AARP Online Community: kcgirlintx

So much going on right now

I have info on my profile page regarding a new site I found to have my writing published and get paid when people read it. Here is the link to my first featured article published on Associated Content.com, Please check it out and read some of my writings that may not all be on this site. Hopefully you will enjoy reading them and it will help me earn money too ; http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1121567/holiday_parties_go_from_ordinary_to.html?cat=55

The next thing going on in my life right now is, I am starting up a business that supplies people with a discount insurance program covering; Dental, Vision (including Lasik), RX and Chiropractic for $19.95 per month, for everyone living in your home regardless, if they are related or not. We also offer a Medical Plan for $29.95 per month for household. I will be happy to tell you more about this great offer if you send me a message of request.

If you have been looking for a stay at home job to make extra income, The Freedom At Home Team can help. Check it out at; http://www.freedomathometeam.com/work/video.asp once you have viewed this information if you are interested please, send me a message here and I will contact you with additional information.

I am also starting a Work from home job taking customer service calls for a national company this month and possibly working for a second company as well taking orders so, as you can see I am trying to get my life back on track again.

I may not be able to work outside of the home any longer and my SSID has not come through but, I know with the support of my family and friends I will persevere. I thank many of you for your words of encouragement over the last few months and know you are greatly appreciated.

I am signing off with a couple of my poems, I hope you enjoy them.

Who Wants Peace

Who wants peace I wonder,

as a nation and a world we war.

Who wants peace I wonder,

as the racial division grows.

Who wants peace I wonder,

as bombs fall on innocent people.

Who wants peace I wonder,

as shots ring out in the night.

Who wants peace I wonder,

as trains derail by terror strikes.

Who wants peace I wonder,

as ethnic cleansing continues.

Who wants peace I wonder,

as murderers impute religion.

Who wants peace I wonder,

as we all destroy our world together.

Who wants peace I wonder.

The Candidate

He stands proud cowering within,

hope alive in his heart and mind.

Under ultimate scrutiny he endures,

born to lead challenged to prove.

Through fear of deception and subterfuge,

expectations of truth surround him.

Determination and conviction hold him steadfast,

awaiting judgement of the masses.

Humble before all accepting destiny,

ennoble is the candidate.

Added: October 19, 2008
Views: 66 | Comments: 0 | Bookmarks: 0

Blue Jays

Yesterday, for the first time this year, I saw a Blue Jay and today I counted three of these magnificent birds. I was thrilled to see them, I do not recall seeing a Blue Jay since moving to Texas 10+ years ago. I’m sure they must have been here all that time but for some reason I do not recall seeing them.

I was very happy to see the Blue Jays. I remembered something about them from when I lived back home in Missouri, they were very aggressive, chasing away the other birds and stealing eggs from their nests. The Jays are beautiful birds, remembering their negative traits, should I still be so happy to see them? They were causing quite a stir among the other birds in the yard, I am hoping that after

a day or two they will be able to cohabitate.

I have several families of Cardinals, one family of red headed Woodpeckers, many varieties of Hummingbirds and some of the smaller species like Wrens and Fly-Catchers, I would really hate to see these other birds run off by the Jays.

I guess the only answer for me is to enjoy each as they present themselves and let nature take it’s course.

Beautiful Blue Jays

Blue Jay, Blue Jay you’re a beauty

squawking and mocking is your duty

Your feathers of blue, black and white

some reason just make you want to fight

I watch you race across the lawn

chasing others till they’re all gone

I love to watch you fly and dive

reminding me of a mad bee hive

Beautiful Blue Jay looking royal

to each other you are loyal

Can you not rest a day or two

so that the others might fly too

Added: September 28, 2008
Views: 137 | Comments: 0 | Bookmarks: 0

Today?s Television Programming

Questionable subject matter is being allowed on TV, and I am not sure how to react to it, shock, disappointment, sadness, outrage, or confusion, possibly all of those things and more. One thing I know, I am deeply concerned at the direction of things. In spite of, the passion I feel regarding this subject, I will do my best not to become a bore about it or bang the podium overly much.

