On the prowl

An adorably cute kitty has been on the prowl around our apartment building the last few weeks. We had ignored it up until last night. I noticed how desperate it was to get into our apartment. Then I noticed how thin it looked. Once you got past the fur coat, the cat was mere skin and bone. I HAD to feed it.

At this point, any of you who have fed a cat or dog that was wandering outside your place knows the struggle I had last night. If you feed a kitty, it becomes yours. The cat proceeds to stick around your place, waiting for food and water. Eventually, I had to admit to this and feed the cat. I don't really need the new cat but I couldn't leave it out there with no food. My heart strings were being pulled big time!

So, I don't know if the cat will stick around. It may wander off eventually. If not, I'll keep it as an outside cat since it still has its claws. I will ask around my apartment complex about someone missing a cat. The cat appears to have been an inside cat, it is friendly, lets you pick it up and pet it. Hopefully, I find the owner. If not...I might try to find a new owner. I'll keep it in the mean time.





The picture below is of my cat, Boots, and the new one meeting through a locked, closed door. :)

This is for all my married friends

Stop asking when I am going to get married. Stop asking me why I'm not dating. Don't mention how I need to have children soon before age catches up with me. Stop saying I should date a certain someone. I'm amazed at how married people say things like this as though I want to hear it, or need to hear it, or that it is appropriate.

I'm sorry if this sounds blunt, rude or anger-filled. It's not. But I hate being reminded of my single state and how little control I have over it. I desire all the above mentioned things and am FULLY aware that I don't have them. The struggle to be content as a single adult is an ever-present battle.

Ok, I'm done.

At face value

This post reveals me; and that can be nerve racking and uncomfortable. It addresses a subject I rarely talk about with people other than close friends and family. My birthmark. While reading the following article excerpt, I thought of how the opening paragraph deals with something I struggle with everyday...looking people in the eye.

Have you ever notice that I don't look people in the eye while walking down the street? Over the last few years I have worked on maintaining eye contact while speaking with someone; yet, I still usually avoid eye contact in public places. Once you read the article below you will more fully understand the struggle.

I just wanted to share a small sliver of my life.


Published Date: May 14, 2007
By Alison Benjamin, The Kuwait Times

James Partridge greets me with a hello, a handshake and makes deliberate eye contact. Nothing unusual there - except that for someone with a severe facial disfigurement this every day exchange can be an intimidating experience. Staring, curiosity, anguish, recoil, embarrassment and dread - what he describes as "SCARED syndrome" - sums up the feeling of people meeting you and your face, wrote Partridge, author of Changing Faces: The Challenge of Facial Disfigurement, and founder and chief executive of the charity of the same name that supports and represents people who have disfigurements to the face or body. Since its launch in 1992, the coping strategies and confidence-building techniques detailed in the book have formed the basis for the social skills training provided by the charity.

Partridge, who, aged 18, was badly disfigured in a car accident, refused to look in the mirror for three months. "I knew it was bad from people's reactions," he recalls. "They would look into the hospital room and then turn away. When I finally saw myself, I was shocked to the core." What stared back at him was unrecognizable from the angelic-looking teenager he had been. "The thought of taking this face into the street and meeting old friends ... the self-consciousness level was of absolutely colossal proportions," Partridge says. "The face is so much how we communicate. It's our self image. It's what other people remember."

One of those moments

During the lesson on Sunday, a thought occurred to me. Ever have one of those moments when something from a passage in scripture dawns on you? Like you've never seen that particular point? Well, that happened to me yesterday as I sat in my home church on Mother's Day.

The Sunday School teacher taught on Exodus 2 where Jochebed puts Moses into the Nile and trusts God to care of him. The events that transpire bring Moses back to his mom and back to his Hebrew roots. What occurred to me at that moment was Moses' mom had him at the important formative years of life. The time when our personality, morals and values are instilled. Remember how Moses chose to return to his Hebrew heritage once he got older. I think that came from him being with his mom early on.

What if Moses had stayed in the palace instead of returning to his mom to be nursed and weaned? The Pharaoh's daughter would have indoctrinated Moses with Egyptian values. What would God had to have done in Moses' life for Moses to end up the leader of the Hebrews as they exited Egypt?

My mom instilled Christian morals and values into me from an early age. The Sunday School lesson reminded me of how important the role is of a mother and father in the life of a child. As I get older, I see the principles my parents taught me played out in my everyday decisions.

Plug for public libraries

One of the perks Nashville affords its residents is an amazing public library system. I know many, if not all, towns have libraries. But Nashville stands out with state-of-the-art computer based searches, multiple satellite branches blanketing Davidson County, online control of your check outs and a loaner program which allows you to check out a book from another location without driving there.

My home county in Kentucky has only the one library located downtown. They have a good selection but you first have to get there. There is a library branch right down the road from me here in Nashville! I can literally walk to it in less than ten minutes.

Avid reader is not a description of me but I do enjoy reading. My friend Mandy commented once that I have a wide range of reading material. My method for choosing a book? Walk up to the new releases and grab one. Now, I do enjoy biographies and a couple of authors but I don't stay with one genre or person. Eclectic might be a good word for my reading choices.

The point to my post today: Take advantage of free services your community supplies. You pay for them in taxes actually, so use what you pay for :)

Neti pot

The title of this blog makes you think I'm not writing in English. Neti pot is an invention that I'm sure tons of money is being made off of by someone. You may have seen this video on other sites but I had to post it here. This video makes me laugh every time I see it! If you don't at least grin at this video, you may be suffering from a serious, life-threatening condition; please seek medical attention immediately! ;)



The lady speaking sounds as though she might break into laughter at each phrase! I know I would struggle to speak those lines without a laugh.