Month: January 2010

… there really isn’t a point. This is just me, trying to make sense of my jumbled thoughts. Bear with me …

I had to pick up my neighbor’s trash today.

Okay fine. I didn’t have to pick it up but dang it! It’s been there for months! And no one is picking it up! And our neighborhood is beautiful and nice aside from my trashy neighbors and I can’t stand the thought of it going downhill because of ONE lazy-ass family.

I don’t know why I should be surprised. They never pick up their trash – they allow their lawn mowing guy to do it. And since it’s been too cold for lawn mowing, it just sits there – and mocks me.

Until today.

I simply couldn’t stand it anymore. I snapped on a pair of latex gloves, grabbed a trash bag and marched my butt over there and spent a good fifteen minutes picking up trash that had been sitting there for so long, it was decomposing. Their papers? Were so rotted out that I had to dig into the soil to get them out.

Think paper mache bad.

I then dumped the trash bag full of THEIR trash into THEIR trash bin that had JUST been emptied. (Today was trash day).

So A. I hope they see that lone, strange trash bag in their trash bin and B. I hope they put two-and-two together and realize that someone picked up their trash and C. I hope they are humiliated and embarrassed.

Because I’m mean and pissed off. Okay?

I mean come ON. If you’re going to live in a house, then accept the fact that you’re going to have to take care of that house. And these people? Are physically capable of picking it up. Why do I know this? Because if they can lift their legs to step over the damn stuff, then they sure as heck can bend over and pick it up! If you’re not going willing to take care of your house? Then do your neighbors a favor and don’t buy one!

(By the way, this is twice that I’ve gone over there and picked up a yard full of trash. And by trash I mean crushed cigarette packets, crushed soda cans, discarded, unread paper, candy wrappers, fast food wrappers and toys [they have two young boys] that the dog chewed up and mutilated.)

I told the boys I went over there and picked up their trash today and Jazz scolded me.

“Mom. Why did you do that? They’re never going to pick up that trash because they know you’re going to eventually go over there and pick it up for them! Where’s their motivation to do it?”

In which I responded:

“Precisely. They don’t have any motivation because they’re lazy and I would rather pick it up and have it clean than to let it accumulate and trash up our neighborhood.”

Though I understood my son’s point, and indeed, he has a valid point – if you do someone else’s work, you’re really not doing them any favors – and I appreciated him speaking up and saying that point, it really doesn’t matter. The bottom line? Our neighbors, though I’m sure are good people, are lazy. And they’re unwillingness to pull their own weight ultimately affects me and the rest of the neighborhood. Everyone else on the block makes an effort to keep their yards and houses nice – save for them. If it means I have to trudge over there and pick up their nasty trash so our neighborhood looks nice?

Well, so be it.

I have NO patience for lazy people – none. No one likes to work and pick up crap but guess what? That’s life, get over it. And what kind of example are they setting for their sons?

Precisely.

I’m probably going to get some heat for this, but something about the Haiti earthquake disaster bothers me …

Well, two things bother me about it, actually.

1. I thought Chris Brogan’s article “How NOT to Help Haiti” was an interesting read.

In essence, he’s saying, that especially in times of trouble, we should tweet with a purpose. Forego the sympathy tweets and tweet actions – places that people can go and actually help the situation. I mean, it’s great to tweet sympathy and prayers, but how does that physically help the Haitians?

This really applies to any sort of cry for help or world-wide disaster. Twitter is a powerful tool – IF we know how to use it correctly and efficiently.

There were so many tweets (which included erroneous information or scumbags looking to make a little money off a global disaster), that it was a bit hard to know what to do and what to believe.

2. I was disturbed to see so many popular bloggers trying to help by asking for comments on their blogs in exchange for giving money to Haiti relief efforts. I mean, why not just give the money up front? Why ask for the comments? Why redirect people to a blog?

I KNOW their hearts were in the right place – I know this. But to use a disaster, one that tugs at so many heart strings, in order to drive traffic to blogs that make money on ads and perhaps increase exposure seemed ….. cheap and self-serving, I think.

Perhaps I don’t know the whole story. Maybe they worked out a deal with a company who sponsored something like this, but again, I have to ask, why not just give the money straight away instead of asking people to visit and comment? Why the middle man, or blog, as the case may be?

Again. I don’t mean to cause anything by bringing this up. It just seemed a little … odd to me. That’s all.

