The Need to Aim

Shooters and archers aim at targets, that's the point right? They want to hit what they are aiming at! Golfers keep their eye on the ball but they look at the flag on the green before they look down at the ball because the flag(at least the hole under the flag) is what they are aiming at.

Heck even dogs aim when they pee............I know, you thought they were marking their territory but in truth they actually just need that blade of grass for a target! Seriously, when it comes to peeing we ALL aim, male and female both..............although I think guys sometimes aim to miss just to drive us crazy...........and I still totally resent the fact that they can write their name in the snow.

We ALL have the need to AIM at something..............every day we have to aim, some times are target are big goals like a promotion at work..........other times they are small targets such as aiming for the refridgerator to get a drink of water (I must confess that many times I get in the kitchen and forget what my target was............got to work on focusing on what I am aiming at)

Aim=Goal – Target=Finish

We all set goals and we aim for them...........................our target is where we want to finish. This need to AIM at something is not even a self imposed trait............it is built into our DNA – we have to reach (aim) for something every day of our lives. Moses may have wandered the desert for 40 years but he STILL was aiming for the promised land. Columbas may have aimed for China and missed by hitting the America's but he STILL was aiming for a specific target.

(yes I am going to resist mentioning the fact that they should have stopped and asked for directions but I will not bow to stereotyping)

I personally need to set a LOT of small goals and a big goal. I need to plan my steps and each goal I reach is a point of “reward” for me and brings me closer to my big goal.

The hockey legend, Wayne Gretsky said "You miss 100% of the goals that you don't try for".

Many times our “finish line” is also our “starting line” for the next adventure. I am aiming for my next adventure.............now if I can just remember what I wanted from the kitchen..............

Cooking, Cleaning, Sewing...............The Power of Self Reliance

Can you cook? Can you do laundry? Can you sew on a button? If you can I personally think your survival chances just went up 50% over those who can't. Last week a friend shared a blog link “Be a GD Adult. Learn To Cook” from the Jezebel blog (yes I appreviated the GD word, I don't really like it). I shared it on my page and OH the party began, lol..............after my “storm” I went back and read some of the comments on the original blog and found that the majority of the comments there were Pro for these skills.

I agreed with a LOT of what Jezebel said and a LOT of the commentors...............cooking, laundry, and sewing are what I consider basic skills of survival in life. Now I raised two boys and a girl, they are not that old but even when they were in school any Home Ec or Life Skills class was basically non-existant.

Home Ec was a staple when I was in school but I have to say that I did not learn much from these classes.............in fact the dress that I had to make ended up going OUT the class room window three times and to this day I shudder in fear and avoid if all possible putting in a ZIPPER! Okay to be honest I totally avoid any pattern that calls for an evil zipper – I put it right up there with having to get a shot! :(

Now this does NOT mean that I did not have these skills at the time, I learned to cook at home...........which was always an adventure since I am more of a “dump cook” and my mom is an “exact measure”. Oh and for the record, my mom couldn't boil water when she got married, daddy taught her to cook and he did a mighty fine job too!

I think I only did one load of laundry while at home and ever bit of that one turned purple...........but my mom was a smart woman and she sent me to college with a box of Cheer which had the instructions on the back. 

Lol, I still remember setting on the dorm laundry room floor with Cheryl Williams reading the instructions and trying to figure out how to sort. Enter the angel known as the cleaning lady and she helped us with that first venture.................btw, later I found out that my grandmother sent mom to college with a box of Cheer AND the cleaning lady there helped her sort her laundry!

As for sewing, well a needle and thread and I have a LONG history! I was helping my Granny quilt when I was four, I always loved sewing...........to the point that it did get me in trouble a couple of times. My favorite actually didn't ME in trouble but it got Papa in trouble! Lol, he kept me while granny was working, I made the most AWESOME dress from one of her big quilt scraps..........she wasn't real happy when she got home and found out what I had done. Come to think of it, I put a ZIPPER in that dress and it totally worked...........but I guess it is much easier when you are five years old and using just a needle and thread.

