Thank you for all the nice comments on the quilt top. (No, it doesn't have darker sashing; that's just the effect of it being backlit by the sun).

It was nice to have all the cheery comments this morning because:

1. We're stuck under an "upper atmosphere low" which means
a. It's once again raining like crazy stink out there
b. I've been fighting migraines off and on since Thursday.

2. My mailbox was vandalized sometime last night (along with most of the others on my street). This kind of thing angers me more than it probably should. But it's so UNNECESSARY. My neighbors and I now have to go out and spend money (and time) on getting new mailboxes. And putting them up. And finding a time when it's not bucketing down rain to do that. (Mine is just barely functional - what the punks did was, try to pull the flags off (the flag didn't quite come off mine but it's broken and useless now, but that's ok because I take my outgoing mail up to the university anyhow) and they bend the doors all the way back, so they wouldn't close properly (I was able to temporarily fix mine - so the mail can at least be delivered today - using a pliers).

It just really ticks me off. I know, I know, it's just kids trying to have fun. But it's not harmless fun - what if someone who got their mailbox destroyed was an elderly, disabled person who couldn't get it fixed fast? What if it were someone on such a fixed income that the $20 that a new mailbox costs meant the difference between their kids getting enough to eat in a week and not? (I know, I'm being melodramatic, but it irritates me when people don't think about the "ripples" their actions create).

I didn't report it because that kind of thing does no good - the cops don't have any interest in going after vandals, and I don't think the P.O. would care either. So it's also kind of a helpless feeling - one has no recourse but to buy a new mailbox and hope it doesn't get hit.

(If the existing box holds, I might just leave it a few days or a week - figuring that if the vandals haven't moved on to another neighborhood, they'd probably enjoy coming through and destroying a brand new mailbox).

I may look into spending more money and getting one of those big plastic-housed ones (my parents have one). It's sturdier, and harder to break, and it also has a "back door" so you don't have to step into the street to get your mail.

But I'm still irritated that I have to do it. I guess it was a good thing I put my car away; if I hadn't, maybe they'd have had (even more expensive for me) fun with that.