There is Justice for the Wearry!

Well hello folks! Today I got the car back from the shop. All that was broke is now fixed. I'd been stressing of course, worried that the insurance was going to give me my walking papers but I had very good news! The little rats that smashed the windows have been arrested! I prayed about this so hard. It appears that I will be receiving some sort of restitution which may take a while with defense lawyers and all but even a letter of apology would help.

It is just too close to Christmas to be bitter and I don't want that feeling to spill out onto others so I guess I will put all this bad luck behind me. Oh...but don't get me started about the Dems and the Repubs. Has anyone caught the debates? What a freak show huh? I wish there was just one person running that left a decent impression. In January, all the gloves come off and the fight is on! Can't wait to blog all about it. Cheers! Freedancer.

On the Road Again!

Well folks, I have wheels once more. After spending part of the day at the rental agency, I am driving (for the mean time) a Chevy Malibu. This is the nuttiest car I have ever had the privilege to drive. Whomever designed it put the sun roof in the back instead of overhead. Too weird! However, when one is without wheels, one does not complain. Now I am nervously going to bed praying that this one doesn't get the windows blown out as well! I got the estimate for my van today as well and it is going to cost about $800.00! For two windows mind you. I gotta hope that the insurance adjuster will take a little off the deductible so there will be something left for Christmas. I swear! If I ever get my hands on the jerk or jerks that damaged my van.....well, you do not want to be him or her! It's bad when the rental agency says to you "Oh no! It didn't happen again did it?" They actually remembered last year when the other windows got blown out by vandals. I talked to the body shop and they said that the vandalism here has risen over 60 to 70%! I guess I was not the only person to suffer this. It wouldn't be so bad except I am a Ford person and I have to sport a Chevy around. I feel violated! Oh well, it could have been worse I guess. They could have slashed all the tires or...I could have been in the van when it was damaged which would have probably given me some major PTSD. Gotta run now. Tomorrow comes early! Freedancer

I'm Ticked Off About This!

Well folks, I was rudely greeted this morning by two windows on the driver side of my Ford Windstar van smashed out! This is the second time in two years that this has happened. The first time, some jerk threw a huge rock through the driver door window. This rock careened off the dash, smashing it and landed in the back of the car. This time, I saw no weapon but the driver's rear wing window was completely smashed out of the frame!

I see no reason for this sort of activity. I live in a little Montana town. It's 15 degrees and there is snow all over. Isn't there something else these people can do to pass the time instead of making it very difficult for me to get a few Christmas gifts for my family this year? I have saved up a little of my pay checks to spend on gifts but it looks like now I will be paying deductible to the Ford dealer. No...I don't take my car any other place because I want Ford parts placed back onto the car. Can someone tell me when people will learn to mind their own business and leave other people's things alone? I mean, if I went out and smashed the windows out of the person's car who vandalized mine, they would be moaning and groaning about "the cruelty of it all and how unfair it is". I wouldn't park on the street if my spouse and I didn't work different shifts but sometimes I have to go to work earlier than he does.

I am so sick and tired of this behavior! Grow up people and start living a life that you can be proud of rather than one you can go to jail for!!

Pardoning Turkeys

I have to say that I am rather put off by our President this Thanksgiving. As he stood there in the Rose Garden, tongue-in-cheek, pardoning a turkey, I thought of the two border patrol agents sitting in a jail, away from their families this Thanksgiving. I think our President could have shown Mexico and the world what sort of leader he really was. He could have stood up tall with his head held high and stated he was moving away from the tradition this year and giving a full pardon to our two heroes who sit in jail for doing their job! There is no excuse to have kept these two young men locked up. They did their job on the border and that is the tall and short of it. After learning about the snot nosed drug dealer (who constantly walked back and forth across the border with a "free pass" from Johnny Sutton), had been arrested and finally convicted, President Bush should have released the guards from the jail and thrown Johnny Sutton into prison. He and the drug dealer should be cell mates! Any comments? Freedancer

