Don’t Just Wait, Do
Waiting! I hate waiting and losing more patients as I get older. Thought we were supposed to gain patients. Well kind of like Habit Staking there are things you can do while waiting. And just think if you get these tasks done during empty non planned times you will have more time later for fun. I find it frustrating when driving to run into a long stop light or traffic jam. You can organize your purse or backpack. Have a small bag for garbage and clean around you. Organize the glove box. Have wipes in the car and clean dash console and steering wheel. Make a needed phone call. Whatever you do just keep your eyes out for the break in traffic or green light so no one hanks at you for wasting more of their time and be safe. While getting gas clean your windows even the inside if you have time. Even if it is just one. Check emails. Send that text or quick phone call. Write notes or grocery list. Play that game. You can do the same when waiting in line at store, for the elevator, for a show to start, or whenever you find yourself waiting.
Along the same line waiting let us say you are 5, 10, 15 minutes early getting ready to go somewhere. Don’t just sit there waiting. Answer an email, throw a load of laundry in the wash, pick up the toys in the living room, empty dishwasher, pay a bill. Imagine now when you get home a small piece of that bigger project is done.
New Years Message
Good Morning I love you. Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one…Brad Paisley
WWII Germany and Current US
The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
This book is about three widows and their children who find themselves living together after WWII in Germany. This book is fantastic! And I thank Jessica Shattuck for writing it and for my friend who recommended it which is ironic because she voted for Trump. I do not know Jessica’s political views. I do not mean any disrespect towards Jessica I am just sharing my thoughts and reactions to her words.
I believe authors write to draw out our feelings and reactions. I have read many books about WWII and my reactions are always in awe as to how this could happen. How could human beings be so abusive and hateful towards other human beings? How can someone think of such horrible things to do to someone else and who is ok with carrying it out? Well, it is what is happening in America right now. Trump speaks his lies, hatred, racism and misogyny. And people believe it. It is publicized all over the news. It spreads, festers and becomes normalized. Then people feel free to say the same things.
What do these statements mean to me.
| Book | Feelings |
| Under Hitler, the economy was growing strong; people had money, once again… | Is money more important than people? Is it more important than our souls. There are several facets to consider when measuring the economy. Not just the cost of eggs which is what many Americans did. They only looked at themselves. They do not realize we as Americans were the envy of the world. The entire world is suffering economically but we were much farther ahead than the other countries under President Biden. He took over Trump’s failed economy and brought it back up. |
| “It seems Goebbels has given orders for the SA to incite rioting, destruction of Jewish property. They’re throwing stones through shop windows and looting, making a sport-“ “Not a sport-a battle! An organized attack- of destroying people.” | I worry about how people will be treated while I listen to Thomas Homan, Trump’s “border czar.” I believe we need to fix the border, but we need to be humane. This statement from the book is what I picture when I listen to Homan. Are we going to have internment camps (as the US had in WWII for the American Japanese), families separated, innocent people deported. Trump talks about deporting birthright citizens (illegal). When/where will it stop. |
| It’s descent into madness-Hitler is exactly the maniac we’ve suspected! | Not sure where to start and end concerning “madness.” Just watch clips of the rallies (behavior, hours long, “weaving nonsense”), the lies, behavior of his followers, selling merchandise, “kiss the ring” at Mar a logo, racism, misogyny, criminal record, the double standards, the criminal and power-hungry people supporting him, the fake supporters at the rallies and I could go on and on. It never stops. |
| It means shame for Germany in the eyes of the world | This election means shame for the US in the eyes of the world. The world esp Germany sees Trump wanting to be a dictator and the similarities of his ideals with Hitler. This is terribly embarrassing. It is obvious the authoritarian leaders love that Trump became president. They can now manipulate him. Already see Hungry trying to talk Trump into taking over Canada and Mexico. Other countries are sad and afraid because this doesn’t just affect the US but the world. The economy, climate change, potential & current wars, relationships. |
| And suffering …It means suffering for many, many people… | Unfortunately, not only will MAGA and Pro-Trump voters suffer but everyone else including the entire world. |
