Father's Day

Another Father's Day is here and it reminds me how much I miss my Dad. I wish I had one more minute, hour, day, lifetime with my Dad. It wouldn't matter how much time I had, it would not be long enough. I miss him almost every day. My grandson has been talking about the "Circle Of Life" lately. I know that losing your parents is just one more part of that circle. But it is one that you don't want to face.

My dad was not always the "perfect" Dad. but he was mine. And I never questioned whether or not I was loved. If I needed anything, all I had to do was ask. He wasn't at every school program or ball game. He wasn't one of those Dads. I never even thought about it then. He was just my Dad and that is how he was.

A carpenter his whole life, you only had to tell him what you wanted, and he could build it. The smell of sawdust and sweat is the most perfect smell in the world.  His striped overhauls and pencil behind his ear, this is how I remember him as a child. Before measuring tapes came around, the wooden folded measuring tape was one of my favorite toys...Of course, I got in trouble for playing with that toy.

He built the house where we lived in Texas. After moving to Oklahoma in 1968, He built another home in 1973. Of course he had help and my mother was very capable and built the cabinets...together they built us a new home.  They bought a place at Eufaula Lake. After he retired, he made a drawing and began to rebuild our cabin. It began as a 1957 travel trailer with a room built on the front complete with a porch. When it was finished, he had enlarged it by building a regular roof over it and tearing it apart and rebuilding it from the inside out.  He had help, but the plan was his and all the trim work was his. Our little "trailer" became a very nice house.


One of my fondest memories of Dad was our fishing time. It began when we were little and he would take us fishing while visiting my Grandma. I was married and started having children when they bought the place on Eufaula Lake. While we were there, Dad got up very early and I would get up with him. If I wanted to have any quite fishing time, I had to do it before my kids woke up. Drinking coffee on the porch listening to the birds wake up was one of my favorite parts of the day. Dad would tell me the names of each one of the birds as they began their morning songs. We spent many mornings sitting on the rocks with our poles in the water waiting on the fish to bite. If we were "Jug Fishing" He would take me with him out in the boat to pick up and bait the jugs back out. Our mornings would usually prove productive and we would bring home several good sized catfish. Dad and I didn't talk much, but we enjoyed spending this quite time together.

Growing up, Dad was a grouchy man. About the time I started having my children, he began to mellow. I am not sure, but I think Grandchildren have a way of changing Grouchy Men. I sort of witnessed this strange phenomenon again when my husband and I had our first granddaughter. Ha. But that is another story.   This thing that happens when men become Grandpas showed a side of my Dad I didn't know existed. All of the things he wasn't when I was a child, he gave to my children. And when you thought you had seen everything, His grandchildren made him a Great Grandpa. It got even more unbelievable. During this period of our lives, he became ill. Between Grandchildren and fighting for his life, he became the most loving man I know. I always felt loved, but the gentle way he was after the grand kids, I never experienced as a child.

 He had been a drinking man, and right before he got sick, he gave up that part of his life. My daughter was sort of angry by this. She felt he had wasted so many years and then he got sick. I am sure he regretted all those years, but life is what it is. Life is filled with regrets and should haves and could haves.We begin to mold into a person the moment of birth. Choices, life lessons, consequences, people, mistakes, victories, failures all come together to make the person we become. And we never cease to evolve until we die.

Dad loved us each with his whole heart. He made choices he was proud of and choices he was ashamed of.  But the man he was, I was proud to call my Dad. His life taught us to be proud, to have faith, to love, and what it means to be a good person. Thank you, Daddy, for all you taught us. I miss you and think of you every day. Happy Father's Day.

Kids Learn the Darndest Things

If you have read my Blog, you know that I might be a wee bit obsessed with the Twilight World and District 12/Katniss,Peta,Gale. At my home, my daughter or daughter inlaw will come over and we will dissect the books, movies, and everything in between. Of course, we have only just seen Hunger Games, but the books have been discussed thoroughly.

When we get together to "Twilight" we might have one of the movies playing and the books open, rewinding and rereading a chapter...discussing how the movie missed the mark, and what they got right. I know, it isn't right. There is something seriously wrong with us. I know people who want me to go to meetings. My granddaughter Katie, who is 9, has been a part of many of these parties. We do censor some of the parts, especially in Breaking Dawn.

