In the Final Analysis

If you are successful, you will win som

false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,

people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway....

You see, in the final analysis,

it is between you and god;

it was never between you

and them anyway.

What you spend years building,

someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,

they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway....

You see, in the final analysis,

it is between you and God;

it was never between you

and them anyway.

                    Mother Teresa

Well, I was rummaging around on another website, saw a question someone got asked about going to page 56 in the nearest book, and looking at line 14, and found this blurb by Mother Teresa.  I find it quite interesting, and seemingly true.  My interpretation of it, is to live life as you see fit, and if others stand in your way, so be it. 

We are tested for many different reasons, by many different people and many different situations and circumstances.  We can let these "tests" bring us down, or we can keep on, keeping on, doing what we feel is the right thing to do, and living as we feel we are supposed to live.  This may not please others, but it's the way things have to be. 

There's an old saying someone told me when I first got promoted into a management type position a long time ago - you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of them all of the time.  How true that statement really is!  Decisions we make on a day to day basis can be pleasing to some, displeasing to others.  Decisions some of us make can affect others in our lives, and even sometimes others not directly in our lives.  But, we have to do the best that we can do, and make the decisions that seem right for our lives.

I know I've made bad decisions in my life, but I've also made some good ones.  I'm not going to sit here and cry over the bad decisions - no use in doing that, I just need to make sure that I've learned from the bad ones so that I won't repeat the same mistakes.  Too many people don't learn from their mistakes and keep repeating them.  That's one of the reasons why history is so important to learn - people, countries, governments, etc., that don't learn their history and the mistakes that were made, are doomed to repeat them.

I will rejoice and take comfort in the good decisions that I've made, and celebrate, especially when it's a decision I've made after learning something from past mistakes.  I will share my experiences with others, so that they may also learn from my mistakes and not make the same errors that I have.  No one is perfect, and everyone can stand to learn something to avoid making mistakes in their lives that aren't worth repeating. 

I hope that I can continue to learn from my mistakes.  I am sure that I will continue to make mistakes - I'm human and not perfect - but I pledge to learn from them and not repeat the same ones over and over.  Maybe if more people learned from their mistakes, the world would be a more peaceful place.....

Forgiveness.....again......

Failure to forgive keeps you stuck in time that no longer exists.....Guru Singh

I saw that quote on a friend's profile on Facebook and it is so true.

I've forgiven those who have wronged me, regardless if they've asked for it or not. It doesn't mean I'm weak, or don't have a backbone, or that I will forget their actions. I don't ever forget one's actions - that always stays tucked away, in the far corners of my memory, but it's always there.

For those of you wondering - I'm not writing this in reference to any recent issues, I just saw the quotation, liked it, and decided to share.

I got nothing......

Nothing going on tonight. A good workout at the gym in Power class, had a great interval workout last night. Got a new pair of workout pants for $3, and 2 new tank tops for $5 each, clearance at Walmart is awesome!

Have nicknamed Gabriel, the puppy - Shitbird. He's the poopingest puppy I've ever seen! He's getting very very good at letting me know when he wants to go outside, though - he goes to the door. I just have to make sure I'm always paying attention to him, and immediately drop whatever I'm doing to take him out, to avoid accidents.

I'm pleased that my weight has stayed stable the last couple of weeks, even with the hormonal changes - no PMS bloating! Yay me!!! Steven and I are working on finding a workout schedule that really fits into our week, and there are still a couple of classes I'm interested in trying out, mainly the Water Fit class at the McDonough location.

Alrighty folks, it's almost midnight, I'm tired and still need to shower so I can hit the hay. I hope everyone had a great Tuesday, and that you will all have an awesome Hump Day tomorrow!

So much to do....so little time to do it.....

It's Sunday morning, just after 11am. My dad left at 6am this morning - headed to Florida to visit his brother and sister down there who aren't doing well. We had wanted to do breakfast, but I wasn't expecting a 6am wake-up call, plus I'd been up and down all night with tummy troubles. Seems Dairy Queen for dinner had some ill effects on both my dad and me. Steven has the iron stomach, so I don't think it bothered him.

At 6am, I not only still had the tummy troubles, but had a freaking sinus headache. Fall allergies have struck, I suppose, so it's time to start doping up on the benadryl, mucinex, etc., before this shit transitions into bronchitis. I stayed in bed, and Gabriel actually didn't make a peep when my dad left, and let me sleep til 10:30am! I was so stoked about getting to sleep in, you just can't imagine!

I still have a bunch of laundry to finish, and even more laundry to put away. Seems like we've been doing laundry over the past 2 weeks and haven't been putting it away, and my laundry room looks like it's going to explode with clothes and linens. At least I got some of it taken care of Friday and yesterday morning, but it's still a somewhat daunting task to finish today.

Steven is still asleep, on the couch (he gave up his bed for his Pap Pap). We need to be getting ready to head out for the FRG meet and greet. FRG = Family Readiness Group. As in the group that is there to provide support and friendship while our spouses are deployed. I'm not looking forward to the drive to the north side of Atlanta, but oh well, gotta go do this.

Sensitivity.....and apologies.....

Yep, some people takes things too personally. Or misinterpret them completely. And assume things about stuff that is said that is so far from the truth, that wasn't what was said, putting words in my mouth that were not there. Some people are always like that, and nothing will change about it, so there's no use in trying to explain it any further.

