guns and death

Yesterday, a landmark, historic settlement was made by the gun manufacturer, Remington. In a suit claiming that the gun manufacturer is responsible for a massacre/mass shooting, it settled out of court for $73 million dollars.

It's a slippery slope, isn't it? No matter what side of the issue you're on. I've had several questions, as a casual news reader. One is, why did they settle instead of go to trial? Did they think they would lose? Did they settle because if they lost it would set a precedent, which would be bad for other gun manufacturers. Now that they've reached a settlement out of court will other gun manufacturers be targeted? The other thing that was really curious to me was, even though this was "breaking news" when it happened, I couldn't find a single headline about it in any news outlet that was in even the top 10! USA Today, Fox News, NY Times, MSN...The way the media covers anything about guns and gun control and the 2nd amendment is so aggressive, I just don't understand why they didn't have a million words to say about this?!!?

Gun related deaths in the US topped 45,000 during the pandemic. (There was a spike in homicides.) Is that a moral issue or a gun issue?

I didn't/don't follow this case but I gathered that part of the suit against them was how they market their firearms. That made me wonder, why is it ok for Anheuser-Busch to market (target) a young audience?

Did you know, drunk drivers cause more than one third of all traffic related deaths. Alcohol related deaths, ie excessive alcohol use, is responsible for more than 95,000 deaths each year. Who is responsible? The drunk driver, the bartender who served them, the alcohol maker, the store they purchased that alcohol from?

According to CDC statistics, drug overdoses  accounted for over 91,000 deaths. Is that a health issue or a big pharma issue? What about the doctors that prescribe the drugs?

Cigarette smoking is estimated to cause 480,000 deaths annually. 

Where is the outrage, exactly??

Tiny things

When my ex-sister-in-law died a couple years ago, my youngest niece took her miniature house. She said she has some nice memories about her mom and working on that house.

Last year she started remodeling it. It needed it. It was in pretty bad shape. I've put together several miniature houses so she hit me up for tips and ideas. I obliged :-) She's doing a fabulous job too. She has a decorating flair and she's good with power tools! She's even given her journey it's own Instagram page and named her house, 918 Victoria Lane. You can find it on IG at victoria.lane.mini  

Occasionally she'll send me a text with a picture of some miniature food and say, Hi Aunt Cindy, isn't this sooooo cute?! I can't say no, so I'll make it for her. So far she's gotten this;

With more requests backed up. It's fun. I like doing it. 

Anyway, it's really made me want to do the keeper house I still have in a box in my craft room. It's 3 stories with a shop on the bottom. It's so awesome! I've had it for about 15 years!!! I don't even know why I haven't put it together. I guess it's a little intimidating.  And it can be expensive. But I even go to the Miniature House Museum's attic sale whenever they have it and but all sorts of cute little tiny things for a fraction of the cost! I really just need to jump in though. I love tiny things. I love miniature houses! 

It's hard to get started on things sometimes. 

D.E.I.

 D.E.I. stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

It's a "thing" now, where I work. We now have a DEI committee. What is their purpose you ask?

The purpose of the DEI committee is to develop and promote strategies and best practices within the realms of racial, social, sexual, and gender diversity. The DEI Committee further serves as an opportunity for non-committee members a place to provide suggestions and challenges for the DEI.

Before the committee was created, I was invited to sit in on the discussion about DEI and the need for a committee. We were given handouts. The first is the definitions and the 2nd was part another visual aid.

For now, I want to talk about the 2nd image. We were all asked if we had comments about this graphic. Almost everyone did. But the one comment that stuck out for me was, well this is a nice graphic but why are all the kids black?  Which of course made someone else say, this makes it look like African Americans are always on the outside and they don't have the opportunity to see the game from the stands. In my head, I thought, the big kid is just a jerk for not giving his box to the little guy. My next thought was, boys are stinkers, trying to watch the game over the fence. It didn't even occur to me that were black. Apparently, I'm part of the problem...that racism is so ingrained in our culture that I can't recognize that it's a problem.

The point of the graphic is; Equality = everyone benefits from the same supports. Equity = Everyone gets the supports they need.