The past several months I have noticed that she gets on our family computer and  goes to YouTube. She brings up parts of Lion King. There are a few of the neighborhood boys that play with her. She invites (forces) them to sit there with her while she plays the different videos. She tells them what the animals names are and who they belong to and what they are doing and why they are doing it. I am amazed that they will actually sit there while she does this. The next morning while driving to work, I was reflecting on the previous evening when it hit me....She was "Twilighting " in her own way. She is dissecting all the aspects of the story. She is asking questions about why the characters are doing what they do. I just can't believe that she gets those boys to sit and watch and makes them participate. She should enjoy that power while she can.

I was discussing this with my daughter and she came to the same conclusion. Her brother who has autism, also ask questions while watching a movie. It is very hard to enjoy a movie when he is rattling questions off the entire time. She said that Katie thinks that is the way you are suppose to watch a movie.

I got a call from my Daughter inlaw and Lilly, another one of my granddaughters is now acting out the scenes of "Tangled". She also loves her Bella and Edward.  At 2 years old, I am happy that she would rather watch "Tangled".

I just hope that we have instilled in them the love of reading. I also appreciate the fact that Katie digs deeper into the thoughts and reasons behind the author's words.

Hunger Games vs Twilight

The one good thing about having a blog, when you get aggravated about a subject, you have a sounding board. I can rant and rave right here. My topic today is Hunger Games vs Twilight.  First of all, idiots that keep trying to compare them are really making me angry. It shows their ignorance and makes them appear stupid. If you are a critic and you don't like a book or movie, that is your prerogative. But when you are reviewing one entity why compare it to something you don't like.   So I am going to rant and rave here and try and get out my frustration.

First let's just review the similarities. This is a very short list.  The books are both fiction written for young adults by two different but amazing authors. The stories were so long that it took multiple books to tell them. The main character is a young girl and she has two young men that love her. The stories tell how the young girl goes on a journey and how she changes over the span of less than 2 years. They are both love stories, but within two completely different settings.  Both stories are depicted on screen in Hollywood. The lives of these actors have been drastically changed as the fans of the books and the press have lifted them to super star status. This is where it ends.

Twilight was chock full of supernatural, make believe, characters that could never exist except in our imagination. Vampires and werewolves were set in a world that we could only dream about. Not your scarey bloody full of horror monsters either. But a fantasy of the "bad guys" trying to be good. Bella falling in love with someone she shouldn't. The forbidden love. She gives up her world and life to be in Edwards. Not because she just fell in love, but because she feels she belongs there. And as for this fan of the books, sometimes the movies fell short of the mark, but the characters that came alive on the screen were perfect.  She went on a journey of discovering what she needed and wanted and what she could live with and without. All the odds were not in her favor and she had to escape death on several occasions. First the man made one where she was saved from being crushed by a van by Edward. Of course Edward had to deal with his family about what it could have cost him. She was saved from another vampire by Edward and his family. She was saved by yet another vampire by the Jacob and his werewolf brothers. She was saved from the mean and evil Victoria by the Cullens and Werewolves. And she was saved from death one more time after delivering her baby, Edward changed her into a vampire. So No these things cannot happen. This is just a story of forbidden love but in the end she gets everything she wants. Hello!!! A FAIRYTALE.....


The Hunger Games is set in a post apocalyptic world. Katniss is looking to save her family as well as herself. This is fiction, but it could happen. It has nothing to do with fairy tales or the supernatural. From the first page of this book, Katniss is trying to save her family. She volunteers to take her sister's place in the Games. Knowing that the odds are against her coming home. Either choice she had made, she is trying to save the lives of her family.  This young girl that is old beyond her years helps incite a revolution. It is far more reaching than that of a love triangle. This is not a choice of love, but of saving her family and the people she loves.  It is also a journey of finding out what she is capable of. Finding out what you would do and how far you would go.  And throughout the series of books, she suffers loss.  This is not a happy story full of magic and fairy tales.  In the end, she does finally get her Happy...but it is not without much pain and loss.


So when critics start acting like the real fans of both series, seriously would compare them it makes me so angry. "The Hunger Games" is such a serious subject. We know that.  The critics are using "The Hunger Games" to criticize "Twilight" yet again . That somehow comparing the two will make us believe that our Twilight world is less.  I know that this is a stupid Rant, but you know when you are a fan of something, you don't want someone making fun of it. I suppose when you look at how many books and tickets were sold, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. My opinion of the "Twilight" movies were not always favorable. I felt cheated that they left so much out. The last movie for the book fans, had to be the best. I have high hopes that "The Hunger Games" movie will hit the mark. Comparing the both of them, the actors they have chosen bring our characters to life.