Your Coach is not your Nanny

If you want your child to be babied, comforted, pumped up falsely to believe he/she did a great job when they didn't  then you don’t need a coach.. you need a nanny. Your child doesn't need to be on a team sport.

BUT if you want your child to learn how to work with others…

If you want that child to know that life brings defeat as well as winning..

That hard work brings results. And sometimes when it doesn't  you get out there and try again.. but harder… then you want your child in team sports and you want a good coach.

Why parents don’t want their children to learn there is defeat, is beyond me.  Defeat is good, because you also learn, if you are lucky.. there is another day.. there is another game.. and while winning is nice.. you learn more by the mistakes you make.

And you did notice I said a “good coach”. One who will yell, get back on the horse, get back in the game, get out there and try harder… but also tells them, what a great effort they did while trying.. even if the results didn't come this time around..

You got to be kidding...

As those of you who read by blog know, I have given up on the political scene for the most part.. Doesn’t mean I don’t dabble from time to time to see what the parties are up to.. dabble is all I dare do, as it is so repulsive most of the time.

So while I had some down time over the weekend, I hit on the CPAC. For those like me.. who didn’t know what that stands for. It stands for ….

The Conservative Political Action Conference…which I guess is a get together for the conservatives.. AND they decide to elect officials around the United States…to spread their word… On the several sites I tapped into, had the who’s who of the Republican party. Except I didn’t see the

only Republican I consider even looking into, so far.. Christie from New Jersey. Don’t know what he did to make the Republican Gods mad.. but he was a subject

of ridicule from one of the hatemongers. Talk about eating your own…And some guy name Terry Scott who thinks slavery is just fine? That is when I had to leave the sites…

Really???? Do the some of these Republican’s really believe that? I can only hope and pray that this is just some radical… Any way, the meanness in my

thought as I tapped thru these different sites.. too bad we couldn’t have all these people stay in one town and run their town …compound like… they want and leave the rest of us people alone… I know that isn’t a very good thing to say.. but I am disgusted with these people… and to scare the real crap out of you..THESE PEOPLE NOT ONLY VOTE… BUT THEY ARE TRYING TO TELL YOU HOW TO VOTE..  I mean get real people.. when one of the people invited

to their gathering is Donald Trump… give me a break…  Yes, keep them all together and don’t let them spread this vile on the rest of us.   

Well, there is 15 minutes I won’t get back of my life…. Got to go.. there is so much out there that is good, don’t want to give any more to this stuff… 

A new Pope...

Yesterday, the people of Rome saw white smoke and then waited an hour to see who was chosen.

Pope Francis is his name.. Seems to be a pretty decent guy from the sounds of things.. and hope he can help out the Catholic church get back on track. He sure has his work cut out for him.

They say he is a man for the people… that he led a meek life style in Argentina. Even when he became a Cardinal, he told the people to stay home and use the traveling money for the poor, instead of going to Rome to see him become a Cardinal.  That he lived in a small apartment and rode the bus or train … when he traveled… right up until he came to Rome to vote for the next Pope.

I like that he is easy to smile. Some of the past Pope’s always looked stern. Maybe it is the job. The last couple have been pretty good about it.. but I remember one they had when I was in my 20’s, and I don’t think he ever smiled.

I wish all my Catholic friends well, with their new Pope… and hope all the snide remarks of “don’t cry for me Argentina” go away…I just don’t get some people.

God Bless… Pope Francis, may you bring the pride of the Catholics back again.  

KNOCK 3 TIMES BAR....

We discovered that a bar was coming to our neighborhood.

No letters from the city or anything kind of notices… it was

a word of mouth type of a deal.

But we aren’t worried about it… so far.. as it appears to be a

Private bar… I call it the “knock three times” bar… after the

3 Dog Night song.  We have been told, that most won’t know

it is there.  That it had been at its former place for a couple years.

on the other side of town. Which none of us were aware of that one.

