A Pet Peeve

Incompetence. I hate it. When you hire a professional to do a job - from dry cleaning a dress to selling a house - they should know exactly how to go about undertaking the task. Real estate agents really frustrate me. They are great when it comes to helping you buy a house, but less than stellar when it comes to selling one.

I have a beautiful four bedroom, 2 +bathroom home. Wood floors, great natural lighting, tile, , two car garage,landscaped corner lot on a quiet cul - de -sac. Sounds great right? You know how agents come up with catch phrases when they list your home? Stuff like must see! Beautiful colonial! Etc????? My genius of an agent came up with Seller needs occupancy until June. yes, you heard that right.

We have had two open houses - well, we are having the second one this week. It's Sunday and the Open House still has not been advertised. Really. What really pisses me off about this is that when we had the last open house, I said exactly the same thing, we need more notice, online advertising,etc.... No offense to my local friends but this area doesn't have a lot going on except the Navy base, which means the person who is going to buy my house is quite likely not from here. A little notice is helpful.

We have gotten totally useless feedback, no consistent information relating to online views etc..... I have certainly learned a lesson from all of this. IF I ever sell a house again, I will not be intimidated by the so-called professionals because, apparently I know as much and quite possibly more, than they do. They will be working for me and if they can't be excited about selling a home as beautiful as mine, well, frankly they will sell someone else's. I really hate incompetence....

The Truth at Last

Several months ago I had a falling out with a "friend" that I had a relationship with for some years. I thought that we were close. I thought that our friendship could weather disagreements and differences of opinion. I was wrong.
For the longest time, I acted like her words and actions didn't bother me. I was so busy I allowed my work to distract me from what I was feeling which was disappointment, betrayal, and anger. I held these emotions in for months. I never really aired them to anyone, other than to her - my sister, my "friend".
It all started with a poorly worded post in a social networking site that I administered. The bruhaha and the subsequent fallout escalated and escalated until there was no room left for friendship.
How can a person possibly have any type of relationship with someone who leaves no room for any opinion but her own? How can one have any type of relationship with a woman who used fake "identities" on said social networking site to personally attack and malign them? How is it possible to turn the other cheek, look beyond the betrayal and try to understand another point of view? Well, the answer is I have forgiven, I do try to understand her bitterness and anger, but there is simply no room for any type of friendship left. Sad, isn't it?
This was a woman that I spent several hours with on the phone every week. This was a woman who, if she called me in the middle of the night for help, she could expect to get it. This was a woman I respected and trusted and now, this is a woman that I have no contact with whatsoever.
The things that she said about me were not only hurtful, they were LIES. Flat out lies. After everything that is the one thing that I just couldn't get beyond.
It still makes me sad, the loss of this friend. I think about her and wonder how she is, but deep down, I realize that no relationship can exist without trust and frankly, after everything, I could never trust her again.

This brings me to my current situation. I left said social networking site, in no small part due to the poison and the lies. I joined another site - Facebook - and I love it there. For the most part, I am friends with people that I genuinely care about - people who I want to keep track of and be a part of their lives. There is one individual there though whose friendship I accepted and now I regret. She was party to the events described above and though she did not actively participate in the lying and maligning of my character, she appeared to be cheering on the sidelines during the worst of it.

I want a fresh start. I do care about this second woman, but I'm unsure whether I am capable of offering her true friendship based on all the hurt and betrayal that I still feel. Any words of advice?

Why Are Men So Thoughtless?