A better graphic would have been;

Regardless, I didn't like being told that I was part of the problem because I'm white. I don't like feeling bad for black people because I'm white. I've had a couple honest conversations with black people about this. It's been interesting and sometime enlightening. Clearly, I can't know what it's like to be a person of color. I know what discrimination feels like though - because I'm a woman and now because I'm a senior. But I don't know what racial discrimination feels like. I'm naïve, I know that. I'm not that naïve though. I know there are more people than I can imagine, that still feel negatively towards people of color. I'm not one of them though. And I would be delighted to have conversations about it...but not hateful, argumentative, mean spirited ones. 

happy music

Do you have happy music that you love? You know, those songs that you hear that you literally can't sit still for?

I have a few. Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. BEST happy song ever!

Faith by George Michael. Uh huh...my head is swaying just thinking about it!

You Make My Dreams Come True by Hall and Oats. My fella likes Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars and Can't Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake. I love the video for JT song. 

Anyway, those are the ones that get me every single time. I know there must be more though, so I looked it up :-) I found a really great list of happy songs! Here are some of them;

* Bob Marley - Three Little Birds

* Lionel Richie - All Night Long

* Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry Be Happy

* Ricky Martin - La Vida Loca'

* Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody

* Bill Withers - Lovely Day

* ABBA - Dancing Queen

* Luke Bryan - One Margarita

* Earth, Wind & Fire - September

* The Turtles - Happy Together

* The Kinks - Come Dancing

* Chubby Checker - The Twist

* I Feel Good - James Brown

* The Monkeys - I'm a Believer

Here's a fun little article about happy songs;

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/634936/happiest-songs-according-to-science

Life

Do you remember when you were little and you thought the year 2000 was SOOOOO far away?! Maybe you were going to be 50 years old in 2000! Or 40!!! That's ancient when you're only 10. Now it's 2022. If you turned 50 in 2000, you're really old now. If you turned 40 in 2000, you're climbing that chart too. Now when you look back at 2000, it seems like it's so far away again. 

I remember when my mom turned 50. I was 31. 50 seemed old to me. But when I got to 50, psshhh. NOT old! I was still getting drunk at 50! hahahahaha Now? Nah. The recovery time is too long. 

Do you wish you had taken better care of yourself, when you look back on your life? You know, had better eating habits, took better care of your skin, exercised, saved your $$, had children, not had children, paid attention in school, waited longer to have sex or not waited 😊 All those youthful things.

Now you look around at all the things you've "collected" in your life and you think, who's gonna get all this stuff. I have things that are very important to me, sentimentally. Nobody else is going to care about that though. Ewwww. I'm still enjoying all my things (and will continue to) and it's not depressing me but it is weird to think about.

Some things about getting older really take me by surprise. Like, the 70's were 50 years ago?!?!?! The movie, ET, is 40 years old this year. Mick Jagger is 78. Seinfeld ended  24 years ago! The women on the reboot of Sex In the City are the same age now as the Golden Girls were! Holy wow! When someone says, "30 years ago" they mean the 90's. Ugh. We've had our flat screen TV for almost 17 years - but we really still appreciate how great HDTV is. Sirius XM has been on the air for 20 years? 

The other thing that happens when you get older is....death. More often than I'd like, I see an obit or find out that someone I went to high school with or some co-worker, has died. It always makes me think, am I that old?! Just recently I found out that my high school sweetheart died last year. That really made me sad. My 16 year old heart mourned him.

I don't mind about getting old(er). I don't care that I don't have the stamina I used to or that I'm not as strong as I used to be. I'm not one of those people who looks back and regrets things  but just recently I started thinking about the things I still want to do or learn or accomplish. I hope I have enough time!

Movies

What are you watching, on streaming platforms? You know, Netflix, Hulu, Paramount +, Disney, etc.

We get our TV from an antennae now so we stream almost everything we watch. I thought I might miss television. I don't. I have found some things that I like and some that I don't.

If you like quirky, dark humor, you should watch Ricky Gervais on Netflix - After Life. The British sense of humor is fun sometimes.

If you like delightfully quirky, you can also watch Picket Fences on Hulu. I loved this show when it was originally on. I'm so happy I can stream it now. 

Also, I never watched this when it was on but I'm watching it now on Prime Video, Eureka. Also delightfully quirky and original and mostly lighthearted. 

Have you watched Sweet Tooth, on Netflix? Other than being based on the outcome of a virus, (and I LOVE virus movies/shows) I'm really enjoying this story. Season 2 is coming late this year. I can't wait to see Big Man rescue all the hybrids!

Have you seen, Don't Look Up, on Netflix? Wow is it ever absurdly plausible! It has a little bit of a slow start but it's kind of got that dark, twisted thing going for it. It's about a planet killing comet hurtling toward Earth and no one cares. 

