And People Wonder Why....

I heard it on the radio this morning. So I looked it up when I got to work. I found more on someone's blog and now I'm in distress, shocked and yet, not so much. People actually think the world has changed. BS. This is the kind of thing that makes even people like me - Christian, somewhat colorblind (no one is 100% and if they say they are, they lie) - want to hole up with my own and just give the evil eye. Others may do more - and not in a good way - and that's where the issues can arise.

I've got to go in search of an actual news article and see what's what. In the meanwhile the gist is this: 14-year-old black girl in Paris, Texas tried to get into school early and shoved a 58-year-old hall monitor. Judge gave her SEVEN YEARS IN JAIL. Three months prior, 14-year-old white girl burned her parents' home to the ground - PROBATION.

After looking at the blog that seems to have the most detail, I find out this girl is in her second year of jail time. In the words of Nathan McCall - makes me wanna holla.

You can read more here and here. I'm going to go think about what I can do.

Home Sweet Home

It's amazing how much a house feels more like a home once a TV gets plugged in. I don't really think that's what happened but my husband seems to think so. I think the TV tuned HIM in all the way to actually living in our house and THAT is what did the trick, but I won't bother trying to explain that to him. He's got the satellite hooked up, the DVR boxes set and we're all happy campers because the kids get their cartoons again, he can watch whatever he wants and I can tape shows to watch whenever I want. Three TVs are hooked up with the potential for a fourth if we ever wanted it. Simply a great deal for everyone. I'm a little tired this morning because of it, however.

We've always had cable - together and before we married. Satellite was always a lure but interfering weather was a concern. We talked to satisfied friends who have "sat" (as the remote control calls it) but since our local cable company harassed the heck out of me when I made an appointment with them then cancelled because I wanted us to really think about it some more, we said satellite it is. That's right, Cablevision. You lost a customer at least partly because you didn't listen when I told you 5 times in a row NOT to call me, I MAY call you. They even came to my house, ya'll!

Anyway, the manual has chapters. Literally. I thin kI made it up to chapter 9 last night. That is how much there is to know about this thing. But when you go through all the trouble of getting this service, you want to know how to operate it. Plus Mr. T wanted HD so there is that little extra feature as well.

Last night we chased the kids to bed then sat in our bed as Mr. T watched TV and pushed buttons while I read the book out loud telling him what it could do. You know most men do not want to give up the remote, but he was as clueless as I was thus happy to have me decode the mysteries of satellite TV watching while he just did what I said.

We browsed the channels; flipped between 1st and 2nd mode; turned on the caller ID feature so Mr. T could call the house and we could watch his name pop up on the screen; we watched House and I paused it, rewound it and jumped back to normal TV again; we played with picture in picture and headed over to the special channel that explains how to use the system. I also checked our bill. Apparently we can do that too. Wouldn't want a person to ever get up to go pay a pesky bill, now would we?

Now mind you, we can't get local stations, as in CT, because local for us is NY so we'll have to listen to the radio for school closings. And I guess if our neighbor's house burned down we would be the last to know. But when the world and all its music is literally at your fingertips like this, I guess you can miss out on one little state.

So Mr. T seems pretty content right now. Content enough to talk about actually staying in the house until he retires which is only another 13 years or so. So we started wondering what we could do to expand the house because after all we only have 3 bedrooms and if we turn my office downstairs into a 4th bedroom, I'd have no place of my own anymore! Ay caramba!

And what if we do have another baby? It'll be a boy (I keep telling him that, though he won't listen to me.) and he could stay in Daughter's room only so long before he'd either have to share with a potentially 11-year-old brother or we'd have to move. Of course staying means we could open up that wall in the family room and put on that deck that the backyard is screaming to have and we could close off that pointless side door. And if we could convince the family that owns the empty lot next door to sell it to us we'd have all the space we needed and get our 2, make it 3-car garage, though I don't know how easy it would be to make changes given the way the house is made and situated. At least not without practically knocking it down and starting all over. And you don't want to overimprove and outprice your house for the neighborhood. Lots of HGTV and TLC taught me that.

