"Be Thankful for What you've got" Written by William DeVaughn

Shalama Lillah (Aramaic for hello) my dear 6 1/2. Hope you have all surived the heat well. I think when we were children we never noticed the heat or the cold, as you get older in my opinion it's all we think about! So my subject today will be "cool", well at least I think so! So first I want to say I don't mean for my ramblings to sound preachy, cause that's not the spirit they are written in, it's just my cluttered little mind trying to make sense of life and whatnot, but as Molly Ringwald said in Sixteen Candles "Life is not whatnot!". Sometimes I have to write it down cause all those thoughts make my head hurt, I try not to think too much cause it does make my head hurt sorta like when my hair get's too long. Ok, secondly let me explain my blog title. As you know I like to use a song title as my blog name. Todays offering is a 1972 soul song written by William DeVaughn. Let me give you the first paragraph of that song: " Though you may not drive a great big Cadillac
Gangsta whitewalls, TV antennas in the back
You may not have a car at all
But remember brothers and sisters
You can still stand tall
Just be thankful for what you got.
Diamond in the back, sunroof top
Diggin' the scene with a gangsta lean".
Jeez, I like thoes lyric, I feel so "street"! The point that I'm trying to make is everyday I am trying to be thankful for what I've got. Compared to some people I am a rich rich woman, emotionally and in material things. Just like everyone these days life has not been easy the last few years and it's taken a toll on me and in my opinion my Sainted Danny. Everynight we have a roof over our heads, a fridge full of food and we have the love and support of so many people. Yes, we have our road blocks, but that is how I'm trying to look at them. They are just little blocks in the road. I think I pray more than I ever did in my life. God and I have a few talks every day, even though I think I do alot of the talking. In God's own way he answers me. It might be through a kiss from my doggies, a smile from my Danny or a thank you for something small I might have done. I'm not always a terribly religious person, but I do belive in God, Heaven and Hell. I'm trying to stay out of the later, Hell that is! I try not to dwell on it, but I try to live a good,clean life. I don't always succed but at least I try. Here is our fun fact for the day did ya know that the Bible is still the best selling book in the world??? I know James Patterson probably thought he was, but God's got him beat! Now belive me when I say my blog in no way is trying to be sarcastic or sacrilegious. Just the opposite. I mean it with the utmost respect for relgion. God all and all is good to me. He's gotten me through some rough spots. Maybe I can see that more now because some of the confusion that has been my life is clearing a bit. I often feel bad for Danny and apologize to him because I am not the woman that he married 9 years ago. Some of the changes are for the good, some probably not so good. I had to finally grow up. Now doesn't that sound crazy from a woman who is 52 years old! I never realized how much my Father protected me from so many things. Danny has had the thankless job of helping me finish grow up. I like to think I'm a better person for it even if I'm neurotic,depressed at times and just a general pain in the ass. I thank him for that and I'm a work in progress so it can only get better, God willing! Often I'm sick of myself. Life has been a drama and I hate drama! I swear the next 9 years are going to be Zen, at least that's my goal! They say God only gives you as much as you can deal with, well I'm not that sure about that because I didn't and still don't have alot of the tools I need to cope, but I'm learning! When you stop learning you've given up or died in my opinion. I'm not ready to do either. I have too many books I want to still read, I need to find out how "Supernatural" ends and if Stephanie Plum ever marries Joe Morelli or Ranger. Keeps me going and and of course my sainted Danny who right now will not agree with my characterzion of him in that light. Lord knows I've tested that man's patience. Married couples it seems test each others patience constantly. As much as we have in common there are still differences that glare and make life a challenge to be a sound happy unit. I guess that's why the vow's are "for better and for worse" cause you get to see it all. I'm a pisces some traits of are: a pisces are on the surface it may appear that Pisceans are too slow and too dreamy but in fact, they are distinguished for their great perceptivity and ability to accommodate themselves to various situations and people. We are also not natural leaders. I find this all to be true of myself and at times if makes life hard. Danny on the other hand is a Sagittarius, Sagittarius are