| And it means reasonable citizens must take action. We are not all thugs and villains. But we will become these, if we don’t try to make change. | We cannot become sheep and follow. I am not sure what we can do to prevent the harm he will cause on the big stage, but we can in small ways. For example, we can speak up and say this behavior, these statements are not OK. We have freedom of speech, at least right now. We can write our Senators and Congressman. I don’t have the answers except act. |
| It is our duty. If we don’t work actively to defeat Hitler, it will only get worse. This man-zealot who calls himself our leader-will ruin everything we have achieved as a united nation. If we don’t begin to mobilize like-minded people against him, if we don’t begin to actively enlist our contacts abroad-the English, the Americans, the French-he will draw us into a war, and worse. If you listen to the things this man says-if you really listen and read-it’s all there in that hideous book of his, Mein Kampf; his ‘struggle’ is to turn us all into animals! Read it, really read it, know thine enemies-his version is medieval! Worse than medieval, anarchic! That life is nothing more than a fight for resources to be waged between the races-this ‘Master Race’ he likes to speak of and the racial profiles he has devised-these are the tools he will use to divide us and conquer. | This is exactly how the Democrats, some Independents and Republican see Trump. We tried to defeat him. Now history is going to repeat itself. He will ruin these United States. I believe we will be drawn into war or at the very least withdraw help from Ukraine and Russia will start to take over Europe. A family member of Trump states Hilter’s book is Trump’s favorite book. We have our own book to really think about…Project 2025 which Trump states he never read and is not his. He probably did not read it because he does not read much, only watches TV. But his puppet masters wrote this for him. He definitely knows what is in it. It’s his agenda. I believe some of his followers do listen to his words and really believe this crazy. But I believe some are not really listening or pass his words off as show. However, two days after the election some started to realize. Some learned what Tariffs will really mean to businesses and ultimately US consumers, ie; we pay the tax. Some voted for Trump to get rid of Obama Care because they hate Obama not realizing it is the Affordable Care which they use and now wonder how they will get insurance. |
| It was young women like her (woman was very beautiful, blond hair and blue eyes) who had inspired Hitler’s vision of the master race. She was meant to become round with child, again and again, to populate the motherland with Aryan babies who would grow to be happy, healthy Germans, capable of hard work and loyal to their homeland. | His very vocal followers are white supremist groups like the Proud Boys. If we really listen to Trump, he wants a white nation. When he talks about removing immigrants it is always about predominantly nonwhite countries. Listen to Vance-post menopausal women should quit their jobs to help raise grandchildren, women cannot be great leaders or teachers if they do not have children, they choose a path to misery if they pursue a career over becoming a mother. Basically, women are supposed to just make babies. |
| Only when we prove that international law and the human right of all mankind are greater than any villain can we vanquish evil. | I have heard several commentators state this and I felt this way even before I heard others. In order to be rid of Trump and the MAGA Cult he needed to become president and fail and fail big. If he lost the election, it would have been a circus of accusations of a rigged election, and he would have played the victim. For sure this will not turn 100% of the Cult but it will hopefully turn the majority. When he fails and goes against his people/followers is when their eyes will open. It is already happening. The day after the election the number one google was, “can I change my vote.” And seeing the reaction of those two days after when they realized how the Tariffs will affect there business, layoffs and not Christmas bonus. Or the lady who did not realize Obama can and Affordable Health Care Act were the same. Now she wonders how she will get insurance. |
| How are you to bring Hitler to a court of law? All of Germany would have to rise up against him. | The US has tried to bring Trump to a court of law many times. And he lost each time. However, he has used whatever power he has over others to corrupt the courts and stop some of the remaining charges and hearings. You know if it was anyone else, they would be in jail. I just do not understand how we Americans are letting him get away with this. |
| With the support of the outside world, he would say. And with time… | He is supported by Putin, Kim Jong Un, Viktor Orban and other authoritarian leaders. |
