Quite possibly! In response to another blogger's blog posting, I responded:

"It is indeed something to think about... China, Mexico, and many other countries are mass producing things for us....

but, flags have to rise when are products are being imported tainted with things that could kill each and every one of us and the environment we know it to be.

As ecological conscience we Americans are purported to be, you would think that the ecological organizations would also rise to the occasion to speak out and alert American Businesses to quickly begin to rethink our mass productions to be done here in the States for the safety consideration of one and all here.

Can you tell? It most certainly has been on my mind lately......"

What was his blog posting.... See below:

"With a lot of manufacturing jobs moving over to China, are we setting ourselves up for failure???? Hmmmmmmm.......

Let's look at the facts that have been uncovered in recent months. I'll start with the mass pet food recall that killed several pets. The cause of the recall was because of contaminated ingredient glutin, which was imported from China.

It gets worse. The U.S. is importing seafood from China. Some of it is farm raised in ponds that the EPA would condem. This food is not being properly inspected and tested by the FDA. Yet, we Americans keep buying it.

And for the latest, Matel is recalling millions of toys because the paint used on them contains excessive amounts of lead. And these toys are made guess where... That's right! China.

Are we really better off getting our food and goods from China? They could be taking us down without us even knowing it. What would happen if the U.S. got involved in a major war similar to WWII? We would not have the manufacturing capabilities to produce the goods necessary to defend ourselves like we did during WWII. We will not have the experienced workers necessay to man the factories, let alone the factories to make the goods.

Think about it........."

What do you think? Have you been trying to sort out the madness lately in the news????

I am sorry that I haven't been checking back in here as often as I used to. I do try to check the comments and happenings around here periodically and while many might not think that I am keeping up with you, I do try to from time to time, albeit not even close to 100%. As such, if you drop me a line from time to time to let me know how you are doing, I assure you it will not go wasted.

In the meantime, I have been blogging lots on CherryTap, MyFoxAustin, Statesman, and not quite as much on MySpace, Xanga, Blogger, and Yahoo360, although I miss my friends who were regularily giving me the added push. more recently I have been combining efforts into WordPress which has been an interesting experience, albeit it is still in the early formulation stages and may be still too early to tell. My site on WordPress, I refer to as iWIM - the entire URL though is www.iWIM.WordPress.com. Come check it out when you can.

Besides blogging, I have been basically working and sleeping throughout the day and night. I have, though, started some projects --

Bluebonnet Hunt - my annual search for the perfect Bluebonnet photo

The Cross Project - my photo hunt for pictures of crosses in a variety of resources to create a project that will, hopefully, enable some proceeds go to victims of domestic violence and more trainings available for the Church staffs about domestic violence issues. Currently looking for someone to commit to publishing before I get too deep involved in the cost of searching for all the forms of the crosses.

My blogging has reached new depths now. I truly want to write those books I have had in mind for the past few years, but was not feeling quite ready. I have written out many things before, but they got lost in moves and/or in computer crashes. Now I have writer fever. I am tempted to go rent a cabin for a week to stay at and buckle down with the writing. Trouble is, I am not keen about moving my computer system with me (or even if the cabin is set up for it). Hmmm... maybe, I'll just give my apartment a good cleaning through, open up the windows, and buckle down within my own apartment and "Just Do It!" as the Nike slogan would have you believe that it is a perfectly plausible and simple thing to do.

It will be my birthday soon (well, actually, tomorrow). I'll be 48 years young at that time and on the way to being a Grandma for the first time when my beloved daughter and her significant love have their first baby on/about July 8th.

I will continue from time to time continue to check back here with my friends that I haven't been quite so on top of lately. My projects are inspiring me to climb further up those mountains. I am desperately needing some commitments from publishers to believe in me and give me the incentives to continue working to the light at the end of the tunnels. If you have any ideas/suggestions, please, oh please, let me know.

In the meantime, any words of advice or encouragement will always be appreciated. I look forward to hearing more from you; just don't be discouraged if it seems like for-ever in between my updates to you.

Blessings to all.

