Life With Jules, and other stuff

Where has the time gone? I can't believe I haven't posted in a year. I used to post on here regularly. I know life gets busy, but this was a joy for me. So, here we are a year later and they are still trying to put Trump in jail. They are trying to use the 14th Amendment against him. They are trying to create even more chaos than there already is in this country. They even tried to kill him recently! I am so over it all and can't wait for him to be in Office again! For those of you who are not familiar with the 14th Amendment, specifically section 3, let me explain. Section 3 states: " Section 3 . No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any S...

We're well into a new year and I've been dealing with a lot mentally, but I won't bore you with that. Some of it does have to do with the state of our country, which I am going to start to delve into, hence the title of this post. It's amazing, and disgusting, what's happening in our country right now. As a veteran, and a patriot, I feel we owe it to the nation to stand up and do the right thing. We can do that through voting the right people into office and those who are trying to destroy us out. Right now, we are watching yet another indictment and arrest of President Donald Trump (I will continue to call him President as a sign of respect). The prosecutor is talking about having this go to court within 90 days. The powers that be are really trying to make it difficult for this election to move forward at a natural pace, in my opinion. Let's look back a little on this. When Trump first announced his run in 2015 or 2016, I was not impressed. I didn't care m...

As 2022 draws to a close, I think about all of the things I did during the year. It's amazing just how busy I was this year. I made two out of state trips to Texas and South Carolina. Traveled within the state many times for work or personal events. Met some interesting people along the way. Even caught up with family and friends I hadn't seen in years. Here are some highlights: Homossassa Springs, FL at a Vow Renewal ceremony Houston Space Center USS Alabama Memorial Museum I turned 50 this year (2nd from left) Yep, you may call me Madam Vice President, lol Hadn't been here since the early 1980s Cousins!!! VVA National Leadership Conference Falls Park on the Reedy Artemis I finally launched! The man who killed bin Laden Well earned award Sandy keeping warm As you can see, a lot happened this year. And my poor cat! She just couldn't keep warm during our recent cold snap over Christmas. She slept under my blankets 4 nights in a row. Now that the year is coming to an end,...

They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. What if those lemons are just pure hormonal bitterness? How do you deal with those lemons?  I find myself going through so much change right now that it's difficult to keep my emotions in check. I turned 50 this year! That's a big one!! I have lost 35 pounds since last September. Big accomplishment for me. It helped getting a kick I needed to start doing it. Still, a long way to go toward my goal.  How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. My emotions get in the way. One change I had to make for myself was titrating until I was completely off a certain medication. Let's just say while I refuse to start taking it or anything similar again, it has left me feeling even more unfocused and my thoughts just racing. I have to learn to deal with these symptoms of the bigger picture a different way. One verse in the Bible stands out... Although, I think it's more than anxiety causing the emotional upheaval at ...

It seems I fight a constant battle in my mind. I don't want to fight this battle but I do. I know it's spiritual warfare.  It sucks!!  

You know what I mean by that title. I am almost certain of this. The world has just gone crazy over the past couple of years. The virus that was unleashed on us. Locking us in our homes for the better part of 2020. That confounded election that put two people in office that really have no business being there (yeah, I said it. Sue me!). I'm not trying to get into a political debate here. We all have our opinions and views. I will agree to disagree with anyone who says our country is better now than it was under Trump. Period! Because if you really sit and take a look at what is happening - sky high prices, still under mask mandates in many places, still under jab mandates by many employers, still seeing speech censored in social media - our country is in a much worse place. And don't get me started on the unemployment numbers. Anyone who knows anything about unemployment knows those numbers don't take into account those individuals who no longer are receiving or are eligibl...

 ... on that September day? I also include one of the tragic event in Benghazi so we never forget what our government did to these poor men who only wanted help getting out of there when they were being attacked.

In about 20 days I will be leaving on my first real vacation since 2016. I am going to visit my mom for her 70th birthday and I am getting more excited to go. I have so many things I want to do on this road trip but I know I won't be able to do everything, lol. As the saying goes "so much to do, so little time." One thing I am doing is taking her to The Cheesecake Factory. The closest one to her is about an hour away so I figured we could make a day of it and visit some historical sites while there.  The interesting thing about this trip is when I return I'll be home about 2 weeks then on the road again for work. Not too far away though. We have our annual conference in mid-October. This time the entire state is coming together in one location. That should be really fun! Meeting colleagues from other regions we normally don't interact with.  I am also hoping to make a trip west late this year. We'll see. A few things have to be worked out first. If (when) I ma...

