Eleven

Just for the fun of it...
If you have not seen Spinal Tap this might not make a lot of sense to you.
My husband plays the Bass guitar (and anything else that falls into his hands!) and he has an amp that weighs about 80lbs. When he brought (lugged) it home and showed it to me, the first thing I asked him was if the volume went to "11"...at which point we both fell over laughing. Here's why:

(Scene from Spinal Tap...Nigel explaining why his amp is better than others in an interview)

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

Ponder this for a moment...

Complaining is the refuge of the powerless.

I don't know who said it, but I wrote it down in a note book and tucked it away.
I found it the other day and it speaks as loudly to me now as it did then.

Do SOMETHING friends. Mend a wound, fix a flat, be grateful for the people who love you, and for people who used to love you. Hug your kid, call your mom, give a compliment...

Have a good weekend!!!
:)

Oompa Loompa Augustus Gloop Work Out

This morning my sister and I "worked-out" at her house.
She has one of those "Bow Flex" type machines and I had never used one before, and she was more than happy to show me the bow, (instead of the ropes...funny?).

Anyway, trying to get warmed up was a problem this morning because it was cold and raining...which we could endure like any soldier (had to throw that in before someone called me a wuss or something!)but her kids are 1 and 3 and would have to endure the nasty weather too and we didn't think that was a good idea.

So, she got the bright idea to warm up to the Oompa Loompa's Augustus Gloop dance routine on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
This is one of my favorite movies, and I am wild about Deep Roy...he is just so funny! We had to practice, and by no means did we have it down pat by the time we were finished, but I have never laughed harder or had more fun doing a warm-up ...EVER!

When we were done she looked at me and said, "Cora! When we have this memorized we will be able to do at weddings and stuff!!!"

Oh, heaven help me! She will make me learn it, and I guarantee you at some point I will do this crazy dance at a wedding (sober?). But don't expect me to tell you when or where that might be!

And to be clear, we did not actually eat any chocolate at any point during the work out...I'll have to see about fixing that next week :)

I said as much...

It has been an "off" day for me.
Not "off" as in I took the day off, but "off" meaning that I crossed a few lines I probably shouldn't have.

I reacted early in the day to something a friend said, someone I really care for and admire. I should have listened more, and been more careful with my own words so as not to sharpen an edge between us...I am sure no real damage has been done, but it's left me feeling like I could/should have been more careful. I am guilty of just being "me" sometimes, and while this can be an endearing quality in certain encounters, it can be unattractive in other ones.

Then a neighbor came over, a sweet older lady that I have enjoyed getting to know on certain occasions, and she knocked on my door with a petition. A developer is planning to build on the land behind our neighborhood. Of this I have been notified, met with the developer, and spoken to the planning Dept at City Hall.
I am as well informed on the situation as anyone, perhaps more than most.
Her daughter wrote a scathing letter to all the homeowners in the area about the developer. The letter was full of inaccurate info and borderlined on one big falsehood. I was upset when I got the letter and tried to call her about it.
No answer.
So, when sweet old Virginia comes over and tries to get me to sign the petition (and I did not know it was her daughter who wrote the original note), I was pretty plain about my issues with the letter. She was as nice as ever, and left a few minutes after hearing my complaint, and left without my name on the list. I would have bought the land behind us and made everyone...neighbors, deer, chipmunks, extremely happy...except the guy wanted $750,000.00!!! We live in a lovely area, and in a free country. I have no problem with new housing, even if it is in my own backyard. If I don't like it, I can move.
And as far as I am concerned, Virginia's daughter can move too. I said as much.
Ouch!

Oh...my words!!! Mine and mine alone.

Then, tonight as the kids and I are heading out to Bo'Jangles, we get behind the AWFULEST driver ever!!! An old lady, driving down the middle of the road, going about 20 miles under the speed limit. I blew my horn at her (I swear I do not usually do that, to anyone...they might have a gun!) to get her to move over. She did, and I scooted on down the road, arrived at my destination, and guess who pulls in about 5 minutes behind us??? The AWFULEST driver ever! The kids are saying, "Hey mom, isn't that the lady you blew off the road a few minutes ago?"
Jeeesh!!! Thank heavens she pulled around to the drive thru, if she had come inside I don't know what I would have done!

