The Sweet Exodus

 

I simply couldn't take it anymore.

It wasn't good for me emotionally or mentally.

Social networking (which I was just starting to get the hang of) was beginning to drain me, when the upcoming presidential election finally pushed me over the edge.

Then COVID-19 hit.

And don't get me started about politics vs. science.

How uninformed and undereducated are we?

I've never witnessed more hatred or misguided venom in this country since the civil rights movement.

It boggles my mind, and hurts my soul.

I've started leaving my cell phone in the letter rack on the breakfast room wall and checking it only one or two times a day for a possibly important missed call. I also keep it on silent now, all the time.

My iPad now stays on the book shelf alongside my cook books. I only use it to stream my favorite radio stations (Cocoa 98.5thebeach and Key West 101.7pirateradio) through my Bose speaker when I'm pulling weeds in the yard for hours on end.

Best therapy ever.

Our new/old home is our mecca and mantra.

It screams peace and positivity

Each and every day.

Everywhere you look and as far as you can see.

We worked hard to get here and worked hard to make it our utopia.

It's our safe place...and an awesome reward in the homestretch of our life together.

 We don't deserve all the blessings we've received, but intend on paying forward as many as we can.

That's what being a good person is all about, and hope we end up doing okay in that department.

It's a really important department in Life.

We've come a long way baby...to get where we've got to today.

Then the other shoe dropped.

Our president tested positive for COVID, and I knew I wasn't long for the cyber social networking world.

WEAR.A.FREAKING.MASK.

It's not that hard to do.

I've been wearing one since mid March and I'm a sixty year old nobody.

It's the PRESIDENT,  our President, and leader of the free world, yet he made fun of people wearing masks, time and time and time again, month after month; usually while surrounded by thousands cheering him on, shoulder to shoulder, face to face, inch from inch away from each other and mostly unmasked themselves, although they remembered to wear their MAGA hat.

Now he's saying to NOT be afraid of COVID?

Talk about too much too little too late.

I can't.

Not anymore.

I don't (and will not) support ignoring SCIENCE and instead rely on POLITICS... or  any politician, especially when it comes down to my own well being... not to mention the entire global population.

I may be stupid, but I'm not that stupid.

So I checked out.

 I may scroll through FB and repost dogs who need to be rescued. Besides that I'm done.

Ironically enough, it turned out to be a gloomy weekend here. Lower temps but the sun never peeked out...not even once.

Kind of a bummer when you live in a usually sunny Orlando.

 Tim's been working long hours because we're going on vacation next Saturday. He comes home from work well after six, watch the Braves on TV if he can, and eats whatever I feed him (he's SO unpicky) before he tumbles off to bed by eight o'clock. He's been getting up around four AM for work a lot of the time lately.

He even left before five the other morning, and I woke up when he did. It's not like I'm punching any kind of time clock anyway.

He left, I put on a load of clothes to wash, and I got out the Firestick my daughter gave us for our bedroom... Christmas last year. Lounging in our king size, dual mattress adjustable tempurpedic bed (our first score from his new job discount several years ago) I locked onto a three day binge like a crack addict.

It was awesome.

The series on CBS, is "Mom."

Massey had me hooked up on (her) HULU with season one, episode one. In less than forty eight hours I watched the entire seven seasons, from 2013 to the latest ones from early this year.

William Fitchner

Hands down coolest guy in a wheel chair, ever...

and really isn't even handicapped...makes Ironside look like a nerd He deserves an Emmy for his poignant portrayal.

And Allison Janney?

I can't even begin to tell you how awesome she is in this show.

The series begins with the sometimes awful brutality of life, and follows ten people or so, on an almost eight year journey, one of which began in the late fifties and early sixties.

That's MY timeline!

Anna Faris is spot on and cute as a button.

I have no desire to go back to CNN or any other news outlet...to FB or anything else social network related. It's poison, pure and simple...and lucky for me, I don't need it. 