Fast forward a few years and I have children of my own...........from the day the boys were born I vowed that before they left my house they would know how to cook somethng besides a ham sandwich, do a load of laundry without turning everything purple, AND be able to sew on a button...........then if they could find some stinking girl to do it so be it! At least they would have the skills if they needed them. I did the same thing with my daughter.........and yes she will probably be that “stinky girl” some boy finds some day, lol.

Not only did we work on these things at home, my kids were very active in 4-H, not only learning but also competing in cooking, sewing, and other contests. Now some people do not see a pride or value in a male knowing how to sew..........lol.......in fact one year when my oldest son was about 10 and had just competed in the District competition for sewing, we were at a local pizza place with my parents and some friends of theirs. The gentleman is a “man's man”, former military – oilfield – rancher..............he leaned over to my dad and said “He is proud of his sewing, don't you have a problem with that?”............quick note here, my dad was a BIG STRONG guy – 6'2” and he could pick up anything he wanted to pick up. My dad leaned in and said “I know how to SEW, I helped my mother quilt when I was little and I quilted part of each of my grandkids baby blankets.........you got a problem with THAT?”...............btw, the answer was a hurried “No, no problem”.

My point of this long story is short.................Cooking, Cleaning, and Sewing are basic skills that EVERYONE should know and I truly believe for several years we have not given them the value that they deserve.

The list of BLAME is long:

Budget cuts

The push toward technology learning in school (something always has to give)

Woman's rights (don't barbeque me on this one – I KNOW females that refused to learn to cook so that they would never be “stuck” in a kitchen)

Gender roles (face it we still are biased towards cooking, cleaning, and sewing being a “womans job”)

Sterotypes (again there are people – male and female – that think if a guy is cutting out a pattern he must be gay)

Well the list is longer than you have time to read. I think we need to get back to the teaching and nurtoring of these basic skills for BOTH genders and at a school age or younger! These are skills that you can set aside and pick up when they are needed..............even years down the road!

I read several comments about the fact of TIME and the LACK of it (mainly with cooking)...........and I do agree.............but I also argue that is what freezers (my aunt used spend Sunday making meals for the rest of the week), crock pots (oh Lord Bless the person that invented these beauties - there are some great websites devoted to crock pot cooking), and leftovers (cook it once eat it twice!).

 

Road Trip...............It is NOT the Destination................

It is Not the Destination, but rather the journey that made this road trip (an many others) so special. For some the destination is just the icing on the cake, for others it can be just a sidenote or largely forgotten............it is the conversation, the laughter, and the stops along the way that implants it in our memory banks to be drawn from as life goes on.

Our road trip started weeks ago when the news broke about the two cars and six bodies being found in FossLake. The discussion at our coffee meeting was of shock in the discovery and shock at how this could have happened 40 years ago and them just being found. For some coffee groups this would have been a quick converation.........lol, well Laura is a writter and a journalist, I dabble at writing and am a journlist, Marceita is into ghosts and all things spooky, and Becca is into mysterys and spooky things..............so this event was a hot topic for us!

The trip started off in sunshine but the clouds (in the sky) quickly moved in...........or I should say we drove into them. That didn't stop the sunshine in the car though............if a car could run on laughter we could have driven around the world on the giggles that insued! We took a lesson from CARS and we stopped along the way, first at the Groom cross

Then in Shamrock, Texas to visit the U-Drop-Inn. The wonderful lady manning the gift shop there told us that if we were going to Elk City, Oklahoma we should just drive a little further to Clinton and go to the casino. That prospect was discussed but Laura and I didn't really feel up to donating to the casino fund.

Part of our plan was to visit the Route66 Museum in Elk City............wait...............this has gone from a Mystery Trip to a Route 66 Trip ..........oh well, every good journey should have some twists! The rain continued, the cold set in, and still we laughed and drove.........and did I mention that we got lost?

