Did you see the movie Bucket List with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson? The premise of the movie is: they make a list of all the things they want to do before they die. That list is called a Bucket List. I haven’t seen it yet but I hear the movie was a combination of comedy and slight drama with a message about how you should live your life to the fullest, how your family is important and how you should be happy in life. Of course those are all things we know, but do we actually live day to day with the intent of being happy that day and living that day to the fullest?

Today I am going share 10 things from my newly penned Bucket List! I’m very excited. When I stop and think about all the things that have been in the back of my mind but have never come to fruition, I feel somewhat defeated! And life always presents road blocks to our dreams whether it is time, money, energy, raising the children, working the job, etc., but we still gotta dream the dream, set the goal and fill our Bucket List!

I do want to veer off my beaten path and do some really “out of the box” kinds of things but what you will not see on my list is bungee jumping, skydiving or anything that could end my life within a matter of seconds. I will leave the dare devil feats to my eldest brother! I also won’t put a night with Sean Combs on my list; I think that would be kind of tacky don’t you? Lol. I’ll just share my top ten dreams, desires and goals as I dump out my Bucket List for your perusal. These are in no particular order:

1. Visit Africa.
2. Go backpacking (I have paid my money and will embark on this adventure this weekend!)
3. Write and be published! (I have three books in the works. Pray with me on their success!)
4. Sit on Oprah’s couch as her guest.
5. See a kangaroo in its natural habitat.
6. Learn to ballroom dance. (Ummm…. I know this goes against my upbringing but… it is in my bucket)
7. (Even if it is just once) Be hired and paid as an interior decorator!
8. (Even if it is just once) Be hired and paid as a motivational speaker!
9. Help build a Habitat for Humanity home.
10. Play the piano.

Ok. So my list may be a bit boring but they are all things I want to do! I read somewhere that a true Bucket List has 100 things on it. It would take me quite a while, probably days, to come up with 100 things!

It’s your turn! Please share at least a few of the things in your Bucket List! Tell us what you want to do before you die! Who knows, seeing your list might inspire me to step even farther out of the box, out of my comfort zone and do something I have never dreamed of doing! Let the sharing begin!

Holla back!

UPDATE:  Thank you to all the prayer warriors who prayer for my co-worker.  The last report I got was that she is doing much much better!  Look at the power of prayer!  She went from a 0% chance to live, to a 5% chance to live, to doing much better!  The chemo is working, she is repsonding well and they are struggling to keep her calm so she won’t pull out her IVs and tubes.  From the report I got, unless something unforeseen happens, she is gonna live and not die!  Thank you for your prayers, but don’t stop, please keep praying!

NEW REQUEST:  The below prayer request is from my co-worker and fellow Indiana-ian Trish.  Please join me in intense prayer for her dear friend, her friend’s husband and the family.  We have seen what God can do for a breast and lung cancer victim!  God loves showing off!  Removing the “worst kind” of cancer and healing Pancreatitis is all in a day’s work for Him!   I await more miracles and healings and recoveries! 

In the meantime, we aren’t stupid here, we know both situations ”look” bleak and quite honestly totally hopeless but we know a greater God who loves to take the dreariest of situations and bring light!  Please believe with me and hold Trish and her friend and family up in prayer!  I’m looking for a miracle!  I expect the impossible! 

Holla back!

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

I’m sure you know kleverkathy is an interactive site and I ALWAYS encourage opinions and comments, etc. Today I would especially like everyone who reads this to communicate with us.

I am posting a prayer request and ask that you add yours and so on and so on. The power of prayer is still the most dynamic force we have to fight with and if we combine those powers… wow! Miracles will unfold, healings will happen and what seems impossible will be made possible!!! I know you have something you need prayer for. Please contribute and then let’s pray… together!

