Rise and Fall.. Rage and Grace

2011-04-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

... so how many of you, like me, find yourself having to prepare for a job interview? I haven't been on a job interview in a good 20 years and it's definitely a hirer's market.

With so many people out of work, potential employers have a HUGE pool of applicants to choose from. Most of the people in that pool are like me.. older, with families and responsibilities. We have tons of actual "work" experience but maybe not the necessary "degrees" companies are now listing as requirements in their ads.

So how do you make yourself stand out?

Recently, my cousin Freddy wrote a fantastic blog outlining things to consider to ensure a great interview. Unfortunately, that post is no longer exists so I can't link to it here but having read it the night before my first interview in AGES, I can tell you that he was spot on. There were a few other things I thought of also so if you find yourself getting in the same position, here's some things to consider:

BE CONFIDENT
There's no question that confidence is a huge selling point to employers. Being timid and looking like a deer in headlights doesn't leave a good impression and believe me impression is everything. YOU know you can do the job and your confidence will let a potential employer know that you can do the job. My father always said to ".. look them in the eye and give them a strong handshake!" and when you think about it, he was right.

LOOK THE PART
It doesn't matter if you are interviewing for an office job or something to do with manual labor, you need to dress appropriately. Your clothes are your "packaging" and while you want a potential employer to remember YOU, you don't want them to necessarily remember your clothes! Steer away from anything flashy, overly trendy or flesh exposing attire. You don't want to wear anything wrinkled.. too tight.. or uncomfortable. The last thing you want to focus on during an interview is whether your buttons are gapping or hiding your muffin top. A sloppy dresser reads as being a sloppy worker.

PRACTICE YOUR ANSWERS
While you don't know specifically what questions you'll be answered, you can count on explaining your past work history.. the companies you worked for.. why you left or were let go.. etc. They're basic for hiring employees. Nerves tend to get the best of us and there's nothing less appealing that having a potential employee start off an answer to a question with, "Um". As my cousin Freddy said in his post, pretend like you are memorizing lines for a play. Regardless of HOW they ask the question, you will at least be familiar with what you want your answer to be. Also prepare to detail your strengths, why you want to work for this particular company, where do want to be in X amount of years, etc.

KNOW YOUR OWN RESUME
Here's the long and short of it: Don't lie on your resume. Everyone expects a certain amount of embellishment. You know the whole Domestic Engineer being another name for a home maker kind of thing but giving yourself experiences you never had is just setting yourself up for failure. Your resume should be an outline of your experience and achievements and you will be asked about them in an interview.

BE RESTED
Ok.. let's be real. It's the night before your first interview in ages. Do you really think you're going to get ANY sleep? Probably not.. you're mind will be going a million miles a minute but the trick is to not give it any fuel. Don't drink the cup of coffee that will keep you awake.. don't leave the television on to get you engrossed in the latest and greatest ShamWow product. Let your body rest and eventually your mind will do the same.

BE EARLY
Nothing puts a big red X on an application then being late. Give yourself PLENTY of time to get where you need to go. If your SUPER early, hang out in your car or walk around the block a few times. That little hassle is FAR better for you then being late will be on you.

BE YOURSELF
This is the most important piece of advice I can give you. If you pretend to be something that your not, it's going to catch up to you.. and not favorably. Being hired is out of your control.. you can only do the best you can. To not be yourself means that you have to continue to not be yourself if you get hired and that's just too hard.

BE PROFESSIONAL AND POLITE
Regardless of what is going on around you, always be professional and polite. You don't know what may interrupt your interview but handling the interruption in a polite and professional manner will look good for you.

Bullied Boy Fights Back

2011-03-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this video yet?

When I first saw this video, I was like, ".. you GO BOY!!"

Agree with me or not, I don't care..

I live with a 12 year old boy who is picked on EVERYDAY in one way or another by kids in his class. For an adult, it's easier to see bullies for what they are. Maybe they're insecure... maybe they have issues going on at home that make them re-direct their anger and frustrations on some one "weaker" .. or maybe they're just an evil seed.

But that doesn't compute on a 12 year old.. it doesn't compute that his reactions only make the bully want to bully him more.

To be fair, teachers and school admins can only do so much .. if something happens on school grounds that's one thing.. if it's on the way home from school? Something completely different.

A few months ago, we received a call from the schools saying that one of the bullies punched him in the face.. during recess.. on school grounds. The kid got suspended and then re-assigned to another school and that's all fine, well and good .. but I was a little put off that he didn't try and hit the kid back.

Back in MY day, things were settled in the playground.. so to speak. I've gotten in WAY more then my share of fights with other kids in my school .. either because of something done to me or coming to the defense of my older brother .. but it was done.. it was settled.. and afterwards, things went back to normal.

It bothers me that not only did this kid DEFEND himself.. but HE will be the one getting in trouble, not the bully. You can clearly see who the instigator was.. and because I live with it, I can tell you that the bullied kid was probably taking this and taking this and taking this until he couldn't take it anymore.

Good for him!

I say forget all about the purple haze of huggy-feely-political-correctness and let boys be boys and handle things the way boys used to.

And before you start the argument about guns.. and knives... and bricks of C4 straps to a kids chest .. think about how things USED to be and be honest with yourself about the reasons why they're not that way anymore.

Puppy.. Um.. Love?

2010-12-24T02:56:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night wasn't such a good night...

I'm not going to go into the details but let's just say that if I had suddenly found myself wearing nothing but socks on the top of Mt. McKinley, I would have been a happy camper.

Anyway, so I was pretty pissed of and wasn't in any better of a mood on Thursday.. but things needed to get done so around 1pm Tim and I headed out to the Dollar Store and then to the supermarket.

Josh was in school and Matt was cemented, as usual, in front of the computer.

We were gone for maybe about 2 hours.

Now, the front door is not a door I use. I park on the side of the house and come and go through the back. The only time Tim uses the front door is to take the dogs out so basically, only the kids have anything to do with the front door.

So we come in the back door and as I drop the bags onto the kitchen floor and walk into the living room to hang my jacket up I notice that the front door is open half way.

It's like.. winter here? Like.. just WHY is the front door half way open when there's 38 mile an hour winds and the heat is on?

I think there's a reason why Matt wears headphones when he's on the computer and it has little to do with talking to his friends because I didn't get an answer. Tim walks to the front door and then I notice that my bedroom door is closed and funny, the dogs weren't barking.