No signs.. only word of mouth.  Friends, I guess. Same with the one

at the gas station office.

Seems there are two of these. Both of them are and were in an office

corner.  I have never been to either of them. Heck I wasn’t even aware of

either of them until just last month.

I guess both of these people had bought a liquor license sometime in

the past for the city of Kootenai. And the city only allows 2 such licenses.

Goes by how many people live in the city.  We have about 640 now.. With

Annex area, we grew 200. We were 440 for many years.

But because these people paid good money for these license, they

don’t want to let them lapse.  But I guess there is a new (or maybe not

new) rule is that it has to be a working bar in order for them to keep them.

So this one will be open for 4 hours once a week… At least that is the

word we got.

I was upset at first as I thought that the neighborhood should have been

notified… it wasn’t because… the bar is in a commercial area.  Those of

us in the neighborhood thought it was a commercial/industrial area..but

I guess if it is called commercial, a bar can put placed there. See our street

is half commercial (on the west side) and residential (on the east side). So

we don’t have to be notified.

Lucky for us.. this is a low key bar…like I said.. I call it the knock 3 times bar..

Had it been a full fledged neon sign bar, I would be ticked to the maxed..

But it seems unethical for these two places to have a liquor license in an

office corner… blocking anyone else from getting one in our town. Or have

to pay a ransom price, I am sure to buy them out.  Just something about that,

that rings wrong.

But I am happy it is a knock 3 times bar.. as we won’t even know it is here,

(if it is like the former place and other one in town) … so guess I should thank

my lucky stars.  

I guess I could go over and knock 3 times and tell them Joe sent me... lol

Men get so excited over nothing.

Last week, I decided to try an new recipe of oven fried chicken.

Went on line and found an easy recipe for it.

I followed it and then put it in the oven for dinner. I went over to my computer and shut down some of the pages I was working on.

Went to the back of the house shred a paper and came out to the living room.. Smelled a slight smoke smell… so went into the kitchen. Turn on the switch for the exhaust fan. And because for some reason, whenever we have smoke or smells from the kitchen, it flows thru the dining room to the back of the house. So I went back to shut the doors on the 3 back rooms.

As I came back to the kitchen I could see there was more smoke. I turn off the oven, open the back door right next to the oven. Walked to the front door in the living room and open that door. As I was heading back to the kitchen.. in enters THE KING.. Takes one look at the smoke

and starts to bellow .. 

THERE IS SMOKE POURING OUT OF THE OVEN. (good eyes) He opens the window (next on my list) and says ….

We need to call the Fire dept.  We need help to get this smoke out of here…I tell him to calm down, I have control over it.. just take it easy. He is pacing the kitchen, still bellowing.. (who needs a fire alarms when I have the King.) Look, the ceiling is going to have to be washed and repainted… still bellowing.

I told him to calm down as I removed the chicken from the oven.. and also the shelves. And took them outside.

Which, of course, more smoke comes out as I am releasing it with the oven door opened. LOOK, he yells… I shut the oven door… push him back outside.. tell him to go back to his garage.. I have everything in control..  And as he steps off the deck, He says… yea, it looks like it.. (He, of little faith).

I spent the next half hour washing down the walls, floor and ceiling of the oven.

Washed the shelves and put them back.. Took the chicken in, put it in the fry pan.  Started the salad… Check on the chicken.. OH, CRAP.. the front of the stove is grey with smoke… So got the Lysol out before the King returns…as that would have sent him back over the edge..

So 15 minutes later, chicken is done, salad is done.. dinner is on the table when the King walks back in … no smoke..doors closed, window closed..

He looks at the ceiling.. it is still white… whew…

And I looked at him… and said… see I told you.. I had everything under control…  Men get so excited over nothing..

By the way, I got to remember to replace the smoke alarm.. lol… we wore it out last year..  NO, it was NOT MY COOKING..

No bounce in the carriage..or this white girl has no rhythm...

