Acquired But Not Purchased + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

This past Saturday we cancelled our camping/hiking plans for Labor Day Weekend to attend the funeral of our former neighbors' son. I knew that if we didn't go, we would regret it because they had been such good neighbors and friends. We had lots of shared experiences and fun times to look back on and we wanted to offer our support at this difficult time.

The funeral was a reunion of sorts because it had been a few years since we had been back to the neighborhood to visit. It was so good to see everyone and we were SO glad we went.

As we saw friend after friend, it made me think about why they had become friends in the first place. I think it was because, in some way or another, we had shared something with them of ourselves, and they had done the same in return. It was things like meeting in conversation and finding ourselves of like mind in various topics, and sharing things of interest about our families. It went beyond social media outreach. Many of them had attended events with us and we had supported them in one way or the other. Nothing of monetary value had been exchanged, unless it was to support a common interest, such as a club or team.  

After the funeral, we  vowed we wouldn't stay strangers for so long this time and went on our way. It occurred to me that this is the secret to having and keeping friends--shared experiences! And many people know this so much better than I do. Give people an excuse to have a gathering and it's done! Throw in an opportunity to volunteer time for a greater good and it becomes an even more powerful medium for friendships to form. 

Another way to form friendships or allegiances is to actually buy them. I can't help but think of the free phones that were given out during the 2012 election. A 2nd grader I ran across last week actually still has one and uses it during recess! What about lobbyists and the huge Super PACS that have turned elections into money-driven moneliths, with billions spent during election years. It may be an effective way to get support for today, but when the money dries up, will the support continue or is it just fair weather friends after all?

It seems that an ancient English historian named Thomas Fuller, born in the early 1600's, thought as much. He believed that bought friendship won't last long at all. When the gifts stop coming, the friendship stops as well. I've never really thought about that in those terms. Does it mean that if I give someone--someone I view as a friend--a gift, suddenly the friendship is doomed? I don't think so, but if all the friendship is based on is money, then yes, it's not based on authenticity and thus, destined to fail. But maybe my reasoning is faulty. Maybe there are many instances where at first the relationship is veritably based on monetary advantage but later turns into more. I'd love to get some examples to prove that such things can exist! So if you do have a story for me, please let me hear about it either way! In the meantime:

 Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)  

How Extra Time Makes You Happier + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

I've always felt that my time is the most precious possession I own, not things, and sometimes I'm very jealous and protective of it. Think of what you can do with time. You can use it to perfect yourself, create something of value, use it for service to others, or you can squander it. Now, my belief has been verified by a study that just came out in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences! It says that "when people spend money on time-saving services such as a house cleaner, lawn care or grocery delivery, it can make them feel a little happier. By comparison, money spent on material purchases---aka things---does not boost positive emotions the way we might expect."   

Image - Ben Milner

I can apply the time saving idea in another way. For 7 years I worked at what used to be my local high school. But for 4 of those 7 years I had to commute because we moved to a city 33 miles away. This school year is different. I actually took a significant pay cut to start at the bottom pay level because, sadly, my years of service in one school district make no difference to another school district. But at least I won't have to commute 66 miles per day! I've only been at work for 4 days and I can already feel the difference! It is amazing what that commute took out of me. In essence, I bought a shorter work week and for me it's worth everything! When I come home after work I'm not feeling like all I want to do is take a nap and recover from not only the work day, but the commute itself! 

I guess what I get from this study is a reaffirmation that Americans could be doing more to make themselves happy. We are lured into the notion that having more material things will make us happier, when it actually could entrap us into an endless cycle of playing catch-up! Instead of throwing down $100 at the local favorite place to shop or friendly internet site, think about paying to have someone mow the yard, pick up your groceries, clean the bathroom or kitchen, or simply give up something that sucks time and energy from your life. Then with that saved time, think of the most enjoyable, productive thing that you can do with it. It may be getting a good nap, reading a great book, or going on a hike somewhere. It may be watching a movie, talking to a friend you haven't seen in awhile, or volunteering for your favorite charity. It's a sure thing that your happiness quotient will go up! I know that I will try to do that more because I have experienced the feeling firsthand when I gave up my commute. Read about the study here!

 Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)  

Just Sue Me + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

 We've heard about it so many times before! Businesses suing other businesses for stealing their logos, designs, trade secrets, etc. One recent & crazy example is how Khloe Kardashian and her sister, Kylie Jenner, have been accused by more than one designer of lifting exclusive designs straight off the designer table and onto their own label. The designers say the sisters did it by e-mailing them, and asking for samples of clothing. The sisters supposedly then took the complimentary samples and made almost exact copies of them and then stuck their own labels on them. Of course, their names on the label would sell a lot of clothing! We'll see how it all plays out in court. 

'Eyes Led By The Heart' #MyPostMonday + The Week's Best Original Content

I've decided which movie star my youngest son resembles! I had figured out long ago who my first-born son looks like, duh, Tom Cruise! I swear he has his profile to a tee, and even down to the little twitch Tom gets in his jaw when it tenses up. (I study these things very carefully) Tom Cruise is an action star and my son is 100% action as well. He just won his 2nd belt, held simultaneously, for his work in the ring. He's an MMA fighter, right now ranked #1 in Utah for his weight class. (Look him up on Instagram!) He's also in the military and ready to go to war for our country. He's as full of testosterone as anyone I've ever seen. 

But I could never find anyone that my youngest son favors. Not that it mattered one bit--I know I have the best looking sons on the planet! (lol, do all moms think like I do? ) Joe is a gentle giant. He has two championship rings from playing on his high school football team, winning the state division championship two years in a row, and he is an awesome wrestler, making state. But his easy-going nature is a contrast to my eldest son. He chose to serve an LDS mission. He cleaned up his act, put his affairs in order, and left in January to serve for 2 years in La La Land! Yes, he's in L.A.! He e-mails me every week giving me short updates on what it's like to serve. It has been so much fun to share some of the things that happen to him since he decided to take on that role. 

Once a week they are able to take some time off and have a day to do laundry, grocery shopping, get together with other missionaries in their area, and maybe even do a little sight-seeing, like last week. They went to the Petersen Automotive Museum to check out all of the amazing cars there. But what was really cool is that they ran into Chris Pratt, star of Guardians of the Galaxy, and Passengers!
Only in L.A. am I right? They were in the gift shop, with no one else there but themselves and Chris Pratt! They said hello and introduced themselves. He had his little boy with him and he explained, "Hey, it's the elders! They meet people and talk about God!" When he drove off, he waved to them. Nothing huge, but enough to certainly make me take notice. 

Well, of course, I had to go see Passengers, because I am a slacker and didn't see it when it first came out. As I'm watching it, and seeing Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) go through that agonizing dilemma of whether or not to wake up Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence), and then living with what he did, trying to make up for what he did, and more than making up for what he did, I was so moved because I saw my son in him. He has those gentle blue eyes and those good looks! And what a coincidence that he met his doppelganger so early on in his stint as a missionary in L.A.!

Am I being unrealistic in thinking my sons are so amazing and good-looking? Some people would say yes. But I know the feeling is real for me. It doesn't matter that other people may see it quite differently. The point is that those you love take on a beauty that maybe only you can see, or maybe the whole world can see. But the point is, the beauty is there for you! 

Image - Eric Melander

I've seen so many examples of little old men and women who have been married for years and years. They are old, wrinkled and past their prime, but to each other they are beautiful. They see beyond the imperfections that time has wrought and they just see the beauty. It's so sweet to see!