And then it hit me and I can't even describe to you how my lungs shriveled up into little balls and my stomach collapsed.

I rush to the bedroom calling for the dogs and nothing.. and then I yell to Tim that both dogs got out and grab my jacket.

We both rush out of the house but to... where? We didn't know how long they were loose.. didn't know which way they had gone.. do we walk? do we drive? OMG!! Bella didn't have her collar on! OMG!! The tag had come off of Ernie's!!

I wanted to throw up.

The dogs have been loose before.. usually for the same reason. One of the mensa kids left a door open but usually then we knew immediately and they hadn't gotten far. This time was different. Did they head towards the cemetary? Did they go down by the trolley tracks? Did they go straight down the street in front of our house?

The longer we drove around.. the longer we or people we saw on the street didn't see anything.. the more we yelled with no response.. the sicker my heart became. Ernie is young and spry. Bella isn't. She also has a gimp because of arthritis in her hips and a skin condition that caused her to lose most of her hair from the middle of her body on down. She doesn't get around well at all so I got sicker thinking that they weren't together. Would we find one? Would we find neither? Would we find them hit by a car or worse, the trolley?

I couldn't help but cry.. especially for Bella. She's old and we've been through a lot and this was NOT how I wanted her end to be.

Tim went one way.. I went the other.. and Matt, well, he walked around for about ten minutes and then came back in the house. Something that really didn't sit well with me. At all. We chased every barking dog sound and believe me, if Indonesia has another tsunami in the next few days, it's because I was running.

Nothing.

I happen to see Josh on his way from school and told him about the dogs being loose. He was headed towards the house so he had that direction covered. I was going the opposite direction and only Lord knows where Tim was at that point.

About a half hour had passed when my cell rang. Josh had found the dogs. In the cemetery right near the house. He had tried for me but I had already went into the cemetery and didn't hear him. Boy, that would have saved Indonesia, huh?

But the dogs were safe.. Bella has some cuts on the top of her back where it looks like she followed Ernie under chain link.. but at least they were home. Me and Josh drove around and found Tim and then headed back to the house.

Now, I have to tell you this:

Ernie is a very... very.. modest dog. He has never humped on a leg but routinely rapes the doggie bed or the pillows if you don't put them away when your not around. But he does it in private and if he even THINKS your going to catch him, he pulls his ears back and slinks under the bed in shame.

So it was kind of weird when I walked into the bedroom and saw him going to town on the doggie bed. I had put Bella on our bed because I felt bad about her ordeal. She can't' jump on our bed anymore and it's a very rare treat that we lift her up there. Ernie jumped on the bed and tried to hump Bella's face. I yelled at him and he jumped down but then jumped right back up and I watched him bite the corner of one of the pillows and try to drag it over to him.

Is this dog FREAKIN' nuts?? I yelled ERNIE!! And he slinked away. I thought that maybe it was the whole ordeal that got him all wound up so I went into the kitchen to get them a treat. You know.. baby my babies.

When I went back into the bedroom, the damn dog had MY blanket all bunched up under him and he was going at is so hard that he was like.. in a zone or something. He didn't care who or what was near him or watching him. I yelled at him and it didn't do a damn thing.. I yelled again and finally he stopped and when I pulled the blankets away from under him, there he was all EXPOSED and dripping STUFF all over my bed.

The poor dog couldn't move... Tim came into the bedroom and his chin hit the floor.. I was all EWW!! EWW!! EWW!! He's DRIPPING ON MY BED!! and then Tim was all EWW!! EWW!! EWW!!

Ernie was finally able to jump off the bed but he couldn't crawl under it because of his.. um.. STUFF all being out.. and he was dripping stuff all over the carpet in little pools and it was the most disgusting thing that ever happened to me in my whole life.

I broke out the clorox.. we scrubbed and sanitized and fipped the mattress over and made sure there was absolutely no evidence of Ernie's love gun bullets anywhere.

Finally, he went back to normal and hid under the bed. Then the lightbulb went off.. there must be a female in heat in the neighborhood because for the last few days he's been whining to go out every hour or so.. and when the door was open he took the opportunity to explore.

And Bella?

Well, I guess she tagged along with the condoms!

The Most Hated Man In America

2010-12-20T13:13:00.000-08:00

... and no, it's not Glenn Beck.

It's Jesus Christ.

Especially during this time of year, it seems that there's an incessant need to remove Christ and anything to do with Christ from well.. everywhere.

I've written about this before and questioned why tolerance for every other religion and belief is forced down our throats and yet my beliefs and my faith can be slammed without any recourse.

The latest attack was in Oklahoma City when the Federal Reserve demanded that a private, Payne County bank remove all it's references to Christianity because THEY deemed it inappropriate. They were offended by the cross' and Bible verses and Merry Christmas pins some of the staff had on display.

And I ask you why? Why does the Federal Reserve think they have the right to tell a PRIVATE bank what they can or cannot do.. especially when it has absolutely NOTHING to do with money?

And please.. please.. PLEASE do not bring up the whole separation of church and state because that has absolutely nothing to do with anything. (If you need me to explain to you what that phrase means and it's original intent then please email me) This is a private bank.. not a government endorsed one. They have a Constitutional right of freedom of religion to do what they want to do.

If you're offended by their pro-Christian displays, then bank elsewhere. It's obvious that the bank's owners feel that their display of faith is more important that someone being offended. Kudos to them.

So explain to me why someone can smear feces on a depiction of Jesus and it's called art but in the United Kingdom and Canada it's considered a "hate crime" to depict Muhammad?

My soon-to-be nephew posted this on his Facebook page:

The greatest man in history, named Jesus, had no servants yet they called him Master. He had no degree, yet they called him Teacher. He had no medicines, yet they called him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried a tomb, yet He lives today.

Maybe that's the problem with today's society and their need to "get rid" of Jesus. To believe in his teachings means that you have to life your life right. It means that those seven things that drive most people are things that you can no longer have, do, want or desire.

I ask those who laugh at my faith or try to minimize it: Why does it bother you so much what I believe it? Why does any reference to Jesus Christ offend you? Look inside yourself, not at me. Question your motives, not mine.

Tim said something recently that is really the best rebuttal to those who condemn Christ:

What does it matter to you how I approach my faith. If I believe in God and you don't and we get to the end and we find out that I'm wrong then so what. But if we find out that you're wrong, then where will you go?

