Issue #11: Twitters and Tweets

My newest fascination is this site called Twitter. I know that most of my friends and family who read my blogs don't have a clue what Twitter is... so let me explain. It's a social networking site. It's not really like myspace, but it's not exactly a chatroom either. It's kind of centered around the question, "What are you doing?" Click here for more detailed info.

I have a special request to other twitterers in the last half of this post. If you already know your way around twitter, you can skip to that part. I won't be offended that you skipped the first half of my blog.... this time. ;)

Anyway, a friend of ours told Mike and I about Twitter and told us to join. I've had to learn some new terminology since joining Twitter. Like, a lot of folks there refer to their individual communities of followers as Twitterville or Twitterland. So, if they are directing a post at everyone, they will say something like, "Goodnight Twitterville!" Another word used is "tweet". When you send a post, it is not called a post. It is a tweet. So if you get on there and someone says, "I saw your tweet", you'll know what they mean. Here's another thing... "followers" and "following". You don't "add friends" on twitter. You "follow" people. Or they "follow" you. Our friend, Jim, told us that it's good form to follow someone if they follow you. In most cases I do that. But, I've run into a few that I chose not to either because after reading their tweets I found them to be very alarming and scary or they were solicitors that I found annoying. Let's just say, I'm kind of picky about the folks that I follow or allow to follow me. If I was more of an outgoing person, I might not be so selective.

When you are sending a tweet directly at an individual, you use the @ sign followed by their user name. So, if someone were saying something to me, directly, they would start it as @jcssbrown and then say whatever they wanted to say to me. Or if they were talking about me, rather than to me, they would refer to me as @jcssbrown and not as Chelle. And... no matter what you say on twitter, you have to be able to do it in 140 characters or less. If it takes more than that, you talk too much.

And here are some other cool things you can find associated with Twitter. I won't actually explain them all... you'll have to go look at them yourself. Just trust me; they are cool!

I use twitterfeed to let Twitterland know when I've posted a new blog. Nifty, huh? Also, if I'm away from home, I can use my cell phone to send and receive tweets. That's kind of fun. And then there's twittearth, tweetscan, twittervision, and tweetclouds. Those are what I've run across lately, but I'm sure there are several others that I am not aware of yet. If you are a twitterer and you know of some other cool Twitter related sites, post a comment and let me know!

Okay, so here's something that has been bothering me. I can't get any of my real life friends to join twitter and follow me. The only real life friends I have there are Jim, Mary, and my husband Mike. I acquired a couple of Jim's friends, who seem like REALLY nice people. The thing is, they are all technically minded and talk a lot about tech stuff. I like web-design stuff and I know a little about html. I can't write a code, but I can alter one if I need to. I know my way around a computer pretty well, but I'm not quite as technically minded as they are. Anyhow, I've managed to get a couple of new followers who have more of my interests... actually, they found me... I didn't find them. But at any rate, I'm glad they did. So, here's my query: If you are a twitterer and you love animals, love children, love crafts, love God, then why not follow me? You don't have to fit ALL those criteria, just one will do!

Issue #10: Control (or lack of)

He got me again. He always does. I never see it coming. And then when it happens, I'm always... well, I don't even have a word for it. Humbled... torn apart... broken. 100 emotions at once. It's an indescribable feeling. I don't even know if I can really put into words what led up to it or why. It just happened.

The thing is, I've had all this stress lately and I do not deal well with stress. I never have. I get myself so worked up and worried over things that I can't control... and that's the operative word... control. But then God always finds away to break through all my stupidity and tell me that I never had control and I never will. Control is HIS, not mine.

He got to me through music. It almost always happens that way (except for the time He hit me with a tree branch... a story for another time.) But anyway, there I was... minding my own business, listening to music, surfing the 'net... when I started actually listening to the words. That was my undoing. I went from mindless self-indulgence to a puddle of tears in nothing flat. And then I did something that I don't do nearly enough. I prayed... right then and there and just let go of everything and let Him have it. And through the music, He told me I'm never alone and He loves me. He'll take care of everything. All I have to do is love Him and trust Him.

Another Fun Poll!

I was a wee bit long-winded in my last two posts, so I'm going to make this one easy on you!

Here's another poll for you. It's a little less threatening than the last one that most of you all didn't participate in! ;)

C'mon... just do it!!

Who is your favorite Winnie The Pooh character?

Winnie The Pooh
Tigger
Eeyore
Piglet
Rabbit
Kanga
Roo
Owl
Gopher
Christopher Robin

(View Results)

Create a Poll

Issue #9: Ye Of Little Faith

I've learned a lot this week. I learned that I put too much faith into the wrong things and not enough faith in God. I also learned that I take my husband for granted. This last week was probably one of the worst weeks of my life. I won't say it was THE worst, but it ranked very close to my top 10. But it also turned out to be one of the best learning experiences of my life.