My husband called a few minutes ago to tell me he won't be home until after 11pm... again. I just gritted my teeth and said, "It's ok honey, I understand."
So, here I am once more...9:30 pm, holding down the fort.

I just wish I could hold my tongue...

Questions that need Answers...

Join Me! :)

Someone gave me these questions ages ago. I have been answering them yearly and have kept all my past responses...it is interesting to see how some things change from year to year, and how some stay the same.
It will only take a few minutes to answer. My answers are in brackets :)

1. If I had one wish it would be... [To go away to an island for a few weeks
with my journals and all the books I am trying to read at present.]

2. I'm happiest when...[I'm writing alone in my house-or playing a
game with my kids]

3. I get angry when...[Needs are recognized and go unmet by the only
person who can meet those needs}

4. People think I am ...[funny, warm, outgoing]

5. I think I am...[Critical, not smart enough, caring]

6. I don't like people who...[harm other people, or make me feel insignificant]

7. Something I do well...[is create stuff, write, make fun things for my kids]

8. Something I am getting better at...[being honest with myself, taking more time
to see what I need before trying to help everyone else]

9. I don't like people to help me with...[things I already know how to do!]

Have fun! Answer! You might discover something you had not realized about yourself!
Have a wonderful day :)

New Bumper sticker

Just too funny not to post!

"I'd rather hunt with Dick Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy"

Me too!

"Agga-Naagga-Bee-Sigh"

We, like many, have had an awful time with telemarketers.
I've subscribed to the Do Not Call list, which has helped.
However, before that came around I decided that instead of getting frustrated, why not turn it into a game?
So, one night the kids and I sat around the table and came up with a few ideas to try on the next caller. My husband and son are of the same name, so when someone called for "Dad", I would put "son" on the phone, who had been rehearsing and dying to take a call...it went like this.

(me) Ring...Hello?
(dude) Hello, may I speak with T?
(me) Uh, yes, hold on a minute...(I call the son)
(son) Hello
(dude) Is this T?
(son) Yes it is (and he was not lying)
(dude) I wanted to talk to you about signing up for the BlahBlahBlah phone plan
(son) (pause) Would you like some cake? (he can not say this without laughing a little)
(dude) What? Excuse me?
(son) Would you like some cake? I've got cookies too...in case you don't like cake. How about leggos? I've got loads of leggos...I love my leggos...leggos and cake!
(dude) WHAT??? Is this T???
(son) Look dude, do you want some cake or what?
(dude) CLick

And we all fell on the floor laughing. T had to stick to cake, cookies or leggos in the conversation. Just ignore what they say and ask the same questions over and over again, like they do to us.

The next call got even better...

Ring, Ring...
(I can tell it is a telemarketer (with 99% accuracy) because the phone said unavailable) I answer the phone by saying--in my best radio DJ voice:

HI!!! This is G107, you are the 10th caller and you've won!!!
(caller) Ummm, uuughh...Can I speak to Cora B____? (they ALWAYS get my last name wrong because it is difficult, Norwegian!) SO I repeat myself:

You are the 10th caller!!! You've won!!!
(Caller) What?! Are you serious? I won something? You're kidding!
(me) (Smiling while I speak with a strong voice) Yes, you are the 10th caller, and if you can tell me what the last 3 songs were, you win the prize!!! What were the last 3 songs?
(caller), Uhhh, oh, I don't know. (sounded dejected)
(me) in my fake sympathetic voice...I'm sorry M'am, try to be a better listener next time!
I hang up.

