My New Christmas Mittens....................by Diane Ogden

Sounds like the title of a Children's book or like I just got a new kitten named Mittens! No, I really did get a new pair of mittens.  And I got them off a Christmas Tree where I get my  nails done.....albeit, "My new Christmas Mittens. "

They are amazing....

$25.00..... very well made.  White fleece lined.  Sooo warm.

I will keep them in my vehicle at all times with my winter safety kit.  I better work on that kit considering I hear 2" are due by morning.  A little or a lot of snow would be nice for the season.  Then no more....
Feel free to email this wonderful lady for a pair of her Christmas Mittens...  that are nothing to do with cats or children's books.
When I wear them I feel like I am wearing one of those expensive hand knit sweaters from Norway.
No really!

Middleton, Wisconsin........"Coming Home!"...............by Julianna Rowe

Okay, so I have moved twice in the past six months due to personal issues.  Before that I lived in the same place for thirteen plus years.

I found a place to call home in Middleton, Wisconsin.  I hated it before I ever arrived....but that had to do with the unresolved personal issues.  And to be honest I hated it or I should say I didn't feel I belonged here for quite some time.  (I would say sixty days from the day I stood in here staring at the lease for at least ten minutes plus with the most anxiety I have felt since I crossed the Mississippi Bridge thirty years plus ago)  But then as I started moving things in and residents came to me in hallways inviting me to coffee's and luncheons and Christmas Cookie affairs, as well as they came introducing themselves in the underground parking, outside dog walking, entrances, and elevator!  I began (duh) to notice the unusual friendliness.  I cannot say I have ever experienced that anywhere I have ever lived in my life...  I have experienced it at Corporate positive sales meetings.  But this was a far cry from that!  You only know what I am talking about if you have ever experienced it.  Sort of like a multi-level push team go go pep rally. No Seriously.  Maybe that means I am where I am supposed to be.  Ya' think?

A few days after moving in..... One of my neighbors who is actually a high school classmate who came by with two of the most amazing cupcakes I have ever eaten in my life from Blooms Bakery.  And now I will have to FIGHT off that desire daily for however long I live here..  In fact I eat less all week so I can indulge in at least two of them on the weekend.  I tell you its worse then when I used to smoke years ago...  Yup for real, my weakness is cake and cupcakes are itty bitty cakes.  I'm so screwed!

I am not sure I have ever blogged about my love of trains.  Well I love trains.  My Grandfather loved trains enough to have the HO set up right down to the grain cars at the Mill getting loaded with real grain. Not to mention real smoke coming out of the old engines.  What's my point?  The window in my office where I am typing this is a mere umpteen feet from the tracks where I get to hear the whistle and roar of the wheels a couple times a day. Add to that the view of the old train station is within a stones throw. It is all good and very peaceful.

Also, The famous POLAR EXPRESS happens about a mile from me here in Middleton.  You can board a train, go for a ride with the kiddos, receive Santa, Elves, and treats in a festive atmosphere.

I walked to downtown Old Middleton today which is a whole block away. Stopped at the local florist whose owner is Tiffany.  She also does Interior Designing.  She talked to me like I was her family. Gave me a rose on my way out when she learned I was new to town, not to mention lived in her back yard.

And then it was onto the Middleton Dress Shop.  And then to another...where the owner took the time to show me how to "DO" these new neck scarves the size of Alaska.  I think I will need to buy some of them soon.  I like them more now that I have the knowledge of how to wrap 'em.

Had some errands that took me to Middleton Ace Hardware, ALIAS: Wolfe Kubly and Hursig:  My Lord you can do some serious shopping there.  Also noticed a Community Pharmacy in the same strip mall where I just might be able to get some lactose free medicine! And a place called SAVVY.  They sell gently used furniture and clothing.  Fun place.

The most up to date (I prefer the old-town) shopping is at Greenway Station.  So many shops. Anything you need you can find except groceries. I did find a creative key hanger...  But I left behind something I have always wanted since mine broke as a kid.... A HUGE PINK PIGGY BANK....I may go back and get it.  Screw appropriate age issue.  I had it in my cart when I suddenly felt stupid...so I put it back. Ding Ding Ding wrong thought!

Did I mention they have a special little restaurant for Italian food, a special one for pizza, and a couple of little bars for the locals. Not that I would frequent.  Well I might.