People born between November 22 - December 21 are born within the sun sign. Some of the traits of a Sagitarian are: Optimistic and freedom-loving
Jovial and good-humored
Honest and straight forward. Well this is pretty spot on for Danny and I. I'm a glass half empty girl and he's a glass half full guy. I'm trying to learn the glass half full philosophy and I will get it. In the mean time say a prayer for Danny having to deal with me and at times me him. Now here is something to make you go hmmmmm. Jesus was not born in December. Jesus was more than likely born between Feb. 16 and March 11th. That would make him an quarius, The Water Bearer, which works for me because of the whole water into wine thing. More than likely Jesus spoke Aramaic, but knew Hebrew and possibly Greek. I only speak English, pig latin and Pittsburghese. Now in my thinking about God and Jesus I have come up with a great title for a country song. The title is "Jesus was an Aquarius". I'm not being rude about Jesus. I want the song to be sung by either Loretta Lynn or Garth Brooks. Now I would prefer Elivs, but that's not gonna so much work. No one belts out a relgious song like a country music star. So I think the whole point of my ramblings today is to respect each others difference personality,religous and any other way. Avrio (Adio) Greek for goodbye...xoxox Pammy

"Our house in the middle of the street" Maddness 1982

Hola me amigo's and amigas!Hope you all had a safe and happy 4th of July. Mine was very quiet, which was great. Dan and I cooked ribs and chicken wings on the grill and that was the extend of our excitement which works for me. For some reason right after the 4th I got a bug up my butt about cleanng. Now not that I don't clean, I do the regular stuff like scrub floors,dust,run the sweeper all that kind of stuff. My bug instructed me to throw things away, throw things away I did! Now you have to remember I live in the house that my parents lived in and my grandparents lived in and on top of it all I have stuff from my other grandparents. So out came my shredder, which by the way Gracie and Lacie hate! I found that I had every canceled check my mother ever got back from the bank. I had every bank statment for myself going 15 years back. Shred, Shred,Shred! I felt like Oliver North and Fawn Hall and kept looking over my shoulder to make sure the government was not going to come and take me. While I was at it I removed several tags from pillows and comforters. I don't know how many agencies might come after me now! I found many wonderful memories as well, my Mother"s baby book with a lock of her hair and in my Grandma Bessie's handwriting of every gift recieved when Lois was new and who gave it. I found my Great Grandpa George's Autograph book from the 1800's. I found in it where my Gread Grandma Lizzie had put a lovely like note to him. It was so touching. I think my mother was a hoarder.Here is your fun fact, the deffintion of a "Hoarder" is : Pathological or compulsive hoarding is a specific type of behavior characterized by: •acquiring and failing to throw out a large number of items that would appear to have little or no value to others (e.g., papers, notes, flyers, newspapers, clothes). Yup, that was Lo!
It's been three years since she passed on, but sometimes it's hard to go through somethings because it's so personal. My Mom's stuff was personal, and crazy at the same time. The woman saved every death notice of everyone she ever knew! Maybe that's where my unnatural like of cemetarys comes from. She had pictures of people who I will never know who they are. I think she took other people's pictures in to give them a good home. I also have some amazing old pictures of family members from th 1800's, I'm one to speak, once I had a friend give me a box of books cause she knew I would give them a good home! Yup, I one of those crazies that things objects have feeling's! I found some amazing things I've kept. I have a Time magazine from 9/11, a People magazine from when George Harrison died (I'm still looking for my John Lennon People magazine from when he died and I know I have it, I know I just put it someplace for safe keeping!) I also have a Newspaper from the day the last Harry Potter came out! I found beautiful things like a envelope with dried rose petals from the first bouquet of roses that Dan gave me. I have every card we ever sent to each other and every email we ever sent to one and other. I have the last card my Mom ever sent me and one that I found that she had bought for me but didn't have a chance to send. I have post cards from all over the place. I have pictures from Germany from my Dad when he was stationed there and pictures of General Patton as my Uncle Tate marched with him. Don't know why we have them, but we do. Really, I