the dream i dream...

I dream of a prince. Sometimes he's rich and handsome and sweeps me off my feet. Sometimes he's a normal guy with a big heart who woos me into his arms. Sometimes he's famous. Sometimes he's a complete stranger. Sometimes he's someone i know... But all the time he's kind and caring and considerate and patient and understanding. I dream he will love me for me- the short tempered, cheeky, straightforward, kinda nutty girl full of crazy ambitions and headstrong opinions, that i am. I dream he will (in his own way) ease away all the pain from my past. He will be my confidant, my pillar of strength and sometimes my punching bag. Someone who makes me laugh and never takes me seriously when i say things in anger. Someone who shares my values and beliefs and who respects my views. Someone who wont force his standards on me. Someone who can agree to disagree. Someone i'm not afraid to be myself around. Someone who i'm comfortable with. Someone who makes me smile during a bad day cuz jus the thought of him makes life worth it. Someone who completes me. I dream of magical and silly moments. Of tiffs and of romance and of romance-after-tiffs... I dream of someone who appreciates me. Who's there to advise me, hold me, console me... Someone who'll forgive me for my mistakes and who'll accept that i'm not perfect. He'll see pass my flaws and he wont judge my past. He'll support my future, my goals. He's someone who is honest and TRUE TO HIS EVERY WORD. I dream this dream everyday. I dream about this someone. And... I dream of the days when I CAN BE this someone for the someone who will be this someone to me.

*25 REASONS I OWE MY MOTHER*

(not my own work)

 1.* My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE *.

"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. *My mother taught me RELIGION*.

"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3.* My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL *..

"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4.* My mother taught me LOGIC*.

" Because I said so, that's why."

5.* My mother taught me MORE LOGIC*.

"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6.* My mother taught me FORESIGHT*.

"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7.* My mother taught me IRONY *

"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8.* My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS*.

"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9.* My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM*.

"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10.* My mother taught me about STAMINA*.

"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone.."

11.* My mother taught me about WEATHER*.

"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12.* My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY*.

"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

13.* My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE*.

"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

14.* My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION*.

"Stop acting like your father!"

15.* My mother taught me about ENVY *.

"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16.* My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION*.

"Just wait until we get home."

17.* My mother taught me about RECEIVING *.

"You are going to get it when you get home!"

18.* My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE*.

"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."

19.* My mother taught me ESP*.

"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20.* My mother taught me HUMOR*.

"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

21.* My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT *.

"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22.* My mother taught me GENETICS.*

"You're just like your father."

23.* My mother taught me about my ROOTS*.

"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

24.* My mother taught me WISDOM*.

"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

25. And my favorite:* My mother taught me about JUSTICE *

"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you”

The Necklace

(not my own work)

 The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. "Oh mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?"

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face. "A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would Stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?"

"Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favorite."

"That's okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night."

And he brushed her cheek with a kiss. About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?"

"Daddy, you know I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."

"That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you."

And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss. A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek. "What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"

Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, daddy; this is for you."

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.

So it is, with God. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures. Isn't God good?

Are you holding onto things that God wants you to let go of?

Are you holding on to harmful or unnecessary partners, relationships, habits and activities that you have come so attached to that it seems impossible to let go?

Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand but do believe this one thing.

God will never take away something without giving you something better in its place.

After Twenty Years

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(not my own work)

 by O Henry

The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few. The time was barely 10 o'clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well depeopled the streets.

Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace.

The vicinity was one that kept early hours. Now and then you might see the lights of a cigar store or of an all-night lunch counter; but the majority of the doors belonged to business places that had long since been closed.

When about midway of a certain block the policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned, with an unlighted cigar in his mouth.

As the policeman walked up to him the man spoke up quickly. "It's all right, officer," he said, reassuringly. "I'm just waiting for a friend. It's an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little funny to you, doesn't it? Well, I'll explain if you'd like to make certain it's all straight. About that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands--'Big Joe' Brady's restaurant."

"Until five years ago," said the policeman. "It was torn down then."

The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarfpin was a large diamond, oddly set.

"Twenty years ago to-night," said the man, "I dined here at 'Big Joe' Brady's with Jimmy Wells, my best chum, and the finest chap in the world. He and I were raised here in New York, just like two brothers, together. I was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty. The next morning I was to start for the West to make my fortune. You couldn't have dragged Jimmy out of New York; he thought it was the only place on earth. Well, we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time, no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our destiny worked out and our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be."

"It sounds pretty interesting," said the policeman. "Rather a long time between meets, though, it seems to me. Haven't you heard from your friend since you left?"

