Buttons and more

When I tour the trees on display at a museum in a town near to me, I always try and stop in to give respect to the Missus. While her husband was busy in the knife making and train carving area of business, she was an artist herself. You can read about her here.

I have a "free" day today. One where I am not obligated to be anywhere. Today is promised to no one. I can hopefully get my decorations up. My spirit has been low the last week or so. I do not have any decorations put up, save for two bright snowflake lights on our living room wall. I moved the organ to make more room and this corner is so dark. The holiday snowflake lights did the trick.

Now, I have to drink my coffee and gear up for today. So much to do. I am just not that "into" it this year. Family woes. So many are unhappy. So many are struggling. The entire economy is depressed. All co-workers and friends are feeling monetary woes this year. My sister will not be joining me for the holidays. She will be alone in a cold, dark cell. I know, I know. She brings it on herself. So everybody tells me over and over again. I know this. But, that old saying keeps going through my mind. "There but for the grace of God, go I."

We all have choices. We get up. We make the choice. I believe this with all my heart. However, I also believe that some of us live in a state of mind where we have tuned our inside voices out. Or, we no longer hear them. The little voice that is telling us to do the right thing or not do the wrong thing is no longer heard. For whatever reason we no longer listen, or we cannot listen. I believe that is where my sister is. I could be wrong.

We watched Deck the Halls last evening. Not great, not horrible. Matthew Broderick looks so different, I didn't even recognize him in some of the scenes until after he turned. When a scene changed and this guy walked out, I'd be like "Who is that?" Oh, that's Matthew. Or, maybe I am just not used to seeing him in a movie. The electricity and the light displays were a little over the top. I'll tell you one thing. Kristin Chenoweth needs to sing a lot more. That is one sweet voice.

There is no secret in the fact that I have had some difficulty with my co-worker. Most of you have heard me speak of how tedious she can be from time to time. She had a nervous breakdown and is out until the first of the year. Some folks say she will be out longer. She is addicted to pain meds although she will not admit that. She had enough drugs (oh, sorry - medication) in her on a daily basis to knock a horse out. Many people kept saying that this was going to happen.

I don't know enough about this type of medicine to know what to expect of recovery or withdrawal. Most folks are saying she is going to need rehabilitation. The only thing I know is that she had isolated her family. She did this before the medication.

In March of 2005 she did something to me so dastardly that I did not speak to her about anything but work-related topics for an entire year. I have no use for people like that. I may have had to share an office with her, but I sure as hell didn't have to acknowledge that she even existed outside of that office. I am the strong and silent type. She needs people and communication. You could say she went a little crazy. She would leave the office for hours at a time, roaming the halls looking for somebody anybody that would listen to her chat away. I was relieved. Somebody else was enduring her endless stories and diarrhea of the mouth.

She had created a life where she was in her own little world. If you didn't share her beliefs she shunned you. This is how she ended up so alone and with no support. She has bemoaned to me the fact that her daughter does not even call to see how she is doing.

Her pain began two years ago. Shortly after I stopped speaking to her. After about 12 months, I felt sorry enough for her to listen to her go on and on about her problems. She told anybody and everybody that would listen. She bragged about her pain meds. People began talking behind her back, calling her "whack-o". I saw her falling asleep at her desk. I saw how many times she left the office to pick up her meds, go to the chiropractor, go to the physical therapist, go home and sleep. She abused her work time because my managers (in our home office)never check up on us. Not on a regular basis, anyway.

I had a previous co-worker that abused the time at work, and when I mentioned it to the managers at our home office nothing happened. He was in fact, given a huge raise. I believe that I was marked as the "squealer". So, this time I figured "To hell with all of you. I am going to sit here and do my work and keep to myself." Nobody at the home office ever caught on. If they did, they never said anything to me. Nobody asked me how things were going. My co-worker was left unbridled for over two years.

Old sayings kept going through my head. "Give them enough rope and they will hang themselves". I am a wise person. Sometimes I forget and make mistakes, but for the most part I know what is coming down the pike. This will sound cold hearted, but maybe some people actually do get what they deserve. A lot of times in my life, I didn't get to see it firsthand. Just desserts, come-uppance, coup-de-grace. Whatever you want to call it. Although I know it is not healthy or proper to relish in somebody else's discomfort, I am a human being and I had about as much of her crap as any one person could take. I have sympathy for her ex-husband and can understand why he walked out.