Dear Mr. President

From: Andy Smith

"Today my mother declared my bedroom a disaster area. I would like to request federal funds to hire a crew to clean up my room."

President Ronald Reagan's response: 

"Dear Andy, your application for disaster relief has been duly noted but I must point out one technical problem; the authority declaring the disaster is supposed to make the request. In this case your mother."

Dear President Bush,

There are too many states. I have to memorize all of them AND their stupid capitals (even Bismarck) and it’s too hard! Please get rid of some of them before I fail geography. Why not start with North Dakota? It’s small and cold and its state animal is a gopher. Nobody likes gophers.

Gene, age 9

*In the summer of 1973, President Richard M. Nixon contracted viral pneumonia and had to be hospitalized. His illness prompted a letter from eight-year-old John W. James III, who had just undergone the same ordeal: 

"Dear President Nixon, I heard you were sick with pneumonia. I just got out of the hospital yesterday with pneumonia and I hope you did not catch it from me. Now you be a good boy and eat your vegetables like I had too [sic]!! If you take your medicine and your shots, you'll be out in 8 days like I was."

 *There is no record of Nixon's vegetable consumption, but his bout with pneumonia lasted eight days—exactly as long as John's.


(photos courtesy of: weheartit)

Through Susan's Eyes

I love photography, and much of my 

inspiration comes from looking at other 

people's photography skill, and 

creativity. I happen to have someone very 

close to me whose work I can look

 at anytime...my sister Susan:) 

She got a new camera, less than two years 

ago and has captured fun, beautiful,

 and creative photos with it ever since. 

Am I bragging about her? Umm...yes, 

because the truth is she is very talented and 

I get so much joy seeing a piece of her world 

through her eyes. 

So, here I am sharing her, and her pictures 

with all of you.

(photos courtesy of: Susan Brak)

Tangled

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair." 

I first saw this movie with the two ladies I am a caregiver for. We were

the only three adults without children sitting there in the theater...

maybe we are children at heart.

I thought it was an adorable and creative adaptation of

the fairy-tale story of Rapunzel. 

One of my ladies' favorite character was...the horse. 

If you haven't seen it yet, once you do I think you'll understand

why she was in stitches (laughter) over the horse. 

So, maybe this weekend coming up, you can

pop some popcorn, and whether you 

have children or not, enjoy being Tangled. 

(photos courtesy of:google, weheartit)

Words

I don't always say the right things, or speak when I 

should; maybe that's why I like 

other people's words so much. They so often

say so eloquently what I wish I could. 

(images courtesy of: weheartit) 

All Roads Lead Home

I think this song is beautiful. 

A million tears. A million codes 

1:15 

No way to go.  You point your finger 

To the moon. It looks like rain 

Coming soon. I figured all 

My worst fears. Believe in

childlike heroes. But I don't want to go 

That way. Surrender hope 

Again I don't want to go

that way. Surrender hope 

And faith. Again

 Your blood, your fire 

Your kiss good night 

Your words, and touch 

They might be mine 

I feel this love

could cross the sand 

I want to feel

that way 

The fire might linger. and fade away 

The shadows run from yesterday 

Like everyone. And everything

were memories. And then appears 

Your blood, your fire 

Your kiss good night 

Your words, and touch

They might be mine 

I feel this love

could cross the sand 

I want to feel that way 

Oh, don't make me

feel that way 

Oh, I want to feel 

That way 

Oh, I'm breaking through. These walls of steel 

Pushing that wall for something real 

I'm falling far and faster still 

Wake up, wake up 

Wake up, wake up 

Wake up, wake up 

Everyone and everything 

Everyone and everything. 

To listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxgtPR3kWHk&feature=fvwrel

The Killing

I have to confess that I am inexplicably drawn to mysteries and crime stories. 

Two weeks ago, AMC began a new series titled "The Killing".

What drew me into this new series was the heartache of the victim's 

family being portrayed so deeply, the burden of the responsibility of 

having to solve another murder, you could see on the homicide detective's 

face, and the rain pouring down on the Seattle skyline that simply added to 

the mystery and sadness.

Set in Seattle, Washington, the series follows the police 

investigation, the grieving family and the suspects, after 

the homicide of a young girl, Rosie Larsen. Each of the 

13 episodes will chronicle one day of the investigation.

The series as "slow-burn storytelling in a sense that every 

moment that we don't have to prettify or gloss over or 

make something necessarily easy to digest, that we're able 

to go to all sorts of places that are honest, and dark, and 

beautiful and tragic, in a way that is how 

a story should be told."

*Rated TV MA-Mature Audience Only

(photos courtesy of: google 

info courtesy of: wikipedia)

Sunday

The Lord is my shepherd, 

I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down

in green pastures, he leads

me beside quiet waters, 

he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of 

of righteousness for his

name's sake.