I have a coworker that was diagnosed with breast cancer. They did surgery but had yet to start chemo when she began feeling bad. She went back into the hospital and they found fluid on her lungs. At first they couldn’t identify the fluid and said it was unlike any fluid they had ever seen. Tests revealed cancer in both lungs. But by then, her health was rapidly declining. They gave her a 0% chance to live. ZERO! They called in the family and basically did nothing else. They said if she lived through Monday, they would start radical treatments of chemo. She did! Now they have given her a 5% chance of living and now they are hitting it hard! They are giving her double doses of chemo twice a day for eight days. Eight days. If at the end of those eight days she is responding, they will continue doing everything they can for her to live and not die! If she is not responding, the family has to make some big decisions to make. But… she is a fighter and I know a God that will have EVERY doctor in that hospital standing over her, shaking their head in amazement at her recovery! And that is what I am praying for!

So now we are at day five. I have been praying but I need additional warriors who will go with me and add additional strength to those double doses of chemo twice a day! I want to be a part of a 2010 miracle! The doctors have given her a 5% chance to live but without a doubt, God can make up the other 95%!

Please pray with me for her healing and total recovery, with no signs or traces that cancer ever resided in her body!

What can I pray for with you?

Holla back!

Season Greetings!

At about 5:00 am this morning I guess I was finish sleeping so I got up and am writing to you. Although I don’t want to take away from the conversation of our five random questions and still look forward to comments regarding Motivational Monday, I saw something interesting on Facebook yesterday and wanted to share it with you and hear what you had to say.

Somebody said (in all caps) he would tell the truth for 24 hours and invited everyone to ask him one question – in his inbox – and he would answer it. It could be anything: a crazy question or a serious question. I thought it very interesting that he designated one day to telling the truth. To be fair, let me tell you that he also said, in parenthesis, that this doesn’t mean he is untruthful at other times.  And let me say, I am not judging him, I just think it is interesting.

Here’s my question: could we be/are we truthful at all times? I remember the movie Liar Liar and the sheer havoc it created when he decided to tell the truth. Would a world full of 100% truth tellers create more havoc than a world full of people telling lies or at best, being deceitful? If I ask you if you like my boots and you don’t like them, is saying: “wow, they are really something” an answer to my question or deceit? Sure, it is not a straight out lie but isn’t it deceit? I would probably walk away thinking you like my boots or you are at least impressed by my boots! lol. Is there anyone that would say: “no, I don’t like them” and stop talking right there? I don’t think so, even I would probably say, “Girl if you like them, that is all that matters, they are not really my style“. I guess that is going around the barn to say, no I don’t like them but is my response even pure truth and honesty? I’m just asking. Could we all vow to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth for 24 or life?

I know most of us would say our reason for not telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is because we don‘t want to hurt someone’s feelings right? I get that but at what cost? You know me and how I bring the Christianity thing into it but this time I will not. I will not even ask the question if pleasing God with truth at all times is on John Public’s mind these days. I will just go back to my original curiosity: could you go for 24 hours and tell the truth?

Holla back!

P.S. – ain’t Tiger a mess??? Pray!!!

Happy Tuesday to you! I meant to talk about this last week when it was fresher but we can still talk about it today!

I believe in it taking a village to raise a child but a complete stranger coming up and slapping my 2 year old child four times because she is crying in Wal-Mart, is so far past sound, reasonable behavior, it’s not funny! Oh Jesus… Please help me Lord! I don’t even know what to say about this except, Lord Jesus. Only He (Jesus) would be able to stop the consequences and repercussions that would take place after everybody I know and loved found out. As far as my own daughter, if this had ever happened and her father found out, he would have been a one man force and gladly served time in jail in the name of protecting his one and only daughter.

Why would a 61 year old man feel the need to chastise a two year old little girl with her mamma right there with her? Yes, we have all been in Wal-Mart and on airplanes and in places of business where a crying/whining child got on our nerves and we wanted them quieted but… this is unbelievable! Below is the story, with his picture. Don’t he look a hot mess? Read the article and share your reactions. He’s gotta pay and pay dearly for his actions!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/02/georgia.tot.slapped/index.html?iref=newssearch

Holla back!

lol.  Some of you probably got real excited when you saw the title of today’s post!  As I say so often, even with disclaimers, the assumption always is, I’m talking about myself!  Not today. 

