I need to work through what possibly might be the start of a major depression....or perhaps the middle of it, who knows? Anyway, I need to vent. And, that is what this is for, venting.
My daughter starts working tonite, she had to get some sort of job to start paying her school loan, so, until she finds a job in medical billing, she will be waitressing at a local bar, 4 nights a week. So, I will be babysitting those nights, 2 until 9, 2 until 11. So, another change in my life that really has nothing to do with me. I used to have control over my life, but that seems to have gone out the door. I know, her fiancee could watch the kids, but nice a guy as he is, I can't see him watching her kids those nights without having a meltdown and rather rapidly resenting it. It also doesn't help that he's a bit moody, prone to constant nauseating migraines, and a little flightly, too. So, I'll be watching the kids. And listening to my husband grumble about it, and the fact that I don't have a job, even though he is busy spending his money on golf clubs, I don't care that it's with his weekly check pool winnings and that the clubs were purchased at a lowere price on ebay. And yes, I resent being reminded that the bills would be easier to pay if I was working again.
Yes, I wish I had a job. Any sort of human contact with people other than my family is more than welcome, not to mention having some segment of life that is my own. Right now, I am nothing more than a human appliance: I clean, do laundry, cook, shop for groceries, run errands and make sure everyone else's life runs smoothly. Other than going to the store, I haven't been anywhere, or done anything. I rarely get to see or talk to the few friends I have, as they also have lives, jobs, family to take care of. And yes, I realize that I am going into another of my mini-depressions.
Doesn't help either finding out that I am allergic to hairspray. That means my naturally lank straight hair is totally flat. It has no body, no shape, nothing, just hangs there. Won't hold a curl or even a wave. Any hair product that has even a hint of plastic in it I can't use. Oh, I do use a little spray, with the help of a face shield. But in the summer, it doesn't help much...and until my hair gets shoulder length, it's just hopeless. Add that to a round blob of a face. EW.
On the plus side, my eyelashes have stopped falling out, my eyelids are no longer swollen and red, my skin has cleared up, meaning the swelling around each pore is gone, as is the bright red color and my scalp doesn't itch any more. I no longer look like Quasimodo without the humpback. Oh, well, can't have everything. I just wish my doctor would understand that I don't care about my cholesteral, dead is easier to handle than being blind. Why doesn't he get it?
As for the mini-depression...it'll pass, it always does. I'll just do my usual, keep my thoughts in my head, listen to everyone else talk about their lives, and go through the motions of living. I do wonder, though, how many other people go through their lives just waiting for it to be over, not having the gall to commit suicide, that's just rude, and having just enough optimism and curiousity to want to see what happens next, all the while hating the prisons their lives have become. I find myself reverting to who I was as a teen, extremely quiet, terrified of people, and quite certain that how I look invokes ridicule and laughter, fearful enough that I hate walking out my front door, ever. People consider me a good listener, but that's more because I don't have anything to talk about that I consider interesting to others. I'm quite boring, actually, I even bore myself. Sometimes, I do wonder what happened to the young 20 yr old who was quite fearless, ready for the next adventure, who had friends, and where this old person came from , frumpy, plain, dull, fearful of the world, and envious of it at the same time.
I also wonder what happened to the words in my head, why can't they come out the way they are thought? And why am I, deep down, so angry all the time? What happened to the life I had planned, for when my kids grew up, where did it go? To hell with that, where did I go?
It's very hard to reconcile the people I am. No, I'm not schizophrenic. I am quite aware that a personality is simple a complex combination of different facets, like a gem. I am, for the most part, an extrovert. I love being around people, talking, having fun. However, it was brought to my attention at quite a young age that, 1, I don't meet the norm for beauty, or even vague attractiveness. My only good feature are my dark green eyes. And the criticism of my appearance continued all through my childhood and teenage years. Those were in the '70's...and hip I wasn't. Not in handmedowns, and with bad skin, and glasses. Between my mother constantly telling me how homely I was because I didn't look like her (mum was tiny, petite, and a freakin' stacked knockout, with her hourglass figure, long black hair, Katherine Hepburn features, and those great green eyes) and my stepfather constantly beating me for just looking at him the wrong way, it's no wonder I"m a mess. I quit wearing shorts at 13 the day he told me I had legs like a linebacker. I quit wearing dresses or skirts then too. In fact, that's probably the day I finally quit caring at all. Mum wouldn't let me wear makeup, ever, so, I was 18 before I even tried, and she was pretty much hairless, so, didn't see any need for shaving, so, that's another thing I learned to do at 18.
I realize now that she just didn't want any competition from any of her girls, that there was something inherently wrong with her, most likely stemming from her own abusive childhood. Still, understanding why only makes it easier to forgive; it doesn't make it easier to deal with ingrained protective behaviors. It certainly doesn't make it easier to tear down walls that were built as protective barriers to pain, mental, emotional, and physical. Lol...I could deal with the daily beatings, it was just pain. Harder to cope with were the 'whys'. WHY did my mother treat me like an enemy? WHY wasn't I good enough for her, or my father, who just went away before I was 2? WHY did he hate me, too? WHY was I so ugly, so hideous? And WHY wasn't I made too stupid to care about it? WHY did God hate me, and if he hated me, WHY did he allow me to exist, did he/ does he take some perverse pleasure in seeing things he hates hurt? I knew why my stepfather hated me, I wasn't his, therefore, I was just chattel, something to use. And less than that, once his kids were born.
I understand that it was a blow to him to learn that all the genius he wanted for his kids wasn't there while I was the one acing school. The older one was, is, emotionally twisted, to the point where she takes great pleasure in making fools of other people. The younger one, well, she's just lost, not bright, but a happy, cheerful, outgoing person who is so ditzy I can't stand her. I don't speak to either of them any more, not because of themselves for the most part, but because they don't realize that they treat me the same way their parents did, as something at their beck and call, a useful tool when it's needed, and negligible when it's not. They have yet to figure out that any tool needs care to remain useful, even a human one. And despite their questioning, I haven't told them everything they think they want to know about when we were kids. Let them keep their visions of their sainted parents. I know the truth, I was there, much older than they were. I know what my life was and what theirs wasn't. They didn't grow up being second best, the "other' daughter. They grew up belonging to a family, while I was a burden that knew it was a burden. It was made quite clear to me for 13 years that I was in all ways a burden.
Yes, I resent the fact that my sisters got everything while I got discards. I resent that they had a family while I didn't. No, I resent that they BELONGED while I didn't. I resent the fact that they inherited the 'good' genes, while I got the plain ones....good god, the older one not only was pretty, she had personality, too, so, she had lots of friends. The younger one agonized through school cause she was too pretty and other girls hated her for it. I remember going to their graduation parties. Mine? No one ever acknowledged that I graduated. I never went to graduation, because the idea of being 'seen' was appalling to me, and to be honest, I just wanted done with high school. Most people can't wait til their reunions, I never want to go, out of fear of being reminded of that person I was. I hate living in a town full of people that I did go to school with, I dread running into them. Oh, I am friends with a few, we got to know each other while I was coaching soccer, and we each see that we aren't who we were then, and that we have things in common, even though we were raised completely different. But I've also run into others who bring those days rushing back in tidal waves. I know it's because THEY haven't changed, that they can't deal with the idea that their hayday WAS high school, and that some of us actually improved since graduation. Still, that doesn't make the remembrance of those days easier to deal with. And in the long run, I'm no better than they are, worse, in fact, since I resent the idea that they have happy memories of school.
So...facets of people. I am loving, caring, and selfish. I hate and resent. I long to be with people, yet am terrified by them.Maybe 'faceted' is the wrong idea. Gems shine and shimmer. I don't. Perhaps, then, I am hemp. Strands, spun on different spindles of personality and experience and existence, need and desire and want, all badly twisted together on a splintered wheel so that the strands are frayed, pulling, some looped and tangled, coarse, some smooth, some long, some short, all creating warped threads that make a bad weave, so bad that it should be unraveled, perhaps re-woven into something at least coherent and useful.
How can one love being alive and hate it so much at the same time?
****************************************
In knitting...I've come up, all on my stupid little own, with a poncho pattern for little girls, well, it works for adults, too, that is quite easy, and my granddaughter gets compliments on hers all the time, and my daughter is constantly asked by other mothers where she got it, so, I am taking orders, and should have most of them filled by August. I will keep making them to sell on Etsy, so,I'll be opening a shop there in the fall. Let you know the name later.
My knitting is improving, and with summer here I will have time to learn knew techniques and stitches.
This one wasn't quite finished when I took the pic, I later added 3 cute buttons down the front for interest.
My daughter starts working tonite, she had to get some sort of job to start paying her school loan, so, until she finds a job in medical billing, she will be waitressing at a local bar, 4 nights a week. So, I will be babysitting those nights, 2 until 9, 2 until 11. So, another change in my life that really has nothing to do with me. I used to have control over my life, but that seems to have gone out the door. I know, her fiancee could watch the kids, but nice a guy as he is, I can't see him watching her kids those nights without having a meltdown and rather rapidly resenting it. It also doesn't help that he's a bit moody, prone to constant nauseating migraines, and a little flightly, too. So, I'll be watching the kids. And listening to my husband grumble about it, and the fact that I don't have a job, even though he is busy spending his money on golf clubs, I don't care that it's with his weekly check pool winnings and that the clubs were purchased at a lowere price on ebay. And yes, I resent being reminded that the bills would be easier to pay if I was working again.
Yes, I wish I had a job. Any sort of human contact with people other than my family is more than welcome, not to mention having some segment of life that is my own. Right now, I am nothing more than a human appliance: I clean, do laundry, cook, shop for groceries, run errands and make sure everyone else's life runs smoothly. Other than going to the store, I haven't been anywhere, or done anything. I rarely get to see or talk to the few friends I have, as they also have lives, jobs, family to take care of. And yes, I realize that I am going into another of my mini-depressions.
Doesn't help either finding out that I am allergic to hairspray. That means my naturally lank straight hair is totally flat. It has no body, no shape, nothing, just hangs there. Won't hold a curl or even a wave. Any hair product that has even a hint of plastic in it I can't use. Oh, I do use a little spray, with the help of a face shield. But in the summer, it doesn't help much...and until my hair gets shoulder length, it's just hopeless. Add that to a round blob of a face. EW.
On the plus side, my eyelashes have stopped falling out, my eyelids are no longer swollen and red, my skin has cleared up, meaning the swelling around each pore is gone, as is the bright red color and my scalp doesn't itch any more. I no longer look like Quasimodo without the humpback. Oh, well, can't have everything. I just wish my doctor would understand that I don't care about my cholesteral, dead is easier to handle than being blind. Why doesn't he get it?
