Live

Last week, two horrible things happened; one nearby, one in another state.

Locally, a man(child - imo) walked into a mall and opened fire in the food court. Luckily, he knew nothing about the gun he stole (plus the fact that it jammed), and "only" (I use that word lightly) killed two people. He also injured just one other. Rumor has it that a man with a concealed carry license confronted him, just before the man(child) shot himself.

In Connecticut, a man(child) stole guns from his mother (guns she LEGALLY owned, and according to her best friend, had for protection, since she lived alone), shot her, then shot out the glass of a locked front door to an elementary school, and killed 6 adults, and 20 1st graders. He also shot himself.

Oregon's gun laws are "middle of the road" compared to other states -- no waiting period for the gun itself, background check is required, no criminal history, etc. However, there are also federal laws in place that are more strict. There is no such thing as "gun control" when it comes to criminals; "stricter laws" or "more laws" won't stop them from buying anything they want. I don't care if you disagree with me or not, but people kill with all sorts of things.

MANY things are illegal; that does not stop criminals from getting them. Are you honestly telling me that *I* shouldn't own a gun because someone might break into my house, steal it, and kill me & my family with it? That's one of the most ridiculous things I've heard recently.

I will tell you the same thing that I've said on my FB page -- "We will not hide. We will not live in fear; tragedy happens everywhere & the moment you let the fear control you is the moment that "they" win." I WILL own a gun (handgun, rifle, maybe both), I WILL be able to protect my family, and I WILL NOT RUN SCARED!

Many people have talked about homeschooling their kids because of this -- I will NOT! Many people decided to keep their kids home today -- I will NOT! Many people shamed those parents who allowed their children to talk to the press -- I would have allowed it, myself! Many people have said, "Let's put in bulletproof glass, hire security, etc..." Are YOU going to pay for that? We can't even keep art & music in school because the people refuse to pay for it!

And, even if we did ALL of this, it won't stop. I encourage you to read this article, if you haven't yet. I encourage you to see that our children, our soldiers, and our spouses sometimes NEED MENTAL HEALTH help and aren't getting it. WE need to be their advocates and do what we can to get them the help they need BEFORE it leads to massacre.

And, above all, I encourage you to LIVE YOUR LIFE! Send your children to school, finish your Santamas shopping, go to work... Don't live in fear, and hide under the covers.

FINALLY!

Ace was finally able to finish sanding down "that little hump" (one that turned into almost a month's worth of weekends full of cement dust and very sore backs, necks, & shoulders). This means we can move forward!! We are now ready to call the flooring people. My job, tomorrow if I don't get a client, is to make the floor plan (with a huge roll of construction paper), so we know exactly how to cut the vinyl.

We also went through Angie's List to try to find someone to finish the drywall/taping/mudding/sanding/painting, and someone for the tile job... but they either didn't return our calls or they did, but aren't taking new projects right now. Fine... still don't want to go through a GC, so as I drive to & from work, I take note of specialty trucks with those two businesses on them. We'll check them out, and find SOMEone; hopefully soon.

In holiday-related news, a lot of the ex's family members no longer are in my address book... After years of sending a card (and most of them got a photo of Princess, too) without any acknowledgement, I removed them all from my book last year. When I asked Princess if she wanted to send a card to her father in the envelope with her photo (since he didn't have school photos taken -- which she doesn't like doing for him, anyway -- I am giving him the spare 10" X 13" I got in a package deal), she made a face & whined.

I said, "Is that a no?" She said, "Blah" and grumbled something. I said, "Why don't you want to send your father a card?" She answered, "Because then I have to write 'To Dad', and he's just not." I asked, "He's not your dad?" She said, "Well, he's my blood dad, but he's not my dad who's there all the time. Papa is." "Oh... I get it. Ok. Your choice." Yet another sign of his failures to her...

Regardless, I still have a huge stack of cards to get to; about half of which get pics (and I haven't cut them yet!)... so, off I go!