Getting lost can lead to some wonderful discoveries, course in our case it also led to the fact that we were almost out of gas. We ended up at the only quick stop in Hammon, Oklahoma complete with (in our minds) antique gas pumps and strange surroundings.............

so of course the group voted to sacrifice Marceita to ask for directions. Becca was a little worried for her safety when she stayed so long inside, Laura and I were more concerned for the locals inside! Lol

(and yes I had to drive over the Foss Lake dam, I hate that drive even on a clear day!)

We finally got to the lake, we got colder and wet! After that it was time to eat! Thanks to a friends recommendation we ate at Pedro's in Elk City...........the food was great and we all loved the tables and chairs............well except one booth, I was really worried about the artist's mind set when he/she did this one!

By the time we finished eating it was 3:30 and we decided to skip the museum and call it a day. All in all we only did TWO things that we had actually planned to do.............and a WHOLE BUNCH that was unplanned. In some books this would have made the trip a failure. But for us it was a complete and total success!

We laughed, we giggled, we solved the worlds problems...........we saw old things, new things, and did a whole bunch of things we had not planned to do.

The Journey was AWESOME! :)

Redskins, Browns, Buffaloes – Insult? Or Flattery

Okay bear with me............I am back on the “label thing”, yep I can't help it with all of this brew ha going on concerning the Washington Redskins and whether or not it is an insult to Native Americans.

First, we ALL have labels that we assign to other races or skin colors, and in my raising and opinion it boils down to the “feeling” we put behind that name..............is it Hate?.........is it Honour?...........or is it just a label to define that person, place, or thing?

Yes I do remember the definition of a noun, thank you very much

Many years ago in a galaxy far, far away..............well face it, Higgins Texas, population 464 (at that time) is a world's difference from life in Amarillo! There was a group of Native Americans doing a walk, or ride.........I apologise that I cannot remember all the details, I am sure it was to raise awareness about Native Americans – especially since I wrote a story for the Golden Spread News about it. Anyway the group stopped for the night in Higgins, the town put them up in the school and feed them supper in the cafeteria.

During my interviewing several of the participants I became part of a conversation about the town of Shattuck and their mascot the Indians. Some of the participants had taken offence of Shattuck's mascot choice and the silhouette of an Indian on the water tower. Since I have never been one to set on the sidelines – and the interviews were basically over – I weighed in on the conversation. At the end several of the people there told me that they had never thought of the mascot choice in that light and it had made a difference.

Which brings me to my second point. Do you truly understand WHY/HOW a mascot is chosen? What the purpose of a mascot/label of a team is?

Mascots/Labels are chosen for two reasons - 

1. Most often the choice of a mascot is a reflection of a desired quality and a desire to emulate that particular animal or person. West Texas (now West Texas A&M University) did not pick Prairie Dogs as their mascot.........they picked the Buffalo! Now besides being a very large animal they can be pretty darn fierce if you cross their path! (yes I am a WT graduate, so sue me – I love my school!).  The Cleveland Browns honoured legendary Ohio coach Paul Brown by naming their team the Browns.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. The Atlanta Braves chose their name to emulate a warrior with a fighting spirit on the field.To symbolize or honour a local or regional trait or person...........such as the Pampa Harvesters to represent the agriculture influence in the area (particularly wheat).

Now what about Washington and those Redskins? Well I may have a lot of anger right now towards Washington but it is NOT towards a team that chose Redskins as their mascot!

In 1932 the team was called the Boston Braves and they actually played at Braves Field along with the Boston Braves BASEBALL team. The next year they moved to Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox) and changed their name to the Boston Redskins. When they left Boston in 1937 and moved to Washington they changed their name again, this time to the Washington Redskins.....and NO even though they shared the new field with the Washington Senators baseball team they didn't change their name to the Washington Senators. I am guessing that a combination of it being post Depression economy and a “we need to keep something the same” aided in this decision.

Now you can choose to decide that a label/name is an insult to someone or to yourself OR you can choose to consider it an honour or point of pride.