I Knew It Would Get Here Sooner or Later

OK so I decided that I needed to wear the snow boots today. The weather guy said it was going to snow a bit but "not that much". Yeah, right and you have some water front property in Arizona just waiting for me! As I sit here looking out my upstairs window and typing this, a family of polar bears are moving into the vacant house across the street. The snow is falling and it is that really thick, heavy stuff that makes it impossible to clean off the windshield for any length of time. To top this off, I got out this morning to leave for work and all the car did was "click, click, click". I had to wake up the Trusted Steed (my spouse) and have him trot out and jump the car....again! This really torqued my petunia's because about two years ago, the lovely folks at Ford gave me a brand, spanking new battery. This was done because the one that the car came with, which mind you was under warranty, had a bad cell and they thought it would be nice to give me a new one. Unfortunately, this battery, which is also under warranty, has a problem now. So I called into work and said I would be late and took the car back to my neighborhood Ford folks who promptly told me that the battery had a bad cell. Oh yes, and this time, they can't replace it for free because it isn't under warranty anymore. Seems as though when they replaced it the first time, it was still under the original car warranty and now, that warranty is no more. Oh but wait...I bought this great extended warranty and it expires in 2009! Oh but...you can't use it because it doesn't cover batteries. Hmmmm.....now what could I have done with the $1,700.00 that I paid two years ago rather than buy a warranty?

Seems to me that they could have cut me a sprout on this one. Haven't these big auto dealers anything else to do than royally screw one of the little people? I mean, it's hard enough buying gas right now with oil prices paying for the palaces in Iran and Iraq. Oh and to top this off, our two little buddies from Iran and Venezuela are definitely planning a little surprise for us here. You can't tell me those two crazies aren't in the same sack race! Which brings up the next point, our lovely border crossings! Yes, yes...everyone visits America. Just hike over the border and don't get hung up on that "5 miles" of the huge fence we are building. I mean, how long did it take the authorities to nab the little snot that brought all the drugs across the border the caused two border patrol officers to be thrown into prison for just doing what they were hired for? Must have been nice for the "little snot" to have "get out of jail and cross the border anytime you want" cards. We can thank Mr Johnny Sutton for that blunder. I think those two border guards should get out of prison, sue the pants off of Sutton and his cronies and go strait back to work with the Border Patrol. Oh yesssssss! I'm on the soap box again! Well, my nose is about froze off just looking out the window here in good 'ol Montana so I best get down from this box and get back into regular mode. Feel free to comment OK? I could use an intelligent conversation with someone. Cheers! Freedancer

And I do This Job Because......

I often ask myself what in the world am I doing here working in this often thankless job? It certainly is NOT for the money because I barely make it as it is. There's actually no place else"to go up-wards" in this position. I could go for a Masters Degree but frankly, at my age I really don't want to go back to school. Well...at least not yet. Perhaps I better not throw out that "bath water" quite yet.

I guess when I really think about it, if I can make some sort of difference in just one persons life, perhaps spark just a little healing to their troubled mind and soul, to give them just a glimmer of hope, then it is worth what I go through day in and day out. Most of my clients I wouldn't trade for the world and I love them all. Are some a challenge? Oh yeah! Maybe three quarters of them but they are all unique in their own quirky little way and each of them have an important piece to add to my life. When I see them and the struggles they face daily, I don't worry quite so much about "me". I take that little piece out of the equation and start to work on how I can make them smile at least one time a month.

The government makes the lives of the disabled and mentally ill so much of a nightmarish struggle. They give these poor folk pennies to survive on and when they get a raise to try to off set COLA, the helping agencies such as Food Stamps, Section 8 housing and others, take money away from their assistance so that they never get out of the hole.

I say, give them a good raise and boost up the assistance a little more. Allow them to save more than $2000.00 so that they can buy a home or have extra money for an emergency. Give them their food stamps and housing money while they start working so that they can get established and not have to be in poverty while they are trying to build a life for themselves and their families. It is this that brings dignity and a sense of pride in themselves.