What's my point?  I have to say I have never lived or experienced such kindness, such reaching out, such friendliness...such PEACE anywhere ever in my life.  I am home.

Oh, I forgot to mention.  My Grandma and Grandpa Jungbluth are buried at St. Luke's Cemetery less then a mile from my place.  And, my ancestors from Germany settled  here in the 1800's.  Half the family went to Nebraska and the other half right here in good old Middleton, Wisconsin. In fact my landlord has done business and is acquainted with my first cousin and my Father's God son, Richard Hinricks.  Imagine that!

Soo....  I am here to stay for  awhile.  I love it. I am at home.  I am at peace. I am happy.  I am Thankful. Now all I need is about a Million Dollars.

Meghan Kelly, Gretchen Carlson and Me..... By Diane Ogden

Sexual harassment is as old as time.   It moves swiftly unnoticed and is also as quiet as time.  You don't have to be beautiful to have it happen to you.  Although it happens more if you are. Sexual harassment or abuse began for me at age fifteen in my doctors office by my doctor himself.  No names.  And his harassment continued and or returned when I was in my early twenties.  Also, a local High School Principle.  A Jr. High History teacher. And most of the boys in school....and  Date raped later in teen years.  Who does a girl learn to trust regarding men?  Hit on by my bosses, (give (someone) orders in a domineering manner. A person in charge)  most of my life.  Cornered in elevators, cars, planes, boats, elevators, bars, movie theaters, under a tree at night by the groundskeeper.  And the list goes on.  And on.  With age, a lot of "aging".... I learned how to curb it, how to escape it, how to hit it head on, and how to live with it and through it.
                                                              (In this photo I was 14 or 15 years old)

Sexual harassment is someone exercising unwanted verbally controlling comments and or actions  over another.  In this blogpost, Me.   Some (usually men) would say we women put ourselves in situations that asked for such behavior. Or we wear/wore clothing that says it okay to be sexually harassed or abused.  Bullshit for the most part anyway.  Maybe some women do but most do not.  I was basically a child with no idea how to deal with such a strong force of nature: hormonal men. Was that love? Well, that was my initial meeting with the opposite sex now wasn't it.  And shame on them. A doctor, a H.S. Principle,(not the principle where I went to school) and a history teacher, the dentist, the leader of the band, the fire chief (Not from my home town)!!  In watching the news this week and Meghan Kelly on Dr. Phil.....And Gretchen Carlson on 20/20... GOD I was just a child compared to their stories.  Meghan Kelly was a strong woman in a strong position, yet she couldn't and didn't handle it properly.... or was afraid to.  Look at all the women, try like 50!! That Dr. Huxtable, alias, Bill Cosby crossed the line with!!  And he is getting away with it.  Then there is Trump the hump....and so on and so on.  All the way back to Thomas Jefferson and Bill Clinton.  Under the desk with a rubber hose...NO NO that was John Travolta and Kotter!  What was I thinking?  We all know what I was thinking..... Cigars and blow jobs in the Oval Office.

I tried to teach my daughter and Granddaughters that men need a home for "hairy."  Most will say and do anything to get that home for "Hairy!"  I have also taught them that every time they hear the roar of a Harley.....it is a man straddling a woman (his Harley) legs spread, sitting in a power position, revving the engine like it is the orgasm he dreams of... Loud and engaging and all powerful.  All the things he probably is not in true life.

I have also taught them about the other man.  The good man.  He may have a gay side....which simply means he remembers flowers, compliments, is able to think partially like a woman to an acceptable degree...  He understands her feelings, her decorating issues, her magazines.... and many of her why's and needs. He isn't ALL MALE testosterone...  Rather he cares, loves, feels what she feels more than most men and most of all if he doesn't he pretends to as he smiles and holds her tenderly.  The farther-est thing from sexual harassment on earth.

I wasn't taught that, but then most little girls from the baby boomer generation were not taught that. We were to cook, clean, love our husbands no matter what, tend the children, and clean the house and do the laundry and do not complain no matter what.  Then suddenly we were thrown into the work force where men ruled.  They thought they ruled us, and they did for many decades.  In fact those old cronies haven't all died off yet.  Nor have their old thoughts and ways. 

