Get Up, Dress Up, Show Up

No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.  The best cure for depression is action.  It doesn’t matter so much what you do as long as you do something.  Go outside.  Go anywhere.  Play with a pet if you have one.  Hold them, squeeze them, give them some love and you’d be amazed how much it uplifts your soul.   Interact with people.  Smile at strangers, for when you see their face light up by your silent greeting, it will ignite something inside of you and you’ll begin to feel better too.  Compliment another person and see how good it makes you feel to make them feel good. 

Life gets clouded with all of the big things…careers, money, family, stress…but it’s the little things that matter most.  The little things are truly what can make or break you in a moment.

Life is a gift that we get to unwrap every day.  As we open our eyes each morning, a new day awaits us and we can make it anything we want it to be.  We don't have to let depression conquer us.  We don't have to allow sadness or loneliness to steal our joy.  We can fight it.  I'm not saying it's easy, but it's a battle worth the energy to fight.  So, don’t wait to make life special… today is special.  Wear that favorite outfit.  Burn those candles you’ve been saving.  Eat from the good china.  Pull out the sexiest lingerie you own.  Open the expensive bottle of wine.  Don’t lie around hoping for a special occasion…create that special time now.  We live once.  Make it wonderful! ~

No Sex For You

Have you heard about Mayor Hashimoto justifying military sex slaves?  If not, read the Associated Press article from Tokyo:   HERE

Word of warning, this blog will be a bit blunt.  Apparently, Mayor Hashimoto said that, “The Japanese military's forced prostitution of Asian women before and during World War II was necessary to ‘maintain discipline’ in the ranks and provide rest for soldiers who risked their lives in battle.”  He went on to say, "For soldiers who risked their lives in circumstances where bullets are flying around like rain and wind, if you want them to get some rest, a comfort women system was necessary. That's clear to anyone."

I’m sorry, Mr. Hashimoto, but it’s not clear to me.

Historians say up to 200,000 women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers in military brothels.

Those of you who know me or read my blog regularly know that I am pro-sex. I think sex is a wonderful thing and should be enjoyed, shared and indulged in by consenting adults in a loving relationship.  Suffice to say, I think the world would be a happier place if everyone got laid more regularly.  However, sex should never be forced or coerced.  Period.  There are no ifs, ands, or buts to that statement.  There are no extenuating circumstances in which that rule can or should be broken.  I don’t care if it is wartime and the men have blue balls.  The men can relieve themselves, which is what should have been happening in the trenches instead of enslaving women to do it for them.

And please don’t tell me that providing women to the soldiers cut down on rape and assault.  To that, I say bullshit.  A better plan would have been to make daily masturbation mandatory for every male soldier.  Mandatory masturbation would have certainly allowed the soldiers to obtain the rest that they required.

Shame on you, Mr. Hashimoto, for justifying the poor decisions of your previous leaders. You chauvinistic  asshole!  You've given the word "dickhead" a new meaning in my book and that's saying a lot.  Slavery cannot be justified in any sense of the word, not sexually or otherwise.  If you truly believe what you have publically spoken, then I pity you... for you have pissed off an entire planetary population of women.  You bettter institute the mandatory masturbation plan for yourself, because I doubt you'll be getting any action from any female ever again. 

Hashimoto:  No Sex For You  ~

 

  

 

Man Goes Batty with Bulldozer

Flipping through the news stories topping Yahoo headlines today, I noticed one that read:  Man Bulldozers Neighbor’s Home 

It caught my attention so I read on.  It appears that a man was upset because a fence blocked him from easily being able to move his logging equipment in and out of his property, so he wanted to have the fence removed.  Evidentially, there was a dispute over the fence because several neighbors did not want it removed.  Thus, he took his bulldozer and bulldozed the fence, three homes, a boat and a variety of other items not belonging to him.  This is not the part of the story I found amusing.  It is sad and tragic and I am thankful that in this rampage, no one was physically hurt or killed.