Recently, we had a Satellite dish installed on a couple of our TV’s, as we ready ourselves for the big change over to all digital programming. As a bonus for signing up, we receive free Showtime channels for several months. Not being much on the local program stations this time of year I, have been taking full advantage of those premium channels. As a result, I see many commercials for the new season series programs for cable / Satellite on Showtime. Being accustomed to the more censored local channels and therefore unused to paid programming, I expected it to be a somewhat more program conscientious than what I found it to be. I realize there are the highly sexual orientated shows and movies that you can purchase additionally however, I had not expected these to be during early evening hours. My father even mentioned at dinner one evening that he was, taken aback when he turned over to watch a movie around 7:30 the previous evening to see writhing, naked couples doing things that he considered X-rated programming.

It has come to my attention that according to network ratings and critics the following are the top three cable/satellite programs watched by all America . If you have not seen them, I will supply a quick description.

#1. Dexter: About a serial killer, (and I do not mean Tony Tiger’s frosted flakes). This is a story about a man that works as a coroner and in his off time, he goes around killing people. Mostly, these are very gruesome deaths involving the tools of his trade, knives and hatchets showing an enormous amount of blood. Apparently, during the first season he tried to convince himself that the people he killed were bad and deserved to die now, it appears this new season he will be killing more for the pleasure of it.

#2. Weeds: About a family and close friends grow and sell marijuana in the USA . It depicts the horticultural aspects as well as the financial and legal aspects involving the process of growing bulk lots of the plant. This will be the third season of this show. In the second season, they branched out going into business with a cartel from Mexico smuggling the Marijuana through a tunnel back and forth from Mexico to America .

#3. Californication: About a movie and screenwriter living in Los Angeles , CA who sleeps with almost if not all of the women he meets as if he has no control over himself. The premise is he is trying to have a relationship with a woman he professes to love, as he runs around town drinking, doing drugs and having sex at the drop of a hat. Not that he is completely to blame, the women in the show appear to throw themselves at him non-stop.

I am shocked; the public allow networks to broadcast these types of shows, regardless of access type, local or paid / cable programming.

Disappointed, that regardless of channel, the public allows this type of programming to air.

Saddened, that our morals have dropped so low that we do not up-hold stronger censorship on the caliber of shows that can be so easily accessed day or night by our children.

Outraged when every day you see and hear in the news about how murders, drugs and prostitution are on the rise in every city in the US , a large part by our young people, even by our children.

And confused, when we frequently hear that TV, movies and video games are to blame so often for street gang fights and drive by shootings and deaths, mass murders, STD’s and child pregnancies being out of control, that we allow and even encourage these types of programs by watching them.

If, such a large part of the violence and sex crimes are committed due to these programs, when is the public going to wake up and take action? Boycott these types of programs and write your congressperson to create and uphold better censorship. Stop this type of programming from being aired before; the damage is done to our young people’s mental, physical and emotional well being.

Added: September 10, 2008
Views: 343 | Comments: 7 | Bookmarks: 0

Isn't Technology Great!

As I sit here at my computer, I think about all the kind and friendly people I have met on the internet over the last fifteen years. The people that have added me to their friends lists or sent encouragement when I was not at my best on this AARP site alone, has been worth any efforts made to connect online. I remember thinking when I purchased my first computer back in the late 80's that it was just a glorified word processor, a luxury to make my life easier when writing my stories or letters to business associates, friends and family. Boy, could that idea have been any further from the reality of what was to come.

The feelings from my humble beginnings of first starting out on the internet, confused, uninformed, unknowledgeable and even a little bit afraid have all but faded to distant memories. The first time I ventured into the internet world was for research and then curiosity, before long I was hooked. The more I used it the more intrigued and involved I became in online sites like MSN Groups, to find people with like interests, ICQ and Friendfinder.com, international chat sites (pre-instant messaging). At that time, the e-mail concept was just getting started and graphics were not as readily available as they are now. Today, there are to many websites and internet providers that provide free e-mail accounts and web pages to even know all their names and graphics sites are now free with a click of a button, where once you would have had to purchase the program at a specialty store and install it on your own PC if you were lucky enough to have a computer with those capabilities.

I am in awe at the leaps and bounds of progress in the technology field today. At the rate of advancement we may yet see interactive, virtual computers as common place in every home before the end of our time. I don’t know about you but I am excited about the progress made and can hardly wait to see what the next, newest, (choose a descriptive), awesome, excellent, ****, rad, insane, crazy or neat and groovy gadget to become available to the general public might be.

