2008

2008
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? I went to visit Steph and her husband T in St. Petersburg, FL

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don’t want to talk about my resolutions. I resolve to be a better person in 2009 than I was in 2008.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes

4. Did anyone close to you die? Yes my neighbor Mike passed away and a client.

5. What countries did you visit? Never left the USA but I traveled far and wide in my dreams.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? ONE JOB!!

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why. My birthday vacation to see Steph. I saw history being made with the election of Obama.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? I don’t feel I achieved a lot this year.I got my student loan paid off.

9. What was your biggest failure this year? Not knowing what I achieved; self-doubt; feeling inadequate; forgetting who I am.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Only my pride was wounded.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Breaks and tires

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? The little people who everyday do the right thing no matter how hard it is just because it is the right thing to do.


13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Where can I start AIG, FORD, GM, Bush, etc.

14. Where did most of your money go? Car payment, house payment.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Did I tell you I got to go to Florida to see Steph for my birthday?

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Heck I don't have a clue.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder? Got a big old case of the blues
ii. Thinner or fatter? Fatter.
iii .richer or poorer? Poorer

18. What do you wish you'd done more? Hanging out with friends, traveling, exercising.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Working.
20. How will you be spending Christmas? Here in Nashville with my family.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008? You know I thought I had but then I pulled my head out of my ass and realized it wasn’t love at all but gas.

22. How many one-night stands? 2 or 3 .

23. What was your favorite TV program? TV? I like CSI, NCIS, How I Met Your Mother

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't hate people but I sure as heck don't really like a few people anymore.

25. What was the best book you read? Nothing really rocked me this year.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? That band that sings that sing about that thing . Does Neil Patrick Harris have a band yet?

27. What did you want and get? The greatest friends in the world. I am so blessed with a great group friends whom I would not trade for the world. Ok maybe one of I would trade but only for the cash.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? I can’t remember what I saw

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was 38. On my birthday I went to dinner with my family. For my birthday Libby gave me a cooking class at Viking and if I have not told Steph flew me to Florida for my birthday!!!

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Staying true to who I am.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Are shoulder pads still in style?

32. What kept you sane? At this point I am not sure I am still sane. I feel like I have slipped off and really lost part of who I am.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I am over them.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? The War, Gun Control, Equal Human Rights, THE 2008 PRESIDENTAL ELECTION

35. Who did you miss this year? Jonathan and myself.

36. Who was the best new person you met? I really got a chance to meet and talk with T while I was in Florida. I honestly like that guy.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:Sometimes life just freakin sucks.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: “We Shall Over Come”

Uncle Jay's Thoughts on 2008

http://www.unclejayexplains.com/media/UJ%2012-22-08.wmv



Yeah yeah I know in 2009 I will learn to imbed links in my blogg.

HEY YOU!! Stop laughing I will. Really I am serious.

And some where the stars of "How do I look?" die

Did you see it. I sure as hell caught it in today's paper Plaid and those leather red wings with the leather shoe laces are back in style. And I get to do a little dance that all my plaid flannel is once again cool. I mean like I really care it is warm. So is silk but I don't have to dry clean flannel. So can I do the whole grunge thing again that I was doing way before it was cool? SHUT UP SHAMUS! Once again hanging on to old clothes has paid off and I don't have to rush out and buy it when I own vintage. I know you want to touch me don't you? Sit next to me in class because I am so cool. Yeah I thought so. I am THE FERN.

Not the normal

I am still working on my normal New Years Post however I have been thinking back deeper on 2008 and what I want for myself in 2009. What I want to accomplish.

I have spent much of 2008 in a funk it could probably be better classified as depression. My normal News Years Post is all depressing so I am going to fix it before Wednesday. My bloggs have been depressing. Why write and bring down all 4 of you? I want to let go of this I am not good enough. A lot of my issues this year stem from a feeling of inadequacy. I am a poor writer face it my English sucks and I live here. I have run on sentences and badly formed paragraphs etc. I have extremely limited computer skills and I lack a college degree. I want to be Steph’s # 55 and find my fantastic attitude. I seem to have lost that. I miss that girl. Hell I am smart and I know my stuff. I am a well informed person and pretty well read. And I am funny as hell. I want to find that again.

So 2009 is going to be fine. I want to get out of debt. My mortgage will not be what I am getting out of but my car should be paid off by February. That statement could come back to bite me in the ass as in my family we pay off a car and then it gets totaled so before I mail the last payment I am going to take a spirit stick to my car and bless it I might even burn a candle of protection in it just to be safe.