As for the mini-depression...it'll pass, it always does. I'll just do my usual, keep my thoughts in my head, listen to everyone else talk about their lives, and go through the motions of living. I do wonder, though, how many other people go through their lives just waiting for it to be over, not having the gall to commit suicide, that's just rude, and having just enough optimism and curiousity to want to see what happens next, all the while hating the prisons their lives have become. I find myself reverting to who I was as a teen, extremely quiet, terrified of people, and quite certain that how I look invokes ridicule and laughter, fearful enough that I hate walking out my front door, ever. People consider me a good listener, but that's more because I don't have anything to talk about that I consider interesting to others. I'm quite boring, actually, I even bore myself. Sometimes, I do wonder what happened to the young 20 yr old who was quite fearless, ready for the next adventure, who had friends, and where this old person came from , frumpy, plain, dull, fearful of the world, and envious of it at the same time.
I also wonder what happened to the words in my head, why can't they come out the way they are thought? And why am I, deep down, so angry all the time? What happened to the life I had planned, for when my kids grew up, where did it go? To hell with that, where did I go?
It's very hard to reconcile the people I am. No, I'm not schizophrenic. I am quite aware that a personality is simple a complex combination of different facets, like a gem. I am, for the most part, an extrovert. I love being around people, talking, having fun. However, it was brought to my attention at quite a young age that, 1, I don't meet the norm for beauty, or even vague attractiveness. My only good feature are my dark green eyes. And the criticism of my appearance continued all through my childhood and teenage years. Those were in the '70's...and hip I wasn't. Not in handmedowns, and with bad skin, and glasses. Between my mother constantly telling me how homely I was because I didn't look like her (mum was tiny, petite, and a freakin' stacked knockout, with her hourglass figure, long black hair, Katherine Hepburn features, and those great green eyes) and my stepfather constantly beating me for just looking at him the wrong way, it's no wonder I"m a mess. I quit wearing shorts at 13 the day he told me I had legs like a linebacker. I quit wearing dresses or skirts then too. In fact, that's probably the day I finally quit caring at all. Mum wouldn't let me wear makeup, ever, so, I was 18 before I even tried, and she was pretty much hairless, so, didn't see any need for shaving, so, that's another thing I learned to do at 18.
I realize now that she just didn't want any competition from any of her girls, that there was something inherently wrong with her, most likely stemming from her own abusive childhood. Still, understanding why only makes it easier to forgive; it doesn't make it easier to deal with ingrained protective behaviors. It certainly doesn't make it easier to tear down walls that were built as protective barriers to pain, mental, emotional, and physical. Lol...I could deal with the daily beatings, it was just pain. Harder to cope with were the 'whys'. WHY did my mother treat me like an enemy? WHY wasn't I good enough for her, or my father, who just went away before I was 2? WHY did he hate me, too? WHY was I so ugly, so hideous? And WHY wasn't I made too stupid to care about it? WHY did God hate me, and if he hated me, WHY did he allow me to exist, did he/ does he take some perverse pleasure in seeing things he hates hurt? I knew why my stepfather hated me, I wasn't his, therefore, I was just chattel, something to use. And less than that, once his kids were born.
I understand that it was a blow to him to learn that all the genius he wanted for his kids wasn't there while I was the one acing school. The older one was, is, emotionally twisted, to the point where she takes great pleasure in making fools of other people. The younger one, well, she's just lost, not bright, but a happy, cheerful, outgoing person who is so ditzy I can't stand her. I don't speak to either of them any more, not because of themselves for the most part, but because they don't realize that they treat me the same way their parents did, as something at their beck and call, a useful tool when it's needed, and negligible when it's not. They have yet to figure out that any tool needs care to remain useful, even a human one. And despite their questioning, I haven't told them everything they think they want to know about when we were kids. Let them keep their visions of their sainted parents. I know the truth, I was there, much older than they were. I know what my life was and what theirs wasn't. They didn't grow up being second best, the "other' daughter. They grew up belonging to a family, while I was a burden that knew it was a burden. It was made quite clear to me for 13 years that I was in all ways a burden.
Yes, I resent the fact that my sisters got everything while I got discards. I resent that they had a family while I didn't. No, I resent that they BELONGED while I didn't. I resent the fact that they inherited the 'good' genes, while I got the plain ones....good god, the older one not only was pretty, she had personality, too, so, she had lots of friends. The younger one agonized through school cause she was too pretty and other girls hated her for it. I remember going to their graduation parties. Mine? No one ever acknowledged that I graduated. I never went to graduation, because the idea of being 'seen' was appalling to me, and to be honest, I just wanted done with high school. Most people can't wait til their reunions, I never want to go, out of fear of being reminded of that person I was. I hate living in a town full of people that I did go to school with, I dread running into them. Oh, I am friends with a few, we got to know each other while I was coaching soccer, and we each see that we aren't who we were then, and that we have things in common, even though we were raised completely different. But I've also run into others who bring those days rushing back in tidal waves. I know it's because THEY haven't changed, that they can't deal with the idea that their hayday WAS high school, and that some of us actually improved since graduation. Still, that doesn't make the remembrance of those days easier to deal with. And in the long run, I'm no better than they are, worse, in fact, since I resent the idea that they have happy memories of school.
So...facets of people. I am loving, caring, and selfish. I hate and resent. I long to be with people, yet am terrified by them.Maybe 'faceted' is the wrong idea. Gems shine and shimmer. I don't. Perhaps, then, I am hemp. Strands, spun on different spindles of personality and experience and existence, need and desire and want, all badly twisted together on a splintered wheel so that the strands are frayed, pulling, some looped and tangled, coarse, some smooth, some long, some short, all creating warped threads that make a bad weave, so bad that it should be unraveled, perhaps re-woven into something at least coherent and useful.
How can one love being alive and hate it so much at the same time?
****************************************
In knitting...I've come up, all on my stupid little own, with a poncho pattern for little girls, well, it works for adults, too, that is quite easy, and my granddaughter gets compliments on hers all the time, and my daughter is constantly asked by other mothers where she got it, so, I am taking orders, and should have most of them filled by August. I will keep making them to sell on Etsy, so,I'll be opening a shop there in the fall. Let you know the name later.
My knitting is improving, and with summer here I will have time to learn knew techniques and stitches.
This one wasn't quite finished when I took the pic, I later added 3 cute buttons down the front for interest.
- Mood:
morose
I just visited the www.change.org website. Oh, there are quite a few groups there advocating changes for everything from womens rights to peace in the Middle East to Big Business.
I also read where our government is handing out even more billions of dollars to the already supposedly bailed out groups.
Nowhere have I read where people are getting bailed out. No help for real people.
Here's a bailout I'd like to see, and I know it doesn't just apply to me, because I've spoken to too many other people in the same boat.
See, I have a daughter who got pregnant 5 months before she graduated high school. I was working at the time, and did so until the baby was nearly two years old. At that time, I injured my back, was on comp several times, and finally decided that spending my life on comp was not an option, so I finally quit the job that was causing me repeated problems.
That was at the same time my daughter finally had enough of her dead-beat husband and threw him out. She was pregnant with the second kid at the time, and after the child was born, moped around for several months until I told her that a local school was offering extensive training in massage therapy, and she had 2 weeks to get her ass to the school, get registered, and start attending. She did, and did well, being on the deans list, being a student ambassador, 4.0 gpa,etc, all the stuff she didn't care about in high school. For the first school, massage therapy training, welfare covered the cost of that. She then worked part time for a chiropractor, for 15 months, til they layed her off for no real reason.
So, not finding any decent job in that field, she went back to school. When she asked welfare about any support or funding other than food stamps, she was told that since the school she would be attending wasn't on their 'approved' list, they wouldn't cover any expenses at all, including day care, babysitting, bus fare, nothing.
So, since she couldn't afford day care on just the child support her husband only pays to keep out of jail, I babysit, and have done for the past 3 yrs. I get no compensation, other than what she purchases in the way of groceries now and then to help us out a little. Oh, I could put the kids in day care and get a job, but there are problems....the oldest attends pre-school 3 days a week, getting her there and back is an issue, and any money I would make would go towards paying for childcare.
And I know that I am not the only person doing this for their grandkids.
One of the changes I'd like to see is grandparents being compensated for the time they put into caring for their grandchuildren, when it would be better, financially for us to be working. I'd like to see tax breaks for us, too. Personally, I'm really disgusted with the fact that people who earn $20, 000 or less a year can get $8,000 back just because they have kids. Fact, people. It's why those who live in poverty like it there, the government does a VERY good job of rewarding them for being poor.
That brings up another point. I pay higher property taxes because I'm 3 blocks away from main street, yet people with newer houses and larger properties pay less than half what I do, even though they are only 2 blocks further away. No fair, nor right.
So, some changes, Mr Obama, sir?
*Compensation for those of us who, due to circumstances, have opted to take care of our own rather than work. Bail us out. We spend just as much caring for these kids as their parents do, and in some cases, much more. Let them claim them as dependents, just let the rest of us claim them for compensation on a monthly basis. (rather than bailing out companies that are going to abuse that money for their own benefit, how about paying me for the 47 hours a week that I am caregiver, rather than 'grandma'?
*Bigger tax refunds for those of us who care for our families. We pay more, shouldn't we get more back than those who shelter under the name of 'poverty'?
*Lower, fairer property taxes. Why should those who reside in residential areas closer to the business district pay more, when in actuality we are more at risk from crime, we put up with more strangers around because of that proximity, and we most of the time have smaller properties?
3 little changes that could have a big impact on just us, the little people who really make up this country. Besides, wouldn't that have more impact than this whole 'trickle-down' theory that we all know is making this country and it's government a huge joke?
In the meantime, I"m considering getting a job working weekends. It won't pay much, but it'll be something to add to the family kitty, and it'll get me out around humans again.
I also read where our government is handing out even more billions of dollars to the already supposedly bailed out groups.
Nowhere have I read where people are getting bailed out. No help for real people.
Here's a bailout I'd like to see, and I know it doesn't just apply to me, because I've spoken to too many other people in the same boat.
See, I have a daughter who got pregnant 5 months before she graduated high school. I was working at the time, and did so until the baby was nearly two years old. At that time, I injured my back, was on comp several times, and finally decided that spending my life on comp was not an option, so I finally quit the job that was causing me repeated problems.
That was at the same time my daughter finally had enough of her dead-beat husband and threw him out. She was pregnant with the second kid at the time, and after the child was born, moped around for several months until I told her that a local school was offering extensive training in massage therapy, and she had 2 weeks to get her ass to the school, get registered, and start attending. She did, and did well, being on the deans list, being a student ambassador, 4.0 gpa,etc, all the stuff she didn't care about in high school. For the first school, massage therapy training, welfare covered the cost of that. She then worked part time for a chiropractor, for 15 months, til they layed her off for no real reason.
So, not finding any decent job in that field, she went back to school. When she asked welfare about any support or funding other than food stamps, she was told that since the school she would be attending wasn't on their 'approved' list, they wouldn't cover any expenses at all, including day care, babysitting, bus fare, nothing.
