Why is this Snowman Smiling?

Maybe it has something to do with him costing $124.99. Ouch! If memory serves me correctly, he was just over two feet tall. He was cute, but out of my league.

I had my car window crank repaired today (another ouch) and while in the lobby waiting, watched the news with another lady. On the news, the anchor lady mentioned the movie Closer. The lady in the waiting room with me piped up how ugly she thought Julia Roberts was. That her mouth was big and ugly and she just kept on about it. I'm like, Okay, I get the picture. Why do women need to put other women down so much?

I started out good on my working vacation, but ended on a sour note. A headache that won't respond to ibuprofin and a sore throat. I kept wanting to fall asleep. It could also be attributed to the fact that I awoke at 5:00 a.m. and stayed up after retiring late last night. I attacked the kitchen today and baked a big pan of pizza lasagne. The kids like it with pepperoni instead of hamburg or sausage. I set one of my CD players in the kitchen - something I have been wanting for months - music in the kitchen. The drawer for the CD's is a little sticky because the player has been outside on the patio since early summer. But, it worked fine. Ahhh, music.

A senseless killing. In a town close to where I grew up, a 20 year old male kidnapped and murdered a 25 year old female. Motive? Appears to be robbery. He is in jail. She had a 5 year old little girl at home. My niece's former best friend used to date him. It seems that she also gave him a ride to the gas station where he committed the crime. She was not involved in any sense, she had long left the area to travel back home. She stated that he seemed fine. Was not acting strange in any unusual way. So senseless. The victim lived long enough to explain what happened. She did not know her attacker. She died 45 minutes into surgery. He had shot her 10 times.

My heart aches for her family (and his). There has already been a fund established for the little girl. This happened on Tuesday night (11/30). It may seem hard for big city people to understand but I would venture to guess that a lot of people in that small community still do not lock their doors at night. We never did growing up. That is how seldom crime occurred in our area. Small town country. We didn't have a lot of perks the big cities had, like art museums, concerts in the park, exposure to the world, but we didn't have the crime, either. The people in that area cannot comprehend such a hideous crime. Something this brutal happens only every twenty years or so.

I can recall when I was young hearing a story about a man who went stark raving mad and murdered his family with an axe. This happened in our small town. It was the horror story for thirty-some years. The incident has left the town reeling with shock and grief.