Is it about a tree or the color of a cup?

I find myself wanting to respond to several Facebook posts regarding some corporate changes for the holiday season. First was the Simon Co choice to remove traditional Christmas elements from their Santa photo areas in favor of plastic pods meant to resemble icebergs. Then Starbucks' choice to remove traditional holiday elements from their cups in favor plain red cups. One company backed down with the influx of complaints, the other refuses to do so. Now presidential candidate Donald Trump is getting slammed for his suggestion to boycott business that don't operate to our preference. Why is it that one group gets applauded for speaking out against company practices that don't suit them while another gets attacked for doing the same? Presidential Candidate Donald Trump is being slammed for the suggestion of boycotting business who practices we don't like. I really don't understand. People were all on board to boycott Hobby Lobby and Chik Fil A for their pro-Christian choices, but the same people now are disgusted at the suggestion that Christians boycott business they feel are exclusionary. I really don't get it. On the other hand, we as Christians need to put pull up our panties and quit making fools of ourselves for fighting battles that really don't matter. Malls, Santa, Christmas Trees, snowflakes and bells have NOTHING to do with the birth of Jesus. If we want to be respected, we need to act like we deserve it, not like whiny toddlers who aren't secure enough in our worlds to accept change. Especially change that is supposed to make others feel more loved and valued.

Just another raininy day

So all the weather hype has made the event very anti-climatic here and in Wilmington, where Blake is. No hurricane, no Thousand Year Flood, no tornadoes. I am certainly keeping those suffering tougher weather in my prayers and I know weather can't be 100% accurately predicted. However, if you ever wonder how people find themselves in bad weather situations, it's because scenarios like this play over and over and over. The media gets us all hyped up for events that don't turn out to be the doom and gloom that was predicted. We were told to prepare for 8 inches of rain. Then it went up to 12. Now it's down to 5. We've gotten less than 2 with only another 1/2 inch predicted today. I've spent 2 days cautiously watching weather news and reading weather blogs with the concern for the safety of my child. And this crap is no worse than a hundred other storms I've seen since we moved here. It's exhausting to prepare and worry for predicted major events, and it gets old. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. Yah, yah, yah, I get that. I think, however, it's just more proof of how ridiculous our society has become. I'm sick and tired of people blaming others for what happens to them. If people weren't so quick to lay blame, maybe meteorologists and officials wouldn't make these events wouldn't be so overly exaggerated. And if I hear another desert dweller beg for the rain to be sent their way after years of exporting water, watering lawns and golf courses for aesthetics, and filling swimming pools when they live by MAJOR bodies of water, I just may scream! ;p

The drama of weather

So Hurricane Joaquin is currently pounding the Bahamas. It's in the news and all over social media. I know that most weather forecasters have good intentions, but they sure can be fear mongers too. If you watch FL news they are telling them to be prepared even though there is absolutely no sign of potential landfall there. If you watch DC news, they are predicting school to be out on Monday and for the NFL to postpone the Redskins game. Of course, don't leave of the Northeasterners (who are like the "man colds" of weather). Nothing is ever worse than it is up there, lol! It is crazy the amount of drama that can be made of weather. If you look at individual news stations up the Eastern Seaboard, you will even notice that some of them go so far as to leave out possible model track that aren't pointing to them. Now I'm a bit of a weather drama lover, but when the National Weather Service is on The Weather Channel to discuss the imminent weather conditions 250 miles away from you, but where your first-born child is currently residing just 5 miles from the oceanfront, s**t gets real! Now I find myself on a constant search for the "real" story of what is going to happen over the next few days. Part of me wants to tell him, don't take any chances, come home now. Another part of me knows we have raised a competent human being who will be just fine. Yet another part of me wants to go join him! Crazy I know, but there is something "exciting" about witnessing such powerful weather. Not to mention I'm a smidge concerned about our property. I mean, if the neighbors start boarding windows, I need to be there to do the same right? I am obsessed with clicking the refresh button to get the latest opinion and prediction. In another tab I'm compiling a list of emergency supplies to send the boy to get as soon as school is out for the day. I've already told him to fill up his gas tank. My phone is next to me so I can communicate with the mother of boy's roommate. I know I need to change the tv channel, close the computer and go do something more productive, but I just can't help myself. After all, the next update from The National Hurricane Center is in just 20 minutes! Ugh...

So it's been FIVE years

Five years! For the past year or so I've had a bit of the blogging bug, but haven't been motivated enough to act on it. More recently I've found myself searching for blogs by others who have or are sharing some of the same interests/life events. This morning I came in from my morning workout and for some reason searched for the old blog. Wahlah! Here I am. :) Not sure just yet what exactly I'm doing back here. I'm not entirely sure a blog of family updates suits my life right now, but also not sure if I should change the name of this blog (is that even possible?) or if I want to start a new one. Stay tuned...

The kids and I spent the night in Darlington while Sam, Larry, and Greg headed back to NC to get Greg on a plane back to WA. I had promised the kids a trip to the beach this summer, and I was officially out of time, so to the beach we went. I've stayed in oceanfront accomodations before, but I've never had a campfire in the sand, or slept outside at the edge of the continent. With the kids on board, I made plans to camp next to the ocean. Suprisingly, there aren't many public places that allow such a thing, but I found Carolina Beach on Paradise Island. Access is by 4-wheel drive only, and let me tell you that driving in sand for the first time is an experience all to itself, lol! The kids couldn't wait to jump in the water, so we staked claim to a spot in the sand and we played, and played, and played.





The time with my kids was priceless.





And the scenery was breathtaking.





More to come...