robin tidwell « Robin Writes

So, you probably know that there’s a bunch of stuff on the Internet about “divide and conquer.” You know, where someone, somewhere, is just stirring up stuff to get us all at each other’s throats . . .

Let’s think about this.

Back in the old days, I sure don’t remember anyone yakking about the “correct” holiday-time greeting. I still maintain, however, that the Internet itself is the cause of a lot of this because we wouldn’t know a tiny percentage of things happening if it weren’t for that.

When I was a child, we’d drive around our area to look at Christmas lights. If there were no lights, we’d usually see a menorah in the window. No big deal. Very people went out-of-town for Christmas, because family was nearby and, well, who the heck would take a vacation then?

People would shop, either for Christmas or Hanukkah, iterate the appropriate greeting depending on their religion, and life went on. Granted, the area in which I grew up was primarily Christian and Jewish, and I’ll bet it was like that where you lived too.

Back then.

Now, the talking heads are telling us we should be OFFENDED if someone doesn’t give us the “correct” greeting based on our particular religion. Like they’d KNOW what that religion is . . .

I call bullshit.

Because, really, are you “offended” if someone says “happy holidays?” I’m not. Besides, aren’t there at least two holidays that Christians celebrate around this time of year? Christmas and, hey, wait a minute—New Year’s! That’s plural, folks. So “happy” to both, right?

I do remember my grandma shaking her head over some signs and cards that said “merry Xmas,” believing that “they” were x-ing out Jesus; then again, I also remember hearing that the X stood for the cross.

Can you imagine what would have been all over the Internet then?

Now, I do see the occasional social media post decrying the lack of “merry Christmas” greetings and so forth, but really, these are the same people regurgitating the same old posts and no one really cares.

Kind of like the Starbucks cups. Sheesh.

Hey, y’all know what you believe and you can shout it from the rooftops—that’s free speech. Whatever happened to manners, though? If someone tells me “happy Hanukkah,” I’m going to smile and say it right back.

You can have any kind of holiday you want, and you can greet people however you want, and that’s okay with me—and should be with anyone else. Unless you’re being a douche. Can’t discount that. But you know what? You can even act like that too if you want, although I doubt you’ll get many greetings of any kind after the first few times.

But that’s my point. Divide and conquer. Someone’s pulling the strings and yanking our chains while they’re doing it.

My husband has been out the farm for a week now, working his tail off. I arrived last Monday in time for the appliance and tile delivery.

Too much tile. Way too much tile.

See, they were supposed to deliver all this stuff on November 16, then rescheduled to November 30, because they were still waiting on the tile. The problem was that they were waiting on the tile we’d canceled because the guy had written up and charged us for the WRONG tile. We were refunded the wrong stuff and ordered the right stuff within minutes of the first order. Minutes.

Well, anyway, they took back the wrong stuff. Of course, I’m wondering what else got messed up . . .

Oh, yeah. The cabinets. They arrived Tuesday, and I have to say, I was impressed with the delivery—both of them, actually. The first guys were hilarious—coming out from STL, it was probably the first time they’d been out in the boonies. The second guys—and one gal, come to think of it—arrived three hours ahead of schedule.

So here’s what the living room looked like that day:

Tile, appliances, etc. were still in the barn and thank goodness—here’s what the “bedroom” looked like:

Between Monday and Tuesday, I learned how to put down cement board. Gee, that’s fun. The drill took off a strip of skin on my thumb—from using it, not from the bit itself—and I have a couple blisters. Yay.

And then we opened up the cabinets. Took me three trips in the truck to the burn pile. It looks like Mount Cardboard up there. Sadly, no pics!

So the base cabinets got set. Remember now, we ordered this stuff the end of October, so I’d pretty much forgotten all the cool stuff—a bread box, a knife drawer, pull-out spice racks and pan holders, and a mixer shelf that lifts up. And the wine racks, of course.

Then it was time for the wall cabinets. Oops.

Between me and my math skills—okay, not “skills” but whatever—and the new guy who helped me design the kitchen, the wall cabinets were a little, um, off. Just a little. So. We ended up running into town to order two more and to return two. That was fun.

More fun, however, was calling the next day after I realized the fifteen-inch cabinet we had opened to the right, not the left. It really does make a difference if the damn thing is sitting on the floor upside down . . .

I had to head back to STL on Thursday, but our friend Ed came down to help. He arrived just as the counter guy was finishing the template for the granite, and he and my husband installed the microwave and the ovens—and I can’t wait to see them in person!

But here they are; you’re getting to see all that *I* got to see: