Who is required to be civil . . .

The president touts civility, civility, civility these days which basically translates to not talking back to him or his proposed changes to our lives. Someone is always on the carpet for 'hate speech' even if it only to defend a position on some situation. Today, the breaking news headline was:

"Supreme Court upholds Westboro Baptist Church's right to stage anti-gay protests at funerals of U.S. troops."

Okay, they have been granted the right to 'hate speech'? If they are staging anti-gay protests, aren't they demeaning gays? If they are coming out with signs and slogans against gays, isn't THAT 'hate speech'?

Besides the stupidity of the Supreme Court in making this legal, did they even consider the feelings of the families and the burial of their loved ones? Here are people burying sons, husbands, brothers, sisters, wives, etc., and the sorrow is tainted with strangers bringing their agendas into a private situation. These deceased died for their country and the Supreme Court doesn't protest their families' right to dignity?

The world gets crazier and crazier.

Hope I never hear any of these . . .!

Trooper Wisecracks
Comments made by state troopers taken from car videos:

1. "You know, stop lights don't come any redder than the one you just went through."

2. "Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch after you wear them a while."

3. "If you take your hands off the car, I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document."

4. "If you run, you'll only go to jail tired."

5. "Can you run faster than 1,200 feet per second? Because that's the speed of the bullet that'll be chasing you."

6. "You don't know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket, huh?"

7. "Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I'm the shift supervisor?"

8. "Warning! You want a warning? Okay, I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket."

9. "The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not: Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?"

10. "Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go on rides and eat cotton candy and corn dogs."

11. "Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven."

12. "In God we trust; all others we run through NCIC." (National Crime Information Center)

13. "Just how big were those 'two beers' you say you had?"

14. "No sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we can."

15. "I'm glad to hear that the Chief [of Police] is a personal friend of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail."

16. "You thought we don't give pretty women tickets? You're right, we don't. Sign here."

Got that right!

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

Mark Twain

A fruitful day in the making . . .

Nothing makes me happier than getting an order for my handiwork and this past week has been busy with just that! I will sew and quilt regardless of whether the project at hand has a 'home' but there is a joy in knowing that someone cared enough for tiny stitches and an original quilt or bag to order one specifically. My project request today is a Guardian Angel tote bag with general instructions to put lots of angels on it. That is definitely a can-do order! I also have two quilts approaching their completion and look forward to taking the last stitch on each.

I had one person state, thinking I was out of hearing, that they wouldn't pay $20 for one of my quilts. She initially ordered one and was shocked that just the fabric, batting, etc. would cost around $40. She was floored that on top of that, I would charge for labor, too. Imagine! I like my quilts, whether sold or gifted, to go to good homes. An attitude like that didn't bode well for the safety of one of my quilts in a home like that. Kind of ironic as I was feeling sorry for the one inquiring and was thinking about giving her a quilt for a gift. After that remark, I figured she wouldn't even want a $20 quilt for free!

Regretting a vote . . .

Given the current BAD changes in our country, today, I imagine many people are regretting their votes that put our current politicians and president into office. Trying to be a straightforward Catholic, it seems to me that any vote for a defined pro-abort candidate would be against the precepts of my religion . . . and I wouldn't vote for such. Unfortunately, many Catholics did vote for the very anti-life president and various other politicians in high places. A recent article by a priest firmly stated that voting in such a way requires reparation on the part of the voter.

However, I know many people who don't bother to register to vote and they always seem to be the loudest in complaining at how events are now shaping our lives. If we use our one vote to put a pro-abort candidate into office any worse than a person who abstains from voting because they just couldn't be bothered? Sure, our lone votes seems to be something that would be lost in the crowd but what if the right vote is cast by many and our voice is heard? The election that got obama into office had a huge majority of Catholic voters. As usual, voting wasn't 100%. Could there have been a different outcome if everyone took their citizenship in this country seriously?

Just wondering when and where . . .

After taking a few weeks off from quilting to work on tote bag orders, I got out my three quilt tops in preparation for some quilting. I carefully counted the completed squares and discovered I had one more than I needed for my scrap quilt. No problem with that as extra is better than not enough! Another quilt had exactly twelve squares.

I spent the day cutting out quilt backing and batting with lots of pinning in anticipation of some decorative quilt stitching. I laid out the twelve-square quilt only to discover one square was missing! Since I KNEW for a fact that I had started out with twelve, I spent 30 minutes or more searching through my fabric and any place where the square could have gotten misplaced. No quilt square turned up. Fortunately, I had enough of the fabric to replicate the missing square and got a lot of quilt stitching done, yesterday. I am, however, interested to find out where and when the missing square will turn up. It's the law of missing things that are replaced . . . they turn up as soon as you decide you need to do it over again!

The quilt in the works is called 'Falling Into Winter' - my own design with lots of autumn leaves verging into winter blues and greys. The second quilt nearing completion is a scrap quilt - a favorite method of mine. To anyone who purchases it, they see a colorful quilt. To me, I see a lot of memories from the bits and pieces of fabric saved from bygone projects.

Fashionably late . . .

I never could understand the concept of being fashionably late. It always seemed rude to me. I suppose those who come in late either want to make an entrance or they are just inconsiderate towards their invitation.

Being late for Sunday Mass, however, floors me! As a Catholic, I would think that Sunday Mass being the focus of the day, there would not be any doubt or problem about arriving in time. Every Sunday, however, I witness the same scenario with little variation.

There is a darling couple who always arrive early and sit on the left-hand side of the very front pew. They kneel in prayer until Mass begins. About five minutes after Mass starts, a very hefty woman shows up, passes by several 'open' pews and insists on getting past this little couple in order to sit front and center. The gentleman kindly stands up while the woman and her bulk pushes through to her chosen seat. Things settle down and a prayerful stance returns. Halfway through the sermon, another regular shows up and she also HAS to sit in that front pew. The couple accomodate her as she wants to sit on the inside not the end of the pew. She crowds past, the bulky lady moves down just a bit and they are oblivious to their distraction.

If we had a crowded Mass, I could understand but there is always plenty of room to discreetly move into a pew. Arriving late constantly is inconsiderate to the other parishioners and doesn't show much of an awareness of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Fashionably late is still late. Arriving after the Readings at Mass means you really haven't attended Mass.