We decided to go to Memphis. We have both always wanted to see Graceland. The distance/ drive time was just about perfect.

First task after the destination was decided? SHOPPING!
We are only going to be gone fro 3 days but that somehow justified buying a weeks worth of clothes, shoes and make up.

Second task? PLANNING!
I made a list of tourist websites to check out and printed a Memphis guide. I believe that you need to plan in advance so that you can see everything you want. There is nothing worse that being someplace and upon your return home, realizing that the worlds largest frying pan was only 2 miles from your hotel. My travel mantra is plan, plan, plan. My daughter, not so much. She has more of a free spirited personality which is great but it interferes with my planning! Yes there is a lot to be said for spontaneity but there is plenty of time to be spontaneous during our ‘free time’ on Saturday between 4-6pm. : )

Third thing on the list? GRACELAND TICKETS
The first two tour times we wanted were already booked. Luckily, our third choice for 9:30 am was available. Another fine example of why planning ahead is necessary. People come from all over the world to visit Graceland. If we didn’t by tickets in advance, maybe we wouldn’t get in at all! Learned this one the hard way with hubby. He always makes fun of me for being a planner and making lists for everything. A few years ago he took me to my favorite place, San Francisco for my birthday. BUT, I wasn’t allowed to plan anything. As a result, we missed the boat to Alcatraz. We could have caught the next one…3 days later.

Next task? HOTEL!
Having been through Memphis a few times, I knew where I did NOT want to stay. After extensive research I went to Priceline and named my own price for a hotel. I LOVE this site. It has saved us hundreds of dollars of the years. We got a 4 star hotel in the area I wanted for $70 a night. Awesome!

The only thing left to do is make a packing list : )

It has almost been 4 years since he passed away. Sometimes without thinking I tell myself, I’m going to drive over and see Daddy today. Yesterday was one of those days. I had heard an old ’70s song that brought back a flood of memories. My husband was working in the garage so I decided to put the top down on the Jeep and put Annabelle the Westie in her car seat and hit the road. Before I left I loaded songs on my iPhone that reminded me of ‘back in the day’. We took a 30 minute jeep ride to where my Daddy lived his entire life.

As I was coming upon the area, it seemed strange to me that this once busy neighborhood street was desolate. I didn’t pass a car or a person. If you have seen Fried Green Tomatoes, it was like when Idgie went home and there was nothing there but abandoned buildings and overgrown yards.

I drove by my Grandma’s old house where she lived up until she passed away 5 years ago. The house that Daddy grew up in was torn down and Grandma built a new one maybe 20 years ago. Even though there was a newer house there, the yard was the same. I pictured it the way it was 40 years ago. I remember my uncle’s had their hot rods out front, I can remember my Grandpa butchering a hog in the free standing garage. I could even smell the dusty old house and hear the doors creak.

Just around the block was my Daddy’s newer shop he built about 20 years ago and my Brother now owns. I drove slowly by and got a sad feeling. I remember Daddy being less mobile while he was at this new shop, it didn’t feel like home. I then drove around another block back towards Grandma’s to where Daddy first started his business in 1976. It is a small metal building where he worked so hard day, night and weekends. I parked in the drive way and just looked around remembering so many things. I kind of got a feeling that Daddy was still there.
I felt tears well up so I figured it was time to move along.

Daddy is buried not too far from his old neighborhood but I just couldn’t quite manage to go by. Not today. I was missing him too much and I wanted to get a sense of him, not where he is buried.

After driving by my childhood home, Daddy’s childhood home and his old stomping ground, I was still left empty. I enjoyed the flood of childhood memories and could almost hear Daddy talking to me when I was little, it just wasn’t enough.

Yesterday I fully understood the meaning of ‘You can never go home again’.

I still haven’t wrapped my head around 1,700 words a day but I can give you an example using Lorem Ipsum, which is 1,700 words of gibberish.

I’m going to need lots of coffee and prayers!