I've given up rejecting the compliments my husband gives me, telling me I'm pretty, cute, sexy, etc. I realize that to him, it's true. As time passes, I quit thinking that he's just saying those things to get something from me, a fault on my part. He genuinely believes it! 
So I must conclude that despite the deluge of photographs, models, fashions, and fleeting standards of beauty, truth be told--true beauty must be seen with eyes that are led by the heart!
Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)  

Storms They Have Been Through #MyPostMonday + The Week's Best Original Content

I occasionally do accompaniment work on the organ or piano. This past Saturday I played organ for a funeral. It was for some friends of ours, whose mom had passed away. I had never met their mother, but by the end of the funeral I felt that I knew her personally. 

I had heard a few things here and there just because of our associations with our friends. Before the funeral I had heard in passing that their mother, Jackie, wasn't in good health, that sometimes she wasn't the most pleasant person to be around, that sometimes she upset her children, that her husband had it rough because she was hard to manage with her poor health. That was about it.

Then Jackie died rather unexpectedly after some surgery. During the service I learned a little bit more about her life. Apparently she had been healthy until the last 20 years of her life, when she was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. For one reason or another, this disease really did a number on her. She was constantly in pain, and her extremities started to slowly die. Her feet especially gave her lots of trouble and she ended up losing one of her big toes. Because of that, she wasn't very mobile and spent a lot of time indoors or bedridden. 

But what I learned as well is that Jackie was passionate about her hobby of making dolls--and these dolls were special! (They were displayed at the funeral) Every one of them was individually made and had so much character. They really were little works of art! If she had been healthier, she could have had quite a business, either on Etsy, partnering up with retail chains, or something of that nature. She had given many of her friends the dolls and so there were many memories told about them. 

Jackie also loved her family very much, as was revealed. Her only son remembered that she defended him with vigor, even when, as he admitted, he may have not have always deserved it. But she was also very vigilant about making sure her children were honorable and learned valuable lessons. As her daughter recalled, once the kids were out in the local horse park and started a small fire, which was prohibited. She somehow saw the smoke and went out to investigate. When she saw that the incident involved her children and their friends, she came out to the park and after a severe reprimand, took them all to the fire department so they could learn the full impact of starting a fire in a field next to homes.

Her husband told of the time they went up to the State Park in the mountains, where he had proposed to her. She had been totally taken by surprise and apparently always remembered it with fondness. She had a best friend whom she had known for years. At the funeral this friend learned why Jackie always loved to go up to this State Park on outings with her. It was the place where she had been proposed to! She had never suspected, until then, that was why Jackie always wanted to go there any chance she could. She was a closet romantic and loved her husband dearly.

We also found out that she loved beauty around her, tried to keep her home beautiful, loved spiritual things, and loved Jesus Christ and taught her children to do the same. Her youngest daughter talked about her last association with her the week that she died. She was in bed and her daughter was leaving. Jackie insisted on getting out of bed and walking her to the door when she left. She slowly and painstakingly walked each step with her, told her she loved her and that she was going to try and walk more and more. Unfortunately, that was the last time her daughter ever saw her alive.

I'm sure there were a lot of people who didn't know her before she got ill, before she suffered with all her health problems. To others, she may have seemed "out of it", "lethargic", "bedridden", "grouchy", "temperamental", or even "lazy".  But when you put together the whole of her life, and understood just what she had gone through and who she was before her illness, you start to realize that she was a beautiful and strong individual, who endured many years of pain, probably just to be with those she loved a little longer.

It makes sense to withhold judgement just a little longer than usual next time we are tempted to make a swift character assessment, because everyone has a story and just because we may see one part of that story, doesn't mean we can interpret the whole of it! 

 Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)  

Right In Front Of Your Eyes #MyPostMonday + The Week's Best Original Content

 Do you ever do the coulda' woulda' shoulda' game? Not a smart idea to do for very long. But sometimes I do occasionally indulge in a bit of 'What if' reminiscing. 

For instance I wish that I had treated my two grandmas so much better. Not that I treated them badly at all, but I wish I had written them more letters, and shown them more consideration and honor. They were such wonderful women, whom I loved dearly. If I had known that they wouldn't be with me forever here on this earth, I might have gleaned more of their wisdom, spent more time sitting at their knees, and taken their words more to heart than I did. 

