I AM A FAILURE and other hateful things

This is not easy to say since I usually think "I'm kind of big deal" (a household joke, people...I really don't think this!!!) ...BUT the truth be known...that BEAUTIFUL plum jelly I made the other day???? It is Plum HONEY. Yes, it's the consistency of honey which, still tastes delicious and will be wonderful on fresh Belgian waffles or pancakes or drizzled over vanilla ice cream...but what a messy peanut butter sandwich!

In hindsight...I think my Pectin was out of date. I bought it on clearance at TARGET oh, several years ago...and thought it would still be good. (there was no expiration date on it!) Really, do jello boxes go bad? Isn't this kind of the same stuff ?

I have made jams and jellies before and have had great success...all the other canning endeavors I've ever done have yielded great results. With exception to this (did I say beautiful?) plum jelly. I AM A FAILURE! ...and it hurts so much to say it because I was really impressed with the crystal clear clarity (thanks to cheesecloth).

Well let this be known: I'm jumping back into the saddle. I'm going back to pick some more plums and I'm going to do it again. This time, I'm buying fresh certo and using every single 7 1/2 cups of sugar the recipe calls for. If it works this time, I'll post the recipe for those inquiring minds who want to know. I CAN DO THIS!

Okay...on to other things. First let me start off by saying that by no means do I have anything against living in a trailer park. Early in our married life, we lived in a trailer...on a street with other trailers around. (not necessarily a "park", but I digress.) Anyways...my intention is not to offend anyone where they live. I truly don't care where you live. But there seems to be a "mentality" that suggests that trashy people live in trailer parks, which is ludicrous. Trashy people can live in hoity toity subdivisions and decent neighborhoods too.

That being said...we have been noticing that a certain "mindset" of people seem to be moving into our neighborhood. It's hard to explain... but they are disrespectful to the rights of others around them... they don't care if they're disruptive...they are renters. (and we were renters for our first 9 years of our married life, but we always respected our neighbors.)

At midnight last night, the people on the "Compound" were shooting off fireworks. ON A FRIGGIN" TUESDAY NIGHT! I realize that Mr. Compound man doesn't have a job to get up for, but please respect the sleep of those who do. The fireworks set off a series of barks from those neighbors who leave their dogs out all night. (which happen to live next door to me.)

Well, those neighbors (also renters) were out partying late last night and decided to pull their truck on our grass (between our properties) at, oh 2:00 am this morning. (which set off another series of barks.) Not only did the dogs, the lights and the diesel engine noise wake me from a dead sleep, it was the "guys" discussing loudly how "f#*$'ed up" they were and how badly they needed to "take a (pee)". By this time I was looking out the window to see what the heck woke me up...and I watched one of the figures walk over to our white vinyl fencing and "relieve himself" while shouting about how wasted he was. NICE.

This would probably be the owner of the black truck who has a VULGAR quip emblazoned in large white vinyl lettering across the back window of his truck:

MOTHER MADEM

MOTHER F#*KEM

Yes...VERY NICE. I did call the township on that one since we are a family oriented neighborhood and some of us nice folks with kids are still trying to "Live the dream", but I was told something about "freedom of expression". Yeah, whatever.

Anyways...after a quick beer on the front lawn, Mr. Mother hater decided to lock up his truck (7 or 8 times which set off a series of car horn beeps, which in turn set off a series of barks.) You know, you can never be too sure of your neighbors...ya never know who might be sitting in a bush waiting for you to park your VULGAR unlocked truck so they could steal your pack of Camels off your dash.

YUCK. I had all I could do from hafefully yelling out my bedroom window, "Hey, Motherhater! Why don't you take it back to the trailer park where you came from!"

...of course, I didn't say that...I did what every respectful neighbor would do...I grumbled under my breath and tried to fall back asleep.

So needless to say, I didn't have much sleep last night...and then I got a call at 8 am from the gym my son has a membership at. I called yesterday disputing a change in the membership dues (which we had to sign a year contract for). I felt they should honor the year contract terms of service and were in violation by changing the terms. I got a snot-nosed disrespectful young woman with a huge chip on her shoulder spouting that "the economy is so bad that we had to raise the prices to cover our costs!"

Wait one minute here, toots...I am very aware of the rising prices around us, but last I checked...a contract was a binding deal that you were held to...on BOTH sides. I said, "Then can I cancel my membership?" ... she gave me a resounding "hell no". (okay, just a firm NO) She proceeded to tell me that my son agreed that the "surcharges" could change at any time within our contract. Now I ask you, who on earth would sign a contract with stipulations like that? All I got was a snotty "there's nothing I can do to change it" answer.

I shot back with a "well that's no way to get repeat customers...I guarantee you I won't be referring anyone to your gym...thank you for your time"...click.

(*music of the day: RESPECT / Aretha Franklin)

See what happens when people don't RESPECT their neighbors?