Do not let me leave out the religious freaks.  The ones that believe the man rules the roost.  Whether he has he sense to or not.  They used God.  Some, no most of those thought that gave them the right and freedom to do whatever they chose to their wives or women.  When the woman went crazy during menopause they would pray and that is all they would do!!  My least favorite of all men..... God would never treat his women followers as those religious husbands did and do.

My Point:  I have been sexually harassed all my life.  IT feels Unclean. Wrong.  Dirty.  Outofline. Ungodly. Intrusive. Overbearing. Controlling.  Abusive.  Ill- legal. Disgusting. Unhealthy. Frightening. And at my adult age now....Pissed off!!!  Why do they continue to get away with it....  ??

I have more I could share from my life experiences of sexual harassment  but it isn't necessary....  Too scary to share as our society tends to have become more gladiator type arena's then I could ever have imagined.  I don't wish to be stoned or put in the arena with a lions.  I have already experienced that with men...

Not that I have never met a few good ones.  I have.  Those are the ones that don't touch rather they FEEL with their hearts.  Girls.... watch for those men.  The Good Men with their heart and their head and their penis as one!!  Few and far between but they are out there.

Happy Birthday to MWAH!! by Diane Ogden

As we get older birthdays should be celebrated with "Huge-er" parties verses lessor.  Huge-er because we are still upright and not ashes or six foot under.  Thus the older the bigger. Parties that is.  But that is not the way it goes is it?   We tend to try to forget we are getting older and brush the day aside.  Not me....I am so darn thankful to be here in this mess of a world at present.  Messes are made to clean up and it will clean up again.  You see, nearly every day I pass the Regent Street Cemetery and the Cress Funeral Home where two are being buried and one is being dug for!   Sure makes me thankful no matter what.  Once I'm on the other side (you know dead) I cant eat watermelon or cake anymore.  And I bet I will still want to.  I will look at God with that bit of a "stink eye" and he will look back at me with a bit of a forgiving "stink eye," and say:
You had your chance!  And behind his words I would spiritually read his mind....it would be telling me I had had my chance at many a thing and I blew some of them.  Sooo.....  I have decided not to do that anymore.
Go for the gusto.  No not beer......the gusto of life.  Laugh.  Live.  Love.  But don't charge too much on your credit card to get those things done.

Most of my family, the ones I like anyway, have moved far away.  They left me the leftovers no one wants to deal with!  But again, I am upright and thankful. As well as I steer clear of the "leftover" relatives.

What's my point?  I'll tell you what it is.  It is opening an envelope today at one of my long time clients homes and finding a little card all sealed up tight with my name on the front.  Sometimes that is awkward for me as I am usually the giver and have had to learn in life to receive better.  This was one of those times I felt like I was in a classroom life session.  I wanted to tuck it away and open it later but I knew I shouldn't do that.  So I didn't.  I opened it with a vengeance....like a child on Christmas morning.  A present!  For me!  All I usually get are four or five phone calls from afar saying Happy Birthday Mom. (Don't misunderstand me, I love those calls!)  But this was a real tangible happening right in front of my face.  Isn't this the sweetest ever surprise.  It touched my heart in a way sometimes earthly words aren't enough.  And I wanted to share......

  Diane Jungbluth- Ogden  born 11-22-47  and still thankful for everyday I am given....Its a GIFT!
              Present day is a Present.  I am blessed and so are you if you are reading this!!!

"Major"

It was 1985 give or take a year.  We were a normal family as far as that word goes.  One Father, one Mother, and four boys.  Actually five considering husbands are, more often then not one more kid to care for most of the time.  And this summer was one of those times.  He had lost his job and our beautiful family dog was chasing the UPS man daily.  Obviously we had no fence and the 5th child was not overseeing the situation very well.  Do realize the date....1985 meaning he was not a mature adult yet. Okay we have been divorced for 32 years if my math did that correctly. But lest ye know I have never forgotten what he did that summer.  He gave our dog away.  I wont elaborate because it wouldn't be nice at all.  When I finally tracked down the people he gave  our dog Major to.....they have given him away again.  I thought I would die emotionally.  We had our family photo's taken with that dog.  And it never left my heart all these years.

