Happy Thanksgiving (no catchy title here...just a note of thanks)

Morning dear 4 1/2 and all my other malcontents.  I knew I had a Thanksgiving blog in me just had to wait for the mood to be right and the inspiration to hit me. I've been watching my dear friend Barb Smith's facebook postings in the past few weeks and Barb has everyday listed her many blessings and things to be thankful for. Well Barb, I'm blatantly "borrowing" your idea. Also, this morning as Danny was getting dressed for work at 5 am I was telling him about Thanksgivings from my childhood and he was telling me about holidays in England (usually our conversations in the morning consists of one of us snoring!)  First off...I'm thankful Barb you did that and made me go "mmmmmm".  Where to begin....Where to begin??? I'm not even sure I can do justice to the things and people I am thankful for. I will start off thanking God for letting me have another year of life.  Something we all take for granted. I'm thankful for the love and support of a wonderful man who has stood beside me through thick and thin and as I've said before, he is a saint!  I'm thankful for my family.  I have a wonderful, dear Aunt Marybelle and Uncle Sam who have raised the most kind, giving group of children and grandchildren.  They love and support us everyday unconditionally.  This might surprise you dear reader, but somewhere in my heart I am happy that Donna and Ruth (no I'm not going to use there evil names here because God would not appreciate sarcasm on this wonderful holiday) have had another year of life and have each other.  There will always be a hole in my heart where they were, but don't we all have a hole here and there.  I'm thankful for my Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa.  I know they are all in heaven together with Dan's Mom and Dad.  Even if I don't have their physical presence I have them in my heart and in my head.  I'm thankful for old friends and new.  I'm thankful to facebook for allowing me to connect with some of the lost friends (Tracey, Barb, Shelley, Cassie, Margaret just are a few who come to mind) they enriched my life at one time and yet again I will benefit from their friendship.  Thank you for my new friends that I've met on facebook.  Crystal I'm talkin to you (In my best Robert DeNiro, Taxi Driver impression!) There are others that I might have failed to mention but you are all in my heart. How could I not be thankful for my English family and friends.  Please know on Thursday when I say my Thanksgiving prayer you will all be right there at the fore front.  I must thank God for the new people he's sent me in my life, Noreen and Emalee there you are! I must thank God for my dear sweet David, who next to Danny is a real close second in Sainthood, I say that cause he loves me and I'm not always easy to love (imagine that!).  I remembered past Thanksgivings this morning with my family and I thought about my extended family from my past.  Imparticular my dear, sweet Ruth Johnson was on my heart.  She's the lady my younger sister was named for.  Some of my happiest holidays memories come from the time we spent with Ruth and her boys Butch and Bob (yes Butch I know you will never read this but you will always be my "Seaman Duppy" and the man who when I was 5 I was planning my wedding with, it didn't matter that he was at least 18 years older than me!).  Big ole shout out to Tommy Joe Smart who was the "other man" I was supposed to marry and yet again it didn't matter about our age difference, Evidently I was a tart at the age of 5 and gave my heart to much older men!  Alas, I did not marry either of them....My blessing are too many to mention and I might have missed a friend or family member here or there but it was not on purpose, it just shows you how much I have to be thankful for.  How could I not be thankful for my Judy my Debbie and my Evelyn.  You are all my rocks. There are so many people who have nothing. I cannot go on without thanking all our brave service men and women who are keeping us all safe.  Many of them are not at home to be with their loved ones.  Thank God they are willing to make that sacrifice for all of us.  I am a "rich" women in so many respects.  Sigh....now I'm tired!! I must give you my fun Thanksgiving fact...did you know : Turkeys have heart attacks??? When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys would drop dead.  Poor Turkey, either the airplanes get them or the butcher does.  So on Thursday when you sit down to dinner with your family and loved ones I think the most important thing we can do is just to give thanks that God has given us another year together.  Of course as I'm writing this I've had a random thought.  What do you think the Pilgrims would think of our Thanksgiving today??? I don't think they could relate to the Underdog Float!!  So...Gobble Gobble all my peeps.  Don't eat too much turkey and pumpkin pie, save room for leftovers on Friday!!!  Love to you all and Mummy and Daddy, I miss you.  Turkey kisses to all of you!!! xoxxo Pammy

Kanye West and his "Magical Mystery Tour" ...Shout out to the Beatles!!

