Friday Wrap-Up

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I heard this morning that the election is less than 100 hours away - it seems to have been going on for 100 years. Maybe I'm just more cynical these days, but it sure feels like the blogshpere is dripping with nastiness over this thing. I've dropped many blogs from my reader in the past few weeks out of sheer frustration. Great bloggers have turned into political pundits and I found myself getting sucked right in by it all - participating in commentary that was not constructive - and began doing the very thing I was complaining about - being nasty. If your blog has been focusing on politics, and I haven't been commenting, it's nothing personal - I just don't want to be part of the problem as I see it. I'll be back as soon as you get back to your regularly scheduled blogging!

Veggie Tales live was a BLAST! Seriously, Cam and I had a wonderful time. We both got to let loose without concern of judgment by anyone - and let loose we did - dancing in the aisles, singing at the top of our lungs and cheering for Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato!

Cam is attending a Halloween party tonight with a "date." Of course, this means that I'll be playing chauffeur - 45 minutes each way - and the party doesn't get over until 11PM. I just hope I can stay up that late. I had better raid the candy bowl and eat lots of chocolate in preparation.

Speaking of Halloween, do any of the rest of you have official Trick-or-Treating hours in your towns? I just visited the village website and discovered that Trick-or-Treating hours are from 3PM-8PM. When I was growing up, you NEVER went out before 6PM - it was common courtesy to allow families to eat their dinner before you started ringing their doorbell. And you always skipped any house without a porch light on - that was the universal sign that they were crabby old geezers not honoring the Trick-or-Treating tradition. I find it a little disturbing that lack of common sense now dictates that we set "official" Trick-or-Treating hours. And what happens if a kid violates the hours? Is there a special Halloween posse out there looking to take away all of their candy as punishment?

One more thing! I can now proudly say that the blogiversary winners gifts were not only sent, but received! If you haven't been there, go visit Lu to see the grand prize loot, including the lap blanket I made for her while half-nekkid! Knight did a wonderful vlog tribute to the special shirt I came across that just screamed out her name, and Ms. Lily sent me a very nice Thank You email! Y'all have such good manners!

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Repentance Vlog

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I have been a bad ... BAD blogger. Remember that blogiversary drawing I held a month ago? Yeah, well ... I didn't send out the prizes until TODAY! So, as repentance for my blogging sins I present this Saturday morning, no make-up, looking goofy, blinking too many times vlog!

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Suicide, The Beginning of the End - Part 5

If you haven't read Parts 1 - 4, you can find them here:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

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When we returned from our honeymoon, I started looking for another job. I was concerned that my illegal activities at work would catch up with me. I was paranoid, and rightfully so. I had been stealing from an employer who had given me a chance when I so desperately needed one.

I found another bookkeeping position with a local chain of grocery stores. The pay was great and the corporate office was within walking distance of our condo. It was yet another undeserved fresh start, and I kept waiting for the past to catch up with us. We never heard anything from the landlord in Wisconsin, and other than nasty letters from a collection agency that were easily ignored, there seemed to be little fallout from our months of of cheating the system in Wisconsin. I should have known things would spiral again.

Just a few weeks into my new position, “A” picked me up from work. The entire front end of the Isuzu was smashed in. The radiator was leaking and “A” was in a panic. He was involved in an accident at the intersection just a few blocks from our home and he drove away. There were other vehicles involved in the crash and he thought people were injured. He had been drinking all day. He didn't know what to do, nor did I. How do you fix something like this?

As we were headed home, there were several police cars and ambulances at the intersection. We took the back way to the condo to avoid any additional attention, but it was when he parked that I noticed the front license plate was missing from the truck, most likely left at the scene of the crash. When we got upstairs we devised a plan - “A” would continue drinking so that he could claim he had only started drinking when he returned from the crash, and I would call the police, telling them I thought he might have been involved in an accident. After about an hour, I did just that.

The police arrived and found our story highly suspicious. They knew, as well as we did, that there was far more to the story than we were sharing. They charged “A” with failure to yield and hit and run – they could not charge him with DUI as it had been over an hour since the crash and they had no way of proving that he had been drinking at the time of the crash, no matter what their suspicions were. It was the beginning of the end.

“A” sank farther and farther into what I now know was significant depression. He even asked me at one point if things could ever get so bad that I would take my own life. I thought it was an odd question - that he must be really concerned about me - but I told him there was always hope. He was worried about the truck, the pending charges for the crash, but I remained positive. The truck could be fixed (we still had it insured) and we would find an attorney to help out with the charges against him. I asked him then and there if he would ever take his own life and he assured me it would never happen. He lied.

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Thin Mint Debacle *UPDATE*

When I posted the Thin Mint Debacle, I had no delusions of Thin Mints dropping from the sky on to my front lawn - silly me - that is exactly what happened! Well, maybe not on my front lawn, but definitely on my front porch step!

A huge thanks to all of you who offered up your sympathies AND your Thin Mints. Both Osbasso (of HNT fame) and Jahooni (of "Can't I win a prize?" fame) are sending cookies my way. Sure, I had to prostitute myself to get the Thin Mints, but a Thin Mint themed HNT seems like such a small price to pay.

A special thanks to Lu, a new reader who also offered up her Thin Mint connections. The only reason I didn't take her up on her offer was because I knew if I ate more than three boxes of Thin Mints, the Thin Mint HNT wouldn't be so thin!