Emotional, mental and virtual high five to all realtors and salesmen in general. I salute you, and don't know how you do it. Society has turned you into politicians.

#KisstheBabySealTheDeal

 I seemingly may have wasted two days (cloudy and drizzly outside anyway) binge watching "Mom"  but was the best way to spend some much needed down time. I watched, laughed at, teared up and witnessed what it means to walk the walk and talk the talk (aka) "be a good person."

 Tim even came back into the bedroom Sunday morning(maybe early afternoon) after working out on the lanai for several hours on his lap top for work. He asked me if I was still smoking the "Mom" crack pipe?

I was.

I only had two episodes left.

Hands down best way to spend a cloudy, lazy weekend, and a highly recommended show to watch.

A show that covers everything, and means something.

And my exodus from social media continues .

Till next time...COTTON

Be True To Yourself

 

 

With all my many, many, many faults, I still think (in the grand scheme of things) that I'm an okay person.

Could I stand improvement?

Absofreakinglutely...and then some!!!

 Just ask my husband or family.

 I guess I'm lucky they all enjoy my cooking so much; although they sure don't seem bothered one lick about me loving yard work during the summer months in Orlando so much either.

Maybe I need to check those policies and beneficiaries on Tim's insurance.

I've recently started deactivating social media accounts from all my devices. I rarely used most of them anyway. I've never used Snapchat or a filter of any kind. What you see is what you get.

But I'm (a good kind of) Nuts.

I've never made one single tweet and have absolutely no idea how to even open the app. No more Instagram either, not that I ever posted there. I got my daughter to download it to my phone so I could follow Leslie Jordan. He's another person who is true to himself, even with all his craziness. I can always catch up with him when I want to...via YouTube, which I also rarely use. Maybe once every month or so, when I want to laugh at funny videos or watch animals. 

I can't even figure out how to get rid of the apps, so I've just turned off all notifications, which allowed them access to all my info.

If I didn't enjoy blogging so much, I'd already be gone from (In Your) Face Place...but's where a lot of readers found and follow me.

I guess I need to drag them along with me on my next adventure, to a new platform.

I'm tired of politics.

I'm tired of racism and hate.

The single easiest thing any of us can do about all of our problems, is to BE A GOOD PERSON.

And pass it on.

Most excellent video at a most desperately needed time.

It only takes a spark.

Till next time, COTTON

 

UnTeching

I was dragged kicking and screaming into the huge Technopolis of the w.w.w. phenomenon (way back) when every body used a dial up connection to access the internet.

 I didn't own a cell phone until I was forty years old, if that tells you anything.

 I was that Flintstone who took her first wireless mouse back to Circuit City after it quit working, less than a year later. Turned out it just needed new batteries. I didn't even know it had batteries... the woman (older than me) behind the service desk said, "How'dcha think it worked, baby...by magic?"

After watching The social Dilemma (twice) and doing a whole lotta of thinking and praying, I need to distance myself from most all things social media, including the need to have my cell phone in my hand or within five feet of me, twenty fours hours a day.

Social media (media in general) has turned into nothing more than spewed forth venom and hate; mostly by keyboard cowards, but absolutely designed to suck souls into an unwinnable fight....while all the while, they make trillions of dollars by doing their best to control our every click, swipe, Like or search.

No wonder I was turning into such a bitch.

I'm out. I'm done. I'm over it.

Instead I'll just be me and not worry about what others think. Why should I care what other people think about me, if I live the best life I know how, just like my parents did... and taught me to do?

I'm covered, in my own humble opinion.

 Someone asked me if I watched the debate.

Nope.

That, my friends...is also mind control.

Didn't we all see that debate coming over the backyard fence?

I knew how it was going to go down, and how it'd end up. I knew both sides would come out swinging, no matter what... and once again we would look like morons to the rest of the world.

It's almost like I'm a fortune teller...(not) but sure do love Coelho.