"Well, yes, for a time we corresponded," said the other. "But after a year or two we lost track of each other. You see, the West is a pretty big proposition, and I kept hustling around over it pretty lively. But I know Jimmy will meet me here if he's alive, for he always was the truest, stanchest old chap in the world. He'll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door to-night, and it's worth it if my old partner turns up."

The waiting man pulled out a handsome watch, the lids of it set with small diamonds.

"Three minutes to ten," he announced. "It was exactly ten o'clock when we parted here at the restaurant door."

"Did pretty well out West, didn't you?" asked the policeman. "You bet! I hope Jimmy has done half as well. He was a kind of plodder, though, good fellow as he was. I've had to compete with some of the sharpest wits going to get my pile. A man gets in a groove in New York. It takes the West to put a razor-edge on him."

The policeman twirled his club and took a step or two. "I'll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Going to call time on him sharp?"

"I should say not!" said the other. "I'll give him half an hour at least. If Jimmy is alive on earth he'll be here by that time. So long, officer."

"Good-night, sir," said the policeman, passing on along his beat, trying doors as he went.

There was now a fine, cold drizzle falling, and the wind had risen from its uncertain puffs into a steady blow. The few foot passengers astir in that quarter hurried dismally and silently along with coat collars turned high and pocketed hands. And in the door of the hardware store the man who had come a thousand miles to fill an appointment, uncertain almost to absurdity, with the friend of his youth, smoked his cigar and waited.

About twenty minutes he waited, and then a tall man in a long overcoat, with collar turned up to his ears, hurried across from the opposite side of the street. He went directly to the waiting man.

"Is that you, Bob?" he asked, doubtfully.

"Is that you, Jimmy Wells?" cried the man in the door.

"Bless my heart!" exclaimed the new arrival, grasping both the other's hands with his own. "It's Bob, sure as fate. I was certain I'd find you here if you were still in existence. Well, well, well! --twenty years is a long time. The old gone, Bob; I wish it had lasted, so we could have had another dinner there. How has the West treated you, old man?"

"Bully; it has given me everything I asked it for. You've changed lots, Jimmy. I never thought you were so tall by two or three inches."

"Oh, I grew a bit after I was twenty."

"Doing well in New York, Jimmy?"

"Moderately. I have a position in one of the city departments. Come on, Bob; we'll go around to a place I know of, and have a good long talk about old times."

The two men started up the street, arm in arm. The man from the West, his egotism enlarged by success, was beginning to outline the history of his career. The other, submerged in his overcoat, listened with interest. At the corner stood a drug store, brilliant with electric lights. When they came into this glare each of them turned simultaneously to gaze upon the other's face. The man from the West stopped suddenly and released his arm.

"You're not Jimmy Wells," he snapped. "Twenty years is a long time, but not long enough to change a man's nose from a Roman to a pug."

"It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one, said the tall man. "You've been under arrest for ten minutes, 'Silky' Bob. Chicago thinks you may have dropped over our way and wires us she wants to have a chat with you. Going quietly, are you? That's sensible. Now, before we go on to the station here's a note I was asked to hand you. You may read it here at the window. It's from Patrolman Wells."

The man from the West unfolded the little piece of paper handed him. His hand was steady when he began to read, but it trembled a little by the time he had finished. The note was rather short. "Bob: I was at the appointed place on time. When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago. Somehow I couldn't do it myself, so I went around and got a plain clothes man to do the job. JIMMY."

Roses for Mama

(not my own work)

 by: C.W. McCall, Source Unknown

A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away. As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing. He asked her what was wrong and she replied, "I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother. But I only have seventy-five cents, and a rose costs two dollars."

The man smiled and said, "Come on in with me. I'll buy you a rose."

He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother's flowers. As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home.

She said, "Yes, please! You can take me to my mother."

She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.

The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mother's house.

A Clever Dog

(not my own work)

 

by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

A butcher watching over his shop is really surprised when he saw a dog coming inside the shop. He shoos him away. But later, the dog is back again. So, he goes over to the dog and notices he has a note in his mouth.

He takes the note and it reads "Can I have 12 sausages and a leg of lamb, please. The dog has money in his mouth, as well."

The butcher looks inside and, lo and behold, there is a ten dollar Note there. So he takes the money and puts the sausages and lamb in a bag, placing it in the dog's mouth. The butcher is so impressed, and since it's about closing time, he decides to shut up shop and follow the dog. So off he goes.

