It's been a while since I've written anything on this thing, for several reasons. The first being I didn't have anything to say. The second, because I didn't feel like doing anything remotely linked with the word, work.

Today however I had a thought about something a friend spoke about. So here I am thinking on screen as opposed to on paper or in my mind. Sometimes I think it's good to see your words in print. For some reason it makes them seem real and worthy of the attention of yourself, and maybe others.

My friend saw a news story about some young people who were arrested for vandalism in her community. One of the folks arrested was a student from our Alma Mater. She asked if I thought she should contact the young woman, since she is a student at our college. My immediate reaction was, "Sure". But then thought better of that.

After reflection, I decided to read the news article and watch the surveillance video of the alleged event. My gut was saying one thing, but I wasn't sure if I was correct or not. My gut has a habit of putting the cabash on things, and it's usually correct.

The article spoke about the amount of damage done to businesses and vehicles parked along the sides of the down town area. There were 11 arrests. Most of the charges were misdemeanors but there were 3 pending felony charges. I don't know if the felony charges will hold, but who knows in this day and age.

The video clearly shows the group traveling through the down town area, throwing things through windows and generally wrecking things in their wake. Supposedly they were yelling unintelligible things as well, but there was no sound on the video.

This was supposed to be some sort of action for May Day. Although, I'm not sure what was being protested, nor, did it seem, did anyone else know.

What I did see was a bunch of people, dressed in black, under cover of darkness doing some stupid things to the property of others. If I had been a person in the vicinity of this "mob" I would have been frightened.

My question is this, if you want to protest something, why not do it when people are around and the sun is shining so everyone can see and hear your protest. Why do you have to be "Ninja Protesters" if that's what you're doing?

These weren't kids either. Most were college students in their 20's. I protested things when I was a college student as well, but not in the dark, wearing dark clothes so no one could see me. I also carried signs that explained my position and it was in the daytime so people could read what I was pissed about.

My friend wanted to reach out and contact this young woman who was a student of our former Alma Mater. She felt she wanted her to know there were friends in the area. I did not agree after viewing the video and reading the article. I think the girl was part and parcel of a bunch of rich kids without enough to do. I don't give them anything but disgust at their behavior.

As I stated before, if you want to protest something, do it in the daytime. This is vandalism and vandalism alone. There was nothing to protest by them, but there sure was a lot to protest from the folks who's property they damaged. Let's get things into perspective.

Let's Make a Deal

Have you purchased a new mattress lately? I haven't, but I have to get a new one now. I think it's time. I'm getting tired of wrapping the broken spring that's sticking out of the side of the mattress with duct tape. Now don't get me wrong, the duct tape works, and it sort of matches the duvet cover I have on the bed...However, this morning I scraped along the side of the bed and felt my skin tear as I hit the broken spring. I looked down and sure enough there was blood...It's time to do something about it...

Whenever I buy something new I do research to find out about the purchase I'm about to buy. Mattresses used to be pretty east to buy. You went into a furniture store and the salesman showed you two or three sets, you laid on top of them and said, "OK I'll take this one". You gave him your money and the thing was delivered in a couple of days. There weren't many kinds to choose from. There was usually the manufacturer, Sealy and some unknown name. The Sealy was more expensive, but then they also had the word, "Posturpedic" attached to the name. There were no choices of color, style or any other of the myriad things there seems to be today. Who knew you had to get a PhD in "mattress-ology" to purchase one today, but it seems you do.

I had an idea of what I felt was a fair price. I knew I needed a firm mattress and I thought it would be a piece of cake to get a mattress that would fit my needs. Not that easy, I found out...

Armed with my notebook, pens, sticky notes and an assortment of flyer's, I walked into the first "mattress store". Walking into a store that specialized in mattresses only was my first mistake. I almost fainted when I saw the prices on the mattresses in the front of the store. I first one I saw had a "sale" price of $2,600.00. That was just the mattress. That price did not include the box spring, sorry, I meant to say, "foundation". (apparently I showed my ignorance by calling the box thing that goes under the mattress something that only idiots call by the name of "box spring". So shoot me?!?)

Honestly, I had a rough time speaking to this guy, my eyes were still glued to the price on the sticker. I had to ask the guy what could possibly make this mattress worth so much money. He laughed as he "educated" me in the finer points of mattresses...

Little did I know that mattresses were based on the number of "coils", whether or not the "coils" were wrapped or not, the "loft" of the fabric, and the foam content. That was just the beginning of the education. Who knew? I thought my research was pretty complete when I walked into the store, but I was sorely mistaken.

