You can’t miss it in the news this evening. The story is on the TV news, radio and online. After months of public silence about her motives, Mary Winkler has decided to talk - and she says that she impulsively killed her husband, Matthew Winkler, during an argument about their finances. Hmmmm…

If that’s the case, I wonder why she was so reluctant and waited for months before telling why she killed him. To me, it seems like this new information just makes her reasoning/motive even more suspicious.

Here’s the AP report. What do you think?

By WOODY BAIRD, AP - SELMER, Tenn. (June 30) - A minister’s wife charged with murdering her husband told police she shot him after they argued over family finances and then told him “I’m sorry” as he lay dying in their bedroom, according to testimony at a bond hearing Friday.Mary Winkler, 32, has been jailed without bond since March 23, accused of killing her husband, Matthew Winkler, 31, at their Church of Christ parsonage in Selmer, a small town 80 miles east of Memphis.

In court Friday, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Agent Brian Booth read a statement Mary Winkler gave authorities in Alabama, where she was arrested a day after her husband’s body was found by church members.

Booth testified that Winkler told police she knew her husband kept a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun in the closet of the home where they lived with their three daughters. She said she didn’t remember getting the gun.

“The next thing I remember was hearing a loud boom. I remember thinking it wasn’t as loud as I thought it would be,” Booth said, reading from Winkler’s statement.

She told police her husband rolled from the bed onto the floor after being shot.

“He asked me why, and I just said `I’m sorry,”‘ Booth read from the statement.

Winkler said the two had argued throughout the evening about several things, including family finances. The problems were “mostly my fault,” she said, because she was in charge of keeping the family books.

“He had really been on me lately criticizing me for things - the way I walk, I eat, everything. It was just building up to a point. I was tired of it. I guess I got to a point and snapped,” Booth read to the court.

The defense has asked for reasonable bond to be set for Winkler, who is charged with first-degree murder. The prosecution is seeking no bond, saying it is a capital case. Prosecutors haven’t indicated whether they plan to seek the death penalty, although they have until 30 days before the trial to announce their intentions.

Church members were expected to testify on Winkler’s behalf.

Why would she wait so long to reveal that she killed him during an argument. I will be listening and watching when the case goes to trial to see what else is ultimately revealed. It just doesn’t make sense that she’d not be willing to say immediately that she did it impulsively during a fight.

I just had a plumber give me an estimate on making the repairs necessary for me to close the house on the 11th - there were two leaks in the crawl space that had to be repaired.  His price was $850 to do what was needed - replace a cracked pipe and replace a valve. 

After I recovered from my shock at the price, I called my son who has his plumber’s license but who usually just works on irrigation systems.  He told me he could do the work for me for much less and that I shouldn’t pay that much.  So I told the plumber that I was going to have my son do the work instead.

He immediately said he’d call his boss and see if they could do it for less.  And guess what?  They can do the whole job for just $398.  LESS THAN HALF THE ORIGINAL ESTIMATE.  They are going to “throw in” a valve that was $450 in the first estimate.

I called my son.  He said he couldn’t do it for less than $398.  So, the plumber got the job and is working on it now.

Interesting sidenote:  As the plumber was writing up the work order he chatted with me about his son and raising his son right, and how he knew God would take care of things.  How just this morning he had to take money from his son’s college fund to pay the mortgage.  Was he trying to play on my sympathies?  Or maybe make me feel guilty for not paying the original quote?  I don’t know.  If so, it didn’t work.

Amazing, isn’t it?  Less than half the original estimate.  Most people would have just had them do the job and paid the $850.  Dishonest bastards!

I got to my townhouse this morning and discovered that when I finished cleaning out the refrigerator/freezer yesterday,  I hadn’t pushed one of the shelves all the way back in, and so it blocked the door from closing completely. Thus, with the door ajar,  the ice in the ice maker started thawing and leaking onto the hardwood floor.  Sigh!

I pulled the refrigerator out from the wall - swept/mopped/wiped up all the water.  Lord, I SURE hope I got it cleaned up in time and it doesn’t cause the wood floor to warp. One spot, in particular, looks a little saturated. 

Also, that means that the food I had decided to keep is now thawed out, too.  So I have more food to throw out.  In addition to being a lot of work, this move is turning out to be a food-waster, too.

My mantra for now is “In two weeks, this move will be behind me” - repeated over and over and over and over . . .

If I look at yesterday’s “to do” list without considering circumstances, I was an abject failure because I didn’t complete four of the items. However, I did get in my Curves workout, stuck to my diet, went through THREE hours of a home inspection (which was the reason I didn’t get to the other items on the  list - I had NO idea a home inspection was so involved!), cleaned out the refrigerator, freezer and pantry and and packed up my dining room (which was a MAJOR deal with all the dishes), and prepared a doggone good dinner for PawPaw and myself.  I also spent an hour and a half over at the land helping PawPaw cut down trees.  By the time we finished it was too dark for a bike ride, and we were exhausted anyway.  So while I didn’t finish everything on my list, I don’t think I could have done anymore.  As a matter of fact, I’m rather superwomanish to have done all that!