And then I met Grendel, who resembled Major.  We became instant buddies and the year was 2007.  He belonged to a client of mine. We would play ball, and I would brush him every other Friday.  I'd wash his stainless steel bowls as if they were my finest china.  I think it may have relieved my own guilt more than anything.  Although Grendel loved me and I him.  He would climb in the back seat of my vehicle if I left the door open too long.  And always run out of the house to greet me when I arrived.  Surely not because I always brought a treat.  In the picture below I am trying to get him to pose for a photo for the back of my business card.... Obviously it wasn't working but we sure had fun.

As the years past he grew weaker as we all do.  Now when I arrived he would get too excited and lose control of his rear section.  His rear section would go down almost doing the splits.  My helper and I would have to lift him up and steady him for a bit before letting him go on his own.  He couldn't play ball anymore and brushing him seemed to hurt somehow so that was out.

On days I was scheduled to be at there home his owner would always text me and let me know if he was not going to be there so I wouldn't worry.  I always said he was my Major reincarnated.  Even though I pretty much knew he wasn't.  Sort of my own private Disney fantasy.  God I always and still do cry at Lady and The Tramp.

So the last time I was there Old Grendel, age 15 was on the floor and couldn't get up.  The vet said this was probably it but the owners decided to wait one more day.   He couldn't even go to the bathroom on his own.  We had to put a sling around his belly and lift/walk his back legs for him.  I sat with him on the floor and discussed some of life and a lot of love.  He let me.  We used to sit out back on the deck (see pics) in total silence and listen to the beautiful sounds of nature.  Life.  I was and am so thankful to have known Grendel.  He and Major were my best friends ever. Wait, there was Barney dog, and Daisy, and Gracie Allen too.   Below was his last day on earth....

On my next scheduled visit to my client I found a card on the counter with beautiful words for
me..... It read:  " Thank you for all your love and support with our sweet old boy the last years."  Along with a $50.00 bill.  Which wasn't necessary but such a nice gesture of love, almost as if it were from Grendel himself.

Dear Diane

Dear Diane,
I am you. The part of you that makes decisions. The other part of you that has to live with those decisions as well. And also gets to feel how they affect you, good or bad.  I do want you to know I try very hard to get it right because feeling what you feel when it doesn't turn out as I expected is no picnic for me either sister.  You always joke and cover my side by saying you have eyes in your "ass" because you cant see anything until its passed...  Thank you but it is the truth.  Sometimes I cant see it and when I do I think I can make it all good as your license plate reads:  "ALSWELL!"  Even when it is not.  I never like letting your down. I watch you work hard to cover up the flaws I sometimes create in your life.  And then I watch you make everything okay for everyone around you.  I have made decisions that have affected your life in a negative fashion more than once and I am not talking about hip high red boots obviously not age appropriate.... no, I want to tell you how proud I am of you for taking my ishie decisions and turning them around for good or at least dealing with them until they fade into the abyss.  You and I have a fairly large file cabinet of errors in the Abyss State. That is if the Abyss is a State or Country or maybe just another planet in the universe where we get to file (dump) our waste.  Waste of time, waste of energy, waste of spirit, WASTE as in manure.  Worse.  Manure is spread on the earth to help grow vegetation. In our case, "Human Weeds."  No good to no one.  Our manure is spread to hurt us and that is why we send it to the planet of Abyss to contain it.  We must keep our eyes open as there are always new crops around us with manure making there way to us.  I can only pray you have not lost faith in this part of yourself.  ME! No not the manure part....the YOU part.  The ME part.  Everyone has a me inside them that messes up and the older we get the more mess ups we have put forth into our own private Universe. Not to mention the spillovers onto others Universe's.  I am here today to tell you maybe it is time you and I took better care of you.  (Each other) I like you Diane.  And I only want the best for you. Allow me to apologize for any decisions I have made that have hurt you or those around you.  And allow me to thank you for working so diligently with me in this life.  I know I haven't led you to a winning lotto ticket, rather you have found your own way to work overtime instead. Nor have I prized you with the best partner as has been obvious to all.  I have had to take into consideration that on your side of this duo is a woman who life goal is to take care of others.  You are the epitome of a giving loving heart. I have watched you throw yourself into a deep well more than once to save someone rather then throwing them a rope or a buoy.  The good book says to love they neighbor as thyself.  I believe you love yourself in spite of my sometimes incorrect decision making processing in our/your book of life.   You save plants, children, elderly folks, animals, and sometimes others that have more needs then you have to offer.  In fact at times your energy gets drained and that hurts me and you.  So maybe its time we get together, you know, heart and head all in one place all at the same time... I have learned through you that is the proper way to make healthy decisions.  Not one way or the other alone. Not just me or just you alone.   That is like a pizza with no cheese. Or a hamburger with no meat. Somethings turns out missing and leaves a bad or off taste in the pallet.  Another example is an unfinished painting. A car with three wheels.. A massage with no masseuse. A lover with no heart.  People around you with harsh words.
So from this day on you and I are going to work much closer.  And with your sense of humor, reserved and loving heart, and my brains, we can go far sister.  Get your roller skates on its time to move this happy healthy couple of us who have now meshed into one glorious human being. Mwah!
God I love you.  Why thank you. Nice outfit too.  Love Diane