One of my favorite "looking" actors did a movie for Netflix called, Sweet Girl. It was a get even story, a little violent, but the end was a complete surprise. That alone made me love it. It's always a good movie for me if I don't see it coming.

I've heard there are a lot of great shows out there. Some of them I bailed on right away though. One for instance was Yellowstone. I watched the first 3 episodes and bailed. It didn't having any characters to root for. No redeeming qualities in anyone. They were all assholes. I need something good.  Same for a show called See, and Game of Thrones. I've been told I should stick it out for a few episodes. I don't know. I wanted to like the reboot of Lost In Space, but after a few episodes I discovered the only likeable character was Will Robinson and the robot. Not for me. 

Now, we're watching 1883 on Paramount +. It's depressing - their lives. If you like westerns, you'd love this one. I totally buy it, that life is being accurately portrayed. It's hard and it's depressing but I'm rooting for all of them. 

And just for fun, Ghosts on CBS. Pretty funny so far.

And if you just like nature shows, Disney's Welcome To Planet Earth, with Wil Smith is good.

There's A LOT out there to watch if you look around!!!

Happy New Year!

I was going to write, Pandemic Life 2022 but that pissed me off so I went with Happy New Year. It is a new year after all. So far, it's not shaping up to be any better than the last TWO. It's so absurd! My fella and I have both been vaccinated, twice AND had our flu shots and still couldn't hide from the 'sick.' At this point I think they should stop trying to get the unvaccinated, vaccinated. Just let everyone get it. Seriously. How are we ever going to achieve herd immunity otherwise. Where I work, we've had at least 40/50 people out sick, every day since before Christmas. One lady, had covid in the very beginning, got vaccinated when she could and got the booster when she could and has covid again! And the numbers their spewing? Honestly, they don't mean anything. How many tens of thousand of people, like me, didn't get tested because they already knew that's what they had?!!! There's no place to go to get tested where the line isn't 2 hours long, at a minimum. There are no home testing kits to be found anywhere. In less than 2 weeks time, we have family all over the country with covid now! Arizona, Utah, California. It's gonna happen eventually. You're going to get it. I'm convinced. sigh. So not only are we starting off the year with yet another flu variant, now we've got inflation and labor shortages to deal with as well. Sometimes it seems like the world is on the brink of great change.

Onward...can you believe it's 2022? 2021 seemed so long sometimes but other times I feel like it went by in just couple months. Humph. Did you have a good Christmas? Has your year started off well? We did some fun things over the Christmas break. We went out to Kokomo to see Seiberling mansion. It's over 10k square feet, built in 1889 by Monroe Seiberling. Really beautiful place. We love those old homes. All that woodwork is so impressive.

 

Then one day we went out to Huntington, Indiana to eat at a little diner called Nick's Kitchen. Founded in 1908, it is the birthplace of the pork tenderloin sandwich. A staple in the Midwest!! Everyone should eat in a 100 = year old establishment. It's fun. 

We also had our first piece of sugar cream pie. The state pie of Indiana. It was kind of like custard pie with sugar on top. Ick. And I like sugar! 

It was a lovely holiday break :-)

Smart phone updates and pictures

 Do you ever read what the updates are for, for the apps on your phone?

Most of them just say something like; -Bug fixes and performance improvements, or We are constantly updating our app for better reliability and performance.

I don't read them every time but occasionally. Sometime Etsy's is cute. But Good Rx has them all beat. They are hilarious! The last update said:

Oh, do I have a big one for you this time around. OMG. So excited it's hard to focus. Huge.

No no - we didn't fix any bugs (sheesh, SO presumptuous). Did we improve performance? Well, I nailed my Lord Of The Dance juggling routine at the company picnic - does that count? Instead, we updated our logo. Now, instead of a black "Rx" on a yellow background, it's a yellow cross on a white background with a - wait for ? - sorta hidden heart jumping out of it. Because we have heart. And we're in healthcare. I know, very abstract. Son many levels....

There are a couple more paragraphs but you get the idea. 

Next, a couple weeks ago on Instagram my niece asked the question, how many pictures do you have on your phone? A couple days later, she had stats! The average answer was 10k. Yes, ten thousand! She thought she was a hoarder because she has 7k. She told me, "one woman said 43k, and she doesn't even have kids!" Me? Right now I have 1,274. I don't have dogs or kids. I bet 1/3 of them are screen shots. I've been asking people at work and the answers are all over the place. So far, on guy said 16k +. That's the most. I can't even imagine!! I'm going to start taking more pictures.