think people just drop stuff off at our house so they don't have to throw stuff away. Anyone who knew my Mom knew of her love of yard sales. I have stuff no one else in their right mind would want. Sandy, if you are reading this, I think we lost in the flood the lovely piece of pottery from Slippery Rock that used to sit next to the door that we lovingly refered to as "the urnial" that I think Mom bought at a yard sale for a quarter, correct me if i'm wrong. When my 90 year old neighbor Mrs. Tepke, god rest her soul, was downsizing she used to bring stuff to Mum to look through. It was like a traveling yard sale! I'm throwing away dead neighbors trash! The last straw came one Saturday afternoon Mrs. Tepke stopped with a box for Mum to go through. Now, mostly Dan and I would have to haul this stuff to the Goodwill. Well, my Father and I snapped. There was a coffee pot that Mom decided to keep. We have three coffee pots at home and several in Slippery Rock. Daddy and I freaked and Dan just looked on like Damn, I gotta haul another box to Goodwill. Jim said this is it and so did I. I told Lois I totally expected one day to come home from work and find Ted, Mrs. Tepke's 90 some year old husband sitting on my couch because Mrs. Tepke put him in a box by accident. We suggested that she donate the damn coffee pot to Goodwill and she was very offended. I said I knew it was going to go to someone woman in Appalachia was going to need the coffee pot and then corrected myself and said, no she probably has a husband and daughter sitting on their couch and saying "why did you bring home a coffee pot, we don't have electricty"! Needless to say I have greatly downsized. I have so much trash and shredding that I know Dan's going to be embarresed on trash day to put it all out in front of our house. I know sometimes he sneak"s around the neighborhood and leaves a bag here and there from our house so people don't think we are hoarders. Suprisingly we have a very neat house, Lois just stuffed things into nooks and cranny's that people never looked!I kept wonderful things and memories aa I'm not heartless, but some of those death notices had to go! So, I know i'm not a Hoarder, but no way will I ever part with my email's, cards and dried rose petals. So my little thing to make you go mmmmmm is, throw some of this shit away before you die. Women, makes sure those old vibrators go into a dumpster unless you want to scar someone for life (not that I found anything like that) and men, throw away the bottle of Viagra. Otherwise some poor soul is going to end up in therapy for a very long time! So I just felt the need to share my purging (as that's what it feels like) with all of you. Take care and throw some trash away. xoxoxxo Pammy

It's a Grand Old Flag and an amazing Ole Nell (I'm allowed to call her that!).

Happy Fourth of July all! Oh I have so many thoughts rattling around my croweded head and I'm just dying to share them with you (even if you don't want to hear them!!). So as usual I ask for your patience as my thoughts maybe all over the place! My blog today is one of those one's that hopefully makes you go hmmmm and is full of some fun and interesting facts. First off,let's take a moment to thank all of our servicemen and women,past,present and future. Protecting our freedom and often giving their lives to help our country retain ours and others win theirs. Just like Fireman and Policeman as we are running out of the burning building they are running in not knowing if they are come out. What an amazing and selfless calling and where would we be without them? I wanted to talk a bit about our American Flag, the ultimate symbol of our freedom and unity. What a beautiful flag it is. On my first trip to the Smithsonian I felt the need every hour on the hour no matter where I was or what I was doing to make my way to Old Glory and put my hand over my heart and sing the Star Spangled Banner, which by the way makes me cry, but of course dear readers we know allot of things make me cry. I cry at sporting events when we all sing together the Star Spangled Banner. I look crazy at night time baseball games with my sunglasses on so no one can see, which I know they all can anyway. I cry from pride and for all the people who gave their lives for our flag and the American way of life. Every day in my dining room I look at the folded flag that is in a display box that covered my Daddy's casket and was presented to my Mom when he died. That day their were two female representatives from the Army to conduct the flag ceremony and something amazed me. The one female military officer cried when she gave the flag to my Mom. That touched me so much I felt as if she was not only crying for our loss but out of respect for another soldier.I don't cry when I look at that one, I just feel pride that my Dad helped