Some people take offense at being called ornery, and by the strictest definition it could be considered an insult -

Ornery – bad-tempered and combative........ OR .........stubborn

In MY family, it is a point of PRIDE! Yep, you know you have made it when Mama Joe says you're being ornery and giggles!

Now I go back to the first and say again..............it all depends on the “feeling” we put behind a label or name.............. kind of like – Excuse me............

There is excuse me? - “I didn't hear what you said”

And there is Excuse Me? - “I think I heard what you said but is so I don't think I liked it”

And there is EXCUSE ME? - “I HEARD what you said and oh hell no!”

EVERY generation takes words and phrases and assigns new meanings to them, don't assign a meaning to something unless you are sure that is EXACTLY what the originator meant to say.

I doubt very seriously if any team has adopted a mascot in the spirit of Degrading their "namesake" or to hold the namesake up for ridicule.  Rather I think it is an adoption of honor and a source of pride.

Can I Start This Day Over?

Go Back To Bed? Or Not

I may just flip a coin, I cannot decide whether to go back to bed and start the day over or just ride out the rest of the day and hope things get a little less chaotic!

Today was a day that I have been waiting on for several weeks...........time to get my car fixed! YAY!

Things started off great, I headed to Amarillo in plenty of time to make my appointment, in fact I arrived 10 minutes early! And then things just got squirrelly from there

First bobble in the day:

The manager that I had been dealing with was not there and I talked to the owner, whose first question was “How long did he say this would take?” I said 2-3 days and he smiled and said “oh it will probably take longer than that.......fact is 3 days would be pushing it” Oh Great! I replied that not only was that what his manager had said but also what the insurance company had estimated...........he replied “Oh the insurance company always low balls things, this will probably take longer and cost more”. Oh Great!

The car rental people arrived on time, YAY! They picked me up and we went back to the rental office.

Second bobble in the day:

During the “check out” process they discovered that my drivers license had expired! Oh great and I am two miles or more from the DL office. They were kind enough to take me there and told me to call as soon as I was done and they would pick me back up! YAY!

Third bobble in the day:

At the DL office I am in and out in less then 15 minutes! It was a miracle! I have been there before and it is usually an hour or more! I called the rental place and they tell me they will tell my agent and she will be right there to pick me up....................45 minutes later, I call again – she answers the phone and says “are you done?” I said yes, and I was done when I called 45 minutes ago...........oops she didn't get the message. Five minutes later she is there to get me, YAY! Especially since by this time I am cold and I need a bathroom!

Fourth bobble in the day:

We get back to the rental place and while finishing up the processing I find out since I have liablity only insurance I need to purchase full coverage from them at $19.99 a day (don't forget the body shop just informed me that it is going to take LONGER than 3 days to fix my car!), Now since this accident was not my fault and the other drivers insurance is paying for repairs and the rental...........we call them to see if they will cover the insurance................oops! They forgot to read me the part of the script that says they will NOT pay for any additional insurance! And since my car is already at the body shop and I am TECHNICALLY stranded at the rental car place and 15 miles from my house...............yep I get to PAY for the insurance!

While I can't really start the day OVER............I so think I will take a nap!

My Car Has a SPECIAL Feature!

Today I am going to spend some time going through my car manual! I have looked at this before – okay I will be honest I think I flipped through it the day I bought the car and the rest of the time it is just something I move when I am digging in the glove compartment.............on a side note I DO have a pair of gloves in there!

Last night I vowed that I need to thoroughly READ and STUDY this book! I have decided that I have a special feature on my car that I was unaware of AND that I have accidentally engaged...............I am of the firm belief that my car has an INVISIBLITY CLOAK! I am not talking a Harry Potter drape it around the car cloak 

but a Romulan flip a switch and nobody can detect you cloak!

Now right now you probably think I have lost my mind or else I have been drinking (oh come on! It is 9am on a Sunday morning...........and it is not Rodeo weekend! Okay for some of you that reference went right over your head, but if you are a Stinnett Rattler or a cowboy you totally get it).

