picture credit 
This cool little contest was started by 
https://steemit.com/loveitshoveit/@smylie2005/my-love-it-or-shove-it-challenge-post
Ya know...this was harder than you might think! I was waaay over on the things I Love...and, as I type this, I'm still trying to come up with #5 on the Shove It list. Guess that means that I'm more of an optimist than a hater...I hope??? It's gonna make me ugly cry at several points...hope ya'll will excuse the teardrops! Some tears of joy, some of frustration, and some of pain. It's all part of this thing we call life, that rushes by in the blink of an eye. Spiritual cleansing...and, I'll probably blather more than usual ! Love you for reading!
The Rules For The Challenge:
List five things that you love.
List five things that you really dislike.
Use the tag #loveitshoveit.
Tag five people to participate, but anyone can join in. My 5 are...
I hope that some will participate, although I cannot guarantee that this won't turn out like my Amish Friendship Bread adventure!
LOVE IT
#1 Family
These are the people (minus a couple) that make me wake up every morning and thank God/dess I'm here to greet another day! From left to right, 
#2 The Beach
My heart was born on the beach. I was born in 1956 and raised in Lancaster, PA, totally landlocked. I was the third, and most unplanned of three children, having been the result of a faulty condom. Yeah, they let me know this. My sister was 20 when I was born, had already moved out of the house when she was 18 to join the Marines...to get out of the house. She lived in Carlsbad, California, being stationed at Camp Pendelton. My brother was 10 years old when I was born. Mom was 40. I spent a lot of time entertaining myself, and I have vivid dream memories about driving a convertible across country to get to the beach on the west coast. The car was a standard shift. The top was down. The dream stopped, always, mid drive in a desert environment road. Having never gone on a family vacation (we couldn't afford such luxuries) I had never seen anything but my own little neighborhood. I'd never seen a beach, nor a desert, in my entire life. But I knew these things to be true, as I'd seen them in my dreams...and I had to finish my destiny. And, we didn't own a car, at all. We walked. I was about 4 to age 5 when I had these dreams, and became obsessed with the idea of getting myself to the beach! Seriously! My neighbor friend, Chrissy, who was about a year younger was gonna go with! We packed our bags, got them on our tricycles and were headed down the alley-way between our houses when we were busted with my brother Joe's maps of the United States in hand! And, we were actually headed in the right direction!!! That should have been warning sign #1 that I should not be allowed to free-range! Anyway, the Beach is my comfort place, with the waves washing away my cares. I did make it to Carlsbad, CA, at age 15...yeah, it took some classic teen obnoxiousness...my sister agreed to take my ass in. But, I got to live where I enjoyed a good third of my life in a place where people were accepting and non-judgemental. We're not gonna talk about how I ended up in Texas today...but, at least there's Galveston, occasionally!
#3 Cooking, Baking & Menu Development
I have my son in law, Daniel, to thank for this expanded kitchen, that both
Nah, actually, he realized how much I used it to make my living, and knew it was insufficient, and did the upgrade on his own volition! He's a gem! Love that guy! And, you've all seen how I love to cook, and share my knowledge with all of you! It's made all of that so much easier!
#4 Plants & Gardening
Digging in the dirt, creating new life...nourishment, positive energy as it grows. If you follow me, you know my green thumb has streaks of purple. It comes and goes! I do fabulously at growing the starts, but the growing area is challenging for continuing the process. Last year, we had to cut down the central pecan tree in the front yard....it was very old, very! And, it was diseased from weather conditions that passed through a few years back, which pretty much took out the entire neighborhood's remaining pecans. We'd had a swing that Danny had made hanging from the large branch that underhung the tree...it ended up, swing & all, on the ground one day. We were just thankful that no one was sitting in it when it went. Anyway...now there's a lot more sunlight! And that's good, cos the goats are in the back yard, and they eat everything! We've planted six fruit trees in the front, peach, pear and plum...real plum, not those tiny ones I showed you in our canning session. Many blueberry bushes, raspberries, blackberries and loganberries!