What struck me as comical is the comment from the man’s brother, who told reporters, “I think he snapped.”

You THINK he snapped?!  I mean, did we have to stop and think about whether he was of sound mind when he bulldozed not one, not two, but three homes? 

I’m not one to cast judgment.  I, being part Serbian and part German, have quite a temper of my own.  I can understand what it feels like to “lose it” or “snap” momentarily.  I’ve chucked a deodorant bottle across the room, put a hole in a wall, broken a glass door from slamming it too hard, and bunny-footed the passenger side door of a black, Hyundai Scoupe.  I’ve thrown a punch or two in my lifetime, broken a beer bottle over a guy’s head, thrown a chair at my boss and kicked a man in the nuts as hard as I could.  I get it.  People do stupid things out of anger and I’ve done my share.  So, I can understand bulldozing down the fence.  It was a source of contention and he wanted to destroy it.  Hell, if I were there I’d have probably helped him take the fence down.

But… when he took to the homes and the boat, he obviously crossed the sanity line.

I feel sorry for the neighbors who had their home and personal belongings destroyed and I feel sorry for the bulldozing man as well.  Anger is a powerful weapon and one that leads us all to actions and words we most assuredly regret afterwards. 

What can we learn from this bizarre bulldozing news bite?  Treat your neighbors with kindness and be considerate of their needs.  Compromise when you can and sacrifice to help one another…because everyone has the ability to “snap” and you don’t want to wake up with a bulldozer in your living room.  ~

I Don't Want to Go Off On A Rant Here, But...

In the words of Dennis Miller, “I don’t want to go off on a rant here, but …”

  Mean people suck and let me tell you why.  Arrogance.  The meanest people are the ones that proclaim to be nice and actually believe that they are.  They are the people that believe that they have a right to speak into your life because they are so arrogant that they believe their perception of your reality is correct. They believe that they and they alone hold a truth you lack and therefore it is their responsibility to inform you of this so-called relevancy.  They are the ones who drip outwardly with sweet verbal expressions but whose words are inwardly laced with condemnation, judgment, arrogance, contempt and elitism; all masked by a misguided appropriation of a Divine agenda they swear to possess but have not a clue. They have taken the Word of God and mixed it with their own ideas of God, thereby distorting the very truth from within.  These people attack those that do not live according to their standards.   They stand with hate signs while proclaiming love and I ask you, could there by more irony than this?   Muslim terrorists blow people up in the name of God.  Radical Christians tear people down in the name of God.  Both proclaim to possess God’s agenda and both are sorely mistaken.  God’s agenda is love.  It has always been love.  From Genesis to Revelations it speaks of love.  Love one another, for if you do it will be impossible for you to be mean.  That doesn’t mean you’ll never error, explode in anger or say something hurtful by mistake… but it means that even your mistakes will be made from a heart that was simply trying to love and not to attack, blow up or tear down.  Mean-spirited people are not the hostile ones you see throwing their hands in the air or venting frustration… those are just frustrated folks.  Mean-spirited people are the ones that live under the pretense of spirituality and purity and yet their hearts are filled with arrogance.  Arrogance…the root of all evil.  Arrogance…the root of a mean-spirit.  Arrogance…the cause of destruction.  Arrogance…distorter of the truth.  Arrogance…deliverer of death. 

God loves all of us equally.  There are no levels of His love.  Most importantly, He loves us because of who He is, not because of anything we do, did or didn’t do. 

So, to all of the mean people….stop sucking...shut the hell up…and let’s just all enjoy this wonderful gift of life we’ve been given.  ~

Mother's Day Mystery

Looking for a last minute Mother's Day gift?  How about giving her the gift of mystery and suspense?  S.R.Claridge novels are available in all downloadable formats from Smashwords.  It's immediate.  It's easy.  And Mom is sure to love it!