The gentleman was very patient with me as I asked questions I thought were pertinent to the purchase of this big rectangular thing made of cotton, foam and metal springs. I mean honestly, the bottom line is they're all made with the same materials, it's just how they're put together and what name is one the top that makes the price. Oh, and of course, how much money the company has spent on marketing the product. I think the reality is, that's why some are so much more expensive, they are marketed to the hilt, so someone has to pay the advertising costs.

By the time I left the stores that first adventure into "mattress-land", I was thoroughly discouraged. I had laid on about 25 mattresses, fell asleep on 1 of them, (the salesman let me rest to see how I liked it. He came back a few minutes later to wake me up, I was snoring so loud the other sales man couldn't hear his customer on the phone. I think that's the mattress I should have bought that day, but true to my way of shopping I had to check a few other places).

I went home with enough paperwork, flyer's and salesman's business cards to wallpaper my bathroom. I arranged all the paperwork and by process of elimination I narrowed my choices down to two sets, from the same store.

A couple of weeks went by, it was time to jump in and buy the mattress. I went to the store, grabbed the salesman, said, "I was here a couple weeks ago. You gave me some information, I'm now here to buy this mattress". He looked at me and said, "Oh right, the lady who fell asleep..." . I sort of wished he'd have remembered my red hair or some thing other than the fact that I snored so loud I had the whole freaking store laughing....but alas, it was not to be. He did remember me, I guess that was what counted.

Of course the mattress I wanted was out of stock now, so I was back to square one. The salesman was really cool about it. He found a similar mattress gave me a "Breathe-Rite Strip" ( you know the things you put on your nose to stop you from snoring?) and said he's come back to see how I liked this one.

I wasn't sure if I should be offended or not. I did think it was thoughtful he had one of the no-snore strips, but on the other hand I wondered if I had set some kind of precedent in the store....

Why?

This is a plea to ask folks if it's just me, or am I one of thousands?

Right now I'm fit to be tied. My stomach is in knots and I took a "happy" pill to calm my nerves....I think I'm an intelligent woman but I just don't understand men. I've lived with one most of my life, between my Dad and now my husband of 43 years.....I should know all about the species, but I don't.

What I'm alluding to is the fact that the one I'm married to won't stand up and say something if anyone if he's unhappy about something. Oh...he'll say something to me about it, but confrontation between him and the person he should be talking to doesn't happen.....Instead he acts as though everything is fine and life is great...With a little laugh and a smile.

What's that all about? Now, if I was analyzing this, I would have to say this is a man who has kept his true feelings inside all his life. I would point out that life for him is in two houses. One house has the man who everyone sees, good natured, happy, friendly, an all round good guy. He doesn 't make any waves as he goes about his daily business. Never would anyone think he was anything but what his facade shows.

Now, in the other house lives a man who is angry. He's angry at everything and anything. He sits in his chair yelling at the TV. He slams papers down in frustration. He looks at the neighbors houses and says they're all a bunch of idiots and wishes they would die. Just their presence in the neighborhood makes him angry. He loves movies but won't go to them because he hates all the people that attend the movie. He finds something wrong in the house, usually something that has been remodeled or changed in some way, and he seethes on the problem until he can't speak about it at all. He badgers me to "call those people and get them here to fix this". When I do, and they come, he won't come out of his room to speak to them. When I ask if he wants to talk to them he says, "Why, I can't say anything that you haven't already said." He then calls me and tells me to ask questions of the guys repairing the stuff. I tell him he should ask the questions himself and he gives me looks that would melt glaciers.

When the repair guys leave, he's all over the repairs, usually not happy about the repairs. Then the yelling starts about, "Today's shoddy workmanship, the young workers who don't know jack shit (by the way, what's "jackshit?")" and the fact that he feels he's been personally screwed.

When I read Dennis the Menace in the newspapers I think Mr. Wilson and my husband have much in common. I've taken on the role of the ever understanding Mrs. Wilson who tolerates the miserable curmudgeon Mr. Wilson with a smile and a "yes, Dear".

If I understand this behavior correctly, I think it's just a way to express emotions. It's not to be taken with great seriousness. I think my job is to nod my head up and down and say, "Yes, Dear", then go on my way smiling.

I've learned over the years not to take on the attitude and moods of others, so I don't. The problem with that is, I get told I'm unfeeling and cold. So be it.

I come from a long line of folks who call a spade a spade. We don't gloss over things and try to make people "like us" by saying what they want to hear. I tell it as I see it, for better or worse.

