TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG

I've been thinking about doing this for a long time. The things holding me back were whether I would enjoy it, the question of if I had time to do it, and the worry about privacy. I tend to whine and complain, rant and rave a lot in writing. But with this on the web, I worried about people I know - or who know me - reading it. I live in a very small town. But hopefully that won't happen since I didn't use my real full name anywhere or my email address.... I don't think. (Edit: Well, it didn't work. I inadvertently left two things that showed up in someone's search engine. But - oh, well. I have now deleted most of the whining and griping - or at least the names involved.) As it turns out, as soon as I decided to actually do this, all heck broke loose.
1. A twisted, heartless 'neighbor' in the neighborhood where our cabin is, and were our son and his family live, decided to kill all dogs (except his own) who come in his yard or in the street anywhere near his house....actually, I guess anywhere in gun range. This guy *********** is weird, strange and unreasonable. Despite everyway we tried to alieviate the problem, and get along with the jerk, one of our dogs disappeared and the other one, members of our family including kids! happened on the scene, driving down the street, right after he shot another one of our dogs. He has no feeling at all about killing someone's pets. Or about the kids and families hurt when he does this. Well, this was several days ago...painful subject...no real solution and I don't want to talk about it.
2. My husband comes home from working out of town and I have to try to defuse him before he kills above mentioned psycho. DH has serious health problems, and tonight he suddenly took a bad, scarey turn, although he is somewhat better at the moment.... I don't know if he will try to go to work in the morning or not. He probably will, but ...
3. Our granddaughter who lives with us much of the time, has been (far) away for the past few weeks visiting relatives on the other side. It turns out her mother is taking her and moving there, now. I found out today, when she passed back through our town and dropped her off for an overnight stay. This move really makes me sad.
4. A close friend has received some bad news from her doctor two days ago. She is very upset and I am extremely worried - not only for the medical part of it, but because of her and her husband's state of mind.
5. One of our sons is in Baghdad and although he should be 'safe', it is still extremely worrisome.
6. Lots of tasks and responsibilities and plain old hard work come to the forefront...and threaten to choke me... this time of year.
7. Several negative associates who I have to deal with... always complaining (HA! - What am I doing now?!), looking on the gloomy side, never a positive word to say... and another one who needs constant ego stroking, ********** I am just so tired of being smothered by them. But I have lessened the contact with them.
8. Add to that, a house so cluttered that it is closing in on me, and several other problems...

Well, I guess that is it. It certainly is enough. To balance this out I will close with some positive things from the past few days...
1. Went hiking on a new trail with grandsons and daughter-in-law. Of course I have to say I tripped (soooo clumsy!) and rolled down a hill. Oooof! But I didnt get hurt except for a few scrapes and bruises, and I know the image of a fat lady rolling about two and a half revolutions downward on a hill was probably pretty funny. ;)
2. Mass today...and 3 other times this past week...always great! Yes, we are Catholic.
3. Confession today. What can I say? I am in great need of all the grace I can get.
4. Talked and laughed with my sister for about an hour on the phone. I sure wish we lived close.
5. Youngest grandchild due to be baptised this month.
6. The altar servers group is coming along and is very promising.
7. Had lunch out with some friends...and they didn't try to add anything to my workload. ;)
8. Lost 4 pounds over the past couple of weeks.

.... there's more, but I HAVE to get to bed now.

I promise this MAJOR whining is not going to set the tone for all of my future entries.