The Soap Opera Continues...

Well, it's been one heck of a morning. Yesterday, my husband had brought some cows in to be put on our pasture. I had the donkeys in the pen. Today I went and let the donkeys out. They looked like they were getting along. The next thing I know , Poncho is chasing one of the cows. The donkeys back the cows into the corner and then one cow goes through the fence. The other gets chased toward our yard and ends up also going through that fence.

My neighbor, Amy, comes out to help and we managed to get the donkeys locked up, the cows back in and I helped her repair the fence. Then she tells me she is getting chest pains. The next thing I know she's on the way to the hospital. It was quite a morning to be sure.

Speaking of my neighbor Amy, she refused the mediation that I had set up to help resolve the feud between her and the other neighbor. So now I am turning to the other people in the neighborhood not involved to step in and find a way to mediate this situation. I am just afraid it's going to get ugly.

On top of that, I have been sick and have a huge bump on my jaw and neckline. It looks like the mumps but is that possible because I have had the vaccinations. Or it could be something more ominous? I hope it is just an very enlarged lymph gland . I am not wanting to go out in public because of it but I guess I will have to grin and bear it.

My Mother's Day

I spent Mother's Day on the coast and it was a nice get away despite the fact that it poured most of Saturday. We still went out and did some sight seeing and spent time on the beach. We came back to our rented house and then I slept for the rest of the afternoon because I was coming down with a sore throat. My eldest son brought it home from college, my youngest son got it on Wednesday and then I caught it over the weekend.

Got home Sunday afternoon. Monday, I have been looking for a mediator. My police officer friend had not gotten back to me so I went looking on my own. Found a non-profit group that would do it for a small fee. I talked to my officer friend and he said go with it. I called the neighbors but then hit a snag when one of them said they did not want to pay for the service. Now I don't know what to do. I am thinking of paying for them if that is the only thing that is holding them back. My feeling is that maybe they really don't want to resolve this, they want it to escalate until it gets so out of control that there is no turning back.

My husband wants me to wash my hands of it and stay out of it. He doesn't care if the neighbor kids are shooting on our property, or if their dogs are coming thru our electric fence and going after our pets. I am afraid that I can't turn the other cheek. I haven't taken any action yet because I am waiting for the dispute to die down between the feuding neighbors but their dispute is spilling over onto us and the rest of the neighborhood.

So for now, I am encouraging both neighbors to please use the mediation service. It's not expensive and I am hoping it will resolve their problems which in turn will resolve my problems with them.

My Bone to Pick

I have been hitting one roadblock after another with the remodeling and it is starting to grate on me. I guess my biggest angst is that nobody calls me back. I went into Lowe's to try to order tile and they couldn't identify it. They told me they had to call in the vendor to see if he could ID the product, then it was special order and it would take another week. So I waited over a week and nothing. I called and the guy I had been dealing with was not there. Unfortunately, I let Lowes know I wasn't happy with the service. Anyway, the guy called me back and said he talked to the vendor. They don't have that product anymore and the vendor was supposed to call me. My question is why is that tile out on the display floor if they don't even carry it anymore and why is the vendor calling me? It should be Lowes!

I have been calling the cabinet makers. I finally got one to come over after 3 weeks. The other I called twice and nothing. They never called back. You would think in this economy that people would want your business. Apparently that is not the case!

I have been waiting for my french doors to come and again, no call. I finally call the lumber store and they said, Oh we called your contractor and told him that it was in. My husband called the contractor and the contractor had known about the door for a week but had not bothered to tell us know nor let us know if he was ever going to come and install it! If I did not call, I would still be waiting.

The irony is that I am getting called but it's 3X a day by my neighbor who is in the middle of a dispute with the other neighbor. I am working on getting a mediator to come and settle this because frankly I am getting very tired of it! Being unloaded on for 2 hours everyday is no fun and it has got to stop!

My Almost Australian Trip

My husband had an opportunity to go to Australia for an international meeting this June and we were excited about the trip. The only problem was that we found out about it last spring and that would have given us only a year to save money for it. Of course, my husband's airfare would have been covered, but for myself and my kids, airline tickets were running around $5000 per person and that was sometime ago. Spending $15,000 is a lot to justify with the economy being so lousy and that didn't even include accommodations. I was surprised to find the All Seasons, Comfort Inn, Hilton and the Hyatt in Australia too. Prices ranged from $75.00 to $594.00 and up. The $75.00 was not bad. That is about the same price you would find in the states.