If I had known that my boys would have turned out to be such amazing young men, and that I really had such a limited time to be with them, as it turned out, would I have spent so much time trying to improve them, mold them into what I thought they should be, disciplining them, and most regretfully, raising my voice at them? Honestly, I would have spent much more time just laughing with them, and admiring their individual characteristics and God-given traits. I am lucky that now I can still spend time with them on occasion and I can do better by them than I did my own grandmas because I know that I won't always have those moments to enjoy. 

And of course there is my own husband. Wow, we've been through a lot of ups and downs. With my own baggage from a previous marriage, along with his own previous marriage, and our own individual childhood upbringings that occasionally don't mesh, especially when it comes to dealing with kids and our family. But I do love him after all of it, and there is still a long way to go. In him is the ticket to every bit of happiness that I'd ever want. He's kind to me, kind to my aging father, and kind to my boys. He brings me nice gifts (my love language), thinks I'm pretty, and compliments me enough to make me blush. And there are more and more times of just peaceful contentment between us! What's not to look forward to and appreciate now? 

I think that I've learned enough from the past to know that the very best things in life have been right in front of me all along. I just needed to see it!

Image - Jami Bollshweiler Photography

Determination Could Save Your Life + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

I sometimes wonder exactly how much grit and determination I would have if I were stuck out in the wilderness and no one knew where I was. Would I just lay down and hope against all hope that someone would rescue me, or would I do everything humanly possible to find a solution? If my recent experience of running out of gas on the freeway is any indication, it might be a very sketchy situation for me if I were in a more precarious scenario. 
I am a work-smarter-not-harder kind of person. But somehow my gas tank filling habits are definitely on the dumbed down side of my thought process, I am always seeing how far I can get before I absolutely have to fill up. 
And so I found myself trying to get home after work on fumes, constantly glancing at the gauge to see if I could make it to the next gas station. Fortunately, I was going downhill on the freeway and close to the exit, which I took, as my car slowed down---70, 60, 55---What made matters even worse was it was also the day I forgot my phone, so I couldn't call anyone. (Yes, it was a Monday and it had been a hectic pre-Christmas weekend.) There is obviously more than one way to run on fumes!
 I waited in the car with my flashers on for a full 26 minutes, not knowing where any gas stations were. I finally decided I needed to hoof it to someplace, any place, where there was a phone because no one seemed to want to stop and help this hapless woman, chilling in her car, flashers going, just barely off the exit ramp. I saw a distant building approximately 2 miles away that looked like an office setup. So I got out of the car and started walking. I hadn't walked 20 yards when I realized that on my right was a gas station that had been obscured by a small hill. That was my ticket to success and I was soon happily on my way. 
I could have waited in my car indefinitely, waiting for who knows what. I'm embarrassed that I waited for as long as I did.

Image - John Lloyd

And then there's the recent story of a woman who walked for 30 straight hours to find help when her family became stranded around the Grand Canyon because it was closed for the season. She wasn't about to give up. Her twin sister said that her personality is "Do it, or die trying."  She ended up eating pine twigs to keep herself from starving, drinking her own urine trying to keep herself hydrated and finally found a ranger cabin, breaking a window to get in, where she collapsed, barely conscious. Fortunately she was found. I've got to say, I admire her courage and her unwillingness to just lay down and give up. 
I think this kind of determination applies in a lot of different situations, not just life or death. What about you? Do you have the determination to "Do it, or die trying"?

 Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!) 