Pandemic life 2021

Here we go again...another variant on the horizon. There is always going to be one. Like any flu. Maybe they need a better plan? Eventually, will they just come out and say, everyone is going to get covid at some time in their life. Get a shot and lessen your chances of getting sick or dying. Like a flue shot. 

I'd like people to get vaccinated but honestly, I could care less if they are or not. I'm vaccinated.  The unvaccinated are a risk to the unvaccinated. Hopefully I won't get covid but the possibility is there. I also get a flu shot every year. Lots of people don't. Hopefully I won't get the flu but the possibility is there. Do you believe that the world will ever achieve heard immunity? I don't. 

What if you've already had covid? Should you still get a shot? What if you're trying to get pregnant? Should you still get a shot? What if you are a healthy younger person and you would just rather get covid and have those natural immunities? What if you actually already have a natural immunity? What if...

Should it be a law? Or should it be a choice? Should your boss just decide that if you don't get vaccinated, you'll lose your job. Knowing that there are always going to be mutations/variants.

Here's why I'm whining about this today; I've been watching General Hospital for 40+ years. Almost every day. Their parent company, ABC, issued a vaccine mandate. A couple of the actors on GH chose not to get vaccinated. One of them is a health nut and 1 of them has already had covid. They were fired. I was broken hearted. I love both their characters. But, those actors made a choice. I quit watching GH though. Not because they were fired but because their coworkers have been so ugly about it on social media. It's kind of like politics. If you don't like someone's opinion, try and change their mind. You don't have to hate them because they have different ideas. I guess I'm just SO sick of that mentality. 

My mom wasn't really surprised at me, that I quit watching. I thought I would really miss it, that routine. But I don't. She reminded me that I'm like that. When I'm done, I'm done. When I was BIG basketball fan and they went on strike, I quit watching. I thought, I'm struggling to pay the bills and you're on strike because you only make 18 million a year? Screw you. Apparently I don't like greedy people or mean people. I'm ok with that!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Greetings!

I hope this year’s annual Thanksgiving email finds you all healthy and happy. It’s been quite a year hasn’t it. Filled with so many ups and downs, forward steps and backward tumbles. Good news and bad news. So many challenges had to be faced this year. Childcare, e learning, traffic, teleworking, good wi-fi, finding what you want at the store! The “new normal” is difficult for so many of us. Was it hard for you this year, to find joy? Well, hopefully this year’s email will help you remember…it really is the little things sometimes. It’s the little things that make you smile and laugh. A nice compliment. A good joke at the right time. It’s the little things that make you feel good, like your favorite comfort food or comfy shoes. All those small things that gradually add up to create your day, week, month, a lifetime. Don’t forget to be thankful for those things. Especially during these trying times.

I’m thankful for:

* Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Discovery+ - anything I can stream without commercials or news commentary!
* Cheese
* Funny animal videos - I dare you not to laugh at fainting goats or cats and cucumbers!
* Roasted brussel sprouts! – who knew??
* SiriusXM – Christmas music now playing!
* People who laugh easily.
* The Farmer’s Market at work
* Hyacinths, sunny days, sparkling snow and especially Autumn
* Cheese
* Quilling – hobbies are a great source of joy
* Rummy bears 😊 – gummy bears soaked in rum. Ya ya!
* Handel’s ice cream
* Sparkles
* Vacations – home and away; long and short
* Hobby Lobby – for so many reasons!
* A heated garage!
* Cheese – did I say that already?
* Marvel superheroes – the world needs more good guys, you know, like Thor!
* Good stories and their story tellers
* Crockpots
* Ice on demand

I am profoundly thankful for another cancer free year for my mom and husband. Every day, I'm thankful for my job, friends, more than I need, dependable transportation, a home, good health and my family. Wacky, challenging and difficult at times, but all mine. I'm super thankful that my sister-in-law has been there to look after my brother. She's remarkable!

I'm grateful for everyone that came out to support me at my very first arts and crafts show! 

Every single day I'm thankful for my husband of 32 years. His funny side and patience really keep me going sometimes. He's my huckleberry and he always has my back. 

I've felt loved my whole life. I'm pretty lucky.

Life is good.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

ME!!!

Soooooo, you know I love quilling. I wish I knew why. Maybe it's just because I can create something pretty in just a couple weeks. Also, the colors are endless. Oh! and the possibilities are endless. I mean, I think you could quill just about anything! And there are so many different techniques. Also, very unique.

