Seeing Evil In Too Many Things...

I believe that we have gotten to a place where there's a certain splinter of Christianity that is out looking for evil in everything. It's as if some Christians don't trust God's love for them & believe that He has set up all sorts of roadblocks & stumbling stones on the path to Heaven in order to be able to send all but a remnant of them to hell. I worship & walk with the Jesus Who never gave up His search for the lost lamb!!!

and (my response to a pagan who was turned off by this kind of mindset and ended his comment with "Thank God I'm not a Christian!")

Thank God I am a Christian--and thank God that this kind of finding-evil-in-everything kind of mindset has absolutely nothing to do with my personal walk with Jesus! Joy and sackcloth & ashes are opposites, imo, and, to me, Christianity is about joy!!!

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 26, 2013 

The above comments were inspired by comments in response to a video about whether or not Halloween was an evil holiday--and the discussion that followed went even further to say that Christmas and Easter were also evil holidays, as they had their roots in pagan traditions.

Thank God, I grew up in a time when there was no heavy-duty guilt-trips such as this put onto celebrating the holidays.

It's too bad that people are being spoon-fed so much unnecessary guilt these days.

There are actually things about which people should be feeling guilty and want to change, but they get obscured by so much concentration on these frivolous guilt-trips.

Which is worse?  To dress your child up as a little skeleton and take him trick or treating? OR  To say that somebody who's so malnourished he's skeletal doesn't deserve any help because he must have gotten this way by being lazy?  

Impossible!?!

But who says that they're impossible!?! Impossible--at least, a good deal of the time--is only a state of mind or a reality of merely temporary circumstances!

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 26, 2013

The above quote was inspired by reading this quote:

"Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." ~ Lewis Carroll

that was shared by Joanna Ballard Louisiana Storyteller on her Facebook Timeline. 

Why My Hair Is wild! Wild!! WILD!!! These Days...

Last year, I decided to shave my head for a few reasons. 

One was because my hair had gotten matted. 

Another was because I wanted to start over again to where my hair wouldn't automatically part in the middle. 

Finally, I just wanted to see what my scalp looked like to see if there were any problems that had been hidden by my hair. 

Since I was pretty much housebound, I thought this would be a perfect time to do this. 

It's growing back now but is in a kind of wild state that I fear doesn't give me too much credibility. 

As soon as it grows a bit more, I'm going to have it shaped and won't look like a totally wild lady--or so I hope...

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 23, 2013

Weather Predictions

Sometimes, I think that the weather people forecast the worst case scenario so that we'll all end up happier campers when what really takes place isn't so bad as what was predicted--but, of course, there are times when they end up being right-on-spot, or even a bit optimistic...

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 22, 2013

Este Tiempe, Numero Uno...

Sometimes, I wish my computer chair were a nice, comfortable toilet seat at the ready whenever I had to pee!

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 15, 2013

Por Numero Dos, marque aqui...  

Btw...Have you ever checked out this potty spot?

It gets interesting at times!  I can't believe what gets posted on there sometimes, but TMI can be fun to read (and write), and this also is a place where you can get helpful advice re: liquid, solid, and vapor waste.  

I'm actually going to be making this entry viewable on Saturday, February 16, even though I created the quote a day earlier, because I wanted to add a little bit more to it.

And, now, I'm just about to put the finishing touches on it by providing a link to my latest blog, When Nature Calls.      

Okay!  It's now ready to post--obviously, as you're now reading it...

Reflecting On A Very Recent And Memorable Bowel Movement

Occasionally after a bowel movement, I'll take a look to see what I've just deposited, and this was one of those times...Like WOW!!!

What can I say!?!

Would I be exaggerating too much to say that it would totally circle the planet if placed along the latitude of The Equator!?!

How about if I would take it a step further to say that, even then, there would be enough left over to tie it into a bow!?!

I confess that I DID exaggerate a bit in my description of it--but not by much...  

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 13, 2013

Lubbock, Texas Memories

This is where Uncle Kermit lived (University Arms Apartments) when he was teaching at Texas Tech from 1976 until he retired in the early 1990s. If you took a class in Philosophy Of Science, you might remember him (Evan K. Jobe).

It was a nice, solid place back then where a lot of students stayed, and there was a swimming pool as well. I loved to swim there.

