Random Thoughts and pissed as Hell

Hello Again Folks,

Well I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was pretty mellow, even if it was a T.M’s house, she of the Frozen Cheese Lasagna of two years ago come Christmas.

I have to say things have improved ever since her daughter took over the cooking arrangements, I only had to bring baked yams, which is not hard to do, and some soda, which if you get it in Liter bottles is a lot cheaper than buying by the can.

The food was good and arrived at the table warm, well above room temperature, things were wet where I live, but frankly we need the rain, I just hate the wind and cold.

And speaking of cold, I’ve come down with one, I know it’s a cold because my sinuses are running and I cough because the stuff tickles my throat, but I do have a lot to be thankful for.

We can at least pay the bills, stay warm and can buy food, everything else we use it up, make do, save for it, recycle it, fix it, or do without.

A really good bit of philosophy in the long run, but I just hope the state government doesn’t come along and muck things up. Just when you think you can “dog paddle” along, the government has to come and mess things up, raising rates or doing something stupid that they think is great, when it isn’t.

And they seem to keep changing the rules mid-way through “the game” now that is not fair.

I know of a number of people that are leaving this golden state which isn’t so golden anymore, because of all the stupidity done by the government and the Feds aren’t much better.

One family I know of managed to sell their house, pay off what they owe; they sold their big fancy cars, bought a mini-cooper and a big rig to pull a gently used 5^th wheeler. That is their home and it’s much cheaper than their old house. The kids were not happy when their fancy cell phones were discontinued, and their video games were sold off as well as all the fancy furniture and such.

But their parents told them to face life; it was either this way or being homeless for a long, LONG time.

They did a lot of other sacrifices as well, of course the kids belly ached and complained because they lost the life style they could not afford----well too bad said Mom and Pop.

They moved out of state, and found a place where things were affordable and Dad got a full time job and Mom managed to get a part time job where she can be home when the kids get out of school.

I got an e-mail from them not too long ago, and they’re saying they wish they’d done it a lot sooner, but they are making do and don’t live too far from the Wife’s folks, which is good. And the kids are discovering ‘board games’.

Because Mom doesn’t work a full time job and can keep an eye on them, their grades have gone up, and they’re not into so much mischief. Of course the kids are not happy with the new rules but their parents sat them down and said things are changing for everyone so it’s gotta be this way.

Heck, I could have told them that years ago.

This morning I was writing up the bills (and coughing and sniffling) and I was thinking about all this Krap junk mail, all these changes that the Banks and Credit card companies are doing so quickly that it’s impossible to keep up with it.

I was even looking at the phone bill, and it’s getting to the point where do I need to have internet at home? Can I do without this and that? And some of it has come back as “yes”.

I mean I seriously started thinking about what we can do without; do we need Cable or Satellite T.V.? Do we need a fancy car? Do we need a swimming Pool or hot tub? Video games? I mean stop and think Folks, what do you really, really need?

Well of course you need an income, and you need medical and dental insurance, and you do need auto insurance, and if you own a home you do need home owners insurance, so those are givens, they are the needs that one has to have.

Now I have a friend of mine, she got fed up with her house that she called a “Money Pit” and sold it, put her funds into something for her retirement. She too sold off most of her furniture, and rented a large studio apartment. She has said that if it can’t fit into a large trailer for her to tow then it’s too much.

She doesn’t entertain at home, but will meet friends at a favorite spot. She looked into renters insurance and figured that if anyone stole her stuff they were welcome to it. And she told me she is much happier because she has the mobility that she didn’t have before.

In some ways I wish I was just as free as her, but one makes choices and one has to deal with them.

I’m selling off my old 1963 Chevy Nova, hated to do it but I had no choice, I even took some old antique stuff to this Auction house and they told me what it was worth and could auction it off for me. I need the money.

Because we just got a bill for a medical service done in August and they are finally billing us now, nearly $400 dollars, for What!!?? Just to say that my Hunka Burnin’ Love snores??? And there’s nothing they can do about it?

