If you have Jimmy Hoffa on your side, it ain't good.  Neither is an on-stage introduction that includes obscenities.  Obama says he didn't hear it.  He didn't hear his pastor for 20 years.  He didn't know the Republican debate was on the same night he scheduled (yet another) speech. 

At a week-end program of religious observances for 9/11, there will be a rabbi, a bishop, a lama, a hindu, an imam, the president of the Islamic Society of North America and a Muslim musician.  No Baptist or representative from any of the 400+ Protestant denominations in the world has been invited. The White House probably overlooked it.

And another stimulus is coming down the pike.  It's our president's best idea to turn the economy around.  It hasn't worked before and it didn't work when Bush was in office.  A stimulus (Pelosi has deleted the word from all publications) causes a blip as it gets spent then it's over - similar to Cash for Clunkers, but on a bigger scale.   Zero percent job growth last month - it's the worst since WWII.  Keep doing what you're doing and you get more of what you've got.

Over 1700 waivers for the Affordable Health Care Act have been given to companies who want special permission to not be part of it.  An unusually high number of waivers were awarded to businesses in Pelosi's own district.  It's such a good program that Congress has their own separate health care program instead of this excellent one passed on Christmas Eve for the People Of America. 

Chicago politics are transforming our federal government.  My United States government has gone corrupt.  I mean, more corrupt than usual.

This morning I'm teaching Zumba to the kids at the school.  I hope it goes well.  I'm going to start off talking about good posture and the names of various steps.

First day of school tomorrow

Our child is going to private school tomorrow after 13 years of homeschooling.  He'll be in ninth grade.

It's the beginning of a new chapter.  I've heard good things about the school.  I'm expectant, happy, and sad.

I love the Lord so much.  I've been studying tonight.  But will I retain anything?

My husband dried dishes during the commercials.  I washed extra slow so there would be less for me to dry.  He didn't notice.  I'm so slick!

Bella is learning how to walk.  You wouldn't think a horse needs to learn how to walk, but to become a trail riding horse they have to learn to walk up and down and over rocks and keep their balance.  Laura was riding her and she tripped and fell all the way down to her nose.  She was on her front knees.  Bella was wondering what to do.  Then she figured out how to get up!  They walked for ten miles today.  Bella was real tired after that.  She's realizing she had the good life when all she had to do was stand around, eat, sleep, and poop in her corral at home!

48"

I'm at 48" and it's in good condition still.  Go figure.  Just 7/8" more and I'll be up to my all time longest.  Then comes 50".  Technically, January 1, 2012, I ought to hit 50".  It grew 3/4 of an inch this month, but it's doesn't grow every month.  More likely, I'll hit 50 by, hmmm, March.  Meh.

Bella's gonna start taking biotin.  Laura recommended it for her feet.  They are cracking and biotin will strengthen them.  I told our son that a lot of women take biotin for their hair and that I'm going to take some of Bella's biotin.  Told him biotin for Bella will be cheaper than buying the identical stuff for people at the store.  He said, "Well okay, but you have to take half a can of it."  Haha!  It comes in pellets.

Man, did I waste the day or what. It's been an achy breaky day. Tomorrow is sure to be better. I've been in this recliner all day long and now it's time for bed. My husband was nice and got the reading lamp from the Zumba room and put it here in the living room. I got my new, cool archeological study Bible and it was worth the wait. I love it. I got it embossed with "Little Mamma." That's what my husband calls me.

So I found a lovely cool down song with choreo for Zumba. It's Psalm 100 in Hebrew. Really beautiful and I love knowing it's a Psalm. It will be good for everyone's ears and heart.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Whew. Nice verses. Makes me breathless.

