Growing up ... Thx Pail C!

 

Growing up is a weird notion to wrap your mind around. As you go through life, your perspectives on almost everything will change. How you define success will change as well. Things that you thought were important at the age of 35 will be useless when you're 65. You may not realize it now, but everything will shift.

At age 4 success is not peeing in your pants. - private     At age 12 success is having friends. - private       At age 16 success is having a drivers license. - private     At age 20 success is having sex. - private       At age 35 success is having money. - private         At age 50 success is having money. - private       At age 60 success is having sex. - private       At age 70 success is having a drivers license. - private       At age 75 success is having friends. - private       At age 80 success is not peeing in your pants. - private     It all comes full circle, whether you like it or not.     Share this hilarious truth about life with others.     May you always have Love to Share, Health to Spare, and Friends who Care.....

 

Passing the purple hat to you ... Thx Sonny H!

Passing the Purple Hat to You Inbox x ramey hoskins 3:13 PM (1 hour ago) to     We have all read this one before, but it was good to revisit her wise words... enjoy   IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER - by Erma Bombeck (written after she found out she was dying from cancer). I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day. I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage. I would have talked less and listened more. I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded. I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace. I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth. I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband. I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed. I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains. I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life. I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime. Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.. When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, 'Later... Now go get washed up for dinner.' There would have been more 'I love you's, more 'I'm sorry's.' But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute; look at it and really see it; live it and never give it back.. STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF! Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us... If you don't mind, send this on to all the women you are grateful to have as friends. Maybe we should all grab that purple hat earlier. Please send this to five phenomenal women today in celebration of Beautiful Women's Month. If you do, something good will happen -- you will boost another woman's self esteem.

" ... There's a mousetrap in the house ..." Thanks Marge!

Subj: A Journey Called Life..worth the read





A mouse looked through the crack in the wall



to see the farmer and his wife open a package.



"What food might this contain?", the mouse wondered.

He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.






Retreating to the farmyard,



the mouse proclaimed this warning :



"There is a mousetrap in the house!



There is a mousetrap in the house!"













The chicken clucked and scratched,



raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse,



I can tell this is a grave concern to you,



but it is of no consequence to me.



I cannot be bothered by it."



The mouse turned to the pig and told him,



"There is a mousetrap in the house!



There is a mousetrap in the house!"













The pig sympathized, but said,



"I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse,



but there is nothing I can do about it



but pray..



Be assured you are in my prayers."











The mouse turned to the cow and said,



"There is a mousetrap in the house!



There is a mousetrap in the house!"











The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you,



but it's no skin off my nose."





> So, the mouse returned to the house,



head down and dejected,



to face the farmer's mousetrap



. . . Alone.. .. .









That very night



a sound was heard throughout the house



-- the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.









The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.



In the darkness, she did not see it.



It was a venomous snake



whose tail was caught in the trap.









The snake bit the farmer's wife.







The farmer rushed her to the hospital.







When she returned home she still had a fever.



Everyone knows you treat a fever



with fresh chicken soup.



So the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard



for the soup's main ingredient:







But his wife's sickness continued.



Friends and neighbours came to sit with her



around the clock.



To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.











But, alas, the farmer's wife did not get well...



She died.











So many people came for her funeral



that the farmer had the cow slaughtered



to provide enough meat for all of them



for the funeral luncheon.









And the mouse looked upon it all



from his crack in the wall



with great sadness.







So, the next time you hear



someone is facing a problem



and you think it doesn't concern you,



remember ---







When one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.



We are all involved in this journey called life.



We must keep an eye out for one another



and make an extra effort



to encourage one another.











YOU MAY WANT TO SEND THIS



TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER



HELPED YOU OUT...











AND LET THEM KNOW



HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE.









- REMEMBER -









EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD



IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY.









OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER



FOR A REASON.











One of the best things to hold onto



In this world is a FRIEND.

Recycling: A crabby old m,an... Thanks Clay!

I LOVE THIS POEM, IT TELLS THE CIRCLE OF A MANS LIFE AND I AM APPROACHING THE FINAL STAGES.


C.V.

Subject: Fw: A Crabby Old Man

Old guys who know you still see the exceptionally good Portsmouth Clay basketball player and great girls' softball coach along with your wonderful wife, Carol, Mr. Vice!  Thanks good friend!

Sam






Enjoy what you have today, for some day in the future you may be just like the Crabby Old Man....That day will be here before you realize it....for sure 



A classic



CRABBY OLD MAN





When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in Moosomin,

Saskatchewan , it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.