It all started when Mike left town for some geek convention in Oklahoma City, several hours from here. It didn't take long for me to start feeling the effects of separation anxiety... one of my MANY issues. Seriously, I was a nervous wreck the entire time he was gone and turned into a complete psycho. Just ask him... he'll tell you. Those few days he was gone, I realized just how much I depend on him and take him for granted. I honestly don't think I could survive very long at all without him. Anyway, by the 4th day... the day he was to come home... I was impatient and more anxious than ever for him to be home. He called me first thing that morning (last Saturday) to tell me that his car had broke down and that he and our friend, Jim, were waiting for a tow truck. Great. All I wanted was for him to be home safe and now his car wasn't working. Just great. A little bit later, he called to tell me that the car dealership that the car was towed to had no mechanic on duty until the following Monday morning. That made everything in my world go from bad to worse. I had a complete meltdown... and I blamed God for it. I thought for sure HE was teaching me a lesson and telling me that another 2 days alone might do me some good. Well, as things turned out, Mike and Jim decided to rent a car and stick to the original schedule, instead of paying for 2 more nights in a hotel. I was so glad to have Mike home that night! We fretted the rest of the weekend about the car. The man at the dealership said he really thought that the timing chain had broke, which is a very bad thing. He told Mike that if it was just the timing chain and nothing else got messed up, we would be looking at $500 to fix it. If the timing chain did other damage on the way out, we were looking at a new engine. We wouldn't know for sure until the mechanic showed up Monday. So the news was either going to be bad or really bad. Either way, we didn't have the money to fix it.

Early Monday morning, Mike called the dealership and the mechanic was just getting to the car. It was much worse than we thought it would be. The car needed a new engine. They told us they had already found a used engine that had 50,000 miles on it that would only cost us $2600. It might as well have been $1,000,000. After consulting with the wise men of my family (my dad and my brother) we decided not to let the dealership work on the car. It wasn't worth the expense. We still owed $2700 on the car and blue book value was $3100. Putting another $2600 into it didn't make much sense. Now we had to figure out how to get the car back home and find the money and means to do it. First, I had to swallow my pride and ask my grandfather for a loan. I didn't much doubt that he would give me the money, but I dreaded what his reaction would be to my asking. Much to my surprise, he was very kind to me about the entire situation. He didn't hesitate to give us the money. He gave us enough to pay for the car rental, the $300 fee the dealership was charging us for just looking at the car, for paying off the $2700 we still owed on the car (so we could drop the insurance) and enough to buy another used car (which we are currently looking for). We had a trailer lined up to haul back the car, but had difficulty locating someone with a truck big enough to pull it. So, we ended up with a plan to drive the rental back to OKC, where we would then rent a U-Haul truck and trailer and haul the car back. We hadn't factored that expense in when we asked Grandpa for help, so we weren't sure how we were going to come up with the additional funds. As it turned out, one of the ministers at our church called and said they wanted to help us and would give us $350. Wouldn't you know.... that's exactly how much the U-Haul truck/trailer was going to cost us??? I'll tell you... I started bawling (again). I was so overwhelmed. Bryan couldn't have known how much we needed. That was God at work.

So, Mike, my dad, and I headed for OKC in the rental (which, by the way, was a little black VW bug). It was a long cramped trip, as you can well imagine. Our first stop was at the U-Haul place. My dad and I took the truck followed Mike (in the rental) to the car dealership to pick up our dead car. I have to say... as soon as I saw it sitting there on the lot, I got emotional (again). Mike's car is one of those things I put too much faith in. It was the dependable car. I was never afraid of it breaking down and leaving us stranded. Now, it's not only broke down, it's dead. Anyway... back to the story... the man at the dealership came out to help us load the car onto the trailer and would you believe he waived the $300 fee? He said he just didn't feel right charging us. Between the dealership and our church, we ended up saving $650. That was God, still hard at work for us! But it doesn't stop there... we were running late and it was passed time for the rental place to close and we still had the rental car to drop off. Well, we got to the car rental place 10 minutes after they were supposed to have closed and they were so busy that day, they were still open!! I was finally starting to feel like God really was on our side and not out to get me, as I had previously thought. On the way home, there were storms all around. We could see them coming from the south and from the west. We were hearing warnings on the radio for places behind us (to the south, where we had been). We managed to stay ahead of the storms to the south and on the edge of the ones from the west. We saw lots of lightening and nasty clouds, but not one drop of rain. By the time we made it home that night, we were feeling very blessed.