That's the first thing. Next, I've been kind of artsy crafty my whole life. So the other thing I've always wanted to try, is to sell the things I make. Wouldn't that be cool?! To think, a stranger would want to spend their money on something I created!?!?!?! That's so crazy to me! I think I've mentioned this before, but when I walk around art fairs, I can honestly appreciate the time and skill someone puts into their art or craft but you really have to be different and stand out for me to stop and actually look at you stuff. Could I be that different?

Since I've been quilling, I've never seen anyone at one of those art fairs that does it too. I'm not sure why either. Anyway, a few years ago I attended a local arts and craft fair and actually saw someone who did quilling. She did some jewelry and decorated some boxes. They were cute but....it really inspired me. I thought, I could do this. And my stuff is WAY better! I talked myself into it. It's small, about 2,500 people attend this fair. And the booth space was super cheap. Only $70. Some art fairs are $200+!  

Also, this was a juried art fair - which means you have to submit samples of your work and be selected by a jury to participate. So I entered and was accepted! Holy smokes! So, for TWO years, I built up an inventory. It sounds like a long time but I do have a fulltime job after all. The last few months I've really put a lot of pressure on myself. I've been scared, petrified, excited, nervous, worried, nauseous, felt like crying, not sleeping. It's been awful! Mostly it was just the thought of having to talk to people. Strangers. Ewww. And what if I didn't sell anything??? What if I did??? OMG!

Well, last Saturday was the day. My sweet, wonderful husband was such a huge help. Besides just being supportive and encouraging, he really helped me. He made all my picture stands. He helped me pack everything up, ran errands with me, the list is endless. Love you honey!!

So there I was, in my little, gigantic 10x10 space. And guess what? It was a huge success!! I did it! I put myself out there. Out there to be looked at and judged!! Ugh! People, strangers, loved my work!!! It was only open for about 20 minutes before I made my very first sale. Then, I was busy all morning!! I was stunned. I wanted to cry again because I just couldn't believe it! SO FREAKING AWESOME!!!

Whew. I didn't realize though, how tense I had been all day until after dinner. Then I started to feel like I'd been hit by a truck! Geesh. It really wore me out. I feel like it's going to take me a few days to recover from all that peopley crap. But I did it! Hooray!!! Fairly certain I won't do it again but man!!!!! I did it!!!!!

The United Stats of America

Did you see that series? It was a 2012 limited TV series. Really, really fun. It was 6 episodes of the best statistical information. Narrated by the Sklar brothers. Very entertaining. 

We watched a couple episodes last night, for the 2nd time. I love the 2nd one, Moving On. All about where people live and the influence of 7 inventions that moved people out.

For instance, did you know that 99% of Americans live on only 8% of the land?! No wonder cities seem so crowded! 83% of Americans live in urban areas. 

But what influenced how and where we moved?

* The first invention that moved people from the east coast, west, was the railroad. 

* The next invention that influenced where we lived, steel. The steel frame of a building. What used to take up 16 city blocks could be crammed into 1 building. In Chicago, 13,000 people live in every square mile! Whoa.

* Which led directly to number 3 - the elevator. Now buildings could be even taller.

* Number 4 is the automobile - which moved us out to the suburbs! 

* Number 5 is the highway! A direct route to wherever the city was.

* Number 6 is air conditioning! Now we could move farther south and into places like Arizona, where 168 days a year are over 90 degrees! 

* The last invention that influenced where we lived? The airplane.

See? Wasn't that fun!?

Collecting

Some people call collecting things, hoarding. Like me...I "collect" Christmas stuff!! LOL My fella would probably say, that's hoarding. :-) 

That's not really what I mean though. I mean having a collection of like things. I used to have a pretty extensive collection of Beanie Babies. Now, I have a small collection of Funko Pop. Does that really make me a collector though? I mean, I'm not on the prowl for them or anything. Some people have a really HUGE collection of movies or music. Oh! Bee happy things!! I totally collect those 😃💗 

I read a fun article this morning about how "collecting" became even more popular during the pandemic. That makes sense. 

Psychiatrist Shirley Mueller recently told Smithsonian Magazine, during times like this pandemic, “Collecting provides solace and structure, and ways that we can still be productive doing something we can enjoy.”