But already it's hard to think about moving. It's been a long road and years of renting, though that was by choice and the best choice for the time. Mr. T is imagining his friends hanging out to watch the big screen downstairs. I see the kids in my circle of friends hanging out at my house so my kids will have their friends over to play with. We both like to entertain so bring the noise!

Once you start putting your heart into a place and making it your own...sigh. The wanderer in my Sagittarian heart is used to moving around but my Capricorn husband helps satisfy a desire I've always had to grow roots as well, for the sake of the kids and familiarity, if nothing else. It's just nice to finally be able to relax in the arms of my own little family in our own little piece of the world and dream our little dreams. That, dear Husband, is what make a house feel like home.

On Tiny Heads and Business Things

This business thing is starting to really annoy me. Not so much dealing with customers or anything like that but just trying to grow something while you are in the midst of growing something else - a young marriage, kids, a fruitful career. People do this all the time but it's just plain hard to figure out how to successfully and steadily grow a business when you don't have the number one resource needed to make it work - time. If you have the number two resource at your disposal - money - then you can hire the necessary help. But my partner and I are short on both. And yes, lack of money really is secondary to lack of time. Money can buy you time but can only stretch so far and you can't bank it. Well, vacation time at work is one thing, but I'm talking the daily kind.

It's frustrating. We KNOW we have a good thing here. We KNOW if we could work it, we could make it. But we have to try to keep things small and manageable and that may mean very little profit for a long time, if any at all. And the thing is no matter how hard you try to do one thing at a time, you really can't do that in a business. You have to be all things to all people until you can hire someone to help you out and even then you still have to keep your finger on the pulse so you can communicate effectively with your hire. Plus, my partner and I prefer to work with people as like-minded as possible and that can take time to find.

So we've thought about this and we already know that ultimately, this business was never meant to be a full-time thing for my partner. She loves her job and has no intention of leaving. She's our pastor's administrative assistant and as thankless as that can be, it's still a rewarding thing. I know. I used to volunteer way back before the family came along. We are both helpers, in terms of spiritual gifts, so it works for us to help others. It's the same in my job except no matter how much I love it, I do want to work for myself one day and I would like this business to be one of the things I do for myself one day. This and writing.

But I'm frustrated by our lack of growth and I know we aren't growing because of our inability to give that aforementioned time. I told my partner that I've come to the conclusion that really all I need and want from this business right now is for it to stay small and manageable. If we can get just 1 custom job per month, that would be a success for me and I'd be happy to maintain that while still trying to build some business for the future when I can give more of my time. In the meanwhile, we seek out help and even THAT is frustrating. Our web developer is slow as molasses as in the beginning that was cool because we weren't able to do but so much at one time either. But my philosophy now is if I can't give it the time it needs to because I work, then the person I hire must do their job full-time. The web developer is not solely a web developer and if I had come to this conclusion even this time last year, he wouldn't have been hired (though we liked his work and his willingness to work with us on price). WE simply needs our consultants to be 100% committed to their business in the way of time where we can't be because our time is divided.

I cannot give up this fight. We've been working on this too many years to stop now and neither of us think we can call it quits until we feel like we really did give it our ALL and no, it didn't work. But we don't see that. We don't feel it. We know it can work and we have to keep trying. All the guarding of my time doesn't make it easier to do what I need to - family and job are major time consumers that hopefully will never end (the job, not until I am ready to call it quits) - so this all must jibe no matter how hard it is.

And this is why I am the multi-object manipulator. I want to drop a ball from sheer frustration but I can't let myself do that. I love everything that helps make my life my life.

