Laughing,designing, cutting,pinning,sewing,chopping,mixing,cooking,baking,rolling,frosting,tasting,planning,

losing,training,testing,swearing,driving,camping,coming,going,staying….And that’s just the last couple of weeks! Tomorrow is a big day for me, IT’S MY 40TH BIRTHDAY! And I am absolutely GIDDY!

As you might have noticed, I’ve started giving this poor abandoned place a fresh coat of paint, moved some things around and dusted off the cobwebs. As soon as the fruit loops of my loins are settled back in school next week and there’s a bit of order restored to mi casa, I think I might write again. I do miss it. Most days.

Now, my free time is over and it’s back to the party preparations for tomorrow’s shindig! Next time I’m back in here, I’LL BE 40! WHEEEEEEE!!

   Just when you had forgotten all about a mysterious Raven and her unique brand of insanity, I peek my head in to tease you a little. I’ve been in a self imposed and much needed internet free world for a while, and I make no claim to be returning in any sort of a regular fashion, but tonight, I’m almost here. Almost.

     I took my littles on a vacation to get them away from the giant television, video games and computers. We spent a blissful memory making giggle filled week back up North listening to the trees and enjoying the outdoors. I have been trying to post more photos, but sky drive has it’s knickers in a bit of a twist. So for tonight, you’ll have 30-something pictures to peruse.

     I shall return in the next few days to write something good and improper, as is my way, and catch you up a bit with the ramblings, rantings and riotings of a Magnificent Raven. Right now, I’m getting ready to see Jonny Lang in concert at the Lake. Hope Summer is treating you all as you deserve thus far. Until later~R

      Today curiosity got the better of me and I ventured over to an online archery business run by a woman who likes to quote the bible and claim to be a good Christian. What I found on this site made my blood run cold. If there were a picture that clearly defined "hypocrite" in any dictionary in existence, this person would be the poster child.   How can someone who claims:" 'My goal is always to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as stated in John 13:15 "I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do' " wake up every morning, look at themselves in the mirror and not be filled with shame and self loathing? Does she buy the brand of bullshit she's peddling? She crams her hypocritical ass into camouflage, paints her face, sprays herself with an odor masking spray, lays a pile of bait on the forest floor beneath a tree whilst she perches smugly in her tree stand 30' off the ground waiting for a helpless creature to feed so she can take it's life with a crossbow. Now I might be way off base here, but killing indiscriminately doesn't seem very, well...Christian of her. Is that the model about which she thinks Jesus Christ was speaking?  I wasn't aware of Jesus hunting with a crossbow purely for "sport". I wasn't aware that Christian beliefs exclude animals from "all God's creatures".

     The worst part isn't the gruesome killing for no apparent reason, nor is it the big fake smile plastered on her face as she kneels over the animals she has murdered but doesn't eat, use, wear, etc. The worst part is that she is a single mother of two young daughters and she is sharing her "teachings" with them as well, teaching them to kill for no reason, and most importantly, to smile big for the camera when they pose next to their victims. I can just picture her out in the forest after making yet another cruel and unnecessary kill, holding hands with her children as they recite this little passage she has on her website:

     " And whatever you do......do it all in the name of Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Colossians 3:17"

     Do you think the men pictured in her "trophy gallery" kneeling and smiling over the majestic lion and jaguar "trophy kills" felt closer to god and gave their heartfelt thanks for being allowed the privilege of taking the life of another living creature for no reason at all? Do they hunt for their own survival? Can you imagine a photo of a murderer smiling and kneeling over their victim being shown in a church? Oh goodness no, that would be sinful. Hypocrites.

     I'm sure that any god would be proud to have these people as followers.