We all fall down again on the floor laughing.
Sometimes I answer in a made up foreign language. I heard someone on TV answer the phone in Tahiti- or someplace- and they said, "Agga-Naagga-Be-Sigh", which I thought was the coolest thing ever and started answering the phone like that no matter who called. Everyone who calls me has heard me say it, so they don't act like it's anything anymore, but it throws the telemarketers!

If any of you reading this are telemarketers, I apologize, but I guess it's better than getting sworn at, which I would not do. They have a job to do and I appreciate that fact, but so do I. Part of it includes teaching my kids how to deal with people in creative ways when they are bugging the stuffing out of you.
It is all about attitude, all about how you look at things and decide how you are going to let it affect you. Have fun. Take the medicine with a pinch of sugar.
Have a great day today! :)

Knowing Something

Whatever the wonder-
Whatever the care.
Whatever the secret,
Buried deep in your lair.

However you keep it-
However it thrives.
However it lingers,
You keep it alive.

It weeps and it withers,
It shivers with cold.
But the ghost of "What might have been",
Is worth more than gold.

The time has now come,
For the phantoms release.
LET GO of the shackles,
Endure.

-Cora- 12/26/03

It's an odd feeling to write something, particularly a poem, and after re-reading it to say,
"That's good...I think I know what it means."

How can I write something and not be sure of what it means?
It is the genius of poetry to drive everyone mad with the wonder of what the words mean. The only one not going mad is the author who simply gave birth to words that came out a certain way. Words that describe a moment of feeling, a moment of voices, a moment of images that the author feels and sees in her head.
The images are recalled to me when I re-read the poem, but who else in this entire world can possibly see or know or understand it?

The longing to understand, the longing of the reader, is what drives us back over and over again to the words on the page. If only we knew what they mean...We would know something!

(Emily Dickinson often makes me feel this way. This poem was written with her in mind, and in the light of circumstances I was dealing with at the time.)

Chipmunk Victim

***Important Disclaimer*** If you've been bitten by a chipmunk, or rodent of any kind, seek medical attention as quickly as possible. Risk from a staph infection from a rodent bite is as serious as Rabies and equally life-threatening. ***


Let me set this story up:

It is early summer. My back yard, which backs up to 26 untouched acres, is glorious.
The acreage is lush with dogwoods, Hickory trees, old Oaks, towering Pine trees, lots of deer and many lovely little woodland creatures.

About 5 pm one evening, with the sun still high in sky-- basking in the lengthening of his days, I was standing in the kitchen taking in the view. I noticed my lovable kitty, Margaret, who is the gentlest cat I have ever owned, coming out of the woods and into our back yard. I stared at her for a moment because something did not seem right, something about her face looked unusual--there was something in her mouth...and it was moving.
"What does she have in her mouth?!" I said aloud, to no one. Tossing down the dish-towel I was holding, I ran to the door and out onto the deck. "Margaret!", I called, "Drop it!"
Now, if you have ever had ANYTHING to do with a cat, you will know that this was a silly thing to sayÂ…Margaret does as she pleases, as all cats do.
The tiny creature is squirming, and yikes! I can see it is a Chipmunk, my very favorite of all little rodents and Disney characters. My heart is beating a bit faster now, I know if I do not get the chipmunk from Margaret it will die a chewy death, and I just love little chipmunks!

I kind of corner Margaret and she stops moving. She drops the poor creature on the ground, it tries to scurry away, but it is so disoriented that it actually runs back to Margaret and tries to hide under her!
So, now I begin talking to the chipmunk, who is quite pitiful. If my antics had been recorded it would sound a bit like thisÂ…and mind you, I was all by myself in the back yard.

"Oh you poor thing! Come over here and let me help you! Margaret! Don't you, No, don't pick it up again! Here little Chipmunky! I will save you!"

About this time the 2 of my other cats start to notice the commotion (did I mention that I have 3 cats in all?) And they start to cross over into the back yard as well. Now I am no military genius, but I can spot an ambush when I see one. This is going to call for desperate measures, I am going to have to just go in there and scoop the poor little thing up in my hands before I watch a massacre unfold.