I haven't posted in a while and it seems like when I do post anymore it's negative so let me start with something positive. I spoke with a close friend that I haven't spoken with since 2013 when we last saw one another. It was so nice to hear his voice. There were reasons I haven't spoken with him, but nothing to discuss here. I didn't realise how much I truly miss him until we spoke last week. But I do. I'm sure he knows. I'm sure he could sense it anyway. LOL... I just hope we speak again soon. Our conversations are always filled with history, Bible, current events, and so much more.  On the down side, I have been so angry. I am angry with our president and the mess he has made of not just our country but Afghanistan. I am angry and sad for the Americans and Allies that are stuck in that country, left to fend for themselves against the Taliban. Angry that we don't have leadership in place to get them out! What the hell is wrong with this administration...

I belong to a group on Facebook (or Fakebook, if you will) that is all about debating current topics. It seems most people on there would rather hate on those who don't agree with them than actually discuss the topic at hand. We can post about any topic, which depending on the "hot topic" of the day can be anything from racism to the president. There was a period of time where every other post was about racism. It got to a point where one of the founding members actually left the group and tried to close it down. It was a crazy few days to say the least. Anyway, I write about this group here (not mentioning it by name and if you are a member please don't mention in comment) because recently someone posted about the US getting involved in other country's issues. More specifically, this person posted images (before and after) of specific countries. I am not quite sure if this person understands why we become involved so often, so I explained that there is this thing...

You may not get another chance. Yea, this is a lesson we learn in life. Sometimes more than once.  I recently learned that one of my elder cousins passed away.😢 He had health issues the past few years, was in his early 70s. We met through a common interest a little over 20 years ago: family history. He contacted me through my Ancestry.com account because of common ancestors. It was actually quite fun getting to know someone who knew SO much about my family history. I've always had a love of history and especially my family history. And he had a WEALTH of information. I was living in Flagstaff (AZ) at the time and he was a lifelong Florida resident. He mailed me a book in those early days with so much information that I had to put it in a 3-ring binder, lol. He was the family historian.  We met in person, finally, in 2007 at a family reunion in Bushnell (FL). It was so exciting! I met so many relatives that I had only known on paper until then. They are my extended family here...

Today is the day that Jesus entered into Jerusalem for the final week of his life. We celebrate it as Palm Sunday. Several of the Gospels talk about the crowds laying down palm leaves in front of his donkey as he rode into town that day. The Gospel of Luke talks about the people laying down their garments. As the pastor said in church this morning, can you imagine if today were "Garment Sunday" instead?  The Triumphal Entry (John 12:12-13) 12  The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13  took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord !’ The King of Israel!” The Triumphal Entry (Matthew 21:1-9) 21  Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to a ]">[ a ] Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2  saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donke...

Well, my Sandy had her little adventure outdoors a couple of weeks ago and has been struck with fleas. She doesn't go outdoors at all if I have my way; well accept to sit on her chair in the screen porch. The chef decided to let her out in the grass for a little one day. Yup! That's all it took. A few minutes of grassy time and whammo! FLEAS!! I didn't think much about her adventure until last Sunday night when she was just scratching and biting and scratching some more. She also was afraid of certain pieces of furniture, including MY BED. Never is she afraid of my bed. She lives to sleep on it. That's when it dawned on me that she must have fleas. So, I told the chef and Sandy got a flea bath (Dawn dish detergent is great at getting rid of them) and a nice new flea collar (I get Seresto or whatever the heck it's called). She's a happy cat again. 😊 In other news, we have a rat somewhere in the trailer. Or at least we did. I hope it got out; however it got in. I...

