Something went wrong with the photo when I posted on the Pink Toilet seat.  Here is the photo of the seat.  The photo may have been too large or maybe I just forgot to put the photo in.  My brain has been a bit scrambled over the last couple of weeks planning the Thanksgiving meal and early Christmas shopping.  Also our oldest son who had been living with us for about a year moved to a different state.  It was hard enough letting him move out of state again but he took his boxer, Lucy, with him.  I don’t blame him for taking her; after all she is his dog.  I would never want to leave my dogs behind, but it is really hard not having her around. She was the clown of the family. She kept us laughing all day long.  She is full of energy and wanted to play from morning till night with our dogs. Now our dogs mope around or pester us to play with them.  I know we will get used to them being gone but until then I am hiding out in my office a lot more than usual. Our dogs play to rough for me.

Two days ago my daughter and I were outside with my three year old Granddaughter, Augusta, when someone on the next street over shot a gun.  It sounded like a cannon it was so loud.  It did not scare Augusta but it scared the heck out of her Mother and me.  We both took off running for Augusta.  My daughter, Michele, reached her first.  She grabbed Augusta and we ran to the house clutching Augusta.  That was the end of playing outside for the day.

I also have a Granddaughter who is eleven.  A few years ago she was standing less than three feet from her Dad when he accidentally shot himself in the leg.  When she is here and the neighbors start shooting she becomes hysterical.

Because we live in a rural area of the county it’s legal to shoot a gun in our area but we live in a subdivision.  And it is a growing subdivision at that.  Most of the houses are on one acre lots with a few trees between the houses for privacy. Some people are too dense or just don’t care that each time they got out into their back yard and shoot a gun the bullet has to go somewhere.  I think it is a miracle that someone has not been hurt or killed by a stray bullet already.

I believe that people have the right to own a gun. But some common sense would go a long way with that ownership.  I’m just afraid that they won’t get any common sense until someone is hurt or killed.

Two years before we bought our home I replaced the old broken toilet seat in our rental house with a pretty, burgundy, padded seat from Walmart.  I paid around $15.00 for it and it was a good quality toilet seat.  It was still going strong when we bought our home in 2005. 

Soon after we moved into our new home the toilet broke. We had to replace the entire toilet. We were all unhappy with the seat because there was no space between the seat and the base.  This made the seat tilt forward causing anyone sitting on the seat to feel as if they were about to fall.  It wasn’t long until the parts that hold the screws broke.  I decided to buy one from Walmart since the first one was so good.  That was a big mistake.

I bought a padded burgundy one once again but this one was cheaply made. It was more like plastic covered cardboard.  Three of the four pieces that sit on the bottom broke and went down the drain and the plastic split.  This one lasted less than two months.

On Friday I went to our local Salvation Army store looking for books when I happened upon a new, pink, padded toilet seat with a price tag of $1.99.  I wasn’t wild about the color but it was a high quality seat at a very low price so I bought it.  The clerk didn’t have any bags large enough for the seat to fit into so I just carried it in my arms to the car.  On my way to the car I met a woman on the sidewalk who went into a fit of laughter just as she passed me.  I don’t know why she thought that was so funny.  I’m sure there are plenty of people walking down sidewalks in America carrying pink toilet seats.

I even got my husband into watching Days with me. He gets home each day when the show is half way over except for Thursday and every other Monday.  On those days as soon as he gets home he asks “what happened on our show today”.  I heard that another trouble maker is coming back to the show soon.  I am talking about Vivian who had one time buried Carly alive. Oh yes, the show is heating up.

When my little brother entered into Fifth grade he also got Mrs. Jackson for his teacher.  I knew he was going to go through hell in her class.  She had made Fifth grade a nightmare for me and I didn’t think she had mellowed any during the few years since I had left her class. Sure enough she started right in on him the very first day.  She mocked his answers in class and his clothes. She teased and taunted him about his hair touching his shirt collar.  She even told him to tell our Mother to cut his hair.  When he came home and told Mama that she had to cut his hair Mama hit the roof.  I remember her standing in the kitchen with a look on her face that made me tremble.  Mama calmly told Barry that she would talk to Mrs. Jackson.

The next day Mama walked into Mrs. Jackson’s classroom and in front of the kids told the woman off.  She told Mrs. Jackson that she was going to leave her son in peace or she would be back.  She also told her that her son was not getting a hair cut until she wanted him to have one even if his hair got so long it touched his ass.  Mrs. Jackson wisely stayed quite while Mama told her how life would be from then on.  True to her word my brother did not get a hair cut that entire school year.  Mama joined the PTA so she could keep a close eye on Mrs. Jackson.  She didn’t have to worry though; Mrs. Jackson had seen the light and changed her ways.  Some people just had to learn the hard way that you didn’t mess with Mama.