My New Home.. in 51 Days

2010-12-11T18:51:00.000-08:00

Well..

That may be a little extreme but that's how it's starting to feel.

We have to be out of our current house in 51 days.

We gave notice to our landlord because a woman up in Coal Township led us to believe that she was going to rent us her house with 99.99% certainty. The only thing she wanted to do was talk to our current landlord to verify the length of time we lived here and that we weren't problem tenants.

The only problem was our landlord didn't know we were thinking about moving and if this woman called, well.. we risked him being an obnoxious prick about finding out. So we took a leap of faith.. called and told him ourselves.. and then fell flat on our faces because we never heard from the woman again. She hasn't returned phone calls or emails.

We then moved on to Plan B and decided that a mobile home will keep costs down. We could pick up used ones fairly cheap but the moving of it from point A to point B was going to be expensive. Initially we had a place for a mobile that was going to be rent free but that fell by the wayside because of irrational thinking.. We then thought we were going to be able to get a loan for a new mobile home.. the salesman was POSITIVE that the industry was making a killing with people in our financial situation and that my credit score, although not great, was enough to approve the load.

So with high hopes we went a head and started looking for land to rent. We found someone who answered our ad and he's just thisshort of being great. He wanted a more then reasonable price to rent a half acre and was working with us as far as the septic, well and electricity went.

Things were certainly looking up.. and then they all crashed again.

Our loan application was denied.

So now we have the property.. but nothing to put on it. Except for a tent. And in a county where the blizzards have already started, a tent isn't really viable living conditions. Of course, a box isn't either. No options to rent anywhere and no opportunity to buy anything used that's close enough to not bust our budget to get it moved.

And did I mention my car only sleeps 2? Rather uncomfortable?

So two weeks before Christmas and I can't even think about being in the spirit.

I might not have a tree.. or gifts.. but I do have faith. Nothing can take that away and I my faith tells me that God will take care of us.

THE Fastest Why To Losing Your Christianity...

2010-12-07T22:02:00.000-08:00

.. a stupid one, at that.

... I'm still shaking my head at this one.

The vaginal incubator that is the boy's mother has does some pretty fucked up things over the years that I've been around.

Without thinking, I can rattle off at least a dozen times when I wasjustthingclose to dropping her on her ass. Because.. you know.. the people that know me in real life know that I can cash any check I write.

The only thing stopping me is the fact that I have a lot more brain cells then she does and the only things I ingest to alter my mood are Sweet Tarts.

Given that she has a penchant for bogus lawsuits, I'm smart enough to NOT knock her on her ass.

However...

Considering that right now, the only thing I own is a 15 year old station wagon and have no viable income AND considering her latest antic.. all fucking bets are off.

Monday night, the youngest one wanted to go to youth group because it was his way of getting out of homework. He hasn't been to youth group on five weeks because he wanted to sit on his ass and play video games. But after asking if he had homework to do (he did) he right away wanted to go and got a pissy attitude about it.

You want to get mouthy? Well, guess what? I'm not going to waste the fumes I had left in the car.

So he calls the vaginal incubator and she takes him.

Youth group ends at 9 and at 9:20, my cell phone rings. He needed to get picked up. I wasn't about to stop doing what I was doing, so his father got dressed and went to get his simple ass.

I went into the kitchen.. put some popcorn in the microwave.. went to the bathroom while it was popping and then back into the kitchen to wait for it to finish.. and then headed back to the bedroom.

So what was that? 2.5 minutes??? Maybe.. MAYBE three??

Soon as I get back on the bed, my cell phone rings. It's the idiot calling from the vaginal incubators cell phone asking if his father was on his way to pick him up.

I told him he was and asked him were HE was at. Well, I KNEW where he was at, I just wanted to know where between the church and the house he was. I could hear her screeching in the background but couldn't hear what she was screeching about. Because she's ALWAYS screeching about something.

The idiot asks me to get a hold of his father and tell him that the vaginal incubator picked him up.

Well.. idiot.. I CAN'T because YOU know as well as I KNOW that your father doesn't have a cell phone and doesn't want one.

They were only a few blocks from the church so I tell him that he has to go back to the church to catch up with his father because his father isn't going to know where he's at.

Not five minutes later, the idiot walks in the door. He tells me that the vaginal incubator wouldn't turn around and go back to the church.

Let me say that again for all of you who might have missed it.

SHE WOULD NOT TURN THE CAR AROUND AND DRIVE THE THREE BLOCKS BACK TO THE CHURCH.

Are you FUCKING kidding me? How bad do you really want that Queen of Cunts tiara? Oh wait.. wait.. you already wear it.

So I ask the idiot WHY he called his father if he knew the vaginal incubator was picking him up? Ooohh.. because she was 20 MINUTES late...

Annnd WHY didn't you just wait there until you father showed up since you already called him to pick you up??

Blank stare.

So NOW, I tell the idiot, you father is in a freezing church parking lot at almost 9:40 at night worrying about where THE FUCK YOU ARE.. because you don't think of anyone BUT yourself and didn't stay. And there's NO WAY to get in touch with him.

There was nothing else for me to do but walk the 3 miles to the church and try to catch his father there or on the roads back to the house. The middle kid asked me if I wanted him to call his mother.. and I was like I. WILL. DROP. HER. ON. HER. ASS. SO. HARD. SHE'LL. HAVE. A. REASON. TO. POP. PAIN. PILLS.

He did offer to walk me but I didn't want to be anywhere near anything or anybody that shared their DNA.

And let me tell you.. I was SO hot, that I didn't even feel the 30 degree weather.

I got almost about half way there when my cell rang and it was the middle kid. I could hear his father screaming at the top of his lungs at the idiot but if you ask me, he was screaming at the wrong person. But that's a whole different post for a different time because he can be a bad ass towards his kids but a major pussy when it comes to the vaginal incubator.

So I get back to the house and I go into the bedroom and I tell their father what happened on this end.. and I say to him that what she did was the ultimate "fuck you" .. he just said "yea" and I wanted to drop him on his fucking ass.

See.. they have child support court on Thursday.

They have child support court on Thursday because she hasn't paid child support in three months. She called up Monday morning and told him to call the courts and request a continuance. Are you fucking KIDDING me? She's also under the impression that HE called and reported the non payment ( um, like SHE would do if the tables were turned and he was like.. I don't know.. five minutes late with the check? ).