I think the most profound thing I learned from watching The Social Dilemma was this:

I'd much rather get a letter in the snail mail from someone I know, than a meme, gif, link, emoji or video.

Since when do we need to know every single thought every single other person has?

Once again, no wonder my head hurts.

I need to worry more about what kind of person "I" am, instead of worrying about others.

Hopefully if I do, everything else will fall into place.

And if it doesn't, at least I'll know I did my part, the best way I knew how...and can feel pretty good about it.

"I'm me and you're you."

All the rest is just noise.

Till next time...COTTON

Daughter's Day

 

None of my kids are perfect, just like the parents who raised them...

but will say with firm conviction, that all three have turned out to be excellent human beings.

What a long strange trip it's been, and wouldn't change one mile of the journey even if I could.

After two boys, we had a girl.

 

She entered this world a four pound fighter, almost three months early from the jump, and it almost killed us both.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

And it did.

So appears it's Daughter's Day via the big brother website known as social media.

I try and not get on social media or watch "news shows" much anymore. It's toxic and drains my soul.

Had it been Sons' Day I would have skipped this post completely...my boys would never notice or read it, although their sister would most certainly make both of them aware of it, after the fact.

Boys...go figure.

So anyway, shout out to an especially spectacular daughter.

In every way.

You didn't say ten words your first three years... but somehow turned out to be an amazing and incredible vocal advocate of everything positive, true, equal and fair.

It was a good day for this planet when almost three months early my placenta ruptured, connecting you to me. I lost over five pints of blood, your tiny self lost one, and everyone was worried. You battled through.

And this world gained a hero that day.

You.

For everything that that gets on my nerves about you (usually laundry related) there are a million more things which absolutely astonish  me.

So here's to you...and I salute you.

I wish I'd been half the young woman you are, when I was your age.

I can hardly wait to see how far you go...and how kindly you speak about my crazy self once you get there.

Till next time, COTTON

A Frightening Reality

 

 It was the most intriguing albeit disturbing hour and an half  I've spent in quite a while.

And a lot of things disturb me lately.

Now I know why.

It's finally happened.

 Big Brother is not only watching us, but running the whole damn show! 

And by '"whole damn show" I mean all of us.

The poor, the rich, the middle class, the successful and the unsuccessful. The red and yellow, black and white (old school term) and absolutely any other color or blend of ethnicities thereof... which include  every religion and belief you can name or think of. Terrorists and hater mongers. Atheists' and Bible thumpers. Toss in democrats, republicans, independents, non voters and voters. Add the lovers and the haters, the skeptics and the sheep blindly following anyone who knows how to copy and paste.

This also includes people who are pretty stinking smart (not my category) and people who aren't too smart (my category) and complete morons. The rest is just a huge gray area of people who simply click 'Like' on something and believe it to be the gospel (no matter what religion or belief they have).

It's one big ole sad sack of Do-Do, and totally not reality, or even close to factual.

How did we become so complacent and easily swayed?

Why do we hate so many things and think our way of thinking is the only way of thinking?

 

I was blogging the other night on my computer in our living room. Tim was behind me watching the Braves on our smart TV.

During a commercial we (Tim and I) talked about when we bought our first new house in Georgia. I told him I had seen a commercial about house warranties which cover all major appliances, windows, roofs and such. We had one when we bought  our Newnan house but never used it. It was ten years down the road before anything broke and kinda forgot about it by that point. 

Fast forward to another night.

Tim 's first day back at work after being on (stay)cation for a week. He got home late, after seven. I was already blogging on the computer. He heated up dinner in the kitchen and sat behind me once again with a TV tray in front of him, watching the Bravos... again.

We talked about this and that (during commercials) as I pecked away at my keyboard.

Once I told what I was blogging about, he mentioned the strangest thing.

He said today while he was at work, he got a couple of emails about extended home warranties, out of the blue.

He commented he may have thought it was strange at first, but seemed to make a lot more sense now.

My God.