My folks and I would usually stay at a little Mom & Pop motel next door called The Stadium Motel.

Because my uncle was such a great tenant, the then-manager worked out an arrangement with him in 1980 where my folks and I could sublet two studio apartments (one for my folks and one for me) for a couple of weeks for a very good price (Uncle Kermit's treat).

It turned out that the apartment where I stayed was the very same one rented by John Hinckley for a time. Of course, we didn't know anything about John Hinckley, as he hadn't tried to shoot President Reagan yet. Uncle Kermit had said that he was surprised when he found out who had shot The President because he had always seemed like such a polite and friendly man when he lived there.

I believe that I had met John during the summer of 1979 while walking on campus one morning, but that's another story. I was also very favorably impressed by him (or whomever it was that I'd met--again, another story).

It's sad to think of this once nice neighborhood going so far downhill that most of it had to be razed--including the apartments, though not the motel--but I'm glad that it's being replaced by something better.

I still like to think of Lubbock in the way that I remember it where we drove towards it from the east and were out in the darkness. Then, all at once, we would begin to see the welcoming, sparkling lights of the city off to the west becoming more and more visible as we would arrive in Lubbock just in time to check into our motel and enjoy a late meal with Uncle Kermit and visit until time to go to sleep for the night and wake up the next day to the start of a wonderful vacation with an even more wonderful uncle!

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 9, 2013

Personal Freedom

But I want no food police coming in to dictate what I eat and don't eat.

I want no do-gooders coming in to force me to de-clutter my place "for my own good."

Unless my dogs, cats, etc. are bothering you, I don't want somebody coming into my place to tell me that I have too many pets.

If I want to include some marijuana in a salad I'm making, I don't want there to keep on being laws on the books that can get me arrested for doing so.

If I want to paint the interior walls of my house black with pink polka dots, I don't want some person coming in to show me some kind of stupid rule against it.

We Americans--and other countries as well--need to grow a couple and take back our right to do things we want to do that are nobody's business but our own!!!

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 8, 2013

Re: The Feng Shui I "Should" Be Living...

Call me old-fashioned and just too sentimental, but I see treasure where some people see trash.

My grandma probably kept every postcard that was part of her courtship and early marriage with my grandpa. I'm sixty now and have always enjoyed reading their words and looking at those cute, little postcards.

My grandma passed away almost ten years before I was born, and my grandpa passed away on my first full day of first grade (August 31, 1959).

When grandma was in the hospital, she used to write the sweetest letters home to her husband and kids talking about how good they were to her at the hospital and how wonderful the food was.

Although hospital food is now scrumptious, it certainly wasn't back in 1943, but Grandma liked it. Perhaps, part of why she liked it was that she didn't have to go through everything she had to go through to fix it herself and felt as if she were being pampered.

Aunt Kate (who was around 12 when she got this letter from a family friend and shirttail cousin who had gone off to war) had found out that Roy Acuff had been drafted, and Rufus wrote that Roy was on his ship and that he and the other sailors were about to make him walk the plank.

I have my own sentimental items as well--such as a shower of pictures made for me by a class of students with special needs when they thought their teacher was going to fire me (I was a cadet teacher) for managing to drop and break the wall clock. Two of those students passed on many years ago.

I would rather be able to keep those tangible representations of these and other memories around me than to live in a state of perfect Feng Shui--whatever that's supposed to mean...

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 8, 2013

NOT Just Written Because My Hoarding, Little Toes Got Stepped On In An Article

I'm a person who might be seen as a hoarder based on those ten points--though not entirely, as having my sink used as a litter box would totally gross me out, and I also try to keep my place smelling good.

However, there are certain things I would dispute about this article and have plans to write a counterpoint of my own about it.

For one thing...having hoarding seen as a psychiatric disorder. I smell a rat here, and the smell isn't coming from my house, either. Sounds like another designer "disease" for Big Pharma to get filthy rich pilling.

I think that some of us are too quick to judge others and label them (e.g. hoarders) without walking in their shoes.

This isn't just about the label of "hoarder," either. It's about labeling people in general whom we see as different from ourselves.

We have a tendency to want to tie our impressions up in neat, little labeled packages.