Dear 3 1/2 and my Margaret...It's been a few days since I've checked in but that is because I'm not a natural writer, I gotta think of this stuff...mull it over and see if it makes any sense. I do write this crap for myself but I am aware there might be someone else out there who reads this and I really don't feel like apologizing for what I have to say as my goal is not to offend people but make people go mmmmm!! So, just as I write this I'm also aware that people have the choice not to read it.  This is just the place I organize the scary place that is my mind.  First off...Big shout out to my Margaret who had some surgery last Friday.  She's doing well and she tells me she is "too mean to die" which could not be further from the truth (the mean part I mean).  I must say she is one of the kindest, coolest and funniest ladies I've ever had the please of knowing.  She enriches my life just by knowing her!  Love you Maggie.  So, that said let me get to the subject at hand.  Kanye freaking West, god bless him!  Did God and his Mother not give him any filters? We all have natural filters and we have free will so there is a choice when and if to use them.  I respect the fact that Mr. West is able to live in a country that allows him to express his opinion with no fear of retaliation.  That is what our wars are fought for.  I watched with much disbelief the interview with Matt Lauer on the Today Show the other day when Mr. Lauer addressed the statements that Mr. West made regarding George Bush and his response to Hurricane Katrina.  Mr. West has an opinion (and again I must state opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one!)  I am not in anyway calling Mr. West an asshole.  But what I must say one thing that I feel and what I feel is that he did not have the tools to respond to the questions Mr. Lauer was posing. The journalist used technique that we have seen time and time again when the media plays a sound bite under the conversation and he used his little rant about how this was distracting him and he would not go on if it continued to distract.  Distract from the fact that he was not prepared enough nor articulate enough to have this conversation.  I doesn't mean he's is unintelligent.  I actually think far from it. He is a young man that wants to be heard. He needs to find a way to be heard where people will actually listen to the words not the way he presents them.  Racism is a fact of life everywhere and the only way we change it is by speaking out the way Kanye West did.  I might not agree with his statement, but I give him his props for trying to articulate it.  Just please, someone send this man to school to learn how to say it without the anger he is so vehemently trying to fight.  I don't know if he realizes he comes off like a racist as well.  I felt bad for Matt Lauer, but then he's a big boy who has probably experience worse that a pissed off rapper.  Bill Cosby where are you when we need you.  Take this young man under your very classy and learned way and and teach him how to act in a public forum.  I felt bad for George Bush.  9/11 was a mess but it was a mess in someways that New York and the Government had been preparing for years to handle.  Katrina was nothing like we ever saw and granted allot of things should have been handled differently.  I don't know If Mr. West noticed that it not only black people who were effected?  Black, white, yellow, old and young were effected by both of these tragedies.  I don't know if there was any good way to respond to either.  We do look to our government to take the lead and do all the right things.  Sometimes men are just men (and I say that meaning all sexes) and are trying to figure out what the right thing to do is and how to handle it.  It doesn't mean they always do it right.  So yet again dear Kanye decided to express his opinion which he feels is valid and in a way that no one will listen to him.  They just say, what an asshole.  I mean picking on Taylor Swift and taking away from what she did as an artist was unacceptable.  If someone had done that to Beyonce racism would have been screamed to the roof not only by Kanye, but The Reverend Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton.  Al and Jessie show up for everything.  Here's a fact about racism and it is in no way shape or form "a fun fact".  It was published on line in an article by Loveleena Rajeeve on 3/10/10 at a website called buzzel.com. "One of the ugliest racism facts pertain to the reality that racism sees no geography, it is rampant, and in most cases state sponsored."  There was much more to this statement but I chose the part that hit home with me.  Yes, I can understand where people often feel that racism is state sponsored and that goes back to the day when in the south it was acceptable to lynch people of color and the state did turn the other way.  What Mr. West forgets is most of us are just people who want to get along.  There are bad people out there who hate everyone.  As they say the squeakiest wheel gets the old.  So Mr. West, perhaps you need to join the Pope who went on his tour to apologize for priest who abuse children. I'm sure there would be plenty of room in the Popemobile as long as he leaves "his ego at the door".  Sometimes sorry isn't enough and that goes for the government as well as people who do nasty things.  I am in no way shape or form comparing Mr. West to a priest who abuses children. I'm just expressing my opinion that we seem to have lost all sense of politeness and common courtesy in our everyday life.  Seems to me the best way to fight racism is to respect one and other and that seems to be something that Mr. West has forgotten to apply to himself and his statements.  Here's my Random Thought....think before you speak...it's a simple thing that Mom and Dad and your Kindergarten teacher (Unless it was my Kindergarten teacher who abused children, but that is another blog!) taught you as a child.  Kayne had a Mom whom he loved very much, who can dislike a man who loved his mama.  She would probably be proud of the fact he expressed his opinion but not have loved the way he chose to do it.  So I realize this was a bit heavy and my goal is usually to make people laugh, but today my mind is sorta going mmmmmm.  Freedom of Speech is a beautiful thing and we all should use it.  Just do it in an intelligent way, it makes people listen a bit harder and longer.  So my loves, this might not have been a poplar opinion for me to express, but oh well I've tried to do it somewhat intelligently.  As always, thank you for reading, I enjoy and look forward to your feed back positive or negative.  And as it was so clearly said is STAR WARS...."may the force be with you"!!! xoxoxo Jedi Pammy.