Then Discover will get their money. I can start paying them off. There are a few more out there and I will have to go digging through and find them. But I am not to worried people who you owe money to have a way of finding you.

I would like to spend less time working in 2009 and as I get bills paid off that should happen.

Things at work are slatted to change in the first few months of 2009 though this has been a promise for sometime the staying has a lot to do with the feelings of inadequacy. And now so does the economy. I have got to decide in 2009 if this is what I want to do.

Somewhere in all of this I have got to get back to school.

I have a list of things I NEED to get done around the house. Most of these I put off working on this year because I have been in such a funk I want to spend more time out doors in the sun digging in the dirt. I want to get my house clean and keep it that way. And I would love to knock at least 2 things off my home to do list (things like new screen doors, garage door, paint, etc) things that don’t have to be done but need to be.

I want to get back to eating better. I used to never hit the drive thru and I want to get back to doing things that way. I want to start to exercise again which should help with the funk thing.

I have got to get to where I set a goal and stick to it. How many times have we done this in 2008? I am going to eat better and work out more and I never get there. I never get out of bed and the next morning I am in the drive thru at Hardies.

I used to write in my personal journal nightly and then record my dreams each morning. Once a week I would go back and study those dreams. I miss that too.

I miss time with friends and want to spend more time in 2009 with people I love and enjoy spending time with.


My resolution each year is to be a better person at the end of the year than I was at the beginning I still have not put my finger on what I have done this year to better myself. What deep personal growth I have done. I am though one to believe that I might not see right now what lessons I have gained this year I am sure that one day down the road it will come to me in one of those big huge AAHA moments when I realize I was not that stagnate after all.





Other thoughts and challenges that have arisen.

Leave it to Steph. Before I left to work on this I had left my status on facebook at thinking of my goals for 2009. She has commented to me do the 9 fun things in 2009 with me from our 43 things list well there sister what about we here and now plan a girls weekend for 2009. Then we can work on staying in touch with friends.

Christmas Memories

My Mom made my sister and I dresses and sewed bells in the hem so when we walked they would jingle.

I remember the Christmas it was 17 below here in Nashville and the pipes froze and the guy at the HoJo told us if we would bring our own towels and soap and stay off the beds he would let us shower FOR FREE.

I remember waking my parents up at 5:30 on Christmas Mornings and them begging us to go back to bed.

My Dad going down stairs before all of us to turn on the tree lights and getting the camera. Then standing at the top of the den stairs with our mouths open.

The boss my Mom had who would slaughter a hog and give FRESH Sausage as his gift and his wife would make fresh butter. YUMMY

HOT BUNS

The year my folks had the Swine Flu and were so sick

Mrs. Hayden taking me shopping because my folks were to sick at that new mall in Antioch.

Seeing Santa at 100 Oaks and then again at Harding Mall and asking how he could be in both places.

Walking up the hill at 100 Oaks

The talking Christmas Tree at 100 Oaks

Going to Sears Downtown

The Candle Light Carol Service at Church.
My Bike
My Barbie Dream House
A TV for MY ROOM!!
A CAR!

New Jammies

How if you didn't get socks and underwear it just wasn't Christmas.

The Christmas my Grand Mamie was in the hospital and we stayed at her house in Atlanta and asking how would Santa find us.

My Donny and Marie Barbie Dolls

Leaving School and Steph and I having a car full of dirty laundry.

The thousand lights per branch on the tree

Making Christmas Ornaments that my Mom still hangs on the tree

Decorating the tree and the Ornaments feeling like long lost treasures as we hung them on the tree

My Snow Suit

The fountain I got that spoke to my heart

The Hand Painted Platter

May each of your Christmases be filled with warm memories of Christmases past and full of memories for the future.

So you droped your cell in the toliet

Dear Oprah

Hi Sister. I see again that you are talking about your weight. How you have just put it on. Me too. You say I know what to do and I have the tools and here I am again. Well I feel you I really do. I have put on weight and I started smoking again UGH! Seven years I went without smoking then one day I went and bought a pack. That didn't help me lose weight. I know what I need to do. I know how I should eat. But I don't do it. It's that pesky french fry rule.

It makes me feel so much better that someone who can afford to pay for someone to cook each meal for them still fights the same fight. That it is not just a battle of anyone person or group. When I was at my bone skinnest I would avoid sweets and fried foods and people would say you can afford a peice of cake. I would look them in the face and reply "I have to work just as hard to keep it off as you do to get it off."

But I just stopped working. You are not saying anything to yourself that anyone who has fought the battle of scale has not said. Never again! Only to find yourself there again. You are not alone.

