While my head is reeling from the Monday Madness around here it's hard to grasp onto two singular thoughts.  This week, though, I do have 2 thoughts really swimming around in my head.

Thought #1:  I haven't read a book since I closed the coffee shop.  I know it sounds hard to believe, but I think the last book I read was the DaVinci Code.  I suppose the only read I read it was because I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie.  I was very happy about both (that rarely happens BTW)  Last week I started reading the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer.  I finished books one and two by Tuesday.  While I wait for books three and four to be borrowable, I found that I was so interested in the series that I actually read books 1 and 2 again.

I've never done that - read a book twice?  Me? Totally out of character.  I can't explain why I read them twice, but the second time around they were as good as the first time.  Then, to my surprise, the Twilight movie played last night on Showtime... the movie sucked.  I've heard that the second movie is much better, something about a new producer or director or something...  Gosh I hope books 3 and 4 are good.

Thought #2:  Why? Oh! Why? Can't Spring be here already?  I want to start my garden, plant my flower beds, and bask in the warm glow of the sun.  I'm ready to watch the daffodils and crocuses bloom.  Today was a real teaser here.  It started out gloomy - high winds and heavy rain - then the sun came out and I loved every brilliant minute of it.  I think it got into the high sixty's or low seventies today -Truly gorgeous.

Happy Tuesday!

--Trina

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This week on BlogDumps Top Sites Tuesday:

Do we do enough? Should we do more?

With natural Disasters like the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the hurricane in Louisiana, and the earthquake Haiti, are we doing enough to help other people? In our daily lives we all seem to have our own natural disasters – does that prevent for helping others?

I can totally understand natural disasters in our own lives. Everyday we seem to have our own natural disasters and it seems that it takes something ad huge as the Earthquake in Haiti to remind us that we are not the only people on this planet. Unfortunately too, it reminds us that we are much more fortunate and that our silly little daily disasters are nothing more than trivial.

I shudder to think about putting myself in their shoes for even a second. To know that everything I once knew to be constant, friends, family, buildings, was now missing and lost - how could I possibly handle such a dreadful thing?

People are resilient. Through the worst of circumstances, they seem to find their way. New homes will be built. New Families will be made. New friendships will develop. Though everything in life is hard right now, it will get better.

Now back to our topic this week, Helping Others. I find that some people seem to be born to help others, rushing at the drop of a pin to a disaster zone where hundreds of thousands of people need. I am almost embarrassed to think think that I am not one of those people. I do admire the effort these amazing helpers are able to make. I am awed by their commitment and determination and by their ability to go to those disaster zones without a second thought to their safety.

I, on the other hand, can hardly cross a tall bridge, let alone face helpless people in a foreign country or state. I do what I can to help others - friends and family especially. Not that they all need my help, but I like to think that I am helping even when they don't know it.

To answer the questions Do we do enough? Should we do more? We do what we can and always strive to do more.

Trina

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So many thoughts so little time... well, yea, so there's plenty of time just maybe not enough time for me to write it all down.

My biggest thought of the day...  I spent a good deal of time today observing a courtroom in action.  I saw so many young men and women who made stupid mistakes that have huge consequences.  I wonder if they even realized the consequences of their actions.  I saw these kids - I call them kids, but they're probably in their 20's - do things like drive on a suspended license and get 50 days in prison.  I saw one guy in his late forties who had apparently been in and out of prison his whole life (and seemed destined to spend the rest of his life there) get ten years in prison - granted he had a long record, drug problem, and burglarized a small company.  Watching this my heart sank a little more with every sentence - how could these people just throw everything away?  Does freedom mean nothing?  Was that little trip to the store worth spending that much time in prison?

Is society so collapsed that spending the rest of your life in prison better than being free to come and go and make your own choices?  I actually heard the forty year old man say (as he was about to be sentenced) "I did the crime and I should be punished" While the statement was true, is was hard to hear it from a condemned criminal.

I could not believe how some of these people dressed either!  C'mon!  Sweat pants and t-shirts... saggy jeans and hoodies with skulls... tongue rings and odd piercings (even some of the innocent looked like hardened criminals)  What happened to respect for the law?  When you go to court you should be dressed nicely IE suit and tie, dress shirt and slacks, dresses... I only saw one young man dressed appropriately (well, beside the lawyers anyway) and apparently the judge was thinking the same thing because he thanked the young man (and his Mama) for showing the court respect by dressing nicely.

I suppose I may be thinking "old school" but is it too much to ask someone to remove their tongue ring before they talk to a judge?

On a more pleasant note, I'm writing this post while watching "Big Bang Theory" on CBS - it's a hoot! If you haven't watched it before, you should look it up!  LOL

Ok, so that's my thought(s) for today - what do you think?  Oh, and while you're thinking, please click my button and make me Number One!

--Trina

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