#People do and say horrible things out of #selfishness, #pride or just plain #ignorance, things that impact your life in ways that they can't even imagine and maybe not even understand. Just one discouraging word, that's all it takes to alter #success, #self worth, or #trust in other people, or even trust in oneself. Actions may speak louder than words, but some words reverberate through the years, continually leaving a trail of sadness to whom they were said to, even though the one who had spoken it may not have even given it a second thought. That is why it is so important, that no matter what, when given the chance to encourage or discourage... always #encourage - always lift up - always give praise. It could be that one "atta boy" or that one discouraging word that changes someones life forever... and afterall, who wants to be responsible for being the one who didn't give that "atta boy"?

I want to start all over, build my own #life and fill it with all of the things that make me happy and only the #people who lift me up and love me are allowed in. A life without all of the hurt, fear and manipulation. Without the bitterness and the selfishness, and the resentment. I am abandoning my past, and... and I am cutting my ties. If I've learned anything in this life so far it's that blood is not thicker than water, there is no “magical bond” that holds a #family together and forces one to love someone regardless, only the Almighty is strong enough to love someone unconditionally. “Family loyalty”, “Family Ties”, “Blood Bond”.. all of these dramatic phrases are just a fanciful show of pride and egotism and are often empty words and sentiments that hold no true significance, other than to say “Hey, look at me, I am responsible for passing this #dysfunction onto yet another generation. I try to conceal it with a fake smile, prideful boasts and #bullshit.” In the end, when the shit hit's the fan it's the people who care about you that will be there to help and you will be surprised at how many are not “blood”, even then only the ones who truly care will have no ulterior motive, but it's more than likely that you're going to “go it alone, kid.” So buckle up.

Only you can be the #change you want in your life. YOU CAN break the cycle. Despite the desperate need for “family” society engraves in us at such an early and impressionable age, you CAN choose your family. Every human being has the right to happiness, and if that happiness is away from a blood relative, no matter WHAT the relationship, then that person has every right to pursue that happiness and sever that relationship. Not every apple on a sickly tree is stunted, be the apple that blossoms and plants a new seed of hope. The best revenge is living well. Fuck 'em. 

Growing up a tomboy, it really never occurred to me that all of the cooking my mother did for my father someday I would be doing for my husband. Ignoring all of the standards that society places on young women, I learned how to climb trees, build forts, catch snakes and make entertaining special effects with my mouth. Needless to say, I've never been very apt in the kitchen. I've been with my husband for 3 years, we wed this past August. Before we got married I made a promise to him that to be the best wife I could be, I, a childhood tomboy and lifelong advocate of never being like every other girl, would learn how to cook (DUN DUN DUHHNNNN). Thus is where The Culinary Misadventures of a New Wife begins.

I have attempted to cook in the past, to no avail. However, recently I undertook the task of preparing a surprise dinner for my husband. Meatloaf, garlic red potatoes and green beans. The dinner had all of the potential to be a misadventure, but it turned out rather well. I would share my meatloaf recipe *whispers* but it's a family secret. I can, however, share with you the recipe for these wonderful garlic red potatoes

Garlic Red Potatoes:

Ingredients

2 pounds red potatoes quartered
1/4 cup butter melted
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Place potatoes in an 8x8 inch baking dish.
In a small bowl combine melted butter, garlic, salt and lemon juice; pour over potatoes and stir to coat.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over potatoes.
Bake, covered, in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

I haven't occupied this body for any significant length of time, but what I've learned so far will serve to be a big help in the years to come. I can only imagine that from here it will grow increasingly challenging. What more could life throw at me? A lot more, I'm sure... and I must say that I'm not at all too happy with the likelihood of discovering the answer to that question. So here I am, thus far I've survived all of my battles and live to fight another day, however, not every battle is worth fighting, surprisingly it really does take a lot of practice to hone that reasoning skill. It's all about playing a poor hand well, know when to hold them and know when to fold them, sometimes even fighting the battles that are worth fighting turn out to be losses. Pity, I've fought a lot of battles with that outcome, even though they were losses it was still the right thing to do anyway. Doing the right thing, that's about the hardest thing you have to do in life. But why not, if you’re gonna do a thing it might as well be right. Sadly, sometimes we do the wrong thing, or we get wronged by someone else's shitty decisions. Stay away from shitty decision makers; they'll get you into a world of hurt.

I've also learned that friends are a dime a dozen, and real friends are hard to come by. Ain't that the truth? There are too many selfish people in this world with an "every man for themselves" attitude, so if you don't watch your own back then who will? The thing is, you never really can tell who has your back until you need them to watch it. The trick is to be a good judge of character; unfortunately that skill also takes a lot of practice. You have to dig through the muck and grime to find that nugget of gold, you know? No matter how small that nugget is, it's still gold and worth all of the effort of finding it. That's what a real friend is, a nugget of gold in a pile of dirt. Who woulda thunk it, eh? I know, not the most pleasant of analogies, but its suiting. People, regardless of how bad or good, influence our lives; there is something to be learned from everyone. We learn by example, always make sure that the example you are following is the right example, and those who give bad examples, learn what not to do from them. There are many things we could learn if we would simply pay attention to the failures and shortcomings of others; it really would save us the headache of finding out the hard way.