So, with no more thought than that, Mamma to the rescue! With one swift movement, I reached under Margaret, who was now growling at me, and grabbed the trembly and somewhat punctured chipmunk, just in time for the other 2 cats to arrive right at my feet.
For a split second, I thought I was a hero, but then things went dreadfully wrongÂ…

Unfortunately, despite all my conversing with the chipmunk, and pleading with the cat to let it go, it did not understand that I was saving it; nor did it take kindly to being scooped up. With lightening speed it sunk all 4 front teeth into my pointer finger on my left hand. I was in shock! So much so, that I raised my hand, and watched, in horror, the chipmunk dangle from my finger, then I looked up towards the sky (did I think God was watching?) and I yelled, at least 2 times, "I don't believe this! My gosh, I do not believe this is happening to me!!!"

However, within a few seconds, the searing pain of all 4 teeth, overlapping each other and sunk in real tightÂ…I had to admit that I was now being chewed on.

It would not let go! It just clamped down with all its might and held on for dear life.
All 3 of the cats are standing at my feet, looking up at me, almost as if to say, "Mamma, now why did you go and do that? Just put the critter on the ground and we will take care of things."

Well, so much for the love affair with the chipmunk, with 2 hard flings he finally let go, and I didn't give a rat's fanny where he landed!

Bleeding profusely I ran into the house, grabbed the dish-towel, headed for the couldn'tnd washed vigorously. I couldnÂ’t get over the fact that the little bugger had bitten me!
I thought it'd be ok to simply put some Neosporin on it and a bandage, but I called my sister to see what she thought and she freaked out. Robin said,

"You got bit by a chipmunk! You could get rabies! You HAVE to go to the hospital or urgent care!!! DonÂ’t wait, this could be very serious! If you won't go, I will come over there and haul your butt to the Dr. myself!!!"
And, no doubt, she would have.

So, absolutely dreading going to the ER, I called the closest Urgent Care clinic to see how long they would be open. Just my luck, open till 9pm!

I grab my cell phone on the way out the door, and I call my husband and tell him to meet me at Urgent Care.
He, of course, wants to know why.
I said, "Well.. honey...I've been bitten by a chipmunk."
He said, "What? You have been bitten by a what?"
I said, "You heard me, A chipmunk. Margaret was trying to eat it, and I tried to save it, and then it bit me!"
He starts laughing.
I say, "This is not funny! Really not funny! *sniff-sniff* Robin said I could get RABIES! (I am starting to get a tiny bit concerned)
He is still laughing, I have to wait a second or 2 for him to re-gain his composure.
Finally, he said,
"Ok Cora, I'm leaving work, I will be there as soon as I can."

I get to the clinic and check myself in.
"Hello", I say, "I need to see a Dr. I have an animal bite."
Nurse says, "What kind of animal bite?"
I say, "Well, I was bitten by a small rodent."
"Oh dear." Says the nurse. "Was it a squirrel, or a rat? They can be pretty nasty bites you know."
"No", I replied quietly, "I was bitten by a chipmunk."

There was a laugh from the other side of the counterÂ…another nurse was snickering. The nurse I was talking to tried not to laugh out loud in front of me and had to speak with a clenched jaw to ask me to fill out my paperwork.
Fortunately, I am right handed, I fill out the forms, turn them in, and I notice the nurse wonÂ’t look me in the eye, but she is grinning.

Finally my husband arrives. He is all smiles. My finger is throbbing, I could, at that very moment be being poisoned by nasty-rodent-teeth-germs, and he looks as if he can barely contain himself!

He says, "How are you doing honey?"
"Well, I have had better afternoons at the dentist's office!" I snapped.
He puts his arm around me, "Everything will be fine. Why in the world did you try to pick up a terrorized chipmunk? You should have at least put gloves on!"
Oh, great, now I get the lecture!
And all the people in the waiting room are listening and starting to giggle, even the sick people!

