I have recently rededicated myself to living a healthier life. Of course I’m focusing on my eating habits, I’m exercising more, and I’ve even added some activities that should help me be healthier both mentally and spiritually. Let’s hope it sticks.

Becoming more active is both invigorating and terrifying. I hate how I picture my chubby self running (the wide angle picture of me that was just published on Facebook doesn’t help), but alas, if I don’t look silly for a little while, I will never look better.

I have discovered a solution to my upper body dilemma with a Nike sports bra that is both corset, harness, savior, and torture device. In short, I love it. My latest trouble area, clothing-wise, is, well, to be honest, my pants keep falling off. In some cases this might be a good thing, if my rapid weight loss is what was causing it, but I’m afraid it’s more likely my pear-shape.

Does anyone have a top-secret suspenders like device I’ve never heard of? Because if they exist, I’m on my way to the suspender store (locals, we call that Morelock Music, haw!) but I’m inclined to think that’s not a viable solution.

I went and purchase several different pairs of full-length and capri length exercise pants and they all do it. Looking back, I swear I didn’t pass over drawstring ones, I’d remember seeing them.

Lastly, I’m cheap. I’d really love some suggestions that aren’t $70 workout pants because I’ll never spend that kind of money, well not u till they actually look good on me.

Does anyone have any suggestions? It’d be much appreciated.

This year, my friend, and uber talented musician, Scott Miller put out a Christmas CD.  I coulnd’t believe it.  I took him for even more of a Scrooge than me!  As it turns out, it’s a beautiful record.  Maybe I never liked Christmas music because all you ever hear are Rascall Flatts and Mariah Carey’s versions.

The opening track  on Christmas Gift, features poet and musician R.B. Morris joining him with a reading from TS Elliott’s Journey of the Magi.  It’s the perfect marriage of spoken work and music.  Truly a gift.  Scott also gives us his take on Neil Young’s Star of Bethlehem.  It’s an old favorite of mine, one that I’d only heard at a December show years ago, I felt lucky to have heard it then, knowing now I can play it at anytime makes me so happy. I catch myself starting the song over again before it even finishes.  It’s that good.  He also covers a John Prine song and a Roger Miller song, both of which work perfectly.

So that’s my recommendation, go get this album.  You can purchase them on his website or, even better, go catch him live. He travels all over the country just about all of the time.  Go enjoy some good music, and right now, some holiday cheer.

I think it’s a beautiful tribute to a beautiful person.  I’ve struggled all day to think of something kind to do.  I can say I have been kind to those I’ve interacted with today, more so than usual.  I drove by Katie’s house on my way to lunch (she lives near my home, I’m not creepy) and upon seeing her car in the driveway, I immediately wanted my act of kindness to be grabbing flowers or bright balloons and running to her porch.  I felt like that might be an intrusion and I knew it was no coincidence she was home today, so I gave her that privacy.

I thought about filling all the parking meters downtown but then realized that most spaces aren’t metered and by the time I got enough change, I needed to be back to work.  By the time I get off, the meters w0n’t be ticketing.  I thought of buying flowers for my coworkers, but the day before payday made that a not-so-wise decision.

So today, I am still struggling to find my specific act of kindness.  In the meantime, in honor of Henry’s family, I’m reaching out to those I hold dear and telling them I love them.  I’m making time to see them.  And I will make sure they know, nothing is worth more than seeing them another day.

But, I just might throw a good joke in there too because, Henry wouldn’t have it any other way.

This week, I’m attempting to prove that all people in Tennessee aren’t closed-minded bigots.

There have been many Facebook conversations about the so-called Ground Zero mosque.  It’s not at Ground Zero and it’s not even a mosque but people who benefit from inciting fear are squawking awfully loud that “they” shouldn’t be allowed to the “that”.  “They” is a group of people who want to build a community center and “that” is, well, build a community center. Never mind the community center isn’t going to be on the site of the World Trade Center, it’s two blocks away and you can’t even SEE Ground Zero from the site of the community center.  This “solemn” area that many are up in arms over, is not a sacred space filled with monuments to those that lost their lives where loved ones pause in reflection and prayer, it’s actually a busy and diverse city district. You can no more call it a “Ground Zero Mosque” than you call the deli a block away, the “Ground Zero Deli”  My personal favorite is the “Ground Zero Trashy Lingerie Store” or the “Less-acclaimed Ground Zero Strip Club” differentiating it from the “Ground Zero Strip Club”, but I digress…

We’ve been having our own uproar over the placement of a mosque in middle Tennessee.  It seems many of those who proclaim to support the Constitution, really only support it when they are afraid someone “wants to take away my guns!” and not the VERY FIRST AMENDMENT!  Well at the end of August, someone decided to set fire to the construction equipment at the site. Seemingly normal people rationalized that “we couldn’t yet say if it was arson or a hate crime, maybe it was just vandals”.