Sung to the tune of THE BRADY BUNCH

Hum along dear 3/12 and Margaret too!!! Here's the story of a man named Danny who lived in a country far away.  He was one man living in the city but he was on his own (side note, Lot's of family but I had to make it work musically!) Here's the story of girl named Pammy who was busy with two parents of her own.  They were three of them living in the house, but she was all alone.  Till the one day when Pammy met her Danny and she knew it was much more that a hunch, that this group might somehow be a family, that is how they because The Beattie (Shore) Bunch!!!!  Good Morning or Afternoon dear readers.  Today's sermon is a "homage", said in that good french kinda way (You know how it sounds Margaret, you've been to the south of France!) to my dear sweet Danny.  I married a saint, did you all know that. We were talking to a friend last night and it came up about very Little Danny and I actually argue.  When we do argue it's about something stupid.  The last one was a few weeks ago when my sweet sainted husband accused me of using his tools and hiding them.  Now friends, we all know me using any kind of tool other than a fork and knife is so not gonna happen!  I always tell people that I'm not the one who cleans up after the disaster, but I will cook you a good dinner and a nice desert (big hey to a real chef, Greg, Margaret's son-in-law. How's the restaurant doin?)  Anyhow's....my dear Danny is such a good man.  He always says he's just to lazy to argue.  Let me just say this.  Danny is not lazy about anything.  He's just a very smart man how knows sometimes there is not a battle to be had.  We have been married for 8 going on 9 years.  I have never been happier in my life and I must say that these past 8 years have been some of the hardest of my life.  My Dad died, our cottage flooded, Danny's dad died, we had struggles with Danny not being able to be with members of his family, my sisters (and I used this term loosely disowned me and Mom, my Mom died, We flooded at home and had about $56,000 worth of damages and then to top it all off I lost my job (we will not even go into the state of my so called mental and physical health as that is a blog all unto it's self)  ....Whewww!!!!  Our life at times has been like a bad country western song.  do you know what happens with a country western song if you play it backwards?  You get your car back, you get your house back, you get your wife back!  So somehow my dear friends my song is being played backwards.  Yes, I'm still unemployed, but my Danny who says he's "lazy" got an amazing promotion because of his hard work and knowledge.  Yes the hormone fairy has stopped at our house and it's not that much fun some days, but when it's good it's great.  No the cottage is not sold or fixed yet, but we did get help from a The Pitcarin Recovery Project to help us rebuild a retaining wall leading to our basement here at home that was destroyed in the flood.  No, we will probably never speak to the sisters again and we cannot bring back either one of our dear Mom's and Dad's, but we have a wonderful family in England and my dear dear  Aunt Marybelle and Uncle Sam and their amazing children and grandchildren here in the States.  Yes, there is again contact with a very special family member in Danny's life.  Yes, I still have much work to do on my emotional and physical health, but there is a top of the mountain and it's far away and I can see it through the clouds. Yes, Danny and I have built our own little family with our girls Gracie and Lacy (no, they are not dogs, well OK....yes they are!)  Our little talk last night with a friend made me take a good long look at my amazing guy.   He has stood by me through worse and we have had better!  One of the last things my Dad asked Danny to do before he died was to take care of his girls, and Danny has.  He took care of both Mom and Dad as if they were his own.  My Mom once told him she couldn't love him more if she had brought him home from the hospital herself.  So in a way my friends this is my open "love letter" to the man I love more than my life.  I wanted to share it all with you!  I thank god every day for sending me my best friend and the love of my life.  Here's my random thought for the day....don't you hate those letters people send you at Christmas time giving you all the little strange and boring facts about their lives??? I think I've just compared what I have written to one of those!  My life is strange at times but never ever boring!!  So Danny, I give you all the credit for keeping everything together.  On those days where I suffer from "I'm the only person in the whole world syndrome" you allow it to be about me.  I try with all my heart and soul to love you back as much as you deserve.  One of my favorite poem's written by Robert Sexton, which was printed on our wedding program, last line is" And when our time on earth is through, in heaven, too, you shall have my hand" the poem is called "The Promise".  Danny, you always have my hand and my heart,I promise.  It's so wonderful to know I will spend the rest of eternity with you (and god bless you cause I bet I'm even more of a trial in the after life as I am here!) Got a little serious here on you guys, but I had allot to say! Let me end with my fun fact...lets' go back to the beginning of my my little commentary here and refer to THE BRADY BUNCH...did you know that Alice, the housekeeper was never shown eating that that she didn't drive a car so she couldn't even go to the grocery store without Mrs. Brady.  Now that's a job, your employer shuffles you around but you don't get to eat (and you live there!).  So, keep it on the cool side babies!  xoxox Pammy  