So, since she couldn't afford day care on just the child support her husband only pays to keep out of jail, I babysit, and have done for the past 3 yrs. I get no compensation, other than what she purchases in the way of groceries now and then to help us out a little. Oh, I could put the kids in day care and get a job, but there are problems....the oldest attends pre-school 3 days a week, getting her there and back is an issue, and any money I would make would go towards paying for childcare.
And I know that I am not the only person doing this for their grandkids.
One of the changes I'd like to see is grandparents being compensated for the time they put into caring for their grandchuildren, when it would be better, financially for us to be working. I'd like to see tax breaks for us, too. Personally, I'm really disgusted with the fact that people who earn $20, 000 or less a year can get $8,000 back just because they have kids. Fact, people. It's why those who live in poverty like it there, the government does a VERY good job of rewarding them for being poor.
That brings up another point. I pay higher property taxes because I'm 3 blocks away from main street, yet people with newer houses and larger properties pay less than half what I do, even though they are only 2 blocks further away. No fair, nor right.
So, some changes, Mr Obama, sir?
*Compensation for those of us who, due to circumstances, have opted to take care of our own rather than work. Bail us out. We spend just as much caring for these kids as their parents do, and in some cases, much more. Let them claim them as dependents, just let the rest of us claim them for compensation on a monthly basis. (rather than bailing out companies that are going to abuse that money for their own benefit, how about paying me for the 47 hours a week that I am caregiver, rather than 'grandma'?
*Bigger tax refunds for those of us who care for our families. We pay more, shouldn't we get more back than those who shelter under the name of 'poverty'?
*Lower, fairer property taxes. Why should those who reside in residential areas closer to the business district pay more, when in actuality we are more at risk from crime, we put up with more strangers around because of that proximity, and we most of the time have smaller properties?
3 little changes that could have a big impact on just us, the little people who really make up this country. Besides, wouldn't that have more impact than this whole 'trickle-down' theory that we all know is making this country and it's government a huge joke?
In the meantime, I"m considering getting a job working weekends. It won't pay much, but it'll be something to add to the family kitty, and it'll get me out around humans again.
- Mood:
angry
Well, I assume we've all made it through the holidays in mostly one piece. I have to admit, that much as I like Christmas, I like seeing it end just as much. I'm not one for constantly running about hither and yon, and the holidays require that to a huge degree. Anyway, they're over, and life here can get back to normal.
What the hell is normal, anyway? Bills haven't gone down, especially the mortgage. Of course, that isn't going to happen, not with all the bailout money going to things like golden parachutes and the purchasing of banks going under by banks that would have gone under if our wonderful government hadn't decided to use OUR tax money to bail out the banks that would have gone under. Personally, I think we should have let them sink, along with Detroits Big Three auto makers. Gasp!!! What, let all of those people lose their jobs, and be on unemployment? Yes.
Look, all the bailout did was make things harder on everyone, and it just postponed the inevitable. We gave money to people who have proved they aren't capable of handling money. Of course, the people who handed out the money aren't any more capable of handling money, either, so, what else could we expect? Anyway, none of that money has gone to help the people it was meant to help, mainly the homeowners who were stupid enough and greedy enough to buy houses that they ultimately couldn't afford. So, all around, we have stupid people handing money to stupid people to help stupid people, and none of it is going the way it should. Of course, it was a bad idea to begin with. The banks should have collapsed. This is a free-market economy, and sink or swim is how it works. All the bailout has done is encouraged bad decision makers to continue making bad decisions. Yes, let people lose their homes. Let them lose everything they think they 'worked' for, and perhaps, just perhaps, they will learn to make better, more intelligent decisions based on reality, not dreams, or greed.
As for our government, well, let's hope Obama does some housecleaning, and sets some rules, and stops a lot of spending that doesn't need to be. Oh, things like spending on ridiculous things. Why is the government funding research that should be handled by private firms? Why are we sending so much money to countries that in reality, aren't really our problem? Let's stop sending so much money to third world countries, and take care of our own. In light of recent events, why don't we stop giving Israel money to wage war on civilians with? Let's make senators of this country pay for their own healthcare and retirement, rather than handing it to them just 'cause they got elected by a bunch of idiots who don't really care who runs the country? Uh, maybe it's time for the U.S. to start looking inward as well as outward, and take care of it's own, first, rather than others. We really need to stop being such sissy's, and become a world power again, rather than a planetary joke.
Maybe it's time for us to stop taking the bait we are handed, and start saying 'NO" to those we elected.
Come on, you don't really think things are going to get better, do you???
****************************************
I'm back on my diet, and am looking forward to completing another resolution this year, with a 25-40 lb weight loss over the next 12 months. Reached last years goal of dropping 2 sizes, and would like to drop another 2 this year, possibly 3. I know, it doesn't sound like much, but it's better for me to do that, rather than hop on a scale every day or so. I think that is so self-defeating. Much easier to reach those points where my pants are falling off, instead. LOL.
****************************************
The neighbors have been somewhat behaved lately, other than a few laughable instances of them being total idiots, as usual. Seems the trash around the corner has acquired a quad and a minibike. Oh, goody. They spent a day or two riding the unlicensed, not for the street things up and down the block, making as much noise as possible to annoy everyone. I was amused by their stupidity and carelessness, mostly, as the street I live on is level til you reach my house, then becomes a fairly steep hill , about a 45 degree drop from level, which ends in a cross street and a very high stone wall that holds up the ground there. There is also the fact that years ago, due to the number of kids that lived on this one block, (14 kids, 13 houses) a neighbor petitioned to have this one block made one way, and that's what it's been for nearly 20 years. The kids were part of the reason, traffic was the other,as people going down the hill couldn't see anyone coming up the hill, and vise versa, til it was too late, and BANG! So, it's a one way street, and these fools are riding a minibike and quad up it the wrong way, so, well, soon enough, someone is going to get hit by a car, and most likely killed. Doesn't help that the people riding these things are underage, middle school, for the most part.
Anyway...they haven't been riding the beastly things other than those 2 or 3 days, bacause it seems that one of them came close to clipping the neighbors car across the street, and he saw them, as he was hanging his Christmas decorations outside at the time, and oh, was there hell to pay, then!!! LOL!!! Haven't seen or heard the noisy machines since. I just wonder when those idiots will figure out that they keep hanging themselves with their attitude of being more entitled than anyone else??? I mean there is only one person left on the street they haven't pissed off so far.
As for the other neighbor a few doors down, well, she has her father living there with her now. I kinda feel for her, as he has Alzheimers, and apparently is rather violent. The police have been to her house 3 times in the 3 months he has been there, twice because he was found on her nextdoor neigbors porch once, once because he walked into their house, and once because, according to the grapevine, he tried to strangle his daughter. (to be honest, he'd be doing the world a favor, but, her son deserves to have a mother, I suppose, even if she does seem to suck at that, too). Just so, I think if the police have to deal with him much more, they will have him put in a home, rather than her taking care of him, since she apparently can't control him. I've had several people tell me about what goes on there, and warn me and other neighbors to keep our doors locked, because he does wander.
I'm not too worried about him, though. I just wonder how long everyone is going to put up with her letting her dog run loose all over the neighborhood, barking at everyone and crapping in our yards???
****************************************
Just two weeks and some days left of babysitting for this month. My daughter finishes her class schedule on the 25 of this month, then she has to find an externship, and do 300 hours of that, then she has to find a job. She only wants to work part-time, so, that won't be too bad. She just needs to find a position that is willing to hire her part-time, or let her do a lot of her work from home as a medical billing specialist.
Sigh. I can't wait, either way, because perhaps then I can plan some sort of future, like an education, and a decent job.
What the hell is normal, anyway? Bills haven't gone down, especially the mortgage. Of course, that isn't going to happen, not with all the bailout money going to things like golden parachutes and the purchasing of banks going under by banks that would have gone under if our wonderful government hadn't decided to use OUR tax money to bail out the banks that would have gone under. Personally, I think we should have let them sink, along with Detroits Big Three auto makers. Gasp!!! What, let all of those people lose their jobs, and be on unemployment? Yes.
Look, all the bailout did was make things harder on everyone, and it just postponed the inevitable. We gave money to people who have proved they aren't capable of handling money. Of course, the people who handed out the money aren't any more capable of handling money, either, so, what else could we expect? Anyway, none of that money has gone to help the people it was meant to help, mainly the homeowners who were stupid enough and greedy enough to buy houses that they ultimately couldn't afford. So, all around, we have stupid people handing money to stupid people to help stupid people, and none of it is going the way it should. Of course, it was a bad idea to begin with. The banks should have collapsed. This is a free-market economy, and sink or swim is how it works. All the bailout has done is encouraged bad decision makers to continue making bad decisions. Yes, let people lose their homes. Let them lose everything they think they 'worked' for, and perhaps, just perhaps, they will learn to make better, more intelligent decisions based on reality, not dreams, or greed.
As for our government, well, let's hope Obama does some housecleaning, and sets some rules, and stops a lot of spending that doesn't need to be. Oh, things like spending on ridiculous things. Why is the government funding research that should be handled by private firms? Why are we sending so much money to countries that in reality, aren't really our problem? Let's stop sending so much money to third world countries, and take care of our own. In light of recent events, why don't we stop giving Israel money to wage war on civilians with? Let's make senators of this country pay for their own healthcare and retirement, rather than handing it to them just 'cause they got elected by a bunch of idiots who don't really care who runs the country? Uh, maybe it's time for the U.S. to start looking inward as well as outward, and take care of it's own, first, rather than others. We really need to stop being such sissy's, and become a world power again, rather than a planetary joke.
Maybe it's time for us to stop taking the bait we are handed, and start saying 'NO" to those we elected.
Come on, you don't really think things are going to get better, do you???
****************************************
I'm back on my diet, and am looking forward to completing another resolution this year, with a 25-40 lb weight loss over the next 12 months. Reached last years goal of dropping 2 sizes, and would like to drop another 2 this year, possibly 3. I know, it doesn't sound like much, but it's better for me to do that, rather than hop on a scale every day or so. I think that is so self-defeating. Much easier to reach those points where my pants are falling off, instead. LOL.
****************************************
The neighbors have been somewhat behaved lately, other than a few laughable instances of them being total idiots, as usual. Seems the trash around the corner has acquired a quad and a minibike. Oh, goody. They spent a day or two riding the unlicensed, not for the street things up and down the block, making as much noise as possible to annoy everyone. I was amused by their stupidity and carelessness, mostly, as the street I live on is level til you reach my house, then becomes a fairly steep hill , about a 45 degree drop from level, which ends in a cross street and a very high stone wall that holds up the ground there. There is also the fact that years ago, due to the number of kids that lived on this one block, (14 kids, 13 houses) a neighbor petitioned to have this one block made one way, and that's what it's been for nearly 20 years. The kids were part of the reason, traffic was the other,as people going down the hill couldn't see anyone coming up the hill, and vise versa, til it was too late, and BANG! So, it's a one way street, and these fools are riding a minibike and quad up it the wrong way, so, well, soon enough, someone is going to get hit by a car, and most likely killed. Doesn't help that the people riding these things are underage, middle school, for the most part.