The best news about a friend. She is interested in coming to church. My wonderful new best friend is talking with her and giving her blessed encouragement. It's like the touch of a touch of a touch of God. It's wondrous. And I did a second Bible study with my friend. It went well. Exceedingly well. I am much encouraged. It's extremely edifying to share the Word of God with someone who loves the Lord. There are, I'm thinking, people who have fire in them for the Lord, but they need that spark of it to be lit. They need the right person to reach out toward them. And if maybe no one ever reaches out, think of that. That's a terrible thing. It's like treacherous. It's cruel.  Or maybe it's them reaching out, not me, and I was just the one there at the time. So then, if that's right, you gotta be ready.  You gotta study and talk and share and live it because you never know who around you is going to reach out and what their need is.  Because each person is a little different.  They are in a certain place and you need to be able to recognize it.  No.  It's not me, who recognizes.  It's the Holy Spirit.  I don't have the ability to know the right thing to say, but our Comforter and Counselor, the Holy Spirit, does.  Hmmm?  Okay, that's settled.

Some will, some won't, so what, keep going. That's how you have to approach it. I was so afraid of not doing any good that I did nothing for a duper long time, rather than something. It's easy to do nothing and likewise it's not that hard to do something. I suppose our adversary, the devil, is aware of that moreso than I am.  I just thought of that.

Writing is good for the soul.

I've got an M.O. (Modus Operandi).  I pray.  I say something.  I pray. Then I wait. And pray. See what comes of it. Be patient. Wait for a question. Wait for a look.  Then pray some more.

I invited another girl to church.  I wonder if she's thinking of it.  She's sometimes all broke up and sad and aching.  She should come with me.  Another woman, I want her to come, but she speaks Spanish and I speak English.  It's a problem.

I ordered new Zumba clothes.  Hope they fit.  I am set to start teaching Zumba to the kids at the Christian private school next month.  I hope it'll be well received.  Kids are fun, but teens can be a tough crowd.  I'm tougher than they are though.  Rawr!  We're doing Zumba in the hot sun for 30 minutes.  I better go try it tomorrow.  I'd hate to pass out and faint in front of everyone!

Came home Thursday and Petey the Pig was half way up the block.  He's moseying along like nobody's business.  I got home and told my husband and he phoned our son.  Son came home and brought Pete back home too.  There was a dog barking at Pete and I thought he might hurt him but my husband said Pete can take care of himself.  Then I remembered how Winston, our pig from last year, got in a fight with a pig in the pen next to him at the county fair, and boy howdy they can fight.  So I realized I was silly to think the dog could hurt Pete.  Pete's bigger than most dogs now anyways.  Sometimes he runs to me like crazy, ears a boppin' up and down, when I call him.  Likes to have his belly rubbed.

Son went trail riding in the mountains today with friend.  Had rain and thunder and a bit of lightning.  They left at 7am and got back at 6:45pm.  He's asleep now.  Sleepin' like a baby.  I'm so glad he's not sitting around.  That boy sure keeps busy.  I guess it's his gift.  There'll be no moss growing under that stone, that's for sure.

Oh.  I've been so proud that the trainer says Bella is smart.  She is a smart horse.  But we all have our weaknesses too, eh?  Well, the trainer says Bella is...lazy.  Shucks.  Our Bella?  Actually, I'm not too surprised.  Her mama is lazy.  And I hear her daddy is too, so she got a double dose of lazy genes.  We'll work on her.  She is a thinker though!  Laura says Bella thinks of things overnight and then does better the next day.  That there is a smart horse, for sure.

Tomorrow is Monday.

Cowboying

I'm feeling that I'm going to be the mother of a cowboy. The real kind. This wouldn't have happened in California. In California, the only people I knew who had a horse were either well off and had gorgeous homes with expansive, well-kept property or people who kept a horse in a rented stable. When we went to meet a 4-H mom in Redlands once, I completely missed her mansion because I didn't know that was the house she lived in!

Bella has been in training and is doing well. It will be two months of training by the time she's done. Laura, the trainer, says Bella is smart. She is. Although she hurt her leg a week ago by kicking the fence and it swelled up. The swelling is gone now and she's walking fine, so training resumed this morning. All the hours our son has spent with Bella, with friends Anthony and Laurie, and others like Manny, our old ranger, have affected the direction of his life path. Every morning he's up early to go to training. I'm so joyful that his summer is not wasted.

