I'm so sorry to hear that, Mary.

Tribbletrouble, I am a Star Trekker fan too. In the 1970's my children were in school, and every year they had a school fair, so I thought what does every child have in common, Star Trek, so I made 300 tribbles, fake fur all kinds of colors, stuffed them with poly, by the time I was done sewing them took a month!, my fingers were sore. How should I display them? Husband made a bin of plastic chicken wire, so the kids could choose which color they wanted. , they sold for a quarter each, sold them all. Two weeks later met up with some of the other mothers at another school event, and they told me stories about finds Tribbles under bend and behind furniture Lol.

Mary, sounds like you were a fun Mom! (Not that you still aren't, but presumably you are no longer sewing furry characters for their fairs.)

Along with your unfortunate losses you have made great memories. I think those that suffer the most try harder to balance things out.

My mom says that she only regretted mentioning that she could sew back when I started taking dance classes and the annual recital meant costumes - sometimes from a catalogue sometimes a creative instructor with a vision headed to the fabric store and then it was many hours of hard work put in by the few moms and grandmas who had any sewing skills to construct that vision as specified though sometimes without the most basic pattern - when it was sewing sequined elastic onto things and little satiny skirts my mom was happy to do it. But. There were two years she would have loved to toss the machine in the trash along with the materials - a lion costume made from hot and itchy poly-faux fur, and the snoopy one in the same type of hot and itchy poly-faux fur. I may have accused her of purposely poking me with the straight pins as punishment, really it was likely because she would work all day and come home to prepare the next day's lesson plans, make dinner, and then had to sew costumes from that disagreeable material well past midnight day after day for weeks. Not only did she need to sew my costume but then had to cut and piece together a good number of them for the dancers who didn't have someone who could sew and with the time to do it. There's nothing anyone could offer me to ever convince me to do any project involving poly-faux fur, millions of dollars? Nope. Real live dragons? Nope. Ruler of the entire globe and the people living on it? Nope. Just thinking of that stuff is making my nose itchy. I'd rather have to hand sew a accurate reproduction of the green velvet dress worn by Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind" - by candlelight.

Mums and dads do so many things for their kids, and sometimes when those kids are grown they might come to appreciate it all enough to thank their dear parents.

Jennifer D, Ahhh, Gone with the Wind, I watch it every time it's on. The circle of Life hasn't come around to me yet. I would sell my soul for a Grandchild,to make costumes for and play with. My adult children don't want children of their own they both are Art teachers and their students are 7yr olds. They want peace and quite when they get home! They love being teachers, all I want is one Grandchild each from them, is that to much to ask? lol

My parents were both teachers, put in 40 years each and retired - then moved to Omaha, Nebraska (from California) where my brother, SIL, and 3 grandsons + 1 granddaughter live. Lucky for me the grandchildren have been well and truly handled by my brother and his wife, though if the SIL had another boy instead of my niece, they'd be having more kids until she finally had a girl. I can't imagine the expense of 4 kids (or 1,2, 3...much less 5 or more!) so I guess it's good to be off the hook with bearing children myself. I don't expect to ever have a biological child, but the mister and I are open to being foster/adoptive parents. So many little ones who need a safe place to land while their mums and/or dads get adult stuff resolved if they can - if not, a stable home environment at least, to give a decent chance at better things when they age out of the system. I'm a family law attorney, my clients come to me at a painful time in their life...getting them on the road towards healing and new things is always what I aim for. I am not shy when it comes to recommending they find different legal counsel in situations where a client is using their kids like weapons or chess pieces, though. Kids deserve more from their parents especially in the time period when the adults end their relationship with each other.

Mary, you need to find a neighbor without grandparents and become their honorary grandparent! :)

Mary, take violin lessons and never sell your soul!!

Or learn guitar

I would recommend rc's suggestion for Mary over your musical ones. Lots of kids out there in bad need of some sane and stable people in their lives. It may just be age, but from my perspective it seems things are getting worse. Lots of very rude children and girls very confused about how to handle themselves sexually. If there are sexual mores out there now I don't know what they are. A grandmother who knew things like how to sew would be a breath of fresh air!

Capeanner, it's so hard to be a parent these days. Censorship has almost disappeared. While my kids were growing up I had a choice of the Christian or classical music radio stations, only, if I wanted to avoid swearing and $ex talk while the kids were present. I restricted stuff at home, then the kids were exposed to them on mobile phones at school.

Awwww...but @Tribble, what's wrong with mother$%^#ing c^%&s&%^ing g*$#$^@ed s$^% ?!! A day is boring without at least one incident where a person swears like a sailor (usually involves a stubbed toe or a knee that's starting to bruise really fast...that's gonna make wearing shorts a poor choice for the next week!)