In the meantime, I will continue my small space on the internet to meet and communicate with people I have common interests with, stay in touch with friends and family from around the globe and from all walks of life including, my contacts and friends made here on AARP.org. God bless you one and all and thank you for being here with me.

Added: August 25, 2008
Views: 175 | Comments: 0 | Bookmarks: 0

I can use some GOOD news

Have you ever gotten into a rut where it feels like nothing seems to go right for you. Like if you had any luck at all it would be BAD luck. Well, it feels to me that is how my life has been going this year. But, I won't bore you with that right now.

What I could really use is some stories telling me how someones life is going well. Some stories about how everything in your life seems to be moving in the right direction. If you feel like you are blessed please tell me about it and why you think you are blessed and no cop-out with a simple "I've given my life to God" even if you have there has to be more than that fact that is moving you in the right direction to make everything work out right for you. I need some uplifting stories about love and life, work or play, as long as they are up-beat I will know that there is still hope for those of us that life has taken a wrong turn somewhere and don't know how to get back on the highway to happy days.

Thanks in advance.

Added: August 14, 2008
Views: 266 | Comments: 4 | Bookmarks: 0

Not on my game

Hello, my friends. I apologize for not replying to your messages in a more expeditious manner lately. I have no excuse, other than I have been otherwise engaged. I was trying out a different senior site, but decided I prefer our little site here at AARP, it feels more comfortable to me and does not require a lot of time to maintain and set up. The other site gives many more options for your home page but I find I spend so much time building my site I don't have time to visit with folks or keep up my journal. I have also found many friends here that I do not wish to give up to spend the time needed to maintain the other site as well as this one. So, if you will continue to put up with me and my ravings, :) I will be staying with our AARP.org family. I hope to catch up on my mail soon and look forward to messaging again with you all in due time.

Have a great week!

Added: July 28, 2008
Views: 246 | Comments: 1 | Bookmarks: 0

How To Search For A Soulmate And Come Out A Winner

If you thought, I was going to impart some magical advice I will have to disappoint you. I am sorry to say that this forum will once again be in a question format. It has recently been suggested to me that the only safe place to find a mate is by going to church, getting to know someone for a VERY extended time and then after a year or two finally continue with the dating process and on to your future if you so choose.

My thoughts on the matter are; that when you are over 50 you really don't have a terribly long shelf life, and you should shorten the courtship period in liew of the LIVING period. I am not saying you should not get to know as much as possible about someone, or that Church is not a good place to find a GOOD mate, only that it is not the ONLY way to find one.

In this modern day of Online Dating Services such as; Match.com, Yahoo Personals, Chemistry.com, eHarmony.com or any one of the literally millions of online dating sites, Speed Dating, Local Single Mixers, or even Singles Cruises. Not to mention, Introduction Services, where you go to an office, talk to an advisor, and pay them an outrageous amount of money to introduce you to someone like-minded in a designated income bracket (this way assuring they are, gainfully employed). Is Church still to the best place to meet a mate, and what about the courtship period, short or long? Is it still possible to accidentally meet someone in a public place like; the Grocery Store, Laundry Mat, Hardware Store, Gas Station, Video Store, etc., then go with your gut instinct and hope you didn't just give your number to a REAL loser or worse yet an ax murderer, or is that even more scary than online dating.

I guess if you are Mr. or Miss. Gorgeous, then you don't have a problem meeting Mr. or Miss. Perfect, but for the rest of us average, or maybe slightly below or barely above average looking individuals roaming this great big ball lovingly known as Earth, then you may need to have a plan.

So, I put it to you, what method or methods have you used and has it worked for you? Those of us still out there trying to find our one and only would love to know how you found yours or the frogs you kissed in your search. That also, goes for you lucky couples that have enjoyed a blissful relationship with your soulmate for many years, tell me what was magic for you?

Added: July 14, 2008
Views: 381 | Comments: 1 | Bookmarks: 0

Treat your Family like Strangers

After a more emotionally brutal outing with my mother than usual, I wonder why people treat strangers better than they do their own family members. My family has never been what I would classify as close by any stretch of the imagination; even so, we know that we love each other. If during an intense argument or an out and out screaming match, you were to ask, do we love one another, you might get a response more along the lines of “I hate her or him” or “how could anyone Love someone like that”. Ask again, after a few hours cooling off time, and the response would be a softer more resounding “Yes”, “Of course I love them, they are family”. Translated this means; that even though at times I can’t stand to look at them or hear their voice and have thoughts of murder occasionally, family is family and even at their worse, you just have to love them, like it or not, that’s the rule.

