My Mom is being irrationally angry - please offer advice?

[anson34]

This is my last week of college and I've busily been packing up for my trip home. One item I have is a 19inch rear projection TV, which must be at least 15 years old. I bought it at a garage sale several years ago for something like $30, and seeing how it's now on the blink, I decided to throw it out.

Well my Mom found out and she's absolutely livid. Over the course of several angry emails, she essentially said multiple times that it was a poor decision, that it wasn't my property to dispose of, and that I have to replace it.

To expand a bit, one of her arguments about it being a poor decision was that I could have given it away. My argument back was that no on is going to want an old tube TV that doesn't work half the time, and that I did indeed ask people if they wanted it (which no one did.)

She said that it wasn't my property. I really don't understand this. So my response was confusion over why.

She then said I had to replace it with a new one. She knows that I can't afford to buy a TV right now, and I'm pretty sure she's bluffing anyway so this point wasn't really dwelled upon.

I typically am a very rational and level headed person, but there were two areas that I did slip up on. One was that she's known for months that I was going to get rid of the TV. Truth be told, I only told my Dad when I was specifically going to get rid of it, but did not inform her.

Secondly, after several angry emails, I said that she was being a bit of a bully. I think it was fair of me to say this, but regardless, it definitely was a short sighted tactic...

Although this whole thing has me feeling terrible inside, like I said before, I'm typically rational and level headed, so other than those slip ups (specifically the bullying remark) I handled my responses to her emails in a level headed manner. The result of this indeed stopped the argument, but she's still fuming about it.

In my mind, there is no logical way to solve the issue. Using "logic" will either keep things the way they are, or perhaps make matters worse. This has really put me into a bad emotional state - I feel really bad/depressed about it. Can anyone offer me coping solutions, or perhaps a different way approach dealing with her angry attitude?

Thanks

[chika]

Great. If she brings it up again, wave fake Army enlistment papers in her face, tell her you're shipping out to Afghanistan next week.

That will change the subject.