Holiday Blessings.. and Holiday Rantings.

Obligatory Disney Picture. You can also follow the link to the right and see them all.
~~~Blessings~~~
I hope everyone's Christmas weekend was as good as mine.
I had a lovely breakfast with my friend, Niki. The weather was pleasant, too.
Matthew and I went with my Mom Saturday and toured the mobile home dealerships in the area again, finding a new floorplan we like very much. I will hear back today to see if this new dealership in Athens can beat the estimate from the one in Chattanooga. I like being able to sit back and make decisions slowly, with a lot of information.
I spent a morning with my sister and nephew, Matthew made lunch for us, and the weekend sailed by.
Then on Christmas Day we went to Matthew's parents' house. Dinner was great, and we stayed way past our bedtime but we enjoyed ourselves so much it was hard to leave.
Christmas went off without a hitch, and I hope that everyone was happy with what they received as gifts from us. With our holiday budget we tried really hard to place the emphasis on quality gifts, and not quantity of gifts. I think we ended up giving some thoughtful gifts. It only seemed fitting then, that our gifts we received this Christmas have been the most thoughtful, loving, memorable things to cherish. So, I feel really great about the whole thing.
The main part was we had two really great evenings with each of our families.

~~~Rantings~~~
Well, Matthew got me an aquarium for Christmas. I had been hinting that it would be nice to have one, but he suprised me on Sunday and we bought a nice set at Wal-Mart, 14 gallons. That was nice.
I set it up, and over many rises in my blood pressure and hollering for assistance, Matthew and I got all the bubbly contraptions connected and working properly. We were given a goldfish, donated by my nephew, and that was really nice.
Then came Monday, Christmas Eve, and my sister and I headed into town to get a few things and I went back to the same Wal-Mart where I bought the tank and set out to find a few more fish.
I was appalled at the state of the fish department! There was no employee back there at all, and at least 5-15 fish in EACH TANK were dead! The poor lonely Beta fish that they keep in all of 1/2 inch of water in their solitary cups were mostly living, although a few were belly-up. The sink area had about 5 dead goldfish laying in it like hours past an employee cared enough to clean out a tank, then just gave up and never thought another thing about it. It was so gross!
I had never seen so many fish dead before at once! I was so sickened. But as I was waiting on my sister to come back from the grocery side of the store, I was stuck there. Stuck staring at the pools of dead fish.
And I vowed to call the manager on Wednesday. I also vowed to not purchase ANY fish from Wal-Mart ever again, even if it means paying more $ to go to the pet stores. Who knows why those fish even died, they could have been neglected, over-crowded, under-fed, or just plain diseased! And I am not putting a possible disease carrying fish into my aquarium.
The worst part was a little girl about 7 or so that stood there with me talking about all the dead fish and carrying-on. I felt bad for her, and also wondered where her parent's were. In my mind they told her to go watch the pretty fish while they snagged up some last minute toys from the adjoining department without her seeing, only to come back to find her crying and morbidly fascinated with the display of dead fish. Merry Christmas! ick!
Then I get to work this morning to the same-old, predictable behavior patterns I am used to. Home Sweet Home! The genuine nice people inquiring on how my Christmas went versus the self-centered, ego-driven, materialistic people who only want to know what you got compared to what they got. Yuck! Elementary, revisited around here!
So, I just said I got some "nice things, but the best part was getting to relax and spend time with loved ones." That got the pesky person out of my office - QUICK!

Eat that - petty people who only want to talk about themselves! HA