I'd Love To Pin You!

I love the blogging community. I visit your sites dear followers and I pin your articles on Pinterest (if you have that sharing button available).

I also share your posts on other social networks, but I've noticed that Pinterest draws more reposts (repins) for you (and hopefully more interest) than Facebook or Twitter.

So that this can be a more collaborative event, I would like to begin anew. I've added a new Pin Board to Pinterest named Let's Pin Each Other


If you were already following me on Pinterest, I've sent you an invite to be an admin on this Pinning Board. Having admin rights allows you to also pin pages, sites, and pictures to this board so you too can promote your own business, interests, blogs, and causes near and dear to your heart.

If you have not received an invite, be patient. Pinterest will only allow me to grant 5 admins every 30 minutes it seems (so I am not marked as spam). Also, please know that if you are not following me on Pinterest, I cannot send you an invite to become an admin.

Let's support each other and pin way.  After-all, I'd Love to Pin You!!
Not sure what to do? Take these steps:

1. Set up an account on Pinterest (if you have not already).  You can use this link to get to Pinterest and will be promted to set up an account if you do not have one: http://pinterest.com/csachb/lets-pin-each-other/
2. Follow me - You'll see a button to Follow All boards, but you really shouldn't have to do that if you do not want to. It is important that you Follow that board named Let's Pin Each Other though. If you do not follow this board, I can not invite you to be an admin.
3. Add the Pinterest sharing button to your blog if it is not already there. If you need help doing this, WordPress offers assistance on this help page: http://en.support.wordpress.com/sharing/
4. Start Pinning your favorite articles :-)  I would recommend that you only pin 3-4 of your own personal articles a month for the board to be successful. If you only write once a week, this should be easy for you. If you pin to many too often, it may turn off others as they scroll through the board looking for articles to read.  So, scatter your pins on this board to be more effective :-)
5. Any SPAM pinning will be removed and admin privileges provoked.

So, what are you waiting for? Let's pin each other dear writers, business owners, and heartfelt causes or charities!!

Happy Pinning :-)

Things that Fell out of the Sky in Kentucky

For many years I've heard stories of objects falling from the sky in Kentucky, meteors landing and other unexplained phenomenon. Take Middlesboro for example. The town was developed inside a giant crater that was left in the earth after a bog ole' meteor hit the earth there.

After the event that my husband lived through the other day, I thought I'd see what I could find online about Kentucky and crazy stuff just ...falling out of the sky.

Here, I found an article about a UFO that police couldn't explain in Kentucky.  And, here is another UFO sighting report, Fire ball sightings, meteors taking out power,  chickens falling from the sky on I64, Grackles, red wing blackbirds, robins and starlings falling from the sky dead, airplane falling from the sky, and a four-thousand pound aluminum storage building that fell from the sky on Pine Grove church in Kentucky on a clear and lovely day! I found reports of tree limbs falling and killing people. Needless to say, I was a little freaked out and wishing I lived even further away from this strange state!

Are you noticing anything strange? Why do things just fall out of the sky in the Bluegrass State? And while I'm asking questions, why is their grass blue? Radioactive material from the UFOs? I digress.

While researching falling objects from the sky in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I found this article along with some other cool stories in other areas of the world.

One of the strangest stories of this sort took place on March 3, 1876 when flakes of meat fell over an area 100 yards long and 50 yards wide near the Bath, Kentucky home of Mr. and Mrs. Allen Crouch. The sky was clear at the time of the fall and the flakes of meat were described as being one to three or four inches square and appeared to be fresh beef. However, according to two gentlemen who (for some reason) decided to taste the meat, it was neither mutton nor venison.

Or perhaps it wasn’t meat at all - wrote Mr. Leopold Brandeis, whose article appeared on the strange fall in a July issue of the Sanitarian. He explained that the so-called “meat” was really nothing more than “nostic” - “a low form of vegetable substance”. He did not however, explain how this substance managed to fall from the sky. His opinion on the matter did not last for long for he was soon contacted by Dr. A. Mead Edwards, president of the Newark Scientific Association, who asked for a sample of the material that had been collected from Bath County. Brandeis was kind enough to give him the entire specimen, along with the information that he had obtained it from a doctor in Brooklyn, who had in turn been given it by a Professor Chandler.

