Deborah Woehr

During this political season, let’s be reminded of these wise words

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

Abraham Lincoln

Michael of Smoke & Mirrors II wrote a great post about a memory of checking up on his daughters on Christmas night. One of his readers, in turn, shared a link to a video of the song that Michael had heard that night. After watching it, I realized that Some Children See Him was one of my favorites.

My favorite Christmas song is O Holy Night. I’ve heard this song played by several different artists, but none has sung it as well as John Berry. This song was also my late father-in-law’s favorite. Every time I hear it, my mind takes me back to the time where my family and I sang it to him while he was lying in a hospital bed on Christmas Eve, suffering from the effects of a nasty stroke as well as pneumonia. He couldn’t talk, but he could mouth the words. Just being alive and able to be with his family for Christmas was all that mattered to him. The fact that he was still alive and able to “sing” with us was all that mattered that year and the next.

Michael was right when he said that Christmas is not about “the stuff.” It isn’t about “keeping up with the Joneses.” The heart and soul of Christmas is the love and kindness that you give to your family, friends, and strangers.

A friend of mine sent me an email, asking me if I could help her out by promoting her Ebay Store to help her family out. Those of you who know Marti know that she is taking care of her elderly mother-in-law who was widowed early this year. Below is an item that caught my attention. I’m the daughter of a gearhead (mechanic and race car enthusiast), who happened to marry a gearhead. So, I’ll be looking at this and other similar items at her Ebay Store.

You’ll also find plenty of antique Depression glassware. For those of you who are interested in antiques (or know someone who collects these items), please check out Grandma’s Timeless Treasures.

It’s time to whip out the Neo again because since I’ve returned from my vacation, I’ve gotten very little writing done. Designing my husband’s website and finding a job (any job) were top priorities. I managed to land a 3-day assignment later this week, which eased the stress level a little. My husband assures me that we’ll be fine until the end of the month, which falls on Tuesday. So I have from now until Wednesday to relax before I start stressing again.

Four things made my day.

1. A birthday card from my brother. He and I love to send each other raunchy cards. I’m not sure which one of us started this, but we like to tape the envelope so it takes a lot of effort to open the damned thing. Once I got it opened, I laughed when I saw the dollar bill taped to the inside with the caption that read, “Buy yourself something great with a weekly salary from ______.”

2. My mother-in-law’s compliment about the website I created for the family business. That was a biggie.

3. Knowing that my family and I may never see that stupid Smiling Bob commercial ever again. That was a great prime time family commercial . . . NOT! I found this article after I read Michael’s post about the new WordPress T-shirts. The man in that photograph somehow reminded me poor Smiling Bob, God rest his pathetic and perverted soul. I think it was the pained oh-just-shoot-me-now smiles.

4. Knowing that mindless spam sites like Facebook and MySpace are beginning to lose their luster with the A-List crowd, which means that everyone will eventually shut up and move on to another “innovative” timewaster. Hallelujah and Praise God!

I was doing some research on Arizona monsoons and wanted to see a video of a flash flood for a scene I’m working on and thought YouTube would be a great resource. Although I didn’t find exactly what I was looking for, I found some excellent weather videos.

This one was taken somewhere southeast of Phoenix. I loved watching the clouds build up. Towards the end, you’ll see a dust storm tear through this neighborhood.

This is a collection of still pictures of storm fronts, supercells, tornadoes, etc. Absolutely gorgeous!

Karen wrote a great post, entitled Delving into the Past of a Blogger which has stuck with me since I read it last month. I have to admit that I haven’t revisited my old posts. I’m not sure why, either. But Karen’s post got me thinking about this enough to look at my Dashboard.

This is the 515th post I’ve written on this blog, however that isn’t as important to me as the 2,100+ comments within these pages. I consider the conversations I’ve had on this blog priceless and well worth reading again.

Is this blog worth turning into a blook? To be perfectly honest, only to me.

I have paper journals that I’d written during my twenties and early thirties. It’s been a decade since I’ve opened them, but it’s nice to know that they are still there, waiting for me to read. I gave up paper journaling a long time ago, in preference to the computer because it enables me to write almost as fast as I think.

After experiencing the loss of an important file earlier this week, I’m reminded of the pitfalls of the digital age. Nothing lasts forever. Having a paper or .pdf version of this blog would be good to have, just in case.

Have you ever considered turning your blog into a blook?

I’ve had friends and family give me tarot readings in the past, but I’ve never quite understood exactly what these cards mean and how you can read your past, present and future. Getting a reading was a fun way to pass the time, much like this quiz, which I found on Jason Evans’s blog.

You are The Sun

Happiness, Content, Joy.

The meanings for the Sun are fairly simple and consistent.

Young, healthy, new, fresh. The brain is working, things that were muddled come clear, everything falls into place, and everything seems to go your way.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon’s Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of hearing about the soap opera of Paris Hilton and her little pals. That’s why I enjoyed this video.