Kat

I can't stand Sanjaya staying on the American Idol show this season as much as the next person. My stomach just ties into a curl each week as he reappears.

Howard Stern is behind the ploy to vote for the worst, which is why supposedly that the worst has kept flying through the rankings each week and has managed to stay on despite that there are many other talented singers who certainly deserve to remain. The first knee jerk reaction I have is, "If Sanjaya actually wins, I am not watching the American Idol ever again!" But wait. Is that what, perhaps, Howard Stern's true goal is? If I, and all the American Idol fans who are soured by these antics, do suddenly not watch the show any more, then Howard Stern wins with his antics.

Can't help but wonder it the American Idol folks aren't secretly behind this in order to add controversy? or, maybe they had a bet with Howard Stern saying that their fans would outvote whatever votes that he would drive up because the fans would be determined that their favorite fan wins? Perhaps, in driving up the votes, they are hoping that they will actually meet the goals that they have set for themselves to for their charity; even Sanjaya's votes are actually helping them to meet their charity goals as well.

Maybe the fault is American Idol in itself for having some weak singers this season; very few truly stand out above and beyond the rest. The real contest is going to start when it comes down to what I consider the top 6 -- Lakeisha, Melinda, Phil, Blake, Chris R, and Jordan. All of these folks have talents and ways of entertaining that surpass all the others. Haley holds her own because she is beautiful despite she really doesn't have that pizzaz; Gina has her distinct moments when she can entertain (although last night was clearly not a good night for her); but, Sanjaya actually did a decent performance with his determination that he could sing (although he showed the world that he is indeed an entertainer despite that over all he just really can't sing all that well to warrant continuing to move up the ranks). Perhaps, that is the reason that Simons' only comment after Sanjaya's performance was "incredible" (demonstrating his whole frustration in the Sanjaya phenomena). By the way, it certainly won't surprise me at all if this whole antic will go into the Sociology or Marketing textbooks as the "Sanjaya Phenomena".

All that being said though, one certainly has to ask where are all the American Idol fans? The only way I see to combat the evilness of Howard Stern is to out vote his following (or, maybe create a new worst to vote for????).

What do you think????

In going through a Vogue magazine in between crisis calls that was left here at work tonight, I ran across an article by Allegra Kent called, "dance of the muse", wherein she "recalls a time when her playful form was the inspiration for her husband's -- the great ballet master Balanchine's -- art."

What caught my eye, indeed, was the whimsical picture of Allegra in a flowing dress holding a rose in one hand and leaning towards the other in her bare feet. So free. So flowing.

I am thinking, what happend to me? I used to be just a playful and free spirited.

Was it all the responsibilities of being a single parent for all of these years?

Was it being "broken" by two abusive husbands in the past?

Am I hiding behind the injuries that occurred to me almost three years ago? After all, it isn't the swollen ankles that truly represents who I am, but the spirit within me that people generally love about me. I think, sometimes, people really like to get me exceptionally excited about something because they love to hear me stumbling with the excitement, one word over another, because they will look at me, with the biggest grin on their face, and say "slow down, slow down"!! :D Then we are all laughing so very hard that I end up losing a my breath a bit and start coughing these days especially.

I miss the whimsical nature that was represented in the photograph (See Vogue Oct 2006 issue, page 130) about myself.

How do I regain that muse of a nature that is so reminiscent of who I truly am?

Part of it has been restarted by listening to a meditation CD called, Bridging the Gap. I have used the CD for the last 2 days. The first day was a bit awkward because I had a migraine that morning before laying down; as a result it was effective, but, obviously, not as effective as it could be. Today, I used it again and slept so very soundly. In fact, I don’t remember hearing the track 2 for the CD this time; just dozed completely until 4pm today.

I feel rested and rejuvenated. It is absolutely amazing at how this CD has affected me. For the second time within the past week, I feel like doing a jig (the first time in the past week was when I truly started feeling better from being so sick during the last couple of weeks).

Perhaps, this is a journey that I am meant to be on at this time. It feels right. So, for now, I am renaming my pathway the "dance of the muse"!!

:D