KittyKat9714's Blog

American Dreams...

I have a dream that I can live a some what peaceful life with my kids and die a content old lady in my bed.  I have the hopes and dreams that my husband who is my best friend and the love of my life will be sitting beside me in my 80's bickering about who's memory is right.  I can only hope and dream that my kids will live a life without fear of being killed when they walk out the door or even in their own home.



I pray everyday that my step-children will never have to face an attack on their school.  I long for them to have a normal youth where all they have to worry about is homework, friends, and parents. I pray that they will never wake up like I did again to see their homeland under attack and fear their lives could be next.



I can hardly bare to see the look on my husbands face as he remembers the 9/11 tragedy in his home state.  I dread the day my daughter finds out that where Grandma and Grandpa came from had some of the worst bloodshed since Pearl Harbor.



An old friend who will always have a place in my heart even though words said tore apart our friendship beyond reconciliation will always be thought of on her birthday as she shares it with the tragic memories shared on her special day.



I can only pray that my family will never see another 9/11 or for that matter that my baby daughter never will.



May the lives lost not be in vain.  I pray that Patriotic pride will remain a top priority in this country.  I pray that our soldiers will one day be home and not needed half way across the world.  With God by my side I will live my life an American woman proud to be free, and proud to say I am a Christian!



God bless America, and God bless you as you remember 9/11.

~Kitty~

I got the phone call a few weeks ago that my cousin Will Barnette who has been serving in Iraq had an explosion hapen beside him.  He now has a bad case of shell shock as well as brusing on his brain.  He was trasported to Germany to get psychiatric treatment before being discharged.

What my family and I are having a hard time comprehending is that he's been told that they will give him an honorable discharge with no benefits not even the use of the veterans hospital.  He can't mentally handle the war anymore because of the shell shock.  They told him that because he wasn't physically missing a limb that he wouldn't get the benefits but he could go back to Iraq even though he is so messed up if he wanted to continue in the military and kep his benefits.

After researching it my family found

 

where a lot of other soldiers are being told the same story and lost their benefits after they fought so hard for this country.  Why aren't mental injuries considered as bad as physical inguries?  The soldiers may or may not get over what this war has done to their minds!  There are still people to this day that have severe mental problems from Vietnam and the Gulf War as well as the World Wars.

It seems like this country is telling the soldiers it's ok if you die or get mutilated, but if your mind slips you're on your own.  These soldiers are giving their all for us, but when their all has been given, what's left for them?  So far it seems like nothing.  That's not a fair price to pay for protecting this country.  When will our soldiers get the respect and better treatment that they deserve?

 

I couldn't find an upload button for the Design Challenge album...

My daughter is a true inspiration to me.  This photo represents her struggles since birth.  I truly believe that the prayers I've been told about that have been being prayed all over the US have worked.  Her surgeon told us that she should not have lived after birth with what he saw when he went in to do surgery after 2 months of her life.  Behold the power of prayer.

I'll be the first to admit it, I know in some ways I have a few racist thoughts in the back of my head.  I have them there because of thing's I've heard while growing up and things that I have witnessed that caused me to feel certain ways.  I don't act on any of those thoughts and I try to look for reasons to change how I think and feel about certain issues towards the opposite sex as well as people of different races and even different classes of people.  To be honest most people have some racial issues and stereo type issues with people even in small amounts, but other people are still extremely racist.

It's ironic that Beth on Rising was just talking about racism issues and had a sound off about racism and then my friend who is black was struck by some aggressive racism by police officers.  He was driving home in the middle of the night.  He was slightly speeding and stopped by police.  The police shined their light in his car for about 30 seconds before speaking to him.  Then they started harrassing him like crazy about where he'd been and who he was with, how long he'd been there and how long.  About 45 minutes after they took his license to have his records pulled in their car they make him get out of his car and makes him get out.  They make him take ten steps away from his car with his hands up in 20 degree weather without letting him have his coat out of his car.  They bring in a K9 unit and have the dog sniff his car all over for drugs.  After about 10 minutes of the dog sniffing around his car one leaves and the other walk up to him and says you were going a lil fast back there slow it down hands him back his licenses and says have a good night.  He honestly feels like he got racial profiled.

My husband who is white also had some problems when they stopped him in a hole in the wall town the other day because they thought he was a thug. Yes my hubby drives an 80s model Lincoln Town Car because it was given to us, his head was cold so he had to wear a tobogan, that doesn't mean that he's a drug dealing thug. The other guy that was with him also had on a tobogan to keep his head warm as well.  They are both closer to being rednecks than thugs good grief!  After giving him a rough time the police gave him and the other guy he was with a ticket for not wearing a seat belt.  I wish that racism and typecasting would stop, but it won't as long as there are ignorant backwards people out there!

Later,

~Kitty~

I remember when I was growing up that I couldn't stand eating dinner and watching the news.  I was always glad when my parents would let me put a sitcom on during dinner.  I thought grown ups were so boring because they would sit around and watch the news.  I honestly didn't think that I would be watching the news when I grew up.