Well. Laura's husband asked our son if he wants to do some cowboying. Actually, I'm not precisely sure what the definition of cowboying is but I think it might mean rounding up cattle - actual, real cattle. Anywho, son said yes. And Joe said, "If there's nothing else you learn about being a cowboy, at least you must learn that the best thing for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse." I like that. It's an old cowboy saying. I used to think cowboys were complete dorks but I've met many that I like here. Some are mean and some are gross, but a lot of them are good and interesting men.

We bought a used saddle for our son yesterday. Got it for $300. Tack is expensive. Tack means all the stuff you need to ride the horse. We still need a bit and reins and I don't know what else. But first Bella is learning to whoa on command with voice commands only and no reins or bit. I think it's a wonderful way to train a horse.

And Laura's brother has offered to train our son on how to shoe horses. Bella got her first set of shoes yesterday. It's called getting shod. Every time I hear it it sounds like getting shot. My pastor said he shot his horses and I wondered why he wasn't crying, but he didn't shoot 'em. He shod them.

Which reminds me. Crystal, a sweet dog up the street got run over yesterday. She followed her eight-year-old boy master around all the time and took care of him. She was sure a wonderful dog and we'll miss her around the neighborhood. But Crystal never stopped running in front of traffic. Finally, she got hit.

Email dog

I got this in my email, but it's at YouTube too.  What a talent for putting in the words. It's a funny one.  And this dog has the sweetest face, has he not.

151 lbs

I have a friend and I'm thinking of asking her to church soon.  I would be so happy if she would come.  I told her I'd pray for her and she said okay and asked for more prayer.  I can do that.  For sure!

Little Petey is doing well.  He had two visitors yesterday.  The man we bought him from came and looked at him and the 4-H coordinator for the county dropped by and weighed him on a big portable scale.  Petey weighs 151 pounds.  The other day I got home from Zumba and called him and he ran to me!  So sweet.  Then he plopped down and rolled to his side for me to rub his tummy.  When he lays on his side his four feet stick straight out into the air.  He has a nice smooth tummy.  He's got kind of a lot of nipples though.  Twelve of 'em.  And he's a guy.

Zumba was good.  Only five people.  It's so, so dang hot.  I wonder if classes will grow when school starts and/or when the weather cools down.  During the week I had only eight or nine each night.   I'm doing a new routine next week with the song "La Loca" by Shakira.  It has one instance of "Oh God" in it that I wish I could edit out.  A guy online said he would but he hasn't.  I don't know if he's gonna do it for me or not.

Bella hurt her leg.  The swelling has decreased tremendously and it looks like she can restart her training on maybe Tuesday.   We sure miss having her in the front yard.  The other day I was walking through the yard to the pig pen thinking, I can't believe I'm here, I can't believe I'm here.  Our son is learning to be a horseman and I'm going to pet the pig.  I'm living in the desert in a little cracker box house, and we are content.  Then I noticed some trash on the ground.  The wind blows and I'm forever picking up bits of garbage off the ground.  How long will we live here and where will we go next?  I have no idea.  I know I don't want to move this furniture anywhere ever again.  That's fer sure.

Son got fine compliments from the woman who is the horse trainer.  She's had an extremely good effect on him: on his life and self-worth.  I rather dislike the whole "self-esteem" thing so I say "self-worth."  I suppose 'worth' has more to do with quality and 'esteem' has more to do with opinion.  He's so unlike me.  He doesn't sleep late.  He showers and goes to bed by 10 or 11pm to get up early for work.  He's earned at least $500 this summer.  All on his own.  Apparently word spreads.  He was asked to help pick-up a load of hay and earned another $25 yesterday.

