Speaking of endless mindless prattle

Guess what I did tonight? I unpacked two small boxes of 'stuff' and put all the 'stuff' out for display on my bookcases. I've been in the house a little over a year and I still have boxes and boxes and boxes of 'stuff' I haven't unpacked yet. The cats had a field day with the boxes and the bubble wrap. I didn't have the camera handy and I was very inspired - don't ask me why - to put all my 'stuff' up, so I didn't catch any snaps of the little furry monsters having fun.

And guess what else? I have a family of raccoons living in my attic. The prodigal son took a peek this evening because we kept hearing scrabbling noises coming from over our heads. I get to spend tomorrow trying to find someone to come evict my unwanted tenants and then I have to figure out how they got in so that I can keep them out. I also have to get someone up in the attic to figure out what kind of damage they've done to the insulation and duct work and wiring and whatever else is up there. Jeez!

And while I'm prattling on like this, you know what really, really, really irritates the dickens out of me? Misuse of the pronoun "I". Drives me nuts. I just want to smack people when I hear it done or see it written. Argh! The rule is really simple. "I" comes before the verb and "me" comes after the verb or preposition.

"John gave me some candy."

"John gave Gloria and me some candy."

"John gave the candy to me."

"John gave the candy to Gloria and me."

OK, I'm done being a grammar Nazi. You have my permission to go back to your regularly scheduled life.