Why she insists on NOT believing that the court will automatically send a summons when you miss three months of payments is beyond me.. I mean, it's not like we haven't been through this before.. more then a time or two.

She even told her kids, ".. your asshole father is taking me to court because I missed one month".

The best was THREE MONTHS AGO when they were summons to court because she has missed the previous three months of payments. She called up asking him where she needs to send the check.

Really? Because.. um... you've PAID before so like.. why exactly wouldn't you know how to do it??

Heh .. well, I think I have an answer to that stemming from a conversation I had with one of her *cough* gentleman friends *cough* but yknow.. it's not confirmed. I will say that all the puzzle pieces fit and it's a pretty warped fucking picture.

And you know.. like Judge Judy says, "... you picked her to make a baby with" so you get what you deserve. Only I don't deserve it and I'm not putting up with the bullshit anymore.

So men, take it from me, before you unzip your pants and are too lazy to wrap it up in plastic wrap do yourself a favor and push for an in-depth psychological exam. It's going to save you A LOT of drama later on in life.

And don't hand over your balls. Women with their shit together won't respect you.

The TRUE Meaning Of Christmas.. or Why It's SO Much Better To Give Then Receive

2010-12-06T09:25:00.000-08:00

You guys all know the issues we've been having with trying to find a place to move to.. and the financial situation we're in..

My life's an open book, what can I say...

Anyway.. you know, as bad as we have it sometime you lose sight that there are a lot of other people who have it worse.

And I recently found that out first hand.

The other night I put an ad up on Craigslist looking for a piece of property to move to. We have already exhausted all the ad and listings ourselves and figured, why not just put an ad up outlining what we want, what we need it for and how much we wanted to spend. This way, we wouldn't be wasting our time and resources driving all over the damn state and other's wouldn't be wasting their time if they really didn't want chickens running around their property.

So I posted the ad and when I went back onto the site to see the actual post, I came across an ad from a women who was looking to have some kind Christmas for her kids.

Her husband's unemployment has recently run out, she had to leave her position because of a very serious health issue and her three kids are all afflicted with some type of special need. She explained that her kids were well aware that there was a chance they wouldn't get what they wanted for Christmas but that, together, they would write the ad and see what happens. Maybe there were still good people in the world.

There are a lot of ads on Craigslist from desperate parents who want their kids to remain kids as long as possible. This is going to be a hard, hard holiday for a lot of families and for some reason, this particular ad struck a cord in me.

Out of the things each of her kids requested, I had two out of the three sitting collecting dust in my closet. Forgotten about until now. So without thinking, I sent her an email saying that y'know, I had these things and even though they were used, they still worked. I would have to find some cords or paddle or the what not but I was more then happy to give them to her.

She replied to my email and you know, people say that you cannot feel the tone of an email but believe me, I could feel the appreciation and the relief in her voice. She wanted to send me money. She said she didn't have much but would send as close to what I wanted that she could afford. I told her no. I didn't want her money.. I told her that I didn't know if she was a Christian or not, but I was.. and by helping her I was practicing the true meaning of Christams. I wanted to give.. I didn't want to get paid.

Turns out, she is a Christian also who's faith is as deeper.. or maybe deeper.. then mine and what happened between our email exchanges was the budding of a new friendship. Our talk became less about the physical gifts but the gift of grace. She is younger then I am, with three kids that she and her husband are trying to raise with morals and values and the knowledge that the material doesn't really matter. She told me that responding to her email and giving her things that are sitting no-used in my house will reinforce in her kids the power of prayer and faith.

Could I ever get a better present then that?

So I tell you.. if you have the opportunity.. give something from your heart. Help someone who needs it without wanting anything in return.

It's the purest emotion you will ever feel.

Passing Ridiculous .. Next Stop Sublime!!

2010-12-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

Meet Consuela.

Isn't she a beauty?

Actually, this isn't Consuela. It's Consuela's hot twin sister Carmen.

Even though they're identical twins, Consuela's been around the block a few times and lived a fairly hard life so she wasn't up to having her picture taken. Not before she goes on Extreme Makeovers.
In all seriousness:

The picture is of a 1978 Dodge Southwind.. a class A motor home. The way it's suppose to look.

We found one on Craigslist for $800.00.

There's a reason why it was $800.00 but even though it was kind of beat up on the outside .. no dents or smashes or anything like that (the inside is a WHOLE other story) .. the engine had ridiculously low milage and Tim was confident that he could redo the inside so it didn't look ~~so ghetto~~.. ~~so redneck~~.. so like a bunch of illegal aliens made it their primary residence while floating over the Rio Grande.

Anyway.. when we were going to have the mobile home put on some one's property, a septic tank and a well was going to have to be dug. Since we weren't going to be able to live it in until then, Tim figured that Consuela would be needed for her bathroom and kitchen until we could actually live in the mobile. So we sent the owners half via Western Union (remember THAT whole folly?) and called them on Wednesday to let them know that we'd be up on Friday to give them the other half and change over the title and everything.

The plan was to get RV legal and then stay over at a campsite so that Tim could check it over and make sure it wasn't going to blow up on the 3.5 hour drive home.

Ok.. can I ask you this?

Why the HELL do we ever plan anything?? You think we would learn by now, huh? Nope.

Now.. let me just interject here that there was a issue with the kids because it comes into play later on in the day. The 12 y/o wasn't able to spend Friday night at his mother's place because she had plans. But we had the ducks in a row already so there really wasn't anything else to do but have the 16 y/o watch him. Not the most optimal situation but it is what it is.

Both kids were read the riot act but we really didn't have any big worries. The youngest would be on the Playstation until he fell asleep and the older one would be on the computer until he fell asleep. There was food in the house and enough toilet paper. The only worries I had was that the dogs would go without food and water but since we were only going to be over night, even the dogs would be fine.

It's 9am and we're just about to leave. I grab my cell phone and notice that there's a text message from Consuela's pimp saying that the roads were flooded due to the the torrential rain we had a few days before. Tim called him and left a message saying that we had to drive up anyway so instead of meeting him at 1:30, we'll just make it a little later. We were on the road when he called and said the water should be down in a few hours. Great.

