Holding A Grudge Only Hurts You

It takes a lot to get me to that point; my attention span isn’t long enough for grudges. I realize people make mistakes, say things they shouldn’t or have opinions that don’t agree with my own. If people are just plain mean or rude all the time, I leave them alone not giving them another thought. I have better things to do. No reason to let someone live rent-free in my head.

I just avoid those who continue to say and do the same terrible things over and over again. I know they aren’t going to change so there is no need to waste my time and energy.

There are, however, friends and family in my life that do hold grudges. There’s no need to name names and most likely they won’t read this anyway since they are so pissed off they won’t speak to me anymore, but it is something that bothers me. Just because they choose to alienate me doesn’t mean I love them any less.

When people hold a grudge they are hoping to punish the other person with their absence and lack of communication. Sometimes it works that way but more times than not the target of your anger goes unnoticed. If you are the type who is continually a drama queen it might even be a relief to them to not have to put up with your hissy fits anymore. A person can only take so much, you know.

You alienating yourself isn’t going to make people change; they are who they are. They aren’t going to suddenly decide you are right and rewire their brain to your way of thinking unless you resort to some kind of blackmail and those things always have a way of backfiring so I don’t advice it. Even then it’s only a façade.

Staying angry with other people is like an ulcer that eats away at your insides little by little. It consumes your thoughts and doesn’t allow for anything else to happen in your life. Only you can release yourself from this prison you have created.

Time doesn’t always heal all wounds; sometimes they fester and become infected causing more pain and discomfort. Thinking mean thoughts makes angry wrinkles. You don’t want that.

You’ve heard the old saying, “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.” Disassociating yourself from the people you love can be like that. You don’t realize how much you need them until they aren’t there.

It also causes problems among other friends and family because they have to make extra accommodations to make sure the two of you don’t meet up or have to be in the same room together. Look at all the stress you are causing when you could just be mature about it. What difference does it make if the two of you don’t have the same beliefs, is it really worth losing a family member or friend over?

You believe you are right and I know I am so that about covers it. I have my beliefs and won’t change just because someone decides not to talk to me anymore. I can be stubborn like that.

Apologizing won't do any good because I still hold the same ideas.

I’m sorry my opinions upset you but I won’t stand down.

So enjoy your sulking, have a good life and remember I still love you even if you are a doodoo head. See I can be mature.

Gluten Free Oatmeal Carob Cookies With Buckwheat Flour

Preheat oven to 350 ° Fahrenheit.

1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups butter (softened)
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream first five ingredients in a mixing bowl then add:

1 ½ cups buckwheat flour
1 ¾ cups oats
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Mix together well and stir in carob chips and nuts if you are adding them.

1 cup carob chips
½ cup nuts chopped (optional)


Spray cookie sheets with non-stick baking spray or grease with shortening. Drop about a tablespoon size dollop onto the pan giving about an inch around for spreading when baked; flatten slightly.

Bake for about 10 – 12 minutes.

Cookies will be a grayish muddy color but taste awesome according to my kids.

Why I Say Happy Holidays

Some people have gotten upset because the media has switched to saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. I personally don’t have a problem with this because I realize there are many different religions and people in this world and it’s only right that we should acknowledge them all.

There are the Pagans celebrating winter solstice, Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah, some celebrate Kwanza and other holidays I don’t even know about. Those people have a right to be included in our well wishes and I wouldn’t want to exclude anyone by merely saying, “Merry Christmas.”

Just because we don’t say Christmas doesn’t mean we are excluding that holiday, we are just being nice and including everyone else as well. Everybody still gets their nativity and decorated trees; goodness knows the White House even has a huge pine showcased center stage, so nobody is forgetting the Christian religion when we extend greetings to others.

Funny thing is, most of Christmas tradition is taken from the Pagans. There is no Christmas tree in the bible; that is from the Pagans, Druids used trees for sacred ceremony.

Jesus wasn’t born in December; that comes from the feast of the son of Isis when gluttonous eating, drinking and gift giving were the tradition. We’re certainly not giving gifts to Jesus this time of year; we give them to each other.

In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating, drinking, and gift giving were traditions of this feast. Hmm, sounds very familiar. Don’t you think?

Caroling comes from the ancient Roman celebration of mummers who would dress in costume and go door to door singing, dancing and entertaining their neighbors to celebrate the God of Agriculture.

The Yule log was to celebrate the Sun God.

Kissing under the mistletoe is a fertility ritual.

So when people try to tell me saying, “Happy Holidays” is robbing them of Christmas it makes me wonder if they realize how hypocritical that statement sounds since most of Christmas is a direct robbery of the Pagan rites.

Whatever holiday you celebrate this month I want to wish you a wonderful holiday season.

Don't Trust Your Appliances

I’m not kidding; they’ll turn on you just like that. snap

I got a new dryer this past summer because my old one finally got so old it wasn’t worth repairing anymore. It was about 30 years old.

