Cordelia's Mom, Still

Guess What, Mr. V: My Readers Disagree With You (Re-Blog)

Posted on September 21, 2015 by cordeliasmom2012

Anyone who has been following me from the beginning knows the story about that 11^th grade English teacher, Mr. V. If you don’t know it, you can read the story in my About page.

Today’s post is about revenge versus forgiveness.

For many, many years, I totally hated that English teacher. So much, in fact, that on my second guest post on Cordelia’s website, I wanted to add a postscript that said:

“F… you, Mr. V!”

Cordelia rejected that . (I can’t imagine why – but maybe the fact that it was a Christmas post had something to do with it.)

I even had visions of posting Mr. V’s real name and maybe trying to find out where he lives now and posting that! If I discovered he had died in the interim, maybe I could find his tombstone and post a picture with some kind of wicked comment. (Yep, Cordelia’s Mom can be a really nasty person if you cross her.)

The more I thought about it, the angrier I became – I could have had a real writing career were it not for that one teacher’s stupid comment. I wanted to get back at him somehow, and I wanted him to know that I had proved him wrong – I now had READERS who didn’t think my writing was worthless.

So back and forth Cordelia and I went on the draft of that post. She loved the post itself (who wouldn’t?), but the hatred simply didn’t fit in with the style of her blog.

Maybe I should’ve posted it on:

www[dot]IHateMyOldTeacherAndWishHeWereDead[dot]com.

[Note to readers: don’t even try, I made sure it’s not a real site!)

I wracked my poor pitiful brain to come up with something that would express my anger but not offend Cordelia’s readers.

Finally I came up with:

“Rot in Hell, Mr. V — BUT happy holidays to you, too, wherever you may really be!”

That certainly covered it, I thought. But again, surprisingly, Cordelia rejected it.

Well, I really wanted my guest post published because it was a gift to my newly found readers.

What to do?

I sat back and began thinking (it does happen sometimes.)

I thought back over the many, many years since high school and all the ways that I had found to use my writing abilities. Beyond the normal work-related material, I had found an outlet once I had children of my own. After all, who better to write those Santa and Easter Bunny letters than a parent who knows the child best?

“Dear Cordelia: Thank you for your letter. I’ll try my best to bring you the puppy you want, but I will have to check with your parents first to be sure they have the ability to take care of it for you. I have had problems with PETA in the past when I have given a live animal to a child at Christmas time, and then that child’s parents didn’t want it and wouldn’t allow it. I notice there are lots and lots and lots of other nice items on your wish list, and I promise to bring you at least one of those. – Love, Santa.”

(No, Cordelia, you haven’t forgotten that one – I never actually wrote it. But I would have if I had thought of it at the time.)

So, for each Christmas and Easter, each of my children received a very nice, handwritten note from Santa and/or the Easter Bunny. I even used special pens and papers, and disguised my penmanship so they wouldn’t catch on. And when Cordelia grew too old to believe, I got her a set of special pens, and she took over the task for her sisters. Worked out well for all of us.

***

Anyway, back to the issues with my Christmas post.

My rambling thoughts focused back on Mr. V.

Maybe I was able to write such wonderful stuff now BECAUSE I was so angry with him. Maybe the need to prove him wrong had become the very catalyst I needed to put my abilities into the public light.

My thoughts took an alarming turn. Instead of HATRED, I was beginning to feel THANKFUL to that cranky old man. And at some point, I began to feel COMPASSION.

Maybe the reason he had come down so hard on a starry eyed teenager was because he, himself, had failed as a writer. Maybe in his own, misguided way, he was trying to save me the pain of pursuing a dream that might ultimately cause me more misery than happiness.

(Or, maybe he really was just a cranky old fart who enjoyed dashing a child’s dreams. We’ll never really know, will we?)

