Sometimes, a girl's just gotta vent!

A few things that irritated me the past few days:

~We had severe storms pass through our area last weekend.  Several funnel clouds were spotted, severe lightning, heavy rain, damaging hail, that kind of storm.  This was my view driving home from work after the worst was over:

But that's not the irritating part.  A local bank has a huge American flag flying out front.  Everyone in Festus knows what bank it is, because it's referred to as "the bank with the big-ass flag".  Said flag was damaged by the storm Saturday night.  As in ripped right in half.  Lengthwise.  So instead of one proud patriotic big-ass American flag, there were two strips of a sad looking flag flapping in the breeze.

 

The minute I saw it on the way to work on Sunday morning I cringed.  When I saw it on Monday morning I was irritated.  When I saw it STILL flying in two pieces on Tuesday morning I was pissed.  I mean, come on.  I understand that you might not have a replacement for a flag as big as my house just laying around in the vault, but can you not just take the damaged one down and destroy it respectfully instead of letting it linger there?  I found it quite offensive to the flag, to America, and the American citizens who still understand what the Flag and America should stand for.  Thankfully when I went out a while ago, it had been replaced with a brand new flag.

~Matt and I have been walking at the local school track recently, in an effort to lose this enormous amount of weight that I have packed on over the past few years.  I'm doing quite well, given we've only been at it for a week.  I found an awesome app for my iPhone called "My Fitness Pal", which can also be accessed without an iPhone at www.myfitnesspal.com.  Anyway, I've been religiously journaling my food and water intake and exercise, and am happy to report that I've lost 9.4 lbs in a week!  I know most of it is just water weight and the severe shock of me going from doing nothing to actually moving this immense body of mine.  But I'm pleased with the results anyway.  The first night I couldn't even walk one lap around the track without my lower back screaming in sciatic pain.  The second night I walked two laps, but halfway through the second one I thought someone was stabbing me in the lower back and hip and almost had to crawl the rest of the way.  Last night we went to walk and halfway through the first lap, we saw the high school baseball team had decided that the best place to play catch was right in the middle of the track.  Literally.  They were paired off, playing catch in every lane of the track in front of the bleachers.  Seriously?  You couldn't find somewhere else to do that shit?  So we only walked one lap, even though I made it the entire lap with NO BACK PAIN!!!  I was thrilled!!! 

~Before said walk last night, we were at the Festus PUBLIC Library because Matt needed to use some of their resources while he was studying for a final.  I went down there with him and decided to see about getting us a library card.  We were told that we would have to pay $20 a year because we live "outside city limits".  I got so pissed!  See, where we live, there is a subdivision literally 20 feet from our mailbox.  The city limit dividing line runs down the MIDDLE OF OUR ROAD.  5 feet from our mailbox.  But we have to pay $20 a year for a freaking library card, while the person who lives across the street WHOSE WINDOWS I CAN SEE INTO FROM MY LIVING ROOM gets one free.  And, someone who lives outside of Jefferson County only has to pay $25 a year.  Five dollars more than me, who lives a STONES FREAKING THROW from the city limits???



This is the view from my driveway.  See that road at the end of it?  The center stripe is where Festus "city limits" starts.  Everything past that is city.  That white house directly across from my driveway?  They're in city limits.  But we, who live 25 feet from them, are not.  Arrrrgh!!! 

The thing that irritates me is it's written on the building "FESTUS PUBLIC LIBRARY".  To me, that should mean that if you have a Festus mailing address, you should be able to use the PUBLIC library free of charge.  If you live outside of Festus, then I can totally understand charging a fee.  See, down here in Festus, we don't have any other library.  There isn't a County library until you get about 10 miles north of us, and even then if you're not a resident of that library's school district it STILL costs you to have a card.  It just pissed me off.  I mean, I pay taxes for everything else down here...ambulance, school (which I don't even have a kid in so don't get me started on how unfair that is that I have to pay taxes for a school that will never be used by a child of mine since I probably won't ever have one to send there), special road district, everything.  Matt suggested I write a letter to city hall and the local paper and I just might do that.  I even asked them if they could make an exception since we live so damn close to city limits and the old biddy wouldn't even consider it.  See if I ever go there again.

~Everyone, and I do mean everyone (with one or two exceptions) is popping up pregnant. 

A few things that made the past few days a little more bearable even with said irritations:

I have a husband that loves me and would do anything for me.

I have the most awesome and inspiring and supportive best friend in the whole wide world.

I have lost 9.4 pounds.

I got the yarn to start my second attempt at my Renaissance sweater and cast on last night for the first panel.



I, in a moment of weakness, left Walgreens today with TWO new Dean Koontz books.  :)  As if I needed more books...I already have 17 waiting to be read!!!

Ok, I feel much better now.  On to our regularly scheduled blogging.  :)