So what are the hottest collectibles? According to this national online survey at LifeStorage.com, the top 10 list is:

1. Antique furniture
2. Vinyl records
3. Comic books
4. Coins and currency
5. Classic cars
6. Trading cards
7. Dolls and toys
8. Stamps
9. Wine
10. Fine art and jewelry 

I would question that...classic cars? Really? More popular that trading cards? Because I'm pretty sure that more people can afford trading cards than classic cars. Still, collecting things is a fun hobby.

tell me again, what time is it??

 Here we go again...getting ready to change our clocks, for FOUR months. Ugh.

You know I hate that. Did you know, that your State can opt out of Daylight Savings Time and just stay on standard time? But it takes a literal act of Congress to stay on Daylight Savings Time. I don't understand. Please, somebody, explain that to me. What difference does it make?? IT'S STILL THE SAME AMOUNT OF DAYLIGHT!!!! OMG! I don't think DST is that big of deal. Honestly, I would rather be on standard time. I bet most parents feel like that too. It's hard to get your kids to go to bed during the summer when the clock says it's bedtime but the sunshine says otherwise. And I would rather have that sunshine on the clock, during the winter when the weather is so gloomy anyway. Either way though, just pick a time!!! Good grief! 

It's really ridiculous in Indiana. We should be on Central time but lawmakers chose Eastern time so we would be the same as NY. whatever. BUT, not all of Indiana is on Eastern time! The northwest corner is on Central time, to be like Chicago. And the southwest corner is on Central time, to be like Louisville. For the rest of us, it's like living in Alaska during the summer! 

Stop it already!!! (I'll be back in 4 months to complain about it again!)

Timelines vs the U.S.

The first year of the Jewish calendar is 3761, BC. The year of creation, according to the bible.

5,781 years ago. Five THOUSAND. Yep.

The first day of the Maya Calendar was August 11, 3114....BC. That's 5,134 years ago. 

Moses gave the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people in 1240 BC. 

That's 3,260 years ago.

The Roman calendar started in 753, BC.

2,773 years ago.

Siddhartha Gautama, founder of Buddhism, was born in 563, BC.

2,583 years ago.

Alexander the Great conquers an empire that stretches from Greece 

to western India in 334, BC

2,354 years ago.

Construction of the Great Wall of China, began in 221, BC

2,241 years ago. Construction continued for over 2,000 years.

Jesus of Nazareth was baptized by John in 27, AD.

1,194 years ago

The Colosseum, built by the Emperor Vespasian, opened to the public in 80, AD.

1,941 years ago.

Year one in the Muslim calendar is 622, AD.

1,399 years ago.

Marco Polo begins his journey to China in 1271, AD

750 years ago.

Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the world in 1577 (to 1580) AD.

444 years ago.

The first permanent English colony in America was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.

414 years ago.

The Seven Year War, from which Great Britain emerged as the world's dominant power, 

ended in 1763.

258 years ago.

The Revolutionary War ended in 1781.

240 years ago.

The Continental Congress ratifies the declaration by the United States of its independence from Great Britain, in 1776.

245 years ago.

Construction of the U.S. Capitol began in September of 1793.

228 years ago.

Napoleon invades Egypt in 1798.

223 years ago.

Delaware became the 1st State in 1787.

234 years ago.

The Louisiana Purchase was made in 1803.

218 years ago.

Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959.

62 years ago.

The city of Damascus, Syria, is believed to be as old as 10,000 BC. 

St. Augustine, Florida is the oldest city in the US. Founded in 1565.

I posted this because I was thinking the other day about how young our Nation is. 

I thought about it because I was listening to some commentary on the radio about how hard it is to find things to buy that are "made in America." It's been difficult for a long time. Then I thought about everything Americans contributed to the WORLD. What we invented, what we industrialized, what we built. It's really amazing. Now, we let everyone else do it for us. Is that ok? Other countries have always relied on imports to have what they want. If the US is going to do that then we better be good at something else. We're so arrogant as a country. And bossy. And self serving. I mean, who do we think we are anyway?!?! Babies. Oh, I like to believe that we are still caring and generous and good, at heart. But holy cow are we  dysfunctional!!! It's easier to see now, why there is such a lack of good old American pride. I don't think we know what we're supposed to be proud of. 

Here are the top 10 countries in the world;

#10 - Netherlands

#9 - Sweden

#8 - United Kingdom

#7 - New Zealand

#6 - United States

#5 - Australia

#4 - Switzerland

#3 - Germany

#2 - Japan

#1 - Canada

Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/overall-rankings

How they were ranked: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/methodology