Anyway...they haven't been riding the beastly things other than those 2 or 3 days, bacause it seems that one of them came close to clipping the neighbors car across the street, and he saw them, as he was hanging his Christmas decorations outside at the time, and oh, was there hell to pay, then!!! LOL!!! Haven't seen or heard the noisy machines since. I just wonder when those idiots will figure out that they keep hanging themselves with their attitude of being more entitled than anyone else??? I mean there is only one person left on the street they haven't pissed off so far.
As for the other neighbor a few doors down, well, she has her father living there with her now. I kinda feel for her, as he has Alzheimers, and apparently is rather violent. The police have been to her house 3 times in the 3 months he has been there, twice because he was found on her nextdoor neigbors porch once, once because he walked into their house, and once because, according to the grapevine, he tried to strangle his daughter. (to be honest, he'd be doing the world a favor, but, her son deserves to have a mother, I suppose, even if she does seem to suck at that, too). Just so, I think if the police have to deal with him much more, they will have him put in a home, rather than her taking care of him, since she apparently can't control him. I've had several people tell me about what goes on there, and warn me and other neighbors to keep our doors locked, because he does wander.
I'm not too worried about him, though. I just wonder how long everyone is going to put up with her letting her dog run loose all over the neighborhood, barking at everyone and crapping in our yards???
****************************************
Just two weeks and some days left of babysitting for this month. My daughter finishes her class schedule on the 25 of this month, then she has to find an externship, and do 300 hours of that, then she has to find a job. She only wants to work part-time, so, that won't be too bad. She just needs to find a position that is willing to hire her part-time, or let her do a lot of her work from home as a medical billing specialist.
Sigh. I can't wait, either way, because perhaps then I can plan some sort of future, like an education, and a decent job.
- Mood: bitchy
Once again, Black Friday has come and gone. Not so many stories in national news about crazy people lining up and fighting over stupid stuff, this year. Only one story stands out, and that is from New York, about a Walmart employee being trampled to death while opening doors to hordes of greedy shoppers. Apparently shoppers were soooooo eager to get great deals, they actually trampled this poor guy to death, injured a pregnant woman, and then had the nerve to not care. When told to leave the store by police, it seems many shoppers got a bit um, vocal about it, saying they had been waiting too long in line outside to leave, and weren't leaving til they were done shopping.
Nice.
First of all, killing someone because you want a 'good deal' isn't really the way to start the holiday season, is it? I mean, if people would really think about it, there will be better deals the closer you get to Christmas, which is why I start most of my shopping around the second week of December.
Personally, I think it's time to put an end to 'Black Friday'. It's a day created by retailers, for retailers, to give them giant boosts in their year-end sales figures. It really has nothing to do with us, other than getting us in the stores looking for those 'great advertised deals' on high priced items that there are only 5 in stock of, anyway. Not exactly bait and switch, but close enough, and it keeps the stores just barely legal, while disappointing hundreds of people who then have to buy another similar item, usually at a much higher price than they intended to pay. Or the fights that break out over the last remaining advertised 'deal'.
It's that short-stocking practice that's lead us to where we are now...unsympathetic murderers in the spirit of Christmas and giving. Nice of those people at that Walmart to give that 19 yr olds family a death to celebrate this year. Nice of them to dole out death in their unthinking haste to make someone else happy.
To be honest, I hope the police find all the people responsible for killing one person and injuring another. I hope they find them, and that every one of them gets hit with, at the least, manslaughter charges and jail time. I think the families of those people, who probably think that they are nice, wonderful, compassionate people most of the time, get to see just exactly who their loved ones really are, and just how uncaring they are. I think their holidays should be just as happy as the holidays of the family of the young man who died just because he was opening a door for a bunch of idiots.
I hope that Walmart has to pay his family a nice, hefty sum of cash, and that other retailers will take heed, and hopefully do away with one of the worst ideas in marketing history....Black Friday.Stop the early bird sales, midnight sales, etc. Just do business as usual, and maybe those of us who shun that day will start shopping again in your store, rather than searching the web for deals that are better, anyway.
And not so many people will die.
****************************************
Another news item...it seems parents are sending letters to toy manufacturers asking them to ease up on the adverts for toys aimed at kids, because the kids are asking for everything they see and the parents can't handle it.
(laughing, long and hard) Parents these days are such f****ing idiots. We all grew up being bombarded with the same ads, and probably just as many, for toys. Remember Saturday morning cartoons, when you only had 3 channels to watch, and every damned one of them featured...toy ads! And for those of us who are older, we all had to deal with our kids asking for everything they saw!
And we all had to dissapoint our kids every year because they didn't get everything. Maybe just one special item, if it was available, and if it was reasonably within the budget.
You see, people, you are parents. And part of being a parent is deciding on what degree do you not only make your kid happy, but to what degree do you disappoint them, too.
My kids got one or two gifts that they had specifically asked for. . Again, within reason. You see, my kids were asked, long before Santa's arrival, if they would rather have ONE really special gift, or one that was pretty special, and several other gifts to go with it. Damn if they didn't, every time, opt for the lesser special gift + several others. And then, maybe the next year, or for their birthday, that really GREAT gift would be had for a birthday, or possibly Christmas. "Sometimes, they did get that extra special gift. And it never failed, that when that gift did make it's appearance, it was appreciated that much more.
Maybe it's time for parents to set aside THEIR egos, and deal with real life, and make some adult decisions. And maybe those greedy little shits will learn to appreciate what they do get, rather than whining about what they didn't get.
Stop blaming the manufacturers of toys for the 'I want' blitz, and stop your whining and bitching to them, they aren't the parents of your kids, you are. Stop expecting total strangers to take responsibility for what your kids are exposed to. That is your job. YOU opted to have kids, now step up and be responsible adults raising kids, and start teaching them how to deal with and sidestep the marketing onslaught,.start teaching them about all the crap that is being pushed on them, and start helping them learn to decide which toys they will really get the most benefit from.
Grow up, people.
Nice.
First of all, killing someone because you want a 'good deal' isn't really the way to start the holiday season, is it? I mean, if people would really think about it, there will be better deals the closer you get to Christmas, which is why I start most of my shopping around the second week of December.
Personally, I think it's time to put an end to 'Black Friday'. It's a day created by retailers, for retailers, to give them giant boosts in their year-end sales figures. It really has nothing to do with us, other than getting us in the stores looking for those 'great advertised deals' on high priced items that there are only 5 in stock of, anyway. Not exactly bait and switch, but close enough, and it keeps the stores just barely legal, while disappointing hundreds of people who then have to buy another similar item, usually at a much higher price than they intended to pay. Or the fights that break out over the last remaining advertised 'deal'.
It's that short-stocking practice that's lead us to where we are now...unsympathetic murderers in the spirit of Christmas and giving. Nice of those people at that Walmart to give that 19 yr olds family a death to celebrate this year. Nice of them to dole out death in their unthinking haste to make someone else happy.
To be honest, I hope the police find all the people responsible for killing one person and injuring another. I hope they find them, and that every one of them gets hit with, at the least, manslaughter charges and jail time. I think the families of those people, who probably think that they are nice, wonderful, compassionate people most of the time, get to see just exactly who their loved ones really are, and just how uncaring they are. I think their holidays should be just as happy as the holidays of the family of the young man who died just because he was opening a door for a bunch of idiots.
I hope that Walmart has to pay his family a nice, hefty sum of cash, and that other retailers will take heed, and hopefully do away with one of the worst ideas in marketing history....Black Friday.Stop the early bird sales, midnight sales, etc. Just do business as usual, and maybe those of us who shun that day will start shopping again in your store, rather than searching the web for deals that are better, anyway.
And not so many people will die.
****************************************
Another news item...it seems parents are sending letters to toy manufacturers asking them to ease up on the adverts for toys aimed at kids, because the kids are asking for everything they see and the parents can't handle it.
(laughing, long and hard) Parents these days are such f****ing idiots. We all grew up being bombarded with the same ads, and probably just as many, for toys. Remember Saturday morning cartoons, when you only had 3 channels to watch, and every damned one of them featured...toy ads! And for those of us who are older, we all had to deal with our kids asking for everything they saw!
And we all had to dissapoint our kids every year because they didn't get everything. Maybe just one special item, if it was available, and if it was reasonably within the budget.
You see, people, you are parents. And part of being a parent is deciding on what degree do you not only make your kid happy, but to what degree do you disappoint them, too.
My kids got one or two gifts that they had specifically asked for. . Again, within reason. You see, my kids were asked, long before Santa's arrival, if they would rather have ONE really special gift, or one that was pretty special, and several other gifts to go with it. Damn if they didn't, every time, opt for the lesser special gift + several others. And then, maybe the next year, or for their birthday, that really GREAT gift would be had for a birthday, or possibly Christmas. "Sometimes, they did get that extra special gift. And it never failed, that when that gift did make it's appearance, it was appreciated that much more.
Maybe it's time for parents to set aside THEIR egos, and deal with real life, and make some adult decisions. And maybe those greedy little shits will learn to appreciate what they do get, rather than whining about what they didn't get.
Stop blaming the manufacturers of toys for the 'I want' blitz, and stop your whining and bitching to them, they aren't the parents of your kids, you are. Stop expecting total strangers to take responsibility for what your kids are exposed to. That is your job. YOU opted to have kids, now step up and be responsible adults raising kids, and start teaching them how to deal with and sidestep the marketing onslaught,.start teaching them about all the crap that is being pushed on them, and start helping them learn to decide which toys they will really get the most benefit from.
Grow up, people.
Once again, Black Friday has come and gone. Not so many stories in national news about crazy people lining up and fighting over stupid stuff, this year. Only one story stands out, and that is from New York, about a Walmart employee being trampled to death while opening doors to hordes of greedy shoppers. Apparently shoppers were soooooo eager to get great deals, they actually trampled this poor guy to death, injured a pregnant woman, and then had the nerve to not care. When told to leave the store by police, it seems many shoppers got a bit um, vocal about it, saying they had been waiting too long in line outside to leave, and weren't leaving til they were done shopping.
Nice.
First of all, killing someone because you want a 'good deal' isn't really the way to start the holiday season, is it? I mean, if people would really think about it, there will be better deals the closer you get to Christmas, which is why I start most of my shopping around the second week of December.
Personally, I think it's time to put an end to 'Black Friday'. It's a day created by retailers, for retailers, to give them giant boosts in their year-end sales figures. It really has nothing to do with us, other than getting us in the stores looking for those 'great advertised deals' on high priced items that there are only 5 in stock of, anyway. Not exactly bait and switch, but close enough, and it keeps the stores just barely legal, while disappointing hundreds of people who then have to buy another similar item, usually at a much higher price than they intended to pay. Or the fights that break out over the last remaining advertised 'deal'.