After I got into my mid 20s I watched the news once in a while to catch up on current events and if the weather was bad.  If something local I'd heard about was going to be on the news I'd watch and wait for it.  About two years ago I was flipping through the channels and stopped on Fox's 10'oclock news cast as it was ending.  I was just getting ready to flip the chanel and I heard ACDC in the background of the next news program that came on.  I was like WOAH! This news is off the hook!  The people were actually speaking like normal people and not fake like the other news casts with all proper formalities.  They were telling the news in a way that kept my interest.  They added their own style and input and it wasn't all matter of fact.  I kept watching it every night after that.

Then there was Mark Mathis.  He was hillarious and kept things interesting.  I watched every single night just to see what he would do next.  I remember when he dressed up as a big sun flower with a little guitar and sang.  I laughed so hard I had tears and fell off the bed.  I had a friend that would always call and say did you see what mathis did last night???  I was so dissapointed when he was let go.  I haven't watched the night time news since.  Every now and then I catch bits and pieces of the Edge.  It's been starting to catch my interests again.

One morning when I was up sick I decided to look up Rising and see what it was actually like.  I was hooked!  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  The people on it are so friendly!  They don't seem like robots unlike the people on other news casts.  It really feels like I'm sitting in the room with my friends discussing current events, and I ACTUALLY get to talk back!  I love how they involve people in their news casts and give the imput of real people and not just select people surveyed without portraying different opinions.  They really are truly friendly not like the front some other local news casters put up of being friendly on tv and not in public.  They are very good at giving people their few minutes of fame.  They are all also extremely attractive and that makes it a lot easier to watch the show instead of looking at people with overdone make up thrown on them to make them seem apealing that I have seen on other stations.  They even make lots of mistakes and laugh them off.  That right there makes them seem more human and on my level!

I really enjoy their word of the day contest.  Its fun and makes you a bit smarter everyday.  I couldn't believe I actually won it one morning.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to claim my prize.  I couldn't afford to drive an hour to Charlotte just do get a DVD when it would cost about the same in gas that it would in the store because it had to be picked up in person especially when I have to drive an hour to Winston to see my daughter in the hospital all the time.  I really enjoyed having my e-mail read on tv and having my name said on TV for everyone I know to hear and call me about it.  Unfortunately I keep falling asleep in the middle of the show since I stay up at night until almost time for my hubby to come home so I never hear if they read my e-mails about the sound offs.

I totally recomend this station's news casts to everyone, but especially the young adults that are looking for something more than a cheesy newscast.  I only wish that rising would have a little more local news than they show.

Later,

~Kitty~

In the last several years I've had many hardships that taught me how precious life is.  Many people were complaining today that they got stuck taking care of their kids today and couldn't go to work.  I know that paying the bills and buying things that make people happy are important, but those things are only temporary.  Material objects come and go, but when people go and missed chances to be with them go, they don't come back.  If everyone would slow down and grab the chance to spend quality time together they would find that they had a less stressful day and they would feel closer to the people they care about.  The memories would stay with them forever and make lasting effects on everyone's lives.

Today was the best day I've had in a long time.  I wish my daughter would have been able to be home to spend it with me, but she's having her way with the nurses right now.  My husband came home from work early around 4 am and we actually had a snowball fight right then!  I caught snowflakes on my tongue and spun around in the snow a few times.  We took lots of pictures so we could show our daughter later on what the first local snow of her life looked like.  After watching my kitty chasing snowflakes and trying to pounce on them when they were landing on the ground we went inside to get warm.

Luckily it was rather toasty inside.  Infact it was almost too hot.  We were just that lucky that the wood stove is keeping enough of our house warm since the oil ran out.  We can't afford to fill the tank since prices are so high, but luckily we have a sofa bed in the same room as our wood stove.  If we keep the rest of the house closed up we can stay warm in our den to watch tv and where we sleep.

My hubby went to sleep and I stayed up to watch Fox Rising to get a better idea of what the weather was going to do.  I fell asleep listening to the cast as I often do since I stay up at night until I can finally go to bed with my hubby.  Several hours later when we woke up we took a drive to the grocery store.  It was amazing looking at everything all covered in white.  My hubby said I was like a kid in a candy store.  I told him unlike you Ex-Yankees people from around here aren't used to seeing snow.

I ended up using some of my Christmas money to get a gallon of gas for our three-wheeler.  Spending quality time having fun with my hubby is priceless and I couldn't pass it up.  It was almost like the movies riding around with him looking at all the white in the woods bundled in layers of clothes.  He argued with me that he didn't need gloves, but he ended up getting socks after a while and cutting holes out of them for his fingers. 

Shortly after that our big dog that was chasing after us decided to go jump in the creek and lay in it.  We laughed at her and made her get out before she got too cold in it.  She wanted to stay out when we got back up to the house but we made her come in.  Its a good thing we did because she can barely get up off the floor because her arthritis is acting up so bad.  I wouldn't have traded this day for anything except for my daughter to be home and healthy.

My dog welcoming my hubby home...

My hubby glad to be off the nasty roads!

 

My dog after sitting in the snow for a while.

My kitty chasing the snow flakes...

Riding the three wheeler...

Wish all of the kids were here, but they can't be so I'm making the best of it with my hubby!  At least my step-kids get enough snow in the state where they moved to so they can play in it.

Later,

~Kitty~