Warped Gratitude Blog

  Today I am thankful for stories; they are often the easiest teaching tool.  The other day I had an interesting conversation with a social worker.  She complained that one of her patients was stuck at a certain year -  let's say... 2008.  This man talks about 2008 constantly.  He shares photos of 2008 and letters of 2008.  I asked her, what happened that year?  Well, three members of his family died.  His best friend died in front of his eyes.  His spouse died.  He lost his home.   The man was wealthy.   Sadly, the evil eye is real.  Covetousness is real.  The U.S. justice system enables abusive lawyers to swoop in and take control of the wealth of well-to-do elders.  There were fights over his assets**.   The lawyers threw him out of his numerous homes.  The man was then homeless while everything went through probate and the relatives fought over the estate.   His wealth started to drain away.  He rarely has food.  Sadly, this is something I've seen numerous times through the

 Today I am thankful for a laugh.  It didn't start out funny.  My aunt visits once a week to use the washer and dryer.   My new dryer broke just a few days out of warranty so we dried her clothes outside. While standing outside, she took me aside an said "I don't want to alarm you, but....." then she got silent.  I pointed at the shed.  "Are you worried about all the stuff pulled out of the shed?", I asked.  "Yes.", she replied.  "That happens all the time!"   She advised me to chain the door.  I've done that.  The thief just tears the roof off.  It's easier just to keep crap in it I don't care about so the thief can rummage and take what he or she wants.  Again, I was advised to consider moving, especially after finding a full gas can in the mess.  My aunt is afraid my ex-husband is going to kill me.  I've been court-ordered to live here for another two years.  Sigh.... I'm sure a judge would allow me to move if I ask

  Today I am thankful for ...  Well, I'm not sure yet.  It's Friday but I'm in school so there is no such thing as a weekend.  I think I'm suffering from a broken heart -  or I'm gonna have a heart attack.  This week sucked.  It started on my birthday. I took the day off of work to clean up the house because workplace birthdays are AWKWARD.  They'll ask how old I am -and- I'll relate the memory of dirt being created.  Not fun... So I decided to stay home and clean.  Much of the mess belonged to one of my adult daughters.  It was irritating.  When she got home, I wanted to buy dinner for everyone.  We discussed Chinese Food as a birthday dinner.  No one wanted to go to a restaurant so I offered to take everyone's orders and drive to pick it up.  No one...not one of the three kids living here wanted to tell me what they wanted or help me pick it up.  My feelings were hurt. It was my birthday but it was the same old thing.  I was to do everything, even mana

  Today I am thankful for valerian-infused Vodka.  For years, I've had creepy dreams of an old,  old,  old, old,  old,  I think there needs to be one more... old... boyfriend.  The dreams are either of him dying gruesome deaths  or ruining our lives.  The dreams creep me out to the point I scream his name.  The screaming the name makes it hard for me to be in an intimate relationship.  So -  I have a huge house to myself  and a whole slew of lies I tell if someone is here and happens to hear me scream out that infernal name.  My favorite line is:  "I dreamt I was Getty Lee singing...." Modern Day Warrior,  mean,   mean,   stride... No one buys the lie, ever.  I thought it would be okay if I fell in love with a guy with that name.  It's never happened.  There is a beautiful man named Tim, though.  We had so very much in common; we both studied music, played numerous instruments, loved helping the homeless, we had a penchant for being in the public eye -  but he is a le

  Today I am thankful for the reminder that we are responsible for our own safety.  So... I had to take a kiddo to a doctor's appointment.  Sadly, I have a tendency to get lost (so don't ask me for directions or you'll accidentally discover new places, too) I wound up driving past Micro Center.  My kiddo was thirsty.  I pull over into the 7-11 to get her a Slurpee, myself a coffee, and a fancy coffee for Hermes.  It's Wednesday after all. I need to be better about honoring my deities as I'm pretty sure I irritated him a couple of months ago.* We get our loot, hop back into the car, and hit the road.  The moment I hit Quincy, I saw a fire in the middle of the road.  Seriously.....someone had dumped a bunch of hot coals near a bunch of overgrown, dried grass in the median.  By the time I made it near the fire, it grew a little larger.  I asked my kiddo to dial 911.  THEY HAD AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM WHICH PUT HER ON HOLD!  She was on hold for a couple of minutes before I a

  Today I am thankful that I have a dog and a camera system.  I'm just saddened that I let the batteries die in my camera after I broke my ankle so I didn't get a picture of the perp.  I came home Thursday, went out into the garage, and noticed a chair under the garage door opener with several feet of wire around the chair.  I initially thought they were pulled off of the walls.  I don't remember having wires on the wall but to be honest, I don't pay attention.  My tools were all over the place.  Baskets were moved.  No one can get into the house.  I still brace my doors with metal rods.  I learned my lesson after I caught Mike's sister breaking into the house.  Still....someone managed to get into the garage.  Sigh... Today I'm babysitting.  The young adults living here took the kiddo out to walk the dog.  I left to pick up the kiddo's favorite pizza.  When I came back, there were several feet of thick wire threaded through the top of the garage door.  Damn