I Am Not A Super Hero

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. I know I did. I was seriously spoiled with far more than I expected. Plus having my parents here was a wonderful gift all in itself. We had a nice visit.

This past month has taken it's toll on me however, and I am really behind on sleep, work and pretty much everything else. Sometimes I forget that I am not a super hero and I can't do everything. So keeping that in mind, I have a little announcement. I am going to have to postpone the mystery blog give away. While I know I have done some amazing feats in the past on very little time, I simply can't pull this rabbit out of my hat. I apologize to those of you who were looking forward to it, but it's not completely abandoned, it's simply going to happen at a later date. So I hope you can be patient a little while.

I know this is a short post, but I desperately need some sleep. I have been riding the night bus to insomnia for the past two weeks.

Have a great day all! You can expect the posts to (hopefully) get back to their normal frequency from now on.

Hugs, K <3

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! It's quite early Christmas morning here, no one is up yet except Basil and I. He was sitting on my knee and we were tracking Santa again. This month has been busy but fun. My parents are visiting and last night we went to candlelight service. All the darkness in the world can't extinguish the light of a single candle!

I wanted to repost last years Christmas Eve post because of Basil sitting on my knee tonight aptly staring at Santa on the Norad site. This makes many years in a row he has done that. He is a special little guy, and I just wanted to tell his story again! I hope you enjoy it:

I really love Christmas. I don't get the excitement I used to, every year there are fewer presents and surprises under our tree but I think that's what happens when you start getting older and you don't have kids.

Besides, Christmas is about so much more than presents. It's a time of miracles and joy. Sometimes it even brings joy to those we wouldn't imagine it would. What I am about to tell you is 100% true. I am not embellishing or imagining and I have witnesses. You might not believe it, but that's ok because it won't change the fact of what is.

Over the years I have had a lot of pets. Some weren't the greatest, most were good and a couple were very special and even remarkable. Out of all the pets I have ever had, I have never had one that understood Christmas...except for Basil.

Basil showed up on my porch about two weeks after I moved into this house. I opened the door to go check the mail, and there he sat. A tiny grey tiger striped kitten. He wasn't afraid or crying, he was just sitting there calmly on the porch as if he was waiting. I asked him where he had come from, and proceeded to get the mail. When I went back into the house, he walked on in as if he belonged here.

I already had two cats and didn't really want another one so I tried and tried to find him a home. No one would take him, so he ended up staying. In retrospect I am glad he did.

When we had lived here about six months I had the pastor over to bless the house. He went with us room to room, sat in the circle reverently and then moved to the next almost as if he understood what we were doing. When we were done he promptly went back to sleep. The pastor said he had never seen anything like that, and he was rather amused.

Whenever I am sick, or the couple times I have had surgery Basil is always there, watching over me and trying to make me feel better. After my surgery two years ago he would come once an hour to sit on my chest and look me over very carefully. He would put his head down to my chest and listen, it took me a while to realize he was checking my vital signs. He would lay next to me and purr and talk trying to make me feel better. He never left my side for nearly six weeks until I was much better.

But later we discovered Basil loves Christmas. I cannot fathom what goes through his little feline brain, but I know he loves everything about it. He sits and looks at the tree in awe. He never touches it, he never tries to play with anything, he just stares at it. He runs back and forth with me when I decorate it. When it comes time to take it down he gets visibly depressed for about a week after and sleeps in the spot where it used to be moping. The other 51 weeks out of the year he is very happy.

He always sits with me to wrap presents and purrs and smiles. He is the only cat I have ever had that smiled. I always thought the Cheshire cat was merely a storyline vehicle til Basil arrived.

I have a tiny music box that has skaters going around a Christmas tree and Basil likes to watch it, he purrs and purrs while I have the lid open. I have other music boxes, but those don't interest him.

Every year I track Santa on the Norad site and Basil sits on my knee and watches with rapt attention. He will sit and stare at the TV if a Christmas movie is on, but he never pays any attention to the TV any other time.

How he knows the difference I don't know. Every once in a while I have to wonder if he was a guardian angel sent to watch over us. I know that's probably a silly notion...all I know for sure is that he feels great joy at Christmas, and for him it's not about presents or parties or food. It's simply the time of year. Maybe we could all take a lesson from my funny little cat who has more joy in his tail than most of us have in our whole bodies and takes such pleasure in the season.

So on behalf of all us, especially Basil...I wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with delights, miracles and joy!

The Energizer Bunny

I just wanted to do a quick post to let everyone know I haven't abandoned you all. I have been going and going and going for weeks now. First it was decorating and getting things ready for Christmas, now it's cleaning since I am having company next week.

In fact I have had a poor little mouse cut out for over a week and haven't had a second to work on him.

So there probably won't be a whole lot of posts until after Christmas. But I will return soon!