Shortly after this, a letter from Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton was posted to the Medical Record, saying that he and Dr. J.W.S. Arnold had examined the material from the Kentucky meat shower under a microscope. The material, which had been given to them by Professor Chandler, was identified as being lung tissue from a human infant or a horse. According to the letter, “the structure of the organ in these two cases” was apparently “very similar”.

To read more click here
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That crazy piece of iron that hit my husband came at him between Corbin and London, Kentucky on I75N. As if this was not strange enough, I also found a site dedicated to people who see strange objects falling from the sky in Kentucky. You can check it out here. In fact, objects falling from the sky in that area are so popular, Space.com wrote an article about a satellite falling from space and landing there!
So, in my crazy mind, I am thinking the earth's gravitational pull must come into play. So, I searched that. Here is a map:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=3666

The red areas indicate the strongest gravitational pull and the blue ares are the weakest. If you click on the picture and look closely, the earth's gravitational pull is much weaker in North America, and even more weaker in the area of Kentucky...maybe.  I don't know. My husband is still traveling, so I'm not sleeping and am seriously sleep deprived again! Isn't it odd how our mind goes from 1 thing to the next?

Then I found an article that says the earth's gravitational pull is affecting the melting of the western ice cap and that North America would be the most affected. I saw this predication map of America in the event the ice cap did melt in its entirety:

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/environment/usanoice.jpg

After looking at this, my mind races and I attempt to locate Tennessee. Oh, I found it finally. I would live on a coast instead of in a valley between 2 lovely mountain ranges if this happened.

Anyway, I guess I'm putting together a theory here. I don't know. Maybe I should drink some night-time tea or take something to help me sleep. I would love to hear your strange "it happened in Kentucky" stories too. Leave me comments below or if you want to remain anonymous, email me your story and I promise, I'll keep your name out of it! 

I think I'm diving off the deep end of insomnia and I don't want to drown alone :-) All this craziness from me thinking about random objects falling from the Kentucky sky... hmm ...yeah, I'll go drink that tea now!

Night all :-)

The sky is falling in Kentucky! (True Story)

I must share with you the craziness that was yesterday. Since my husband met me, he has told me that he loved the adventure of everyday with us. He had read some of our adventures right here on this blog and had heard even more stories that the kids and I shared with him verbally.

So many oddities and yet, they were all very real and true. Our lives were a bit hard to believe until he joined us and has been able to experience some of his own crazy adventures daily ;-)

Yesterday was such a strange day, I just have to tell you about it. I normally only share my personal adventures, but this one ...is just really weird.

He travels a lot. His mother and other family live in Indiana and we live here in good ole' Tennessee. While in transit yesterday from Tennessee to Indiana, I gave him a quick call just to say "I love you" and ask how he was doing. While we are on the line briefly with one another, I hear his voice trail off as he begins to scream "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!!!"

He had dropped the phone (thus his voice sounding distant yet still very loud on the line).  I tried to get his attention, "Honey? Sweetie? Are you there?  Can you hear me?".  Finally he picks the phone up and says, "Chrissy!!! Something just hit me! It came out of the sky. What was that?". His voice is calm, yet excited. He sounds shaken, yet composed. I am not sure how else to describe it.

"Are you okay? What happened?" I ask. My heart is racing and I am imagining all types of things like Superman landing on earth...on the hood of his truck.

"It came from the sky Chrissy! Do you understand? It hit me. There is glass inside the truck. The dash is busted. My GPS is hanging from the cord. There's a HUGE gash in the hood of the truck. I think it hit more than just me. There's another car that pulled off the road and at least another one that just...kept driving." His voice is anxious.

I wanted to comfort him...but I didn't know what to say. So, I switched into emergency mode. "Praise God you are alright!!! Hang tight honey. I need to ask you some questions, so don't get frustrated with me. I'll call the insurance company immediately after you answer, okay?"

"Yeah" he replied.

"Where are you?" I asked.

He replied, "Just past Corbin."

"Oh...you're in Kentucky. Okay. Mile marker?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen one." He answered.