The Risk Of Confiding + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

Image - Shawn Heiner

 I sometimes wait out the rush hour traffic if I happen to be running late. I'll stop off at a local bakery or the library and read or catch up on e-mails. Somehow last Friday I ended up reading a short story autobiography-type narrative and it sucked me in! 
It was about a woman telling about her life, starting when she was in college, rooming with a bunch of girls weaving in and out of each others' lives, and especially one particular friend. She described her as a Russian girl, sometimes very animated and other times very sullen and withdrawn. Through the course of their association, they became better friends than just roommates.  They ended up appreciating each other enough to do good things for each other, knowing more about one another than the normal chat-it-up at lunch things. Yet as the years rolled by, there were some things neither of them ever divulged to the other.  The narrator had been abused by her boyfriend and never chose to tell her friend because of an opinion her friend had voiced about abused wives and girlfriends being weak and co-dependent. They lost touch for a few years and by the time the narrator found where her Russian friend lived, the husband informed her she had died. When she asked how her friend had died, he vaguely said she had been sick. Finally, after some research, she found out that she had died of cancer and had fought it for some time. Her friend had never told her that she was ill and suffering. 
 How much deeper friendship might they have shared if they had chosen to share their secret trials? I suppose it had risks to it. Either one of them might have exposed themselves, only to find themselves rejected. It's always a risk.
We choose what to curate about our lives and how we reveal who we are to the world. Some of us are blatantly authentic, choosing to risk rejection for revelation. Some choose carefully and are very veiled about what they reveal about themselves. And understandably so.
I actually have a story of my own--of friendship lost! But it is because of confiding, rather than hiding. In high school I was best friends with a girl from another country, let's call her Flo. She came as an exchange student and we hung out a lot together. We had so many great talks and fun times. It's like we found so many similarities despite being from different countries and cultures! We were like soul sisters!
But we lost touch over the years. She went back to her country, got married, and ended up back in the States with her husband. But some years later, we connected, met up, talked and laughed again. During that time, she divulged something that happened to her when she was a girl. It was pretty heavy. because it was about abuse of some form. It was hard for me to deal with at the time because I hadn't walked in her shoes. Right after that, something really hard happened to me. It was tragic and hard. I told her, and I know it was hard for her to deal with. She hadn't walked in my shoes. I told her that she wasn't helping me. She responded back in kind. We lost the friendship. Too much pain to deal with. We discovered that those innocent times in high school had become more complicated and that there were things beneath the surface that were too hard to deal with. It's been 20 years since we last connected.

 After reading that story in the library, I am realizing that I don't want to let such a real friendship go, even though the things we both went through were hard and hard for each other to understand. The thing is, we did confide and reveal our hidden selves. And no, we weren't able to deal with the revelations. But time is a wonderful healer and a teacher. I think that I'm ready. I'm ready to go back and pick up where I left off with Flo. I think I'll be ready to be the friend that she had hoped I would be!

 Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs or vlogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)

My Snowman + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

I've almost recovered from Thanksgiving! This Thanksgiving was particularly wonderful for me, and sad at the same time. My son will be leaving to serve an LDS mission in LA this January, so the Thanksgiving Table will be missing a son for a couple of years. You awesome folks in California, be nice to him, he's just a big lovable guy, with plenty of faults, but he wants to share a message about Jesus Christ and he's trying really hard to represent Him correctly. I've seen him improve himself so much! It's just what he has chosen to do, and I support him wholeheartedly! It's actually kind of a miracle he has even chosen to do this. Maybe I'll share more later!
In other news, we have been having an unseasonably warm November and the outdoor sporting industry was really getting worried, since ideally, snow should have been plentiful in the mountains in October! But we've been having some pretty high temperatures for this time of year, until Thanksgiving Day! The snow came floating down, covering everything! Nothing like a white Thanksgiving! 

Image: Michael Wiercinski

This snowman reminds me of a poem my grandmother wrote and included in a compilation of her poems. She was a high school English teacher and had a gift with words. The poem talks about a snowman that she built that is so funny, quaint, and imperfect. But she likes him anyway because it is hers. She is the one that made him what he is. Anyway, you get the feeling that she is talking about something else when you read it! I love my friends and family because they are the ones who have ended up with me and I know them well, because I had a part in creating a bit of who they are! 
                                The Snowman 
I kicked in the new fallen moist white snow. 
I thought I would make a man, 
And just like the man I should like to wed
I will mold him if I can.