It's that short-stocking practice that's lead us to where we are now...unsympathetic murderers in the spirit of Christmas and giving. Nice of those people at that Walmart to give that 19 yr old's family a death to celebrate this year. Nice of them to dole out death in their unthinking haste to make someone else happy.
To be honest, I hope the police find all the people responsible for killing one person and injuring another. I hope they find them, and that every one of them gets hit with, at the least, manslaughter charges and jail time. I think the families of those people, who probably think that they are nice, wonderful, compassionate people most of the time, get to see just exactly who their loved ones really are, and just how uncaring they are. I think their holidays should be just as happy as the holidays of the family of the young man who died just because he was opening a door for a bunch of idiots.
I hope that Walmart has to pay his family a nice, hefty sum of cash, and that other retailers will take heed, and hopefully do away with one of the worst ideas in marketing history....Black Friday.Stop the early bird sales, midnight sales, etc. Just do business as usual, and maybe those of us who shun that day will start shopping again in your store, rather than searching the web for deals that are better, anyway.
And not so many people will die.
****************************************
Another news item...it seems parents are sending letters to toy manufacturers asking them to ease up on the adverts for toys aimed at kids, because the kids are asking for everything they see and the parents can't handle it.
(laughing, long and hard) Parents these days are such f****ing idiots. We all grew up being bombarded with the same ads, and probably just as many, for toys. Remember Saturday morning cartoons, when you only had 3 channels to watch, and every damned one of them featured...toy ads! And for those of us who are older, we all had to deal with our kids asking for everything they saw!
And we all had to dissapoint our kids every year because they didn't get everything. Maybe just one special item, if it was available, and if it was reasonably within the budget.
Get real, folks. Anyone with anything to sell is going to target the market that is going to want that item, and that includes your kids. Watch Nick Jr for an hour, and you'll see more ads for toys, most based on the cartoons and programming the channel carries, than anywhere else.
Watch Disney, and you'll see ads for everything the Disney moneygrabbing machine has to offer, from toys to cruises, and those are aimed at 3-5 yr olds. Watch Saturday morning cartoons, and it's the same...ads, ads, ads!
Grow up, nothing has changed, we saw just as many ads when we were kids, get over it, and deal with it like adults.
You see, people, you are parents. And part of being a parent is deciding on what degree do you not only make your kid happy, but to what degree do you disappoint them, too.
Yes, I said it's part of our job as parents to not only make our kids happy, but to also teach them to deal with disappointment. Will that make you the worst parent in the world? No. It makes you a reasonable, rational adult who cares enough about your child to teach them to deal with life, the highs and the lows.
I guess that parents now need to learn, too, how to deal with the 'disappointment' of actually having to be parents, thinking, deciding, choosing, budgeting. It's time to put egos aside, and really concentrate on making your kids happy. Maybe that isn't so much buying gifts, as having a happy, meaningful morning together.
Maybe it's time for parents to learn that Christmas, and happiness, isn't about the latest hot toy or tech gadget, but about being together, and making the kids feel loved, and maybe learn to say that maybe 'next Christmans' wiill be a good time for the latest game console or Bratz doll. Then surprise the kid with it on their birthday.
****************************************
Toys that irk me....
Bratz dolls. Anything Dora. Dancing and singing everything. Karoake for kids. Ride-on dinosaurs. Dolls that actually poo in a potty. Wrestling action figures. Sex-specific toys. (my daughter and granddaughter both love(d) toy power tools, cars, trucks, and legos.
Any toy related to the Disney music business...can't stand Hannah Montana, personally, or the Cheetah girls.
Ain't it funny how we want our kids to remain kids for as long as possible, yet allow marketing to them at age 4 and up of toys and items that promote glamour and sex appeal?
Ugly baby dolls. You know, the ones that aren't sweet and cuddly?
Anything realistic. It's a toy, it isn't supposed to be real.
sigh.
Nice.
First of all, killing someone because you want a 'good deal' isn't really the way to start the holiday season, is it? I mean, if people would really think about it, there will be better deals the closer you get to Christmas, which is why I start most of my shopping around the second week of December.
Personally, I think it's time to put an end to 'Black Friday'. It's a day created by retailers, for retailers, to give them giant boosts in their year-end sales figures. It really has nothing to do with us, other than getting us in the stores looking for those 'great advertised deals' on high priced items that there are only 5 in stock of, anyway. Not exactly bait and switch, but close enough, and it keeps the stores just barely legal, while disappointing hundreds of people who then have to buy another similar item, usually at a much higher price than they intended to pay. Or the fights that break out over the last remaining advertised 'deal'.
It's that short-stocking practice that's lead us to where we are now...unsympathetic murderers in the spirit of Christmas and giving. Nice of those people at that Walmart to give that 19 yr old's family a death to celebrate this year. Nice of them to dole out death in their unthinking haste to make someone else happy.
To be honest, I hope the police find all the people responsible for killing one person and injuring another. I hope they find them, and that every one of them gets hit with, at the least, manslaughter charges and jail time. I think the families of those people, who probably think that they are nice, wonderful, compassionate people most of the time, get to see just exactly who their loved ones really are, and just how uncaring they are. I think their holidays should be just as happy as the holidays of the family of the young man who died just because he was opening a door for a bunch of idiots.
I hope that Walmart has to pay his family a nice, hefty sum of cash, and that other retailers will take heed, and hopefully do away with one of the worst ideas in marketing history....Black Friday.Stop the early bird sales, midnight sales, etc. Just do business as usual, and maybe those of us who shun that day will start shopping again in your store, rather than searching the web for deals that are better, anyway.
And not so many people will die.
****************************************
Another news item...it seems parents are sending letters to toy manufacturers asking them to ease up on the adverts for toys aimed at kids, because the kids are asking for everything they see and the parents can't handle it.
(laughing, long and hard) Parents these days are such f****ing idiots. We all grew up being bombarded with the same ads, and probably just as many, for toys. Remember Saturday morning cartoons, when you only had 3 channels to watch, and every damned one of them featured...toy ads! And for those of us who are older, we all had to deal with our kids asking for everything they saw!
And we all had to dissapoint our kids every year because they didn't get everything. Maybe just one special item, if it was available, and if it was reasonably within the budget.
Get real, folks. Anyone with anything to sell is going to target the market that is going to want that item, and that includes your kids. Watch Nick Jr for an hour, and you'll see more ads for toys, most based on the cartoons and programming the channel carries, than anywhere else.
Watch Disney, and you'll see ads for everything the Disney moneygrabbing machine has to offer, from toys to cruises, and those are aimed at 3-5 yr olds. Watch Saturday morning cartoons, and it's the same...ads, ads, ads!
Grow up, nothing has changed, we saw just as many ads when we were kids, get over it, and deal with it like adults.
You see, people, you are parents. And part of being a parent is deciding on what degree do you not only make your kid happy, but to what degree do you disappoint them, too.
Yes, I said it's part of our job as parents to not only make our kids happy, but to also teach them to deal with disappointment. Will that make you the worst parent in the world? No. It makes you a reasonable, rational adult who cares enough about your child to teach them to deal with life, the highs and the lows.
I guess that parents now need to learn, too, how to deal with the 'disappointment' of actually having to be parents, thinking, deciding, choosing, budgeting. It's time to put egos aside, and really concentrate on making your kids happy. Maybe that isn't so much buying gifts, as having a happy, meaningful morning together.
Maybe it's time for parents to learn that Christmas, and happiness, isn't about the latest hot toy or tech gadget, but about being together, and making the kids feel loved, and maybe learn to say that maybe 'next Christmans' wiill be a good time for the latest game console or Bratz doll. Then surprise the kid with it on their birthday.
****************************************
Toys that irk me....
Bratz dolls. Anything Dora. Dancing and singing everything. Karoake for kids. Ride-on dinosaurs. Dolls that actually poo in a potty. Wrestling action figures. Sex-specific toys. (my daughter and granddaughter both love(d) toy power tools, cars, trucks, and legos.
Any toy related to the Disney music business...can't stand Hannah Montana, personally, or the Cheetah girls.
Ain't it funny how we want our kids to remain kids for as long as possible, yet allow marketing to them at age 4 and up of toys and items that promote glamour and sex appeal?
Ugly baby dolls. You know, the ones that aren't sweet and cuddly?
Anything realistic. It's a toy, it isn't supposed to be real.
sigh.
Well, Obama has one the President's race. Good for him, McCain would have been a bad, pathetic choice for this country right now.
Somehow, I have the feeling that both political parties saw Obama as a good choice, or else why put a man for the office who doesn't know how many homes he owns, hasn't got a clue about anything going on in this country,and can't seem to think fast enough on his feet to answer the questions and problems plagueing this country now? sigh.
Right now, the only 'change' I've seen is in my spam filters. Obama is big with those who collect junk. By junk, I mean that my mail has been flooded with offers of 'special edition collectors' plates...coins...stamps....etc. JUNK. Junk that isn't going to be worth anything a few years from now. Right now, if we can't eat it or pay a bill with it, we don't want it.
It's winter here, officially. Got caught in the mini-blizzard on Saturday, it only lasted about 30 minutes, but was heavy and made the roads pretty damned bad. Watched a semi slide down the road sideways as I was making my way home from Kmart then, just at the beginning of the squall, and it took about 10 minutes for the roads to become slick. A 15 minutes trip took almost 30, and there were a lot of accidents, most of people who dont' know how to drive on good roads, and it apparently never occured to them that 4 wheel drives slide too, if you don't know what you're doing...lol. One small panic attack going down the looooong hill to the bridge, as the car started sliding for a minute, but got it straightened out and kept creeping along, well behind the vehicles in front of me. Those are the times I really hate highways, as there is no edge to the road, just a line and 10 ft of pavement before you get to grass, and there's no gravel or anything to get the passenger wheels on to assure a little traction. You'd think states that get snow would stop hiring engineers from places that don't get snow, and use a little sense and foresight whe building roads north of the Mason-Dixon line.
I read an article yesterday that had me chuckling a bit. It's about unions, and how the south has damned few of them, and some states are trying to push through something called Employee Choice or somesuch, that would allow employees of businesses to just sign a card and basically, as I understand it, with a majority, form a union in their workplace. Now, this had to do with the Auto Workers Union, and how they don't have members in, I believe it was Kentucky, I could be wrong about the state, and how people there would be better off with a union. The argument against the auto workers in Kentucky or where ever down south forming a union is that they are already well paid for their work, with decent benefits.
Sweetheart, whoever you are, listen up. Until our jobs come with all the perks of a CEO or excutive for one of the Big Three, or AIG, and 'golden parachutes' then freaking unionize!!!
