Here is a photo from the outside looking in. It's one of the bed and breakfasts in town.This weekend was really good, just really busy. It started out so restfully, though. I was just exhausted from the week, and asked my immediate boss if it would be okay for me to leave a couple of hours early to take a nap. She said I could leave at noon if I wanted, since most of the other people in our office took a week off here and there over Christmas. Since this is our busy season, I figured I better run with any time off I could get.
I had four whole extra hours in my day, so I decided I'd nap for a couple and clean for a couple. Instead, I fell asleep at 12:30 and didn't wake-up until Stinky called me to pick her up from basketball practice at 4:30. I must have needed the sleep.
The rest of the night was heavenly. I ran at the rec building and then came home and watched movies with Coadster.
Here is a photo of the outside of two houses.I chose the Saturday Scavenger Hunt word this week and it was outside. Since it snowed on Friday night and a little more on Saturday, I posted a few photos of the outdoor scenery after it had been frosted.
I shoveled it all up on Saturday and got into a little altercation with my uptight neighbor. She just moved in this Summer, has never introduced herself to us, and both times she's spoken to us, she said, "I'm not trying to be a bitch but..." and then said something predictably bitchy.
She must have been watching me shovel and opened her door to yell out, "Excuse me. Is there some reason you're putting all the snow in that one pile?" I'm sure she could care less why I was doing it, she obviously just wanted me to stop, but didn't know how to say that without being horribly condescending. I told her it was because it was easier than walking with a heavy shovelful of snow and dumping it further away. She told me she was worried that the snow might fall onto her part of the sidewalk and she didn't want to have to come out and shovel it again. What? The pile of snow was by my part of the sidewalk and none of it had fallen off of it.
I do understand there are all kinds of people in the world, and I'm thankful for that. If the world was populated with a bunch of people like me, everyone would just run around swearing and dancing to cheesy music all day long. I just don't understand caring about how anyone else shovels their sidewalks. In this town, I'm happy if anyone shovels at all. I wanted to tell her that she might want to spring for some cable TV or maybe she could find a nice hobby, or a cause that would keep her mind on something more important.
She kept trying to backtrack and tell me where the best place for me to put the extra snow would be and it wouldn't be that far of a walk and blah and blah and blah...All her talk, talk, talking was making my brain scab up, so I just waved her away. If you're going to be an uptight bitch, be an uptight bitch, but you can't be an uptight bitch AND a people pleaser without developing ulcers or stroking out at an early age. Ugh!
That is how my little shoveling chore turned into weird drama. My daughters told me that she was a junior high teacher, so maybe she's just used to being condescending to people. I guess I'm not going to get an A+ in snow shoveling this term, and that's just fine with me.
10 comments:
In my experience teachers fall into two broad categories: those who want to teach because they like the idea of inspiring young minds and those who teach because they're cowardly little bullies and it's much easier to bully children than adults. As to the proportion of one to the other I couldn't say.
Have you considered carefully shoveling your snow into letter shapes so that it spells out a friendly suggestion to your neighbour? Something along the lines of "Go forth and multiply" but with more brevity.
Wow! I wonder how her students feel each day when she talks to them like that!
Shovel your snow any way you want! My only snow shoveling suggestion is to not shovel it into the wind... it just blows back in your face and it hurts!
I'm glad she didn't give you suggestions on where to store your shovel. Although it sounds like she already has a stick up her butt. Gotta love it when people like that shoot out a disclaimer by saying, "I don't mean to be a bitch, but.." or "I don't mean to be a nag, but..".
Seriously, she needs a better hobby than the one she has - minding other people's business.
Glad you kept your distance. That first photo could well have been a peeping tom one, had you gone closer.
Mr Atrocity: That second category of teachers sounds like Nazis.
One answer to ""Excuse me. Is there some reason you're putting all the snow in that one pile?" is "I'm trying to build Devil's Tower. I'm obsessed with it, and I know the aliens will land there" Then you whistle the 5 signature notes of the "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" music.
Wow, I use my snowblower and let it fly where it will. I've hit my neighbor's house with it and even threw some out in the street...oops.
Tagging...?
I love your snow pictures!
Hey, if the bitchy neighbor ever asks you another "is there a reason..." question, all you have to say is "yes" or even "no" and leave it at that. haha! She sounds like someone it would be a pleasure to watch get her comeuppance in some way...
Hahaha. I just wrote on Mr. A's blog how computer-screen-blind I am right now (I should probably be worried. I'm not though. Just blind.) Not SO blind, that I couldn't read his reply.
I think bitchy people in Iowa are particularly funny. A long winter lies ahead for her.
Mr Atrocity,
I think you're right about the different kinds of teachers. I had a friend tell me I should have just said, "Shut-up, bitch," and left it at that.
Minyo,
You are a wise woman. I learned that with spitting once, when my brother dared me to spit while swinging. Oops.
Tara,
I actually had a suggestion of where I might shovel the snow instead, but I was a good girl and kept it to myself.
Nor,
Exactly. I still can't imagine caring about that kind of shit.
DMarks,
That would have been perfect. I used to be able to play the Close Encounters theme song on my clarinet, so maybe I could have bought a cheap recorder and play it outside her window a couple of times a day too.
Alien,
She probably would have stroked out for sure if I had used a snow blower.
LauraB.,
That would have been much smarter and taken way less energy too.
Booda BAby,
Sadly, I think a long Winter lies ahead for all of us in Iowa.
Churlish, did you tag someone else for this week's word?
(nice wintery outsider shots!)
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