It's not that way anymore. It's every second word, which leads to laziness with the English language. Occasional is one thing, constant isn't. It's right through the comedy industry too, so the jokes aren't as good anymore.

I haven't listened to the radio in my car or anywhere else in...years? I prefer when my 'gangsta rap' cds are all tracks by performers who have developed an astounding system of coded language and very little use of words we normally classify as profanity/swearing. There is much people can learn simply from having a 'multicultural' appreciation in music, though whether this carries over to other aspects ranges widely...

Tribble, you have my sympathies. I was the renegade kid in my family yet didn't succumb to swearing till in my 20's (the company I kept was mostly musicians and it just became the norm). Now every third grader has a potty mouth as do their parents. Recently, a popular female comic whose show was on HBO left me astounded with her vulgarity. If this is supposed to be equality of the sexes leave me out! Let's face it, all these weird neighbor stories are of poorly raised kids functioning as "adults" who haven't a clue as to how to act. Trust me, being a parent is the last job I would want. The deck seems stacked against doing the job with any success. Social mores seem not to even exist anymore. Gee, I'm sounding like a grandparent without even had children!!

Yes, my kids grew up hearing it every second word from neighbours. I'm fairly occasional, I do try to improve, though.

designerchrissy, they sound like good people to avoid. The police told me they couldn't do much without cameras. Can you get some,,with big stickers saying you have them,, with a picture of a camera on them.

I have multiple stickers, some are etched metal but you can't read those in the dark. Look online, they come in all sizes. I have a small one on the letter box, with a matching one for no junk mail. There's a huge one on the back gate.

Not sayin'. ;);)

designer Chrissy: Why not put something out there as "bait." Put a tracker tile on it in a inconspicuous place and hope they take the bait? Then, when something is stolen you can track it, even if it was re-sold.

Even if you could track it, not sure the police will be able to use that info to search for it. I've been told by our police that they cannot use the location feature of "find my iphone" to actually search a home for a stolen phone ... best they can do is ring the doorbell and ask the occupants, they cannot actually search.

Pretty depressing, isn't it. Who would bother to steal a mailbox of all things? Is there a big second hand market for them? I guess this is why some people get ferocious dogs or barking ones to alert them that someone is near. I think the cameras are a very good idea. Know a woman who was being harassed by a condo neighbor. He did crazy things. She saw him going through her mailbox one day and then redistributing it in other mailboxes. Apparently he even came into her place and stole the ink cartridge out of her printer! I advised her to get a camera and to put a big note on the window announcing its presence. She was afraid of getting him angry!! He then started sending nasty letters. She had something he had written in the past so was able to show the police it was his handwriting. Think they had a talk with him. She couldn't deal with it any more & sold the condo to a single man assuming he wouldn't be harassed, but word got to her that he was having problems also. The nutcase & his boyfriend (the actual owner) finally sold and moved away. Amazing how people can make life hell for other people and get away with it. Law enforcement seem useless.

If he was entering the premises of a condo that he did not own nor was he a manager/superintendent/caretaker with duties involving maintenance of said condo...hard to believe that wouldn't be called "breaking and entering" which is most certainly a crime. Just because he took a used printer ink cartridge doesn't mean no theft occurred, and depending on the printer model it could be quite an expense to replace. Even if he did have a legally valid reason for entering there are laws and municipal codes to copiously detail exactly what the who/whens/whys/hows of such an entry are. If they don't follow the laws or codes then get the appropriate authorities involved - if those authorities don't seem to care then show them the relevant portions of the laws/codes and if that doesn't work go to whomever is in charge above them.

Sometimes I have to wonder if any of the people who claim they are being harassed by a neighbor are the ones who are making people miserable and simply can't wrap their head around why they have such problems. Or doesn't like that the world is changing and it always does no matter what anyone does trying to hold it off. Be thankful that for the most part these changes are for the better of all, not just a very small portion of the population who has traditionally always had things better than the rest of us.

Jennifer, I believe the complainants because I've been through it in two residences. In my country alcoholism and drugs are behind it. Generally, I think it's selfishness.

I used to believe what people told me, the passing years have made me skeptical unless they offer proof. The closest I've gotten to being harassed at home is pervy neighbors with impeccable timing around my schedule. :P

Sandy C, it seems pretty shortsighted to lower the penalties for burglaries. Not sure what that is going to do to stop anything since a thief won't have much penalty for invading someone's home... Not that anyone thinks they are going to get caught when they steal stuff, but just seems dumb.

I have nothing to steal! But that hasn't stopped someone from trying to get in my house 3 times while it was occupied.

The land of the free... If you steal.

Sandy C, maybe when they legalize marijuana and clear the jails of the low level non violent drug crimes, they will have more room.... :(

I grew up in CA, it's a lovely place to live! :)

Uhm...they don't exactly get off scott free if they break into your home and you're not there. I live in Southern California myself and due to my job I am quite familiar with the laws. Now, if they aren't in the system and there isn't much in the way of evidence that the cops can use to track them down, what do you expect the laws or cops will be able to do? The governor and legislators are working to keep the economy growing and trying to reduce the issues that put people in financial dire straits trying to get by - adding more housing, trying to get everyone health coverage and their kids educated...if they have a job they're paying taxes and by and large the bulk are also law abiding citizens same as you and I.

The United States as a whole has more people incarcerated than ANY OTHER COUNTRY. In 2013 our prisons had 698 persons incarcerated per 100,000 population - we make up 4.4 percent of the global population and our prisons house 22 percent of the world's inmate population. The supreme court upheld the order to release 27% of the inmates incarcerated in California on 8th amendment grounds, would you rather they released the violent criminals? I most certainly would not. The department of corrections and rehabilitation for California alone is the 2nd largest peace officer employer in the country, after the NYC police department. Of course there is only so much money to go around, budget cuts during the recession really hit hard in social services, education, and all levels of government operations. At least our state legislators actually spend a significant amount of time doing their damn job, unlike our national legislators.

The War on Drugs was imbecilic. It takes so long for this country to learn from its mistakes. Now I wonder what all these people whose lives were further destroyed by going to prison will be able to do for work. Will anyone hire them? Will they have to rob in order to survive, never mind buy drugs. I'm very pro inexpensive/free education. Why pay to house uneducated people in prison? Cheaper to educate them and make them employable while improving the country as a whole. But of course, that won't fly with the blockheads in Congress who think punishment is the answer and everyone is somehow supposed to miraculously pull themselves up.

There but for fortune go you or I.

If there was more money to pay for it, those drug offenders should/would be going into treatment. The way to change things is to make sure to vote, get your friends, family, and everyone you know to stop thinking that their one vote won't matter and go cast it when election day rolls around. The blockheads in congress got their jobs by making an appeal to fear, an appeal to regression, and an appeal to jerks who were sufficiently riled up by the campaigning and their choice in news outlets to vote in greater numbers than this country's moderate voters.

Given the institutional prejudices in our country, the road out of this mess is going to be a rough and long one, but worth going down to get the end result. @capeanner; it's extremely difficult for someone to find work after going to jail or prison, and it sets them up to fail on a repeating cycle. Many grow up in poverty stricken neighborhoods with poor quality schools because there's not much money in teaching and it's hard to attract new people to the profession much less to jobs at schools in poor areas - not all districts are willing to offer 'hazard pay'. Kids are increasingly taught around what they'll need to know for state and federal mandated assessment tests, arts/music classes are the first to be eliminated, physical activity/education is almost non-existent in many areas, and the working world they'll enter down the road isn't one I see being as STEM-heavy as many think...who will we call when there's a plumbing problem, who will fix our cars, and all of the other things that we rely on the tradesmen/women to do? The people we call now aren't going to be in the business forever, they will eventually retire or (if they're the workaholic type they'll work until they drop dead!) physically their body decides to make them retire. And not everyone is 4-year university + grad school or beyond-type material. I know a lot of younger people have been told they're brilliant and there's nothing they can't succeed in, but while I understand that parents don't want their kid to have low self-esteem, not everyone is going to become famous or fabulously rich, not everyone can be a biophysicist, and we need more of the 'average' type doing 'regular' jobs anyway. We need to start pushing back at those who stubbornly fight against 'letting' other groups of people have the same rights that we do, and insist that they are the only ones who 'deserve' such 'privileges'. We need to quit trying to control what other people get to buy at the grocery store because our taxes pay for their food stamps, and whether they'll be allowed in which bathroom because we don't quite understand where they're coming from. We need to encourage men of all generations to really and fully see women as people not things, which is just the tip of the iceberg of what we need to recognize is a festering sore that is the state of relations between men and women. We may have made domestic violence, rape, child abuse, and stalking a crime but look how victims are treated! How often they have to fight to be believed! We can do SO much better as a society!

All of which Bernie Sanders was promoting!! Fortunately he had/has thousands of supporters and he has been able to influence the Democratic platform. But unless the makeup of Congress changes we will wallow in the swamp forever.

Did you give her paper?

Somewhat off topic, but strange nonetheless - Last year while selling our home a potential buyer backed out at the last minute because they didn't know where they would place their 7' lighthouse lawn ornament - and the home is on an acre of land!