LOVER ALL ALONE: written and performed by Clay Aiken








TWO SIDES OF THE COIN
TWO MOVEMENTS OF A SYMPHONY
TWO VIEWS OUT THE SAME WINDOW
TWO POEMS




There’s only now
There’s only this
There’s just this moment that exists

Grab it
Keep it
Savor it
Add some spice and flavor it

There’s just this day
There’s nothing more
There’s no way of knowing what’s in store

Can’t trust in tomorrow
Don’t remember yesterday
There’s always, only, just today

Notice it
Touch it
Cherish it
Hold it in your heart and nourish it

Stars may go nova
And planets collide
This moment’s your world – live it alive.
Geni 2007



4 a.m. thoughts


It doesn’t help to be wiser
When you’re older too

It doesn’t help to dream
When you know it can’t come true

It doesn’t help to cry
Alone at night in bed

And wish you could have known
Where the path had led

But who is wise enough
To see how it all will end

That life will not forgive
And youth won’t come again

That life is short
But nights have hours to fill

That wisdom only brings regrets
And dreams will haunt you still

Perhaps it’s best to not have known
And yet, you still regret it

To not have known just what you want
While there’s still time to get it
Geni 2007

What with the ice storm and all…thankfully the power is still on here….i have a little time on my hands. So here’s some great quotes about dogs…..one of my “favorite things” ….you’d know this if you read my profile. But, of course, everyone lies in their profiles. (The geni in MySpace is 26 years young, 5’9”, and an interior designer. Ya pays your money and takes your chances…..ha.) Actually, I do lie a lot…..about my age and certain interests that are no one’s business……especially strangers or relatives……jes sayin’.

Truthfully, however, this is MY dog. Not a pic I copied from Google Images…..although there were some rather interesting ones there…..






And here are the quotes:
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man. -Mark Twain

You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'Wow, you're right! I never would've thought of that!' - Dave Barry

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. -Roger Caras

If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your
pocket and then give him only two of them. -Phil Pastoret

Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.
-Ann Landers

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. -Andy Rooney

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made. -M. Acklam

Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate. -Sigmund Freud

I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult. -Rita Rudner

A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down. -Robert Benchley

Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog. -Franklin P. Jones

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. -James Thurber

My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That's almost $21.00 in dog money. -Joe Weinstein

Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul -- chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth! -Anne Tyler

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
-Robert A. Heinlein

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. -Will Rogers

There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.
-Ben Williams

Here’s some from one of my favorite authors: Anon (I think he runs a couple of self-help groups, too)
If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise.
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am.
The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.
If you’d greet everyone the way you greet your dog, you’d have more friends.

Since I've been into memorials lately...here's to all the great pets who've shared my home in the past. I want to go wherever they've gone. I want to pet them again.


Mindy - Schnauzer


Ginger - rescue dog, mutt


Bruce-rescue dog, mutt


Susie, Shih Tzu


Freeda,German Shepherd, Greta, Brittany


I'm still searching for pix of Atticus and Ichabod - wonderful mutts....but that was so long ago they're in black and white ......and cameras were still on tripods.........
edited sun. jan14

found a pic of me and my dog Ichabod...told you it was b&w




And everybody in the know knows this pup.....






it’s just me, geni


P.S. don't forget to comment. you can leave pix of your dogs....well, maybe

Blogging Inspiration

Got my inspiration at church this morning……both kinds. The sermon was about New Year’s Resolutions….every year this woman resolved to lose weight and never did. Finally she resolved to just grow taller…..then, at least, she wouldn’t feel so guilty about failing.

Well, this just reminded me of my best friend. She has been a real inspiration to me….in many ways…..one of which was to lose weight. I’ve told her she is my role model….and she thinks it’s a joke. She is beautiful, tall, thin, blonde and tan. Yeah, one of those cheerleaders types….which she was, natch. Didn’t you just hate them in high school…..oh, was that just me?

Here we are. Not too hard to guess who is who…….






But I did lose quite a bit of weight, became blonde and tan (ahhhh, doncha just love modern technology!! )She still has that cheerleading spirit, and keeps telling me how great I look. And I had said to her a long time ago, “I can get thinner, blonder and tanner…..and I’m workin on getting taller.” Well, it was funny at the time.