They are listening  to us...literally and figuratively.

I told my daughter tonight after she got home from work...I can (and do) track her from her parking lot at work until she pulls into our driveway most every night

Granted that is one aspect of technology a mother loves.

I told her I wanted to get off the Net. I want to get off social media and strictly use my cell for phone calls only.

If I'm going to put my story and feelings out here, I want it to do some good...not be a part of the problem, but the way to a solution.

I don't need (or want) algorithms dictating and/or shoving things in the direction of only their success.

I want success for everyone.

Shouldn't we all?

We were broke for ten years. We almost lost everything...including our house.

I never knew "touch and go" could last a decade but it did.

Yet here we are, ten years down the road from when  this picture was taken. I still don't know how we both smiled.

We're in a new state, with a new house (after almost three years) and new jobs. 

I'm the rebel on a corner which many, many people pass each and every day.

Ziggy's barking seems to draw attention to us on a daily basis.

That's my boy!

I don't care who is or isn't looking at me or trying to feed me their hype.

I'm not a felon, not a pedophile, not a hater, not a bad person (in general) or someone who will blindly follow a link or post...and pass it on as the truth.

When did we stop thinking for ourselves...and let computers do it for us?

The more we log on, the more ammo they get, and use against us, for their own good.

 It's no wonder this country is a shit show, we all log into it on an hourly basis.

I'm checking my own self out a bit. I am weaning from the cyber teat.

It is not our friend...it is our problem.

I think that is why I enjoy writing so much, whether it be here on my blog  or on paper with a pen. I send off about five letters every single week via snail mail. The response I get back is an absolute positive one, and tends to make people genuinely happy to just receive them.  It's a nice feeling to think you've put a smile on someone's face with the simplest of gestures. I'm on a first name basis with our mail carrier, Louie (awesome guy)and keep him plenty busy. Besides letter writing, I've found another way to do (a small) something for someone , to brighten their day just a bit. Whenever scrolling 

the dastardly cyber highway and come across a really cool picture someone posts, whether it be of them or some place special to them...I save it to my own files. At least my stalking has good intentions. I use the app for the Walgreens  nearest me and order hard copies of the photos after I edit them to what I want to send. They cost about fifteen cents and are ready in about twenty minutes. Meanwhile, on my occasional stops by Goodwill to browse, I pick up old 4x6 pictures frames, they are usually less than a dollar. I bring them home and take them apart, clean the glass and polish the frame itself. Then I frame my edited/stolen pics and mail them off in small boxes to the different recipients. Usually I don't even include a note or card at all.

No need to.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

My daughter ordered me a small scale so I could weigh each box after packing pictures up to mail. I can pay for postage and print the labels off on my printer, apply them to the box and hand them all off to Louie when he comes by my house to drop off our own mail. Massey calls me a creeper, but adds I'm a good creeper.

With all the craziness, sadness  and outright horrible things going on in this world on a daily basis... why not take a minute out of your own day to try and make someone else smile if you can?

My husband refuses to discuss politics...with anyone, including me... and I admire him for that. My father and mother were the same way. I never once  heard politics talked about at home when I was growing up. Tim will listen to me go on for a minute (or two) but always stops me and says he's not going to talk about it with me.

I think that's the way we all should be.

Don't talk about it, do something about it.

As I was blogging away  the next night while he watched the Braves on TV behind me (notice our pattern) during a commercial he actually said something to me that made my own day. He said as selfish as this world can be, he's never met or known a more giving person than me. Number one: that means he hasn't met a whole bunch of folks.  Number two: he may be (borderline) approaching delusionality.

Number three: it warmed my heart just to hear him say it, whether it's true or not.

We all have our backs up. We all point fingers but very few of us take the time to look in the mirror.

With all his own problems and demons, my favorite song by Michael Jackson sums it up very precisely, and I will leave you with his (and my)thoughts on it.

Don't make a change, be the change!

Till next time, COTTON