I have always wanted to stay at the Hyatt. The Park Hyatt Sydney overlooks Sydney's spectacular Harbor. Has been there since the 1900's and is considered the most luxurious hotel in all of Australia. It's been home to heads of state and royalty.

In the end, we decided we could not afford such an extravagant trip.I guess we will have to win the lottery to see the Sydney Opera house,




the Australia Zoo,





and the Great Barrier Reef.



Maybe in my next life....

Tagged by Melinda- Ruler of the World

I've been tagged by Melinda over at Melinda Zook for this meme. The question I have to answer is this:

"If you were the ruler of the world and you could have anything you wanted as well as have people do anything you wanted, do you think you would get greedy and mean or would you be a good and fair ruler?"

This is an interesting question as I find myself in the middle of a dispute between two of my neighbors. They have been feuding since last fall and I fear that this is escalating way out of control. The police have been called in but they don't want to get involved. It concerns pets and not respecting each other's property. Both households have guns and have threaten to shoot the other's animals. I have been trying to stay neutral and not take anyone's side but it has been difficult. I am attempting to get a police officer I know to come in and mediate the situation as he has had experience in settling these types of disputes.

As far as the question goes, I would want people to get along with each other and the problem I see is that people get hell bent on being "right" no matter what.There are all sorts of conflicts over ridiculous trivial things ,things that can be easily resolved. All the killing in the world would stop if people would not let egos rule and realize that we have just this one world. If we don't take care of it and the people on it, then we have nothing. What ever happened to love thy neighbor?

So yes, I would want to be a fair and just ruler and I would want peace in the world for me and for everyone else!

Feel Free to Answer this Question

TAGGING RULES
This question came from “The Kids Book of Questions” by Gregory Stock, PH.D.


To play along:
1. Answer the question above on your blog (Remember: Don’t respond as you think others want you to. Respond the way you actually feel!
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Try the Toilet Out First in the Showroom

We finally got our toilet in to replace the one that almost flooded out our house. I can't get my tile for another 2 to 3 weeks so I told my husband to install the toilet so that we can use it. Well, it went in and I was disappointed. The beige color, I knew was going to be a little darker than my shower but in the bathroom light it also appeared yellower than my shower too. Also my paint job which did finally come out, matches the shower color but not so much the toilet. Ugh! I can't believe it. Can anything else go wrong? I guess I should not complain. Somehow, I will figure out how to tie it all together.

Not only was the color off but the toilet was massive in size compared to the old one. It also sits up a lot higher. Testing out the toilet, I thought I was sitting on a throne. The shape of the toilet seat is a lot more oval than my old one and it just did not contour to the shape of my seat very well. I liked how the toilet looked in the showroom but it never occurred to me to actually sit on it and try it out first. I thought a toilet was a toilet but I guess I was wrong!

My Son is Coming Home

Tomorrow, I will be heading to campus to pick my oldest son up from college. He just completed his 1st year of school! I am very proud of him and look forward to seeing his smiling face. We will have to move everything out of his dorm room and haul it back. Monday, he will start working for an entomologist. He worked for him last summer and didn't mind it. I'm thinking perhaps next summer my son could look for internships in his major, construction management.

I went to Costco and bought a lot of extra food for Nick. He eats every 1/2 hour and literally goes through every dish,fork and glass in the house. I was running the dishwasher 2X a day and that is no joke. Not good for someone who is trying to go green. The last time he was home,I told him that he could only use 1 of everything and it had to last him the entire day. That worked out really well.

Cooking will be a challenge as Nick does not like gluten free food and Andy has been on the elimination diet for 4 months. I really don't want to have to cook 2 different meals. I was thinking of taking Andy off the gluten free diet to see if it makes a big difference and that should make things a little easier in the cooking department.
Andy also hates the gluten free food so it has been tough to keep weight on him.

Still, I hate to complain, I am glad my entire family will be back together under the same roof. This may be the last time that will happen.