So far I am not impressed with the new administration. Promises made. Promises broken. Not surprised. His mouthpiece (Psaki) is not ... she's just not. As some might say, she's "extra", lol. But I'll circle back to that. 😒 I miss Kelly McEnany!!! At least she came prepared to speak with the press.  Seriously though. Biden has done so much damage already. And he's losing what's left of his thinking processes. Yes, I went there. I really do believe the 25th will be invoked before he reaches 100 days. Then we will have even worse as president: Kamala Harris. 😱 She doesn't like America. She has an even worse record than Biden in the Senate. Scary! So, what has Biden done since taking the oath. He has shut down Keystone costing 1000s of jobs. He has reversed the ban on transgendered competing in women's sports making it an uneven playing field for real women to get scholarships for college. He has opened the borders so illegals can come across willy n...

Today, America inaugurated a new President and Vice President. It's funny. For four years all I heard from people was "Not my president" about President Trump. Friends and family who didn't like him it was always "not my president." So now I have a choice. I can be a better person and not repeat that to them or I can say "not my president" when Biden does something they don't like. I haven't yet decided, but I'm leaning toward the latter.  Not very Christian of me, but my God forgives. Today was an historic day. The new Vice President is (unfortunately) the first female, African- and Asian- American to hold this position. You might wonder why I say unfortunately. It is simply because this country is not ready for a female to hold the position of Vice President or even President. We. Are. Not. Ready. No, I don't particularly care for her either, but that's a whole other issue. Maybe I will discuss it in another post sometime. For...

Well, America made a definitive mark in history this week. We became more of an eyesore on the world stage thanks to a bunch of people who thought they were acting on the behalf of our sitting president. While I have been a supporter of President Trump the past few years and believe he has done a great job in this role, I do not condone the violent actions that took place at our Capitol on Wednesday afternoon/evening. I do not believe, however, that the people who rioted were actually Trump supporters. I feel they were anarchists embedded within the group who were peacefully marching to the Capitol building that day. I don't blame Trump for what happened there on Wednesday. I blame the Capitol Police for their failure to have enough manpower at the ready. They knew that Trump was holding a rally just down the road. They knew that some might be pumped up after. They should have been more prepared and had better security at the Capitol building including National Guard members, FBI, ...

I cannot believe it is 2021! Last year flew by so quickly despite the pandemic. Our nation has seen so many changes, good and bad. I'll let you decide. As for me, I am still employed thankfully. I had a boss who once said "be careful what you wish for" and I once wished I could work from home. Well, as of March 23, 2020 I have been doing exactly that - for both jobs. And I loathe it! But at least I am employed so I can't complain much, lol. It's been a bit difficult adjusting to this work-from-home even 9 and a half months later. I don't really have a great set-up for a home office, but I make do. My sleeping habits were already horrible because of PTSD issues and bouts of insomnia. Working from home has only made it worse because my bedroom doubles as my home office. So I spend the majority of my days in my room. On the bright side, I made it through the year without any serious illness. I truly believe I had the illness the week of Christmas and the week aft...

Sometimes life throws curveballs. Sometimes, fastballs. Other times, sour lemons. I'll get to the point of this later. So we've had our election and while half of America is happy, the other half...not so much. I fall into the latter group. I fear for what will happen to this country under the Biden administration. He doesn't want to protect this country. His record, or lack thereof, proves it. Harris doesn't even like this country. Or Biden for that matter. My prediction is Congress will invoke the 25th Amendment as soon as they can after inauguration so they can install Harris as president. That would be the worse thing possible. Yes, even worse than Biden. Her record as a prosecutor in California is horrendous and as a senator is subpar. She would rather see people locked up for petty mischief than a productive part of society. And let's not get started on her sleeping her way to the top. While there are many claiming fraud in this election, and there...

  When you were growing up, provided you went to Sunday school, what was your first memory verse? Most people answer John 3:16. I always answer Psalm 23. Not just one verse, but the entire chapter. You see, in our bathroom was a placque with this chapter from the Bible and I would read it every single day. I had it memorised from a young age. And I grew up understanding that it was a chapter from the Bible used at funerals.  But what does Psalm 23 really mean?  If you read it line by line, the verses really don't speak of death per se. They speak of troubled times. They speak of persecution, to some degree. They speak of having fear of something or someone. Not death. This chapter in the Psalm is to remind us that God is there and watching over us. He wants us to lean on Him when we are troubled. He wants us to lean on Him when we are afraid. He wants us to lean on Him, period.  Yes, I still use this verse at family funerals out of respect and tradition. But I also t...