Like the Fat Orange Cat Garfield

I Really, Really Hate Mondays

Especially when Monday is followed by a holiday, I mean what is that all about? I think with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, 4th of July, shouldn't have a date attached to them, they should just be 2nd Monday in November, or whatever month they happen to be in. Actually we can remove Thanksgiving really from that list since it's always on Thursday--there is no date attached to it. But I do feel most holidays should be on a Monday. Even back in the day when we used to get both Washington and Lincoln's birthdays off, they were celebrated on a Monday, and yes it made sense to combine them into Presidents day. Because I don't want a day off celebrating Ronald Regan or Roosevelt or JFK or any other....MLK day moves around too, as it should.

So now we come to Veterans day, and yes it's an important day to remember all veterans of any war, but it's a date that can be easily moved to a Monday in November. Woodrow Wilson signed the original bill into law in 1919. Armistice Day as it was called then, was to celebrate the men that fought in the first world war, the idea was that WW1 was the war to end all wars (how optimistic was that?). It was later changed to Veterans Day in 1954 by Eisenhower. This date isn't attached to any significance past or present, aside from it being for VETERANS. I would also think for travel purposes having it on a Monday would be more convenient rather than in middle of the week.

Train Kept A-Rolling

As long as I'm ranting, I might as well continue and I hate sounding like an old fart but....what is it with parents? I'm not talking about parents of little kids, I'm talking about parents of children in the 25-30 year range that are not in school. At first I thought it was a little strange that a parent would continue to let a child live at home, and we've all heard the jokes about the 30 year old, living in his parents basement, playing video games. Never had a date, etc., but it's really not a joke anymore, now it's like cool to be that guy, or girl. It used to be, hence the joking, something to really be ashamed of but now it's not. It's cool if you have a job, earn money, don't pay rent, have meals prepared for you, laundry done, don't have to clean, budget for household expenses, save for "wants", pay for car insurance, car registration....I can go on. I personally know and have heard of LOTS of parents that are enabling (let's call it what it is) their children to not grow up, and why should they when they have everything done for them? Is this helping them to learn any kind of responsibility or is it just prolonging childhood when we had no worries? I don't know if the parents are afraid of an empty nest (another rite of passage) or if they're afraid their children can't make it without them.

Is this fallout from the 1980's when children's self esteem was all consuming and included letting children win at games so they wouldn't feel bad about losing. No one was picked last, teams were decided by the teacher. Parent/Teacher conferences were attended by the parents only, without the children, because the teacher didn't want the child to hear bad things being said about them (in some areas that's still the norm). Or is it because parents want to be their children's best friend rather than a parent? When my 14 year old son comes to talk with me about something sometimes the mom hat is on, sometimes it's just the adult hat, or no hat, depending on the conversation. I will say though the "friend" hat is never on. I'm not a peer of his, I'm his mom.

I've heard stories that just curl my toes, like the daughter that told her parents to pay for her lavish wedding, and then demanded they give money for a downpayment for a house. Which for some reason the parents did, then the housing market dropped, the house ended up being foreclosed because the "children" coudn't afford the payment on the adjustable mortgage. It gets better...Then these parents said they'd buy these children (I use the term children lightly) another house, because their daughter was having a baby. These so-called children said they would accept the house ONLY if they could pick it out themselves. WTF? These "parents" aren't wealthy, their own house is mortgaged to the hilt, but took the money out of their retirement savings to purchase this house for the daughter.

I know another family, two sons grown in their early 30's, one still lives at home, the other "lives" in a house down the street, the parents inherited. This son that "lives on his own" pays none of the utilities, and eats ever meal at home, showers at home, and does just about everything at home and by home I mean MOM and DAD's HOME, not his own. He's supposed to be paying rent but doesn't because he just bought a new truck and needs to pay for that, this is in addition to the new Honda he bought last year. He works 4 hours a day as an plummer. He could work more hours but doesn't want to.

I know more but just can't go on....I feel my blood pressure rising.

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