That was a waste of money because I could have told them that!!! So the Money I was hoping to save to cover the cost of the License of the SUV is going out the window, because my Hunka snores!!!

I told him that from now on we weight each thing very carefully, because we don’t have that much funds left. The only thing we need to do right now is watch to see what we are going to have to do when we replace his pacemaker. We Have to do that, don’t have any choice.

And I’m going to have to negotiate with them because we can’t pay $400 dollars all at once. That is going to be “fun”.

Maybe we should have socialized medicine, if our medical system was like Kaiser, we’d be in good shape, they’ve treated me real good and I have a very low co-pay.

That’s it; just do it like Kaiser Permanente, instead of the government sticking their nose into it.

They stick their nose into areas where it’s not wanted and enough is enough.

Mean Kitty signing off.

I'm Back and just in time for Thanksgiving

Well Folks I have a lot to be thankful for.

I guess you just thought I had blown away and died---NOT!!

I’ve been busy, both me and my hunka burnin’ love, we’ve been hit by illnesses, I had to have some serious surgery and My Hunka is gonna need to have his pacemaker replaced.

Yeah it was pretty serious, I had a cancerous tumor on my kidney that was the size of my thumb from the tip to the first joint. I was worried they were going to have to remove the entire kidney. But the good thing is that it was localized.

The tissue around it was healthy and so was the kidney, no radiation, no chemo, I was one lucky son of a gun, Doc says I have a 95% chance of staying healthy, I’ll take those odds.

Of course now I’ve got a scar that looks like I’ve been in a knife fight, good thing I don’t wear bikinis.

And of course the economy being what it is (down the drain) we’ve been hit hard by it as well. Not everything was covered by my Medical plan, so we had to economize. My surgery came upon me so close to Halloween that we didn’t celebrate it this year. Just put a sign up saying “Sorry, Due to Serious Family Illness, We will not be doing Halloween this Year. Watch for the Haunted Graveyard in 2010. Have a safe and fun Halloween, See you next year.”

Do you know that we had a lot of trick and treaters write get well wishes on those signs, now that is nice. It only goes to show that people care, they worry when things change or someone, even someone they don’t really know they want to be safe and healthy. Most of them are parents now who came by when they were kids and now they are bringing their kids---Hey I’m at the Grandma level, I never knew we were such an institution in the neighborhood, of course a few days later some of my neighbors said that we put pressure on them because we couldn’t do Halloween this year, but they were glad I was fine.

That gives me hope.

My friends and family and the neighbors were worried about me, talk about Hugs and just feeling good about things, and bringing food, my brother Bubba and his wife had us over for dinner a lot, of course the first few weeks it was hard for me to sit up and I’d tire quickly, and it was hard to eat much, my appetite had disappeared, and even now I get hungry, but I get full real quick, I lost weight nearly 10 pounds, of course it’s a diet I don’t recommend.

But my family was really, Really worried about me, and my co-workers always calling and checking in, my Boss especially---he found out how much I do at work, it will make our work evaluation much easier now that he understands what I do.

But now I’m back at work, and it feels good, my brain need to wake up again, one thing I found out from all of this---I have seen what my future looks like if I retire----it ain’t pretty. I need to work, to have a purpose, it’s like air and food. So I think if and when I do retire, I’ll try and find a part time job, work a few days a week, just to keep mentally active, it’s important.

I get this newsletter from these folks that teach “Ghost Hunting” now this one gal she posted comments about how things were back then (way back then like 1950’s), and I have to agree with her thoughts on this.

Before we got all this new fangled stuff like the internet, twitter, fancy-shmashy cars with computer bits in them, cell phones, and crowded the freeways with urban sprawl, we were a close knit bunch of people and this was before wanting to have the latest gadget, and keeping up with the Jones and a swimming pool in every back yard, fancy wines, mani-pedicures, plasma screen TV’s, loud music that promotes bad behavior and beating up your woman.

