Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Giving It Up--Sort of

I let it happen again. I start thinking about things and then one thing lead to another, and well, we all know how I am about things.

It started out with the best intentions. For Lent, I decided to give up something different. In the past I gave up things like chocolate, lattes and such. Those were easy tasks and paled in comparison with this year's endeavor.



Let's just say I'm counting down the days until Easter.

Yep, this year I gave up negativity and criticism. For all you naysayers, I have had some good days.

And, in true transparency and disclosure, I've had some bad days.

And let's just say, in all honesty, that I've probably had more bad days than good. And, sadly, those bad days have been epic.

Epic as in epic failure.

Unfortunately, in this endeavor, it is true. I think I would have been infinitely more successful if I didn't count the bubble-above-my-head conversations.

You know the ones. The ones like, "Hey, you big fat stupidhead! Don't ya think a blinker is in order!: or "Boy, that comment was nine kinds of stupid!" Or, "Jeepers, that's dumber than a bag of cat hair."

Yeah, things like that.

Maybe next year, I should go back to giving up chocolate.



Saturday, January 2, 2016

Weathering the Storm

The day after Christmas 12 tornadoes blew through North Texas, killing 11 people and causing $1.2 billion in damages. 

In my community alone, there were 171 structures damaged or destroyed--an estimated loss of $20.4 million, according to Ellis County Emergency Management
While my home was untouched (the tornado passed just five to six houses down from us), it heavily damaged Shields Elementary School where our neighborhood children attend.

It was a scary site and the damage to the school was extensive rendering it uninhabitable for the remainder of the school year. Now officials are investigating the building of the school after an engineer who was assessing the tornado damage told The Dallas Morning News that he found "horrific" problems with how the school was built.

With all the devastation that tornadoes bring, the one thing no one should have to worry about is whether their school houses are built to code so they can weather a storm.