Hugs, K <3

Tired Of TV

I like to watch TV. It's nice to have on while I am working or doing stuff around the house. Lately I find myself watching a lot of old movies again. I have always liked old movies, especially musicals. But the urge to watch them recently has been more from a disgust with the Hollywood of today.

Suddenly it seems prime time has gotten extremely permissive with the language and content they allow. (Maybe I am just a prude?) Not to mention that they have dumbed down the plot lines. I heard a theory a while back they have made them easier to follow because people split their focus now with the computer and texting and so on while they are watching.

I think it's kind of sad though, some of us still enjoy a good plot. Remember those silly old I Love Lucy episodes? They were a riot and not one mention of sex or bodily parts that we never used to discuss in polite society. The writers came up with clever vehicles for Lucy and the gang to get into trouble with. Sure it was fluff, but that's the point of TV.

The other thing I am a bit weary of is the need to add the latest sexual minority du jour into every show. Now please don't take that wrong. But I am sick of having two women making out in every show, before that it was men...I am afraid to think what's coming next. Half the time it doesn't add to the plot. I have nothing against any sexual persuasion, what you do is your business, but that doesn't mean I want to see it in every episode of everything I want to watch. Usually it doesn't pertain to the show anyway, and it's just a token gesture for ratings because this or that group needs to be "accepted" in society. I think if all people kept their private lives a little more private we would all be happier and more accepting in the long run. I don't want to see a lot of overt sexuality with straight people either.

I am also puzzled by the new stereotype Hollywood has cast on blondes. We finally came out of the dark ages of always being cast as the stupid girl to going right into being the mean girl.

I am always saddened by the need to cancel the shows I like too. Kelsey Grammer had a new show out called Hank which was cancelled right away. It was funny and fresh and I liked it. It was about family, something we seem to be lacking a lot of. By contrast Jenna Elfman, who I loved in Dharma & Greg has a new show called Accidentally On Purpose. I was interested to see it when it came out since I liked her in the past, but honestly I felt like I needed a shower after it was over because the plot lines and jokes are so icky.

I have noticed that there is a new need to make Christians and other religious groups look like fanatics or wackos lately. It's as if they saying that if you have faith you aren't normal. That's a sad commentary on the world we live in. People want to be accepted and are supposed to be accepting, but only if it's something they are comfortable with.

I am sorry about this little rant, but it's been bothering me lately. TV used to be a garbage dump 20 years ago, now it's a toxic wasteland. The thing is, I am not convinced the average viewer likes the constant references to body parts and sexual situations. I could be wrong, but I shudder to see what the future will bring.

Listening To What You're Being Told

First of all I would like to thank all the guests and visitors who attended the first H'artfelt Christmas Blog party. There are some very creative ladies out there, and I am so happy I got to see all their wonderful posts! I am sure next year will be even better! Now on to the post:

For some reason when people suggest something to us, we all too often tend to brush it off as a natural first course of action. I am not sure why that is. Even when it's something we are told over and over, we still don't always take notice.

For years people kept suggesting I try meditation and I brushed it off as new age hokum and nonsense. But finally the message got through. When a message is supposed to get through to us it somehow always does in the end, doesn't it? So finally when the message was received I tried it and low and behold it's a pretty wonderful thing that has helped the stress in my neck immensely.

But lately that isn't the only message that has been trying to get through. Recently I told you that I wanted to try my hand at writing. I have a wonderful plot line all figured out and wrote character profiles and the whole works. Then I stalled. I don't know why, I can tell the whole story in my head, but for some reason I can't get it down on paper...well not paper, screen actually, but you know what I mean.

People keep telling I should write children's books. Even my own Mother keeps saying it. But I have been brushing that off because I don't have children, nor do I even know any. I didn't think I could since it seemed that having children in your life would be a prerequisite for writing children's books.

But night before last when I laid down to go to sleep, an idea came to me. I thought about it off and on yesterday and this morning I sat down to write. I didn't do character profiles, I only have a rough idea of the plot, but the words just flowed out onto the screen. And I think...they just might have been pretty good. Of course I am not sure, and I have no kids to bounce them off of.

I don't know where this is going to take me, or if it will ever see the light of day. I have no idea how to get a book published or the legalities involved. But if this really was a message I was supposed to receive, I feel confident that the things I need to know will present themselves the way things we are supposed to know always present themselves, and the plot and words will continue to flow.

I will keep you updated on my progress. In the mean time, sit back and listen for a moment...you just might be ignoring a message you are supposed to receive.

A H'artfelt Christmas Party

Welcome to the first H'artfelt Christmas Blog Party!  Be sure to click the link on the right to the official H'artfelt Christmas Blog to find a list of guests.  Enjoy!

Quick Reminder

I just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow is the blog party, and I hope to see you all there!

Hugs, K. <3