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec mattis hendrerit odio, vitae rutrum nisi ultrices a. Vivamus diam odio, ultricies quis volutpat in, blandit at enim. Proin gravida facilisis tempus. Praesent non eros ut ligula aliquet ornare. Duis suscipit, enim in semper semper, augue ipsum condimentum mauris, vel placerat sapien enim ut sem. Curabitur pretium enim sed nibh volutpat et dapibus ante semper. Sed pharetra tincidunt ipsum id placerat. Ut accumsan lacinia nulla. Ut non tortor turpis. Cras eu purus ut odio cursus viverra non vel odio. Duis facilisis iaculis nulla et sagittis. Sed euismod hendrerit odio. Vivamus fringilla gravida leo imperdiet vulputate. Nunc vestibulum metus at nisi molestie molestie. Fusce elementum pellentesque diam, eu consequat urna ultricies non. Suspendisse aliquet malesuada justo, in porta felis semper id. Donec vitae pellentesque velit. Proin egestas eros ac mi adipiscing euismod. Donec ullamcorper condimentum felis non pharetra.

Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Donec est erat, rutrum et suscipit eleifend, ultrices vel sapien. Quisque laoreet, enim id auctor hendrerit, lorem nisl aliquam nulla, a pharetra sapien sapien et magna. Aliquam ipsum est, rutrum quis laoreet nec, mattis ac justo. Pellentesque sit amet lacus in justo lacinia luctus. Nunc pharetra, nibh id faucibus tincidunt, erat magna scelerisque augue, lobortis convallis sapien purus iaculis nibh. Cras tincidunt massa quis dui fermentum porta. Aenean fermentum ante vitae magna fringilla varius. Nam a lorem et mi accumsan elementum nec sed purus. Donec sodales, velit eget consectetur iaculis, metus neque imperdiet mauris, ut rutrum libero sem quis est. Proin a lorem pharetra nulla egestas tincidunt eu at dolor. Curabitur eget urna in nibh condimentum congue. Integer vel imperdiet justo. Maecenas congue dignissim lacus, nec suscipit augue aliquet et. Cras pellentesque risus ipsum, a faucibus lectus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Pellentesque id erat justo.

Proin vitae diam lectus. Nunc nec dui at nibh lobortis eleifend. Sed volutpat posuere pulvinar. Pellentesque sit amet vestibulum est. Nullam fermentum risus at erat scelerisque interdum. Fusce urna ipsum, feugiat eu sollicitudin vel, ornare eu purus. Sed at condimentum sem. Proin sed ante lacus. Integer placerat congue turpis, nec porta sem varius ut. Sed tempus, diam eu tristique pulvinar, odio quam fermentum enim, nec volutpat dui dui non quam. Nullam ultrices consectetur laoreet. Etiam non ipsum erat. In at nisl ut orci semper convallis. Pellentesque vitae vestibulum libero. Praesent nec nisi ac nisl consectetur varius. Duis nec lacinia tortor.

Nullam placerat tincidunt orci, non auctor ipsum malesuada vel. Quisque blandit ligula vel arcu mollis vitae dapibus purus rhoncus. Fusce nibh turpis, ultrices eget lacinia eu, faucibus pretium massa. In id nibh mi. Praesent id nulla in eros lacinia aliquet eu luctus lorem. Nullam quis volutpat nibh. Cras eget nibh eu elit aliquet laoreet. Suspendisse suscipit tempus adipiscing. Morbi sodales tellus ac purus commodo pulvinar ac quis augue. Suspendisse quis nibh mi, ut venenatis ligula. In tristique ipsum id lorem fringilla tempor. Morbi hendrerit ipsum vel metus ultricies in pellentesque sapien suscipit. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Ut ac risus at felis elementum cursus quis tempus lectus. Cras congue risus eget risus aliquam volutpat.

Etiam pretium tellus vitae tortor pretium a consequat justo porta. Mauris posuere nisi vel est rutrum ut aliquam nibh adipiscing. Nullam odio turpis, pellentesque in blandit at, dignissim at justo. Praesent urna nisl, ultricies ac semper quis, ultrices sit amet purus. Curabitur mi nibh, eleifend at tempus vel, placerat quis ligula. Aenean tincidunt elit vel neque tempus aliquet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec eget tortor turpis. Quisque sit amet magna nulla. Phasellus ut augue lorem. Mauris id risus orci, eu imperdiet purus. Donec scelerisque dolor in odio molestie et ornare dolor vulputate. Etiam nec mattis erat. Integer placerat suscipit ipsum et gravida. Nulla viverra, odio id ultrices blandit, mi lectus tristique arcu, a ultricies velit massa quis purus. Proin ut lorem eleifend quam eleifend porttitor. Maecenas pellentesque commodo dapibus. Maecenas odio magna, luctus tincidunt molestie eu, sollicitudin ut sapien. Integer ultrices adipiscing ante at porttitor.

Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Integer tortor ligula, lobortis ac luctus dictum, dictum quis arcu. Nulla scelerisque leo non neque commodo ut elementum quam suscipit. Aliquam tempor auctor tortor, vel semper eros malesuada quis. Aenean tempus tellus eu dui rutrum vitae tincidunt odio lacinia. Nam id ante sed turpis malesuada varius. Aenean pulvinar tempus quam ut dapibus. Curabitur sapien arcu, porta at aliquam vel, bibendum id nisi. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Cras commodo est quis augue feugiat sed rhoncus magna hendrerit. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Pellentesque suscipit, purus nec volutpat porta, velit risus placerat risus, nec vestibulum nisl lorem vitae magna. Mauris risus nulla, pretium fringilla accumsan vitae, pharetra vitae nisi.

Aliquam erat volutpat. Cras diam sem, fringilla ut mollis sit amet, dapibus quis nisi. Aliquam laoreet mi in elit congue sit amet semper purus iaculis. Nam ligula tortor, tristique sed accumsan et, condimentum quis elit. Curabitur sed sapien sit amet nibh venenatis blandit. Duis quam nibh, convallis sit amet ullamcorper tempus, molestie vel lacus. Curabitur luctus, erat non placerat dapibus, dolor orci posuere ligula, ut pellentesque massa diam sit amet enim. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Aenean id ultrices risus. Donec eu mauris urna, convallis eleifend nisl. Pellentesque pulvinar, quam ac lobortis ornare, turpis libero consectetur velit, porttitor luctus sapien neque eget mi. Praesent sed elit quam. Nam faucibus, ante et venenatis venenatis, nunc dui vulputate magna, nec auctor justo diam id tellus. Donec eu accumsan ante. Proin sagittis ante nec risus consequat quis interdum nisl sodales. Nam ipsum urna, placerat sit amet porttitor a, aliquam eget metus. Quisque ac turpis tortor, nec dapibus tortor. Donec sit amet tellus dui, ac malesuada nisi.

Nam nulla sem, varius sed molestie eu, fringilla in orci. Nam porttitor fringilla sem at rutrum. Morbi eget lorem ut dolor elementum convallis. Donec viverra turpis vel purus auctor a rhoncus enim sodales. Fusce tempor mauris egestas libero hendrerit quis fringilla neque ornare. Proin diam felis, tempus non varius non, faucibus eget massa. Nunc non lectus purus, posuere viverra dui. In luctus, eros molestie mollis rhoncus, nisl ipsum sodales lorem, ac vestibulum leo tellus non odio. In sit amet urna vitae quam dapibus pellentesque sed quis lectus. Curabitur mollis, purus nec rhoncus rutrum, nunc arcu condimentum massa, sit amet volutpat nunc nulla vel mi. Etiam pretium, nisi vel volutpat posuere, lacus tortor fermentum ipsum, a posuere nulla urna nec quam. Nam placerat, turpis eu pretium elementum, felis tellus dapibus odio, a vehicula augue elit ac massa. Integer luctus, urna in auctor consectetur, erat lacus egestas ligula, eu pulvinar libero urna vel risus. Suspendisse non congue augue. Pellentesque aliquam leo vitae magna egestas eu gravida velit hendrerit. Quisque auctor urna sit amet enim scelerisque ac condimentum justo tempus.