Mike and I were resigned to the fact that we would have to share my undependable car until we can locate a car for us to buy. We hate that because he has to drive out of town once or twice per week for work. My car can't handle the amount of driving that he has to do. But God stepped in again. He sent one of His good people to Mike's place of business Tuesday afternoon. This very nice man, who is a friend of a friend and also happens to do some work for Mike's place of business heard our story and offered Mike the use of a vehicle that he hadn't been using until we are able to find another car. The blessings just keep overflowing! We won't forget the good things God has done for us in our time of need. We hope that we will be able to bless others the way they have blessed us!

Matthew 17:20 (NIV)

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Issue #8: Devoted Pet Mom

I figure that from time to time I will devote a blog to one or more of my pets. In fact, I've already talked about my oldest dog, Jamie, and her OCD problem. Since my pets (my babies) are a huge part of my life and I know I will refer to them in future blogs, here is an introduction. I have 5 pets, all with very different personalities. Jamie, Charity, and Sandy Sue (usually referred to as "Moose") are all dogs. Gato and Bebe are cats. With the exception of Moose, all of them are rescued pets. Their abusive backgrounds are the reason they all have different issues. I have a slide show of them on my myspace page if you'd like to see them.

Jamie is our oldest and gentlest dog. She is a black lab mix. She never had puppies, but she has a very nurturing personality. We have taken in many "foster" pets in the past and she always worried over them like a mama dog. We acquired Jamie 6 years ago. We were moving in to a rental farm house. The previous tenant (who had been evicted) left her behind... which was not only fortunate for us, but fortunate for Jamie. That man never fed her. She had to forage for food in the horse's grain bin. The horses didn't like it and would chase her off. Apparently, one time a horse actually stomped her and broke one of her front legs. Her "owner" never took her to the vet to have it set properly, so to this day she has problems if she steps on that leg wrong. She also had marks on her snout and forehead from being shot with a pellet gun. We found a lot of pellets in the house when we were moving in, so we can only assume that her owner is the one who shot her. The first time we saw Jamie, she was laying in a shed, scared to death. She was skin and bones. When we would reach out to pet her, she would cower and pee. She still does that with strangers now, but not nearly as bad. Now she is a fat dog with a family who loves her. We hope that she doesn't remember that horrible man who had her before us. But we know that some effects are still with her, such as the OCD. By the way... an update on that: The medication did not work, so we have been forced to kennel her when we aren't home and lock her out of the bedrooms so we can see her at all times when we are home. It will have to be this way until we can afford to take out the carpets and put down laminent flooring. It's hard on Jamie because she thinks she's above having to be confined to a kennel.

Gato, whose full name is "El Gato Loco", is our 2nd oldest pet. We also acquired him when we lived in that rental farm house. It was July 4th weekend, 6 years ago. I remember this because when I found him, I thought he would die because our veterinarian was gone the whole weekend. We're not sure how Gato came to be in our yard. We think maybe someone dumped him. He was a kitten... maybe about 3 or 4 months old. Our landlord had cats living in the barn, but they were all spayed or neutered. The barn cats got a hold of the kitten and beat him up pretty badly. I heard the sound of a kitten outside and went to looking around and found him under a bush. He hadn't eaten in quite some time and his eyes were dull. He had a cold and was very weak. He was so listless that when I put food in front of him, he had no interest in it. I ended up force feeding him baby formula and Gerber baby food chicken. He started perking up by the end of the weekend and I got him to the vet and he got a lot of antibiotics. He had a couple of puncture wounds that I did not see, probably from being bitten by one of the barn cats. The vet said Gato definitely would have died had I not found him when I did. He hasn't suffered any ill effects. He's a big fat cat who owns the house. According to him, our only purpose in life is to please him. He and Jamie are best friends to this day...probably since it was just the two of them for a long time.