Each one of us has a story to tell, and to try to make an individual life fit into a cookie cutter shape is doing a great disservice to each and every one of us...

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 8, 2013

Response To The Notion That Believing In God Is Unhealthy

It's not a belief in God that is causing all of the trouble. Instead, it's a flaw in humanity.

If we didn't have God to hide behind when we commit atrocities, we would be blaming our actions on secular disagreements.

Whether we're believers, nonbelievers, or undecided, we need to take a very close look at the human condition to find out what is going on inside of us and how we can better focus on putting our best selves forward until doing so becomes as natural as breathing...

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 5, 2013

My Sexual Orientation (In Response To An Article About Outing Celebrities And Others)

Believe it or not, there have been some people who have wondered if I were gay, so here's my answer...

I'm someone who is living an alternative lifestyle in more than one way, but being a lesbian (or, even a bisexual) isn't one of them.

Some of my alternative lifestyles are: being left-handed, being an only child, still single at 60, still a virgin at 60, (Note: I'm not a nun and I also do have normal sexual feelings--just not wishing to get married at this time.) still have not reached menopause at 60, still have my tonsils, didn't get wisdom teeth extracted until I was in my 30s, and there are plenty of other ways I'm part of an alternative lifestyle as well.

Just not gay.

However, if you're gay, I'm in your corner when it comes to how you deserve to be treated with respect, and I have also come to the conclusion that you have the right to get married (have your marriage recognized as a marriage in any state), if you and your chosen partner are both consenting adult humans.

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 4, 2013

Practical Jokes

I've had practical jokes played on me, and I've, also, played them on others. 

These days, I realize that there are harmless ones and there are ones that could be life/health-threatening. 

Any kind of practical joke that could cause a panic attack (and has the potential to cause a heart-attack) is not truly a joke and should never be done. 

I'm talking about things such as coming up behind somebody and tickling him/her, yelling BOO!, putting ice cubes down the back of his/her top, etc. 

or 

tossing a frog or mouse in his/her lap. 

Also, practical jokes that could cause bodily harm such as pulling chairs out from under people; placing banana peels in their paths; etc. 

There are even some practical jokes out there that have the potential to kill or maim several people at once. One which comes to mind is where a penny is placed on a rail in hopes of making a train jump the track. 

Here are some examples of harmless and funny practical jokes: 

Invite somebody to a snipe hunt and have the object of the joke be the one holding the bag to catch a snipe. After the person has been left holding the bag long enough, tell him/her that there are no snipes in the area but thanks for holding the bag so well. 

Invite people over for a meal at your place. When they arrive, give each one a toothpick with a chunk of cheese on it and a glass of water and tell them to enjoy their meal--and, in a little bit, reassure them that the pizza will be delivered any minute now. 

Ask a friend to dress nicely for a night at the theatre and dinner at a five star restaurant. Instead, go to the drive-in theater and get him/her a hot dog, popcorn, and a drink. 

My fifth cousin's husband did something like that to her one time. They both got dressed up to enjoy a night on the town. 

However, what she didn't know was that they were actually going to a home game at her husband's old high school. 

Not only that, but they sat in the bleachers reserved for the fans of the guest team. 

Whenever, The Anderson Indians scored, Jim would jump up and cheer at the top of his lungs. Whenever the guest team scored, he booed. 

At first, Lois was a little embarrassed, but, soon, she was following his lead, and they had a wonderful time that evening!

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 4, 2013

The above response was inspired by this discussion.

If you would like to participate in this and/or other discussions, just join MyLot while using the same link you used to view the discussion, and both of us will be happy campers--and that's no joke!!! 

 

Nurturing Creativity In Children

I was one of the lucky ones who grew up thinking of education and learning as fun and interesting. 

My folks made sure of that by lovingly nurturing me years before I began my formal education. 

They were never the type to push flash cards in front of my face to try to turn me into a little genius. 

Instead, I was always allowed to be a kid--but a kid whose mom and dad observed her pet areas of interest and encouraged them. 

We found people in society who were on the same page with us--and others who definitely were NOT. 

That last group was known to make trouble for me. 

However, I ended up coming out the winner in the long run. 

I'm 60 now and still learning something new on a regular basis!

Ainsley Jo Phillips 

February 3, 2013