I will say this - in reference to the comment I made that started all this madness - I sincerely apologize for putting something out there that you took offense to. I honestly did not intend it to be taken and interpreted the way that all of you took it. My blog post last night was in response to the ugly things that were said about me - no, I shouldn't have posted it, but I would think you would understand why I did - I am sick to death of being harassed online, and am really tired of people always thinking things I say are about them, or mean something other than what I intended.

I would appreciate it, in the future, if I post something that you interpret that is negative and is directed at any of you, to please tell me directly, rather than posting nasty things about me online.

And in case you're wondering why I don't say any of this directly to you - you previously requested that I not contact you, so that's why I haven't contacted you directly. I post what I need to say to you here, because I know you read the blog and check out my other profiles and pages.

Wow, what a day.....

The day started off kinda shitty....literally.....seems Gabriel had an upset tummy and had a couple of accidents while he was unattended for a few minutes. That was just the straw that broke the camel's back for me - first I didn't get a good night's sleep because Gabriel wanted to whine for what seemed like all damn night, then I read an email from my mother and it contained info in it regarding one of those situations I mentioned in the last blog, where someone owes me an apology. Now, what she said wasn't really bad, but I'm a little sensitive right now, thanks to those lovely hormones, and it just made me mad. Then to find poop messes, not one, but two, that just set me over the edge.

I was yelling at Gabriel for him to come here (I was going to put him in the crate so he couldn't mess anywhere else in the house) and Steven thought I was yelling at him to get up. Poor thing!

Anyways, I got to work, posted on Facebook real quick about not having a brain-to-mouth filter today because of my mood, and told a quick story about an idiot customer, then just dove into my work. The day got better, for the most part, and by the time I left, I was in a much better state of mind. Until I got in the car. I started thinking about how to respond to Mom's email, and how to deal with that whole situation, and was just totally bummed out.

I got home, and Steven said I had some mail on my desk - it was my photo disc from our photo shoot last month! It was awesome to be able to see all the different pictures that were taken. Some of them are really, really good! Here's a few of them:







It's going to be hard to decide which pictures to enlarge for framing! I love Crystal's ideas on photography, and the artsy flair she puts into the shots. Check out the rest of the pictures here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2392813743278.263422.1338939435&l=4ac8b180fd&type=1

So it's hump day now - I hope you all have a great day - it's time for me to shower and hit the rack. Ta Ta for Now!

Forgiveness......

Forgiveness is so hard for some people to give, and even harder for some to ask for - as in offering an apology when they have wronged someone. There are so many people out there that owe an apology to others, for things that were said, things that were done.

I always try to apologize whenever I've made mistakes, or when I've wronged someone. There are times I don't want to, where I feel like I was right in offending someone else, just because they offended or wronged me first, but because I have also committed an offense, an apology is necessary.

I have a situation that I've discussed before, that started back in June. I'm still waiting for an apology. I made my apology already, made my feelings known about how the whole situation made me feel, how I perceived it, and all I got back were excuses for the bad behavior, as if that makes it okay. Not even a hint at an apology. And all I've gotten from family is "have you apologized yet?" or "have y'all made up yet?" to which I respond - "I already apologized" and "I've made the first move, it's up to him to respond and do what he needs to do to try to fix things".

Fuckin' A. I'm sick of repeating myself. I'm sick of explaining the same things over and over and over again about it. And apparently, or maybe I'm just assuming this, NO ONE IS ASKING HIM THE SAME QUESTIONS. It feels like everyone is putting this on me, from starting the problem, to trying to make me be the one to fix it. I'm not rehashing the details of the situation again, but dammit, this is getting old.

What's really sad though? When someone needs to apologize for their behavior, and everyone is telling them that they need to apologize, yet they are too stubborn, hard headed, blinded by a sense of self-righteousness or whatever, and they seem to think the other party actually owes them an apology. There's a different situation that occurred recently, that I was indirectly involved with, that this applies to.

To the person that owes a bunch of us an apology I want to say this - thank you for calling the law to the house for something you started. Thank you for bringing embarrassment to me, as everyone in the neighborhood saw the sheriff's department arrive, watched them hang around for over half an hour, and waited around until they left, continuing to wait for some kind of firewords to happen. Regardless of the reason for your disagreement with your sister, they were just words and she chose the high road, to leave and go across the street, to end the conflict as to not ruin the weekend for everyone. You chose to escalate the situation even further by involving law enforcement.

Whatever your disagreement was, it didn't make it okay for you to want to leave the premises with your 6yr old child and hitch hike up the interstate home, especially after another sister offered you the use of her truck to drive home, which you refused, after you called 911 from the house to ask if it was legal to hitch hike with the kid and the dispatcher told you it wasn't. So you walk to the store and call 911 and claim we have kidnapped your child or whatever BS story you told them. The officer that came to the back of the house specifically said "if she leaves the house again and wants to take the child, let her, then call 911 and report it, and we will arrest her for child endangerment when we catch her hitch hiking on the interstate."

I don't expect an apology out of you, as you seem to be convinced you are the one that has been wronged. So don't even bother. But you seriously owe the rest of your family an apology. A sincere apology that you actually mean - not a half-assed, because other people are telling me to do it one. But no one's gonna hold their breath waiting for it.

Anyways, I digressed into a situation there that I had said I wasn't going to talk about anymore, but it angers me to know that this person showed out and now expects everyone else to bow down to her. All because of past hurts and wrongs, of which I know little of, but are not relevant to the event that occurred last weekend.

I hope that all of you out there are mature enough and humble enough to apologize when necessary, and to offer forgiveness when someone apologizes to you for wronging you.