Yesterday Deborah visited us on kleverkathy.com and asked that we talk about divorce. Of course we will!

I am married and not divorced so I can’t intelligently speak on divorce from a first hand perspective as a divorcee, and my parents were married to each other exclusively for some forty years until my mother’s passing, so I can’t give my viewpoint from the perspective of a child from a divorced home but… I know lots of people who are divorced.

What I do know is it is not fun for the couple or the children or the supporters of the family. Anything regarding relationships always has so many sides and aspects to it. And opinions are overflowing, especially when it comes to a couple separating or divorcing. The one thing I have always recognized in situations of this nature is; the opinions of the advice givers are opinions that are given with no real feelings invested. The advice givers do not have the deep, romantic, man/woman commitment/covenant connection the couple has, or used to have, for each other. Their connection is that of an acquaintance, coworker, neighbor, friend, or family member. And their reasoning behind their advice is usually quantified only as “wanting the best” for the couple in question. So their advice on whether the couple should stay together or get a divorce is subjective at best.

All the advice givers have to go on is their logic based on facts they know from what they have been told by the couple and what they have witnessed of the couple. They give advice based on what they (SAY or THINK) would do. The thing is, when advice givers tell the struggling couple what they should do or what they think they should do, so many, many things aren’t taken into account. There are the children, the dogs, the house, the cars, all the things they own together, spousal support, bank accounts, pensions, retirement, the ability for each spouse to make it separately in these financial times, etc. There are so many things that must be taken into consideration.

When Deborah wrote yesterday this is what she asked we talk about:

• What are some of the things to remember when getting a divorce?
• What are some tips to getting the most for your children and yourself?
1. child support
2. spousal support
3. support for college
• How do you get over someone who tells you they love you but they are not in love with you?
• How do you deal when they want to continue living with you even when the divorce is final?

Those are some heavy questions! The floor is open! For those who: are divorced, are children of parents who divorced, are contemplating divorce, know someone who has been divorced or are about to be divorced, and even for those who are not divorced but would like to share their thoughts with Deborah, please…

Holla Back!

For those who haven’t followed my wedding picture saga from the beginning, let me briefly recap. I got married July 14, 2007. I hired a photographer recommended by a family member. He was a Christian and grew up with family so I thought it was all good. I paid him $750.00, half of his cost, up front. The other half was due when I received the finished product. Because he considered me “family”, he promised to give me little extras. As of today, August 5, 2009 I have not received my wedding pictures or the little extras.

Did I share with you that I called the Peoria, IL Better Business Bureau and they sent me papers to fill out on my photographer’s business? Yep, they did. However, being the procrastinator I am, I haven’t filled them out and sent them back. But in the meantime, I kept trying! Periodically I have called him to no avail. I have hit *67 and made the call anonymously. I have called early in the morning and late at night. I have tried just about every method to catch him. The only thing that has worked in the past was using a phone number with an area code he is not familiar with. Last week I used one co-worker’s phone, with a different area code, and he still didn’t answer.

Yesterday I was talking to our IT guy about giving kleverkathy.com a facelift and new look and in the process he gave me his cell number. When he said an area code for Hawaii, a bell sounded in my head! Let’s try this! I called and my photographer answered! We did the small talk and formalities and quickly I said, hey, I’m calling about a $750.00 refund. Immediately he said “absolutely”! Hallelujah! He asked and once again, for about the tenth time, I gave him my address. He promised to send my refund by certified mail later in the day and I should get it Friday.

I’m hoping, trusting and believing for the best! If you would, in your prayer time, point your right hand toward Peoria, IL and your left southward believing with me, I’d appreciate it! And you don’t even have to ask, when I get that certified mail, with a (hopefully) money order, for the refund of my deposit on my wedding pictures from July 14, 2007, I will most definitely let you know!

