday - (good job Kat) we finally celebrated our birthdays together last summer. I was  - um - 53 and he was 3. OK so far. I had a great year, my book was being published, we signed the contract with the publisher, the grand kids were here, things looked good.

Then I saw a sign...not a sign from heaven, not a sign from the great beyond, just a sign that said if you were born in 1957 you would be 55. I busted out laughing. How could they print something like that? Obviously they need a calculator. Then I called my sister. She laughed so hard, tears ran down her leg. OK, she can be wrong. I called my brother. He said I would be in a time warp if I was going to be 54. We are 18 months apart. He laughed also. Now I ask you, is this funny????? What is wrong with everyone? Then I confronted my husband as he was in the shower and he nearly choked on his shampoo. 

It seems that I have been 53 for two years in a row. I immediately burst into tears and cried for 2 days. How can I possibly be this old and not feel like it on the inside? Then there was the bad day for the book signing...I was depressed for a week.

Now I have decided to except the inevitable. After all I have no choice. I seriously considered major sedation for that big day, but now we are going to have a party instead. A murder mystery party and I am writing the saga. I have to get this frustration out somehow and legally.

In this new chapter I am going to do everything I want to do. I am going to paint and write and drink wine and be a MomMo. I am going to publish lots of books and be an eccentric old lady. 
When I am old I shall wear purple....might as well, I already have a purple truck!

Second Book Signing

Well, the next event is fast approaching! This Friday, June 15 from 3-5 at Market St. on 98th and Quaker. Thanks to Mr. Eugene Ford for getting things set up for me.

I worked on the posters tonight for the event. They are huge! 22x 28. One of the largest I've done so far. I'm go have them printed professionally tomorrow and then take them by the store.

Alexander Graham Cracker's First Day Out

After a night of storms and lightning (thank you God for the rain) Trace and I loaded up the car and headed off for the first book signing for Alexander Graham Cracker Goes to the Moon. I have spent the last couple of weeks anxiously making sure everything was perfect. Business cards? check; books? check; posters?, check...the list became very long. The last two nights I didn't sleep at all. I would wake up with another item to add to the list. I wonder how I ever managed to teach classes.  Now here I am at 5 am writing a post because I can't sleep AGAIN. You would think I would just be exhausted by now.

We found the cutest quilt with rockets and planets on it, matching sheets to use as a table cloth, a lamp with stars and starry very soft pillows. I painted and made a magnet board, cut out aliens, make a rocket from an apple juice bottle and assembled my other favorite books to read.

I found a wonderful vintage silk shirtwaist dress from the 50's, a hat/gloves and chiffon hankie so I would look like Alexander's Mother in the book. I had to keep with the retro theme. I wore my Granny Red's brooch and matching earrings. I thought our table looked very nice. Everything coordinated and I even put up a video of the moon landing of Apollo 11.

 I wouldn't have been able to pull this off without my husband. Thanks, Trace.

Celebration!!

Marketing for Alexander Graham Cracker is HERE! I am so excited! The book won't officially  be in the bookstores until July, but I get copies and can start with press releases, author signings (he-he), and working my niche markets. A lot of work is involved in this and pray God gives me the energy and the stamina to keep it up!

It was just a dream come true to receive the proofs and to see my work in final form. I cannot wait to get my copies in the mail. I even got a financial backer!! She will be going with me on some of the Author appearances and we are going to have such a great time? Can you guess who that is?  My baby sister. What better partner could I possibly have on this journey?

Merry Go Round of SLE

I just read a very interesting article on Lupus and fatigue. Both my parents, my sister, and possible other members of our family have SLE. So do I. I think I must have had this disease for a long while. I remember hearing about friends in the 80's that were diagnosed and their prognosis was very bad.

I currently have a great doctor who is working with me, our journey has just begun together but at least she believes me. The fatigue is the one thing I have the hardest time coping with. I feel like the laziest person in the world. When I worked at a local retail store, cleaning, I only worked 3 days a week. I would have to come home and sleep at least 4 hours and was still in extreme pain. I stayed there from July to Feb. After that I just couldn't stand the exhaustion and pain any more and I really don't think anyone at the store believed how tired I was. It was also difficult for me to remember codes for the cash register.

I am working from home now, I have a book about to be published and am gathering energy to do the author appearances. The fatigue still isn't gone. Sometimes I need 12 hours of sleep. How crazy is that??? A person can't function socially or get chores done on 12 hours of sleep. At least my chosen profession of writer/illustrator can be done from a desk, couch, or bed. Yeah!

To complicate matters I also have spinal degenerative disease. I have already had to have a neck fusion and now it is bothering me in the lower back and legs. Some days I walk with a cane, some days I'm fine.

I am happy my husband understands but I know he gets frustrated with me. He is an RN and recognizes signs before I do when a flair is coming on.

My heart yearns to so much more than I do now, my spirit feels young and pain free - my body won't co-operate. So the good days are when I grab the golden ring from the merry go round. The bad days are when I miss it. I touched that ring today, but it slipped from my grasp.

The work on my children's book is really progressing quickly! On Valentine's day I received the cover art proof. On the 23rd of Feb. I received my page layout proofs. It was also my brother's birthday so I think I like it when special days come around.  Wonder what will happen next week on Trace's bd?

I printed out the proof so I could check the typesetting and font appearances. Everything looks so fabulous and RETRO! I cannot wait to hold the book in my hands.  We are beginning the premarketing and this is a new phase to me. I look forward to all that is involved. in this part.

Mark Twain said, "Next to a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside the dog, it's too dark to read."

Wow, the work on the NanNo book is still progressing. I LOVE doing the research and writing from original diary's of the revolutionary soldiers. I have to be careful not to get so wrapped up in the journals that I forget to write. I feel like we are in the same struggle today. Our Constitution is being threatened, our Freedom's are eroding...we are seeing the results of our liberal choices. God is being left out of the country's decsions. God WILL judge us. God Bless America.