Saturday mornings are Zuma classes for me… My daughter makes me do it, (in the tune of the devil made me do it)… she says it is good for me.. Where did I miss the turn there.. It was my job to tell my kids what was good for them. Some

where I went around the corner and came back behind, with me being on the receiving end.

Every Saturday for the past 3 or 4 Saturdays… (it seems longer)… I drag my funky butt out of the bed… drink coffee.. find loose clothing… and head for SOUL TOWN FITNESS.   There is a sweet, bubbly (luckily I had my first cup of coffee or I would hate early morning bubbly) gal name Kathy Funk, (nothing to do with funky butts) who turns up the music and gets us rolling… hips that is.. and arms.  I must tell you that Kathy is a wonderful cheerful gal.. who really does

believe in all of this exercise bit. She is a prime example how it all works well for those who work out.  As a overweight woman, (she has the pictures to prove it.) is now a thin one… but not too thin.. bubbly fountain of cheer.  So anyone who lives local.. you are missing out, if you don’t go down and see what is going on there in Ponderay. There are classes for $7 for zumba… $10 for others.. or buy a discount card of 10… Or you can join the fitness club.  Very nice clean place.

While this sounds like a commercial, it isn’t.. it is a fact. And now you will know..that the below part of this.. is not Kathy’s fault… just that this white girl(me) has no rhythm.

I have never been a fan of exercise. Like different diets, I have done just about all the exercises of choices over the years… One I did really well, losing 50 pounds… it was a cassette tape that I did daily along with walking a mile to the

mail box.  I HATED THAT TAPE… I hated it the first day… and I hated it up to the 9^th month when I quit doing it.  I looked GREAT!!!! I could fit in my teenager

son’s jeans… oh, yea… I looked great, well there were some who thought at 121 pounds I looked too thin… but I was so happy with myself… BUT…I hated that tape. I prayed each day for the cool down part to hurry up, and at the end,

where you lay on the floor and do some last stretches.. was the heaven part of it.

Now fast forward to 2013…. I am now 30 years older. And I kick myself all the way down to the fitness center… I HATE EXERCISING… I can think of a dozen reasons why I don’t have to go… But I walk in with a smile on my face, change

into my sneakers.. head to the room with bottle of water in hand.. and greet everyone… Not going to be a wet blanket.

So today, I am wiggling parts that haven’t for years, until the past couple weeks.

Trying to get the brain to coordinate my arms with my legs and hips.   And  not look like a disconnected puppet. I have to concentrate on one or the other and then try to get the other to join in… If I can get my hips and legs going in the right direction, then I try to get the arms and shoulders to do what it is suppose to do. Rarely works.. but I try.  I get frustrated as I don’t understand why this does not work well.. I use to be able to jump around.. now it is a shuffle… then it dawns on me…. MY CARRIAGE… MY CARRIAGE DOESN’T HAVE A BOUNCE IN IT ANYMORE… IT IS MORE LIKE A BUCKBOARD ON A RUTTED ROAD. 

I think, ok, I have gave this a good try.. but I am not going to do this anymore… I am comfortable with that… as we are doing the cool down to “SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME”…. Which I am handling pretty well.. after all, I had danced to that for years… and this was going to be my last dance..  ……………………..

And then… my daughter comes up to me… and says… ‘you are doing great, Mom. (yea, right… she honed in on my brain wave (kids do that when they are adults, like we use to do to them)  I know… she just wants to have me not give up and keep coming.. I am on to her…..  AND THEN… as I pay Kathy, she says… you are doing so great… I told her… I don’t think so… my carriage has no bounce… it is more of a buckboard …. And laughed.. She laughed and said.. no

Really you are doing well, and I am so glad you are coming…

Geesh, Maries… I don’t want to go back… I HATE EXERCISE.. oh, guess I already said that…  I walked out into the wonderful sunshine… thinking.. I don’t want to go back…. (and the little voice, sounding like my rotten kid, says.. but it is good for you….and you need to stretch your comfort zone.)  BUT I HATE EXERCISE…  I know.. I already said that… I am repeating myself.. I am old…I am allowed to do that.