Angry Blogging

"Simpson was not an individual storming a bank and taking property that belonged to others" in the September 2007 incident, the defense's sentencing memorandum said. "This was an individual who truly believed he was not committing a crime and that the law permitted the recovery of one's own property. Apparently that belief was mistaken."( cnn.com)

I wonder is that the way he felt about Nicole too? I mean he was going after what belonged to him. Right?!?!

So right now I sit here and I wait to see how they sentence him. I think this might be the perfect time to let go of the ANGRY Blogging I have been doing. I have been full of negativity here lately. And frankly I don't like it. So I have to move to fix it. So poke me when I am getting all negative.

Maybe I should make a things that bring me joy list like Stephly instead of things that annoy the crap out of me. She might have something there. If I keep this up I might come off her list. I wouldn't want that.


Here's one OJ GOT 15 YEARS DO DA DO DA.

Excuse me while I pitch a Bitch

So yesterday with the cold and the snow and the gray skies I was blue and not all happy smurf blue happy pants. I was pity party blue pissy whoa is me blue. I am still not thrilled but I am not throwing myself under the bus blue either. I am cramping to is that what you want to hear? Which is really rare for me I don’t cramp often.

Plus I am having a zillion people over to my house for a Christmas Party and I have fleas yes freakin fleas people and I have vacuumed and thrown out the bag and done it again I have done it 7 times and I still have fleas. I have sprayed my carpet with TOXIC flea spray and almost killed myself and I still have fleas. And how do I know I almost killed myself because my fucking tongue started to swell that’s how. But damn my carpets are clean. Through this do you know what is sad? When I vacuum each day I am still finding cobwebs and big dust bunnies that I missed the day before? You would think that after I have vacuumed the house for 3 days in a row I would have found all the cobwebs but hell no, so that ticks me off.
And you want to know what else ticks me off cause I have a list:

1. People that call back and say yea I got a call from this number. I am sure you did listen to your DAMN voicemail I freakin left you one. 2. People that bring their kids to a job interview HELLO DUMB ASS you are applying for a job not looking for a day care. 3. People that call and say ya I filled out an application and was wondering if my background check was back. OK and who the HELL ARE YOU? 4. People who don't do the wave when you let them in traffic. 5. That whole pants down around the ass thing. 6. That hair growing out of my chin. 7. Liars 8. Ford, GM, Crysler WHY DON'T YOU fire one or two of your Million dollar Executives, oh and now you figure out you need to leave your plane at home. 9. AIG 10. People that are mean to the helpless. 11. People that are RUDE to servers. 12. Comcast 13. Gum on my shoe.
14. Garden Gnomes. 15. Dust I mean what’s up with that? 16. Hard headed people, kinda poses a problem doesn't it. 17. Cold coffee. 18. burned cookies. 19. Daylight savings time. 20. Dry lips 21. They canceled Sports Night; I am still not over that. 22. Wet news papers 23. Rotten veggies. 24.A plastic fork at Fazoli’s who the hell came up with the idea that spaghetti could be eat well with a plastic fork? 25. The Spork I mean WTF? 26. The dude in front of me at the bank drive through that does not have his stuff ready. 27. People who park in handicapped spaces because they are to freakin lazy to walk so they borrow someone’s card. 28. Sean Hannity 29. Those fools that don’t put their buggy back and just leave it to roll through the parking lot. 30. That person that rides in the left lane and won’t merge so I can pass his ass. 31. People who litter. 32. Fleas 33. Warm beer 34. Brussels sprouts. 35. People who sit there and eat while their kids are screaming their heads off. I get you are making a point but make your point at home and not at the restaurant I am eating at. 36. People who don’t leash their dogs. 37. The medical treatment of our wounded soldiers by the United States Government. 38. The fact some of my ex’s are still breathing. 39. Baggage fees by the airlines. 40. Michael Jackson 41. O.J. Simpson. 42. People that say it will happen when you least expect it. Bite me! 43. The movie Hudson Hawk. I could have put that time in toward my mandatory community service. 44. Cramps. 45. I ma sure I have more so look out.

ICE CREAM

So this week Kristine over at Random and Odd told us to do ouice cream well since I am avoiding junk food in order to lose weight by my Christmas Party I had to pull something out of my archive. I bought this at Ben and Jerry's and it is Chocolate something or another. Did you play?

Good Intentions

Well I think I have finally found a reason to get back into eating right. We all know that I am really good at this whole road to hell thing. I am full of good intentions but not so good with the follow though. I have about 3 and half weeks to lose 10 pounds would rather it be 15 but I will settle for the 10. I know we have been here before but if I don’t have reason this time I don’t know that I ever will. I have very recently started talking to people I went to high school; with girls I have not seen in 20 years. I am going to ask them and their husbands to my and David’s big huge Christmas blow out. I need to look good to see them. I feel like a fat cow. MOOOOO.