My own dear mother, who I know deep in my heart loves me, treats me with total disregard, and would more than likely tell you straight out that, she prefers the company of my siblings to mine, but she still loves. I do not exactly understand our relationship. I know if I ever need anything and it is within her power to do so, she would help me get it and I would do the same for her and my father. I could qualify that with, if she thinks I need it; in any event, she will never let me forget the fact that she (and my father whom, she intentionally forgets to mention) has helped me out of a sticky situation, once again. Sometimes, I wonder if she helps her children to have something to hold over our heads later on, or if she is truly helping solely because she loves us. Yes, my loving mother, take her out in public where she is around people that she will never see again in her life and she is the most friendly, congenial, kind, soft spoken person anyone could possibly want to meet. Get her home behind closed doors with family and loved ones and she is the most, short tempered, hateful, suspicious and mean spirited woman in three counties. The only way one of her family members are likely to get through an entire conversation with her is, allow her to do all the talking, agree with everything she says by verbal acknowledgement and maintain the focus of the conversation around her. For some unknown reason, that applies doubly to me. I have asked my siblings repeatedly why they think that is, they agree, however are at a loss for why it is.

I have an aunt that I am sure loves her children and husband. That did not stop her from disowning and breaking all ties with her daughters and son, and it does not keep her from yelling and screaming at her husband and telling him that she cannot imagine what could have possessed her to, ever agree to marry him. She fails miserably when attempting to find a kind word for any of them most of the time. That same cantankerous woman will give a homeless person her overcoat in freezing weather or take in a troubled teen after their parents, at wits end, have kicked them out after exhausting all other options to reverse inappropriate behavior. I would bet if you were to ask her she too would say, “Of course I love them, they are my family”.

Why people are more generous with a kind word or affection for a stranger is difficult to say, and I do not pretend to understand it. I do believe, if we give our family the same kindness and consideration that we would a stranger we just might get along more congenially. So, next time you feel like responding to a member of your family with a sarcastic or cruel comment remember this commentary, and treat your family like a stranger.

Added: July 9, 2008
Views: 1400 | Comments: 10 | Bookmarks: 0

Happy Independence Day!

I realize as I sit here contemplating the meaning of the Independence Day celebration that most of us have never had to fight personally for our independence or freedom, at least not for our countries freedom. For most of us, our independence was won by our ancestors many years before our existence. My feelings are that when our ancestors were fighting for the rights they believed every man and woman should be allowed they had, in the forefront of their minds, the desire for a better life for themselves and their offspring for centuries to come. I'm sure that as they braved the battle fields to stand up for their beliefs, hopes and dreams of governing themselves, to create a better, more democratic America, they knew some day those born after them, their future generations would thank them and praise them for the courage they held strong to win the rights and freedom for not only themselves but for all their brothers in America. They knew that they and we would continue to do just as we do on the 4th of July, celebrate America's Independence Day. I call to you on this glorious day to remember those who fell and those who picked up the flag and forged on to win our freedom and secure our way of life.

I also feel that weather or not we agree with our American troop’s involvement in the war in Iraq, that we should be proud of our men and women of the armed forces for picking up the flag in the name of freedom and following in the footsteps of our ancestors to help secure the freedoms for other oppressed people. The very freedoms that we now enjoy and for the most part take for granted. God Bless the American men and women in uniform, may they continue to hold their heads high and shall they always have the deepest respect and support of our country, if not all countries.

I hope you all enjoy a beautiful and loving 4th of July weekend.

Added: July 5, 2008
Views: 428 | Comments: 2 | Bookmarks: 0

The Progression of Democracy

This was attached /or added at the end as a quote, on an email forwarded to me by a friend which I found both interesting and thought provoking. While considering this I can see there are truly not as many differences in the progression of our Democracy in this age as opposed to when this quote was written in 1787 by Professor Alexander Tyler, see if you agree or not.

The Progression of Democracy

"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidate who promises
the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by dictatorship.

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been about 200 years when nations always progress through the following sequence:

from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back to bondage."

Alexander Tyler, Scottish history professor, University of Edinburgh, 1787.

Added: June 30, 2008
Views: 232 | Comments: 0 | Bookmarks: 0

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