Let's go over the facts:

I drive a Kia Sportage – no it is not a Suburban but it is not a Smart Car either.........it has some size to it!

It isn't white or black – it is RED! Hello! Red Light – Stop Sign – Danger................it is RED!

I bought the car Brand New in 2007.........so I have had it for SIX years!

Let me present the evidence:

In August I rushed the car to the tire store because I had a roofing nail in the front tire – they said it would be two hours to fix the flat because the “flat” line was so long! Thank you May hail storm damage from which there are STILL houses waiting on roofs in Amarillo. When I came back to pick up the car it was parked at the side, I backed out and looked up to see a Suburban BACKING down the drive and WHAM! BIG dent in my drivers door! Driver said............”I didn't see you”

(I think I handled this one pretty calmly, turned out the driver was a former student of mine AND he worked for the tire place............his insurance is footing the bill for the repairs)

In September I was walking out of the mall and watched a man and woman walking across the parking lot between the cars. WHAM! The guy walked right into the back of my car, I heard him say to the lady, “I didn't even see that car”.

(I laughed my head off over this one, kinda made my day)

Last night I got off work, stopped by McDonald's (on Coulter, yes it was a rough night I need some cheering up). They have a two window drive up – first pay, then product. The car in front of me paid and they brought her stuff and gave it to her through the pay window. She decided it was time to leave..................you guessed it, she put it in reverse and WHAM backed right into me! What did she say....................yep -  “I didn't see you back there!”

(This one I was not so calm about at the start..........you have to understand, I have an appointment at 9am Monday morning to FINALLY get my door fixed...........yes thank you again May hail storm! But after looking at the car and realizing there was no damage I was much better)

The final result is I have decided that some way or another I have accidentally activated my cars Invisibility Cloak and now I need to spend some time figuring out how to DE-ACTIVATE it!

I think I will write KIA a letter, they should put a warning sticker on any vehicle they install this feature on!

The Energy and Power of - “How are you doing today?”

Since I haven't been living in a cave for 54 years it stands to reason that I have been out and about. And since my main business is sales I have probably been in more places of employment than a lot of people.

Whether I am “working” or just a consumer, I notice the energy of the business.............okay now you think I have lost it...............but think about it -

How do you feel when you walk in the door?

What is your impression of the place?

How do you feel when you walk out the door?

I have walked in places in a good mood and walked out the door in a blah mood …........... and it all goes back to the customer service that I received. I have literally been in stores where not a single employee spoke to me, including the person that checked me out!

Most checkers are trained (or at least SUPPOSED to be trained) to say either “Is that everything for you?” or “Did you find everything okay?” These phrases are pretty standard and sometimes that is all you get out of the person taking your money.............

But oh what a difference when they take the time to ENGAGE in a conversation...........when they take the time to say “How are you doing today?”!

“HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY?”

Think about it...........that phrase isn't trying to sell you anything else, that phrase doesn't make them any more money, that phrase is PERSONAL! And when they take the time to LISTEN to your answer............look out!..............cause your day just got better!

I have a list, yes a list, of places I know that if my day is not going well or if I just need an “injection” of energy, that I can stop – spend a dollar or two – and walk out feeling great! All because the employees ask “How are you doing today?” or a similar question to ENGAGE me in conversation.

My top three are:

Chick-fil-A (I don't care which location it is, heck even the drive up people are awesome!)

Pak-A-Sak on Coulter

McDonald's on Coulter (I am going to have to add that I only stop by there in the evenings so I don't know about any other than the night crew)

If they EVER establish a checker/clerk training university then they so need to tap the managers of these places to be the professors...............then every place I go would be a shot of GREAT energy!

Now I also advocate returning the favor................and asking THEM how they are doing! In addition I have been known to look a sullen clerk in the eye and ask THEM “How are you doing today?”, and many times – by the time I have my money in my purse we have had a conversation and they have a smile on their face..........

and my day is just a little better.............

So.......................

“HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY?”