Before we had credit cards, litigious behavior, every one of your teen age kids demanding their own phone and car and credit cards, before we started having bad behavior and bad etiquette, people came together, I mean really came together, you knew your neighbors and you tired to work things out. Of course one had cranky and crazy neighbors back then as well but you at least felt you could do something. Not now.

Now it seems we can’t move unless we have one of these things, we can’t do business unless you are on the internet, we can’t go anywhere unless you have a fast car, we can’t get what we want unless we are in DEBT!!

Now I should know, because we are in debt having fallen into that trap, no I don’t get a mani-pedicure, although with my bad back I do go in to have an occasional pedicure but that is because of my bad back, otherwise I’d do my own.

But we made do---it was use it up, recycle it, fix it, save for it, or do without. Of course you can’t do without indoor plumbing, but if your T.V. is broke, then save to have it repaired and in the mean time do without.

I remember my car needed a 300 dollar repair job, I didn’t have the money, so I drove it back to my home, took the bus, saved up the money and then took it back to get it fixed, of course by that time it cost me $350 dollars, but that was O.K.

The shame of it is we are a throw away society, we can’t do that anymore, now a days I see people put things out on the curb with a sign that says ‘FREE” and by gum! People take the stuff.

The other day my Hunka and I saw two captains style chairs and the sign said “Free” we checked them out, one needed a little repair, both had paint on them but for us they were fine and nothing that a hammer and a nail can’t fix and they were just the right size that we needed.

Now for a long time I was on dial up inter access, yeah I got hooked on the internet, but in doing business I looked for a phone number, called them and asked it they would take a U.S. Postal Money Order---I wasn’t having my checking account or credit card number flying all over the ether. And 100 % of the time they would take it. U.S. POSTAL MONEY ORDER ---- for real money.

But if they say they only want this Pay Pal---forget it---I’ll walk away.

I’ve gotten to the point where I’m just paying down my credit cards, if I have any extra change that I can put aside I put it into a separate checking account and just use the debt card if they don’t take checks.

As a matter of fact I know one lady who was in a situation where she had no choice, she had to declare bankruptcy, she sold off almost all that she had, moved in with her folks, which was a good thing, because they were getting up there in years. She sold off the more expensive of her two cars, kept the other for emergencies. Took public transportation, brown bagged her lunch, rarely ate out, she did need an internet connection at home for her work, but she couldn’t have a credit card, so she got a debt card, knew exactly how much she would need to keep in it.

She would take a 2^nd seasonal job from time to time, no cable or satellite T.V. for her, but her folks were interested in the old T.V. shows, so they got cable T.V. but she let them pick the programs they wanted.

If she needed some clothes she’d go to a clothing on consignment store, the only things she’d buy new was underwear and shoes that could no longer be repaired, and of course personal hygiene stuff, to get her hair cut she’d go to the beauty school and got a hair cut that would just need a trim from time to time, no hair dye, no perms.

Her Mother didn’t need fancy clothing and would buy her clothes from catalogs, or sew her own, so this lady learned to sew as well, staying with basic pattern styles.

When Hallmark came out with the 99 cents cards, she was happy, she could afford to send birthday, anniversary, get well wishes to friends, and she found at the Target Store, savings in stationary for Thank you notes, of course she’s not happy with the postal rates going up, and she’s found that a lot of people like gift cards to stores that they go to when she wants to give a gift.

She has a male friend who takes her out on dates, like to the movies, or to a special event.

But she has no plans to get married, her Folks’ home is small, and old fashioned, but in a good neighborhood, and she told me that she has re-fallen in love with her Folks house, with the money she’s saved she’s been helping them fix it up, replacing worn out things, and such, she even had the kitchen done so that it looks like it did back in the 50’s but with new appliances that are retro looking when the old ones died, her parents are happy, she feels happy and her parents feel safe as well.

It will be another 5 years before her credit can be reestablished, but she’s discovered that she’s hasn’t felt it because she’s learned to do without.

The only thing that she’s discovered is that she does need her cell phone for emergencies, her internet connection so she can do some of her work from home, and her car for shopping, but she’s keeping her folks old car as well, it’s a Buick from the 1950’s and in great condition. She’s been building her savings up, and she knows she can afford things again. Her Folks are going to transfer things into her name, to avoid estate taxes and so they can get assistance without draining their finances.