So for today, here’s my goals - a little less intense than yesterday:  (1) Curves workout, (2) Stick to diet, (3) Make all those phone calls, (4) Pack up two rooms, (5) Arrange for repairs that the home inspection discovered were needed, and (6) A quick stop to get more packing materials (bubble wrap mostly).

I’m headed out the door to get started on this list.  Wish me luck!

This has been around awhile, but I still enjoy it:

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

 America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?   Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, “It’s Not Easy Being Green.”

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.” Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s sake. Tom Daschle & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Brian Williams that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his “fair share.” Finally, the EEOC drafts the “Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act,” retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire an proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because he doesn’t maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be dependent on the government to provide what you need, and you will be rewarded.  If you work hard to take care of yourself and your family, you will be unfairly taxed and vilified.

I’ve got my TO DO list for today:

(1) workout at Curves

(2) pack up at least two rooms of my townhouse

(3) ride bikes this evening with PawPaw on The Natchez Trace

(4) arrange for movers for next Thursday

(5) make at least four phone calls to discontinue/disconnect/transfer service - water, electricity, gas, DirecTV

(6) get the “termite letter” from the exterminator when he checks the house this afternoon - a requirement before closing

(7) be here when the buyer has the home inspection done this afternoon.

(8) stick to my diet

So far, I’ve completed #1 and I’m doing well on #8.  As soon as I post this, I’m starting on #2 and will PERSEVERE until I’ve got the two rooms completed.  I’ll make the phone calls when I take a lunch break in a couple hours.

My mother of Ruthlace wrote a story about me in her blog today.  Guess I’ve always been a scaredy-cat. 

This morning I had the dreaded dentist visit.  TWO (2)+ hours of work on my teeth - a root canal, build up (since there wasn’t much tooth left) and a crown.  I go back July 20 to handle the other two cavities.

Last night when I was obsessing with pre-dentist visit anxiety, PawPaw told me that I should request nitrous oxide (I THINK that’s what it is).  I had tried it once before and didn’t like the strange feeling it gave me. However, both PawPaw and our son, Scalawag, tell me they wouldn’t have any dental work done without it.  So I asked for it and got it.

I have to say, it DID relax me - as much as one can relax while the dentist and dental assistant have their hands and various instruments in my mouth - one instrument being a screaming drill.  It wasn’t a noticeable relaxation at the time, but I recall looking at my watch at 11:15 and being absolutely astounded that I’d been there for over an hour already. 

So, I’m on antibiotics (which means a yeast infection by next week) and pain killers.  I’m going to bed and sleeping for awhile.  My “dental experience” just wiped me out.

PawPaw and I went bike-riding on The Natchez Trace yesterday evening.  We saw lots of deer.  One was nibbling on some grass near the edge of the road, and we came within about 15 feet of it.  It just turned its head, perked up its ears and looked at us briefly - then resumed munching on the grass.  Very lovely.  I’ll take my camera next time we go.

I had a conversation with two close friends recently about keeping secrets.  One friend commented that you are only as healthy as your secrets.  So in the interest of not keeping secrets - keeping things in the open - being transparent to a certain point, I thought I’d write the following - something I’d typically not share with anyone other than PawPaw:

PawPaw and I have started going to a relationship counselor.  We went in with extremely low expectations since we’ve both been through counseling before and weren’t very impressed with it.  Neither of us wanted someone who just sat there and listened to us talk.  We wanted someone who would listen but would also offer suggestions and observations.  As we walked into the building for the first time last week, we assured each other that if we didn’t like the counselor or if we felt it wasn’t helpful, that first session would also be the last session.  It was nothing but a trial run.

We hadn’t been having any particular problems - but we recognized that after 28 years of marriage, a divorce and over 8 years of being separate, our patterns of communication, while improved, are still sometimes iffy.  We don’t want to re-marry and be plagued with the same issues.  We both agree that being single is better than being in an unhappy marriage.

Fortunately, our low expectations for the counseling session were not met.  We went to someone who was highly recommended, and we both came away encouraged. 

It’s amazing how an impartial observer can pinpoint patterns of behavior.  At one point in our session, I was talking and the counselor commented, “Do you realize what you just did?”  She explained.  I had said to PawPaw, “I know what  you’re thinking . . . ” and went on to tell him what he was thinking about something I had said.  She was right.  A few minutes later, PawPaw was talking, and she stopped him with the same question.  He had done the same thing.  Something SO obvious but something neither of us were aware of.  It was an amazingly helpful session. 

She assigned us homework which we’ve already completed - and enjoyed.  We had talked about how we planned to put a picnic table at the building site for our new home so that we could picnic over there while the house is being built.  Our homework was to get the picnic table, put it together, and put it on the building site.  We did that on Saturday - and we’ve already had two picnics over there.  It has been fun.

I’m actually looking forward to the next session later this week.