In his speech today, Pres. Obama said “But if we continue to make decisions within a climate of fear, we will make more mistakes.” I agree. Was he talking about Tarp 1, the Stimulus Bill, or the coming to soon Healthcare reform?
Archive for May, 2009
Shopping for a Car on Craigslist Again
Posted by madjillmom on May 20, 2009
Yesterday, at the urging of one of my sons, we spent 6 hours of quality time driving to Austin to see 4 cars we were considering buying. In an earlier post, I wrote of my disappointment with some of the ways Craigslist works. I have already been the victim of fraud attempts that I didn’t fall for, but could see how someone might.
Armed with the printouts of the cars we were interested in, having made phone calls to each of the people/lots selling the cars, off we went. The first place we went was in a barrio section of town. We were greeted with a different car than what we wanted to see and my son wouldn’t walk to the corner of the clutterd car yard to see the one advertised. A curious man flung chicken bones at a dog and almost growled at my son. These people put the extensive ad on Craigslist, yet seemed surprise when we showed up. Even if the car was right, I don’t know how we could have test driven it as there was an unworking portion of a car in front of it, so we didn’t.
Next we met a man in a nearby parking lot. The ad said “some hail damage”. It looked like it had been in a war. He drove with the windows down, so I don’t think the A/C worked even the they said it did. On to the next one. This one was in a better part of town, or at least across the street from a better part of town. This one looked good, but didn’t drive well. Then to the next one, another yard littered with cars working and not, but not the car we drove 90 miles to see.
All in all, it was a terrible bust. If it isn’t sexual services on Craigslist, I think I would think twice about anything on it. I do know some people who sold their car on Craigslist. They must have been the only honest car sellers on there.
Posted in Make Yourself Heard, Strange Things | 1 Comment »
I am a Failure as a Mother
Posted by madjillmom on May 20, 2009
I have decided at this moment that I am a failure as a mother. Or I am bucking some genetic thing that just can’t be civilized. I just spent some time trying to find Dave Barry’s column on “Male Genetic Dirt Blindness”. It was a fabulously funny column about the difference between men and women in recognizing the dirt that exists around us and then cleaning up the dirt. MGDB does seem to exist. At least in my home.
Please note that I have 3 sons (two 19 tomorrow, one 21), a husband, two dogs, and a cat. I have had a broken ankle for almost 5 weeks now and am getting around ok, but sore doing it. The house has suffered during my stint with broken bone. My husband is 95% better than most others, but he can’t work 40 hours a week, cook, and clean. So today is the day I am trying to get help with cleaning the house. One of my son’s girlfriends is bringing a friend to visit for a few days, so this is the excuse. I would like to make a good impression and the level of the house filth has exceeded my tolerance level. This creates a bit of fireworks around here. I ask or scream at someone to do something, they say they will, then they might do do it about as half-assed as can be done. They really do not see the need. If the boy that is having the visitors sees the need, his twin doesn’t. This is all a great frustration for me. I do wish to make a good impression on the visitors, but the house just needs a decent once over. This coupled with the realization that the house isn’t a lot cleaner when they are not home all makes for a lot of aggravation on my part.
I learned during the worst part of the broken ankle that I am in charge of wiping the counters. I am the only person that does this. I do not know why that is.
I wonder if I will visit my children when they have homes of their own one day and find them a total mess. I was raised in a home where the parents weren’t real good on cleaning. My mother didn’t seem to know how. My sister and I cleaned if it was to be cleaned. It seems to be about the same here now. If I have sons that are incapable of cleaning a house, I have been a failure.
I had a friend once whose husband went after her as she cleaned, doing it more and better. He was a bit OCD I guess. That is the only male I have ever known of that would do that. She said it was an annoyance. I guess she was right, but I would have hired him if I could.
Posted in Make Yourself Heard | Leave a Comment »
Generals Getting Fired
Posted by madjillmom on May 15, 2009
This post from Internet Scofflaw may explain why the General in charge of Afghanistan was canned earlier in the week. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…
Posted in Afghanistan War | Leave a Comment »