| He (a resister) was a dreamer…there was no time. And all of Germany would never rise up. They were too steeped in Hitler’s rhectoric, too cowardly, too implicated in the horrors of his war to reject him. | I believe MAGA and many Republicans are too steeped in Trumps rhectoric, too cowardly, too implicated in the horrors of his views/actions to reject him. |
| …had given up on the law, increasingly castrated as it was under the Nazis.. | For a long time, I thought the law is what would save us. That he would be convicted and imprisoned. But the corrupt Supreme Court voted for immunity. The US is supposed to be better than that. No one is above the law. However, Judge Cannon’s actions helped prolong the Mar-a-logo case. She dismissed the federal criminal case against Trump that charged him with amassing highly sensitive national security secrets at his Mar-a-Lago estate. He then obstructed government efforts to reclaim them. How is any of this OK? Anyone else would have been arrested and charged immediately. |
| We must find ways to work against him…Not only to bring the attention of the world to his ugly aspirations, but to take action ourselves. If we sit by and judge from behind the safety of our desks, we will have only ourselves to blame. So I suggest we commit to active resistance from this day forward, To trying to steer our country from Hitler’s destructive path. | This is pretty obvious. We need to act when we can. Stand up for what is right and against what is wrong. |
| Could you see a person’s soul in their face? “Yes” one insisted. “Didn’t you know from the moment you saw Hitler’s photograph that he was bad?” Another wasn’t sure. If it was so obvious, he pointed out. How did he fool the rest of Germany? | I can surely say from the first time I heard Trump talk it was obvious he was racist, sexist, and a pervert. Watch the clips how he talks about Black, Asian and Hispanic people. How he talks about women. How he talks about his own daughter sexually. Listen how he even tries to cover up and state he will be women’s protecter whether we want it or not. Hmmmm. How did Trump fool the rest of the US? |
| Americans were showing film footage of the liberation of camps. The main character knew what had happened before from documents and stories which was horrifying in their own right, and another to see. When the movie began, she had to dig her nails into the palms of her hands to keep from throwing up. On the screen were actual bodies, heaped like scraps of fabric…fathers, mothers, and children starving and naked, lying in piles. The horrors of the official report they had seen, with their language of “extermination” and “elimination,” they could not come close to conjuring this. How could they? No point of reference. Later, such footage would come to be so familiar it became unseen-a kind of placeholder for human evil. The first black-and-white glimpse of barbed wire, dirt, and nakedness cautioned viewers, look away. But in this moment, in the first unveiling, it was like nothing she or anyone else had ever seen. And it was impossible to look away. She looked and trembled in her seat. | This is the modern world, and we see the footage in the moment as it is happening. We can also go back and rewatch it. Trumps actions and statements are horrifying because I believe this is where it could lead. He talks about extermination. How are we missing this? We DO have a point of reference. We are not learning from our history. America is not innocent. Look back at our slavery and civil war. Look back at our internment camps of American Japanese during WWII. We had 10 camps, over 117,000 citizens were affected and lasted about 3 years. |
| -two girls left the film remarking about silk stockings-one had ruined her last pair. Where would she get a new pair. “Not from the Jews,” the other giggled. “For shame, “the main character remarked, “Have you become such monsters that you can only laugh at that?” The girls stared at her, not with shame or anger but with fear. All around the people drew close together, tightening their scarves and jackets, squaring their shoulders, fortifying themselves against her reproach. | I remember when we left the movie Shindler’s list no one talked while leaving the theater. You could hear people crying during the movie. Today we have monsters like Nick Freuntes joking, “Your body, my choice.” And young men repeating that to young women. Think about what that means to a woman…you can do anything you want to my body. What does it mean to a man…I can do anything to a woman’s body. Fear- there is a great deal of fear between each other including family and friends. “Your vote will harm me.” |
| Rumor had developed…the film was a piece of Allied propaganda and that the footage really showed German soldiers and collaborators killed and starved in Soviet gulags. Same with the leaflets with photos of concentration camp victims. This is what Hitler stated and being the sheep the residents believed him. They clung to this idea now-a thin protection between them and their own complicity. It made her livid with furry and shame. | I am so very angry and ashamed of my fellow Americans who choose to believe Trumps words and lies and not see what is clearly in front of them. They are sheep who believe in him. They are compliant. Why do people believe all the lies Trump stated even when the facts are right there. Or when he states one thing and the exact opposite in the next sentence. |
