Army of Mom

So this is how liberty dies ... with thunderous applause.

9.23.2008

Down in the Dumps

I can't adequately convey my sadness right now. I really can't. It is hard to believe that I'm at a loss for words. That seldom happens.

I turn 40 on Nov. 7. Big deal. I haven't really cared that much. (Ok, that's a lie, but it sounds good to say out loud.) The one thing that has made 40 seem so exciting to me is that Army of Dad and I were going on a cruise to Cozumel. We went to a resort property sales-pitch and got the cruise tickets.

They told us to pick two dates. We did that. Didn't get our first choice, so I assumed our second choice - the day before my birthday - was set in stone. Apparently not. It is about 45 days before departure now, so I called the ticketing agency since we should get tickets 45-60 days before the cruise leaves. Nope. All the cheap tickets are gone. If we wanted to crap up $188 per person, we could upgrade because they have the fancy cabins still available. *sigh* With an unemployed husband, that isn't real likely to happen.

So, there went my 40th birthday at sea. *Poof* Gone.

Maybe we go Dec. 4 or Jan. 15. Those were the next days we chose. At least they're going to extend the offer and give us the cruise. It will still be fun and exciting and maybe by then we'll have more spending money.

For now, I'm about as low as I've been in a long time. Just seems like the last straw in a string of crappy things to happen to us. I'm about to lose my Susie Sunshine attitude where I talk about how love and good health, etc etc makes our situation bearable. BS. Stuff sucks right now.

posted by Army of Mom @ 4:27 PM  

17 Comments:

  • At 6:02 PM, September 23, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I hear you~ I am still "on vacation" and it really sucks out there. The few jobs that are available don't pay worth a crap ( but, crap is better than no crap!) ...and there are so many people looking for jobs that this gives the employers the upper hand in who they hire AND at what pay.

    As far as the cruise thing, I had a friend do that about 4 years ago...she STILL hasnt gone! They kept putting her off until finally she went back up there in person and guess what...they were no longer in the building!

    I know it's hard to stay positive...it's a battle for me too....but if you fake it long enough, I think you actually start to believe it :-)

    K.R

     

  • At 8:51 PM, September 23, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Look, I feel for you. I found myself out of work after 17 years employed. Why? I won't get into it but suffice to say it's directly related to the economy and, specifically, the fact that billions have been spent on a misguided war rather than pumping that money into the U.S. economy.

    In the past three years, I've gone from staunch die-hard conservative to solidly Democrat and frankly the whole Republican way, breaks to the rich, on and on. I can't take it any more.

    I stumbled on here today and wanted to leave a note of encouragement. It can get better and eventually will. Do your best to support change in this country; I know that's helping make me feel better.

    Jillian

     

  • At 9:17 PM, September 23, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I love the smell of astro-turfed trolling when someone is down, thanks for injecting your moonbattery in a non political post

    keep swinging AOM things will get better WITHOUT pandering obamaism

     

  • At 8:51 AM, September 24, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Well, hello, I checked backed here and I guess I should have seen the obvious McCAin icon. I didn't mean to inject my "moonbattery" and was only trying to be encouraging about what truly helped me feel better about the world and my place in it.

    Anyway, I hope I didn't offend. I shouldn't have made this about politics - and please know things will improve.

     

  • At 9:14 AM, September 24, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Jillian
    I extend a olive branch of truce, the last few weeks has seen a upswing of unhinged leftists astroturfing conservative websites, AOM is very special to me and i could NOT tolerate her site being abused in that way, i apologize to you and to her for overstepping bounds.

    WPDunn

     

  • At 9:58 AM, September 24, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Actually, WPDunn, the unhinged mindset has affected BOTH sides. I've seen vile, awful things posted here and on the liberal sites I visit. I think both sides should take a breath, step back and realize we're all in this together.

    And, for the record, I'm liberal and AoM and I have managed to maintain our friendship for a long, long time by agreeing to disagree and respecting each other as intelligent adults.

    You know... most of the time. :)

     

  • At 9:32 PM, September 24, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thanks WPDunn. I appreciate that response. Hope Army of Mom is better and based on her Afternoon Delight post, perhaps she is :)

    LKat: It's good you can remain friends. I have to admit that it's actually been harder for me I've just become so darn passionate about this election - this year in particular given the state of the country and the overall decline in the past eight years. I really think it's a travesty.

     

  • At 9:33 PM, September 24, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I guess it was clear but that last post was from me, Jillian.

     

  • At 9:21 AM, September 25, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Jillian, on balance the last 7-8 years were pretty good, but the real damage has hit during the last two. Wonder what could have happened.

     

  • At 10:43 AM, September 25, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Respectively, I disagree strongly with your comment and the information in the link. I could cite many reasons why and counter links but then this would turn into a political debate and I've been reminded that this is not a political blog.

