Just When You Think Things Are Going Great . . .

. . . you get slapped back to reality.  Big time.

My husband lost his job, I've been depressed and haven't felt much like blogging.  Or eating.  Or sleeping.  Or smiling. 

On second thought, belay that "not eating" statement.  It'll be a cold day in you-know-where before THAT happens.

Anyway, I'm slowly coming back to consciousness after he broke the news and already looking for ways to cut back on some pretty stupid heavy spending.

Sooooooo--no more thrifting, yard saling, antique mall cruising and ESPECIALLY, NO eBAY!  I'm sorry all of you that are still eBaying, but without me the site is in danger of going bankrupt.  I even removed the eBay app from my iPhone!  It was like going through heroin withdrawal.  I think.  I've never actually gone through heroin withdrawal but I hear it's pretty brutal.

I've reserved a 20x10 spot at the Slidell (Louisiana) Antiques & Crafts Street Fair on October 23 & 24 and will be offering incredible deals on a bunch of my stuff.  This pains me to no end but ya do what ya gotta do to get by.  I've already wrapped up five plastic bins full of my beautiful glass and pottery, bought an E-Z Pop-up tent at Sam's Club, and have enlisted my sister and two girlfriends to join me in two days of intense selling activity.  Since the booth is 20x10 and the tent is 10x10 I've got room to put out some furniture.

This will NOT include my Daystrom dinette set.  NO WAY--I will never ever ever find another one for $35!  And of course not my brand new Hey-Wake stuff since it's still sitting in the living room waiting for us to clear out the dining room (this weekend!  he promised he's really going to move his pool table out to his workshop!).

To tell you the truth, I'm just a big worrywart.  The husband is already putting out feelers and we're confident he'll be able to find something--he has years of experience in the professional diving field.  Note to our bankers: don't worry, you're in no danger of us defaulting on our loans (I doubt that our bankers even read this blog but just in case they do I wanted them to feel all warm and cozy and secure.  We went through hell to get that condo!).

It's just that, as several of you know, losing your job causes a major drop in your self-esteem, even when it's not your fault.  It's happened to nearly everyone I know over the years, including me, and you get over it and move on, many times for the better.    

And we're not blaming either BP or Obama for this.  Every time I tell someone, even perfect strangers, that my husband lost his offshore job they immediately bark, "Oh! It's that damn idiot in the White House!  We're kicking him and his commie friends out come November!"  Of course Obama's not going anywhere for another two years but hey, they're making plans.  A couple days ago I was sitting in a lab waiting room biding my time until it was my turn to have blood drawn and all of a sudden I started hearing rabid, drooling Obama hate spewing from the phlebotomist's mouth--something his patient said had turned on the spigot and he was literally shouting out stuff like, "Well, I don't hate anyone but if I did it would be that sorry asshole in the White House," and "Yeah, I hope the people who voted for him are happy with all this CHANGE," and "Can you believe he's doing things NO ONE HAS EVER DONE BEFORE?"

Look, I live in Mississippi and I was in Louisiana listening to this.  I was about to allow a raving maniac to stick a sharp needle into my arm and draw out a bunch of my blood.  I kept silent.

Well, until he slapped that little piece of gauze and a band-aid on my arm and told me it was ok to leave.  I stood up, walked over to him, and said (very sweetly), "Doug, I voted for Obama, I'm glad I did, I'd do it again, and I'm completely happy with all that hopey changey stuff."

Then I walked out into the waiting room and said to the waitees, "I'm sorry.  I just had to say something."  And you know what--one of the men gave me a thumbs up!

I realize that some of you don't agree with me politically and I really try hard not to use my blog as a political platform but there comes a time when we liberals in the Deep South have to stand up for ourselves.  There aren't many of us so we tend to keep our mouths shut even when people who are complete idiots (and even some who aren't) say things that are hateful and mean about our duly-elected-by-a-majority President.  Yeah yeah yeah, it's America and we can say whatever we want to because that's our God-given right blah blah blah blah blah.  Except that whenever I'd pipe up about Bush I'd get a steely-eye stare and hear the words, "When you criticize the President you're giving aid and comfort to the enemy."

Like the terrorists were just hanging on my every word.  Yeah.  Right.

OK, now I guess I've undoubtedly offended some of my readers and the next time I look at my Followers list it'll be smaller (it actually grew while I was away!).  I promise that I won't expound like this in the future (well, I'll try really hard not to) but I just had to get this off my chest. 

I do love each and every one of you, I missed reading your blogs, and hopefully when things get back to normal around here I'll be able to visit and say "hey!"

P.S.  Rest in peace, Bernie Schwartz.  Say hey to Janet and Marilyn when you see them.