| …he (resister) would try to find the words to articulate the power of togetherness in a world where togetherness had been corrupted-and to explore the effect of the music…art in general, are basic requirements of the human soul. Not a luxury but a compulsion…think of it every time he goes to a museum or concert or play with a long line of people waiting to get inside. | Our country is so very divided and has been. I feel we were making some progress until Trump entered politics and normalized hate, racism, and misogyny. |
| After the war noticing new type of car, many on a lot-These were the cars Hitler had once promised everyone. Felt personal spite toward the man (Hitler). He had duped them all with his promises of cars and jobs and self-respect. | Look at all the merchandise Trump and his family sold: coins, watches, cologne, cards, clothing, book, calendar, bible, figurines, just to name a few. And remember the watches ($499) were not even made or guaranteed to receive. Talk about being duped. |
| …they died (resisters) for something they knew was right-and the rest of us followed along, did as we were told, and looked away… | Again, are we going to be sheep-follow and look away. Or are we going to stand up and say this is not OK? |
| Daughter explains to mother sending her son to summer camp…mother compares to the youth lager camps she ran…daughter states, “you can’t seriously compare a New England Summer camp to a Nazi youth lager.” Mother-“but we didn’t teach them to kill Jews, we didn’t even talk about Jews.” Daughter- “but Hitler did, didn’t you hear what he was saying?” Mother remembers: great excitement listening to Hitler’s words, his exhortations and energy, building and unifying the Reich…she does not remember the ugly quotes | Watch the clips of Trumps rallies and the Maga follower statements. The excitement about his exhortations and energy. Most of the Maga comments are unintelligent. Most don’t even really understand what he stands for. One woman stated he is protecting my social security. The journalist explained, no, he is trying to get rid of it. 123 days into his first presidency he announced his budget:cut Social Security’s earned benefits by up to $64 billion, cut Medicare by $59 billion, cut Medicaid by as much as $1.5 trillion all over 10 years. And this is after he promised not to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Ref Brian O’Brien, May 24, 2017, The President’s Broken Promises on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid | AFL-CIO |
| Remembers-Hitler stating Jews are rich businessmen who have profited from Germany’s troubles and taken the best jobs. The Jews on the east are immigrants from Poland, Romania, and Baltic…are freeloaders. The Bolsheviks follow Trotsky who set the Reichstag on fire and created the “Bavarian Soviet Republic…this group is dangerous. Realizes some Jew are dangerous and some are ordinary people, the people she grew up with, went to school with…”they are kind, ordinary people who happen to belong to a bad group. But how can Hitler know who is a ‘good Jew’ and who isn’t? Easier to evict them all and prevent infiltration. Where will they go…it is not her concern. | Trump stated the immigrants were taking “Black Jobs.” Which is simply not true. Reference: Max Zahn August 2, 2024 Trump is wrong about immigrants taking ‘Black jobs,’ economists say – ABC News And the immigrants are bringing in drugs, rape, crime, are dangerous, are not human, impure and blood poisoning (words used by Hitler in his book “Mein Kampf”), come from jails, prisons, mental and insane asylums. Reference: Amanda Terkel and Megan Lebowitz Sept. 19, 2024 Trump has long used degrading language toward immigrants |
| She excepts Hitler’s statements that Poles and Slavs and easterners belong to a lower race, disproportionately represented in a civilization’s criminal elements. Used science: genetics and brain size and forehead measurements, statistics for their incarceration for stealing, rape and murder, poor hygiene and laziness, breed like rabbits and live on the best most arable plots of land. They need German order, modernity, and management. And Hitler is just the man to bring this to them-look at what wonders he has done for Germany’s crime rate. It is not just unemployment he has fixed; under his leadership the country has become a much safer, more peaceful and more orderly place. | Interview with Isabel Wilkerson who wrote Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. The interview is available to hear on the YouTube Channel for MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, Oct 29, 2024. (starting at minute 20:46) I watched this interview, which helped me make some sense as to why so many people favor Trump. Why was this election so close and why did he win? It also made sense to Lawrence O’Donnell who stated at the end, “I feel that I finally have an explanation that I