This was the most depressing Halloween in my entire life.  I just could not get into the spirit of the holiday this year.  I put some of the decorations out side the front door but most of the decorations stayed in the storage totes.  I did not put the window clings on the windows or the glass storm door.  I did not turn on the mechanical monster, skull, or skeleton either. The sign that pointed the way to the treats fell over and I just left it that way. I didn’t hang the black and orange tensile or the giant spider.  The covers for the lamps also stayed in the box.  The spider web is still unopened.  I did not buy any ghost or pumpkin cookies.  I never once drooled over the candy apples at the store.

I bought candy, put it in a bowl, and placed the bowl on a table where the kids would see it. Instead of handing out candy I worked at the computer.

Until this year I got as much enjoyment from Halloween as the kids did.  I would dress up, put on spooky music, and hand out the candy.  I don’t understand why this year was so different.  I just hope I am not like this on Christmas.

My fifth grade teacher was named Mrs. Jackson and she was the meanest woman to ever teach school.  I firmly believe she hated all her students.  I also believe she hated my brother and me the most.  She seemed to take pleasure from mocking the students.

One day during English class she told the entire classroom she had drove by my house over the weekend and saw me sitting on the grass eating earthworms.  I cried the rest of the day while my classmates teased me.  When I told my parents what Mrs. Jackson had said Mama got angry while Daddy just shook his head.  They explained to me that Mrs. Jackson had wanted to buy the land my parents bought for their house. 

About a month later I got a failing grade on a test.  Mrs. Jackson told the entire class that I got an F on my test.  She instructed me to have my parents sign the test.  Daddy was strict on us when it came to school so fearing that he would whip me I hid the test.  The next day Mrs. Jackson asked for the test back.  When she saw it wasn’t signed she took me to the hall and paddled me. She told me that each day it was not signed was a day for a paddling.  Once again I took it home and hid it and once again the next day I got a paddling. I knew I had to do something unless I wanted to get paddled everyday for the rest of the school year.  The next day I placed the signed test on her desk.  With trembling legs I took my seat waiting for her to notice that the signature on the test was in my handwriting.  Someone was looking out for me that day because she never realized the signature was forged.  I made sure to never fail another test in her class.

Mama is only five feet, two inches tall but when she gets mad you would swear she was at least seven feet tall.  She is a sweet person and it takes a lot to make her mad.  She raised her kids with lots of love, understanding, listening, and guidance.  I could not ask for a better mother. 

When I was sixteen years old I got cocky.  I began to mouth off just a little bit to Mama here and there.  I think I was feeling her out to see just how much I could get away with.  That didn’t last long.  

One day I got really cocky and thought I was going to fight Mama.  I was four inches taller and thought I was something else.  I drew back my arm to hit Mama and something weird happened.  The whole world passed in front of my eyes and the next thing I knew I was flat on my back lying on the ground.  My tiny Mama was sitting on my chest and her legs were pinning my arms to the ground.  Mama looked me in the eye and softly told me to never try that again.  She didn’t have to tell me twice.   

My heart goes out to my husband and others like him who search in vain for sugar free deserts.  Walmart sells sugar free pies; cherry, apple, and peach, which we buy but it gets old buying the same pies each time.  My husband would kill for a sugar free Éclair.  We got lucky and found sugar free lemon marinade pie twice at Walmart.  When we could not find them anymore we asked one of the ladies who bake the pies when they would have them again. We were told they are not going to bake them in the future. 

The CDC states there are 24 million diabetics in the United States with 57 million who are pre-diabetic.  The amount of people with diabetics in the world is 230 million.  It seems to me that any baking company with a shred of intelligence would want to sell a product those millions of people would buy.

Bullying is a major problem in the schools in the United States.  No one knows just how many students are bullied because many students do not tell anyone.  I know how it feels to be bullied for I went through it myself in High School.

There was a boy named James who used to bully me each and everyday from the time I started ninth grade.  He rode the same bus I rode so I got bullied at school and on the bus.  He pulled my hair, hit me, tripped me, and ridiculed me until I just wanted to kill myself to escape the daily torture.  No one ever defended me but they were quick to laugh when he bullied me.  The teachers turned a blind eye when they saw what James did to me.  I knew no one at school would help me and I was scared to tell my parents.  My Dad would go to the school which would just make things harder on me if the kids found out.

I just put up with the abuse until one day when the Science teacher was running late. He had locked his classroom so the whole class was waiting for him in the hall.  James decided to pass the time by hitting me in the head with his fist.  Something in me snapped that day.  Everything turned red as if I was looking through blood.  I took my heavy Science book and attacked James with it.  Someone pulled the book out of my hands which did little to stop me.  I went at him with my bare hands.  All the angry and hurt that had built up put me into a rage.  I beat James until the teacher and three boys were finally able to pull me off him.  James was bloody and bruised but his troubles had just begun.  Now he had to listen as kids mocked him for getting beat up by a girl.  Sometimes what goes around does come around.

I would love to say that the bulling stopped that day but sadly it didn’t.