Charity has issues. Big time. We're still not sure what variety of dog she is. The vet says she is a sharpei mix. I've looked at books and I think she is a Sheba-Inu mix. At any rate, she is definitely one of a kind. Mike found her when he was working for WalMart. She was living behind the store using the empty pallets for shelter. She most likely had been dumped. She was at nearest estimate, 6 months old. She had a huge gash on her forehead that was partially healed but definitely infected. She was a mess. We weren't supposed to have pets at our rental farm house, but our bleeding heart landlord and landlady (who was and is a good friend of mine) allowed Jamie and Gato. When Mike brought Charity home, we were definitely pushing our limits. We had to build a temporary pen outside for her. Soon after, we bought our own home and made Charity an inside dog. She is a very nervous, high strung dog. And yet she is also more submissive than Jamie. She definitely thinks that she is supposed to be lower than us. She won't make eye contact and if you lower yourself to her, she will get even lower. She sounds like a coward, huh? She's not. She guards the house and us at all times. When we are all in the living room relaxing, she lays with her back to us, facing the door, watching for intruders. She has the most intimidating bark I have ever heard. I do believe she would rip an intruder's head off. She gets really nervous if the family is in separate rooms. She won't lay still. She paces from room to room so she can keep on eye on everyone in the house. I think it's just in her nature to protect her family. The one thing I find sad about Charity is that she doesn't know how to play with toys. She doesn't know how to play, period. We've tried and tried over the years, but she has no interest in it. She does rough house with the other dogs in the yard though. The other thing about Charity is she doesn't bark unless she feels threatened. The other 2 dogs learned to "speak" when getting a treat or a toy. Charity won't. To her, barking is only used as an alert system. She has a beautiful smile. You say her name and she smiles really big. She is a happy dog who takes her job as family protector very seriously. One thing that completely freaks her out is when the cats decide to use her kennel to take a nap. To her, the kennel is sacred. It's hers. It's her safe place. It's base. If she gets blocked out of it or the cats are in it, she paces and whines. It freaks her out. I think the cats do it on purpose just to get her riled up.

Sandy Sue, The Moose, is a yellow lab mix. We think maybe she is part great dane. We're not sure. She is the youngest of our dogs. She is about 3 years old and still just a baby. She's a mama's girl. She wasn't exactly rescued. Someone was giving away pups in front of WalMart and Mike brought her home. I was really mad. That was near the beginning of me being a stay-at-home mom/candlemaker, so I was the one who potty trained Moose and bonded with her. She was so little that when she tried to jump up on the couch with me, she would just bang her head into the side of it. Now she doesn't even have to jump up on it, she just steps up on it and takes up the whole thing. Since she has never been abused, she has grown up with the least of issues. But also because of that, she is VERY spoiled. She thinks she's the boss of everybody and everything in the house. If I get on to one of the cats or the dogs for something, she is right there on them, backing me up. It's actually very irritating. I can't seem to get her to understand that she's NOT the police. She has a fetish with sticks. She can't go outside without finding a stick (or a tree limb) that she can taunt us with. She's dangerous with them too. She comes at you and swings it around. It you're not quick, she'll nail you with it. She hates squirrels. They are the ultimate evil, as far as she is concerned. She has a myspace page. I know. Spoiled. Check it out at www.myspace.com/babymoosepuppy. Check out her blog there too.

Mike rescued Bebe in a WalMart parking lot. She is the youngest member of our family. Bebe is nuts. I'm not kidding. She's completely nuts. You can look at her eyes and tell she's not all there. On top of that, she hates everything. If Mike or I try to pick her up and hold her, she squirms and growls at us. She hates us. She only likes 3 things... I take that back... she LOVES 3 things. Hayley, Charity and our other cat, Gato. But it's more like an obsessive kind of love... like if she were human, she would be dangerous, like a stalker. She follows Hayley around like a puppy. If Hayley sits in a chair, Bebe is right there in her lap. If Hayley gets up to go to another room, Bebe takes off after her. She has to be right there. When Hayley isn't home, she sneaks into her room and steals stuff. Usually, it's pretty, shiny, frilly stuff she steals. We have to keep Hayley's bedroom door shut during the day because of Bebe's obsession with Hayley's property. Bebe has started this new thing this week that is really disturbing. Hayley is actually allergic to cats and has to take medication daily for it or else the cats have to go. During the night, Hayley sleeps with her bedroom door shut so the cats won't sleep with her and get her allergy symptoms all stirred up. Bebe hates that. She now has this nightly ritual of trying to strong arm herself into Hayley's room. She starts from the dining room (2 rooms away from Hayley's room) and runs full bore through the dining room and front living room and rams head first into Hayley's bedroom door. I tell you, she's freakin' nuts! We're having to lock her in the bathroom at bedtime until she settles down so that Hayley can go to sleep! Is that crazy or what? I've never seen an animal that devoted to her human. It's funny and creepy at the same time. As for her love for Gato and Charity, she won't leave either of them alone. I think Gato secretly likes the attention, but Charity definitely does not! It freaks her out! I think maybe Bebe is just messing with her head.

So, are you sensing a pattern here? Mike still calls me every now and then and tells me about the cute puppies being given away in front of the store, or the poor dog that has been running around the parking lot all day, or the stray cat that has been begging food from passersby all day. I would be totally sucked in to bringing another animal into the house if it weren't for the fact that we are maxed out on pets (according the our city's ordinance). We've got to get Mike away from WalMart!

Oh... and have I mentioned that we're counting the years until Hayley is 18 and out of the house so we can give her bedroom to the dogs? We are sad and pathetic people!! And before you go saying, "What a horrible mother!", I'm just kidding! Hayley can totally stay here until she's 19!