I think I'll watch my new Zumba DVD that came in the mail today.  Hope they have a super routine I like.  I also ordered a new Bible for myself.  I ordered the Archaeological Study Bible (NIV).  I don't have an NIV Bible.  I have King James and Amplified in one.  I got my name on my new Bible too.  There's no tracking though.  I wonder if they mailed the book at rate shipping or what.  I wish it would hurry up and get here.  A lot of customers mentioned it's too large to be carried around much, but if I like it I'm gonna lug it around no matter how big it is.

I should have posted last night because I now I have two big thoughts and it would have been better to post one at a time.

My first one is about how I got an epiphany. A pastor I pray for went to Las Vegas. There are so many wonderful places to go for a vacation that I cannot understand him choosing Vegas to celebrate his birthday. It has a nickname: Sin City. I'm sure, surely, he partook of only wholesome activities while there with his wife, but as the shepherd of a flock why not simply avoid even the appearance of evil. There are 50 states to visit. So many wonderful destinations. To make a long story short, I realized I was becoming judgmental. So I'm convicted not to go to Las Vegas, but not everyone is. Apparently, he is one who is not.

Then the Lord brought to the forefront of my mind the fact that I went to play bingo last week and had a fun time. Dang. And what is it Jesus said? "How is it you see the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, but not the plank in your own?" Haha! So, number one, I decided not to go back to play bingo. I shared my decision about it with a few persons who shall remain unnamed. One said, good decision. The other two thought I was a dork. Those words may not express their opinions justly, but it's how I felt. One person said I'm too conservative and the other simply thought it unnecessary to quit bingo. I could give a pile of reasons why I'm not going, but my best one is...if Jesus makes his return and I'm at the American Legion building playing bingo will I feel good about that? Not too verily, say I.

I want my whole life to be an offering to God, not just Sunday mornings when my bum is warming the church pew and I'm singing and taking notes. We don't really have pews, we have chairs, but anyhoo.

I have to go to bed now.  Mayela Skyped me.  We're going Bible shopping tomorrow!  I'm gonna take a look at the new Archaeological Study Bible while we're at the Christian bookstore.

I feel terrible today. We watched Ordinary People last night and I think I could have done without it.

I have two more zits.

Want to do a new routine Tuesday but not sure I have it down pat enough.

Should I go check the news this morning, or not?

A new, fresh day. How will I use it? I got my period and I feel like laying in bed all day. Can't though. I have a zit under my chin, so I wanna stay home all day but I can't do that either. I have Zumba tonight.

For the adults I'm working on a fun song called "Zumba He Zumba Ha." For the kids next week, I think I'll do a bit of dance history and teach them how to do the Twist. With style.

I ordered a new pair of pants for Zumba and I hope they fit. They look cute in the pic. They have a wide foldover waistband which might look good on me if it shows the curve of my lower back. Most of these kinds of pants make me look like a puffed up marshmallow because I'm short waisted. They're worth a try. Love the tie-dye.

I also ordered a top. Got a size large even though I'm not a large, but their tops run tiny a lot of the time. If it fits I'll wear it for the free class that I plan to give to celebrate my one year Zumba anniversary in August. I'm giving a free class for my Zumba people to thank them for coming to my classes.

I ordered black in adult size, of course. Ha! Who grows out of loving fringe?

Just found a note by the computer in the kitchen. Husband and son have gone to look at a used horse trailer! It's almost all the way in Alburquerque. They'll be home about 3pm. I hope it's a good buy at a good price. Bella goes to begin two months of horse training next week!

Here comes a Facebook post

I tried. I tried to do Facebook, but I just can't keep with it. People started posting more on my page and I can't deal with it. I'm a blogger at heart. I can't tolerate that smile that I call the 'Facebook Phenomenon.' It's a frozen grimace people do with the camera right in front of their face and they call it a smile. A lot of times they do it to themselves. What is this holding a camera in front of yourself and getting all the odd pictures: thoughtful, depressed, pretty, grimacing. It's constant, constant, never ending posing.