So we spent almost 4.5 hours driving to Shunk, Pa. We had seen a sign the last time in that area that someone was selling lots of land. Tim wanted to go check it out and find out how much they were selling them for. We drive all the way out there and spend a whole 10 minutes learning that the lots were actually part of a development that didn't allow mobile homes and were running around 15g. Ridiculous.

Now it was almost a 2 hour drive west x southwest to Lock Haven.

We get there and finally see Consuela in person.. from across the road. We didn't feel right pulling up onto the property without first talking to the dude. So we called and texted and called again. Nothing back.

We happen to see this little jeep turn into the property so we waited a few minutes and went a head down the drive way. If worse came to worse, I'll go knocking on the damn door.

We pulled next to Consuela and she looked a little more beat up then I thought. Well. A lot more. I kept telling myself that cosmetics aren't that important. Yea. Right. Anyway, Tim got out of the car to give her the once over when this younger then me blond wearing a bandanna comes bopping out of the house.

She's the dude's wife. Annnnnnnnnnnnd she tells us that dude isn't around, he got called into work. AND there's no battery in Consuela (but she would get one) AND the title is with the guy they got Consuela from but never changed the title over AND she didn't have the keys. She could GET the keys.. but they were at her house a half hour away.

She also tells us that the dude with the title is driving back from his job in West Virginia. Niiiicccceeee.

Then she climbs in an open window and unlocks the door so we can see the inside. I wish she hadn't. I mean, you know, I don't want you to think that I was expecting the Taj Mahal .. but it wasn't as good as the bad I thought it was going to be. There was ALOT of water damage. The roof is going to have to be replaced and the cabinets are going to have to have something done to them. I should have taken pictures but I guess my subconscious knew better!

Right then and there, I wanted to just drive the hell back home and do this another day when they got their shit together. But Tim was insisting on waiting it out since we had already driven all that way and that he wanted to get it into a campsite and stay over night. I wasn't objecting to him wanting to check the damn thing out before he drove it. That's just smart. But I wasn't down on spending any money to stay in a hotel or motel or whatever. Spending another 60.00 in gas was better then spending 90.00 for a motel room in my mind.

But no.

Tim wants to see this thing through. So she's going to go home to get the keys while we drive to a campsite 8 miles away (keeping our fingers crossed that they were even open) .. reserve a spot and then go grab something to eat. By that time, she should be back with they keys and if the dude wasn't home from work yet, we could at least take the thing, stay over night and finalize the transaction the next day.

Remember what I said about planning? Yea. I really need to know better!!

I had found Holiday Pines Campsite on the TomTom. The TomTom that always wants to kill me by making me drive obscenely narrow rodes through mountains.

This time was no different. The 8 miles was smack dab through Bald Eagle State Forrest on a make pretend road that wasn't only narrow, but also covered in snow and ice.

You do know that upstate PA gets snow WAY before we get it down here, right?

Life may be adventure but you know.. I can do without adventure every once in awhile.

The whole way I'm asking Tim if he's sure he can get Consuelo to make the trip down this road.. especially because there were long drops into nothing on either side at some points. But he was confident... possibly stupid.. that he could do it.

We get to Holiday Pines and not only are they open, but they had a spot for us and the couple who owns it were SOOOO nice. I would definitely recommend staying there if you're in the area. The best part was, they told us another way to get back to where we needed to go that did NOT involve driving through the mountain again.

It taked on another 27 miles going AROUND the mountain but at least it would be safer because we wouldn't have to deal with narrow roads, deep falls, ice, snow and darkness.

So we drive all the way back to Consuela. We sit there for another 20 minutes or so until the wife comes out and tells us, GUESS WHAT?? The keys weren't at home.. they were in the car that her husband drove to work.. in the gas fields.

I couldn't stop the words ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME from coming out of my mouth. And I know she felt bad.. I did.. deep down I know that stuff happens for a reason but that doesn't mean it isn't frustrating as all hell.

She offered to up us up at her house until the dude came back from work but I wasn't going for that. Since the dude was expected home around 730-ish.. and it was now 530-ish.. we figured we'd go get something to eat (which we didn't because of the time it took to get to and from the campsite) and hang around Mickey Dee's parking lot soaking up the free wifi.

It was there that I posted this message on Facebook:

Oh.. did I mention that it was snowing? Yea. Me we're talking about, remember?

So this is where all hell breaks loose.

Remember in the beginning I said that we had to leave both kids alone at home? Yea.. well.. we get a text message from their mother going off about us leaving the 12 year old home alone.. and how he's just a little boy.. and how it's illegal and blah blah blah.

Right away I called the 16 y/o's cell phone. No answer. I leave a message telling him to call me ASAP. I text him a message telling him to call me ASAP. Tim texts their mother and tells her that the 16 y/o is watching him and that there is nothing illegal about that.

I call the 16 y/o again.. no answer.. leave a message telling him to call me.. it's an emergency. I text him again and tell him it's an emergency and that he has to call me.

Nothing.

Tim texts their mother again and asking her were the 16 y/o is .. where the 12 year old is .. does she have them?

Nothing.

I call and text the 16 y/o again.. Tim calls their mother. She doesn't answer so he leaves a message saying that she can't text him going off about leaving the kids and then not pick up the phone. He needed to know where the 16 year old was an if the 12 year old was really by himself.

She finally sends a text message saying that he (Tim) knows it's wrong to leave the 12 year old alone and to leave her be.

Leave her be.

LEAVE HER BE???

That's her response. Says nothing else.. won't pick up the phone.. just drop a bombshell and just leave her be.

And you WONDER why I want to move 4 hours away??

We still wasn't able to get through to the 16 year old and they must have unplugged the house phone or let the cordless go dead because we couldn't get through on that either.

So what was there to do. What would you do? The only thing TO DO was to drive the 4 hours back home. Leaving when we did, we'd get home by 10:30.

We call the dude's wife and explain to her what was going on and that we'd be in touch to set up another time and hopefully then, they would have everything they needed and the deal would smooth through.

The way we figured it, the 16 y/o left the house to hang out with his friends. The 12 y/o being bored or just wanting sympathy from his mother, called her and told her he was by himself. Do I think the 16 y/o was going to be out with his friends all night? No .. but he probably left his cell phone with his brother in case we called and then his brother would cover for him saying that he was in the bathroom or something. Or maybe he kept the cell phone and just didn't answer when we called. Either way.. or no way.. it doesn't matter. We had to forgo our payment to the campsite and drive 200 miles at night.