Guess I'll just keep on keeping on. But for now, it's almost midnight and I have to take off the business cap and get some rest so I can put the mommy cap back on for the morning. I put the businessowner cap on right after I drop off Daughter and think/talk while I'm driving to work where I may have to wear at least 2 caps at once like I did today. According to anyone who has ever done my hair, I have a small head so this can be quite tricky.

I need a vacation. And a hat rack.

Breathe Again

I am home, looking out my window as I type this. It's getting late actually. I'm tired because yesterday I had to wait for Son to get off at his new bus stop. It's the same bus and route actually except now he's the first stop home instead of one of the last ones. Mr. T. had to go out of town with his mother and 2 sisters to his aunt's funeral which left me to be the day and night parent this weekend.

Son and I went back to Nana's and cleared out some more of our straggly stuff as we swept through the living room and dining room, erasing traces of ourselves. We finished clearing out his room - her guestroom/office - and the sofa bed on which he slept for the past 2 1/2 years is now back in its rightful position. I swept and we left to go pick up Daughter. We went back to the house to clean some more and get more straggly stuff. It's amazing how much of that there is. We took food that we bought and bathroom stuff that we owned. We ate and we watched TV for a little while since ours isn't hooked up at home yet. Mr. T was going to do that today before finding out about his aunt.

Today we got up and I laid in bed amazed that no one came bugging me to get up, claiming to be hungry. They are still caught up in the excitement of having their own rooms. Closing the doors and each one knocking to visit the other. The new toys from Son's birthday party last weekend remains strewn on the living room floor. Normally I like things neat and as organized as I can be with 2 little kids. But right now I am relishing the boxes and bags all over the place and could not care less that my unfurnished living room is currently their playroom. Let them enjoy it. It won't last. :-)

We went back to Nana's where I took all the food out of the fridge and took every drawer and shelf there was to the bathroom to soak in the tub while I sprayed the inside of the fridge with cleaner and we went back out to do errands. It's a ranch style house so the bathroom is only steps away form the kitchen. When I came back, it was a breeze - though still a little time consuming - to clean the fridge, sweep up the kitchen, and clean the bathroom, or at least as much as I will do because males are the reason it needs to be cleaned the way it does so males do the cleaning. I just do countertops and mirrors.

I had already washed and dried the tablecloth for the dining room and returned that to its place so I took the old plastic one off the kitchen table and let it be the glass showpiece it was before we showed up so long ago. We ran out and got flowers for the dining room table, left a brief "Thank you for your hospitality (and patience)" note and made haste back to our place. Our pictures are the only indication that children were there recently. My treadmill, boxes of books and dresser are still there but I'm not nearly as concerned about them now. They will find their way here.

Now the tykes are watching videos while I sit blogging and catching up to critiques for my writing group while thinking about artwork for the new puzzles we're making and generally just living in the moment.

Sigh. How sweet it is. Must go do Daughter's hair now.

At Last

It's almost 10 p.m. Do you know where I am? My house. At last. Good night.

Wait, Wait and Wait Some More

I'm not even going to say it. I’m sick of hearing me and you ought to be too. I don't want to go into the next hurdle that popped up to keep me out of my house THIS weekend. I'll only say that I'm starting to take it personally and unless God CLEARLY tells me He's behind this, I WILL take it personally and I will fight it. I will tell you this much, though. Mr. T's aunt died yesterday and he is off to South Carolina on Friday for the funeral. Nothing within anyone's control and yet...

Yes, I know this makes me sound insensitive, but I am self-aware and I will not lie that once I realized what his not being here meant, I was not a happy camper. I’m trying not to take matters into my own hands but so much because I am the impulsive sort and this is probably part of the answer to that prayer for patience that I keep praying knowing that God answers that prayer by sending things to test my patience. I’ve got to stop asking for that! I also know, from my wise young pastor, that waiting can be an active word if you allow it to be. It always was for me.