Out my window
the only thing visible for miles is dark sky
Black and white choices leave a deep blue inside.
Plans undone, words unspoken, unanswered questions,
stacks of letters tied with frayed purple ribbons
and many written yet left unsent.
Why?
The road to hell isn't paved with good intentions
it's paved with regret.
Fortunately, I believe in neither.
Hell or regret that is. 
Good intentions, I can take them or leave them
preferring instead to let my words act as the foreplay to my social intercourse. 
Actions really do speak louder,
I am going to prove that.
Pushing forward temporarily hindered
by a desperate wish to turn back time.
Perhaps standing perfectly still is a better idea? 
I kind of like the idea of the world revolving around me for a while.     

   I set out to post something here.  A pondering? A musing? Pusing? Mondering? Wandering....in any case, I had either too much or not enough to say so I sat, staring at a blank page and smiling broadly because for the first time in what seems like months, I feel like myself. In the spirit of feeling myself, or something along those lines, I nestled my ear buds in my ears (good place, eh?), built a playlist and got to typing. 

   So far, January 1, 2009 has been a GREAT day!  Back up one day if you don't mind. 2008-The year that was seemingly endless was given a boot to the ass while I watched the last sunset down at the beach yesterday. With the sand between my toes, the ocean mist coaxing my hair into dreadlocks, the sun shining on my face and the sound of my beautiful offspring frolicking, everything faded away to a murmur, a heartbeat that grew slower and slower until, as the sun darted behind the clouds, it fell silent. Finally. Good bye 2008, thank you for the smiles, laughs, tears, pain, pleasure and new crop of shimmery silver hairs. It's been a nice ride, but I raised my hand and want to be let off.

   Last year wasn't terrible by any means, but it had it moments-good and bad.  I won't, no, let me change that, I don't dwell on past events, it's not good for my soul or my complexion. I need to keep laughing to stay crinkle free, right? So forward I push, smiling and singing as I go. Have I even made a point here? No? Well, ok....I'll leave you with something profound then, I have a phone call to make anyway *grinning impishly*

     "To live each day as if it were your last, you would be trying to remedy all the mistakes you had made, all the regrets, all the things unsaid. If you live each day as if it were your first, you are freed from all the obligations, all guilt, all regret."~excerpt from "Breathing Space" by Katrina Repka and Alan Finger

    Here's to a lifetime of firsts!! Happy 2009 everyone!!! Bright blessings and warm hugs~

Raven

    Does Macy's have a gay apparel department? Anyone? Don't adjust your monitors or genitalia, it's not an Internet hoax, it's true, The Magnificent Raven (followed by a herald of trumpets) has resurfaced after a month that would have left most mortals in a jacket with no sleeves locked in a padded room attempting not to drool on themselves. Or for most of you, the same reaction looking at my photos has on you! Run on sentences-WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

     I won't share all the gory details of my mysterious disappearance (I'm not THAT kind of blogger), some of you know and the rest of you can be ass hurt because I didn't tell you, but you can ask Santa to hold you whilst you write about it in your journals. I will however, being a beautifully stacked and delightfully sarcastic goddess, tell you that it involved my mother, a call to 911, a 9 day hospital stay (hers, not mine),  rain rain and more fucking rain, leaky ceilings, and the pickle on my crap sandwich:  4 days of stomach flu (mine, not mom's). Please save all questions for the end of our program and  thank you for not making me drown you in your own egg nog before the holidays are over.

     What? No seasonal rant blasting the greed and materialistic corruption of this holiday season also stolen from the happy naked Pagans? No my darlings, not tonight...You see, I don't hate the holidays, not at all. Sure, I don't believe that Jesus is the reason for the season, but if you do, that's peaches and creamy with me. And yeah, I don't condone going into debt to buy buy buy, but again, it's not my bank account being drained, but I do believe in spreading my holiday joy, blinding the world with my million dollar smile, hugging with my whole body, giving gifts that I have made with my own two intensely talented hands *wiggling eyebrows*, and sharing my home baked goods so scrumptious your eyes will roll back in your skull and you'll be speaking in tongues! Show of hands, who wants a mug of hot schnapplets and some warm raspberry vodka infused lemon cake glazed with dark chocolate?