People often reach a turning point in their life when they have to decide how they are going to live the rest of their lives. Are they going to continue down the same old track (leading nowhere) or are they gonna be like “Tootle” and jump the tracks – smell the flowers, make a daisy chain, roll in the grass.

It’s a very difficult decision to make. Change can hurt….it is almost always uncomfortable. But if you want something more out of your life than what you have….and I did….yagotta try. Nobody is going to do it for you. That geni is not gonna pop outta that bottle and fairy godmothers haven’t been seen since Walt died.


This guy went from this

To this



……from not having enough money for gas.... to a mansion he showed off on TV. He’s been a real inspiration to many people because of his work with children with disabilities and UNICEF. He’s had some setbacks recently but he seems to be giving it his all anyway.

Anyway, the point is…ya’nevah know how you might inspire someone. You may NEVER know. Now that i think about it, that sermon included something about the light of your life extending out and helping someone else along the path.

I know I ’ve got a long way to go but I’m gonna give it all I got. I plan on enjoying the life that’s been given to me. Live long and prosper.


it's just me, geni

p.s. course you could always try wishing on a star.....
"Star light, star bright
first star if see tonight
wish i may, wish i might
turn me into a microphone tonight...."









































-

CREATIN' AINT EASY, FOLKS




Click on all pix to enlarge.

EARTH PLAN B
In my blog of December 19th, I copied this great “God’s In Box” for your reading pleasure.





At that time, you may recall –(what? You haven’t memorized these masterpieces? Well, that's why i copied it again.) that I mentioned “wouldn’t you really love to know what is in God’s folder “Earth Plan B.doc”? Well, I have some ideas of my own. Too bad I wasn’t around in the beginning to help Her a little with Plan A. I love to decorate. I could have been a big help. So here are some of my ideas…..

GENI’S REMODELING PLAN

First, of course, women would be in charge of the planet from day one. We are much cleaner and things would look a lot better around here after these few billion years. What a colossal mistake that was…putting men in charge! Women are so much stronger than men, too …everyone knows that….do you really think men could go through childbirth – more than once? Well, now that I think of it, I guess that’s why God made women the childbearers in the first place……but then I wonder if God planned on there being six and a half billion people on this flimsy planet….hmmmmm, but it’s probably hard to think that far ahead, after all.

But I digress….women are stronger….and smarter……more compassionate….. more creative…..and most important of all….more peaceful. What was the Creator thinking, putting men with their ego, competitiveness, and aggressive nature in charge!! (Well, I guess some women might qualify here……but let’s skip these finer points, ok?)






Well, back to the beginning. To start with, I would have put wings on humans. Yes, think about it. If we could fly….there would be no need for roads, no cars, no wrecks, no pollution, no wars for oil. No planes – no 9-11. No global warming, no ozone depletion – stick with me here – no noxious emissions from cars or air conditioners. All those wings fluttering would take care of over-heating – hmmmmm, maybe the Creator WAS male, obviously He wasn’t too concerned about hot-flashes…..oooppps, digressing again.

With wings we could get to where we need to go real quick. More time for shopping and visiting with less spent on traveling. No not reaching a hospital in time. No more separation from families. (Well, some daughters-in-law might not think that is too good an idea…..damn, this is harder than I thought it would be…ohno!, did I just cuss? …..losing celestial credibility real fast, here) We could carry our babies with us. No more strapping them backwards in a seat behind us just to keep them safe.

There would be more woods and certainly more flowers if I had been called in as decorating consultant(and not all that land would be paved over for parking lots). It must have been an oversight that there aren’t more flowers. Oh, I know some people love wildflowers, and yes, they are pretty…..but I’d love to see a field of peonies, or a forest of lilac bushes, wouldn’t you?





And I would have created a better way of communicating between humans….and between humans and animals. My dog would love to talk to me, I just know. ..bet yours would too, or your cat. I bet pets would really like to be able to express their love for us more clearly or their dissatisfaction with a particular brand of pet food. Who knows? Maybe they don’t like to be called pets….maybe they hate their names and would prefer Matilda to Muffy. Well, though, a wagging tail and purring are pretty expressive.

I was thinking about mind reading. No more deception, no more lying, no unearned praise, no self-serving flattery. Only truth. That would be nice. Sometimes it is so hard to express your real feelings, your appreciation, your love, what you really want and need. How much better relationships would be if our real feelings could be intuited without words.