"Look", I whispered in a dangerously hot voice, "I have caught 3 or 4 chipmunks in the last few years and I have never been bitten before! And besides, that dang Steve Erwin jumps on alligators, snatches up poisonous snakes, and plays with deadly spiders, ALL in one episode and never gets a scratch! You would think I could rescue a little critter and not end up at a Dr's office!!!"

My husband notices that I am a bit huffy and decides not to converse with me for the next few minutes. I go and sit in corner and wait for the Dr and whish that the other patients would stop looking at me!

Finally, another nurse comes out and says, "Mrs. B, follow me." I jump up, cradling my bloody finger (it really was not that bloody), and say, "Thank you". I follow the nurse back and she puts me in a little room, my husband walks in behind her.
The nurse asks, "Now, Mrs. B, what happened to you today?" With a straight face I recount the afternoon events.
The nurse smiles, she is so kind not to laugh at me, and says, "May I see the bite?"

"Of course" I say, and unwrap the paper towel and show her some cute little teeth marks that go all the way through my skin.
Then the nurse asks me, "Mrs. B., were you able to keep the chipmunk so we can be sure he did not have rabies?"
Well! I replied, raising my voice a little, For goodness sake, no I didn't keep him!!! I had to fling him off to make him let go! Besides, I am pretty sure one or more of the cats ate him for supper."
"Well, that is too bad", says the nurse, "The Dr will be in to see you in a moment."

And in just a moment the Dr. did arrive. He was smiling from ear to ear. He said, "Mrs. B. I am Dr. So&So and I hear that you had an encounter with a chipmunk."
"Yes", I said, returning his smile. "I was trying to rescue it from a cat."

This earned me no sympathy points at all...

The Dr. smiled again, and said, "Well, Mrs. B. cats are supposed to catch chipmunks, next time I would advise you to just let nature have her way and leave the chipmunks alone. Let me have a look at the damage."
"Such good advice!", I said cheerfully, "I just wish we could have had this conversation before today!" I was smiling, and did sound respectful, but there was a slight growl in the tone of my voice.

He took a look, called another nurse, and moved me into the surgical room...which I did not take as a good sign. We talked about rabies, he called animal control, and there were no reported cases of rabies in our county or any of the surrounding counties. He also called the CDC and discovered that while chipmunks can theoretically be infected with rabies, there were actually no reports of such in all of North America.

"Whew!" I said, "I am so glad to hear that! I guess I came in here for nothing, didn't I?
Finally, I laughed! The Dr. grinned, and shook his head no. "Cora, while you will not get rabies from this, the bite is still very serious. A rodent's mouth is extremely dirty and with out treatment you could actually die from blood poisoning in a matter of days."

"Good Heavens!" I exclaimed. "Who would have thought a little chipmunk could be lethal! It's like the killer rabbit in the Holy Grail (Monty Python), the one with BIG SHARP POINTY TEETH!!!" And I did a slight imitation of the Wizzard Tim.
The Dr. nearly fell over laughing! As did the nurse, and my husband...and I am finally laughing too, …though my finger is hurting quite a bit by now.

The wound was soaked, disinfected, and given a shot. Then they bandaged my finger, then wrapped in gauze, and then put on a partial cast, and wrapped it again! I said, "Why all the bandages? I look like I have been bitten by an alligator!"
The Dr,chuckling, said, "I do not want you to move your finger at all. The bite is near the joint, can not really be stitched, and needs to be immobilized. Also, you have to keep your hand higher than your heart for the next 24 hours, as well as take an antibiotic for the next 7 days."

"But", I protested, as I began to ponder the implications of what he was saying,
"How will I get dressed, or go to the bathroom? Or cook, or work at the church tomorrow??? I can't have my left hand out of commission. I've got 2 kids!"
My husband is grinning for a different reason and chimes in, I'll help you get dressed and undressed...and it's only for 24 hours. I think we can manage."

