Carole’s Cafe

The new year is a few days old.  So far, it’s been pretty good.

Been thinking about the old year, though.  2011 sure had it’s low and high points.  Lowest was losing some friends to the “Big C”.  High points included friends that either have or are in the process of fighting the same “Big C”.

The highest point, of course, was my son and family moving to Texas so I can see them and be involved with the grandkids.  How fun to see them open Christmas gifts in person instead of in pictures.

Work has been crazy, but I won’t complain.  I know I’m lucky to have a job….especially one I love.  There are too many people without any job, much less a great one.

Looking back at my resolutions for 2011, I did pretty well.  Not perfect, but not too shabby either.  Didn’t get totally out of debt but made a dent in it.  Got more active with my treadmill (documented in earlier posts) and continued trying to eat healthier….clothes fit better, but haven’t lost any weight.  I’ve done better with this blog…..but, my website (www.TexasAndMusic.com) has suffered.

The past year found me staying at home a little more.  Still love to go out and listen to live music, but have learned to enjoy quiet time at home, too.  Rediscovered the joy of reading but also wasted too much time “playing” on the computer.  Became a little more vocal about political issues and quieter about my own.  Found I have a lot more patience with most people…..a lot less with some.

For 2012, I’ll be glad when the Republicans can decide who they want to run for president and even happier when the election is over in November.  I want to move to a different house, but won’t be devastated if that doesn’t work out.  I want to do more with my family and will be devastated if that doesn’t work out.

Most of all, I hope and pray my family and friends have the best year ever in 2012…..that will make the new year a success in my mind.

Love you all!  Till the next time…………….

I’ve always believed in angels……but I always thought of them as artists depict them in paintings……beautiful beings with halos and wings.  Until a few years ago.  Now, I still believe in those angels, but also in angels much more familiar…….loved ones that we’ve lost.

Several years ago, I’d been silly enough to be involved with a not-nice person and feared what would happen. One night, I was dreaming this person was coming after me. Suddenly, in my dream, my Dad appeared. He looked like he did when I was young…..big, all powerful, wearing his favorite uniform work pants and white t-shirt. He yelled at me to “get out!! I’ll take care of this!!”. I woke then, and wished Dad really was there to protect me. But, I wasn’t afraid any more. That not-nice person never bothered me again…..in my dreams or in real life. I guess Dad really did “take care” of the problem.

My friend, Dobie, knew our loved ones were our angels! She’d had a very special friend named Paula. When Paula was sick and the end was coming near, she told Dobie to watch for a feather. For if she found a feather where it was most unlikely, it meant Paula was there or had been there.

I thought Dobie’s story was sweet but really didn’t give it much thought…..until we went to Terlinqua one year.. We pitched our tent at the campground (a whole other story!) after making sure all the rocks and other debris was cleared. It was a special weekend filled with fun and friends. A lone eagle often flew overhead. Dobie said it was Paula watching over us. I thought seeing the eagle was special and, if Dobie wanted to believe it was Paula, well……so be it.

At the end of the weekend, as we broke camp, we found a feather under the tent!!! Now, I know there wasn’t anything under there when we set up, but there it was…..a big beautiful eagle feather. Maybe there really was something to this Paula “thing”. We brought the feather home, driving in a hard rain. Dobie wanted to stop in Luckenbach. I just wanted to get home but told her that if it had quit raining (I was sure it wouldn’t!) when we got to the Luckenbach turn off, we’d go. Dobie kept playing with that feather. About a mile before the turn off, the rains stopped. We went to Luckenbach! As we left, the rains started again just as heavy as before. Paula? Hmmmmmmm………

The next spring, I had eye surgery. Now, they don’t let you drive after the surgery, so I drove to Dobie’s house.  She took me for the surgery and I was supposed to stay with her afterwards. After a little recovery, though, I wanted to go home. If I was going to sleep on a couch, I wanted to be on my couch! Dobie didn’t think it was a good idea but she walked me to the car.  When I opened the car door, we saw it….laying in the driver’s side floor….a feather! Dobie was okay with me leaving then……she knew Paula was looking after me. That feather was NOT there when I’d gotten out of the car that morning!!

We lost Dobie last year. I think of her often, wishing she was here to share the music and our friends. Her favorite song by the late Blaze Foley…..“If I Could Only Fly”……always brings extra pang of sorrow. Not long ago, at The Outhouse Reunion, John Casner sang the song and Mandy Mercier, Blaze’s long time girlfriend, joined him. It was beautiful and I really “felt” Dobie’s spirit. When I got home, there was a “leaf” in my garage……I ignored it. But, every time I went through the garage, the “leaf” had moved…..to a more prominent spot. Finally, I gave in and picked up…….a feather! I brought the feather into the house and laid it on shelf over the sink.  It hasn’t moved.  Okay, Dobie…..you have my attention!