Yes, I agree, some unions greeded themselves right out of jobs over the years...(check out the perks steelworkers were getting and see why we now buy our steel from Japan) But I'm really tired of hearing how union members want too much. My husband risks his life every day going to work, whether it be because he's working 200+ ft in the air, or a chemical line explodes, or a ditch wall caves in, he risks his life, far more than any CEO or suited excutive or shareholder. So, yes, I think he deserves not only the union wages he makes along with one of the best health care packages in the country, but more. See, he doesn't get paid holidays, like the Auto Workers do. And he doesn't get paid vacations. He brasses in, brasses out, and the time he holds that brass is the time he gets paid for. And that should apply to every damn job in this country, get rid of salaries, and you might have a more reliable workforce. Pay people for what they actually work, and you might see higher, better job performance. Less sick time. More care about the quality of work. Gee, do you think that if our Senators and Representatives had to actually show up for work and earn, say, $30 an hour, they might actually get something done? Oh, and let's not forget that out of that $30, they have to pay not only taxes, but union dues, health care, and pension? Yeah, it seems everyone thinks that the companies pay all that, but they don't. Union workers may earn better wages, but it's because we pay for everything we get out of that wage.The company doesn't pay it. Health care costs us around $17000.00 a year out of that paycheck. Then there are the annuities and pension that comes out of it. Union dues. And that's after taxes. No 401k. No severance deal. Just a paycheck that is earned. So, by the time that paycheck actually hits the bank account here, it's only worth maybe about $15 an hour. For a dangerous job. Much less than being an overpaid fraud who really does very little that's risky, or actually useful, really.
I'm really tired of people blaming unions for the economy, because for the most part, union members take very little from the businesses they work for. Get real people, it's the ones at the top that are responsible for the most greed and gluttony we've seen since Rome. And gee, aren't we headed down the same road??
And don't forget that without unions, those of you who don't belong to one sure as hell wouldn't be earning more than any chinese peasant right now. Hell, without unions to boost gov't mandated minimum wage (which is a joke in these times) we'd all be immigrants heading somewhere else, wouldn't we??? hmmmm.
Somehow, I have the feeling that both political parties saw Obama as a good choice, or else why put a man for the office who doesn't know how many homes he owns, hasn't got a clue about anything going on in this country,and can't seem to think fast enough on his feet to answer the questions and problems plagueing this country now? sigh.
Right now, the only 'change' I've seen is in my spam filters. Obama is big with those who collect junk. By junk, I mean that my mail has been flooded with offers of 'special edition collectors' plates...coins...stamps....etc. JUNK. Junk that isn't going to be worth anything a few years from now. Right now, if we can't eat it or pay a bill with it, we don't want it.
It's winter here, officially. Got caught in the mini-blizzard on Saturday, it only lasted about 30 minutes, but was heavy and made the roads pretty damned bad. Watched a semi slide down the road sideways as I was making my way home from Kmart then, just at the beginning of the squall, and it took about 10 minutes for the roads to become slick. A 15 minutes trip took almost 30, and there were a lot of accidents, most of people who dont' know how to drive on good roads, and it apparently never occured to them that 4 wheel drives slide too, if you don't know what you're doing...lol. One small panic attack going down the looooong hill to the bridge, as the car started sliding for a minute, but got it straightened out and kept creeping along, well behind the vehicles in front of me. Those are the times I really hate highways, as there is no edge to the road, just a line and 10 ft of pavement before you get to grass, and there's no gravel or anything to get the passenger wheels on to assure a little traction. You'd think states that get snow would stop hiring engineers from places that don't get snow, and use a little sense and foresight whe building roads north of the Mason-Dixon line.
I read an article yesterday that had me chuckling a bit. It's about unions, and how the south has damned few of them, and some states are trying to push through something called Employee Choice or somesuch, that would allow employees of businesses to just sign a card and basically, as I understand it, with a majority, form a union in their workplace. Now, this had to do with the Auto Workers Union, and how they don't have members in, I believe it was Kentucky, I could be wrong about the state, and how people there would be better off with a union. The argument against the auto workers in Kentucky or where ever down south forming a union is that they are already well paid for their work, with decent benefits.
Sweetheart, whoever you are, listen up. Until our jobs come with all the perks of a CEO or excutive for one of the Big Three, or AIG, and 'golden parachutes' then freaking unionize!!!
Yes, I agree, some unions greeded themselves right out of jobs over the years...(check out the perks steelworkers were getting and see why we now buy our steel from Japan) But I'm really tired of hearing how union members want too much. My husband risks his life every day going to work, whether it be because he's working 200+ ft in the air, or a chemical line explodes, or a ditch wall caves in, he risks his life, far more than any CEO or suited excutive or shareholder. So, yes, I think he deserves not only the union wages he makes along with one of the best health care packages in the country, but more. See, he doesn't get paid holidays, like the Auto Workers do. And he doesn't get paid vacations. He brasses in, brasses out, and the time he holds that brass is the time he gets paid for. And that should apply to every damn job in this country, get rid of salaries, and you might have a more reliable workforce. Pay people for what they actually work, and you might see higher, better job performance. Less sick time. More care about the quality of work. Gee, do you think that if our Senators and Representatives had to actually show up for work and earn, say, $30 an hour, they might actually get something done? Oh, and let's not forget that out of that $30, they have to pay not only taxes, but union dues, health care, and pension? Yeah, it seems everyone thinks that the companies pay all that, but they don't. Union workers may earn better wages, but it's because we pay for everything we get out of that wage.The company doesn't pay it. Health care costs us around $17000.00 a year out of that paycheck. Then there are the annuities and pension that comes out of it. Union dues. And that's after taxes. No 401k. No severance deal. Just a paycheck that is earned. So, by the time that paycheck actually hits the bank account here, it's only worth maybe about $15 an hour. For a dangerous job. Much less than being an overpaid fraud who really does very little that's risky, or actually useful, really.
I'm really tired of people blaming unions for the economy, because for the most part, union members take very little from the businesses they work for. Get real people, it's the ones at the top that are responsible for the most greed and gluttony we've seen since Rome. And gee, aren't we headed down the same road??
And don't forget that without unions, those of you who don't belong to one sure as hell wouldn't be earning more than any chinese peasant right now. Hell, without unions to boost gov't mandated minimum wage (which is a joke in these times) we'd all be immigrants heading somewhere else, wouldn't we??? hmmmm.
Just a few things that I find mildly irritating.
Logos on every channel. Just for the record, I usually know what channel I'm watching. Those logos constantly in the bottom right corner of my screen are more than a little annoying, and really unnecessary.
While on the topic, the most annoying thing about watching many channels, are the 'previews' and ads for other shows a channel carries that run at the bottom of the screen while a program is on. STOP IT!!!! All the damn things do is get in the way of whatever show is on, and often there is something going on that the stupid blurb for whatever stupid cop show/reality show is running blots out. Thanks so much for making television viewing ever so much more unpleasant!
Shoppers who apparently think they are the only ones in the store. Stop hogging the aisle pay attention and move your damn cart over so that those of us with a cart and two kids in tow can get through the same aisle without the aggravation of having to say 'pardon me' every ten seconds.
Main street is wide enough for cars parked on both sides and traffic in both directions. JUST wide enough. Don't open your freaking car door into moving traffic, try to wait a few seconds for a break in it, so that most of us don't have to either swerve into the other lane of oncoming traffic or slam our brakes on, which would cause the driver behind to hit us. Yes, we're only doing about 25, but still, the temptation is there to just take off your door, and possibly your leg, with our car. Pay attention!
Oh, and don't stand on the traffic side of someone's vehicle yakking and gabbing...your big ass jutting into a traffic lane is nothing but a huge target....either move to the sidewalk, or use a phone, for pete's sake.
It used to be you went to the grocery store and got one receipt. Now I get 4. One for my purchases, one for my fuel rewards, and two print out coupons based on what I've purchased, and now, it's five, because I get these lovely coupons for every $50 purchase that I can redeem for a $10 gift certificate once I"ve collected 5 of them. There's never any room in my wallet when I"m done. Sigh.
It's amazing, but I never seem to be able to find coupons for the basics that I usually purchase. Tomato sauce, bread, (not the fancy stuff, just BREAD) butter, cheese, basic frozen vegetables, cereal, etc. And the coupons I do find usually insist that I have to purchase 2 to 4 of said item to get a savings. I don't always want that many. How about a coupon for ONE item, please? Stop making coupons 'conditional'.
Speaking of frozen vegetables....I don't want nor like the 'steam in bag' variety that seem to have taken over the grocer's freezers. I like my vegetables cooked, steamed, yes, but that's what I have a steamer for. Doesn't take any longer than the damn plastic bag, and tastes better, and I don't have the hassle of getting steaming hot food out of an unwieldy plastic bad and into a bow. Then there is the fact that to feed 4 people, you need to buy 2 bags. (we LIKE veggies, here) I want my regular 16 oz bag of frozen veggies back, damn it.
Billy Mays. Stop screaming at me, I've had enough and am not going to buy your products. (he's hawking insurance now)
Sincere aging celebrities trying to convince me that I need whatever it is they are being paid to sell me.
Ads for medicines that are more likely to kill me than the condition they are supposed to treat.
Reality tv. Boring to a degree that doesn't even exist.
Katie Couric. I know, America's sweetheart and all. She seems to have given up her brain in exchange for a position. How sad.
Spell checker. Why can't someone program it to recognize that if a word begins with a capital, it just might be a proper name????????
And why doesn't it recognize contractions? Consistently?
Worst Week of My LIfe. Stolen from British tv, and sucked then, too. Maybe the U.S version would work if the lead actor didn't look like such a dishrag? I mean, the guy is, in appearance, basically the human version of a Cocker Spaniel puppy. Acts like one, too.
That's all for today, although I"m sure I can think of more, later.
****************************************
Took my granddaughter to school yesterday. Once we got in the building and got her coat off and hung in the main hall and were waiting for the door to the classroom hall to open, she was chatting to one of her little classmates. When the doors finally opened, this poor little girl's dear daddy kissed her goodbye in the main hall and sent her on her way to her classroom. The poor kid just looked lost, as protocol is that you escort your child to their classroom, just to make sure they know where it is, and that they made it. Now, keep in mind that to get to this girls classroom, (also my granddaughters) you have to pass 3 other rooms, other kids going to their rooms, and numerous parents and grandparents delivering those kids, many of us with younger siblings in tow, so, it gets pretty crowded and confusing. I just quietly told my granddaughter to hold the girls hand, and I managed to get them both to class in one piece.
To the dad....possibly you have some injury that kept your fat ass (he took up half the hallway, sorry) from walking the extra 15 yards to the kids classroom, or possibly your just an ass who couldn't wait to get back home to play WOW or 2nd Life, or just take in the internet porn. Whatever the reason, leaving the kid high and dry was just wrong.
Logos on every channel. Just for the record, I usually know what channel I'm watching. Those logos constantly in the bottom right corner of my screen are more than a little annoying, and really unnecessary.