She’s lucky, others aren’t but she’s learned to be frugal, and we should too.

Me and Hunka are trying but it’s hard, things come up, money is not there, we hate to use the credit card, but sometimes we have no choice. I’ve gotten to the point where I consider the credit card as a Loan from a Financial institution but you can’t take a tax write off, which makes things difficult.

My Hunka and I are learning to be very frugal, we take stuff to the recyclers for cash, Tapes, CD’s and such we don’t like we take to the Media shop and get credit to get something we’ll like, we get our books at the library, we shop from a grocery list, we pick up and roll pennies, we keep a sewing kit ready for repairs, clip coupons, watch the sales ads, price compare at gas stations and stores.

My brother and I have agreed since the kids are teens that Christmas will be just a holiday get together, no gift exchanges, who can afford it? Even the two Christmas parties we’re going to everyone was told keep the ornament gifting as much under $5 as possible.

And we are looking for every single tax deduction that we can take. And if you pay for something and it ain’t right we squawk good and loud, we don’t do business with “fly-by-night” businesses, only the ones that are solid and know they have to make good on their product.

I have a friend of mine, her web blog is listed right here on my Blog list, you should check her out La Diva Loca Fabulous aka the Crazy Fabulous Diva, and there is another lady who calls herself the Fabulous Diva, check out both their blog sites.

Anyway with the surgery I was out of work for a while, driving my Hunka Burnin’ Love up the wall, now don’t get me wrong. He took good care of me while I was recovering, most of the time for the first 3 weeks I just slept, because of the pain meds, and I’d tire out easily.

Beaucephus is glad that I’m back but Gingersnap is afraid to come near me, a friend of mine who is a sort of “Dog Whisperer” said that when we got Gingersnap that tumor was growing inside of me and the little one smelled it and thought it was a part of me, now it’s gone, I’m well and the dog has a hard time accepting me. DW said I have to go slow with the little thing, keep to the familiar routine, and on occasion give the dog bribes. Go figure.

One hard thing I’m doing, I have to sell my old car, my beloved Chevy Nova, I’ve had that car for 40 years, but for the last few I haven’t been able to afford getting it fixed, this guy that collects cars has made a very serious offer, I can’t refuse it, so he’s paid something down, and will pay the balance when he comes to get the car over Thanksgiving weekend.

He’s going to fix it up real nice and show the Nova off at different Car Rally’s, his wife wanted a car that represented the early 1960’s and my Nova fits the bill and it’s just her size. It’s going to be her car at the rally’s I’ve written about all the adventures I’ve had with my Car and she just loves it, so I gave her the binder of stories (I kept a copy).

The folks have got money, seems they were not hurt bad by the down turn, and my old Car will be in their garage out of the weather. They like to focus on the cars from the 50’s and early 60’s, but he has two that he really likes and won’t sell and she wanted one of her own. And my Nova was what she was looking for.

I’m going to really cry a lot when my car leaves, it’s my one and only, but I have no choice, I need the money.

As a matter of fact this surgery that I had was a bit of a wake up call for me, Hunka and I have been going through things, sorting things out, getting rid of junk, selling what we don’t use or can’t use, donating that which is still good, and even some of our neighbors have taken things off of our hands because they could use it.

So cleaning things out is a good thing, and it feels good, even if we only tackle just a corner when it looks good it feels good and that is important.

And Thanksgiving is coming up----that’s is going to be very interesting----it’s at my sister-in-laws sister’s house, she who had the frozen lasagna disaster a few years ago. That is going to be a very interesting situation. If you don’t remember my writing about it, check my earlier blogs on it.

Anyway that’s it for now, I’ve got some chicken to bake and coupons to clip and a couple of skirt hems to mend.

And I’ve got to rest up and find out what I can rant about…. There’s a few things, but I’m not sure how topical they are going to be.

Mean Kitty just mellowing out.