Anger Break

I've been on a bit of an "Anger Break". You see, it seems that everything ticks me off, and I just haven't been able to get past it. This year, one of those resolution thingy's was too be more positive. I've read a little of the Oprah thing, something about the laws of attraction. In my mind, it seems there are some people who are just genuinely happy all of the time, no matter what, they are positive and have kind words. I love/hate those people. I love that they are like that, I hate that I'm not more like that. Some of those people, I'm convinced are just too dumb to realize they should not be happy about their "circumstances".

Here's the short list on what has contributed to my "Anger Break"

Retailers selling crappy stuff: It seems like over the past couple of years, we buy a product and it just doesn't last. The TV I bought for my parents about 4 years ago, it quit working about 2 years ago. Only, it didn't completely quit working, just the remote control. Easy fix, right? You just get one of those universal gizmos and you're back in business. WRONG. We've tried universals, exact replacements, etc. NO LUCK. Apparently, the company manufactured that model to sell at the retailer for a "great deal", and used less than the best parts. So, I bought the replacement part that goes in the TV, but my dad's not brave enough to fix it. Two years pass, I don't know that he can even find the part anymore. Call a repair man? Of course, we thought of that 2 years ago. We had 2 tell us it would be cheaper to replace the TV than repair it. GO FIGURE. (Now my parents are waiting for this DTV thing...don't get me started.) We bought a weed-whacker. Guess what, we now found out it was manufactured for a retailer. (That would be Sears and Home Depot that we no longer shop at.) The starter went out on the weed whacker about 18 months after the purchase date. Good news: 3 year warranty. Bad news: warranty specifically doesn't include starters.

1995 Cadillac: Great deal a couple of years ago. We got the car for well under blue book. It was in excellent condition, only 50K miles -- truly one of those grandma cars that spent most of it's time parked in a cozy garage. The darn car hasn't been in use for almost a month now. The mechanic claims to have driven it with no problem. Of course, he only put 55 miles on it and used a half tank of gas -- about 8 gallons. Do the math...6.875 miles per gallon. That would tell me, there is a problem. My real problem, I got on the freeway and again lost complete power. Then it took over an hour to get home, about 4 miles, because I could not keep the car running. It just dies with no warning, no sputtering, you just realize, no power steering, oh, wait, that's no POWER. I'm mad at the car, the deal, the fact that I got rid of my little truck -- which I LOVED; the mechanic, and us. We have not had a free moment this week to take it back to the mechanic, or find another one -- mechanic that is.

Gas, fuel, cooking oil prices: Who isn't mad at this? Well, having my income rely on the "trucking" industry makes me mad. Until we either use resources in our back yard, or can tele-transport (or whatever it's called) we will have to truck products from place to place. It's ridiculous that we rely on the truck to take such a hit when the cost of transportation increases at an astounding rate. Did you know diesel is a bi-product of gasoline? So why is diesel so much more expensive than fuel??? We have all seen the cost of food rise -- I cannot believe how expensive cooking oil seems to be...did I just always get it on sale? It's a sign, don't eat things that require cooking oil.

Dishonesty: I grew up with honest, hard working parents. I thought lying was something you did when you said you were "up" in the morning. (Yes, in my house, my mom got me up...it took her about an hour...not something I'm proud of. God, please help me if I ever have a child...it's not going to be pretty.) Today it seems people are so dishonest. I have an incredibly hard time having repair men fix things (or find the problem). It's almost like honesty is something of the past. In my life, it's like, I have to ask myself, "How long before I find out the truth, because I know you're lying to me?" At least in my world. What do you do when it's your family that is being dishonest? How do you look past that? How do you forgive people? How do you know if it's you that need to be forgiven? I could go on, and on, and on...Forgiveness...another post all on it's own...(Thank goodness my parents are still honest, except of course their "senior" moments, but I don't hold that against them.)

Family Reunion: Yep, it was that time of year. Our annual family reunion. Growing up, I had two -- my mom's family and my dad's family. Some time, either high school or college, I'm not sure, someone ran off with the "Kitty" of money used to pay for the next family reunion on my dad's side. So, we're down to one. This year, we drove 120 miles to sit in a building that had to be 85 stuffy degrees. (Yes, we pay for a building, but the owners did not feel the need to turn on the AC this year.) What's more, is that due to "family feuds" over the years, I don't know if I should talk to some of the people there or not! I mean, really, can you imagine, wondering, should I go say "hello" to Cousin Jerry*, I think he's still angry that my grandfather bought out his father's property. True story. I've got no hard feelings. But hey, my grandparents owned the property. But, I can honestly say that I feel some of those people do not want anything to do with me. Maybe it's things my parents have said to them, or things my parents have said to me. But, really, it's not worth my time (or money spent in gas to get there). Yep, next year, first Sunday of August, I know where I will NOT be.


Sadly, my anger list is much longer than these 5 points. But, who wants to spend time dwelling on the little points. I'm sure that if I had a dependable car to drive, I'd do what many women do -- I'd go shopping! I'd get ice cream! I'd do anything but stay in my house and stew. It's like I'm a pot of stew, sometimes I even bubble over. I just hope, once I'm done, I'm tasty! :)