"What a load of shit"...quote from Cayla,Danny's Niece and mine too!

Moshi, Moshi 3 1/2!! Just read in my facebook that Danny's niece, Cayla, watched the movie "Paranormal Activity 2" and her reaction to it was...."What a load of shit"! I found that amusing. I had the same reaction years ago to "The Blair Witch Project" (and Geoffery, I only told you I was scared cause you are so damned cute!). What happened to Hollywood doing just a plain old scary movie.  Now, of course they have an entire genre that is "Horror" but that's not scary stuff, it's just plain gross in my humble opinion. Pretty much slice em and dice em! I just don't find it scary, I think it's sick.  There seems to be enough ugliness in the world that Hollywood doesn't need to show us how to do it!  People have pretty much figured it out themselves, so the instruction manual is not needed!  Now "Psycho" and "The Wizard of Oz" that's some scary shit and I must give an honorable mention to "The Birds", man Alfred Hitchcock must have been on scary fuck!  That guy laying next to the bed with his eyes plucked out got me, not because it was gross, just because it was something as harmless as a pigeon (OK, it's a rat with wings)!  I believe to this day the evil sister, Griselda (otherwise know as Donna) cannot stand birds and can't take a shower with out panic, who knows, maybe by now she's pulled up her big girl panties and chilled.  That shows how scary that stuff is, we were children when we saw it and I think she is now perhaps 55.  Also I must mention Griselda is scarier than any movie.  Now I have to give you my fun fact here because between what I read on Cayla's post and something else I read prompted this little rant...did you know that the Lion suit used on "The Wizard of Oz" was made from real Lions???? Holy crap....that is some scary shit...that and those damn flying monkeys!  To this day I piss myself when "The Wizard of Oz" is on.  I belived they show it always at Easter here in the States (clarification for my English family and friends should they read this!).  Yup, Jesus dying on the cross is equated to the flying monkeys! No this is not a commentary on religion, it's just as I was typing I had a WTF moment.  It's been a long time since I've seen a good scary movie that made me jump outta my seat and need to leave the nightlight on.  I really think the last movie that made me do that was "The Exorcist"...It wasn't the scary make up that did it for me, just the fact that   the concept of the devil was so clearly stated in a way that people could relate to.  Also, the fact that it dealt with children.  I once asked a learned friend (Yo to you Jim Glenn, wherever you are) why things with children scare us so much.  He told me it was a very primal fear anything that threatens children, it taps into all the paternal stuff that you have that even if you are not using you do have (at least most people do).  Not that Jim Glenn knew everything, but he did spend allot of time in school!  I have to remember to send my friend Sherry a message and let her know I'm using "Jim Glenn" knowledge! My new friend Noreen and I had a conversation on Halloween, refer to my prior posts for my Halloween opinions, as valid as they are!  Anywho, Noreen and I had a conversation about scary stuff and how we both were afraid of "Bloody Mary".  For those of you who don't know about "Blood Mary" it's an old urban legend that if you stand in from of a mirror and say her names three times you can see her in the mirror and something really horrible will happen.  You notice I refuse to even type her name three times cause I aint' taking no chances!  Now Noreen's smart and very funny 10 year old child, Em found that to be as we are saying a load of shit. Noreen said she was very matter a fact about it and said it in the mirror and basically said, and I paraphrase, Well that's done now (did I get that right Noreen?) "Bloody Mary"  would be some scary ass movie.  "Supernatural" the series did do one about it (shout out to Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, not that they will know I shouted out to them!)  Oh my, this little rant has taken us on so many twists and turns.  It's probably because I think of this crap and type and not write it down, so if I ramble I apologize.   If you think of it let me know what your favorite pee your pants movie is.  You of course can comment here to share it all with us or you can find me on facebook under Pamela Beattie-Shore or email me at pambshore@comcast.net.  I'm interested to hear what you think.  So come on Hollywood, let's make one of those old fashioned, cover your eyes, jump outta my chair, sleep with the light on movie!  As usual, thank you all for reading and thanks to all the people I've mentioned that help form this little missive!  So, I'll talk to all again soon as I'm sure there will be something else that prompts my fingers to take on a life of their own!  Yo, Later Peeps!