This new one is a “smart” appliance and does all sorts of things except sew on missing buttons and fold them like on the Jetson’s but it’s just a matter of time before they come out with that model. I’m not sure I want one now after what I went through today.

My dryer was working great until about three days a go when it started turning off too soon. At first I didn’t realize it and wondered why my clothes weren’t dry. I have a hard time hearing the little bird chirping sound it makes when the cycle is finished from the back of the house so I set my oven timer and stayed close by so I could hear it. I didn’t have to wait long because six minutes in the appliance just stopped, no bird chirping, no beeping or a warning that he’s tired of working for pocket lint. He just stopped.

So I tried other settings and found that the casual cycle and the wrinkle guard buttons were the problem.

I called the repair number and after being on hold and giving my phone number and address to four people (don’t they put this in the computer?) I finally got a repair tech. So she has me put my dryer on the phone. I’m not kidding. These new fangled appliances can talk on the phone and tell what’s bothering them. Kind of like a clothes dryer psychologist.

“What seems to be the trouble, Mr. Dryer?”

Anyway the stinking dryer lied. No, I am not kidding he made it sound like I had pushed the wrong buttons in the wrong sequence and it was all my fault. Can you believe that?

You can’t trust appliances these days; they’ll turn on you in a New York minute.

Before the woman on the phone talked to my back stabbing dryer she had mentioned unplugging it and plugging it back in to reset it because sometimes that works. Before getting off the phone I told her I’d try that and see if it helps and if not I’d call her back.

So I get off the phone and fuss at my dryer.

“I see how you are, trying to make me look like I don’t know how to dry clothes. I was drying clothes before you were ever invented. I KNOW HOW TO PUSH A DAMN BUTTON.”

After giving that chunk of white metal a piece of my mind I unplugged him. Which felt really good in a cynical kind of way.

I guess I showed him who is boss. He’s working properly again. Sometimes you just have to let them know who is in charge. Just because they can talk on the phone and look fancy don’t mean they can get all high and mighty and think they are smarter.

I’m just glad no one was here to see me talking to a dryer.

Anhidrosis- I Don't Sweat

Anhidrosis causes us to not sweat or hardly sweat and we are more prone to heat stroke than anyone else.

My whole life my internal heating and cooling system has never worked properly. When I get hot I never sweat, seriously. People around me will be melting, dripping with water and I have no perspiration whatsoever.

Now some women may think this is great, no perspiration stains on my clothing, no running make-up or wet clothes at the gym, but it’s not really a good thing.

I cannot go in a sauna; this would be suicide for me. I have tried them out and all that happens is that I start to pass out. Luckily, I have gotten out before actually reaching unconsciousness because that could be fatal. This was before I knew what was wrong (I still didn’t have a name for it) and that I wasn’t like most people. I now steer clear of saunas.

This is also part of why I’ve never been much of an outdoors person; this coupled with my Raynaud’s syndrome (yeah, I’m messed up at both ends of the spectrum) keeps me from extreme temperatures. If it’s really hot or really cold, I stay inside otherwise bad things happen.

I’ve never had to wear a sweatband, never needed a towel at the gym or had unsightly wet spots on my underarms. I do still wear antiperspirant because even though there is no moisture I do still have body odor if I get overheated. Not sure how that works but it does.

Some of my friends have been jealous when we are out in the heat because I appear to be cool as a cucumber but that isn’t the case. I’m just as hot, maybe more so, than everyone else it just doesn’t show on my body.

When I was a kid I was mostly an indoors type person. I could never play sports because if I got overheated I passed out. Kind of hard to win a game if one of your players keeps becoming unconscious. I’m not much of a sports fan anyway.

I can hike, if its not too hot and I am in the shade at least part of the time and I can exercise if it’s in an air-conditioned environment. My husband calls me lizard woman.

My family looks out for me. We live in the southwest where it can get very warm in the summer time. They’ll tell me it’s too hot for me to be outside. I have to have air conditioning in my car or I could pass out while driving. A couple of times we’ve had power outages in the summer due to storms or fires. When that happened I kept wet towels around my neck to stay cool until the power came back on. If it had lasted very long or been extremely hot I would have gone to a hotel.

There isn’t really any cure, you just have to deal with it and know your limitations. If you have anhidrosis or think you do take these precautions.

Don’t get overheated and pay attention to the weather; your meteorologist is your friend. Use water to stay cool; since you don’t sweat you can moisten your body with water. This does the same as perspiration does for everyone else. Even though you aren’t losing water through your pores you still need to drink plenty of water. Hydration is important for everyone, even lizard people.

I have no idea what causes it, I’m pretty sure I was born with it because I have always been sensitive to the heat and don’t ever remember sweating. I’ve read the list of reasons some people get it and I have none of them.