Why do Good Things Happen to Bad People

Today I've found myself wondering why it always seems like good things happen to bad people. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about - the freeloading brother that winds up with a nicer house than you or who isn't saddled with debt because he's lived off his parents/grandparents for his whole life, or the psycho killer that winds up getting life in prison while their victim is either dead or maimed for life.

It seems like everywhere you look there are horrible people that have things handed to them over and over and the good people keep excusing it saying, "they'll get theirs eventually" or "they don't have it as good as it seems." Yes. They do. And no, they won't get theirs eventually. I look at it like this - prison for a psycho isn't that bad. They get to make friends that are just as twisted and weird as they are. For every person that's gone to prison and came out saying how it put them on the path to the straight and narrow, there are 5 others that said they made connections, learned new techniques and were welcomed into a whole network of weirdos on the inside. The difference is that the people who were changed weren't in for the worst crimes to begin with and they are the ones singing the praises of the prison system the loudest. The ones who made their connections and became worse after going to prison aren't running around bragging about it because that would give away their future plans.

Now, for the crowd that believes an eternity in Hell is punishment enough for the bad people in the world, I beg to differ. Who do you think is tempting these people to begin with? Once a killer goes to Hell, you can bet he gets preferential treatment over someone who commits minor sins or doesn't believe in God to begin with. Who do you think the devil keeps at his right hand (well, it's probably his left hand)? A man who walked out on his family to be with the woman he was having an affair with or Adam Lanza? I'm betting it's the latter.

Not to get all preachy, but there really doesn't seem to be a punishment for these people. If being evil and bad is really an ingrained quality and something these people enjoy, their eternal damnation is more like a day at a really twisted version of Disney Land rather than a punishment.

So what's the answer? I have no idea. All I know is that good things keep happening to bad people and it's starting to feel like the balance between good and evil is shifting in favor of evil in this world with absolutely no repercussions. The good always tell each other to turn the other cheek, let God be the judge, etc. etc. while repeating that we need to leave the world better than we found it. How can we do that without any tools at our disposal? I can see how that may have worked when the balance was weighed heavily in favor of the good.

I really have no idea what's going to happen, but I hope enough people wake up and stop being so PC before it's too late.

Cleaning Tip: Hardwood Floors

Sorry in advance for this post being so short - I've been incredibly busy lately and haven't had a lot of time to post to the blog, but I wanted to put up this quick post about a cleaning tip.

If you have hardwood floors in your home, especially new ones, you've probably discovered that not all cleaning products are created alike. I discovered this the hard way. I have new (about a year old) flooring that came pre-finished. I was using Mr. Clean floor cleaner (the orange one that you dilute) in a refillable O'Cedar mop to clean them on a daily basis. I thought it was working great and my floors smelled awesome.... until they didn't. That cleaner doesn't work on hardwood floors. It builds up and forms a sticky layer that makes your shoes, socks and everything else stick. Not only would feet stick, but so would dirt, pet hair and anything my kids dropped. It was nasty.

I noticed it did the same thing in tiled areas.

So I searched the internet for a solution and found several popular DIY cleaners consisting of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and just about anything you can find in your medicine cabinet or under the sink. I didn't want to make a DIY cleaner with a lot of ingredients that may or may not work, so I kept searching...

Then I found a post that changed my life.

Vinegar. That's it. That's the secret. Just a little bit of vinegar diluted in a lot of water will clean the floors better than anything you can buy. I was skeptical, but since vinegar is cheap and I clean with it anyway, I went ahead and tried it. Rinsing the old Mr. Clean (oh the irony) concoction out of my mop was the hardest part.

The vinegar solution worked like a charm. It cut through the layers of sticky, nasty, grossness on my floors and redeemed them. It took a few moppings for it to get all of the sticky off, but it did work. My husband was home the first time and complained of an overly strong vinegar smell, but I didn't mind it too much. It kind of smelled like salad for a while. After about 1/2 an hour it was gone and the floors were beautiful again.

The only thing I didn't like is that it didn't leave that shine like other floor cleaners do. It just cleaned them. No fuss, no muss. I guess I can give up the shine if it means losing the sticky feeling and using a product that's natural and safe.

If you have hardwood floors, you should try this! It works, it's cheap, and it's safe. What better combination could you ask for?

Facebook Sell and Swap

I'm writing this post as a confession. I am addicted to the local Facebook Sell and Swap page.

My local group has over 1,000 members and the atmosphere is sort of like a fast-paced auction house... minus the bidding. There's an unwritten rule that you can't outbid someone. Or maybe it is written? Who knows. The rules are there, but they aren't very clear on the money portion of the page - I don't know if I could outbid someone who wrote "interested" before me.

Anyway, the site moves super fast and the items are so varied that it's hard to not check back every 5 minutes. You start feeling like you're going to miss something if you don't look. It drives my husband crazy that I'm always on it, but he loves the deals I find.

I've also started trying to sell stuff on the site, but I don't have anything really great to sell, so my stuff sits untouched. Or maybe it's because I made an album? It seems like people don't really like albums - they prefer pictures to just appear on the wall, even if one person posts 15 things. Maybe I'll try a new approach and bump individual items. Who knows! I'll find what works, that's for sure!

I've decided to try and only spend what I make off the site, so hopefully my items start selling soon!!! Are you addicted to Facebook sell and swap pages? Did you even know they existed? If not, do a search and look for one in your area!!!