Recently, my son was stuck in Illinois……wanting to be in Texas with his family. Things were not going the way we wanted. It’d been almost three weeks since he’d been home. His truck was in the shop so he wasn’t making his regular wages.  His wife hadn’t been able to find a job. They were fussing. He was really down. So, he decided to go visit Grandpa Anderson at the cemetery. When he got there, he found the headstone had been moved on the base. It was the “last straw” for him. He called me and we talked for a long time. I could hear the strain in his voice. Finally, he said he was going deer hunting…..more to get away to the quiet and solitude of the country than to find a deer.

He called me the next day……he’d gotten his first deer in 3 years! His wife had an interview for the job she really wanted (that she ended up getting!). And, he’d found out he was headed to Texas with a load…..he’d be home for the weekend.

He called again when he was on his way home. “Mom, it’s just really strange how everything came together after I went to the cemetery”. No, Son, not strange…..wonderful.

There really are Angels Among Us.

A friend sent me the link to this video.  ”Take 15 minutes to watch this it will blow you away.  Seriously, take a few minutes and do this when you can be uninterrupted.”, he said.

Well, the first time I watched it, I was interrupted 3 times (teach me to do something like this on my lunch hour…..in the office!).  But, even with the interruptions, the story moved me greatly and made me really think about how God works in our lives.

Most people don’t know how strong…..or weak…..my faith is.  I don’t talk about it.  Maybe because of being admonished over and over by my Dad, “you don’t talk about politics, religion, or money in public”.  I can hear him now……shushing me when I’d stumble into any of those subjects.

Well, the last few years have gotten me talking about politics even though I’m not totally comfortable with it yet.  Religion and money have remained taboo, though.  Pretty sure I’m safe keeping money private……no one really needs to know if I have money or not or how much I paid for something.

Why, though, do I keep my faith private?  God has blessed me in so many ways.  Not always what I wanted, but always what I needed.  Am I afraid I’ll offend someone?  Why should they care?  

We’ve all known an “Aunt Millie” or “Uncle Fred” that shoved “religion” down our throats claiming we were going to HELL if we didn’t change our ways to match theirs.  But, we’ve also known those people that just seem to always have peace.  

I had a friend once that I knew had as much drama in her life as I did.  Oh, the drama in my life right after high school…..work, boys, becoming an “adult” (yeah! right!).  One night, we sat in her room commiserating with each other, me in tears as normal, her a little stressed but smiling.  I had to ask, “How do you stay so positive?  You know how ***** has treated you!”.  Her answer?  ”I trust God.  He’ll take care of me if I have faith.”  That was my first “aha moment of faith”.

This video is another of those “aha moments”.  Please watch it when you can spend 15 minutes, uninterrupted, and let the message of In My Seat….A Pilot’s Story sink in.

God Bless You All.

Till next time………..

Have you ever gotten yourself into an overload situation.  You know, when you have all these things you either need or want to do, there just isn’t enough time to do them all, and you can’t decide what to do first?  That’s where where I am now.

I always get the “essential” stuff done.  Laundry, dishes, and the normal cleaning to keep the apartment livable.  Of course, I go to work everyday to collect that all important paycheck.   It’s all the “optional” stuff that probably isn’t important to anyone else but is to me.  Things like posting pictures to the TexasAndMusic website.  Writing this blog which has suffered from neglect.  Finishing the 2 books I’ve started before I open another one!  Scanning family pictures and working on the memoir that goes with them.  See…..nothing important to anyone else……just me.

When I feel overloaded, I usually respond in one of two extreme ways.  I either fill every free minute by working on something, or I do nothing but sit and list what I should be doing.  The first method results in zooming though the list and doing it all half-assed.  The second method results in me writing a blog post about all I should be doing.  You can probably guess which method I’m using this time.

I’ve done one thing, though, that I’m very proud of surviving!  I helped at a benefit for the Hays County Veterans Memorial.  I’ve attended benefits lots of times, donated to them more than I probably should, and taken pictures to give the organizers.  This was the first time I volunteered to actually work.  I learned a lot!  Things like how to open a can of beans with a bad can opener and pair of wire cutters…..how to serve beans and dip ‘tator salad.  And, the all important, how to stay cool by staying close to the misters.