I'm not a good night driver and especially not after driving for 9 ours already.

After about a 100 miles of driving, we stopped to put air in my tire when my cell phone rings. It's the 12 year old. I immediately ask him where the 16 year old is and he puts him on the phone. I ask him where he was all day and he says home but then he said his mother was beeping in so he put me on hold. Tim got back in the car and I handed him the phone. When his son got back on line, Tim laid into him.. wanting to know where he was and why he hadn't answered his phone.. he then told him that we were on our way home and hung up.

Another half hour goes by and the youngest calls. Are we really coming home? Tim said that we were and I'm sure what prompted that call was the older one bitching and complaining and wondering if they now had to clean the house before we got home.

Their idiots. You don't need a blue print to figure them out.

I wasn't saying to much because I WAS PISSED with a capital P. Deep down I know that things happen for a reason but it's the blatant disregard and disrespect that got under my crawl. And I can't express it out loud because I really don't want to hurt Tim's feelings about the bunch of self centered, selfish, manipulative kids he raised. Or the self centered, selfish, manipulative he chose to create them with.

Because really, what mother in HER RIGHT MIND is sooo concerned about her son being left alone in a house and then want to be left alone? If you're that worried, why didn't you cancel your plans and get your kid the way we wound up cancelling our plans and came home?

If you're that worried or concerned, why didn't you CALL instead of being a pussy ass bitch and text and say, ".. hey, what's going on? I talked to our son and he said he was by himself." .. or whatever kind of conversation adults have about their kids.

I wouldn't know.. because she NEVER calls and has an adult conversation. She always texts these bullshit inflammatory messages.. then refuses to pick up the phone. It's like dealing with another kid.

And when we got home, and found the youngest one in the living room watching tv and the older one on the computer with one of his friend's sitting next to him, I went off. I turned off the computer.. turned off the tv and told them both that I didn't care what they had to day because I already knew it was going to be a lie.. it was going to be some bullshit excuse that I'm way too smart to believe. That all they did was prove again that they couldn't be trusted and not only did there antics cost us about 100 dollars we don't have.. but all they're worried about is what's for dinner and getting what they want when they wanted without any regard for anybody else.

Definitely their mother's children.

The older one said that the younger one had his phone all day.. the youngest one said that the phone was on silent and that's why he didn't hear it.

Do I have STUPID on my forhead? A 16 year old who lets his younger brother use his cell phone? A 16 year old that has his cell phone on SILENT??

I told him that his cell phone is NEVER on silent and that I hear it going off all the time. But the best was when the older one said that his mother said that SHE told US that HE was HOME...

And I screamed... SHE. DID. NOT. YOU. ALL. LIE. YOU. ALL. MANIPULATE. YOU. ALL. DON'T. GIVE. A. RATS. ASS. ABOUT. ANY. BODY. BUT. YOURSELVES.

And then Tim went off on them. About disconnecting the phone.. and not trusting them.. and how he didn't care if they weren't able to play their stupid computer game, the phone was NOT to be disconnected. The next time it is, the computer is getting trashed.

This afternoon the older one made a comment about him guessing he wasn't going to get the 20 bucks we were going to give him for staying him and watching his brother. Like, are you kidding me? Told you.. self centered and selfish.

So now the next time we go upstate.. they're coming with us. And I don't care if the older one gets carsick .. and I don't care if the younger one doesn't want to sit next to his brother all cramped up in the back seat.. I don't care that there will be no internet or tv or any modern convenience at all at the camp site. Read a fucking book.

Quest For A House Part 6: .. Or Why I REALLY Need A Reality Show!!!!!

2010-12-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

Not Getting THIS house

.. ok, so I think I have to bring y'all up to speed.

See this house on the left? Well.. we had the opportunity to get into a lease/purchase deal with the owners. It was a sweet deal that only comes around once in a lifetime.

But not in my lifetime because when all was said and done the timing was just off. When the owners wanted the down payment versus when we were going to have the down payment just wasn't going to go hand and hand.

Soo... Tim came up with this idea to get a mobile home. So on the internet we comb and came up with a few that were exactly in our price range. The only thing is that we had to have them moved .. and if you think buying an over sized Christmas tree and shoving it into your car is bad.. imagine a house. On wheels. There are a lot of permits and logics and stuff..

But all that wasn't going to be so bad because someone was kind enough to offer us a piece of their property to drop the mobile on.

So we made a few appointments to go see a few. Well, one. Tim found one on Craigslist that was free. In Elizabethtown. 60 miles from where we needed to have it moved. PERFECT!! We were so giddy that we actually splurge on Dunkin' Donuts!!

We drive out there.. IN A TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR.. and you know, sometimes free is just too much to pay. The place was BEYOND anything inhabitable and the kicker was it couldn't be moved. The only thing to really do was tear it down for scrap.

So we turn right back around and start driving the two hours back to where we live.

We were driving down one highway and Tim happened to notice an older model sitting in the parking lot of a business that sells Mobile and Modular homes. It had a "sold" sign on it but he suggested we pull in and see if they had any more.

I rolled my eyes but figured what the hell. No harm in asking, right? So we started talking to the guy and explained to him our situation and he was like, "... yKNOW!! You may just be able to get a new one."

Now, I know all about the things people say when they're on commission but apparently while other business' are tanking, the mobile home business is booming because of people in situations like ours. He said that right now, they were taking half off the down payments and had reduced their credit score criteria.

Hmm.

He took us out to look at one AND O! M! G! .. this place was nicer then my house! And it came with a new fridge and oven AND they gave you the choice of either a 750.00 gift card or a 50" flat screen tv.

I don't think I have to tell you who wanted what and who ISN'T getting what, do I?

The guy suggested I fill out an application.. it was free and the only thing they can say is no. So I did.. and he told me just how to fill it out to maximize my chances and he seemed more then confident that I'd get the loan.

We left really optimistic because the payment would only be around 200 bucks.. and because it would be on private property and we wouldn't have to pay a rental fee, it would allow us to save more money faster.

I honestly felt more settled then I've been in a long time.

Until I got home and read an email from the person who was going to let us use his property.. only we couldn't use his property anymore because someone else thought that something else was going on and it was so randomly bizarre that I was practically speechless. I know. Hard for me.

But regardless of how off mark the assumptions were, there really isn't anything I can do about it except appreciate the offer and go back to square one.