One of my co-workers made a comment today that made me feel like she was taking things a bit personally and since the comment had to do with birthdays, a lightbulb went off and I looked up her sign. No, I don't let this rule my life but yes, I do think there is something to it; the similarity among people who are born at certain times can be amazing.

As I looked her up I laughed in agreement as I saw the words "harsh criticism and sometimes cold" used to describe her alleged faults. And even though I've read mine a million times, I don't keep all the adjectives in my head so I looked it up. What did it say were my "faults"?

Sagittarius is the ninth sign of the Zodiac and associated with travel and expansion. Individuals born under this sign are thought to have a dynamic, quick witted, intellectual, ethical, humorous, generous, open-hearted, compassionate, and energetic character, but one which is also prone to pridefulness, impulsiveness, impatience, impracticality, and blind optimism. Sagittarians are said to like traveling, getting to the heart of the matter, freedom, laws and meanings, and the general "feel" of things. They do not like off the wall theories, being tied down domestically, being constrained, cooling their heels, and being bothered with details.

Ha! Yes, the “cooling their heels” part truly resonated. See? I’m not crazy. It’s just the traveler in me who is going mad waiting, waiting and waiting some more. Makes me want to eat something.

But God did give me a consolation prize. The company that was going to put my desk together on Monday (yes, it’s that ridiculously complicated) had an opening first thing in the morning so they are coming tomorrow instead. That does help, God. Thanks.

My Mirror Image

He'd better be an actor. A working actor. He'd better bring home major loot to pay us back for all the aggravation. You know who, if you've read any of this before. My son, that's who.

We are living between two houses now. All of our clothes and such live in our house while we continue to sleep at Nana's house because Daddy ordered a new TV - unbeknownst to Mommy - and wants the satellite and TV all hooked up before we go in. Now, I figured as much. The kids could probably be adequately distracted for a bit but between them and Daddy wanting their TV, I'd probably be twisted like taffy by the time they got done. So we wait. Daddy swears we'll be in there this weekend. The great satellite conversion is supposed to hit Thursday or Friday. "You just wait. I'll order HD and when you see it, theeeeen you'll see!" I don't doubt it. I never do.

Anyway, with our clothes elsewhere, Son, has to take whatever I bring home when I make the run to the house after work. He is Mr. Picky. Always has been. Hates for his T-shirts to show in any way, which is difficult with kids' clothes given how they make them so roomy these days. He hates his pants to hang down - and that I do hope he never changes. His socks have to feel just right in his shoes.

He's particular and I know this. Sometimes it's a battle of wills. I know he'll give me grief but I lord my parental authority anyway just because I don't feel like doing whatever it'll take to quiet him down. Sometimes I make the effort to do what I THINK he'll like. I say think because even if he wears something one day, it doesn't mean he won't hate it the next time and me? I'm naively thinking, "He wore this already. It fit great. No complaints. Wait. Better take 2 choices." Then he hates them both.

"It's down to my chest," he said this morning. This means that you can see a sliver of skin at the top of the neck hole.

"Son, it fits fine. Just get dressed. Your bus will be here any minute."

" But it's down to myyy cheeeest!" (Here we go.)

"Son, you have 2 choices. That shirt or the other. That's it."

"But it's down to myyyyyy chhhhhheestt!" Whine, whine. (I'm gonna blow.)

"Go open the drawers." He does. They're empty. "See? Your clothes are at OUR house now. These are your choices!" He goes to my room because I must be lying. Back to his room to whine some more. The bus usually shows just before 8:30. It's 8:24.

"Huff. I'm done. Husband, your turn. You are - going to - miss your - bus!"

He sits in his underwear waiting for the Clothes Fairy to deliver a perfect shirt from Beyond. As I've said a million times here, it's all I can do to just walk away.

So he's 7 now and I suppose this stuff will just get worse until he gets a job and starts buying his own clothes - which I am going to recommend if it looks like he can handle it down the line.

I look at him, wanna shake him but I just know I'm battling with myself.

