NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

I am soooo frustrated! Why is it that there are so many times that when we try to do something good, the Universe finds a way to turn the good deed around and bite us in the butt??

Yesterday I was at the store picking up groceries for the weekend and, as I always do, checked out the clearance table. They had a lot of cute Fall and Thanksgiving decorations priced way low for quick sale. I found the cutest set of candleholders. I was so excited! They were perfect for the idea I have of decorating my Christmas table while Bug and Lady N are here. I felt so lucky to have snagged the last pair! Little did I know, as I smugly laid them in my basket, that the Universe had picked just then to show me that I’m still at its mercy.

As I walked down the spice aisle, there was a sweet little lady wheeling along in her motorized buggy. We both stopped at the same time in front of the spices. I’d found my chili powder and had started to move on when she asked me to help her reach the saffron on the top shelf. Always mindful of the fact that some day it may be ME in that chair, I never refuse to help where possible. I gladly turned my basket around to retrieve her jar of gold. (Have you ever bought saffron?? I was amazed to see this tiny speck of stuff in the bottom of a jar with a price tag of $7.94 for .025 ounce! That makes it about $300 AN OUNCE!!! I looked it up online and this is the best description and price I could find. No, I didn’t look that hard. It’s not like I was shopping for chocolate or something!)

I handed the grateful little lady her prize and we talked briefly about the rice dish she was making with it. I swear, the whole exchange didn’t take more than 30 seconds - 1 minute tops! But when I turned back to my basket to continue shopping, MY CANDLEHOLDERS WERE GONE! I’d very carefully nestled them into a little bed I’d made for them with my sweater on top of my purse (which I always zip up and latch into the child seatbelts and cover with my sweater to be sure nobody walks off with it! THANK GOD!!). But now there was just an empty nest! SOMEBODY STOLE MY CANDLEHOLDERS!! RIGHT OUT OF MY BASKET! WITH ME STANDING NOT 2 FEET AWAY!

If this isn’t a classic case of “no good deed goes unpunished” then there’ll never be one! It got me to thinking about all the other times I’ve tried to do something nice and ended up shaking my head when I was left holding the very short end of the cosmic stick. And I KNOW I’m not alone in this! I bet everyone who reads this will have some story to tell.

SO HERE’S MY ANSWER TO THE UNIVERSE’S SICK SENSE OF HUMOR: I’ve started a spin-off blog where you can go and enter your story in the comments. It’s a bloggers open bitch-o-rama session where, as long as you don’t name names, defame anybody specifically, or use foul language you can whine to your heart’s content!

So, go visit my new spin-off blog, NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED and leave us your story. I’ve already posted another whine. It starts off like this…

I have this major aversion to killing bugs. Close your mouth and stop rolling your eyes at me! I try my best to always put them outside instead of just squishing their tiny guts all over my domicile. Most of them are very grateful –

If you want to hear the rest you’re gonna have to go over to the new blog…

Oh - and if you happen to live in Texas and have dinner at a home where they have decorated the table with pretty, new candleholders that are orange, green, and gold entertwined leaves, that they got the last pair of at the grocery store's clearance sale, please give them a message for me:

I'll get you, and you're little dog, too!!



Peace, Blessings, and Cathartic Relief to all!