our country. So, with that said, let me give you a few facts about our flag. Did you know...that is is acceptable to wash and dry clean a flag when it becomes soiled? One misconception is that if the flag touches the ground it must be destroyed, that is not correct. It may then also washed and dry cleaned. The Flag should be when flow over a street should be flown suspened vertically and should be flown North on East and West streets and to the East on North and South streets. When displayed from a building or widow sill it should be flown at the peak of the staff unless it's being flow at half staff. Only the President and State Governors can order a flag to be flown at half staff. When a flag has been damaged or no longer serviceable it must be disposed of in a respectful manor, which according to google and other sources is burning. I personally would take it to my local VFW and ask them to dispose of it. Now you may wonder what besides celebrating our independence prompted this little flag lesson..well let me tell you about someone very special to me. I want to tell you about a wonderful lady I have the pleasure of knowing. Her name is Nell. Now Nell, I'm going to tell your age even though it's not polite to give or ask a ladies age. I am giving yours because it helps with the frame of reference of all the history and changes you have seen in your lifetime. I must say first off I know of Nell's love for the American Flag. If I do my math correctly, Nell was born about 1919, (God hope's I can add and subtract as I was a banker! Isn't that Ironic Allanis?? Bad musical reference from the 90's.). When my Mom passed away, and this must sound like a really stupid little thing I gave Nell's daughter Judy the collection Mom had of American Flag and Patriot pins for Nell to have. I gave them to her because I knew she would treat them with respect and they would have a good home. Yes dear reader, I'm one of those weirdo's who think that objects have feelings. Anywhoo, back to Nell, I am in awe of all the things Nell has experienced. In 1919 life expectancy for a male was 48.4 years. In 2011 life expectancy is 78.7. An average yearly salary in 1900's around 1910-1010 was $750.00. In 2011 salaries vary from job to job. The top median salary for 35% of the population is $65,000. In the 1900's The National Debt was 1.15 Billion dollars. In 2011 it is 14 Trillion!!! Imagine seeing that change!! In the 1900's they still lynched people and in 1919 there was 76 lynchings. This statistic was not available for 2011 and I pray it doesn't still happen but I'm sure in some obscure corner of the US it does happen. Divorce statistic were 1/1000. In 2011 divorce happend to 10.3 per 1000 people (the .3 always confuses me, are they only .3 divorced??) Woodrow Wilson was President from 1919-1921. Today, in 2011 we have our first black President, Barrack Obama. Nell has lived through 28 Presidents and one assination. Prohabition started in 1919 and in 2011 we all have the right to drink ourselves silly. Nell has lived through 7 wars, well some people may argue 7 and say it was 6 because Korea was a "police action"...isn't that how Viet Nam started as well? There were 48 states in 1919 with Arizona being the 48th. We did not add two other states, Alaska and Hawaii until 1959. Now I did not write this to point out how old dear Nell. She just has seen so much history and experienced so much life under the saftey of our American Flag. Nell is a wonderful and amazing woman. Nell and her husband raised 5 children. Jim, Jack, Jerry, Judy and Jane I hope I remembered you all. She was a working woman not only at home but out in the world. My husband and I had the pleasure of having Nell at our wedding in 2002. We were honored that Nell had a special toast for us and a little song to share. It of course was a bawdy song about Cocaine Sue (I think that was her name). I would not have wanted her to sing anything else! So Nell, I wrote this for you even though these are all probably things you know, but I wanted to share your life and experiences with everyone else. I know I didn't even touch the surface I hope you don't mind. I have have written this with love and respect and to talk about, on this our independence holiday weekend about someone who truly loves our flag and what it stands for. When I look at a flag I honestly do think of you. I may not say it or see you often enough but I always think of you as my "Grandma" of my heart. So this weekend, put your hand over your heart, recite The Pledge of Allegiance and think about our service peope, our forefathers and one special lady who loves and respects the American Flag. I'd like to leave you with this little quote.."Some people call me an idealist, well that's the way I know I am an American" Unknow. Have a safe, happy 4th of July. Respectfully Pammy xoxoxxo