Well, perhaps that’s not the best idea (da……darn it, this is much harder than I originally suspected). There would have to be some kind of inner mind-control. Not every thought needs to be known by others. There are some feelings better left unsaid. Clay would never perform publicly again if he knew half of what’s in the minds of some Claymates…..not me, of course….. but some, I’m almost sure…….



Clay Aiken in Angelic mode from his Joyful Noise Christmas 2005 Tour which Skeet and i saw in KC.

And speaking of that performer. I would certainly have created a universal CAappreciation gene. Then everyone would be able to know what it is to be transported by a voice so beautiful and expressive…..football and soccer stadiums would fill to overflowing. We would all fly in ourselves and save all that airfare money. And an extra bonus of the CAgene would be WE wouldn’t have to put up with eye-rolling and snide remarks from those who just “don’t get it”…..just sayin….

Hmmmmmm….now that would eliminate those nasty reviewers, too, wouldn’t it? – curse you EW!! Ohmy! Now this has turned ugly. Very ungodlike….sorry…..but …..
it’s just me, after all, geni


P.S. I definitely would have decorated the sky with more stars and maybe a couple more moons…..and they would each be in different phases, of course.

Remembering

I know the Christmas season really depresses some people, especially those who have recently lost loved ones. Moods seems to come and go. Some years are ok and some…. I’d just as well skip the whole thing. But lately, I’ve come to think of it as a time for remembering those precious times we had together.

I’ve been robbed several times in my life….robbed of companionship. Not of love…that still lives in my heart.

My best friend was killed in a car wreck a few years ago. We had exchanged gifts every Christmas, so I discovered that I could relive our happy times every year when I decorated my tree. I have dozens of ornaments (yes, we were friends a long time) that she made for me. A couple she did in needlepoint and her beautiful china painting is as precious now as it was then (who would do that for me now?) I have several she made in her church crafts group, not to mention the ceramic Christmas napkin holders we did in class together. Eva still lives and always will for me.

My mother also was killed by a car crash. My daughters found a novel way to immortalize her special character….and my mother was a character, believe me. My mother was an Olympic Champion Bargain Shopper. One year a long time ago, she found an irresistible sale on chapstick and every year thereafter for Christmas, we each got a chapstick in with a present. It became the family Christmas joke and we always reminded her not to forget our favorite gift. Well, imagine my surprise when I discovered chapstick the Christmas after she passed. My daughter and dil are keeping her grandmother’s tradition alive, and how I love them for it. (P.S. every Easter my mother always gave me a VERY BIG SOLID CHOCOLATE bunny, even when I was way over 50…)





You know that guy on TV that’s “shopping challenged”. That could have been my husband. He never shopped until the 24th for me. And he knew he better get something just for ME….I bought everyone else’s gifts and my gift was his job. Bless his heart, he always bought me clothes that were a couple of sizes too small. I never had the heart to tell him…..come to think of it, he was just sneaky enough to do that on purpose. I just went and exchanged them or got something I liked better anyway. I’m sure he never noticed the difference….I think the salesclerk made the selections for him just to get him out of the store so she could close on Christmas eve. (I quickly broke him of the habit of buying me household appliances for gifts….I bought him a can opener one year)





I still top my tree with the beautiful hand sewn angel that my son’s long-time girlfriend (also killed by a drunk driver) had special made for me one Christmas. Shanna had ordered it for me that Fall and her mother brought it to me with tears in her eyes that Christmas. We still share wonderful memories of that lovely girl.





Well, I hadn’t meant for this to be so sad….rather, I intended it to be uplifting. Maybe you have to know sadness, to realize the real worth of something. But I hope you don’t have to lose someone in order to appreciate them. Go hug someone you love right this minute. I am.

The real spirit of this season is giving. It doesn’t matter what you give…..but the giving of your time is the most valuable gift of all. Spend time with those you love. I know, you’re busy. We all are. Make the time. There’s only so much of it allotted to each of us….and since we can’t know how much time that is, use it wisely. Spend your time on things that are worthwhile. And in the end….only people are really worth our time….not things. And spend time on yourself, too. There aren’t any roses out there to smell in December, and I don’t recommend smelling poinsettias…..but you get the idea. You are worthwhile, too. Take care of yourself. Someone is counting on you to be there for them.
Listen to some music and enjoy the eye candy.