     ...And Raven exclaimed, as she flew out of sight, Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night!     

     Today, most likely as I type this,  many American families have donned their elastic waist pants and are preparing to stuff their pie holes with more calories and fat than one human should ever eat in a single sitting under the guise of a Thanksgiving celebration. In New York, masses of people lined up in the cold to watch ginormous balloons go by, surely a subconscious re-enacting of the pilgrims parading through the streets with the severed heads of murdered native Americans on stakes (thanks Ella!) to show they conquered the land they stole from people who had been living on it for many many years before they brought their rigid beliefs and narrow viewpoints along with an inflated sense of entitlement to "a new land". Or as some of you may see it listed, "The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade".

    Why do people do this every year on the fourth Thursday of November? Are you thankful for genocide, theft, rape, disease, violence and all those other great things that the Pilgrims stowed in the over head compartments of the Mayflower when they set off in search of a better place to live? Weren't the pilgrims attempting to escape religious persecutions themselves? Well what better way to get karma to ensure your survival than to declare indigenous people "godless savages" and then use violence to get what you want! Oh, and then to call themselves "settlers"...isn't that a hoot! The land they forcibly took would have been a hell of a lot more difficult for them to settle if the assorted native Americans, Spaniards and Africans hadn't settled there first! So once again, I ask you, why do people celebrate Thanksgiving?

    I've been asking my family members, who have not been listening to me for the last decade or so when I tell them every single year that I do NOT celebrate Thanksgiving, why they do. My insane mother's reason is that she really likes the foods. Well, she likes every single kind of food on the planet, so I asked her to be more specific. She told me that she just loves turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, etc etc etc...which lead me to ask her, "So mom, since the grocery stores sell those foods all year, why don't you eat them whenever you want?". Silence.

    My mother in law asked me 428 times this year alone what I was doing for Thanksgiving, and 428 times I told her the same thing, "we don't celebrate Thanksgiving". She stares blankly at me. I asked her why she does, it only seems fair. No answer. She just does, because "that's what people do" she told me. Her reason for celebrating Christmas or December 25 is the same.

    I've heard about every reason possible, my favorites being:
"It's a time to give thanks" So, you only give thanks once a year?

"It's a time to be with friends and family" So again, you only want to spend time with your family and/or friends once a year? Nice.

    I guess what I'm not understanding is, if you love your family and friends and you want to show them that you are thankful, why do you wait until the fourth Thursday in November? Shouldn't you do this as often as humanly possible? Daily even? Has anyone ever questioned the lies that have been fed to American school children for ages in regards to the "first Thanksgiving"? No? Just me? Well then, I'll let you get back to oblivious and uninformed feasting. Don't worry yourselves at all about this year's massacre of Indians over in Mumbai, just loosen your pants and heap some more food on your plate. It's what American's do today, right?

     Greetings and Salutations Friends and worshippers!! I only have 2 free seconds to rub together (anything after 2 will be billed to my credit card) to stop in and let you know that tomorrow Casa de Raven opens her warm and inviting doors for the season!

     I'll be heading up to the airport Monday afternoon to pick up my sweet friend from the wilds of Northern Michigan to [hopefully] help thaw him out and recharge his batteries before he returns to the snow at the end of the week. While I am aware that welcoming folks from the cold climates to bask in my warmth might be construed as cruel and unusual punishment, but I'm still going to do it!! Oh, did I mention that the weather is in the 80's?

   Here's a little taste of our tentative itinerary for the week:

Going to the beach to explore tide pools, frolic in the water and work on our tans

Hiking through beautiful canyons in search of treasures

A possible trip to Disneyland or Knott's to put our hands up and go Wheeee whilst screaming like girls. Ok, maybe not me screaming like a girl....

a possible trip to The Queen Mary for exploring and photographing

Making lots of GREAT food to share

Talking, smiling, laughing, dancing, singing, and other various and assorted forms of merriment including, but not limited to indulging my guest's every whim, making him feel warm and happy, and taking TONS of photos!!