So the last couple of days, me and Tim have been looking for some type of land or property to buy that's reasonable inexpensive. We've found more then few in our price range but the only problem is is that we can't put a mobile home on it .. the mobile home we're justthisclose to buying.

And time is ticking down .. we only have until January 31st to get all this together and it seems that whenever we get one step a head, we're pushed three steps back.

But I'm sure we'll find something.. I do, after all, have hope.

While The Mainstream Media is Diverting Your Attention With WikiLeak Stories..

2010-12-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

Sorry to the poor girl who's picture I swiped of the net

First ... two questions:

1.) Do you really believe that the internet provides diversity?

2.) Do you know who Robert McChesney is?

I'm going to go with the assumption that YES, you do believe that the internet holds much diversity. I mean, you can find anything you want to.. different opinions, different thoughts.. you can find blogs that totally fit your mentality. Agree with something? Disagree with something? There are tons and tons and TONS of blogs and websites that fit your needs.

So lets move on to the second question. You may not know who Robert McChesney is so I'm going to impart a little knowledge on who this man is and what this man represents because he's trying to take everything away.

But first, let me offer some of his quotes:

Any serious effort to reform the media system would have to be necessarily part of a revolutionary program to overthrow the capitalist system itself.

Hmmm...

There is no real answer but to remove brick by brick the capitalist system itself , rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles.

Socialist principles? You mean a completely classless society where the government controls all means of production and distribution of goods? Because, you know, everybody needs to be on the same playing field right? Like "distribution of wealth?" Where have we heard THAT before? Hmm??

We need to do whatever we can to limit capitalist propaganda, regulate it, minimize it, perhaps even eliminate it.

Not to shy about expressing your true feelings, are you Bobby? Well, of course you aren't because that is your First Amendment Right. But like everything else I've been writing about today, YOU can say what YOU want but apparently I CAN'T.

So Bobby used to be the editor of The Monthly Review, an independent socialist magazine and co-founder of Free Press. It's webpage tagline is "Reform Media.. Transform Democracy".

Now, wouldn't you think that an organization named Free Press would want to promote, well.. FREE press? And wouldn't you think that the mission statement for an organization called FREE PRESS would be to make sure our first amendment right TO free speech would be protected??

You would think that, right? Especially since one of it's major donors is the Open Society Institute, George Soros' philanthropy arm. But that's another post for another time.

So we have an active socialist, co founding an organization with a misleading name who used to be an editor of a socialist magazine.

And what's this all have to do with the internet?

Well.. I'm going to tell you.

See, the Free Press has been hard pressing the FCC to implement their Net Neutrality agenda. At first glance, you think that that would constitute everything on the net being neutral.. or fair.. right?

Well, isn't it already? Do you have any restrictions on the internet? Are you being censored in any way shape or form (and please don't give me the child porn argument. That just makes you look like an idiot)?

But remember how Bobby like to play with words? If Free Press is actually the opposite of what it's name suggests then wouldn't it stand to reason that Net Neutrality would be the opposite? You'd be right.

If you do your research (come on, there's only so much time you can spend on Farmville or Mafia Wars).. and connect the dots.. you'll find out that what Bobby and Free Press are trying to do is SILENCE YOU. They are trying to END DEBATE. They want end your constitutional right to free speech.

This on the heels of Cass Sunstein, Obama's Information and Regulatory Czar proposed Fairness Doctrine.. which isn't really fair at all because it's intent is to silence or make libel anything that you can't prove. HIS biggest example is the Obama / Bill Ayers connection. There are many, many, MANY proofs of this relationship but apparently, if you find something out that they don't want brought to light in a global way then guess what? You're blog or website will be targeted .. be shut down.. and you'll get sued.

Geez. Real fair, right?

Oh and how about what Howard Dean said in October 2010 when asked about the media? You're going to LOVE this..

.. we have a strong First Amendment which has served us well in this country but I think I would bring back the Fairness Doctrine... this would be better for the country.. American's don't know what's going on and therefore the media can have their way with them intellectually."

So um.. I'm not smart enough to know what's going on? Actually Howard, I think we are because for an administration that touted transpirancy, there's an awful lot of things that you guys want to hide.. take away.. or stop us from saying.

In a commencement speech that President Obama gave at Hampton University in Viriginia last May, he told the graduating class that there was TOO much information out there.. that they shouldn't pay attention to the barrage of 24/7 news.

Ok.. I got off track,.

The thing is.. that there are people in key position in our administration who want to censor us. There are organizations formed by Socialists who want to silence us. And even though the supreme court has already ruled that what they are trying to do is unconstitutional, guess what? That didn't stop them.

Congress is voting on December 21st on Net Neutrality.

My bet is that you won't hear about it .. If it's on the news, it will be one of those things barely mentioned at 11:29.

And if it passes? Scratch another freedom away.

Guess I'm Not The Only One Getting PO'd ...

2010-12-02T09:35:00.000-08:00

... so I just read a story about a billboard that a group called the American Atheists put up on the New Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel:

If you can't read it, it says You KNOW it's a Myth. This Season celebrate REASON!

Ok. So.... why?
Why does it bother the American Atheists SO much that people believe in Christ. Do they have billboards thumbing their nose at other religions?

So, I checked their website and I found THIS one:

Hmm.. well.. that seems to refer to Christianity again ...

So I kept on looking and found:

Nothing.

I checked their store and found sweatshirts that had these printed on it:

Nothing about any other religion or deity or supreme being. Just God.

Now, unless they went ahead and changed the definition of ATHEIST from one who denies the existence of a deity or divine being to one that denies the existence of GOD (well, then, they would be the AMERICAN AGNOSTICS) .. it appears that they are only attacking God, and Christianity specifically.

Anyway... so the Catholic League put up THIS billboard on the New York side of the Lincoln Tunnel:

Now, I'm not down with the Catholics but I had to give them a big kudo for doing this.

But! Guess who got their panties all up in a knot after the Pro-Jesus billboard went up? Uh-huh.

I've scoured the internet and read this story on numerous news outlets and you wouldn't believe the comments from people who are offended by the Catholic League's billboard.

So .. ok.. as long as YOUR VIEWS are able to be expressed then everything is ok. But as soon as MY VIEWS are expressed, there's an issue.

In thinking about it, the only way that I know of to spin their tizzies is to say just four simple words.

