I'm not going

I will not be moving my blog..for several reasons.

A) I'm too busy to move right now.

B) I don't like change. (Who does?!)

C) I might lose some of my j-land buddies..I mean, really LOSE them like not be able to find each other!!

and finally

D) If I scroll down just a bit, the ad moves up and out of view! Now how easy is that?!

I'm not criticizing anyone who has left..I don't blame them one bit. Thing is, I battle TOO many things in a day (kids, job, boss, house, etc.)...I don't need another!! ( We all battle things everyday..I'm just not in the "fight mode" at this stage of my life.)

I will genuinely miss my friends who have left j-land for ad-free blogs. And I will (as soon as I can!) update the "my favorite journals" with links to their new digs.

I do have to say, tho, without the alerts, it may take me awhile to find my way over. But I'll be there. And, if need be, I will create a blogspot name just so that I can comment. Maybe I'll email. But I'll make my presence known...somehow.

I wish all my friends much happiness in their new "homes"..and for those of you who have decided to stay, well..the neighborhood has just gotten a bit smaller.

Love and peace to all my friends!

WTF??

Well, AOL has really done it. Pissed off a whole contingency of their subscribers, namely the jlanders.

Thanks to Mary Louise at "Watching My Sister Disappear" for posting an email address to send your complaints to.

JOURNALCHANGES@aol.com

Start writing!

Peace!

P.S. It just occurred to me that you may not know what I'm talking about. Just take a look at the top of my journal..or any other journal for that matter. See the unsolicited ad banner?  It just magically appeared one day. Pissed off a BUNCH of people in jland.

The investigation was posted!

The investigation that we (TSPR) did with NJPR was posted today! You can go HERE to see the results. It was one of the coolest investigations that I've been on in awhile. TSPR is doing an investigation this Friday night but I'm not able to make it. :(  Herman is doing his side job on Friday night and we can't leave these kids home alone all night. I'd be gone from 5pm until about 3-4am and Herman is gone from 9pm til 4am. I'll use my time wisely that night and get the 10BILLION loads of laundry done!! LOL!

In other news: The children are ALL doing well! Yippee! I spoke to Jckie the other night and she continues to do very well in her recovery. The rest of 'em are all doing well in school. I can't believe that the first marking period is almost over!

Sad to hear that Michele over at "Letting it All Sink In" is closing up shop for awhile. There are alot of us who will miss her. Good luck and be well, Michele!!

Gotta go...dishes to wash, clothes to fold!

Peace!!

Catch up time..AGAIN!

Things have been fairly quiet here..always a good thing. Rachel's car is totalled so she's been begging ride..and begging to use our car/truck. I let her drive my car one night but told her not to get used to it. Herman's let her take the Maxima a few time..he's better at sharing than I am!

Have done a couple of investigations recently. We were invited by a fellow research team, NJPR , to do an investigation of a great old Victorian home in north Jersey. I got several evps (electronic voice phenomena) and "sensed" something near me in one of the rooms. We also went back to the Viginia Tavern in Jersey City. It was pretty quiet that night. But it was great to be back investigating! I'll let you know when the results are posted for both these investigations. We have another big investigation coming up on Nov. 4 in central NY. Can't wait for that one! It's a haunted restaurant! We've invited NJPR to join us as our ranks have dwindled recently...

Speaking of dwindling ranks, we lost our co-ordinator and his soon to be ex-wife. All very bad news. It was a shame that they left but it was also understandable. They were going thru too much and couldn't really give their attention to the group. That and other reasons..but mostly that they couldn't devote any time to TSPR.  I know that I will miss the both of them.

This week I made a decision about my Church situation. I resigned from the Board of Elders (Unicameral Board, in Presbyterian-speak) on Tuesday. Have I heard from the pastor? NO! What's really a shame is that the following day I had to be at the Church to assist with the photo taking for the new directory and, of course, it was the pastor's day to have his picture taken!! I was very polite and cordial and I checked out his 3 week old baby. You know, he didn't even know my name or that I was the one who resigned??!! Well, this just totally pissed me off! I sat on the board for over a year, with a name tag in front of me!! And he doesn't know my name? This just further justified my resignation. Right now I'm just not quite ready to make a decision regarding leaving the Church completely. I know that the Church is the people and not the minister but in this case, he has caused many hurt feelings and many controversies. I know of several people who are looking into having him removed. I'm also aware that several people have gone to the interim associate minister and complained at length about him. Oh, anyway...I hate this so much. I just want to go to a Church where the minister knows my name and has a firm handshake. I want to feel as tho I matter.