    Ok, I'm off to bake cookies...make sure to book your stay at Casa de Raven early, we book up quickly around here!

The 43rd Annual Genbu-Kai  Karate Tournament

Women's 36-45 Kata Competition

GOLD MEDALIST!!!!!

yay ME!

    I was the only competitor in my age group with the testicular fortitude to go on to free sparring, so the head referee gave me the choice to stay in my division and take a gold medal for sitting there or join the women's 18-35 division and take my chances. I chose honor over glory and was taken out in elimination. I would rather fight and not medal than get a medal just for sitting there.

    My son earned himself a bronze medal for his kata and fought valiantly but didn't medal in free sparring either.

     We're awesome!

     We're tired...

      Thank you to my friends who sent me good luck wishes on my cell phone! Next tournament is the HUGE International tournament in February next year. I'll be full contact sparring in that one and also competing in kata. Hopefully something will be done about that pesky 18-39 year old women's division. Is it me, or is there something not right about a 39 year old woman having to spar with teenagers?

It's Halloween...

Lick a Witch for good luck!

Samhain Blessings~

Raven

   Shhhh...be very quiet, I'm here, but not really here.  Ok, so when we last heard from our heroine, she was battling germs and generally feeling confuzzled, but that only lasted about 9.4 minutes before she, what the fuck am I doing referring to myself in the third person? *Shaking the cobwebs from my brain*, Now, where was I? Oh yes, I'm back to my fabulous self and better than ever, just really really busy. Until I have the time or inclination to sit down for more than a few minutes at a time, let me give everyone a briefing, or would you prefer that I debriefed you?

-----I am currently spending 5 days a week, nearly 2 hours a day in the gym training in addition to the 3-4 days a week that I am in the dojo training as well.

-----No, I haven't lost my mind, I'm competing on Sunday in another tournament. If you are in driving distance, I expect to see you in the stands cheering me on.

-----When I am not in the gym, I am either in the car or in my house. My time at home is spent being a menace to my offspring or gutting something that has long been neglected. I welcome any and all help, so form committees and get over here! Please and thank you.

-----Yesterday I met my friend Patrick up in Los Angeles and the family and I showed him some nifty things to do instead of laying over in the airport. I will post pictures in the next couple of days. We had SOOOO much fun!

-----I have been experiencing technical difficulties with loading photos on my space, so the air show photos are late and going on in little bursts, but I will be all caught up sometime this week.

-----And my 5.3 spare minutes for this part of my day have officially come to an end. Duty calls!

I will make an attempt to pop in here and there on a more irregularly regular schedule, but I make no promises. In the meantime, there will be photos, snacks, and groping to keep you happy.

OH! And due to an increasing number of spam comments left on dozens of my older blogs a couple times a week and MSN's lack of action when I bitch about it, I have made my space sorta kinda private.

Now I'm really going!  Kisses and such~ R

     Huddled under a blanket, clutching a mug of hot ginger tea, and wishing one of my symptoms would break so I could get something done, I'm back where I started. With earbuds familiarly nestled in my ears and the music at a volume that will hopefully drown out the riot in my brain, I write for me and me alone. My neck hurts from the weight of the world pressing down on me and I've had a headache for a solid month, but maybe that's exactly what I needed to find my words again. My words, not words composed for someone else's entertainment or enjoyment, but mine. Society's rules may apply to me but whether I choose to follow them is a completely different novel. The songs cycle, one after another, driving my fingers to fly with wild abandon across keys so worn that many of the letters are gone, just like my desire to deny my heart what it needs.  No matter how loud I make the music, the turmoil is louder and even that isn't as loud as my desire to take to the skies. But I stay, my work here isn't quite done yet. The song playing now isn't even in English, I sing along anyway. Alejandro Sanz y Shakira's voices blend together and send my thoughts racing, like a figure in black on a dark two lane road.  Sometimes we don't understand the words but we manage to sit still and listen until the last note.