Start her out with a romantic suspense, like No Easy Way.  Or start her on the Mafia thrill-ride of the Just Call Me Angel series.  If it's political cult action she craves, House of Lies will keep her on the edge of her seat.  Or Petals of Blood is sure to wet her whistle and make her long for more.  Whichever you choose, or choose them all, you're sure to make this Mother's Day great!

My Mom Rocks!

There are many wonderful moms in the world, but I think I was blessed with one of the very best.  I could fill up hundreds of pages with examples of how great she is, but for the sake of space and time I will sum up.

My mom has never been “preachy” and yet has a deeper faith and a more genuine love for the Lord than anyone I know.  She’s not judgmental or condemning and she's never arrogant.  In fact, there have been many times in my life when, though I know she disagreed with me, she listened without argument and stood by me without wavering.  In my darkest hours, she was there; loving me through, praying with me and helping me learn to forgive myself.  She has traveled the country to be by my side at the drop of a hat. 

She hasn’t only been there in the dark times…but in the fun times too.  She has been a source of comedy and has a smile that can brighten any room.  She’s gotten her arm stuck in a trash compactor, been treed by a German Shepherd and helped me drag a five hundred pound dead llama across a field in the St. Louis July heat.  How many women can say that?   She has taught me many little secrets to get through life, such as:  Never wear sweatpants because anything with an expandable waist will allow you, too comfortably, to expand your waist.  Always get up, put on your make-up and do your hair, especially when you are feeling blue.  Slow down.  Never give in to a spirit of fear.  It's not about religion, it's about relationship.  Always pray, it's the most powerful tool and weapon we possess. There are countless others, but these are just a few of my favorites. 

My mom can sing, dance, play the piano, bake pies better than anyone on the planet and you will not find a more giving soul; but don’t piss her off because she can also shoot better than Annie Oakley.  J  

 

She's a writer (having written the published book entitled, The Forgotten Covenant) and a teacher, an excellet editor, a fabulous party planner and the best listener you'll ever find.  She sews, gardens, creates, enlightens, nurtures, uplifts and encourages.  She is truly like none other and she's married to pretty awesome guy, too.  (But I'll tell you more about him on Father's Day.)

She opens her home to anyone and her heart to all.  She has been my rock, my best friend, and my prayer warrior.  What’s more, she is a wonderful grandmother to my kids.  She’s smart, beautiful, silly, playful, energetic and fun.  She’s my mom…and I don’t know how I got so lucky…but I’m thankful every day to have her in my life.    I love you Mom!  ~

 

Severed Ties

There comes a time in life when you realize there is nothing more than can be said.  You’ve tried all that there is to try.  You’ve studied, prayed, researched, talked, listened, questioned, visited, pursued, reached, loved, held on and now, the only thing left is to let go.  You can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.  You can’t help someone who won’t admit to their own addiction.  Only God can.

As I look back at the past several years of my life, I’ve been far from perfect.  I’ve said things out of anger, spoken when I should have been quiet and been reactionary when I should have first allowed time to curtail my emotion.  But… my mistakes have never been mean-spirited or with deliberate malice or meant as an action of hate.  My mistakes have been made with good intent and out of love, even desperation, but never, never out of premeditated hatefulness.

Today, upon seeing an action of deliberate passive aggressive hatefulness toward me and my family and several friends, I have realized that it is time for me to let go.  It isn’t that I will cease to love, but that I will cease to allow this person to have any reign in my life.  It is no longer worth the pain.  I cannot change the drug addict and I refuse to neither hand her the needles nor watch her shoot up nor pretend that I don’t see what she is doing to herself and others.  That pretense causes me pain. 

And you know what… since no one else is going to look after me and care that it causes me pain, I am.  I may stand alone, but I am standing.  I am standing against this addiction.  I am standing against the elitism, the arrogance and the mean-spirited passive aggression.  It is not okay and I’m not going to pretend that it is.

I am done with this person in my life. May God shed light upon the truth and save her and her family from the destruction of her behavior… that is my prayer.  That is my hope.  But, it is no longer something I will watch or have touch my life in any manner.  All ties are severed.  ~