"Stay where you are, if you can, okay? I'll get you a tow truck and call you right back." And with that, we disconnected. I called our insurance company (which by the way is TOTALLY awesome) and they did a 3-way call to connect my husband. The lady from the insurance company pinned down the location as close as she could and sent a tow truck out, scheduled the adjuster to come view the truck damage in KY, and set up the rental car company reservation so he could continue his trip. (Major shout out to Geico here!)
During one of the transfers from roadside assistance to the claims area, I was lost from the 3-way call. I paced the floors, talked to the kids, wrung my hands, pulled up his location on Google Maps and worried myself silly until the insurance company called me again.

After speaking with the insurance company again, I called my husband back. I let him talk, vent and say anything on his mind so he could release some of that understandable anxiety I'm sure he had. He recounted the occurrence for me again and again..."it fell from the sky!"

One of the emergency highway people stopped in to check on him and showed him a huge piece of...metal?...iron?...or whatever it was to him. They said they had just retrieved it out of the highway to prevent other motorist from having an accident. (He took a picture of it, but he hasn't sent the picture to me yet so I can see.) He asked the people if he could keep it and they declined stating that their boss might need it for something.

The other vehicle that also pulled off the side of the road had a blown tire. They spoke with my husband as well. Everyone checked on everyone else to ensure everyone was okay and then the other motorist left.

Is this crazy or what?
So, the object that hit the truck took a gouge out of the hood in 2 places,  then it flipped up onto the windshield and made 3 huge splatters in the glass busting the entire windshield, last it flipped over the cab and took a chunk out of the snug cover on the back of the truck. As it rolled off the truck, it struck the car driving behind him and blew out their tire. Last it must have bounced off of 1 or 2 other cars that just kept on driving.

It fell from the sky. No dump trucks on the highway. No trucks hauling anything. No overpass nearby. No bridges to drive under. It fell from the sky on a clear and beautiful day!

Here it is. The strange object from the sky...

It fell from the Sky in Kentucky!

Later in the evening, I shared the day's events with my father over the phone. He asked if there was an airport near that portion of I75N. I couldn't locate one on the map, so I don't know. What if it came off an airplane? What if it fell from space? What if, what if, what if?

I'm just thankful that I still have my husband, he's alive, and he's safe & healthy.
What an adventure!!!!!!!!

Wanna see?

Round & Round - PTSD

Over the last month I’ve noticed the flashbacks coming more often. There’s nothing that provokes them that I can determine. With the increased frequency, each scene becomes more vivid & even if there are variances in them, it’s always his last few hours alive that play over & over in my head.

There are so many emotions in those last hours…mine…his…the kids. Thoughts about what he said to each child, reactions to his words to them. “You’re making too much noise. Daddy loves you. Go to your room & be really quiet.” Why?

Why won’t it stop? It’s driving me mad Each flashback brings sadness, worry, pain, tears, anxiety & anger.

Why? It’s been 3 years & 9 months since it happened! Why do I remember it more vividly than giving birth to our children? Why?

I have no answers. All why’s? are rhetorical. No one can answer.

I hate PTSD. I hate these flashbacks. I hate not remembering good things & just his death.
I’m struggling again I think I need to go see the doctor. I haven’t talked to him about PTSD since January of 2012. I should be better…I should be over the traumatic event.

Those last few hours…I hear his voice more now. I can see him in my mind clearly. He wants my daddy to baptize him. He waited until the end & now he wants to be baptized. His arm hurts, so he keeps raising it above his head to stretch it out.

He cried. It’s the first time in 14 years I’ve seen him cry & it’s breathtakingly pitiful. He didn’t want his mother to leave. He’s tired & lays down to rest. Unaware of his bodily state, he urinated in the bed. He asks me to help him move to the couch, but doesn’t tell me he wet the bed. He was 50. That would have embarrassed him. He’s so very tired. He says he’s going to nap & I go answer the phone. He didn’t want me to.
“Let the damn phone ring”, he says. I explain that I must. It’s his daughters. They’ve been calling for over an hour. They’re worried. I need to give them an update. “Take the battery out of it Chrissy”, he pleads. But, I couldn’t resist. I just had to answer that phone. Stupid me!! After a few minutes on the phone I hear him…he’s gurgling

Couldn’t breathe. The mass over his lungs burst. He was drowning in his own blood. Throw phone. Scream!!! Call 911. Idiot answers. The rest I’ve already written about before, so why rehash it?