I stand here on my soapbox and wonder, what do you all think of this? What are your opinions about the welfare system? Tell me your thoughts. Lets have a conversation.

The Race?

Is anyone out there following the political race yet? I, being the one who is up on this sort of stuff for the family around here, have been watching some of the players. I find it interesting that everyone is so afraid of having a Mormon president and they make him out to look "EVIL". You know, if anyone ever talked bad about Kennedy's religion, everyone would be in an uproar! I guess my thoughts are if the guy can do the job and keep us safe from the wacky terrorists, than who cares what religion he is. Well...I do think I would possibly draw the line if the guy worshiped "The Dark One" Boo Ha Ha Ha. That would be a little more than I could stand. Does anyone think the Lady will win? I think that the "Good Ol' Boys" in Washington D.C. are not ready for that and they will do all they can to stop her. On a different subject for a moment...China-Conspiracy...China-Conspiracy? Hmmm...I am beginning to wonder if "They" are trying to damage us through our kids!! The lead thing is really bad!

How many of you think we should be drilling for oil in Alaska or off the coast? I truly feel that the Caribou and all the other creatures up in Alaska would just build their condos on the other side of the oil rigs. I mean, how high do the oil prices have to get before some of the "Environmentalists" realize that it's not gonna kill the critters or hurt the area to get our own oil? AND....Washington D.C...Let's get with the program and work on the wind power issues! You're going to tell me that a couple of windmills are going to screw up America? We could put a few of them down around Livingston MT or some of the other areas and cook up a bunch of power. Better yet, lets put a few up around Congress and the Senate. With all the hot air that gets blown around there, we'd be sitting on a gold mine of power for years. Comments? Cheers all, Freedancer

That Was an Odd Movie

Well...I just got done watching the movie "23". It was pretty odd but right down my alley due to the work I am involved with. My hubby and I enjoyed trying to apply all our book learnin to attempt to analyze the main character. Both of us guessed the right path. I won't say too much more in case some of you are itchin to see it. All I can say however is that it was a cross between Hitchcock and Vanilla Sky. Hmmmmm....now that would be an interesting combination. Better yet, how about Stephen King and Hitchcock? I wonder what sort of movies would come out of that combination. Any comments?

My first ever blog

I guess it would be polite of me to introduce myself. I am a middle-aged, married lady who resides in Montana. I have always wanted to have a little space of my own where I can talk about almost anything. I also thought it would be fun to have others chime in with their opinions and thoughts as well. So, since this the first entry I should first let you know that I am not a smoker, as this photo implies. It was actually based on an old Laugh In character. For those of you who don't have a clue about Laugh In, it was a sometimes controversial show that I watched in the '70s. Oops, I guess I just gave away my possible age! Anyway, I had to go over to my best friends house to watch it because my father wouldn't allow "the tripe" in our home.

Now that I have redeemed myself from the picture, were there any shows that your parents wouldn't allow you to watch when growing up? Drop a few lines if you like. If I was still a kid this day and age, things would be much different. Some of the shows, and mind you, the language on the shows, have much to be desired don't you think?

Well, I'll try to put as much as I can into the profile page about me so you will know what I feel is important in my life. Some of what I post will probably sting a nerve and actually, that's OK. It is good to voice your opinions here and no one person has the correct answer to all problems. However, many persons have great ideas and I am interested in visiting about those. I only ask a few things. First, please keep in mind that everyone has a right to their beliefs and opinions and it is not ethical or fair to quash them on this blog. We all have the God given right to disagree and...we can agree to disagree and still have an intelligent, fun conversation, don't you think? Second, I ask that profanities and/or explicit content not be posted on this blog. I have found that you can effectively make a point without using disgusting language or posting inappropriate content. We are hopefully, educated adults here, so let's be sure to behave and provide a good example to others looking in.

Well, with that said, I open this blog and invite you to come along on this journey with me. Hope to visit with you soon. Thanks, Freedancer