And since being on Facebook for nearly one month, I now can't stand a photo of two people kissing. Do I wanna see a big old lip lock over and over again when I visit a page? Don't get me wrong. I'm not against kissing. Kissing is good. I like kissing. But too much of a good thing, isn't good anymore. I have to stop going to the page until they change their photo.

The status, which says in light grey text, 'what's on your mind' - you can't type more then 420 characters! And face it, no pun intended, most of what people say amounts to less than 10 words. Descriptions of emotions and experiences are cryptically condensed into a single word or a few words that I guess you'll only understand if you know the person intimately. There's "Depressed." "Awesomeness." Or maybe it's a line from a song, seemingly disjointed because you have no idea what the context of the thought is. Do ants have emotion? I don't know, but I think if they did they are so small they could use one word. If a human being is going to express an emotion or a thought I really need more than a couple words.

Plus, I started surfing other people's pages to see what they did today. What an incredible waste of my own time. It's like everyone wants to be looked at. And I try to look at everyone. One click leads to another. It mimics a chemical high.

My favorite Facebook experience comes from a handsome young man named Forest. He's 16 years old. Our son asked him if he had a Facebook page. He said he did. He said it seems like everyone is on Facebook and he had a page and was really into it for two days. Then he forgot his password. Hasn't been on since.

Well, Forest is my hero!

Let's see. How do I say this. I was utterly disappointed by the turnout. Gosh, I was sure there would be more. Even the teen volunteers did not show up. Five out of five failed to show. Meh, teenagers. What can you do. I tell ya, I'm not feelin' the love, that's for sure. Fifteen kids came, total of both classes together. Where was everybody on this fine night? Earlier I felt like crying just a bit. Get a little cry done and move on, I thought. But my friend said what I needed to hear and the need to cry, poof!, disappeared. She doesn't even know the great disappointment it was to me as far as numbers go. God gave her the words to remind me of Him.

I did balloons and gave them away afterward. I should have given all of them away because it's not like I can use them. And I'll never publish ads in the newspaper again. They helped not a whit.

But the smiles on the children's faces made it worth everything. When they laughed I felt so good. I was exceedingly pleased that about four boys showed up and one was quite overweight and even though I'm not his mom or even related, this feeling of being proud of him washed over me. He was movin'! God must have put that in my heart because I've never experienced it before. It felt, how do I say this? It felt good.

So I will just keep on trying and doing what I love to do. I was so worried about having enough material and doing the speaking part right. Turned out I had plenty of material and I think I talked okay. I told them if you wanna be old like me and still able to dance, always do the cool down. Every single child did the cool down. Go figure. I guess they were listening.

47 1/4"

47 1/4" today. Humidity 43%. Hair likes it. Wore it down to churchity church this morn.

I have Zumbatomic on Monday. I have playlists ready for both classes. I'm getting nervous. I thought I was ready but now I'm not so sure. I did a practice run with a few kids on Thursday and it went okay. Just okay. The kids who stuck with the whole 30 minutes, about seven girls, seemed to love it. I think.

Basically, I'm worried. Even with the little group I forgot a few of my steps. No one knew it except me.

It'll be alright. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Repeat to self as many times as necessary.)

I got another birthday present today and it was oil for my hair! I'm getting to know so many people. Ladies. And it's because of Zumba. Tonight there were 14 in class. It's amazing. It's so hot and humid and we sweat buckets yet they keep coming back. Praise the Lord.

Today I went to a haircutter's place. I should say stylist. Or I should say cosmetologist. She is so nice. And I realized how many people are hurting on the inside but to look at them you would never know it.

I've been feeling stressed with my blog. I love my blog. It's me times three. But it's crept into my mind, what if someone in this little town finds it. Why, it would spread like wildfire. Not that I'm conceited or like I have anything much interesting here. But it's such a teeny town. And it would be my luck that someone would sit down and read through the whole thing.

I think I must just forge ahead and not fret over something that may happen. Worst case scenario, I could privatize my blog. That's sound officious. Privatize. When we traveled I wrote all about traveling. Now we've settled in a place and my life is becoming more about people. Gee, who could ever see that coming?