Herman, my mother and I are leaving for AZ to see Jackie on Dec. 3rd!! I can't wait! Jackie is counting the days and making plans on what she wants to do and see. We just can't wait to see her and love her up! We'll be there for 4 nights so I may get to see Sedona after all! I convinced Herman to stay that extra day so that we can do some sightseeing of our own. All he wants to see is a canyon! LOL!! We'd go to the Grand Canyon but it's a 6 hour drive from Phoenix. I'm sure that there are other canyons around, tho.

Well...I think that's about it for right now! Peace!!

hter than a bad case of whiplash.Rachel, Rachel, Rachel...

Well...Rachel totaled her (my) car last night..

She's ok, except for a bad case of whiplash..

She was going to her friend's (Anthony) house last night. She was making a left hand turn and a woman who was travelling on the same road smashed into her. Ray was going west on our street and the woman was goin east on the same road. Ray wanted to make left turn on to a side street when BAM! This woman plowed into her! It was dark and rainly out and this woman did not have her headlights on!!! She was driving a dark car so Rachel (and Anthony) never saw her!! Ray pulled right in front of the oncoming car! The accident occurred in fromt of Anthony's house..Anthony's grandfather heard the accident eight away and ran outside, only to see that the other car didn't have their headlights on.

Anyway..this really sticks because there is no way I can replace Ray's car. And we don't have collision on the car, due to the age of the car. (11 years old...my Gram gave me the car when she was dying. It has alot of sentimental value for me...)  The car (a 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera) has extensive front end damage..not worth repairing.

Sometimes life is so unfair..

 

Check out my son's band!!

Check out my son's band, The Oddessy. My son is the skinny kid who plays the guitar.....Johnny. (I call him John...where'd he get Johnny from??! LOL!!)

Listen to "Fireworks for  Four"...it's a great song!

What a talented bunch of kids!

(When do I get my house in Rumson??!! C'mon Johnny...buy Mommy a nice house! LOL!!!)

A quickie...

I've been doing some serious soul searching over a situation at my church. We hired a new pastor a year ago. After the first few weeks of his arriving, I wasn't much impressed by him. But, I decided that I would give him a year. A year (and a few months) has passed and I find that I actually dislike this man. He recently did forced out a church staff member who was much beloved by MOST of the church. I'm having a very hard tome with how this was done. This poor person was blindsided. Right before he confronted this person (who did nothing wrong, the pastor just wanted to add more duties to their already heavy workload!) he said to this person, "After this conversation our relationship will never be the same." To me this says that he fully intended to upset this person. I have other reasons for not caring for this person. He doesn't come out before service and greet the parishioners, his sermons are lousy and have nothing to teach, he doesn't attend many church functions nor does he attend coffee hour immediately after service..and on and on. This man doesn't even know my name and I'm an officer of the church AND I have the same name of his sister!!! However, he knows the name of the big contributers!! I also have personal knowledge of him being very nasty to a good friend of mine. Ok...so you may say "find a new church"..Not that easy. I've been a member for about 6 years and I love the congregation. Leaving them would be very difficult for me. This is a vibrant, giving church who is in serious need of good leadership. This is a very community oriented church that does community service and outreach. My plan so far is this: I'm going to resign from my position. I'm not going to pledge any amount to this church. I'm going to investigate other churches in my area...and I know that they will fall short of what I've come to love at my current church. I have cried over this situation. Does anyone have any suggestions? (I might also add that there have been several resignations after his latest stunt and I'm sure that there are more coming. Also, there are many people who feel the same way about him that I do.)

In other news: Herman and I are planning our trip to AZ to see Jackie! My mom will be coming along, too! I'm looking forward to this trip! Jackie will be able to visit with us for 2- 8 hour days!

Oh, one more thing: My friend's son Anthony is having his surgery today. They're removing 1/2 of his femur and all of his knee and replacing it with a prosthetic. This is the 15 year old boy I told you about in a previous post. He has osteosarcoma, a cancer of the bones. PLEASE...any prayers you can offer are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Peace! :)