So come Saturday morning.. we will see who wins out… I look forward to the end of the month.. as I will have a good excuse for not going… we are going out of town.  Lol…   

Rearing to go...

I feel like I am all dressed up and nowhere to go..

Like I am in high gear and someone has the brakes on.

I got the fever, and got shot down.

Monday was wonderful.. The sun was out all day long.

I worked outside from about 10am to 2pm.. even the dog

basked in the sun.  I got a lot done. And it was just the tip of

the work to be done yet..

I restrained myself from uncovering my rose bushes.. I didn’t

cut the ones back that need it..I didn’t cut back the clematic like I did last year… Nope… I was good.  

See, last year we had two weeks of high 40s and low 50’s. I

thought … wow, early spring!!!  OH, SO… NOT!!!!...  

As the following week we had  8 inches of snow. Lost two rose bushes.. two more were very late in growing and budding, that I thought they were dead.

And the clematis was only half of what it had been the past years.

Nope this year, I am going to be good…. And patience..

So go ahead and snow, I know it will be gone by the weekend.. And I know it will be at least a month before I can really get going, but I dabble a little bit … when it warms up this weekend.

8 years ago today...

8 years ago……

2174 post ago….. I was sitting up one night… couldn’t go to sleep…. SoI went and read a couple of blogs… Slight Detour.. and No Holds Bar. (now called Huckleberry’s Online). 

As I finished up Slight Detour, which was run by Marianne Love and art by her brother, Jim… there was a little line on the very top of the page… those famous

words by BLOGSPOT.  

YOU TOO, CAN START A BLOG…. IT IS AS EASY AS 1…2….3….

I thought about it… Dave Oliveria from  No Holds Bar, had told me I should start one.. And I told him, no… I didn’t have enough to say to do a blog. That I was just a word tosser… (mainly towards his way, by emails).

Well, the rest is history… I used the Wordtosser for my name.. and came up with FROM A SIMPLE MIND… because that was pretty much the truth…and still is.  Readers have come and gone.. New ones have signed on.. I change the back drop three times(thank you Toni), I have shorten it from every day to 4 days a week with holidays off.  But have stuck it out for 8 years… At first I gave myself a month… that lead to a year.

Now I figure if I can last two more years… I will call it quits as 10 years is plenty… beside there has been times when I thought I would just flat give it up.  But every time I have had that thought, something would bug that crap out of me…and I ended up typing away…

I have a sweet wonderful woman, name Jo, (I have written about her in the past) who loves my blog. She tells me that she doesn’t know how I can come up with this stuff to write about.  And to be honest with you, I don’t know how I do it either.  Sometimes I look at this blank page, and

figure, ok, this is the day it stops.. then I type an idea.. and off it goes.

I mostly like writing humorous things.. the fun ones are the ones where I can tell on myself.. of my idiotic ideas, that go wrong. Sometimes it is a soap box about what really ticks me off… Sometimes it is something sad that has happen.    But the ones that are the most fun, are the funny

ones… as I love humor … I love the sound of laughter..

And hopefully I make people laugh… leading to one of my favorite phrases that I use… “Well, I leave you laughing”….. that is one of my sign offs when on the phone. Hopefully I have you as well, my dear readers…  So hang in there.. hopefully I can reach my goal.. of 2 more

years.. God willing…

And here is the first post of 8 years ago…

SATURDAY, MARCH 05, 2005

From a Simple Mind

March 5, 2005

Going to try this out... I am just a word tosser... but a lazy one... don't know if I have enough in my mind to do a daily blog. So don't expect much...

SUNSHINE IN MY LIFE....

 This is the part of Spring I don't like.... Pick up rocks... from the snowblower and plow that the King
used over the winter...

 But the Lilac bush is giving me hope that Spring is coming with its buds starting...