It’s difficult to grasp when you’re young that every decision you make now may affect your long-term future, be smarter about it than most, it will pay off in the end, no doubt about that. Be careful with your credit cards, they are no joke; you’ll regret using them unwisely. If you don’t know how to react to something, don’t react… think on it and calm down. Always show compassion and sympathy for those who are worthy of it. Respect isn’t earned, it’s mandatory… however, disrespect IS earned. Never go out of your way for someone you know will never go out of their way for you, they are a lost cause. Live with “the love of your life” before you marry them, you may be surprised, and if you are, you’ll be thankful that you found out sooner rather than later. If you get engaged, make it a long engagement, there is always useful knowledge you could gain by doing so. Don’t settle in life or love, wait until you know it feels right… if you don’t you could get into something that will take far more effort to get out of than it was to get in. Always be loyal to your family, however, know who is worthy of your loyalty… blood isn’t always thicker than water; it’s more complicated than that.

“The hippopotamus of worry hunkers down in the mire of muddy thinking” that’s what my grandmother always said. Don’t worry too much, whatever will be, will be. All you can do is press on and cope with the changing of the seasons, learn to accept the imperfections and embrace and hold onto the good times… it will get you through. When you think you have had enough, run that extra mile anyway, you CAN do it, even if you have to do it by yourself, don’t convince yourself that you are not able, that is the one lie that your enemies hope you’ll accept. Above all, never let your heart grow bitter, always give love, but only give to those you know will respect and be thankful for it. You are not a doormat, and you cannot save everyone… save yourself first. How can others rely on you if YOU need saving?
Those are my thoughts and only a fraction of the lessons I have learned so far, I am sure that life will grant me more wisdom in time…

This is Far_Skies... signing off... until next time.

Jay and I have been saving up to try this Indian restaurant that we've been wanting to try, Jeet India. It's a little pricey, but it was well worth it, and it had been so long since we had been out and about.

Here was our order:

Appetizers

Main Course for me  

Jay had

... And we washed it down with a bottle of white Riesling wine MmmMmmMmmmmm

Needless to say there were bountiful leftovers. After the meal I was so stuffed and so content, my body completely relaxed and I let out this loud and healthy burp... no, it wasn't a burp, it was more like a belch :/
I've never full out belched accidentally before, I am sure everyone heard it and chose to ignore it... but it was pretty hard to miss xD I was so embarrassed... but I laughed it off and continued to drink my wine.

It was definitely worth showing my face there again, even if I become "That belching girl". lol (man, even thinking about it right now is making me face palm. *facepalm*)

The Question:

• If you could travel through time, where would you go and what would you do?

If you choose to travel to the PAST, you can bring nothing more than one piece of literature to leave behind. Your time is limited and you can only stay for one full day.

Of course when I think of where I would go and what would I do, smoking a pipe with Einstein, observing the ancient Egyptians and walking with Jesus Christ all come to mind, but those possibilities are too easy and take too little imagination. Now, I assume that when you say “If you could travel through time” you are implying that I will be traveling forward or backward in OUR timeline here on earth, but let’s consider the broader view of this question.

There are so many mysteries in this multiverse; so many unanswered questions and undiscovered possibilities! Now, if I am going to be “traveling” through time, I am going to need a destination, first I need to decide which direction I will be traveling. Since we don’t really rate much in the galactic scheme of things (not yet), taking present knowledge into consideration, what exactly would we have to gain by going into the past when the future is so enthralling? I will be traveling into the future. Let’s assume for a moment that I am traveling in a vessel capable of opening and stabilizing a wormhole allowing me to travel vast distances in a very short amount of time, let’s also assume that I know exactly where my destination is. I input my destination into my “intergalactic GPS system” and dial into the right frequency, my vessel propels me into and through this wormhole unharmed, putting me just out of orbit of an inhabited alien planet.

Let’s say for the sake of imagination that this planet that I have just traveled to is “home base” for these beings that some believe have been visiting, observing and contacting us throughout our history. That’s not to say that these aliens are indigenous to this planet, but this is where they reside. For the sake of my fantasy, let’s say that the planet is inhabited by beings that aren’t hostile and regularly receive “guests”.

Upon arrival I would be greeted and welcomed; invited to stay and learn for the sake of my race and planet. I would immerse myself in their culture (if possible), learn their language and physics, I would take notes on everything I possibly could. I would translate their texts and inquire the knowledge as to why they have visited us. As I said before, the possibilities are endless and this is only one possibility that I am very fond of.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” – Albert Einstein

What would you do?

So this morning I was roused out of bed by a smell that can only be described as ginormously abso-flippin-lutely smelly in the must horrendously horrendous way. I was laying in bed alone and Jay was upstairs taking a shower. When he got out of the shower I made my displeasure of the smell known.

"It smells down here."

"Yeah it does, the septic tank must be backing up... I'll let my brother know."

He got something out of the dryer and walked right past the where the horrendous smell was coming from. For the past couple weeks we had (on occasion) smelled something resembling poo or possibly death, but thought nothing of it. This house has a septic tank and we thought it was just a normal septic tank smell. What makes all of this worse is that we live in the basement of this house... right where natures little horrors can find us... I shiver just thinking about it. *throws up in mouth a little* So Jay leaves for work and the smell starts getting a little worse, at 7:30am all I want to do is just sleep or a little longer... but I needed to go investigate, just for peace of mind. So I get up and follow the smell.

Jay must have been pretty preoccupied with thought to have missed the astonishingly horrible mess I found. *picks up phone and speed dials Jay*

"it doesn't just smell like it's backing up... it DID back up."

"Oh know, that's not good."

"No, it's not good at all, there is sh!t everywhere."

"OMG"

OMG, indeed. So I am looking at this mess wondering how awful it is going to be to clean up... *shivers*... believe it or nor it was manageable, very unpleasant... but manageable.

I shall have nightmares for months after this... and I shall never go barefoot in the basement again.