#5 Crafting
I've been a crafter, at heart, since I was very young. I was always cutting up the Green Stamp Redemption Booklets...it was 'Green Stamps, right? Do you remember Benson & Hedges coupons? the tickets were tucked into the back of the cigarette packs, and you could collect them and take them to the redemption center...and our town actually had one of those! I can't remember what it was that Mom bought, but I remember going there...it was one of those long walks, that went out towards where the eventual Kmart ended up. Anyway...I used to cut the pictures out and use them for my paper doll scenarios. Remember paper dolls? I never DID get that Barbie...oh well.
Some 10 years later, after I arrived in Carlsbad, CA, my sister encouraged me to explore the artistic side. Because I'd been in an acedemic central Catholic school, I was years beyond the required credits. So I got almost all electives, and took Journalism for my last English credit requirements, and Screenprinting/Blockprinting for a Craft...I'd had enough of the Home Ec to qualify as a 'good wife' ! LOLOLOL. I've done Japanese Kabuki theater, as part of a college class I was taking to graduate at the end of Junior year in high school. That was some fun! With her help in buying the jigsaw, and some plywood, I started in wood decoupage, wood burning the edges, for that classic 70's vibe! I moved on to macrame when I got my own place, making plant hangers and table hangers...and a few wall hangings. I still offer those, for our retro fans!
Candle making is something I started with in 2000, and still do now. I do wreaths, and gifts...and hope people love them as much as I do, and buy them! That's a community problem...I can't seem to get around it. Folks here will run to a place having a yard sale, to dig through people's old clothes, underwear and junk; but, won't stop to check out good merchandise and plants...it's like the addiction to Walmart is too strong! I keep trying, hosting an Etsy page, Fb page, website, with my wholesale/fundraiser listings. 'Goonies never say 'die'!'
And, jeez! This is so long now, that who wants to know the rest???
ShoveIt!
#1 The NRA and its sycophant supporters. If people realize that they're working the public, creating imaginary 'must purchase now' scenarios, we'd be much better off. By the time of the end of AR Ban, which was in effect from the late 1990's to the earlier 2009, the NRA had pumped enough money into the Republican system, that they elected to not vote for continuing the ban...so, now, everyone could now, legally, own their own assault rifle! Well, whoop, whoop! The NRA represents the gun manufacturers...and the USA had reached its saturation point in gun ownership, and surpassed it, globally. They have to create faux crises to stimulate purchases to keep their own base, the manufacturers, happy. Too much merchandise...not enough consumers! What have I told you about that 'field of dreams' ??? So, they create...and continue to do so.
#2 Texas State Property Taxes!!! OMG, they overvalue your property year after year, as to try to gentrify the area! You know...make the tax base so high, that the current occupation cannot afford the expense, forcing sales to a more highly paid citizenship...kicking out the poor folk...it's disgraceful! My house is taxed at the same dollar value as what a full replacement WITH furnishings would be, according to my Allstate insurance!
#3 That these damned idiots in Congress continue to value the support of the big money over the constituents who stupidly continue to support their flailing sorry asses! I especially dislike the hypocrites like the so called Catholic Paul Ryan who follow Athiest, Ayn Rand, like he's a love torn puppy, creating hardships for those we should be protecting!
#4 Parents that are ex's that purposefully create discord, attaching conditions to their love for the child, that the child must deny the love of the other family's side. To strip a child of their will to love their entire family, in order to have your own approval, is a pretty damned pathetic, in my books...
#5 I don't know why this took me so long to consider a this 'shove it'!, other than it's been static in my life for so many years that it's part of the day to day...that's pain. I started becoming creaky several years back, with the inability to crouch down and get back up easily...then, there was a knee crunching fall that left me not walking for 9 months, after I tried to force the healing issue and stress fractured that ankle! In the midst of the two, I did manage to dislocate my shoulder while asleep...yeah, I turned over, but my hand was well tucked under my pillow...ouch! The trip to the chiropractor and resulting x-rays told me I had a scoliosis condition causing the back irritation...but they did re-locate my shoulder! End game, sciatica, which feels like a burning sensation in the lower back and hip when I move about. I don't take prescription for this...I sit down when it hurts, to let the flames calm down. I used to love to walk and hike trails...sigh. But the beauty of the littles that I plant replaces the wildflowers on the walk, my gardens are elevated...and, life goes on!
Goodnight, my Steemians, rest well. Love to you, all! Thank you for sharing my thoughts! Peace & Love
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