Morbi vel nisl tincidunt massa tempor bibendum ac at nibh. Nam imperdiet luctus lacinia. Sed laoreet nibh at odio fringilla non rhoncus felis feugiat. Mauris adipiscing pharetra libero sed faucibus. Pellentesque ut dolor mi, et sodales neque. Proin sollicitudin venenatis mollis. Ut odio velit, iaculis id fermentum a, lacinia vitae tellus. Sed ultricies tempus ante, et rhoncus magna dapibus quis. Vivamus rhoncus, velit id dignissim malesuada, arcu ipsum viverra lorem, ut egestas purus dui a nisi. Maecenas eget est dolor, in dictum dolor. In nec ante ipsum, sed facilisis est. Mauris id tellus nulla. Praesent justo lacus, convallis at rutrum eu, posuere vitae dui. Vestibulum suscipit accumsan rutrum. Vivamus vestibulum nisl sit amet tellus euismod faucibus. Duis sit amet ipsum quis eros aliquam pretium. Mauris sit amet faucibus sapien. Nam ipsum dui, euismod eu elementum nec, porttitor consequat lacus. Donec eu ipsum ut erat condimentum vulputate ac sed odio. Curabitur arcu metus, ultrices ut euismod quis, consectetur nec velit.

Mauris aliquam, ipsum quis imperdiet accumsan, sapien metus elementum lorem, ut semper ante purus sed turpis. Nullam libero turpis, malesuada posuere pretium quis, egestas nec nibh. Integer tellus elit, pulvinar sit amet facilisis id, vulputate a felis. Integer tincidunt iaculis libero id hendrerit. Sed egestas blandit aliquet. In consectetur, neque sed faucibus aliquet, nisi dolor laoreet lectus, a tincidunt est erat sit amet sem. Nullam risus orci, elementum nec consequat sit amet, suscipit vitae enim. Aenean convallis mollis est, ut ultrices turpis tristique et. Suspendisse potenti. Sed at velit sit amet ante viverra commodo. Pellentesque non tincidunt ante. Integer convallis sem nisi. Quisque quam orci, facilisis sed semper non, vehicula id nibh. Etiam tempor ligula ut erat pharetra fermentum.

Suspendisse eu dignissim purus. Sed nisl turpis, venenatis a rhoncus id, auctor sed neque. Duis aliquam tristique hendrerit. Sed varius ultrices nisi, at placerat dolor bibendum facilisis. Curabitur congue, tortor eget gravida rutrum, dui ipsum tincidunt orci, a imperdiet sapien neque venenatis ante. Integer interdum, odio et suscipit iaculis, est augue pellentesque lorem, eget scelerisque eros lacus a tortor. Donec mattis tempor dui, suscipit facilisis dolor congue quis. Suspendisse id felis est, at condimentum lacus. Duis porta pharetra metus, a auctor sapien laoreet non. Curabitur at malesuada libero. Sed pharetra sem ut nulla vulputate faucibus. Fusce sit amet justo eu est interdum blandit. Donec pulvinar nisi in metus porttitor in ornare orci commodo. Aenean quis dui nec orci euismod iaculis. Morbi sit amet lacus a magna volutpat fringilla vel sit amet velit.

Sed in dui libero, ac laoreet neque. Nullam ante dolor, iaculis sit amet iaculis id, sagittis vel lorem. Maecenas sed dui eu diam malesuada egestas a ac libero. Ut imperdiet dapibus scelerisque. Sed hendrerit, augue at condimentum egestas, tellus ante condimentum nunc, ut feugiat justo nulla et enim. Fusce nisi enim, tristique non egestas id, hendrerit quis felis. In eu mi vitae arcu dictum consectetur nec in quam. Integer feugiat sapien nec mi molestie laoreet. Cras hendrerit tellus sit amet leo commodo in tempus eros porta. Morbi sed nibh orci. Integer congue, velit et rutrum vehicula, justo mauris tempor turpis, vel mollis dui libero at metus. Vestibulum non semper est. Morbi consectetur pulvinar eros sit amet viverra. Suspendisse a est in sapien venenatis vulputate. Aenean porttitor odio vel dui convallis vestibulum. Mauris fringilla venenatis vestibulum. Cras a massa.

I work downtown and on my way to work the Monday after Halloween, I saw Christmas trees in store windows and couldn’t believe it. I was disappointed again the following week when several neighbors had Christmas lights and trees up. The home owners association gives us a certain date that the lights have to be taken down but can’t they be put up too early?

This year I saw no turkeys, no pilgrim hats or feathers. Jack-o-lanterns turned into Christmas trees. I absolutely love Christmas but my family will continue the tradition of putting the Christmas tree and decorations up the weekend after Thanksgiving.