And, of course, the very reason for this season was a Gift to us from a loving Father. Don’t forget to cherish that Gift with your thanks and praise.


it's just me, geni

Another Holiday Blog! Just a few more days until THE DAY. But you can celebrate any day, anywhere. My family celebrated last weekend. We had a wonderful day and I was so grateful to have them all with me. And when your kids have families of their own….. those days get rarer and rarer.

It doesn’t matter what the exact day is that you celebrate on. What matters in life is family. “Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”

So my presents to you this day are the beautiful quote above, a song by Clay Aiken, a poem, and something to laugh about - gifts to me from my friends Carol and Nan, my pastor, and just something I LOLed at myself . And those can make any day special, can’t they?

IN DECEMBER DARKNESS BY ANN WEEMS

The whole world waits in December darkness
for a glimpse of the Light of God.
Even those who snarl “Humbug!”
and chase away the carolers
have been seen looking toward the skies.
The one who declared he never would forgive
has forgiven.
And those who left home
have returned,
And even wars are halted,
if briefly.
As the whole world looks starward.

In the December darkness
we peer from our windows
watching for an angel with rainbow wings
to announce the Hope of the World.


Click on the graphic below to read the funny…..and click again in the lower right corner to make it even bigger. I especially liked God’s folders down the right side (doncha really wanna know what's in "Earth-Plan B.doc"?) the baby pix, and look at what’s playing on God’s WMP…..






Have a Merry one.


it's just me, geni

Guess I’ve become a holiday blogger….ooooops…..guess I forgot Thanksgiving. Oh well, Just the Important Ones, I guess.

Decorating the House: I used to love to decorate every room in my house and have a big Open House and invite everyone I knew. Spent days baking cookies and cakes (all right, that’s a lie - all I know how to do is melt chocolate and pour it over those Chinese noodles) But I did spend a lot of money on chips and dip, pretzels, cheetos, and liquor. Who needs anything else!! It was wonderful!! The downside was I was a nervous wreck and collapsed after the party for a couple days of bed rest.

So as the years passed (along with my youth and stamina) I now get my four year old grandson to come to help decorate the tree. It seems like every year for a while I had to buy a bigger tree because I love to shop for Christmas decorations and always buy a new ornament or two everywhere I visit, and when Hallmark started selling ornaments (y’know they’re “limited editions” and “appreciate in value”) the downhill slide began in earnest. I’m now up to a 12 foot hummer of a tree and 8 smaller trees spread throughout the house.

I started collecting angels years ago and almost all 12 feet of the main tree are covered with them. However, sometimes it’s hard to tell an angel from a faerie….y’know….they both have wings (scientific correctness dictates that angels have feather wings and faeries have butterfly wings - but some artists use their license in this regard) and they usually have a beatific expression on their face. Although, since I’ve become a connoisseur of faeries, I’ve discovered quite a variety of facial expression on them. This is one of my favorites!! My daughter says she looks scary, but i think she looks soulful. hmmmmm...do faeries have souls?



it’s clickable and click again at the bottom right corner to see it really large and expressive....

As you probably know, I’m also a scifi nut so I have smaller trees exclusively for Star Wars and Star Trek ornaments. Hope you saw that really great new one Hallmark had out this year of Kirk, Spock, and RedShirtGuy(obviously not long for this or any World) in a transporter. Wow! Sound effects and wavering lights….takes me back to the sixties….






I also have a tree just for souvenir ornaments…..D.C., NY City, Empire State Bldg, Pikes Peak, Texas, Connecticut, Boston, Newport, New Orleans, Puerto Villarta, Germany, and last but not least Branson, MO (love me some Wayne Newton). There’s a tree in the computer room devoted to Clay, naturally, and yes, one with tiny birdhouses in a bathroom…..

Grandson has three trees in his room. He’s quite special…..and that reminds me…..he was here helping me decorate the big tree. Every ornament was new and just wonderful to him. I saw all those sparkly dreams with new eyes. It was delightful…..one drawback is that he does seem to hang everything rather close together in one spot…oh well, the company was worth the rearranging later.

One last story – I just bought a new faerie – a male one – rather rare. My daughter says I’d better watch out or all those faeries will be propagating late at night. He’s a Truffle Fairie…he’s holding chocolate…those little twinkle-toes don’t have a prayer….ooooops - hope the angels are closing their eyes.


also clickable



it's just me, geni