And we did manage...and he learned that while he had mastered the art of being able to remove certain undergarments, putting them back on me was another matter entirely.
He had to wash my hair that evening, and help me blow it dry. He had to do a lot of things that all of us take for granted, all of us with 2 hands that work most of the time.

The hardest part was the next day, wearing that cast, keeping my hand above my heart, and explaining to everyone that I had been bitten by a chipmunk, which was just hysterically funny to everyone, and even to me by the time the whole thing was over.

My pastor, who saw me when I was helping answer the phones at the church office, just shook his head and laughed like it was the funniest story he had ever heard.

He actually said to me,
"If another member of the Church had told me about this, and had asked me to guess which person had been bitten by a chipmunk, without hesitation, I would have said it was you-- Cora!"
Thanks, I think!

My backyard is still lovely, and the cats catch everything from moles, to snakes, to squirrels...and when I see the carnage taking place, I just turn my head and walk away.

I have learned my lesson:
I was a chipmunk victim; don't let it happen to you! ;)

Something Sweeter

One night, several weeks ago, we had just gotten home from the beach and it was very late. The kids were exhausted and went almost straight to sleep. After unpacking a little and putting things away, I was the last one awake--washing my face and getting ready for bed. I was tired, and I spook easily when I'm really tired...So I was not crazy about wandering around the house in the dark.
However, I decided to walk down the hall and check on the kids, stopped and thought it was silly because I knew they were fast asleep, and then went down the hall anyway. When I walked into Juli's room and pulled the covers off of her head (she does this a lot)--her eyes were wide open and she said, "I just had a terrible dream", and I could tell she was really frightened. It was a crazy dream, sci-fi-ish, but it had seemed very real. Under her covers, she had been praying--that the Lord would send
an Angel, or Jesus, or Mommy.

Immediately tears came to my eyes...I had almost NOT walked down the hall, and I don't usually. But that night, tired and ready for bed myself, I just felt I had to check on my daughter. And there she was, praying that one of 3 of us would come.

I don't know how often, if ever again, my name will be listed among Christ or His Angels...but I can not put into words what it felt like to named alongside them, and by my daughter no less. I know that my being there for Juli was a comfort to her and that she fell asleep quickly afterwards...but it was I who walked away with the greater blessing. I am thankful that my daughter thinks so much of me, that she prays first when she is frightened, and that God heard her and answered her prayer almost immediately. I know it doesn't always work this way, but on that evening it did.

With a full heart,
-BellaCora :)

GI Joe to wed Air Force Jane...

Army Teaches Troops How to Pick a Spouse

here's the link:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183809,00.html

an excerpt...
"The "no jerks" program is also called "P.I.C.K. a Partner," for Premarital Interpersonal Choices and Knowledge.
It advises the marriage-bound to study a partner's F.A.C.E.S. — family background, attitudes, compatibility, experiences in previous relationships and skills they'd bring to the union.
It teaches the lovestruck to pace themselves with a R.A.M. chart — the Relationship Attachment Model — which basically says don't let your sexual involvement exceed your level of commitment or level of knowledge about the other person.
*************************************************************
I was reading over something a friend had emailed to me about PR issues with the White House and it got me to thinking of how few of us are Professionals.

We, as a culture, have become Hollywood-ized, by this I mean, we want everything neatly packaged...With a beginning, conflict, climax, and tidy ending. We want this on TV, in our relationships, even our food (the packaging) looks like this.
Ever noticed the "Granola group" at the grocery store, the ones who bring their own bags to the check out and only buy organic stuff? Have you raised an eyebrow as you watched them exit the store, wondering to yourself..."What the heck are they doing? As if saving a few plastic grocery bags will stop global warming or something...which is hogwash anyway..." (It would prob. be best not to divulge anymore of my private thoughts here...) These folks took the time to THINK before they left their house, they had a plan, and I can barely remember my grocery list!