With all I learned, though, I forgot how to walk.  Yes, in my normal graceful style, I tripped on a pipe!  The camera bag went flying, the sunglasses skidded across the concrete, and the knee of my capris was ripped.  Good thing it was time for a break!

Unfortunately, I think Maxine’s creator was in the audience when I fell.  This was the picture on her Facebook page the next day!Would I do it again?  Absolutely!!  For a good cause, of course.

Stay tuned for my next mis-adventure! Till next time……………..

Yes, you can laugh at me again.

After the fiasco of me trying to get the new treadmill through the kitchen door, I got to thinking about other rearranging I wanted to do since I’ve decided to stay in my little duplex for at least another year.   Nothing that I couldn’t do myself but, since I needed help with the treadmill, why not find someone to do all the heavy work for me?   So, figured out everything I wanted moved…..where I wanted it moved to……and started looking for someone to do it all.

Found a great company (KeepMovingTx.com) that does “handyman” services as well as moving services. Great!! Gave them a call and she immediately scheduled me for Monday afternoon. Now, in my defense, I reminded her more than once that Monday was a holiday. Didn’t make a difference to me, but I was sure it would to the movers and I didn’t want them mad at ME!!  She didn’t think that would be a problem because her guys had been begging for more work over the weekend. Something about wanting to get out of the house and away from the in-laws.

I spent most of the weekend clearing the way for the move. Cleared the desk off and out, cleaned the table I wanted moved, got a mat for the treadmill to set on, anti-skid stuff for under the rugs. By this morning, the house was a mess, but everything was ready for the move!

Merit 725T Treadmill

Two young men showed up, completely prepared with cordless drills, screw drivers, lots of other tools, and muscles!   It took them about an hour to tear apart my big desk and a table, move and reassemble them.  Then came the treadmill.   They didn’t want to take the kitchen door off and were sure they could get it in.  Wrong!! But, here’s where those muscles came in…..they picked the dern thing up, carried it out of the garage, around the house and in the front door lifting it high enough to clear the banisters!!  (I knew there was a reason I hired them!)

Everything in place, we shook hands, and they left.  I was officially pooped because I had made sure everything was out of their way and rugs moved (we’re talking big rugs).   In fact, I think I was sweating more than the boys were!

I sat down and surveyed the new arrangement.  I liked it all except where the treadmill sat.   It needed to be moved……off the pad, the pad moved, and the treadmill put back on it.   I did it, but, if anyone tells you it’s easy to move one of those things on those little wheels, they’re liars and I have the bruises to prove it!!

I’ve only put about 3 miles on the treadmill, but I guarantee I’ve exercised plenty just getting it setup in a workable space!!

Everything is done now, except for putting all the stuff from the desk back on it and some normal after-moving clean up.  But, for at least a little while, I’m gonna sit here and relax.   This getting healthy stuff is about to kill me!!   Wish me luck!!!

Till next time……………

I’m bound and determined to keep this posting thing going on!!  But, today, I’m having a hard time. I have nothing to say!  I know….that’s hard to believe, but I have a reason.  I wanted to come up with something fun you’d all enjoy.  Let’s see…..that leaves out politics, state of the world, and all that stuff that give me lots of things to say.  Just did a post on being nice to each other so that would be a repeat.  Hmmmmmm………”random thoughts”?

Well, first, Thank You to all our men and women serving in the Armed Forces today.  Did you even realize today was Armed Forces Day?  Well, it wasn’t touted in the media much….at least not the media I saw (do I need to change my source of news?).

Armed Forces Day 2011

According to the Defense Department’s website (http://www.defense.gov/afd/):

President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country.

On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department — the Department of Defense

Also, today was also supposed to be “Doomsday” at 6pm rolling across timezones.  It isn’t 6pm here yet so something might still happen, but other timezones seem to be okay.

You know, I don’t believe any of us know when the Rapture will occur, according to the Bible, only God knows.  If it does happen, I’m not worried, because I know I’ll be seeing Mom, Dad, my brother, and a whole host of other loved ones.  If it doesn’t, it’s actually a good reminder that we’re never promised tomorrow or even the next hour, so we should always live like we won’t have it.  Or, as Sean Rima, a talk show host here in Austin says “Spread the love…..don’t be a jerk”!

Alright, so the last paragraph is repeat of my previous “be nice” post.  Sorry!
And, here’s what I think about that!

from: http://icanhascheezburger.com/category/hall-of-fame/

Till next time……………