Most of the time what I see from this man is a person who will not confront anyone mildly. His idea of confrontation must take on the form of fighting, arguing, anger and frustration. He loses his temper because he stuffs his feelings in all the time, then explodes. No one but me sees that side. Although, lately others have seen cracks in the veneer, so they know he's not all sugar and smiles.


We'll see what's to happen in the next year or so....things are not pretty right now and I'm getting very tired.......

Oh well...just another bother.....

Snake Oil and Charms

If you're alive, a woman, and of a certain age you've been to a craft fair....The ones that are supposed to be the best are the ones advertised as, "Juried" shows. Down here in "God's Waiting Room" (Gulf Coast of Florida) there are tons of these shows. Most of them are the same vendors going from city to city with their little tents and canopies selling their wares to the same people that have seen the same ^%$# before at the other fairs they've gone to down here...But...sometimes you get a bit surprised, that happened today.

The town we stay in was blown off the face of the Earth several years ago with Hurricane Charlie. You can still see signs of damage and the place isn't back to normal yet. The damage was extensive and they lost many of the tourist trap places that brought folks to the area each winter. Consequently, they try all sorts of things to promote the City. There are art shows, wine tastings, evening walk abouts, Arts and culture events (not much art and the culture? well I'm sure they're trying.....). This is the second year they've sponsored a "juried" arts and crafts fair.

Everything here starts in the morning. I guess the old folks like to go and get home before lunch so they can eat, take their naps, have some cocktails, eat dinner, go to bed, then do the same thing again the next day...that is if they haven't gotten killed in a car wreck in the meantime....

I decided to see what this thing was all about. I went alone, because Larry would rather watch paint dry than walk around looking at crafty things. The weather down here has been windy and cold, I knew the place would be quiet. It was. I was the only "live" shopper at the time I arrived. Oh, there were other people there, but I'm not sure they were really "alive".

There were the usual things to see, but there were some very different things as well. A pleasant surprise. I was approached by a woman who dragged me to her booth to look at her wares. She was selling, selling hard mind you, some kind of lotions she guaranteed I would look 20 years younger if I used them...hmmm...snake oil??hmmm...

I let her go through her speech and watched as she smoothed on this lotion stuff on the back on one hand. She spoke to me the whole time she massaged my hand. After about 5 minuted I looked at my hand and it was devoid of all wrinkles and spots....The other hand looked like my grandmother's hand...What could I do? I had to buy the stuff so both my hands looked as thought they came on the same person.....I spent $25.00 on this stuff and ran like Hell away from her before she could get me into her spell again.....

I ran from "snake oil lady" directly into "gadget man". This guy had me mesmerized in 10 seconds flat....He was pushing some kind of grater-scraper thing and a bunch of other "must have" gadgets. Luckily he wasn't as persuasive as "snake oil lady" I only bought one thing from him.....

By that time I was lighter by about $60. and figured I had to make a bee line to my car before I started to turn out my pockets and give them lint....One last person got hold of me and sold me a tee shirt, that said "Group Therapy" it had pictures of my favorite cocktails on the front and a tiny little Martini glass on the back..How could I walk away from that?

All the stuff is in my suitcase...Larry will never know...

The Waiting Room

I'm down here in "God's Waiting Room" on the west coast of Florida. I swear each year when I come down here I think it'll be the last...Not that I'm planning on kicking off, but I'm sure I'm going to be killed by some old, really old, shouldn't be driving old, person behind the wheel of a car they can barely see over.....honest.

Coming down here gets us out of the worst part of the winter in the north, but this year I think we brought it with us.... We've seen some pretty odd get-ups on the folks walking around trying to stay warm. The folks at the Goodwill have people coming in there asking if they can "rent" warm clothing. They don't want to buy, just rent....

One lady walking around the Farmer's Market in Punta Gorda had on a ?fur? coat...Now I have to tell you, if I was to guess as to what kind of fur it was I'd have to say, something that should have kept it's coat because it was really bad looking. I followed her around, not so she'd think I was a stalker but long enough to see that the thing she had on her body was a cloth coat (with moth holes) and a fur thing over the top of the coat...It was a black background and the fur stuff was white, gray and black.

As she walked she left a wake of fur balls and strands of something that didn't look natural. Now honestly I'm not being catty, there were other folks looking at her as well. When I got closer to her I noticed she was very old. I'm thinking the coat thing was probably something she got as a present....when she was living in an Igloo in Iceland.

