Normally, I try to be very positive and encouraging to the people that visit my little piece of the blogsphere.  But the reality of it is, it isn’t always peaches and cream – for single moms, for married moms, for anyone!  I’ve debated over whether to ‘be real’ today, to offer guidance based on what I’ve learned, or to just simply stick with some inspirational words and hope they help us all!  *wink*

What I’ve ended up with is this…the world we live in stinks!  The evil and hatred in this world stinks!  The greed and selfishness that drives most people in this world stinks!  Quite frankly, this week has been pretty stinky!

I have been trying to ‘suck it up’ and move on, but the fact remains that all the junk out there has left me very sad.  I’ve found myself saying “Oh Lord…” many times this week!

Don’t even get me started on the news!  Did these people actually take Journalism classes?  Shoot, I took a year or so of it ‘for fun’ and I’ll tell you, we learned to report the FACTS.  I’ve had occasion to write a few press releases for my businesses and you must meet certain ‘newsworthy’ criteria in order to get your release published.  Why?  Who in the world determines ‘newsworthiness’?  I could honestly care less if Britney has custody of her kids!  Is it a problem?  Yes!  But goodness!  Get that girl some help and quit making her famous for being an idiot!  Is OJ a murderer?  Who knows?  Is he a thief?  Probably!  Maybe he’ll write another book and tell us all about it!  What is Bragelina up to?  Who cares?  Hopefully they are just loving those kids the best they can!  Maybe their careers have slowed down, maybe not.  If they’re in new movies, fine.  If not, fine!  Oh dear, and I seriously don’t care what the chicks on the “The View” think of each other nor do I care who Whoopie wants ‘to do’!!!

See!  I just don’t get today’s idea of news!

As far as MY week went…

I had to finally drag myself to the doctor.  So, for starters, that tells you that I am sick and grouchy!  (Very grouchy!)  I feel like I could sleep all day, but that isn’t an option!  I’m on an antibiotic that gives me horrible cramps that I can only compare to labor pains!

So while on the way to the doc, my car started making a horrible noise!  I decided that after the doc I would stop by the auto shop where I bought the vehicle and ask them to take a look and make sure nothing would explode, leak toxic fumes or fly off and injure another driver.  They didn’t have the time to work me in.  They were quite happy to send me home and give me an appointment for later in the day.  Did I mention it’s a 45-minute drive – one way?  This all transpired through a very rude and short conversation - them!  I didn’t get mouthy until I took my complaint to the dealership itself and got the owner.  I bought the darn thing there and they can’t take 5 minutes out of their busy morning to make sure it’s just a stinking heat shield?  They didn’t seem to have any trouble working everyone ahead of me the day I was there with an appointment!  It took them 45 minutes just to pull the silly thing in the garage that day!

Well, like being sick isn’t bad enough, I just had a BUNCH of work done on my teeth.  I’ve got a darn toothache!  What?  A toothache!  This dentist used x-rays, oral cameras and all kinds of high-tech gadgets to determine a ‘treatment plan’.  The LAST thing I should have to deal with (for quite some time) is dental trouble!  Argh!

Business has been very slow, and alas, everything is coming to a head financially.  I’m behind on my credit cards, and evidently that gives these people the right to call my home, ruthlessly, from 8 am until 9 pm.  I have tried answering the calls and attempting to make arrangements, however, I’ve pretty much been told what a loser I am and accused of being a liar.  Oh yeah!  If I HAD the money lying around I would PURPOSELY not pay my bills because I enjoy endless conversations that include the same story over and over, begging, pleading, harassment, belittlement, and finally me feeling much worse about myself than I did before I answered the phone!  All of this which does not appear to be ending anytime soon!

Okay, so that is the worst of it.  I’d like to say I’m not a complainer.  But I can’t.  I’m a complainer from way back!  I don’t necessarily like to complain.  I’m just really good at it!  But that is something that God is working on and usually I manage my addiction fairly well.

So the nuts and bolts is, the world can stink.  The people we share our air with aren’t the nicest, politest or most considerate!  Get over it!  It’s not up to us to judge them, figure them out or fix them – God will take care of it all in due time.

By God’s grace, we need to make our own adjustments, regroup and go from there.

~~~

Dear, Sweet, Heavenly Father,

Thank You so much for giving Your Son, so that I could be free.

Thank You for loving me enough to forgive me and show me life in You!

Thank You for each and every day that You give me with my children, my mom and my ‘fabulous’ friends.

Thank You for health, safety, peace, love and joy through You.

Thank You for a roof over our heads and a vehicle to get us to church, school, the grocery store, doctor appointments, etc.

Thank You for groceries - for the means to eat good food and be healthy!

Thank You for the smiles, hugs, kisses, twinkling eyes, giggles, awkward teenage laughter and renditions of “…little guys can do big things too…”

Thank You for bloggy friends that say the kindest, sweetest, most thoughtful things and make me feel like I’m truly serving Your purpose!

Thank You for a new doctor that explains, discusses and seeks treatment for me.

Thank You for a car salesman that notices a slow leak and spares me the further aggravation of getting a flat tire on the way home!  Thank You for the service station that DID have the time to plug that tire and did a fine job at that!

Thank You for “Hip Hop Harry” who distracts my 4-year old so that I can purge all this into a blog post!

Thank You for the grace to answer the phone politely for the 7th time in the last 2 hours.

Thank You for ‘parental controls’ and the ability to turn off the ringer, turn the channel or throw away the newspaper when the evil in this world tries to infiltrate my happy little home!

Thank You Lord for beautiful, healthy babies born every day.  And thank You for healing those that aren’t.

Thank You for mammograms and early detection, so that far less women die from Breast Cancer!

Thank You for the beautiful sunshine, the birds singing and the crickets chirping outside my window this morning as I realize that YOU are in complete control.

Thank You Sweet Father for listening to and tolerating my whining, complaining and woes of sorrow.  Thank You for then picking me up, dusting me off and giving me the tools to pull through it all.

Thank You Lord for hope.  For trust, faith, and the belief that You will bring me through the fires more beautiful and stronger than before!

Thank You for Your Word to remind me of all of these things when I feel so desperately alone and discouraged!

In Your Precious, Holy Name,

Amen.

~~~

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  [Romans 5:1-5]