I will send out the invites this week so yours should be coming. I am going to email them, which I know would cause Miss. Manners and my Mother to die at the lack of etiquette but well you all will live. I am also debating do I send invites to people who live far away who I know wont make it although I would love to see them? I mean it is not a printing and stamp cost. So if you are going to be in Nashville on the 13th let me know and I’ll give you my address.

So I have to stop going through the drive thru PERIOD. I was much easier to not do that when all they took was cash and if you didn’t have any you ate at home plan and simple. If I don’t have cash I can’t spend it right. WRONG I have a debit card and now everyone and their brother takes plastic. Hell Krystals takes plastic. OK the point to this I have to stop now so I can be skinny and cute for this party

Can I do it this time? I have doubts that was until Steplys wrote her 100 Fav things blog and my fantastic attitude toward life was number 55. So I guess that means I need to take that attitude and get with it. Somehow friends seem to know when you need that little nudge.

Have I always been this lacking in a follow through? Is this depression? I don’t know but I have 3 ½ weeks to drop so weight.

7 Deadly Sins

So I have been thinking about that abomination that is homosexuality Which then got me to thinking about the 7 deadly sins. So I looked them up YAY for the google search engine. And my Internet crashed. Yep I am that evil. So I get it back up and look em up. They are lust , gluttony , greed, sloth , wrath, envy,and Pride. Nope I don't see gay do you? So there was a test on how big a seven deadly sinner are you? I was kind of surprised I thought I was a much bigger sinner than that. I do love to eat and eat and eat. Gluttony. And I don't know if you know this or not but I am not a virgin. The shock the horror. I also enjoy a good drink and I want KB's. I have been known to give my wrath to people. But anyway here is my test. I was really just looking for some ammunition against those people who come swinging there Bibles at me.

Greed:	Medium
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Low
Sloth:	High
Envy:	Very Low
Lust:	Medium
Pride:	Medium

Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

It's about love

I have thought many of these same things over the last week or so.

Debt of Gratitude

Having been called a Pinko Fascist Communist Liberal among other things. I have been called what is wrong with this country because I am a Liberal. But What many Conservatives fail to understand is what I am acutely aware of. And if they do understand I am not picking up on it.

I am the way I am because some Mother gave up her son and a Father lost a daughter. A child lost a parent and some lost a friend and the list goes on and on and on.

I know that my right to think what I think and choose how I want to worship. To say I think Bush sucks as a President is a right I have had bestowed upon me by "the sacrifice of the few for the many" Might right to not agree with war has been given to me by those who have fought so I can say that. That is what I know. Someone fought and died to give me the rights I have today. My right to VOTE , MY RIGHT to not want a gun in my home , see that MY RIGHT. OUR RIGHT. I get to be a Pinko Fascist Communist Liberal among other things because of Veterans past and present.

THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE RIGHT TO DISAGREE! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE! I HONOR YOU ALL.

MY UFO

So if I was to tell you I saw a UFO would you believe me? Well here it is the UFO I saw. OK OK I know I know it is not really a UFO but it makes me think about well hell lots of shit. I have been lazy and have not posted a picture in a while so I thought why not post the picture of the UFO from the parking lot carnival they had set up in the Kroger parking lot. I wanted to see if I could get some cool pictures with my camera. Yep I am a sucky photographer I need to add that to my 43things be a better photographer. I have like 39 things on my list of 43things. You can do one on line like me and be all cool and what not. I know you are breathing easier now. Like WHOA I could be a cool kid. Which I never was and really pride myslef on not being but being me. Well I am babbling again. I know that your lifes goal is to be cool like me. So if you add 43things you'll be half way there. Though I will tell you my 43things that are really 39 things is not under ferngoddess but ferngirl4 so why don't you go to 43things do a 43things and then come back and tell me I did 43things and this is my screen name or better yet do 43things then go to Random and Odd and post a comment there and Kristine will be like WTF are you people posting shit about 43things on my site.
OK don't really go to R&O and post 43things.

Joe the Plumber Meet Joe the Vice President

I think that says enough don't you?
Now we are going to force you all into a Gay Marriage and make you change your middle name to Hussein.

YES WE CAN!!!

Transcript of Obama’s Victory Speech last night in Chicago.



Hello, Chicago.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It’s the answer that led those who’ve been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.

Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he’s fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they’ve achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation’s next first lady Michelle Obama.

Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the new White House.

And while she’s no longer with us, I know my grandmother’s watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you’ve given me. I am grateful to them.

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best — the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.

To my chief strategist David Axelrod who’s been a partner with me every step of the way.

To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you’ve sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.

It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory.

And I know you didn’t do this just to win an election. And I know you didn’t do it for me.

You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage or pay their doctors’ bills or save enough for their child’s college education.

There’s new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

I promise you, we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can’t solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it’s been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can’t happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let’s remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That’s the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we’ve already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight’s about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves — if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.



This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.


http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/11/05/sot.obama.entire.cnn

88 YEARS

I have been trying to figure out what I wanted to do today. How I wanted to handle the project of showing my vote from over at Random and Odd. I voted a few weeks ago. I have had a lot of thoughts in my head. When I voted I was really debating about waiting for today so I could get in on the excitement of it all. My right to vote is not something I take for granted despite being a pinko fascist communist liberal.

So I wanted to remind you kind folk out there that I as a women have only had the right to vote for 88 years. In the grand scheme of things that is not long. SO today I voted because that is a right that women have not had long.

Here in the South African-Americans have only had equal voting rights since 1965. People that is 43 years ago We kept people from voting based on the color of their skin. We gave them a test to judge if they should be allowed to vote and then still got to decide if they would be allowed to vote no matter what the results.

Today I wonder if Martin Luther King Jr. was alive what would he say about what is happing in the US tonight? Does this line up with his DREAM?

My sister took the day off of work to drive people to the polls to vote.

I know 7 new citizens of the United States who voted in there very first Presidential Election.

I know men and women who are severing this country so we can vote.
I have no picture because you are my picture. America is my picture. You all are my VOTE.
Each person who drove people to the polls. Each person who died fighting for the rights of United States Citizens. Each person who stood in line for a few minutes or a few hours , and each person who voted for the first time today. YOU ARE THE PICTURE






That goes here.

Where I throw-up

I can't wait for tomorrow to be over. I am sick to death of all the nasty emails from my Republican Friends. I have not received one negative McCain email. Because well Dramatics have more class. That's what I am going with. As I reported earlier I told one of them to basiclly kiss my ass when she sent me her rant on the GAY AGENDA. I am over the daily fill my in-box with this crap.
I hope that VOTE NO ON 8 in CA, NO on 2 in FLA , NO on 102 in AZ don't have the same thing happen to them that we did in TN the State of HATE.

I am over all the HATE that has been coming through.

Tomorrow Makes HISTORY no matter what.

For Kristine

The Blog below was copied and pasted from Random and Odds Blog ( don't be asking me to link you to it. You should know me better than that. Seriously the link is over there on the right. Over a little more now scroll down and she is the last one yea right there)

I have already voted I did that last Friday and it took me all of five min. I have my "I Voted" Sticker on my computer in my office. Though I will not re use the pictures from my last I voted Blog. I encourage you to go play Stuff Portrait Tuesday. Damn that was hard to say. Anyway go vote.


As you probably noticed, I took Stuff Portrait Friday out of the line up. Yeah, I know, BAD KRISTINE!

This upcoming Tuesday is a BIG upcoming Tuesday. It’s a pee-pee tingling Tuesday! It’s a Tuesday that might change our lives forever. In honor of this super special Tuesday, I’m bringing Stuff Portrait Friday back, but on Tuesday. It’s like Saturday Night Live, but on Thursdays.

So what’s the theme? Puh-leaze, like you don’t know!

VOTE!
On Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 — GO VOTE! When you do, take a picture of something that represents this freedom. The pen you used. The road you took to get there. SOMETHING.
If you voted early or by mail in…on November 4th , 2008…go take a picture of something you will no longer take for granted, something that shows us you have a voice and it matters!

I don’t do this very often, but I am doing it today..and everyday until November 4th, 2008 –>If you have to; copy and paste this whole thing into your blog and blog it! Send them here to www.randomandodd.com on November 4th 2008 and tell them to give me a link to their website and I promise to visit EVERY SINGLE BLOG that leaves a comment that says, “I voted, here’s my picture!” and I promise to leave a comment. (I’m asking for it huh?)
It doesn’t matter if their vote doesn’t match mine. That is what makes this country so friggin’ wonderful!

So go on, Spread the word, Stuff Portrait Friday will be here on TUESDAY NOVEMBER THE FOURTH!

If you decide to blog this blog, comment me so I can come by and shout HOO-RAW on your site!

I can’t wait to see all the pictures. I hope we hit 143.