Later, when the nurses were going through his meagre possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Alberta.



The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St. Louis Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.



And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet.



Crabby Old Man



What do you see nurses? . . . .. . What do you see?

What are you thinking . . . . . when you're looking at me?

A crabby old man . .. . .. . not very wise,

Uncertain of habit . . . . . with faraway eyes?



Who dribbles his food . . . . . and makes no reply.

When you say in a loud voice . . . . . 'I do wish you'd try!'

Who seems not to notice .. .. . .. . the things that you do.

And forever is losing . . . . . A sock or shoe?



Who, resisting or not .. . . . . lets you do as you will,

With bathing and feeding . . . . . The long day to fill?

Is that what you're thinking? . .. . . . Is that what you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse . . . . . you're not looking at me..



I'll tell you who I am. . . .. . . As I sit here so still,

As I do at your bidding, . . . . . as I eat at your will.

I'm a small child of Ten . . .. . . with a father and mother,

Brothers and sisters . . . . .. who love one another.



A young boy of Sixteen . . . . with wings on his feet.

Dreaming that soon now . . . . . a lover he'll meet.

A groom soon at Twenty . . . . . my heart gives a leap.

Remembering, the vows . . . . . that I promised to keep.



At Twenty-Five, now . . .. . . I have young of my own.

Who need me to guide . . . . .. And a secure happy home.

A man of Thirty . . . . . My young now grown fast,

Bound to each other . . . .. . With ties that should last.



At Forty, my young sons . . . . . have grown and are gone,

But my woman's beside me . . . .. . to see I don't mourn.

At Fifty, once more, babies play 'round my knee,

Again, we know children . . . . .. My loved one and me.



Dark days are upon me . . . . . my wife is now dead.

I look at the future . . . . . shudder with dread.

For my young are all rearing . .. . . . young of their own.

And I think of the years . . . . . and the love that I've known.



I'm now an old man . . . . .. and nature is cruel.

'Tis jest to make old age . . . . . look like a fool.

The body, it crumbles . . . . . grace and vigor, depart.

There is now a stone . . . . where I once had a heart.



But inside this old carcass . . . . . a young guy still dwells,

And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys . . . . . I remember the pain.

And I'm loving and living . . . .. . life over again.



I think of the years, all too few . .. . . . gone too fast.

And accept the stark fact . . .. . that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, people .. . ... . . open and see.

Not a crabby old man . .. . Look closer . . . see ME!!



Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within.



We will all, one day, be there, too!



PLEASE SHARE THIS POEM

The best and most beautiful things of this world can't be seen or touched. They must be felt by the heart.

Sobering news from friend Marge Rusnak of D.C.

And Canada is in or being sucked into the US hip Pocket



There is nothing political about this email.



It simply points out very probable changes that are in our future.





CHANGES ARE COMING ----



Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them.

But, ready or not, here they come





1. The Post Office.

Get ready to imagine a world without the post office.

They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term.

Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive.

Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.



2. The Check.

Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with checks by 2018.

It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks.

Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check.

This plays right into the death of the post office.

If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.



3. The Newspaper.

The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper.

They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition.

That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man.

As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it.

The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an

alliance.

They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.



4. The Book.

You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages.

I said the same thing about downloading music fromiTunes.

I wanted my hard copy CD.

But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music.

The same thing will happen with books.

You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy.

And the price is less than half that of a real book.

And think of the convenience!

Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story,

can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book.



5. The Land Line Telephone.

Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore.

Most people keep it simply because they've always had it.

But you are paying double charges for that extra service.

All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes



6. Music.

This is one of the saddest parts of the change story.

The music industry is dying a slow death.

Not just because of illegal downloading.

It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the

people who would like to hear it.

Greed and corruption is the problem.

The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing.

Over 40% of the music purchased today is "catalog items," meaning traditional

music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists.



This is also true on the live concert circuit.

To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book,

"Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper,

and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."



7. Television.

Revenues to the networks are down dramatically.

Not just because of the economy.

People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers.

And they're playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV.

Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator.

Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

I say good riddance to most of it.

It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery.

Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.



8. The "Things" That You Own.

Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the

future.

They may simply reside in "the cloud."

Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents.

Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be.

But all of that is changing.

Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services."

That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system.

So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet.

If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud.

If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud.

And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.



In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your

whatever from any laptop or handheld device.

That's the good news.

But, will you actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear

at any moment in a big "Poof?"

Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical?

It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case

and pull out the insert.