All that drama - I think I was a dramatic kid myself. I refuse to ask my parents to confirm it, though. I know it's a sign of creativity and he got that from me for sure.

All that pickiness - I can't leave things any old way. They have to be done MY way and the folk at my job praise/jibe me for my organization (and they come expecting me to have the answer as a result). I'm a obsessive-compulsive perfectionist (getting worse as I get older) and he got that from me.

All that selective hearing - I can't tell you how many times I have people repeat themselves when I heard them the first time but I just didn't really want to answer. I know I do that. If I responded to people right away, I'd be praised for my excellent hearing. I hear you, I hear you - most times - I'm just deciding what to say or hoping you'll go away. Son gives me the innocent look - "What? Isn't that what you meant?" - and reacts to what he chooses to hear. He got it from me, I just know it.

One day I'm going to take the time to stop and deal with him in a new way and surprise us both with my ability to not be so stubborn. I'm always praying for patience, I just have yet to actually try to BE patient. I sure hope I get this thing right before we both end up on opposite sides of a fence we can't scale. I'm aware of things so I'm trying. Really I am.

Enough Already!

OK. So the move, as in we will be living there at long last, is supposed to be tonight/tomorrow. We will have birthday party #2 for Son at 4 o'clock at our house, which officially will close all of his birthday celebrations for 2007.

The kids' beds were finally delivered yesterday and they shall be together soon. But I've still got to get my treadmill (which I miss) and my son's baby dresser, plus boxes and boxes of books over to the house. I don't care if stuff is on top of stuff right now. I only want to be done with moving stuff already!

I moved us. Me. I did it. With Mr. T's back being problematic and needing therapy for it and all, I have moved us all by myself. Now that's not a huge deal since we had no real furniture left after having gotten rid of most of it 2 1/2 years ago. But little by little, I got clothes over there, dishes, toys, etc. made the dump runs, made the donation runs, and now I am down to the 2 pieces I want to keep that I can't handle alone. Since we only bought beds for the kids right now, I want Son to use his dresser from his crib set (always meant to be transitioned into adolescence and beyond anyway) so he'll have a place for clothes and keep me from going nuts looking at extra stuff all over the place that could have a home. I had a tall thin dresser from my bedroom long ago and I already brought that over - by myself - for Daughter to use in her room until we get one to match her bed.

The nickle and diming that has to go on when one moves is enough to give a rock a headache. I am a rock so I know. I had a headache all day Monday and I get them so infrequently that it's always my sign of sickness/stress.

We all know one has to "take time" to get what you need, yadda yadda yadda, but aside from me being the impatient sort, we just happen to need way too much all at one time. I've been here and done this when I first moved from home almost 14 years ago so I must admit, doing it again is enough to give me agita (did you know this is a slang term? Word lesson for the day!).

For now, I have to find an able-body male to help me get stuff into my station wagon. Soon, I'll be calling on my girls because that's usually the best way to get things done. I just do not want to rent a truck if I don't have to. Of course Mr. T. has informed me that we are taking the mattress we've been using at his house until we get our own new stuff because after all we just got the kids' beds and we can only do "one thing at a time." OK, can I please shoot the person who came up with that term? I'm about sick of hearing it and I know when folk come to our house tomorrow who haven't been there before or haven't been there in a long time since we painted, etc., I'm going to be hearing it for hours.

"Well, one thing at a time."
"One day at a time."
"One piece at a time."
"One paycheck at a time."

Enough! I get it! Yes, yes, yes, I know, ok? For goodness' sake I can't even post pictures right now until I am in my house to download from the camera onto the computer. I am getting dressed between 2 houses and I am tired. Hear me? T-I-R-E-D.