Do you think he’ll come through? Holla back!

Enough is enough!

I know fads come and go. There are many I love to see come and equally as many I love to see go! These days, the one fad I would love to see go and never, ever come back is the drooping pants! So ghetto, out dated and over played! I am sick and tired of seeing rear ends! I blame so much on the south, Georgia in particular, but people, I feel like I am in the droopy drawers capital of the world!

Here I am, Sunday morning, on my way to church, all dressed up and I see a gang of guys walking. They are adorned in the loud t-shirts, enormous chains, the big tennis shoes of many colors (like Joseph’s coat), the caps on their heads (the kind you can only find in the tucked away, ghetto, strip mall, beauty supply shops), teeth blingage and then their pants falling down. Lord, it is a sight.

Years ago a preacher came to our church and she talked about the sagging britches. She said it originated in the jails and prisons and was the symbol for homosexuality. Wearing sagging pants was a gay man’s way to let the other gay men know he was approachable. If that is the case, the message was obviously lost in translation! The memo never went out! There is no way possible all the dudes I see walking around in the too big, sliding down the booty blue jeans, looking STUPID, are gay!

It is so ridiculous when I see a guy walking funny, almost like he is crippled, in attempts to keep his pants from falling all the way to the ground! It is even more ridiculous to see them walking around constantly holding onto their pants to keep them from falling off their bodies! And then imagine being behind one of them and the surprising astonishment when he slightly bends over and you see his entire back side because his (sometimes belted, sometimes not) pant is resting right below his butt cheeks! When you think about it, it has to be a sign of, at minimum, slight retardation. Who puts on a garment to cover a part of their body only to have it fall down or require constant tugging and an awkward way to walk? I wish there was a “Pull Your Pants Up” law!

Here’s the thing, what is the real benefit to dressing like this and more importantly, what is the real benefit to this ghetto/hip hop lifestyle? Seriously, other than ganstas (jail bound), drug dealers (jail bound) and rappers, who has made it big as a hip hopper? I looked up the term hip hop and this is what it said: a form of popular culture that started in African American inner-city areas, characterized by rap music, graffiti art, and break dancing. Ok, I’m not against rap music per se, some graffiti is nice and sends a nice message and break dancing is definitely an art form and entertaining but why oh why can’t the pants rest at the waist and be worn normally? Because still, in the name of hip hoppishness, the pants can be snazzy, jazzy, baggy, oversized in the legs, but please, buy your waist size and keep them cinched tightly!

I’m through. Pray my strength in the Lord on this one. I am so OVER this idiotic, foolish, unintelligent, ludicrous, nonsensical, silly, senseless, irrational, absurd, ignorant, GHETTOFABULOUS fad!

Holla back!

Life and recent events have forced me to take a few days off, but I am back!

I remember years ago when it was being said, by the year blah blah blah, you would need a degree to work at Target! Although we have surpassed whatever year they were speaking about, I’m sure we are not actually there yet. Many, including myself, believe some form of higher education should be something we all aspire to. Whether technical school, specific training for a particular job, college, etc., I think education, past the point of the 12 years required of us, gives us a special edge and makes us more marketable. Or does it? Can simple hard work with no form of higher education get you to the top? That is always the question isn’t it! No matter how far you go up the ladder and succeed without the higher education, could you have gone higher with it?

Statistics say having a master’s degree will earn you $25,000 more a year than having a bachelor’s degree. Wow. Although I have some higher education, there are instances and individuals that make me question whether any form of higher education is really necessary! My daughter is one of them!

Today my daughter shared with me that she did so well at her job in 2008 that she entered into what is called the winner’s circle. Only 20 people in the entire region of Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky made it! She was one! This achievement won her an all expense paid trip for two and special recognition at a honorary ceremony. And she doesn’t have a degree!