9. Privacy.

If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy..

That's gone.

It's been gone for a long time anyway.

There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone.

But you can be sure that 24/7,

"They" know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View.

If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits.

And "They" will try to get you to buy something else.

Again and again.

All we will have that can't be changed are Memories.





19 Facts About The Deindustrialization Of America That Will Blow Your Mind



The United States is rapidly becoming the very first "post-industrial" nation on the globe.

All great economic empires eventually become fat and lazy and squander the great wealth that their forefathers have left them,

but the pace at which America is accomplishing this is absolutely amazing.

It was America that was at the forefront of the industrial revolution.

It was America that showed the world how to mass produce everything from automobiles to televisions to airplanes.

It was the great American manufacturing base that crushed Germany and Japan in World War II.



But now we are witnessing the deindustrialization of America .

Tens of thousands of factories have left the United States in the past decade alone.

Millions upon millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost in the same time period.

The United States has become a nation that consumes everything in sight and yet produces increasingly little.



Do you know what our biggest export is today?

Waste paper.

Yes, trash is the number one thing that we ship out to the rest of the world as we voraciously blow our money on

whatever the rest of the world wants to sell to us.

The United States has become bloated and spoiled and our economy is now just a shadow of what it once was.



Once upon a time America could literally out produce the rest of the world combined.

Today that is no longer true, but Americans sure do consume more than anyone else in the world.

If the deindustrialization of America continues at this current pace, what possible kind of a future are we going to be leaving to our children?



Any great nation throughout history has been great at making things.

So if the United States continues to allow its manufacturing base to erode at a staggering pace how in the world can the U.S. continue to consider itself to be a great nation?

We have created the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world in an effort to maintain a very high standard of living, but the current state of affairs is not anywhere close to sustainable.



Every single month America goes into more debt and every single month America gets poorer.



So what happens when the debt bubble pops?



The deindustrialization of the United States should be a top concern for every man, woman and child in the country.

But sadly, most Americans do not have any idea what is going on around them.



For people like that, take this article and print it out and hand it to them.

Perhaps what they will read below will shock them badly enough to awaken them from their slumber.



The following are 19 facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind....



#1 The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001.

About 75 percent of those factories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation.



#2 Dell Inc., one of America 's largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.



#3 Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem , North Carolina in November.

Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.



#4 In 2008, 1.2 billion cell phones were sold worldwide.

So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States ? Zero.



#5 According to a new study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute,

if the U.S. trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current

rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year alone.



#6 As of the end of July, the U.S. trade deficit with China had risen 18

percent compared to the same time period a year ago.

#7 The United States has lost a total of about 5.5 million manufacturing

jobs since October 2000.



#8 According to Tax Notes, between 1999 and 2008 employment at the

foreign affiliates of U.S. parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to

10.1 million. During that exact same time period, U.S. employment at

American multinational corporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million.



#9 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output.

In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.



#10 Ford Motor Company recently announced the closure of a factory that

produces the Ford Ranger in St. Paul , Minnesota . Approximately 750 good

paying middle class jobs are going to be lost because making Ford Rangers

in Minnesota does not fit in with Ford's new "global" manufacturing strategy.



#11 As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in

manufacturing. The last time less than 12 million Americans were employed

in manufacturing was in 1941.



#12 In the United States today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP.

Of this 70 percent, over half is spent on services.



#13 The United States has lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing

jobs since the year 2000.



#14 In 2001, the United States ranked fourth in the world in per capita

broadband Internet use. Today it ranks 15th.



#15 Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually

lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.



#16 Printed circuit boards are used in tens of thousands of different products.

Asia now produces 84 percent of them worldwide.



#17 The United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for

every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the United States .



#18 One prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will

be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040.



#19 The U.S. Census Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now

living in poverty and according to them that is the highest number of poor

Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept.



So how many tens of thousands more factories do we need to lose before we

do something about it?



How many millions more Americans are going to become unemployed before we

all admit that we have a very, very serious problem on our hands?



How many more trillions of dollars are going to leave the country before

we realize that we are losing wealth at a pace that is killing our economy?



How many once great manufacturing cities are going to become rotting war

zones like Detroit before we understand that we are committing national

economic suicide?



The deindustrialization of America is a national crisis.. It needs to be

treated like one.



If you disagree with this article, I have a direct challenge for you.

If anyone can explain how a deindustrialized America has any kind of viable

economic future, please do so below in the comments section.



America is in deep, deep trouble folks.

It is time to wake up.