"Erection Day" quote from Bobby Subgum via Jimmy Krenn from WDVE Pittsburgh PA!

Howdy (Texas greeting this morning!) Dear 3 1/2..now darlings, we know that Pammy doesn't like really deep thoughts but I really feel the need to share how much I enjoyed this last "Election Season"  It seemed a bit like deer hunting to me, you stalk your prey and then shoot right between the eyes and try to drop that sucker!  Now this is not about my political views as they are really fairly boring, but about Election Tactics..I adored, no lived for every new commercial endorsed by some political candidate.  I loved it almost and my weekly "Supernatural" fix as it had as much drama, and as much as "The Big Bang" cause I laughed my ass off.  I adore the mud slinging. Now during all this mud slinging I often though WWALD, What would Abe Lincoln Do??? Now poor honest Abe had much mud slung at him, we just didn't have TV and the Internet to enjoy it on.  I adore Abe, what of my favorite presidents (yes, I'm old, but I don't remember that election!)  and one of my favorite historical icon's.  They called his wife a "Southern Sympathizer" and accused her of "dabbling in the Occult" .  Now what prompted this for me was the commercial against Joan Orie Melvin (I think that's her name) well, as well as talking about her legal problems and what a nasty ass person she was because she supposedly used her office phone for personal gain they also said she basically delved into the Occult.  Now, perhaps in her life she attended a slumber party as most young girls do, and there in a darkened basement or family room we all sat with a candle trying to contact the spirit of JFK or Marilyn Monroe!! I wonder who kids today try to contact, Anna Nicole Smith or Kurt Cobain?   Now personally I always thought we should have tried to read Elvis and ask why he decided to kick on the white wishing well.  Anyway, how do they know she dabbled in the occult.  Did someone from that last slumber party talk?  I guess that makes us all dabblers in the occult! The only commercial I loved better than that was one that I saw from the Canadian election and it talked about how rotten this poor schmuck is but then they ended it with a clip of kids playing soccer and some poor boy got smacked in the face by the ball and then the statement was made ...so or so "kicks children in the face" Lordy I fell of my chair laughing, something gentle readers our Canadian friends are used to.  P.S. there I love Canadians, some of my best friends are Canadian, I like their Bacon and their Falls.  Back to the mud slinging...they did that to poor Nancy Regan in the 80's or "Balloon Head" as Jimmy Krenn and Scott Paulsen used to call her.  She "consulted" her psychic for important decisions.  She also talked to Frank Sinatra...did that make her a "supposed" member of the Cosa Nostra?? Now again I loved Frank and have no idea how he conducted most of his personal business, I just know he was a shit to poor Mia Farrow in the 70's!  So now dear 3 1/2 election season is over and all I have to look forward to is Thanksgiving and Christmas and to be honest the commercials are not as good.  Well...I must give you a fun fact that ties into election day...did you know why we vote on a Tuesday in November??? here's the answer " As for Tuesday, people used to have to travel overnight to their polling location. (In 1845, horse was the preferred method of transport.) In an effort to avoid religious days of rest, Congress chose Tuesday, leaving Monday and Wednesday as travel days. Tuesday was voting (and horse-resting) day"! So we got where we were going, everyone rest their horses.  My random thought for the day is so random that I can't hold onto it!  Perhaps that is my random thought...write things down.  So love ya all (still channeling Texans who still get a bum rap cause young Georgie Bush was their Governor!)  Everyone have a great weekend....see ya on the flip side....xoxox Pammy (aka Abe Lincoln's biggest fan!)