I think that’s what disturbs me the most. I expect we’ll always encounter extremists that do horrible things in the name of their belief system; I just don’t expect for the seemingly rational to excuse it or sometimes, as in the case of the community center in New York, even lightly endorse it.

In the last week, the home of a lesbian couple was burned to the ground. Arson is suspected since the word “Queers” was spray-painted on their garage door.  This happened less than 40 miles from my home.

Today, a burned Quran was found on the steps of a nearby mosque. It seemed to have also been shot with a shotgun.

At 2.2 miles, this hate is getting a little too close to home.

Our friend Jay Pfaffman’s house burned down this week. He, his dog Thor, and Thor’s kitty all made it out safely, thank goodness, but his house is gone. I stopped by yesterday and it’s heartbreaking to see someone’s life and all their belongings become a pile of ashes. People always say, “What would you grab if your house was on fire?” thinking that’s a reasonable thing to ask. Jay only had time to get himself out. Thankfully, the firefighters got to Thor.

And finally my dear friend Karen’s mother-in-law passed away in a freak motorcycle accident.  Eva Maria was an outgoing, life-loving, rambunctious woman.  Heck, she died at 73  in a wreck on her new Harley! That should tell you something.  I hate that my friends are hurting because they will no doubt miss her but she lived her life.  Of that we can be sure. I also hate that I didn’t get the chance to know her as well as I soon would have. She would have been my neighbor when we build our house. And what a neighbor she’d have been.

http://www.wylie-eventing.com/2010/03/maggies-paparazzi.html

I have a personal connection, Carrie was a friend. We didn’t know each other very well, but, still, we were friends. And I’m close with many of her best friends that she left behind. And we’re all wondering where is the public outcry? Where is the outcry for SWIFT justice? Where is the media coverage? Will Jamie Satterfield be tweeting updates from the courthouse to let us know what’s going on minute-by-minute?

I’m afraid she won’t; I wonder if it’s not sensational enough for her to get assigned it (Jamie, if you’re reading this, I really, really wish you would cover this). And for all the media outlets*, I wonder if it’s just not enough of a “ratings grabber” when it doesn’t involve race, drugs, or political scandal. It’s just a tragic story of a young women with an amazing future ahead of her and how a violent, brutal attack robbed the world of her. Those who were touched by her, will always be so, and those who were touched by the crime, have forgotten. They sleep well at night assuming that justice has been served and we’re all safe from the Micah Johnson’s of the world.

Little do they know how far that is from the truth.

*For disclosure purposes, I work in the advertising department of one of the most respected and important media outlets in East Tennessee.

We offered to attempt to drive down there and get them.  I thought we could possibly get Granny to go to a hotel if I were there to talk her into it.  She’s not much on wanting to go anywhere and while it would seem she’d be all for it what with them being out of power, she’s just not that way.  She has a dog and was worried that they wouldn’t let her take her with her.  Of course, I wouldn’t have let anything happen to my grandmother’s dog even if they hadn’t let her bring her to the hotel but that kind of stress affects an elderly person more than it would you or I.  So, at my mother’s advice, we decided to wait and see what the morning would bring.

I got the call from mom around 11:00 and she asked if we could find a kerosene heater and bring it to them.  Sure. That’s an easy one.  Well, so we thought.  While I’m not a patron of Wal-Mart on a normal basis, I thought that they would likely be my only hope for finding a kerosene heater in Knoxville during winter-weather.  We went to one Wal-Mart and quickly found out that all Knoxville-area Wal-Mart stores were out of kerosene heaters. Crap.  My husband and I quickly put both of our smartphones to work and called two different Lowe’s, two Home Depots, two, Mayo garden centers, a feed store/co-op, and finally, a neighborhood Ace hardware store. They had one.  I begged the guy to hold it for me and we drove as quickly as we could.

I also bought a battery starter/mini-generator thingy.  It wouldn’t help them in this situation because it needed a full 24 hours to charge, but if they had it, they would have had light and some power, certainly enough to power my Granny’s electric blanket through the night.

As I attempted to charge the battery starter with my cigarette lighter (you can’t for the initial charge), I asked my husband to run into Ace and get the heater and a  gas can.  The wonderful guys at Ace REFUSED my husband’s attempt to buy it.  They were adamant that “this heater is for a girl named Catherine’s 94 year old grandmother”.  Immediately, I remembered what I had said to the guy when I was on the phone and frantic. I had begged him to “please don’t let anyone else get this” and you know what, he wasn’t going to.  I was so stricken by their kindness, I immediately started tearing up and ran in the store to thank them.  I cannot express how thankful I am for the thoughtful staff at Ace hardware in Bearden.  They will forever have my business (and I don’t even live in Bearden!)