While on the topic, the most annoying thing about watching many channels, are the 'previews' and ads for other shows a channel carries that run at the bottom of the screen while a program is on. STOP IT!!!! All the damn things do is get in the way of whatever show is on, and often there is something going on that the stupid blurb for whatever stupid cop show/reality show is running blots out. Thanks so much for making television viewing ever so much more unpleasant!
Shoppers who apparently think they are the only ones in the store. Stop hogging the aisle pay attention and move your damn cart over so that those of us with a cart and two kids in tow can get through the same aisle without the aggravation of having to say 'pardon me' every ten seconds.
Main street is wide enough for cars parked on both sides and traffic in both directions. JUST wide enough. Don't open your freaking car door into moving traffic, try to wait a few seconds for a break in it, so that most of us don't have to either swerve into the other lane of oncoming traffic or slam our brakes on, which would cause the driver behind to hit us. Yes, we're only doing about 25, but still, the temptation is there to just take off your door, and possibly your leg, with our car. Pay attention!
Oh, and don't stand on the traffic side of someone's vehicle yakking and gabbing...your big ass jutting into a traffic lane is nothing but a huge target....either move to the sidewalk, or use a phone, for pete's sake.
It used to be you went to the grocery store and got one receipt. Now I get 4. One for my purchases, one for my fuel rewards, and two print out coupons based on what I've purchased, and now, it's five, because I get these lovely coupons for every $50 purchase that I can redeem for a $10 gift certificate once I"ve collected 5 of them. There's never any room in my wallet when I"m done. Sigh.
It's amazing, but I never seem to be able to find coupons for the basics that I usually purchase. Tomato sauce, bread, (not the fancy stuff, just BREAD) butter, cheese, basic frozen vegetables, cereal, etc. And the coupons I do find usually insist that I have to purchase 2 to 4 of said item to get a savings. I don't always want that many. How about a coupon for ONE item, please? Stop making coupons 'conditional'.
Speaking of frozen vegetables....I don't want nor like the 'steam in bag' variety that seem to have taken over the grocer's freezers. I like my vegetables cooked, steamed, yes, but that's what I have a steamer for. Doesn't take any longer than the damn plastic bag, and tastes better, and I don't have the hassle of getting steaming hot food out of an unwieldy plastic bad and into a bow. Then there is the fact that to feed 4 people, you need to buy 2 bags. (we LIKE veggies, here) I want my regular 16 oz bag of frozen veggies back, damn it.
Billy Mays. Stop screaming at me, I've had enough and am not going to buy your products. (he's hawking insurance now)
Sincere aging celebrities trying to convince me that I need whatever it is they are being paid to sell me.
Ads for medicines that are more likely to kill me than the condition they are supposed to treat.
Reality tv. Boring to a degree that doesn't even exist.
Katie Couric. I know, America's sweetheart and all. She seems to have given up her brain in exchange for a position. How sad.
Spell checker. Why can't someone program it to recognize that if a word begins with a capital, it just might be a proper name????????
And why doesn't it recognize contractions? Consistently?
Worst Week of My LIfe. Stolen from British tv, and sucked then, too. Maybe the U.S version would work if the lead actor didn't look like such a dishrag? I mean, the guy is, in appearance, basically the human version of a Cocker Spaniel puppy. Acts like one, too.
That's all for today, although I"m sure I can think of more, later.
****************************************
Took my granddaughter to school yesterday. Once we got in the building and got her coat off and hung in the main hall and were waiting for the door to the classroom hall to open, she was chatting to one of her little classmates. When the doors finally opened, this poor little girl's dear daddy kissed her goodbye in the main hall and sent her on her way to her classroom. The poor kid just looked lost, as protocol is that you escort your child to their classroom, just to make sure they know where it is, and that they made it. Now, keep in mind that to get to this girls classroom, (also my granddaughters) you have to pass 3 other rooms, other kids going to their rooms, and numerous parents and grandparents delivering those kids, many of us with younger siblings in tow, so, it gets pretty crowded and confusing. I just quietly told my granddaughter to hold the girls hand, and I managed to get them both to class in one piece.
To the dad....possibly you have some injury that kept your fat ass (he took up half the hallway, sorry) from walking the extra 15 yards to the kids classroom, or possibly your just an ass who couldn't wait to get back home to play WOW or 2nd Life, or just take in the internet porn. Whatever the reason, leaving the kid high and dry was just wrong.
- Mood: grumpy
Well, we have a new president elect. Can't say that I'm happy about it other than it means we don't have another 4 years of Bush and his cronies doing everything they can to ruin this country. Just wish there were more options on who to vote for. I just have this feeling that we have been railroaded into electing Obama. See, I think we weren't given much choice at all on who to vote for. McCain made such a mess of his campaign that it isn't funny, even though it is. His campaigning was sloppy, slipshod, and had absolutely no coherency other than attacking his Democratic opponent constantly. Palin was the perfect choice for him, when it came to cutting off his nose to spite his face. She looks good and has a certain charisma, but...there is that lack of knowledge of rudimentary politics, not to mention that personally, I don't like being referred to as "Joe Six-pack'. To me, it just underlined even more pointedly how our elected representatives really feel about us, the people who actually make this country work, who actually pay the salaries and outrageous benefits and perks those WE elected receive.
Apparently his campaign chairman and advisors aren't too swift, or else they were paid to undermine his campaign in every way possible. They tried every dirty trick in the book, from outright lies to trying to pass an unlicensed plumber off as someone who would be hurt by Obama being elected, and I'm sure they knew full well that people would jump on the 'net and start googling this guy and find out the truth, which means they once again new they were, ultimately, hurting his credentials and believability. In the debates, you could just see that McCain had lost track of things and didn't really have a clear idea of what he wanted to do, or that he even was capable of thinking clearly, concisely, and intelligently. To be honest, his whole campaign seemed to emphasize the fact that he is so out of touch with everything that it appeared more and more that he should be in a home for Alzheimer's patients.
So, who do the Democrats put up against the Republicans piss poor choice of a candidate? Obama. Young, vibrant, intelligent, eager. Backed by people who have a clue, and an agenda to match the clue. He, and his family, are hip, young, educated, and aware of the immediate world. Charismatic as a speaker, he managed to speak on a level that didn't often belittle the ordinary working human in this country. They put up a candidate with a clean, slick campaign, who could give speeches that could, and did, influence millions. Whereas McCain's wife just stood around looking more like a cookie-cutter blonde who doesn't have a meaningful thought in her head, (I know what Cindy McCain, and the organizations she heads up, and admire her for it, she really isn't as bland as she seems, actually she should probably have been the Republicans choice for president, rather than her ersatz husband) Obama's wife is lively, intelligent, educated, and passionate, all with a class most young black women in this neck of the woods couldn't manage for love or money, nor would they even try.
What I'm saying is that I have a feeling this whole election has been carefully orchestrated over the past 2 years, and longer.
Despite what the Feds have said for the past 4 years, despite what the White House has repeatedly denied over the whole of Bush's financial reign of terror, there is no way in hell that anyone running this country could not have seen the meltdown coming. The rest of us did, nearly 8 years ago, so, why didn't they?
Okay, this is where I get a little weird, I guess. 'Conspiracy theorist' is something I expect to get thrown my way, but what the hell. A blind man could have seen this all coming. So, factor in two campaigns, one so pathetic in it's ignorance of real life in this country, the other so in touch with it. In one candidate we were for the most part all so disgusted that we felt we had no other choice but to vote for the one who shone the brightest.
Through this whole campaign, it has made me wonder why we were lead in that direction, and who wants us to go there, and why?
From there, a whole lot of questions come up, such as, if that is the case, and this is part of some other plan, then who is really running this country?
For myself, I'm just going to sit back and watch and see what happens. I have a feeling things are going to get a lot worse for a lot of people over the next few years. I see us heading even deeper into being a socialist country. I see more citizen surveilance happening. I see more homeless people, more drug abuse, more crime, and fewer viable solutions. I see fewer jobs, fewer homeowners. More of the things that drag us down as a nation.
Oh, well.
Apparently his campaign chairman and advisors aren't too swift, or else they were paid to undermine his campaign in every way possible. They tried every dirty trick in the book, from outright lies to trying to pass an unlicensed plumber off as someone who would be hurt by Obama being elected, and I'm sure they knew full well that people would jump on the 'net and start googling this guy and find out the truth, which means they once again new they were, ultimately, hurting his credentials and believability. In the debates, you could just see that McCain had lost track of things and didn't really have a clear idea of what he wanted to do, or that he even was capable of thinking clearly, concisely, and intelligently. To be honest, his whole campaign seemed to emphasize the fact that he is so out of touch with everything that it appeared more and more that he should be in a home for Alzheimer's patients.
So, who do the Democrats put up against the Republicans piss poor choice of a candidate? Obama. Young, vibrant, intelligent, eager. Backed by people who have a clue, and an agenda to match the clue. He, and his family, are hip, young, educated, and aware of the immediate world. Charismatic as a speaker, he managed to speak on a level that didn't often belittle the ordinary working human in this country. They put up a candidate with a clean, slick campaign, who could give speeches that could, and did, influence millions. Whereas McCain's wife just stood around looking more like a cookie-cutter blonde who doesn't have a meaningful thought in her head, (I know what Cindy McCain, and the organizations she heads up, and admire her for it, she really isn't as bland as she seems, actually she should probably have been the Republicans choice for president, rather than her ersatz husband) Obama's wife is lively, intelligent, educated, and passionate, all with a class most young black women in this neck of the woods couldn't manage for love or money, nor would they even try.
What I'm saying is that I have a feeling this whole election has been carefully orchestrated over the past 2 years, and longer.
Despite what the Feds have said for the past 4 years, despite what the White House has repeatedly denied over the whole of Bush's financial reign of terror, there is no way in hell that anyone running this country could not have seen the meltdown coming. The rest of us did, nearly 8 years ago, so, why didn't they?
Okay, this is where I get a little weird, I guess. 'Conspiracy theorist' is something I expect to get thrown my way, but what the hell. A blind man could have seen this all coming. So, factor in two campaigns, one so pathetic in it's ignorance of real life in this country, the other so in touch with it. In one candidate we were for the most part all so disgusted that we felt we had no other choice but to vote for the one who shone the brightest.
Through this whole campaign, it has made me wonder why we were lead in that direction, and who wants us to go there, and why?
From there, a whole lot of questions come up, such as, if that is the case, and this is part of some other plan, then who is really running this country?
For myself, I'm just going to sit back and watch and see what happens. I have a feeling things are going to get a lot worse for a lot of people over the next few years. I see us heading even deeper into being a socialist country. I see more citizen surveilance happening. I see more homeless people, more drug abuse, more crime, and fewer viable solutions. I see fewer jobs, fewer homeowners. More of the things that drag us down as a nation.
Oh, well.