After several hours of this deep thinking (and several glasses of wine), I made the final edit to my postscript on the Christmas post:

“Oh, and a note to Mr. V: While I would not be unhappy if you got coal in your stocking this year, I do want to wish you a happy holiday. Thanks to Cordelia’s readers [*gasp* MY readers?] I have finally forgiven you.”

***

Sometimes, a parent learns from the child. Cordelia (and her readers) taught me forgiveness.

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As always, I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at: cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com or notcordeliasmom@aol.com

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Images by: andrewbuter, and Aaron Smith/Random Factor, and only_point_five, and Sarah Deer, respectively

Posted in Re-Blogs, Relationships, That's Life | Tagged blogging, forgiveness, Mr. V, revenge, writing | 22 Comments

Even Good Dogs Are Bad Sometimes (Or, Why Dogs Can Be Expensive)

Posted on September 17, 2015 by cordeliasmom2012

Looks cute, doesn’t she? Now that she’s grown up, I can pretty much trust Puppy Cody anywhere in the house.

Most of the time, that is.

There’s a reason that we leave NOTHING out on counters or table tops at a level that can be reached by a 44-lb mixed breed dog.

Recently, I was taking my shower upstairs, while hubby and Cody were downstairs, supposedly watching each other. Suddenly, I heard the pitter-patter of running paws and stomping of manly feet, accompanied by “No, Cody, put that down!”

Who would think that a dog could totally destroy a “contractor’s” heavy-duty phone? But Cody did it very well:

YEP, THAT PHONE WAS INDESTRUCTIBLE

That phone was only a few days old, and I bought it because it was supposedly indestructible (the salesman indicated that it could be dropped from a 12-story building without breaking – but the salesman had never met Cody).

Thus, another Sunday spent running to the nearest retail store to replace an item I could not do without. Since it was, in my opinion, hubby’s fault for not watching the dog, I made him pay for the replacement (“grumble, grumble, oh ok”). Fortunately, the store was not busy that day, and I had time to chat with the store clerk. I casually mentioned that while I would love to have the features of a smart phone, I did not want a phone that large, nor one that did not fold up. As everyone can see, my phones take a lot of abuse (sometimes they survive, sometime not – that’s life).

As it turned out, Sprint was running a special offer – a “free” Spark tablet with each new phone purchase. I could have the larger screen and features of a smart phone when I wanted them, but still be able to carry the smaller basic phone in my pocket for everyday use. Even I’m not naïve enough to believe anything is “free” – but for $15 a month, it seemed like a really good deal. The tablet can connect either to the Sprint network or to wi-fi (to avoid Sprint data charges wherever free wi-fi is available). How could I resist? I even bought a special padded case for those times when I will inevitably drop the darn thing.

Now, I can see what my blog looks like on those smaller screens (still one of the best looking blogs around, isn’t it?), and when I get bored at a real estate closing, I can surf the net like everyone else is doing. I can even use the tablet as a digital book reader if I can figure out how to download stuff to it.

Cordelia’s Mom has advanced one more step into the world of technology.

Now, I just have to be sure to keep that tablet away from the dog.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com or notcordeliasmom@aol.com

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Images by Cordelia’s Mom

Posted in Pets, That's Life | Tagged cell phone, Cody, dogs, puppies, Puppy Cody, tablet | 41 Comments

Teddy’s Rosalie’s New Home

Posted on September 14, 2015 by cordeliasmom2012

TEDDY ROSALIE LOVES HER NEW SUPERVISORY POSITION!

I should know better. Never, ever walk into a large furniture store to “just look around and see what they have.”

Remember the new bedroom furniture – no interest for two years? (If not, read that story here – hint, hint!) I paid that furniture off ahead of time, and then figured I could maybe afford a new couch (since Puppy Cody ate part of the old one). The beat-up old couch (along with the rest of our yard sale furniture) looked really bad in our newly renovated living room. Plus, hubby had been complaining that our 35-year-old kitchen table had begun to wobble – never mind that every one of the chairs had become torn over the years and those Walmart tie-on cushions weren’t hiding the damage very well.