a rant of that would be of truly epic proportions if it weren't so fucking hot and my head wasn't pounding

Every where I go there are glittery pink pieces of nonsense plastered with the name Hannah Montana and a picture of some vacant bubble headed blonde whore in the making. Who the fuck is Hannah Montana and why the hell won't she just go away? To add to the funcusion, when I was hurling "Who the fuck is Hannah Montana" profanities in the general direction of the unsuspecting manager at a video store, I turned to see a DVD entitled, "Miley Cyrus meets Hannah Montana"!! So, are we to understand that one or the other are not the same? Is she/it schizophrenic?

Today our temperatures soared to a tourettes inducing 101.5 degrees, yes, in October, and as if that weren't enough to make me roundhouse kick a complete stranger in the face, the humidity plummeted to 6%. Hot and dry are never words I want to use together. If something is hot, it damn well better be wet too!

I received a catalog last week chock full of whore-y Halloween costumes. Who knew that the likes of Alice in Wonderland, Raggedy Ann, Robin Hood, lady bugs, bumble bees, Elvis and Sponge Bob could be slutted up?  The best, and worst part of this particular catalog were the wide array of costumes now available in preteen sizes. Of course !*slapping myself on the forehead with the palm of my hand*  There's no better way to send our preteen daughters out to defy all our teachings to not take candy from strangers than [un]dressed in crotch length skirts, ripped fishnets, platform heels and cropped tops!  Oh, and let's not forget the 150 pounds of make-up. I've never been a believer in the "she had it coming" defense, but if you send your daughter out at night dressed like Alice in Hookerland or Sponge Bob Whorepants and she ends up behind Wal-Mart in a dumpster, well...let's just say that mustering sympathy would be difficult, if not impossible.

Have you ever had Vu ja De? The feeling you've never been here before?

and one more thing....BISON! Shhhhh!

     The cursor taunts me, blinking it's challenge to fill an empty space with something of substance.  My refusal to blog for blogging's sake does not an entry make.  Right now it's raining, which is why I'm sitting still, momentarily. Tomorrow I'm heading down to the Air Show, which makes me happier than Jude Law at a nanny convention.  Bison, not buffalo, silly. Mercury is in retrograde until October 15, it's full range of destruction, mayhem, and general naughtiness (sounds like a woman I know) lingering until October 31. What does that mean? It means for now, the cursor blinks, taunting me.  I'm off to find a man in lederhosen and objectify the hell out of him. It's ok though, he likes it.

     I must shamefully admit, there is something very erotic and at the same time petrifying about a man covered in blood. It's so primal, so undeniably masculine, so...so...what's the word I'm grasping for? I could go the route of other more verbose bloggers and use 14 words where one would do, but I will save my precious breath for the panting and moaning I plan to do later.  Lascivious! That's the word. When I read that you dragged her remains to the swamp so we could finally be together forever, I knew I was in for a lifetime of adventure.

    I remember vividly the first time I saw you in person. You were walking towards me, bedizened in camouflage, hunkered over, wild eyed, like a man unsure about whether he's predator, or prey.  My mind flashed back to all the times I swore I saw you standing outside my bedroom window or diving into the bushes behind my gym when you feared discovery. Oh the way the moonlight made the intricate embroidery on your elk skin lederhosen come to life.*sigh*

     So many lonely nights I woke to find you watching me sleep.  The glow from your night vision goggles setting you apart from my average stalkers who simply stood outside my room vigorously masturbating.  Not you, you were special, and you had the helmet to prove that.  I felt a bond with you, and learned quickly that you were a man who knew how to tie a knot.  It seems like yesterday that I heard your voice for the first time...I will never forget how your warm hand felt as you placed it gently over my mouth, your eyes so full of love as you leaned close and whispered, "Don't be afraid my love, I will wear lederhosen and dance sexy for you". To this day, those words make my blood run cold and the hairs on my back stand on end.