    Because I can't help myself, I will say that the economy's performance historically catches up with an administration's actions anywhere from four to six years late, thus arguably Clinton is the reason for the strong economy in the early part of the century and now the war spending and many others actions are catching up with Bush. There's certainly no way that a Democratic congress only in power for the past 18 months/two years right now could have sent things spiraling - which they first did in late summer August 2007 when the crafty mortgage lending came back to bite us all.

    Dang it, you got me started despite my best intentions!

    Anyway, I'm keenly aware that none of my arguments will change any opinions here. Indeed, it would take much more than some random person commenting on a blog to change opinions.

    I do find it hard to believe that a family that I'm assuming based on earlier posts is not in the top 2% of wage earners and currently is struggling like millions of Americans with a job loss - could be big Republican supporters.

     

  • At 11:45 AM, September 25, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Jill
    i suggest you try to find a copy of "The Guffman American Civics Course " circa 1959-1960 for a accurate and concise answer to what branch of our fine republic controls taxation and spending, here is a clue - its not the president.
    i can understand that if you were not taught from that era of academics or G_d forbid educated in this time of self esteem classes and ebonic math that sometimes the mechanics of government and the reality of history is a wee bit lopsided.
    but never the less i would encourage you to explore the fine and exciting world of History and Government before it was dumbed out of existence
    oh yes , since it was a Dem controlled congress who enacted fannie mae/freddie mac, and a Carter Administration Clusterfoxtrot that created the current state of islamic rambunctiousness
    i really would go round casting one's pearls

    Have a great day and a wonderful future
    PWD

     

  • At 9:49 PM, September 25, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

     

  • At 10:00 PM, September 25, 2008, Blogger Army of Mom said…

    When people have cogent points to make, I will let them make them. Occasionally, I will even let people vent in here. But, when people go off on racist tangents, that's when I hit the delete key. Plain and simple. This is my little piece of the Internet and I choose how to decorate it.

     

  • At 10:35 PM, September 25, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Damn... I miss ALL the fun.

     

  • At 10:56 PM, September 25, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Jilly ,
    White Privilege?
    i'm sorry, please dont take this question as a slight upon you but..

    Are you retarded?
    In all that "Education, you were not taught critical thinking?

    Thanks for proving my point
    Liberals will never accomplish anything as long as the only motivating tactic is derision division and victim identity
    let me school you sweetie, you probably can't get a job because you don't possess the basic common sense skills and people skills to function in the real world
    try working a year on the blue collar line, there isn't a lack of jobs, but a dearth of lazy ignorant entitlement fed clowns who think blue collar or minimum wage is beneath them.
    White Privilege,
    gee i must have missed that little perk when i was working 2 jobs AND attending a CC without any "Government assistance what so ever
    you madam have spent any and all good will i have for you.
    i truly hope you have a good life, going thru life bitter, ignorant and a Democrat is not a good plan

     

  • At 7:02 AM, September 26, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    WP Dunn:

    Um, let me just say, clearly you don't know me. As for my job status, again it's directly related to decisions the Bush administration - and yes I suppose you could argue that but it wouldn't go far with me or many of my former co-workers. I've been employed 20 years after college and only recently laid off but I'm happy to hear you understand why I "can't get a job." Wow.

    P.S. My family is packed with blue collar workers, including some who work on lines. I spent time working in factories in my youth to supplement scholarships but admittedly have not since leaving college.

    As for my post, I didn't mean to offend - and really what was offensive? - but I did think it summed up my thoughts very well about Sarah Palin. As for what I've actually written about her - it probably would offend so I didn't post that here.

     

  • At 8:05 AM, September 26, 2008, Blogger Army of Mom said…

    Ok, this is the last comment on this post and I'm closing up the comment thread.

    This was simply my effort to be pathetic because I was sad that I didn't get to take our free cruise for my 40th birthday as I thought we'd get to.

    There was NOTHING political in this post to start this whole back and forth exchange. This is precisely why I don't like election year. People who could probably get along while riding the subway together turn on each other.

    And, I have to get in my two cents since it is my blog. My husband lost his job, but we don't blame Bush, we don't see any reason why the government has any role in the difficulty in him finding a job. It is just the way it is. *shrug* And, the whole white privilege accusation was completely offensive. I'd love to have had some of that white privilege growing up when my entire family had to bathe in the same bathwater because we couldn't afford to fill up the tub four times. I'd have loved to have some of that white privilege for my dad - who had to live in a neighbor's barn and tend their livestock so he could have a roof over his head, food in his belly and some money to buy things he needed. Yeah, I'm sure my mom would have loved to have had some of that white privilege when she was in school and had to wear socks with sandals (in the 50s when it wasn't cool) because her family didn't have enough money to buy her more than one pair of shoes a year.

    And, I have some very accomplished friends of all colors and races who used their minds and guts to get themselves an education and become something with their lives.

    If you're going to throw out the whole "white privilege" thing and then wonder why it is offensive, now you know.

    And, to take my little pity party and turn it into a political diatribe was just strange to begin with. I could understand it on my political posts ...

     

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