My job (which yes, I still love it) is insane and has been since December with no sign of letting up - ever. My writing is stalled and my writing group needs me to start submitting some pieces too. My business is waiting on me to work on it because time stops for no woman and we need to start making a profit. We owe crazy taxes this year because it's simply the lot of the middle class to pay for everybody, it seems, and the more you make for your family, the more on the hook you are - unless you have an independent tax person to show you how to avoid the traps. (Lesson finally learned there. Mr. T. found out the hard way that H&R Block is not the way to go and I didn't even have to say I told you so.) I've lost more weight without trying and I can't think about that right now because - say it with me - it's one thing at a time!

Well, I guess I've vented enough for now. I know it's a blessing to have our own home. I know it's a blessing to have a whole family with a mommy and a daddy who can work and work together. I know it's a blessing to have a job in the first place, let alone one you enjoy. I know it's a blessing to have the family and friends who care about us and help us as they can. All of this I know. I'm just ready to be done running back and forth, pulling things from the damp basement that has been home to most of my stuff for way too long; to wake up in my nearly empty room surrounded by stuff that is waiting for me to create a home for it; to sit on my kitchen floor (since I don't know when we'll get the dinette set we agreed on) and make a nice long list of all the stuff we need and want (one day at a time, of course) and just be once again.

It's been a long time coming. 2 1/2 years of preparing and looking and now 3 months of getting the house (and ourselves) ready after finally finding it. I will wrap this up if I have to strap that dresser on my back and carry it over there. Thankfully, that's not too far. Soon and very soon, folk. For now, back to work.

7th Heaven - Again

Today is Son's 7th birthday. Yesterday when he was 6, he thought he wasn't having a party when all I really meant was that the family/friends version is on Saturday and the close family version is on his actual day - like always. He cried like he was 2 until Nana explained it to him because I'm impatient and chose to finish getting dressed first before talking to him. (Best for all of us that way.) But she beat me to him. Oh well. But she's out of the picture this week. We'll be in OUR home soon.

In the meanwhile, I have to run home and hide one present in OUR house and bring the one the Grandma and Grandpa sent money for so he can have something on his day today and on Saturday. Hopefully we'll take pictures! And then I'll finish this post.

See you then!

Welcome to My New Home (One of Them!)

It's here! The new blog look is here! Now tell me honestly, what do you think? Was it what you expected? Is it hard to see in your browser, because Firefox beats IE when it comes to this. Don't know why. I think it's Blogger. I had to download Firefox on my home computer just so I can see this properly and I figure why not just do it this way for blogging purposes.

Like the colors? My purple was tres important but the pink worked too so here it stayed. Now who do I have to thank for this? LIZ - the LooneyBin mom herself! This woman worked with a back problem and went back and forth with me as I figured out what I liked. Mind you, I liked what she did practically from the jump which goes to show you just how good she is. I only changed one thing about her original design but this is pretty close to it. Liz, you are the bomb! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Now my logo was also designed by another brilliant woman who also hit the nail on the head the second time around. I don't have her web address on me at this second but as soon as I do, I'll link her name - Ashley Plumly - and you too will be able to partake of her services if you need it. She also revamped my business logo and she did the logo over at Sixuntilme so I do have experience with her and can vouch for her abilities and professionalism. Ashley, I couldn't be more thrilled to have added you to my list of artists. Thank you as well!

So welcome to my new blog home! Just in time for spring!

Now my physical home, because I know you are wondering, is coming along. I plan to be in there, really in there, by March 16th, which is 2 days after my son's 7th birthday and I plan to have his little party at OUR house this year. Last weekend and this weekend I spent hours moving stuff over from my MIL's basement to my house, cleaning things out, throwing things out, donating things, washing things. We're practically down to the few heavy pieces we kept from 2 years ago - my treadmill, my son's baby dresser which isn't babyish at all so he can still use it for now until we get him a new one to match his bed. Daughter found a vanity at the furniture store that she's already claimed. I've been wanting to get her one anyway because it just fits her boisterous personality so I guess we'll have to see about adding that to her furniture too. Man, she is SUCH a girl sometimes!