     I anxiously await our next encounter...my neck misses the feel of the cold blade of a saw pressed against it while you drive me to an undisclosed location. Please lover...come back to me.

     So many things crushing down on me, something has to give.  Days go by, emotions are up, down, hot, cold and everywhere in between. Something has to give, something, not someone. There has been a slow yet tangible softening in my attitude towards the world, most of the time. Maybe not so much a softening as an embracing of my... Does this blog make my beautifully flawed humanity look fat or are you just an ass? Should I write a disclaimer alerting you to the randomness and subject jumping whilst participating in this social intercourse? No? Ok, let's grease this pan and slide some meat in it!

     Tomorrow marks a day when something very tragic yet amazing at the same time happened. On September 11, 35 years ago, I lost my status as an only child but gained my first of 3 younger sisters.  We four might be wildly different, but if you mess with one of us, you deal with us all.  Oh, did you think for one second I was referring to 9/11? Fuck off, no really, fuck off. The events occurring on that day don't weigh heavily on me at all. Call me all the names you want, but I am not going to jump on the bandwagon of mindless people wasting precious moments of the present whining and crying about tragic events of the past. Acknowledge, move on. America was long overdue for a thinning of the herd anyway. How arrogant is it to believe that one country is immune to terrorist attacks when the rest of the world has been dealing with them in some form for centuries?

    Why do some people insist on dredging up past events over and over and over and over and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...Sorry, I must have dozed off while listening to someone rehashing the rehash of something about Pat's rioting? Pastry autism? Was that my mother talking? Have you seen my ball point pen? Click click.

     There was a death in my family recently, if you didn't already know, now you do. It's sickening how losing a family member should logically bring siblings closer together, but since my mother's insanity is apparently a shared genetic defect amongst her brothers and sister, this has driven them fighting mad. Fighting being the operative word. Moving on----------->

   A lot is two words. PLEASE remember that. This blog might make no sense, neither does this apple. Thank you, drive through.  

Today, I am 39 years old. I don't feel anywhere near that age, despite having been around the block so many times that I have a boulevard named after me! In [dis]honor of my birthday, I am posting 39 things that may or may not be true...Now, my birthday suit is freshly scrubbed and deliciously lotioned, and I might just lounge about it in all day. It is my birthday after all.  I have no idea where my day will take me, but I can assure you, I will have a big smile on my face wherever I am. 

Ok, here's a little something I found in my inbox-there will be a quiz later, so you can decide which answers are fact, and which are fiction. Good luck and good-night. 

1. Do you like blue cheese?   I don't think it's right for cheese to come in colors other than white. Milk is white, cheese should be white, and it should NEVER smell like ass or feet.  

2. Do you own a gun?  I have a Mossberg 12 gauge shot gun with a cool mafia pistol grip and I have a pistol holstered somewhere secret.

3. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?  No, but the doctors  get nervous when they see my name on their schedule.

4. What do you think of hot dogs?  Yves Meatless hot dogs with habenero cheese, spicy mustard and hot pepper relish on a whole wheat bun are a perfect lunch!

5. Favorite Christmas movie?  There are so many! I love "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "A Christmas Story" and The Santa Clause movies.  

6. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?  The blood of virgins, but since that's always on back order, I usually end up with hot green tea with honey. 