So off to the furniture store I went on a fine Saturday afternoon, just to get an idea of what I might like.

NOW I JUST NEED SOME IDEAS FOR POSTS …

Yes, you guessed it – several hours later, I came home with paperwork for: a new, smaller couch (so we can take it along if we go into a ranch house or apartment someday); a new computer desk/hutch (and of course, I had to get the matching filing cabinet and desk chair); a new chest for the front window (because it looked so cool that I just couldn’t resist it); and a new, counter-height, kitchen table (but at least I managed to limit myself to just two chairs because the kitchen is really small).

All at much less than I would expect to spend for a whole downstairs of “real” (read, not assemble-it-yourself) furniture – and all at 0% interest, with a monthly payment matching what I had previously been paying for the bedroom furniture.

Win-win all around, and I’m loving my “new” house and feeling very professional when I blog.

Now, if I can just get that darn kitchen roof fixed once and for all!

(And thank heavens we have extra paint for the walls – it can stop raining any time now, ya know?)

YES, THAT CEILING LEAK HAS GOTTEN BIGGER, BUT A CONTRACTOR HAS BEEN SCHEDULED TO RE-DO THE KITCHEN ROOF, HOPEFULLY SOON

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com or notcordeliasmom@aol.com

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Images by Cordelia’s Mom

Posted in Teddy Rosalie, That's Life | Tagged credit, furniture, houses, Puppy Cody, renovations, shopping | 14 Comments

Designer Kids – Breeding Perfection? (Re- Blog)

Posted on September 10, 2015 by cordeliasmom2012

Because today is Thursday (my normal post day) and because I’m bored:

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I recently read an article in our local newspaper indicating that 23andMe, a genetic testing company, has been granted US. Patent No. 8,543,339, entitled “Gamete donor selection based on genetic calculations.” (Wow, that’s a mouthful, isn’t it?)

Essentially, as I understand it (and I have absolutely no scientific background, mind you), the purpose is to enable people to predict the genetic traits of babies based on the DNA of the parents.

I’d like to think the patent was obtained with the viewpoint that parents could breed out inherited diseases, but I’m guessing there are people who would love to use such testing to “design” their offspring – you know:

Add a Gene/Change a Gene/Delete a Gene (E-I-E-I-O)

Without getting into the ethics and politics surrounding this patent, I would simply like to say:

If parents could design their offspring, 99.9% of the kids born in the future would behave a whole lot differently than they do today.

I mean, what prospective mother could resist the opportunity to breed into her child an obsession to clean his or her own room without prompting?

What prospective father could resist growing the next [INSERT NAME OF PRO-SPORTS PLAYER HERE]?

Both parents would want to assure that their 16-year-old daughters had an inborn aversion to dating before the age of 30 (and then only with Dad’s express permission).

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if parents could totally breed out sassing, stubbornness, “I hate you and wish you were dead!”, etc. etc.

Even better, maybe we could set up the genetics in such a way that the child went immediately from the cute-new-baby phase to the thank-god-he (or she)- is-finally-an-adult phase!

Never mind the blue eyes, handsome face, beautiful body – I want to choose my kids’ personalities!

Can we find a way to take the kids who are already here and change their genetics NOW, so that they become Stepford-children?

I love all three of my girls, but it would have been so much easier to raise them if they didn’t have that normal teenage hatred of obedience!

So what do you say, folks – want to get on-board with the idea of assembly-line children? Or should we just muddle through with genetically flawed beings like those that populate the world today? After all, you wouldn’t have to worry about your perfectly designed child growing up to become, say, an actor, a comedian, a writer [heaven forbid!], or a politician. Is that cool or what?

Not.

(Actually, now that I think of it, that patent is self-destructive. People who would choose to “design” their offspring are so flawed themselves that their DNA isn’t likely to make it into that new gene pool anyway.)

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com or notcordeliasmom@aol.com

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Images by: Be-Younger.com, and Sunshinewalks (Lisa Bruce), respectively