get. I just haven’t had one before tonight.” Isabel mentions looking at this as just an election it doesn’t make sense, but it does if you look at it, “as an existential crisis over what our country will be.” She suggests looking at this in relation to a caste system. Merrium-Webster defines caste, “a division of society based on differences of wealth, inherited rank or privilege, profession, occupation, or race.” People are voting for what matters to them the most, “maintaining their position at the top of the American caste system, with all the rights and entitlements that come along with it.” A 2042 projection of the historical white majority will no longer be a majority. A 2020 census showed for the first time the white population fell while other races maintained or grew. Isabel went on to say this is why there is a fixation on immigration (who gets to stay, who is deported) and why the attack on abortion and a push more births. |
| Daughter states to mother, “Weren’t you alarmed by all the racist talk? Hitler’s rants about the ‘Jewish virus’ and the ‘noble German’…You can’t read more than four sentences by the man without knowing he was a racist fanatic.” Mother states- “I didn’t notice.” She was not taught that drawing distinctions between races is dangerous. In Germany there were no great history of equal rights, thousands of years the population was divided into an impoverished and disenfranchised peasant class and wealthy, ruling aristocrats. She was busy with her own life.” | I was alarmed by Trumps hateful, racist, and misogyny words. I am surprised that some others don’t see it esp women and the black community. My own daughter who is married to and has biracial children. Four are girls. How can they not see or hear this? I understand what it is like being busy with your own life and family, working full time plus and raising three children. I hate politics and have not always been as involved as I should have. But his statements are clear and in your face every day! |
| Mother and daughter are talking about admitting and forgiveness. Mother – that taking responsibility doesn’t matter. It can’t bring them back. It can’t return them to their lives, to their parents. There is no atonement for all the lies she told herself instead of acting. That is what she will pay for: not only her inaction, but her self-deception, for narrating away evil while staring it in the face. | I believe this will be the fate of apparently the majority… There is no atonement for all the lies she told herself instead of acting. That is what she will pay for: not only her inaction, but her self-deception, for narrating away evil while staring it in the face. |
God’s Gift
Good Morning I love you. Message for the day: God gives us the gift of life, it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well…Voltaire
Christmas Joke
Good Morning I love you. Joke for the day: How do you wash your hands over the holiday? With Santatizer.
Love
Good Morning I love you. Message for the day: The greater you love, the more fully you live as a person…Anthon Buono
Life
Good Afternoon I love you. Message for the day: Nothing good comes in life or athletics unless a lot of hard work has preceded the effort…Roger Staubach
Life
Good Morning. Message for the day: Life begins outside of your comfort zone…Neale Walsch
Make it Happen
Good Evening. Message for the day: Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still….Chinese Proverb
Cleaning
There are thousands of suggestions on how to efficiently clean your house from products to equipment. Where to store your products. Work top to bottom and so forth. Google and figure out what works best for you. Here are my tips that you can add to those. I am a bit OCD and like my house clean and organized. And I actually do like cleaning. It’s relaxing for me. However, cleaning the entire house is daunting and spring cleaning can be overwhelming. A big job. With three active children we found it best, ok I found it best, to all pitch in together on a weekend or afternoon when we had some time to do this together. The faster and better it was done the more time for fun. If the kids did not do a good job mom did not redo it. The child had to. The children learned quickly to do it well the first time. Hopefully they learned both teamwork and efficiency. Times change and as empty nesters we do not make as big a mess as with all the children. We know how to clean up after ourselves. It is amazing when we return home from work everything is just where we left it. I started to clean as needed or a small section here and there that takes about 15 min. With only two people and a couple of beasties (two dogs) we don’t find we need to clean everything like we used to. I can clean the bathroom in 15 min. I can clean the kitchen in 15 min. For example, cleaning up after a meal. Instead of cleaning just the affected spots on the counter; clean the entire countertop, stove, microwave, sink, table and appliances. Tomorrow sweep and mop the floor. Kitchen done! The house appears to be constantly clean and does not seem burdensome. More cleaning tips to come.