Mr. T. painted the family room and the carpet was supposed to go in today but he found out Sunday that the room needed a second coat so it probably didn't happen. He's sleeping now and I didn't get a chance to ask about it before he fell asleep. But it'll happen this week if it wasn't today so I'm not concerned. It's the last room to be carpeted and the next to the last room (the penultimate - love the word but can be a little obnoxious to use it sometimes) to be painted but painting the foyer won't stop my show.

The phone company has been called to get everything set up this Friday. We officially have a new home phone number which I sorta selected. I told them what I like in a phone number - repetition, my favorite number 8 - and they delivered a lovely version of that. Quite pleased. Mr. T. showed me a couple of beds he found for the kids and they are good, solid ones at great prices that include the mattress. We'll have to build the sets as we go because it's just too much money to spend at once, especially with the still unresolved tax bill looming over us as well. He also picked a dinette set for the kitchen so we'd have someplace to sit and eat but I didn't like his first choice so we found something else we could both agree on. Don't know when those will show but they are selected and that's good enough for me. So after the trash is out of the foyer and the carpets are cleaned, I'll take real digital photos to display in this my new blog home. You're welcome to visit anytime. Stop by and bring your friends! I'll try my best to keep it as interesting as it looks.

Secret or Scam?

OK. I've been hearing about The Secret. Apparently Oprah did a show but I didn't know about it until I heard about her follow-up show where so many people stepped forward to say, "Wow! It worked."

A colleague who works remotely with my company mentioned it in reference to a potential writer we are looking into and she was recommending and at that time I had just heard about it so I was a little amazed at the coincidence of her mentioning it. By that time Oprah's follow-up was going to be showing that very next day. I was hoping to get home to find out what this was when her show aireed again at 7 that night. I had a business meeting after work that ran longer than I expected so I missed it. But I heard on the radio just two days ago that that show will be re-running either at the end of March or the beginning of April.

Well, just a few minutes ago as I put on my shoes and tried to drown out Son yelling about the arrival of the first day of Spring, Mr. T. turned up the volume as they talked again about The Secret on one of the morning shows.

"Oh yeah! I've been hearing about this. What IS this?"

"Somebody's trying to replace or repackage the Bible," he laughed.

They talked about the secret being pretty much if you believe it can happen, the universe WILL make it happen. Then had a little debate between the "expert" who said, "That's basically right but you've got to act too." and the expert who said, "The danger is that this thing GUARANTEES that your belief in something WILL make it happen, including curing cancer and blindness."

Oh boy.

Mr. T. kept snickering in the background. "Of course if you're motivated you can make all kinds of things happen."

"Man," I responded. "It's amazing how God isn't mentioned anywhere."

In case you didn't know it, let me let you in on a little secret that's not a secret - God said, "As a man thinketh, so is he."

God said, "Faith can move mountains."

God said, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue."

Guess what folk. The Secret is a spin on what God already promised except He did NOT say all disease would be cured, all blindness taken away, all bad done away with on THIS side of heaven. He did say He would take what others meant for evil and use it for your good, so you've still got - say it with me here - FAITH, HOPE, LOVE.

The secret appears to be yet another way to twist his words and He also ended His word, The Bible with, "Neither add to, nor take away from my word."

Please let me be clear, your faith CAN change things. You MUST act as well because even God has told us to believe AND confess and confessions is an action. Prayer is an action, waiting can be an action too. So see, God, as I believe, wants us to act too. If you want something, faith in yourself and the gifts God gave you along with work will do amazing things to bring it to pass.

This is the secret the world didn't know? I don't even know what more to say. Oh yeah, it's because God already said it - There is nothing new under the sun.

UPDATE: I went looking for healthy or weight loss related television shows for a co-worker and came across this article on CBN.com. Whether you find CBN generally too rigid or too anything I don't think really matters. It still makes the point. The third graph from the end was particularly interesting.