Anyway, the FOX news story this morning again me think of how unprepared for life most of us are. We are in a constant cycle of learning, or we should be. We learn how to cope and how to choose a spouse from watching our parents.. If you can look at your mom and dad and see what a great job they did in picking a mate then you might have done OK. Sadly, the divorce stats say that not too many of us are in that category.
There is nothing wrong with taking a more scientific approach in evaluating that "significant other" when making a life long commitment. How about taking this approach with most things in life?

I have become wary of packages that are too neat. I have looked at the mistakes the administration has made, from PR problems, to the way the president stumbles through some of his sentences, and I see honesty. I see real people, doing a very difficult job, and doing the best with what they have. President Clinton was just too slick for me, with a southern drawl to throw some people off, fairly good looking, and all the while just looking for some action when the door was closed. A good ole' boy, no doubt...but all the while I loved Ross Perot. "Sigh" I was 22 and he reminded me of my Grandfather. Hillary is another beast all together, and I trust her as far as I could throw her.
Why do you think the Democratic party is so in love with Hollywood, and vice versa?
My friend (mentioned above) pointed out to me the real difference between a liberal and a conservative...the Left is dreaming about how things could be, and the Right is focusing on the here and now.

There is nothing wrong with day dreaming, with hoping the guy/girl you are seeing is the one to commit your life to, or hoping the advertising on your mac and cheese is telling the truth about the 0 cholesterol bit; However...if you are sleeping on the job, or get smacked by the one who loves you, or you start having chest pains...it is time to wake up. Time to get educated. Time to take a hard look and make some hard decisions. Time to become a Professional at whatever it is life is handing to you at the moment. I agree that our White House should be as professional as possible and they have dropped the ball in many ways. I hope for a glorious ending with this war, and I hope our soldiers come home soon, and make good choices in life long partners based on the info below. But I know...that what lies at the root of the problems in Iraq (the Middle East!) is Evil. A mindset in leaders (of the enemy) that suffocates goodness and truth and freedom. Not an easy thing to fit into a neat little package and drop off at the gates of hell.
-BellaCora

Jack Bauer :)

Fuuny!

http://www.thenoseonyourface.com/jackbauerfacts/

The folllowing came from the above listed web-site...go look at it, if you are a 24 fan! :)

Little Known Facts About Jack Bauer
Much has been made about the formidable powers that Chuck Norris possesses, and justifiably so. Due to the sheer quantity and quality of beatings he has administered, Norris has earned the right to have his name spoken in hushed whispers by a Chuck-fearing nation.
However, there is one man too powerful for even Chuck Norris to confront. And that man is Jack Bauer.
We feel it is high time that everyone learned a bit more about the man entrusted to safeguard our national security:

• When in Jack Bauer's presence, Chuck Norris urinates sitting down.
• Jack Bauer can squeeze through spaces that would make a spider claustrophobic.
• Tired of the incessant whining and complaining, Jack Bauer found the dogs and let them right back in.
• Jack Bauer's saliva is bullet-proof.
• After receiving repeated roundhouse kicks to the head from Chuck Norris, Jack Bauer was heard to ask,"Can you go a bit lower? I was crammed in an air conditioning duct between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. and my back is killing me."
• Jack Bauer can eat five times his body weight in terrorists.
• Concerned that his dog would break under interrogation, Jack Bauer snapped his neck and turned him into the bag which he still carries to this day.
• Jack Bauer has the ability to smell sounds.
• The only thing elephants used to fear was mice. Until they hurt one of Jack Bauer's friends.
• If Jack Bauer crawls out of an air-conditioning duct and sees his shadow, it means that there will be 24 more hours of terrorists getting s***-hammered.
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• Under intense interrogation by Jack Bauer, the fifth dentist cracked and admitted he recommends Trident for his patients who chew gum.
• Jack Bauer actually wrote an episode of Three's Company in which there was no misunderstanding in the plot.
• Jack Bauer helped U-2 find what they were looking for.
• Coffee cannot start it's day without being drunk by Jack Bauer.
• GI Joe plays with a Jack Bauer action figure.