Even Misty is enjoying the sunshine...

 The greenhouse is bare but not for long.. soon .. we hope to add the plastic once again..

 The apple tree is budding as well....

 the backyard birds have visited...

 The raised garden beds are starting to wake... from its winter sleep ... can't wait to start our new
project of planting... suppose to be better produce and less weeds.. we shall see...

 in the dark of the shade is ice still...

 And snow lays waiting .... in the dark of the shadows to remind us not to get into a
hurry...

 And my bike waits... its turn to come out of the shed...

 Yet there is still snow on top of the mountain for the skiers to enjoy a few more times...

 And look who is here for dinner... a full bush ....

This is not lost on Rokon, as she scouts out the bush full of birds... as she ventures out
the first time this year..

ENJOY THE SUNSHINE... I SURE AM...

To Accept the Things I Cannot Change....

To accept the things I cannot change....

We all know the  Serenity Prayer... God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the 

things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. 

I know it is used as a  sobriety prayer but it can pertain to life 

as well. 

This past week and weekend has really brought this prayer to a more meaningful thought.

With the way that Congress is handling itself, and their disregard for all of us, this prayer comes to mind.. They talk about entitlements.. but the only ones I see, are the Congress personal themselves. They make rules and policies that we don't have input.. but that isn't bad enough.. but they make rules and policies for us.. and not for them to follow. The rules are different for them.. their insurance is different than ours.. they have their own private retirement yet don't have any of it in the Social Security systems.. yet they call us the entitlement group.. They tell us to tighten out belts up, but they never do it to themselves.

All of this, is things I have finally decided, (where the prayer 

comes in)  to accept the things I cannot change.  courage to 

change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.  

To know the difference is where I was confused or at least had hope.  At this stage of my life... I know, I can not change what 

the government does. Congress will do as they pleased.  We don't seem to be able to find a few good men/women... or maybe that is the trouble.. we can only find a very few... but again that is overruled by other states. They send year after year... people 

who could only care if they get re-elected. Not for the country..

but to feather their beds.  You say, well, we should have term limits. Well, that is the biggest joke on us, of all.  Because the 

only way you can even get term limits... is if CONGRESS 

VOTES IT IN..  Well, good luck with that.  Out of those 500+ people there in that building.. how many do you seriously think 

are going to vote for term limits?  You see how many times 0. 

The only ones talking about it, is US...  These people have 

decided it is a career ... it was never meant to be a career.

So I have decided.. yes, I will read the garbage that the media 

keeps spieling out from time to time...half truths and spins.... 

(I wonder what ever happen to FACTS?) But I am not going to make it my life...not even a half of my life.. it will be low percentage.

For you see, I found out last week a friend died last Nov. He 

died by himself until his mail person found him.. what a sad 

way to go... Another blogger has had a stroke, but she is holding 

her own. This woman wrote poetry that I enjoyed reading..

I HATE POETRY. Hers made sense and made me laugh.  

Luckily her family has left her blog up so I can go revisit.   I 

also have a friend who has been fighting cancer for 7 long 

years.. Chemo, radiation, and back to chemo again.  My gal 

pal, fell on the ice and broke her ankle. I have been doing what 

I can for each of these ladies.. to lunch if they feel up to going 

out, taking to doctor appointments, taking them shopping when 

they can...  Another family in my world, is fighting for their 

lives for mental health... and prayers is all I can offer.

So who the HELL am I... to complain about anything... 

especially about things I can not doing anything about.  I am blessed many folds over. I have my health. I have a loving husband.. I have great kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids... 

and many good friends.. So why should I waste my time... 

on what I can not change.  So I have decided to enjoy the 

moment. Enjoy the laughter, I give and receive.  And hope the Master isn't done with this old piece of clay.

Enjoy the day... be it sunshine or rain. Be it cloudy, or snow.  

Be it a day of tears or laughter.. experience it all.    

And accept the things you can not change. 

And the wisdom to know the difference.