I also ran across another article that was right up my alley. You all know that I don’t have a lot of patience for people who give reasons for not being happy. We all have the power to be happy, it’s just a question of finding the strength to make it happen. And often times, that requires change, sometimes drastic change. But if we truly want to be happy, sometimes, we have to cut the strings to our old life.

So when I read “Eight Harsh Truths That Will Improve Your Life,” I just had to pass it on to you.

Here are the highlights:

• 1. Friends Come and Go
  

  There are an abundance of amazing people out there for you to meet and build relationships with. If you don’t have many friends, don’t stress, there are literally billions of friendship possibilities

  I’d like to take it a step further – be careful of poisonous friendships. If being around that person causes you nothing but sadness, anger, or grief, then for pete’s sake, nip that friendship in the bud and move on.

• 2. You Won’t Always Get What You Want
  

  Don’t look for happiness in material possessions and if things don’t go your way, learn to accept them. Life’s too short to stay miserable.

  Absolutely. Learn to LET GO. Sometimes, you simply have to.

• 3. Many People Will Love You, but Many Will Not
  

  Not everyone is always going to like you, and that’s fine. If people want to spend time talking about you then that is their problem. You are perfect as you are. You shouldn’t need everyone to like you to have some form of self-esteem.

  This goes doubly for romantic interests. Be patient. Choose wisely. And be yourself. If he/she doesn’t accept you for yourself, then that person is not worth your time. There’s no hurry to find that one love in your life. And if you don’t find him/her, then use that time to enrich your life, or the lives around you.

• 4. Nobody Can Transform Your Life Like You Can
  

  Do things for yourself and learn to stand on your own two feet. People you rely on won’t be around forever, and you don’t want to have to use others as a crutch to get anywhere in life.

  AMEN! I couldn’t agree more with this one.

• 5. You Are Going to Fail
  

  You can learn a lot from others, but it is your own failures that are going to teach you the most valuable lessons in life. Learn from your failures, embrace them, and use them to drive you on to success.

  I agree with this one, too. However, to take it a step further, don’t DWELL on your failures. Just accept that failure is a natural step to success and when you reach that successful level – don’t feel guilty about it – don’t apologize for it – celebrate!

• 6. Rain Will Sometimes Cancel Play
  

  Don’t stress about the things that you can’t control. Learn to live with things that happen. You can’t change the past, but you can change how you react to things.

  Again – AMEN!

• 7. There May Be No Tomorrow
  

  Make the most of each day. Make sure the people you care about actually know it, don’t worry about little matters, just make sure you spend time doing the things you love.

  I need to work on this one. Though not in the way it’s described above. I need to stop wasting so much time! I need to make the most of my time and get as much done as I can while I’m alive – I assume that tomorrow will always come and there will come a time that it won’t.

• 8. Someone Else Will Always Have More
  

  Just because someone has ‘more’, that doesn’t mean they are happy. Read the biography of any celebrity and they will tell you they enjoy their process of earning money, rather than what money can do to make them happy. In other words, focus on what you love, not what the thing you love can get you.

  I think everyone – EVERYONE – needs to hang this mantra on their fridge. There is WAAAAY too much envy in the world. Seriously. I think people that don’t have forget that the people who do have? Worked their butts off to get there. In other words, they paid their dues. And if someone wants something badly enough? That person must also pay his/her dues.

Anyway, I thought this article was an excellent tool to perhaps help those out there that are stuck in misery.

That’s not a very fun place to be stuck, huh.

We’re going to New York in July.

We’re actually going to New York two days before we’re scheduled to catch the boat for our next cruise.

To Canada.

We bought a guide to New York and OMG, I can’t wait to go. I’ll share details of what I’ve found soon. And if anyone has any tips on what to do in New York for cheap (preferably FREE!), I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The cruise is only five days long and the price was insanely reasonable for four people AND an extra cabin for the boys. We had enough points built up on our American Airline account that our flight is paid for so …. why not. Since it’s so expensive to fly to New York otherwise, we thought we’d go this route and really get the most out of our points.

The next time we have enough points to cash in for “free” airline tickets? Kevin and I are going to Hawaii – for our 25th wedding anniversary.

Which is only five short years away.

Have you guys seen this?

I’m thinking this will be right up there with “Super-Size Me.” In fact, I think we should make shows like this a reality-TV series to constantly remind people of what they’re eating and how much they’re eating.

What do you think about Wal-Mart’s new commercial?

Different, right?