She started in September of 2006 as a part time customer service representative as an hourly employee. In June of 2007 she was promoted to full time customer service representative. Then in March of 2008 she was promoted to full time sales representative with commission. That is where the break came! She focused, worked hard and accomplished something great! Now maybe her line of work came easy to her and maybe she walked into her destiny. As her mother, I would still love to see her go back and finish the degree she started. In my opinion, at that point, the sky is the limit!

I know what you are going to say, college and a college degree isn’t for everyone. I have heard it soooo many times, especially from those who don’t want to buckle down and discipline themselves enough to get it. And for some, I know that is true and I agree. I didn’t say college only; I said some form of higher education. I am interested to see what you have to say on this subject but first, help in saying congratulations to Kourtney! As she herself said, to God be the Glory!

Holla back!

Here is a post that was written by Trina Fonzer after an experience she had at Tim Horton’s in Richmond, IN. Although these particular occurrences were in Richmond, IN, I would imagine all of us have had similar experiences in other cities at Tim Horton’s or the equivalent. Hear her story and holla back and tell us your experience with Time vs. Quality.

I was in your store last night, and the ladies on duty were so courteous, and I got my drink in a very timely manner. The reason I am sending this comment is because of the drastic difference there is between going in the morning and going at night. From November until about the first week of March I was in Tim Horton’s on a weekly basis, sometimes more than twice a week, getting the most wonderful drink in the world, a hot apple cider w/caramel and whipped topping. I have stopped going in the mornings because, to me, the service is so fast that it’s almost rude how the workers rush you through the drive-thru line. It’s sort of chaotic. Before you hand your money in, they are holding the drink out in your face and saying have a nice day. Also every time I get a bacon and cheese biscuit, the cheese is never melted, because they are in such a hurry to move you through the line. I have to come to work to heat up a cold piece of cheese. I appreciate the workers trying to get people through a line in a timely manner, but at the same time, you could take a little time to give customers time to get settled once they are given their orders. Please address this matter with the Richmond, IN store. Thank you!

My good friend Leah Lee had an experience that she thought might be a good topic for discussion here at kleverkathy.com. In her words, here’s what happened.

Monday I was running errands around Indy (Indianapolis, IN) and I had a “Big Mac attack.” I get in the drive thru line and in between the ordering monitor and the first window to pay; a man walks up to my car window and asks for money. He says he hasn’t eaten in 3 days. He’s dirty. He’s shaking. He asks for $3. Right away, I do not believe any of this. Plainly, I’m thinking, this man needs some drugs. So, I told him to meet me inside and I’d buy him something to eat. Meanwhile, I pay for my food and ask the cashier to add a $10 gift card to my order. I park to go inside and another man asks me for $.50! By now I’m wondering what’s going on? What can you buy for $.50?? It’s $.75 to ride the bus and the same for a newspaper!! Someone else gave him the change and I gave the first guy the gift card. He didn’t seem very thankful for it either!

My brother told me I shouldn’t have given anything. Truth is, I have a hard time passing up anyone who says they’re hungry. If it were my son out begging in need, I would want someone to respond. And besides, I want all my blessings. I don’t know when nor how that act of kindness might be returned to me someday!!  Anyway, beware of Mickey D’s at lunch time. Take extra money or keep your windows up!!

P.S. – I forgot one “shining” detail of my story at McDonald’s….the guy’s nose was running too!!!!! No kiddin’! lol.

So here’s the question. In today’s economy, are the numbers of the homeless and hungry increasing? How does one trip to McDonald’s warrant two requests for money from hungry people? I’m reminded of a song Yolanda Adams sings that says: “Save the world, feed the hungry people”. Is that task up to us as individuals or is it up to our government or both? Didn’t President Obama put money in the stimulus package for homelessness? Does anybody know how that will work? If you know the answer to that question, please let us know and tell us:  how have you reacted when a homeless/hungry person asks you for money?  Did you give it to them?  Did you ignore them?  Did you think of them as less than or lower class?  Did you stay focused on the fact that we are all God’s children and but for the grace of God there go I?  Do you know anyone, up close and personal, that is or has been homeless and hungry? Holla back!