"Son of a Grass Cutter"

Soooo.  I was at the cemetery today sittin' on Mary.  My 6th cousin who passed away at Verona's classy Badger Prairie Mental Asylum in 1918.  She had a child out of wedlock in the 1800's which led to her "Father" taking her child away.   She fell into depression at which time he placed her in Madison's Mendota Mental Hospital...later she was moved to Badger Prairie where she lived out her life.

Today I needed to find a quiet place to do some serious life thinking.  I considered the zoo.....then I decided on the Forest Hill Cemetery and Mary.  I stopped at Metcalf's grocery and bought Mary a rose.  I debated on what color....  That is when I spotted the Melon colored one....that was it without any doubt.  Then I passed a barrel of sample wine bottles... Yup I also grabbed one of those for Mary too.  Bet she never tasted wine in her life.  I was toting my own lunch bag, a rose, a camera, map of the cemetery, a small bottle of wine, and a milk crate to sit on which I did not use due to unleveled ground.

I parked and headed for the plot in area 22 with a plain flat stone saying,  MARY JUNGBLUTH.
That is when I heard two horrendous motors starting.....and running directly for MARY JUNGBLUTH. and me.  Two huge yellow mowers disturbing my peace to say the least.  Not to mention the smell of fresh cut grass which is usually sort of nice but not this time.  Nope, I suspected I would have a lung full of green suet by the time this was over.  As I sat on Mary's stone with my large lunch bag on one side, the milk crate on the other, the rose, the wine, the map and the camera....I thought they would GO AWAY seeing I was a grieving cousin.  Well they did not.  They mowed up to 8 feet from Mary and me.

Had I been a more gutsy and creative today I would have started wailing and screaming in deep grief.  Maybe then they would have left us in peace and moved to another section.  I just sat there saying, "Jesus Crisis anyway."  Maybe the zoo would have been a better  option.  And if those two men on their boy toys throw one stick at me I will sue the sheit out of this place.  They "got" no manners.  Those sons of a grass cutters mother!

I cant eat my lunch. My nose if full of flying green pieces....and my ears are buzzing.  They have headphones on for noise reduction.  Notice no one was handing them out to me.  I came here to hear from the dead regarding my life direction which is bigger then grass cutting.

Finally the rude jerks left but not far enough.  They left their ripe grass odor clearly behind with me.  Terribly rude. 

I placed the rose on Mary's home knowing she probably never got a flower in her entire life.  I also knew the grass eaters would be back because they did leave a 5 foot patch directly at my and Mary's feet.  I just knew they and their yellow machines would blow her rose away.. They were now mowing in the next section but still very loud and intrusive.   I decided to say goodbye to Mary considering I couldn't hear her advice and mosey on down the way..  I stopped and watched the mower man come back and mow right up to Mary's neck.  The rose didn't move...  I knew Mary was hanging onto it!!

I decided to sit on the cement wall up the way from Mary, surrounding the Civil War boys.   I had my lunch, toasted the boys with Mary's sample wine, took some pictures of them and heard what I needed to hear.  Whether you believe me or not.  Doesn't matter. 

I asked them to show me a sign.  I took this photo and as you can see I got what I asked for.....
So.... when I find more Happy News I will be back.  Be well, Be Happy, Be Safe, and get Rich.  Makes it all easier.