I was at work when a couple walked in. I greeted her but she didn’t respond in any way. I brushed it off and waited for the man with her to come in the door. She stood quietly and patiently until he came in and walked up to my desk. He took out his pen and paper and told me that he was deaf and obviously couldn’t speak. In a series of quick notes back and forth I learned that he and his wife were displaced from hurricane Rita. They drew social security but were currently homeless. The police picked them up the night before at a Waffle House and put them up in a motel for a night. As kind as that was, they had the same problem at check-out time, back on the streets.

My place of business has nothing to do with providing help to homeless or any kind of aide. My best uneducated guess was to call the Salvation Army. They had room for the couple! I was proud to tell Mr. Hurt that I had been able to help them. He shook his head and then wrote that his wife was deaf and blind. They had been married for 25 years and he would not go to a shelter unless they could be together because she could not communicate and they didn’t want to be apart. I could feel the tears well up but I held them off so I could make more calls. After an hour and a half, someone finally suggested that I call the First United Methodist Church. The associate Pastor there was able to help but he didn’t have a vehicle available to come get the couple. I volunteered to take them to meet the Pastor at the motel near his church. I took all of our notes and put them in an envelope to help the Pastor make sense of what was going on. A co-worker and myself helped them to my car and we took them a mile away to the motel.

In between my phone calls to churches and charities and and my notes to Mr. Hurt, I saw him communicate with his wife in such a loving way. It was just sign language but I could tell that he loved her so much. Without a single word, this couple, Mr. & Mrs. Hurt, managed to touch me in a way that I will never forget. I will continue to keep them in my prayers.

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]]> http://michellemcintosh.com/free-nra-membership/feed/ 3 http://michellemcintosh.com/facebook-can-now-license-your-private-data/ http://michellemcintosh.com/facebook-can-now-license-your-private-data/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:24:23 +0000 Michelle http://michellemcintosh.com/?p=267 As of 4 Feb 09 Facebook made a change to it’s user terms that reads.

“You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.”

So everything you add on Facebook will be archived and kept indefinitely! They can use anything they want to promote Facebook such as your family photos or private posts.

You can delete your profile but the data has already been saved and will be property of Facebook!

Source: FoxNews

]]> http://michellemcintosh.com/facebook-can-now-license-your-private-data/feed/ 1 http://michellemcintosh.com/how-to-fly-the-united-states-flag/ http://michellemcintosh.com/how-to-fly-the-united-states-flag/#comments Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:41:50 +0000 Michelle http://michellemcintosh.com/?p=144 Recently my husband and I visited Ft. Sill with my in-laws. It was so warming to see the base housing with the flags flying outside the homes. Here are ten guidelines from the VFW on how to fly your flag.
1. The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously
2. The flag is never allowed to touch the ground or the floor
3. When hung over a sidewalk on a rope extending from a building to a pole, the union stars are always away from the building
4. When vertically hung over the center of the street, the flag always has the union stars to the north in and east/west street, and to the east in a north/south street
5. The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of states or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs
6. The flag should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds but always allowed to fall free
7. The flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon on Memorial Day then raised to the top of the staff
8. Never fly the flag upside down except as a signal of distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property
9. The flag is never flown in inclement weather except when using an all-weather flag
10. The flag can be flown every day from sunrise to sunset and at night if illuminated properly
]]> http://michellemcintosh.com/how-to-fly-the-united-states-flag/feed/ 2 http://michellemcintosh.com/im-tired-of-that-damn-race-card/ http://michellemcintosh.com/im-tired-of-that-damn-race-card/#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:53:14 +0000 Michelle http://michellemcintosh.com/?p=118 In my opinion Bobby Rush is a dumb ass! I saw him on Fox News last night saying that Roland Burris being turned away yesterday was a racist move. What nerve! I am also tired of any anti-obama person being accused of being racist. Are we going to have to hear this every day for the next 1,474 days that Barack Hussein Obama is in office? I don’t care if he’s purple, I don’t like him and think he’s a sham. Would it be fair if I accused all of the black people of being racist that didn’t like Bush? It never entered my mind.









]]> http://michellemcintosh.com/im-tired-of-that-damn-race-card/feed/ 2