*******WARNING!!!!!******* PMS VENT IN PROGRESS!!!!!!



Ok, you all know what a great guy that I usually think my husband is. Sometimes however, like all men, he can be a bit... for lack of a better word - DENSE. He has known about a re-enlistment ceremony going on today for the better part of two weeks. He had no intention of going, even though it is two of his guys re-enlisting.
Today, out of the blue, he shows up at home and intends to go. It really isn't a huge deal, but he brings a friend home with him and here I am - in the kitchen, cleaning, still in my pajamas, looking and feeling quite literally like shit - and he brings home another officer from the wardroom. Hello???? Could he not have taken five seconds out of his day to give me a call and let me know that he was bringing someone home? At least so I could get out of my pajamas?? WTF?
Then he chases this all by saying, " There was nothing going on at work today so I decided to go to the re-enlistment." He's going all the way to Providence ( 1 hour both ways) to go to a Dave and Busters. I'm beyond irritated. He could have come home early today, instead, he's off partying with some of the very people who I can't stand, don't trust, etc....( I do really like the guy he went with, he's great.. but it's just the other people who will be there...)
I hope he has dinner while he's there because I have a sinking suspicion that I'm not making anything special tonight.
Well, I did warn you....

Disappointed.... and %#%&*R%^$@!!!!N RIPPED!

SO after reading yesterdays blog you all know that yesterday was my 9th Anniversary. Sounds like a fairly auspicious occasion, right? Well, apparently not. Don't get me wrong, my husband did bring me a beautiful bouquet of flowers, the most delicate shade of pink and best of all - fragrant! ( You know how some of them have lost their scent...) Sadly though, that is where the romance began and ended. Ugh.

I went and had my hair done to prepare for going out. I'm talking - highlights, cut, the whole 9. I had rock star hair yesterday. Do you think he noticed? Well, if he did, he didn't mention it. We went to dinner. It was very nice, one of my favorite places too - the Japanese steakhouse. ( So it was sweet of him to take me there...) The thing is though that people that I don't know attempting to catch chopped up zucchini in their mouths somehow just doesn't say romance.

Then... the kicker. We get home and even though I'm having my period ( TMI I know, sorry guys...) some quality time would be nice. Instead, he played on his computer for an hour and then fell asleep while I was talking to him. We didn't even sleep in the same bed. Talk about a let done of monumental proportions. I guess that is what I get for building it up so much in my head.

To make matters worse, if that's possible, I am still dealing with my MIL. You all will NEVER believe the latest! She was putting Sporty to bed last night when she noticed that Sporty has a dream catcher on her spotlight. Jen, you probably remember seeing this dream catcher - Sporty has had it for months and months. My MIL apparently had a similar one on her key chain that she lost. She lost. I just had to reiterate that. She then asked Sporty if she had seen Noni's dream catcher. Asked Sporty to "tell her the truth..."

Together, she, (MIL) and Sporty, decided that since it was our anniversary that they would not discuss this with my husband and myself last night but instead wait for tomorrow to talk to us. Still, when the opportunity arose the very next morning - today - to ask me about whether Sporty had a dream catcher or not, my MIL in her infinite wisdom, failed to mention it. In fact, she didn't mention it until 6 pm this evening after I had just found a water leak and I was on my way to a boat meeting that I was already late for. Ugh. I told her that I couldn't talk about it right then, but that I would talk with her about it when I got home.

When I came home, she was in her room watching tv. So, I called my dad. When I got off the phone, MIL came downstairs to make a cup of tea. I asked her if she wanted to sit down and tell me what was going on with the dream catcher. She did. She sat down and gave me a twenty minute rigmarole. Then, I wanted to take the opportunity to respond and I asked her not to int erupt. I told her that Sporty did indeed have a dream catcher, that I had purchased it at the local church craft fair some months back. I told her that my daughter would never move her purse ( which MIL insinuated), that Sporty would never go into her purse and remove her keys from the dream catcher. It was also suggested that some money was missing... so I told her that my daughter was not a thief ( which she suggested albeit inadvertently) that my daughter was not a liar - which she outright suggested by demanding that Sporty "tell the truth."

She outright lied to my husband about what happened between she and I - things go so bad that I actually had to call him at work. Worse yet, I think she is so cracked mentally that she doesn't even realize that her version of reality isn't the truth. It has become crystal clear that my children can not, under any circumstances, be left alone with her. She just isn't safe. Actually, my husband is working tonight and I am sort of afraid to be alone in the house with her, to be honest.

How does something so FUBAR always happen everytime this woman is here?? I just don't know. So, what do you think? Would you have been upset if this happened to you?