Most of the folks are smart enough to wear layers of clothing and understand the weather is a bit erratic this year. Other folk though, I'm sure they have no idea what they look like when they leave their homes.....

Water, water everywhere...but not a drop to drink!!

Anger Management

The title is "Anger Management". That's what this blog is about, anger management. Thank God I have somewhere to vent, yell and generally rant about things that are getting to me....

Again, it's the news. I stopped watching the news when I found myself yelling like Archie Bunker at the anchors who were reading the news articles. I intellectually understand that they are the mouths of the writers, but it's kill the messenger as far as I'm concerned.

Tonight was a prime example of why I don't purposely watch the (expletive deleted) news......As I walked by the TV I heard another story that immediately sent my blood to boiling levels. It seems that someone has defaulted on their home mortgage payments and the bank is trying to foreclose. However, some financial blood sucker has given the homeowners perhaps a round about way to get some of the money they owe from the Feds...(that's you and me...if you didn't realize it....)(not that these folks were ever really the homeowners -the bank gave them the money to live in the house with a contract that clearly stated..."I promise to pay the money back with the interest you are asking for"...got it?).

Here's the deal....The people that bought something that ended up being more than they could pay for, can try to get the Feds to go to bat for them to get the bank to reduce the principal on the mortgage. Then the bank can refinance the new amount to reduce the mortgage payment. The bank can then file for some kind of payment from the Feds (you and me....) to get some, if not all, of the loss they are taking by allowing the principal to be reduced. The bank won't be out so much money, the original mortgagee gets a reduction and we (the tax payer) get the shaft.

What really gets to me about this kind of thing is, some people think this is a great solution to the ongoing mortgage defaulting problem. How is it great? Someone has to pay, and so many folks think the Feds will be paying for this, and they're right....but the Feds need money to do that and guess who gets the tab??? Better start looking around for a second or third job, you need to find some extra money to give to the Feds so they have enough to give to the banks. Oh wait, I have a better idea....

Here's what we all have to do.....Starting tomorrow, all of us need to open a bank account and put money in it....I don't care if you have to sell your blood to get the money....or maybe a kidney...whatever it takes....Then people that can't afford to pay for their house, even though they agreed contractually to pay for it, can forget the middle man and call you or me up and tell us to send them the money we put in the account....Just think how much easier that would be for everyone....

Here's another idea....since social security is not giving seniors a cost of living increase for this year (or next, for that matter) but the Congress got a small raise (hmmm...sounds a bit skewed...or is it just me.....) there must be masses of money sitting in a "slush fund" down there in Washington waiting for someone to ask for "help" to pay the bill they "contracted" to pay....

Don't be telling me that there are masses of Greedy Geezers out there just waiting for a handout from the Feds. I see more of the type that need every dollar they get from the Feds in the form of monthly social security payments to stay alive.

For that matter, I'd be satisfied if the Congress got the same retirement bennies that most of us not in politics get. I want them on Social Security, Medicare, and all the other fantastic, "make us wealthy" (not) systems that most of us are on right now. Yes, I know there are some Seniors out here that are making money from their investments and don't need the benefits from the Feds that everyone else clearly needs, but the system doesn't, and never did, exclude people because they made too much money.

I get angry with this kind of thing I hear on the news because we live in a house that we own. We started out with nothing, worked like horses, saved money on things and didn't live above our means. We paid the mortgage off early because we made sacrifices that I don't see people today willing to make. Our kids learned what it meant to earn money to have things they wanted. They weren't given things, we all earned what we had. We didn't have credit cards, consequently we didn't have an over abundance of "stuff".

The folks in the news report were living in a house that I'd love to have, but I can't afford that kind of house, nor could I ever afford that kind of house. The reality is, if you can't afford to pay for something, you shouldn't have it.

I remember when I was a kid thinking, "If ever I get to the end of the week and there's $20 left in my wallet, then I'll know I'm wealthy". Now, I'd have to say there has to be a bunch of $100's. The problem is, I don't have any cash in my wallet, I have credit cards...but I pay them off every month.....

I know there are lots of folks out there that must use the credit cards to get through to the next paycheck, but I wonder how many of those same folks would be willing to write down every cent they spend every day for two weeks, to see where they could tighten up a bit. It's way too easy to use the plastic, and it becomes a habit for all of us.

I now know I'm old...I'm talking like my parents did and other older folks I listened to as a kid growing up. I used to think they were nuts and didn't know what it was like to live in the "real world", but now I realize that it was me who didn't know what the real world was, and didn't find out until I was old, like them.

oh well......