Seriously need son to measure my hair. It's the 14th. Where has half of July gone?

I know a namby pamby person. No. Wait. I know a person with a namby pamby attitude toward God. They know, seemingly, one piece of Scripture. I mean, it's a great verse, fer sure. But man, there's a whole entire Bible to keep reading. They've deemed the OT not worthy of reading. Says God is a loving and forgiving God and that's his God. That's it. Game over. Isn't that like eating the icing off the cake and then wadding up your napkin and throwing it in the plate so the rest of the cake in inedible?

My church is considering starting interest groups. I guess it's akin to cell groups but based on interest. So say for instance, bikers. There would be a Bible study group for bikers. I like bikers. Can I go if I'm not a biker.

I tell ya. I wish there was a small group that's mixed. When I studied in a home group my favorite meeting was when some teens were with us. Normally it was like the middle age group. It was, ohhhhh, a little dull. Let me say this about that. There were a lot of polyester pants.

Zumbatomic launch is July 25th. I'm swinging between great enthusiasm and excitement and on the other side, fear and anxiety.

I had the most wonderful Friday and week-end. It was a bit of heaven on earth.

I have made friends. Even, I have made more than one friend. It's all because of Zumba.

They made for me a birthday party on Friday. A surprise birthday party! Mayela was the prime mover. She made it happen. They were all so kind. There were presents. There was food. Cake. Balloons. And friends.

I got some Zumba scuttlebutt recently. The other instructor in town told everyone in her class to come on Thursday because there would be a big surprise. They went. The big surprise was free margaritas for everyone.

We're watching Fiddler On The Roof tonight. Such a good movie.

6

I have six friends online and they all made me feel better. I will keep concentrating and continue to feel more and more better. In my heart. Truly, a little bit of stumbling is good experience because it's the only way you keep moving. I didn't stumble actually, but I thought I'd feel different is all. Or maybe I didn't know I could feel bad like this.

My friend said I'm too religious and I felt blue about it. I know for certain that if she knew it bothered me she would not have said it and she'd say she's sorry. But I don't want her to be sorry! I would rather she say what she thinks. It's good to hear what people really think.

I can't stop being who I am. I love the Lord so much. I always think it doesn't show, but it must show. Although, I talk to her more than anybody else. She knows me better than anyone else here does. Doesn't take an Einstein for that.

On the up side a good thing happened in Zumba class today. A lady said she heard I have a Facebook page. She came up to me and said she heard from so-and-so it's got a lot of religion on it. I said, "Yup, I don't have many friends and I don't quite know what I'm doing on Facebook so I use it as a repository for my thoughts on faith." She said, "It's like witnessing, right?" She said, "Aren't you supposed to witness." I said, "Well, that's true. The Great Commission is that we ought to go and tell." And then she said, "You have that song in here that I love. I feel closer to God when you've played it. You're witnessing to me with that."

Knock me over with a feather.

So, life is all a mix of things, isn't it. Some will like, some will be lukewarm, some will be repelled, some unsure. This is okay. I'll get used to it. She made me feel so good. I guess the Lord let me trip a little, but he also sent her to me so I wouldn't crumple up completely discouraged in a mere two days time.

Well, at praise and worship practice tonight the pastor was adjusting his playing then he looked back at us and said, "You're all singing five part harmony, right?" I turned bright red. He was teasing for sure and everyone laughed. I continued to turn even redder and then the other ladies noticed and turned to me and said he's just kidding. Haha! Oh dear. Oh my. I love singing there!

I feel a little bad in my bones from my heart. It'll go away soon.

4th of July

I thought of Canada on July 1st. Went through some of my Canada photos. July 1st is their July 4th. Happy Canada Day!

And today I think of Ronald Reagan and how I miss him. London has a put up a 10' statue of him. Ronald Reagan was a man's man.

I sat on Bella for about 15 seconds yesterday. I might try it again today.