- Mood:
amused
Halloween came and went. Big deal. Not a lot of people here, although I understand that a few blocks away, where there are no hills to climb, people got mobbed. Oh well, so it goes. Most of the evening was nice, lots of nice people, and the kids weren't too bad, either..lol.
The only problem I had with anyone was the trouble making blowsy blonde pregnant thing with the attitude that lives around the corner....her kids took off ahead of her, and she showed up 5 minutes later with another trashy mom, towing a wagon with two babies in it who probably had 3 teeth between them. All I got from her was a bag shoved in my face with the snarled remark that ' this is for the baby in the wagon', so, I dropped one box of candy in the bag, said happy halloween, and went on with life. My son, who was sitting outside with me at the time, thought that punching her in the face would be a good idea.
Personally, I absolutely hate it when idiots drag toothless babies out trick or treating, and haul bags around pretending that the candy they collect if for the baby. Who do they think they are kidding? We all know that baby is not getting that candy, it's just some parents 'legitimate' form of begging for themselves. As for blonde bimbo with four kids and one on the way....I wasn't surprised, as I didn't expect any better behavior from her.
Aside from that, it wasn't too bad a night. I was just glad when it was over.
****************************************
Taking my daughter for her drivers test today, hope she passes, as I'd like to get this over with, so she can start driving her own ass around and stop interrupting mine.
Apart from that, there are Halloween decorations to be taken down, meals to cook, laundry to do, a spare room to organize again so I can get the spare tv back into it (it resides outside in the summer, so we can watch whatever sport hubby wants to watch while we are outside..blllllththhh.....then there's the laundry which never seems to end, and dishes, vacuum needs run again, endless things that always seem to mean that those projects I want to do don't get done.
Maybe daughter dearest getting her license will allow me some of that time, hmmmm?
And a stress free weekend would be nice, once in a while, too. I"m pretty sure that if I don't soon get some time to myself FOR myself, I'm going to explode.
Oh, well. So it goes.
The only problem I had with anyone was the trouble making blowsy blonde pregnant thing with the attitude that lives around the corner....her kids took off ahead of her, and she showed up 5 minutes later with another trashy mom, towing a wagon with two babies in it who probably had 3 teeth between them. All I got from her was a bag shoved in my face with the snarled remark that ' this is for the baby in the wagon', so, I dropped one box of candy in the bag, said happy halloween, and went on with life. My son, who was sitting outside with me at the time, thought that punching her in the face would be a good idea.
Personally, I absolutely hate it when idiots drag toothless babies out trick or treating, and haul bags around pretending that the candy they collect if for the baby. Who do they think they are kidding? We all know that baby is not getting that candy, it's just some parents 'legitimate' form of begging for themselves. As for blonde bimbo with four kids and one on the way....I wasn't surprised, as I didn't expect any better behavior from her.
Aside from that, it wasn't too bad a night. I was just glad when it was over.
****************************************
Taking my daughter for her drivers test today, hope she passes, as I'd like to get this over with, so she can start driving her own ass around and stop interrupting mine.
Apart from that, there are Halloween decorations to be taken down, meals to cook, laundry to do, a spare room to organize again so I can get the spare tv back into it (it resides outside in the summer, so we can watch whatever sport hubby wants to watch while we are outside..blllllththhh.....then there's the laundry which never seems to end, and dishes, vacuum needs run again, endless things that always seem to mean that those projects I want to do don't get done.
Maybe daughter dearest getting her license will allow me some of that time, hmmmm?
And a stress free weekend would be nice, once in a while, too. I"m pretty sure that if I don't soon get some time to myself FOR myself, I'm going to explode.
Oh, well. So it goes.
Um... a correction to yesterday's blog....the article I cited was well written, and I had no complaint with the author or the article. My complaint was to a post about that article. My apologies to the Root and the author of the article. Thumbs down to the post, however.
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Hoping for a fairly quiet weeks, even with Halloween on Friday. Did get the Halloween spirit on Saturday, and got the yard decorated. Rather creatively, I may say. Since we had pulled out the shrubs that lined the front porch (blighted, and needed to go) there are just blank bricks there, so, my daughter found some old pieces of greyed, ugly lattice , and we set that up against the porch to frame the 'pumpkin patch' I create every year with a variety of plastic, painted wood, and real pumpkins. Shane also found some old dead branches, and we used those to add some dimension, strung some orange lights, spread some leaves, and it looks like it's been there forever. Just needs the pumpkins, which won't be put out till Friday. The grandkids found the tiny orange pumpkins, and remembered I used to hang them in the bushes, so, without being told, they hung them on the dead branches. Good Kids!
The shepherd hook plant holders do double duty for Halloween, being put in the yard to hold the Grim Reaper and various signs. I covered them with cheap garland leaves and berries, too, and they are pretty spooky, according to my friends 2 yr old granddaughter. She seemed to love it all.
From there, there's the 'haunted house, which is my front porch, and is hung with various dead things, skeletons and skulls. Cross the walk to the porch, and you are in the 'cemetary'. There is a post in the yard that holds various small skeletons,skulls, pumkins and other small scary trinkets, and my daughter named it the voodoo post, it brings the decorations out some, from the house. Tombstones are all handmade, just old bits of wood and some paint, but being placed around the lilac which has various bits of old skeletons hanging in it, and after stringing everything with spiderwebbing, all in all, it doesn't look too shabby....well, it doesn't look like walmart purged itself of every inflatable, cutesy decoration there is, anyway. (I've had several neighbors stop and ask when we were going to decorate, so I guess we do a good job.
LOL...I am amused that while asking me that, they are usually grinning and scowling at the Halloween mess just down the street. Just a word, people. If you are going to decorate for Halloween, (or Christmas, or any other holiday, either have a plan, or keep it simple. Don't just put stuff out and consider it spooky. I love this holiday, and I put a little effort into making it look good for the kids. Not a lot of money spent, most stuff is homemade, but in a 40x15 ft area, I have 3 separate scenes that have evolved over the years. Most stuff fits in one small box, and the wooden tombstones get stored in the loft of the garage the rest of the year. So, it doesn't take much to decorate, just a little planning.
Some of the best houses I've seen decorated have simple arrangements. One of my favorites is the tree of simple ghosts,(just a styrofoam ball covered with cheesecloth) hung in a circle around a small tree, all ghosts 'holding hands'. Simple, yet creative, and very different.
My goal is to provide a bit of 'spooky' for the evening trick or treaters. I recall being a kid, and loving the feeling the decorations gave to a house, and the scarier the better, but not so scary a 3 yr old is going to run from it. And, since I have the room, why not make it a little more special?
As for my own grandkids, we have told them that the scary stuff is to keep the boogeymen and ghosts away from the house on that night, and they seem okay with it, especially since they got to help put it all together.
Oh, and Dylan....that color changing blob that, years ago you insisted lives in my garage, the one we eventually had to tell you was there to protect the house and your house, too, so that you would sleep at night?....it's still there, waiting to be handed down to a new group of kids on future Halloweens, although now the 5 yr old calls it the 'fairy queen', and makes sure to say hello almost every day.
Thanks for starting a wonderful little tradition that we all recall and still enjoy!
Since the holiday is on a weekend this year, we are pretty much planning a laid back holiday that will last all weekend. Meals will pretty much be simple, based on autumns harvest, and probably sit around watching scary movies all weekend, too. Friends more than welcome to come join in!
****************************************
Hoping for a fairly quiet weeks, even with Halloween on Friday. Did get the Halloween spirit on Saturday, and got the yard decorated. Rather creatively, I may say. Since we had pulled out the shrubs that lined the front porch (blighted, and needed to go) there are just blank bricks there, so, my daughter found some old pieces of greyed, ugly lattice , and we set that up against the porch to frame the 'pumpkin patch' I create every year with a variety of plastic, painted wood, and real pumpkins. Shane also found some old dead branches, and we used those to add some dimension, strung some orange lights, spread some leaves, and it looks like it's been there forever. Just needs the pumpkins, which won't be put out till Friday. The grandkids found the tiny orange pumpkins, and remembered I used to hang them in the bushes, so, without being told, they hung them on the dead branches. Good Kids!
The shepherd hook plant holders do double duty for Halloween, being put in the yard to hold the Grim Reaper and various signs. I covered them with cheap garland leaves and berries, too, and they are pretty spooky, according to my friends 2 yr old granddaughter. She seemed to love it all.
From there, there's the 'haunted house, which is my front porch, and is hung with various dead things, skeletons and skulls. Cross the walk to the porch, and you are in the 'cemetary'. There is a post in the yard that holds various small skeletons,skulls, pumkins and other small scary trinkets, and my daughter named it the voodoo post, it brings the decorations out some, from the house. Tombstones are all handmade, just old bits of wood and some paint, but being placed around the lilac which has various bits of old skeletons hanging in it, and after stringing everything with spiderwebbing, all in all, it doesn't look too shabby....well, it doesn't look like walmart purged itself of every inflatable, cutesy decoration there is, anyway. (I've had several neighbors stop and ask when we were going to decorate, so I guess we do a good job.
LOL...I am amused that while asking me that, they are usually grinning and scowling at the Halloween mess just down the street. Just a word, people. If you are going to decorate for Halloween, (or Christmas, or any other holiday, either have a plan, or keep it simple. Don't just put stuff out and consider it spooky. I love this holiday, and I put a little effort into making it look good for the kids. Not a lot of money spent, most stuff is homemade, but in a 40x15 ft area, I have 3 separate scenes that have evolved over the years. Most stuff fits in one small box, and the wooden tombstones get stored in the loft of the garage the rest of the year. So, it doesn't take much to decorate, just a little planning.
Some of the best houses I've seen decorated have simple arrangements. One of my favorites is the tree of simple ghosts,(just a styrofoam ball covered with cheesecloth) hung in a circle around a small tree, all ghosts 'holding hands'. Simple, yet creative, and very different.
My goal is to provide a bit of 'spooky' for the evening trick or treaters. I recall being a kid, and loving the feeling the decorations gave to a house, and the scarier the better, but not so scary a 3 yr old is going to run from it. And, since I have the room, why not make it a little more special?
As for my own grandkids, we have told them that the scary stuff is to keep the boogeymen and ghosts away from the house on that night, and they seem okay with it, especially since they got to help put it all together.
Oh, and Dylan....that color changing blob that, years ago you insisted lives in my garage, the one we eventually had to tell you was there to protect the house and your house, too, so that you would sleep at night?....it's still there, waiting to be handed down to a new group of kids on future Halloweens, although now the 5 yr old calls it the 'fairy queen', and makes sure to say hello almost every day.
Thanks for starting a wonderful little tradition that we all recall and still enjoy!
Since the holiday is on a weekend this year, we are pretty much planning a laid back holiday that will last all weekend. Meals will pretty much be simple, based on autumns harvest, and probably sit around watching scary movies all weekend, too. Friends more than welcome to come join in!
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