Even though I walk through

the valley of the shadow of death

I will fear no evil, for you are

with me (with me... with me...

with me) your rod and your 

staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me 

in the presence of my enemies. 

You anoint my head with oil; 

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will 

follow me all the days of my life, 

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord 

forever...forever...forever.

~The Bible: Psalm 23

(photos courtesy of:weheartit) 

Charlie

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, film director and composer best-known for his work during the silent film era. He became one of the most famous film stars in the world before the end of the First World War.

*In 1925, he was the first actor to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

*At the height of his popularity, he failed to win a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like contest.

(photos courtesy of:google image 

info courtesy of: google)

Golden

Ah, Hope! what would life be, stripped of thy encouraging smiles, that teach us to look behind the dark clouds of today, for the golden beams that are to gild the morrow.

Susanna Moodie

Be thou comforted, little dog, Thou too in Resurrection shall have a little golden tail.

Martin Luther

“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom”

George Washington Carver

(photos courtesy of: weheartit) 

Dog Day

Today my sister sent me a picture (a very cute picture) of her black lab, just looking off into the distance (maybe thinking of chasing squirrels or swimming). 

Then as I was driving home from work, I saw black lab, 

who was shaking a man's hand.

-A Lab is able to carry an egg in its mouth without breaking it

-A Labrador's paws have webbed toes, to help in swimming

LABRADORS IN HISTORY

Jake was a Law Enforcement dog that became famous after the Twin Towers collapsed on 9/11/01. He burrowed in scorching hot debris in search of people who were trapped. Jake also assisted in rescuing many, people that were undetectable to human senses following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

SADIE

In Afghanistan, Sadie was able to save the lives of dozens of soldiers when she detected a bomb that was nearly detonated. 

(photos courtesy of:weheartit 

Info courtesy of:www.clublabrador.com)

Washington D.C. (District of Columbia)

I went to Washington D.C. when I was in my early teens. I remember going to the Holocaust Museum, (which made me cry, in a good way), being afraid of the metro's escalators...I would like to go back one day to experience:

the history, architecture, the memorials, the performing arts and the 

variety of international foods. 

Washington, D.C. formally the District of Columbia is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. The U.S. Constitution allowed for the creation of a special district to serve as the permanent national capital. The District is therefore not a part of any U.S. state and is instead directly overseen by the federal government.

~The White House was originally called the “President’s Palace” or the “President’s House.” A Baltimore reporter once called it the “white house” in a newspaper article and the name caught on. 

~The Library of Congress, the biggest library in the U.S., contains 535 miles of bookshelves. In the Reading Room alone there are 45,000 reference books.

~There are no skyscrapers in DC

~The word “lobbyist” became popular with President Ulysses S. Grant’s disdain for the interest groups who bothered him while he relaxed in the Willard Hotel’s lobby.

"We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls." 

 ~Robert J. McCracken

Hope

My brother-in-law asked me the other night what I knew about

Emily Dickinson, and I said the only

thing I knew about her was her poem 

"Hope is a thing with feathers..."

I have loved this poem since I first heard it. 

"Hope" is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all

And sweetest in the Gale is heard

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm

I've heard it in the chillest land

And on the strangest Sea

Yet, never, in Extremity,

It asked a crumb of Me." 

Emily Dickinson 

(photos courtesy of: weheartit)

Dreaming of the Ballet...continued

At 2:00 p.m. the red velvet curtain rose 

and the ballet The Sleeping Beauty began.

From the music by Tchaikovsky, to the 

dancers, and costumes...it was beautiful. 

When I was leaving, I heard a little 

girl saying "I loved it"; me too. 

http://www.balletidaho.org/home.php

(photos courtesy of: google, weheartit)

Dreaming of the Ballet

Tomorrow evening I will come home, open the back of my journal

and cross off one of the entries on my Dream List: 

One day go to the ballet~

To be continued...

(photos courtesy of:weheartit)

A love for kung-fu

"Everybody was kung-fu fighting

Those cats were fast as lightning
In fact it was a little bit frightning
But they fought with expert timing"

I like action/martial arts films...a lot. 

I don't know when it fist started. It seems 

I've always had a weakness for a blow'em 

up, guns a blazin', good guy wins movie, 

but especially a kung-fu martial arts (Jet Li) 

type of movie. 

"Martial arts films have been produced all over the world, 

but the genre has been dominated by Hong Kong action 

cinema, peaking from 1971 with the rise of Bruce Lee. 

Other notable figures in the genre include Jackie Chan, 

and Jet Li."

(photos courtesy of: google, lyrics carl douglas

info:wikipedia)