rants and raves – Allyson Daniel

December 24, 2015March 26, 2018

Left Handed Challenges

When I was young, I remember my mother trying to encourage me to write with my right hand. This was hard for her to do, since she was left-handed, and I wanted to be just like her! I actually have become ambidextrous, which is great, but I have developed a true empathy for “lefties” in a “right-hander’s world.” Taking notes, for example is a challenge because the notebook’s binder is on the left side, which becomes an obstruction to writing!

When Charlie told me about how he was trying to find a left handed guitar store to be able to buy a guitar for his son Jake, I offered to try to help him find one. Thank goodness for the Internet! Googling “left handed guitars” under their “shopping” tab brought up several places to check out.

December 20, 2015

Christmas Blues

I get them every year, those darn Christmas blues, but this year it seems worse than others. I want so much for my children and I don’t just mean ‘stuff’. I want a real home. I want a real family life. I want a real chance to be a better Mom than I have been.

Why is it that this time of year I go through this? I guess it’s because we look into the eyes of these innocent children and see the wonder of life and Christmas glowing in them. Then we go look in the mirror and see the disenchantment in our own eyes knowing that the world is not a box of cherries. I don’t know about you but I long for that love and innocence again and want it to stay in my children’s eyes.

I know that a time will come when they don’t believe in Santa anymore or the magic of Christmas but I just don’t want them to look through the eyes of disenchantment at me ever. I want them to always see the wonder of a world of possibilities for them.

September 29, 2015

Some friend he is

Would you believe a friend of mine suggest I sign up for one of those online dating services? I now question what kind of friend he is. But then he started telling me that he met his wife online. I couldn’t believe it. I thought they met through a friend. She’s a really sweet person and they both sat me down and told me that now they do better at screening who signs up for them. You know, I might give it a try. Maybe, maybe not.

February 14, 2015

Happy Valentines Day

Well I have learned something else. I have to do this for ME and not for my children. My children will benefit from it as much if not more than I will. Today is Valentines Day. The day you show your loved ones that you love them. Well of course I got my children valentines cards and candy but I also bought myself some flowers to she myself that I am loved too.

You know what? It actually felt good to buy myself something like flowers. I look at them and picture myself as one of the buds on them. A bud is nothing but a green object and you have no idea of the beauty that will come from within. Right now I’m a bud. Once I work a little more, I’ll begin to open up and start showing the beautiful flower within. I don’t know if I’m a dandelion or a rose yet but in time, I will. Even a weed can produce a beautiful flower and right now, I feel more like a weed than a rose bush but even something as beautiful as a rose has thorns.

November 26, 2014

Let the cooking begin!!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We’re all getting together at my mother’s house for dinner. Well we’re supposed to meet around 2:00 but I’m sure some won’t be there until around 3:30. My family has a habit of being late. It’s almost a family tradition!!

Yes we are even inviting my childrens new ‘adoptive grandfather’ Charlie too. He’s bringing the turkey. I’m making a carrot cake and everyone else has a dish they are too bring. I love carrot cake and have a recipe my great-grandmother gave me a long time ago. It’s the best carrot cake ever. In fact, here’s the recipe:

Carrot Cake

2 cups grated carrots
1 small can of crushed pineapple not drained
1 1/2 cups Wesson oil (doesn’t have to be Wesson oil)
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (may use 2 if desired but I use 1)
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped pecans.

Cream oil and sugar together. Add Carrots, pineapple and nuts. Add eggs one
at a time and beat well. Add dry ingredients sifted together.

Bake in 3 layers at 350 degrees approximately 45 minutes or until done by
sticking a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean.

Frosting for Carrot Cake

1 8 ounce package of creamed cheese
1 stick of margarine
1 box of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of chopped pecans

Have cheese and margarine soft. Set out of refrigerator a few hours.
Use electric mixer to mix in powdered sugar, vanilla and nuts.

Put in refrigerator after you frost it to make it set better after frosting.

Enjoy!!!!

November 11, 2014

Veterans Day

I’m not that close to my family and am not sure how many people within my family have served in the military but today is the day to honor those that are veterans. There’s a local steak house that gives a free meal to all veterans that come in. It’s amazing to see the range of ages of these that served.

In this time of two wars, it’s easy to thank a veteran but there aren’t many left from WWII. I hope they know how much our country appreciated them. They fought one of the worst wars our country was ever in. They fought for people around the world that couldn’t fight for themselves, the Jews.

Let’s all make sure to thank a veteran today. If you don’t know one personally, it doesn’t matter, find one. Just look on their cars and you’ll see a Marine Corps sticker or maybe a ‘Retired Army’ sticker. Go up and tell them ‘Thank you for what you did for me and my family’ and shake their hand. They deserve to stand tall today and every day.

My children wanted me to put this picture on to honor the soldiers so this is from my children.

October 17, 2014

Need a new guitar bag

I am so angry at Shawn’s dog right now I could just scream! I have asked Shawn repeatedly to not let that dog roam around the house un-supervised when I am not at home. Do you think he would listen to me and honor my request? Yeah, right! That stupid dog has chewed up my guitar bag, so now I need to go online to see MF and try to get a new one delivered by the weekend. I don’t have the time to run into town to pick one up. I’m going to make Shawn pay for the new bag and the expedited delivery charge, too! I guess I should just be glad that the stupid dog didn’t ruin the guitar, too!

September 29, 2014

I just had to share a laugh with you!!

Granny is eighty-eight years old and still drives her own car. She writes:

Dear Grand-daughter,

The other day I went up to our local Christian book store and saw a ‘Honk if you love Jesus’ bumper sticker. I was feeling particularly sassy that day because I had just come from a thrilling choir performance, followed by a thunderous prayer meeting. So, I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper.

Boy, am I glad I did; what an uplifting experience that followed. I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and how good he is, and I didn’t notice that the light had changed. It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus because if he hadn’t honked, I’d never have noticed. I found that lots of people love Jesus! While I was sitting there, the guy behind started honking like crazy, and then he leaned out of his window and screamed, ‘For the love of God! Go! Go! Go! Jesus Christ, GO!’ What an exuberant cheerleader he was for Jesus!

Everyone started honking! I just leaned out my window and started waving and smiling at all those loving people. I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love! There must have been a man from Florida back there because I heard him yelling something about a sunny beach.

I saw another guy waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air. I asked my young teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant. He said it was probably a Hawaiian good luck sign or something. Well, I have never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign right back. My grandson burst out laughing. Why even he was enjoying this religious experience!! A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed the light had changed. So, grinning, I waved at all my brothers and sisters, and drove on through the intersection.

I noticed that I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again and felt kind of sad that. I had to leave them after all the love we had shared. So I slowed the car down, leaned out the window and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away. Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!!
Will write again soon,
Love,
Granny

September 23, 2014

I need new faucets

This is a great house but some of the faucets need to be replaced. I have always known that Delta faucets are the best so why would I settle for anything else? After all, I don’t want to have to replace them again anytime soon and with them, I won’t have to. They have a good selection for kitchens and bathrooms. I may as well just see which faucets aren’t Delta and replace them while I’m at it.

September 5, 2014

I have always wanted a pretty smile

Your smile is one thing that people see first and can help or hurt your first impression. My smile is awful and that’s why I am seriously thinking about porcelain veneers. I have relatives that live near the place that does them, so it would be easy for me to go visit when the children have time off from school and come back with a beautiful smile. I wish I had known about this before school started back.