7. Can you do push ups?  That just sounds kinky...but they are the right shape.

8. What's your favorite piece of jewelry?  I'm half Filipino, you expect me to choose just one?

9. Favorite hobby?  Sarcasm is a hobby, isn't it?

10. Do you have A.D.D.? A.D.D something shiny...What was the question? Did you see that rabbit?

11. What's one trait you dislike about yourself?  That there is only one of me, but the Universe is safer this way.

12. Middle name? That's the name between the first and last name

13. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment:

  1.  I hope that one of my friends I haven't spoken to in a while is ok

  2.  Why am I craving a diet coke in a paper cup with ice?

  3. I want to curl up and snuggle with.... 

14. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? water, green tea, pomegranate juice

15. Current worry?    I don't like to worry, it causes the face to wrinkle prematurely.

16. Favorite place to be? The beach

17. How did you bring in the new year? Wearing a tiara, swim mask, snorkel and one black sock 

18. Where would you like to go?  The Maldives

19. Name three people who will complete this?  Snap, Crackle and Pop

20. Do you own slippers? No, I am leasing with the option to buy 

21 What shirt are you wearing?  The one that came with my birthday suit

22. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?   I'm a high thread count kind of girl. Nothing feels like 600 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets on naked skin

23. Can you whistle?  Yes, and when I'm blowing bubbles and wiggling my ears, I'm preparing to attack.

24. Favorite color? you should ALL know this by now!

25. Would you be a pirate? I am a pirate! I am the very model of the model major general. I'm every woman, it's all in meeeeeeee!!!!

26. What songs do you sing in the shower? "Come take a trip in my Airship", "You belong to me", "Crush crush crush" are a few of my faves, but I do take requests.

27. What's in your pocket right now?  *smirking* So tell me, where exactly are the pockets in a birthday suit?

28. Last thing that made you laugh? It's classified. I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

29. What vehicle do you drive?  If it has testicles or tires, it's going to be trouble!

30. Worst injury you've ever had? a sprained heart

31. Do you love where you live? YES YES OH MY GOD YESSSSSSSS!!!!! What was the question?

32. How many TVs do you have in your house? 2, and neither are in a bedroom  

33. Who is your loudest friend?  That depends on whether they are wearing the ball gag and what I'm doing to them at the moment.

34. Do you have any pets? Yes, name them all and win a prize

35. Does someone have a crush on you? Does anyone NOT have a crush on me? Sheesh!

36. Your favorite book(s)?  Anne Rice Vampire or Witching Hour books, Women who run with the wolves, Guess How Much I love You, Baby Earth, etc...etc...etc...I LOVE TO READ!

37. Do you collect anything?  *giggling*

38. Favorite Sports Team? I'm sorry, I couldn't answer that, I have a life

39. What song do you want played at your funeral? We'll kick things off with Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, follow it with a sing-a-long version of Baby Got Back and then close the show with Fleetwood Mac's Gypsy.

1. Find the lesson in every failure, and you’ll never fail.
2. The likelihood that you’re right is not increased by the intensity of your conviction.
3. Real friends help you feel worthy and make you want to be better.
4. When you’re in a hole, stop digging.
5. Don’t confuse fun with fulfillment or pleasure with happiness.
6. Refusing to let go of a grudge is refusing to use the key that will set you free.
7. Hating hurts you more than the person you hate.
8. Counting on luck is counting on random chance; your odds are much better when you plan and work.
9. It’s better to be kind than clever.
10. Don’t underestimate the power of persistence.
11. The easy way is rarely the best way.
12. It’s much easier to burst someone else’s bubble than to blow up your own.
13. You can’t avoid pain, but you can avoid suffering.
14. Self-pity is a losing strategy; it repels others and weakens you.
15. Shortcuts usually produce short success.
16. Control your attitude or it will control you.
17. It’s more important to be significant than successful.
18. The world is waiting for you to heal it.

     I didn't write these, but I felt that they are powerful and quite useful, as far as rules go.  These random rules were written by Michael Josephson, the "Character Counts" writer, and they are truly worth printing out and posting somewhere that you can read them daily.

    This has been a long and very trying week for me, so for the time being, I'm going to push ever forward and concentrate on sending the fruit loops of my loins off to their respective schools on Tuesday in a grand fashion!  To those who know why I've been away lately, thank you for your kind words. 

    I hope everyone enjoys a great Labor Day weekend and I'll catch you around soon!  

Giggles and gropes~ Raven