The dog is walking down the street when he comes To a level crossing. The dog puts down the bag, jumps up and presses the button. Then he waits patiently, bag in mouth, for the lights to turn. They do, and he walks across the road, with the butcher following him all the way. The dog then comes to a bus stop, and starts looking at the timetable. The butcher is in awe at this stage. The dog checks out the times, and then sits on one of the seats provided. Along comes a bus. The dog walks around to the front, looks at the number, and goes back to his seat. Another bus comes. Again the dog goes and looks at the number, notices it's the right bus, and climbs on.

The butcher, by now, open-mouthed, follows him onto the bus. The bus travels through the town and out into the suburbs, the dog Looking at the scenery. Eventually he gets up, and moves to the front of the bus. He stands on 2 back paws and pushes the button to stop the bus. Then he gets off, his groceries still in his mouth. Well, dog and butcher are walking along the road, and then the dog turns into a house. He walks up the path, and drops the groceries on the step. Then he walks back down the path, takes a big run, and throws himself against the door. He goes back down the path, runs up to the door and again, it throws himself against it.

There's no answer at the house, so the dog goes back down the path, jumps up on a narrow wall, and walks along the perimeter of the garden. He gets to the window, and beats his head against it several times, walks back, jumps off, and waits at the door.

The butcher watches as a big guy opens the door, and starts abusing the dog, kicking him and punching him, and swearing at him.

The butcher runs up, and stops the guy. "What in heaven's name are You doing? The dog is a genius. He could be on TV, for the life of me!" to which the guy responds: "You call this clever? This is the second time this week that this stupid dog's forgotten his key." 

Reflection: Looks like some, people will never be satisfied with what they've got…

Death of a Hero...

(not my own work)

By: Marvin O. Ashton, Aspiring to Greatness 

The accompanying illustration tells a story my mother told me as a youngster. Don't be hasty. 

Weigh things carefully before you strike. When your blood pressure gets up, count ten. 

Beware of mistakes made in taking too seriously circumstantial evidence. Think before you act. 

Don't forget that truth is very often stranger than fiction.  

This trapper's wife was brought to the Alaska wilderness. She was cut down by death. Their child was about two years old. To go out in the woods in the course of this trapping, the trapper had sometimes left the child for a few hours in the care of their faithful dog. On such an absence one afternoon a terrible blizzard came up. The storm was so terrible that he had to take refuge in a hollow tree to save his life. At daybreak he rushed to his cabin. 

The door was open. His dog who looked at him from the corner of his eyes was covered with blood. The father's blood froze in his veins. Just one thing had happened ~ his dog had turned wolf and had killed his child. He reached for the axe and in a moment the same was buried into the skull of his trusted animal.
 

Like a maniac he scanned the scene. In hopeless desperation he uncovered the gruesome remnants of his cabin. Tipper over, the cracked furniture was telling a story of a battle that had taken place here an hour before. A faint cry came from under the bed. Again his heart seemed paralyzed. There he found his offspring safe and sound. Just a moment of pause to cuddle his dear on in his arms and he was to determine whence the blood on his dog came. The answer came just a second later. The sad riddle was solved. 

In a remote corner, there it was ~ a dead wolf, his huge mouth showing fangs intended for the baby which his faithful dog had saved.

Just a moment of caution and he could have held both his child and his hero dog in his arms. 

Remorse took over instead.

Forfeit and Prevail...

As usual my blog entry is looooong overdue. I've been so busy. Work is hectic, keeping me on my toes and in a constant frenzy. Last night they announced on the news that MJ was actually murdered! I knew it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Poor MJ:(

It's so true about how when one door closes another (or many others) open for u.

And it's also true that if we focus on the closed door, we don't notice the open ones. I finally stopped focusing on the closed one and now, equipped with both my previously mentioned attitude and an open mind, I've been overwhelmed with the amount of opportunities I'm faced with. Not that I'm complaining. True happiness is something to cherish and I'm feeling it after so, so long.

The secret is to focus on yourself, without excluding everyone else from ur life. I steer clear of the backward philosophies and beliefs I used to impose on myself. I always restricted myself, worrying bout my reputation and how others will judge me. But in all honesty nobody judged me, I judged myself! And besides, those who do judge don't matter! As long as u keep ur integrity intact and uphold ur values and never do anything u're ashamed of, nobody else matters. U cant live to please other people. Some people are never pleased. Dont fear them, fear God. It's my new way of thinking and hence a new way of living and it has changed my priorities completely. It's an inexperienced, *c°R^a¢Z°y*, kind of addictive freedom that I've found :).

Anyways, time to go...

I'm gona post a whole lotta stories this gal sends me on fb. I only chose the ones I found most inspiring. Enjoy.................................... mwa*