Why remember it? Why can’t my mind rewrite the memory? I pray & God gives me peace. Jesus usually sends angles to rock me to sleep, but not tonight. I’m tormented.

I try to focus on how far God has brought us – the kids & I. We are blessed beyond measure, so why is this happening again? Why can’t I just hit ctrl-alt-delete & end task?

Why can’t I reboot? It’s stuck there…playing out in my head…over & over.

I’ve remarried. 3 years & 2 months after he died, I remarried. The kids are happy & thriving. I’m happy 98% of the time & then out of nowhere, BAM! It starts again.

Why?  I’m happy now, I remind myself. I’m safe. I’m secure. I’m loved. We’re all healthy.
I thought there were suppose to be triggers…identifiable triggers so I could avoid them. I don’t see a provocative pattern except night fall, bed time, alone with my thoughts while my new husband snores away.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is torture. Maybe it’s provoked by an underlying subconscious thought pattern I’m oblivious to. Maybe I’m one of the unlucky ones.

Maybe I’m all alone with this disorder. Maybe there’s just too many ...maybes

I’ve prayed for so many of you, whether we’ve met or not. Please keep our family in your prayers as I fight through this struggle. Please & ask the Lord to protect the children’s minds from such torment too. Theirs is a different scenario, but traumatic as well. They watched me attempt to save his life in front of them. They saw their daddy’s blood on my face as I blew into is chest in vain.

Oh Jesus, please take this from us

PTSD is an evil monster of the mind!

Scenic Chincoteague Island

Assateague National Shore, VA

2013

Finding Serenity

Chincoteague island Bay-side

Peace on the bay

An Explosive Adventure on Assateague Island

My family & I just spent another wonderful week on Chincoteague Island & enjoyed the Assateague Island National Seashore. I love it here! Life moves at a slow pace & the native islanders embrace their wildlife with care. It’s truly amazing how much peace and serenity can be found on the Virginia side of Assateague.
Family and friends alike questioned us as to why we would make such a long drive just to come to a beach. The trip took us over 16hrs from east Tennessee. The most popular beach destination for most east Tennesseeans is Myrtle Beach (a 6hr drive). Here’s why we drive so far for so long:
1. Commercialization – there is very little on Chincoteague! There are no skyscraper hotels, condos, or timeshares on the beach. There is no boardwalk consisting of stores & restaurants repeating themselves for miles.
2. Chaos – there is none here!
3. The best hotel on the small island is the Best Western where they cook a mean breakfast each morning!
4. I’ve only seen 3 franchise establishments! Ledo’s, McDonald’s, and Sunsation. That’s it! Everything else is mom & pop
5. It’s clean
6. My husband has no cell phone service (which means he can’t work).
7. The wildlife is abundant & protected.
8. The whole town shuts down by 10pm. There’s no worries of loud noises late at night.
9. It’s peaceful
10. There’s no pressure or stress. There’s no crowded beach!
We did experience a tad of excitement two days while at the beach while the bomb squad detonated bombs that appeared on shore on the Maryland side of Assateague. My husband & I discussed what the large booms could be. Later in the evening, we discovered it wasn’t a sonic boom, but bombs!! You can read about it here
What can I say? Adventure tends to follow us

Quick Test

I am testing the new-to-me app I downloaded from Google Play. The app is called blogger. This app is supposed to allow me to blog on the go from my android phone.

Also, we could use this test post to test any feeds that are linked to the blog. If you received notification of a new post, please comment below and let me know that the feed was successful.

On this new blogging forum that I am using, it is hard for me to know who receives notification of a new blog post. 

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure that I am satisfied with Blogger at this point or if I should keep the WordPress blog as the primary forum.

If you have any opinions, comments, or suggestions for me - please let me know. You can contact me through the contact form on the right side bar or by leaving a comment below.

I can assure you that no comments will hurt my feelings or upset me, because I am looking for honest feedback.

Thank you for reading!