So I picked out the cleanest, whitest snow 
And rolled up a round big ball
Then plastered and patted and stuck on more
For he was to be right tall!

His shoulders would have a dignified, gallent air
And a proud high brow--
I'd make him long fingers and thin pressed lips.
If only I knew just how.

At last I'd finished--but down his cheek
Was a deep wrinkle of soot
He held up a cane in a thick pudgy hand
And had a big clumsy foot.

He looked at me through his wide black eyes,
And perked a humourous grin.
I said to myself as I walked back in,
"He's fat instead of thin."

I looked at him often through the door 
And I'd wonder how long he'd stay,
He wasn't at all the man I'd planned.
But I liked him anyway!   --Helen M. Livingston

Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)

The Road Back + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

I'd like to think that people who are meant to be associated with one another will always find a way to keep in touch. I have lost touch with so many people over the years and many times I wonder what happened to them. In today's fast-paced, text-filled, trans-continental world, it's hard to keep track of how many encounters you actually have. Yet the ones that are meant to be will stick with you and find their way back into your life!
Some people are meant to have many friends and others are happy with just a few. The older I get, the more good friends and quality time spent with them means!

Image - Jim Sands

Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!) 

America's Middle Class + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

We are getting ready to vote here in the U.S., with millions of mail-in votes already in, and I have never felt more dismal about the whole thing. I feel like so many things are wrong with how the government governs. I feel like too many burdens are being placed on the backs of decent, hard-working middle class Americans. I feel like we are being lied to by everyone in government. I feel like once the middle class goes, America goes. These are just two stories coming at me TODAY, not even scratching the surface, but still more than I want to even think about. 
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1) The pentagon promised 10,000 California National Guard veterans bonuses of varying amounts, the most being $25,000, if they would reenlist. They did this because California was severely short of recruits in the conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan. These were veterans who had already served and were not obligated in any way to reenlist. But they did, with the good faith that if they put out this one extra sacrifice, they would be rewarded. After all, they were already trained and proven, so they would save the military money. Now 10 years later, the government is telling them to repay the money or be subject to aggressive collection. It doesn't matter what the reason is, I feel that it's immoral to go after veterans who kept their promise to defend our country and then take back what was promised them for doing so. Many of these men had served multiple tours and were doing so again in order to somehow support their families doing what they had been trained to do. This of course is the middle class being picked on. If you want to sign a petition protesting it, go here!

2) We have just learned that Obama Care premiums haven't peaked. Not by a long shot. They are going up by double-digits! If you are one of the middle class, who either doesn't have access to job provided insurance or you need additional coverage for existing conditions, etc. you are getting gauged! Middle class folks are getting upset and I can see why! Consider this frustrated voter:

"If you don't think it's real I'll give you a personal example. My company sponsored insurance went from me paying around $550 per month to about $1400 per month. That is ridiculous! Seriously? Who pays that? We had to switch to a lower coverage, higher deductible plan just to get our premiums back to what they were. This Obamacare has destroyed the health care market. And he calls it a growing pain? Easy to say when you're a millionaire with every perk life has to offer. He's destroyed insurability for the middle income. The class that all these presidents vow to help. We are the cash cow that lines the pockets of the elite. We work hard so they don't have to. It's sickening..."

 I don't have the answers. But for a system to be failing so dismally in so many areas, there is only one thing that screams out to me...There is widespread corruption on every level of government, and every level of corporate America, and it has spilled into the citizenry because we have been fed lies of complacency. Wake up America before it is too late! Or is it already too late and we will be facing the consequences in November?

Like fall leaves clinging to the rocks in the rushing water, so are the middle class fighting to just hang on and not be swept away by the headlong tide of governmental control and greed! Are you a middle-class American? How does it feel to be an endangered species?

Image Credit - Jan Munger

Today is "My Post Monday!" It's all about original content from bloggers who care to share what is on their minds--from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)