I'LL PRAY FOR YOU.

It's CHRISTmas .. SUCK. IT. UP!!

2010-12-02T05:46:00.000-08:00

Philly's City Hall

Ask yourself this...

WHY IS IT THAT WE HAVE TO BE TOLERANT OF ALL OTHER RELIGIONS BUT ITS PERFECTLY FINE TO ANYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH GOD, CHRIST OR CHRISTIANITY IN THE CENTER OF A DART BOARD.

I'm sick and tired of it ... SICK AND TIRED OF IT..

LEARN HISTORY PEOPLE!!!!!! Our founding father's were deep believers in God.. The Capital.. The Washington Monument.. every historical building in Washington DC has references or statues or murals or ceiling paintings depicting their beliefs.

The lastest attack on the word CHRISTmas was targeted at an annual event that is held in the courtyard at Philadelphia's City Hall.

The CHRISTmas Village are booths and tents of vendors set up like a medieval village .. they sell all kinds of German food and candy and crafts and CHRISTmas stuff from all over the world.

If you've never been.. the German CHRISTmas ornaments are AMAZING!!

So what's the problem.. A CHRISTmas village selling CHRISTmas stuff..

Well there was a problem.. and the problem was that some people didn't like the world CHRISTmas.. so they called the mayor's office and complained.

Two things here:

1. Do people NOT have anything better to do with their time? and...2. I thought Mayor Michael Nutter had bigger balls

Because as soon as he got ".. a few complaints" .. he had the word CHRISTmas taken off the sign over the CHRISTmas village.

Are you KIDDING me?? A few people complained of being offended. Well guess what? I get offended every single time Christianity is attacked.

But what really set me off this morning is watch a news report where Mayor Nutter ".. caved under pressure" from the national media and is putting the word CHRISTmas back on the sign. And if knowing that he was only prompted because of the media attention wasn't bad enough, someone wanted to know why there weren't OTHER RELIGIONS represented claiming bias.

OK. IDIOT!! DO YOU NOT KNOW CHRISTMAS IS A CELEBRATION OF THE BIRTH. OF. CHRIST????

Do I go to a store selling dreidels for Hanukkah wanting to know why they don't sell Christmas decorations??
Do I stomp my feet about Kwanza??
Should I be offended that Muslim's don't celebrate Ramadan with a big pork dinner?

No .. no.. NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't it funny that we have to be tolerant of other religions and beliefs but MY BELIEF is constantly under attack? Where are other people's tolerance?

Ohhh... but I guess the same people who refuse to be educated on the founding of this country also refuse to believe that CHRISTmas is a religious holiday.

So here's my question to those:

Why does God offend you? Why does CHRIST offend you? Why do people with a strong faith in Christianity offend you so?

While I was typing this, there was a story on the news about a high school football player, Ronnie Hastie, who made a touchdown in a semi final game.. knelt in the end zone and raised his finger in the air to give praise to God... something that he has done countless times before.

THIs time was penalized 15 yards for being arrogant, self promoting and offending the opposing team.

Really? REALLY?

Was that really arrogant? Was that really self promoting? And how the HELL did that offend the opposing team? I could see if he jumped up and down pointing at himself.. I can see if he pointed at the other team.. but he didn't. In his own words, he was giving praise to his God.

But being the good Christian that he is .. and being the tolerant person that we're suppose to be.. he said that from now on, he will walk to the side lines after the play and make his acknowledgement there, away from the field.

So maybe that should have been what he did in the first place.. but isn't that something that should have been addressed ON the side lines by the referees instead of penalizing the team?

I could go on and on but I'm not. I think you get the point. But I will say one last thing:

You can attempt to erase all references to God.. to Christ and to Christianity but you will never erase our faith because that is in our soul.

Love Dreams Like This!

2010-11-30T01:20:00.000-08:00

My cousin Jill's GORGEOUS kids: Erika, Billy and Rachel
(sorry, swiped the pic from Facebook!!)

So last night, we finally had Thanksgiving dinner at my house. Sort of.

On the actual day itself, the kids went to their mother's and me and Tim had an awesome time at my brother's house.

You KNOW it was good when we are the first ones to arrive and the last to leave!

Anyway, so yesterday we were at the supermarket looking for something for dinner and we came across a 23lb turkey for 14 bucks.

No.. it wasn't all bloated or dented or anything! Wasn't in the manager's special bin either!! LOL!

So we figured for 14 bucks, we'd have turkey.. then turkey soup.. then turkey croquettes.. then turkey salad and whatever else the uber-chef could come up with. Well worth the money, I thought.

Anyway.. so we did the whole turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams and cranberry sauce for dinner. Kids were happy and I was stuffed. Dog's were too. I swear Ernie's belly was extended and he's been asleep ever since!

I started getting sleepy and while watching Chuck (I think).. I wound up falling asleep.

And I had THE BEST dream!

Did you ever have a dream that you remember EVERYTHING when you wake up? Every sentence? Every feeling?

In the dream, I was at my cousin's Jill's old house in the city. But while it was the HOUSE, it wasn't the location.. if you know what I mean.

But we were there with Jill, her husand Bill, her three kids Erika, Rachel and Billy, my Uncle Al and Dale (Jill's mom and step dad).. and we were just hanging out talking and laughing like my family always does when they're together.

Funny moments:

At one point, I went outside where Bill was selling stuff from a table and he had BIG pigs in a pen and all these little piglets.. Jill wanted to give me a super short mini skirt filled with holes (definitely from our crazy 80's days) and I was like, there's NO WAY it's going to get past these hips and told her to give it to either one of her daughters that are thin enough to dance through rain drops. The look on her face was priceless and I wish it really wasn't a dream and I could take a picture of that look!

I remember thinking in the dream that I had to post a comment on Facebook about how strange it was that I would have a dream of them! Can you imagine!!

But I woke up and I felt so happy and filled with love for these relatives that I only recently spent time with after 20 some odd years.

Jill and Bill had moved out of the city when the kids were really young and as it usually happens, we lost touch. Before recently, the last time I saw them was my uncle and aunt had thrown a wedding reception for me and my psychotic ex husband. Billy must have been 3 or 4 at the time and because it was around his birthday he thought all the decorations and gifts were for him. Funny times.

We finally caught up at a Memorial Day BBQ at my uncle and aunts house and it was like we never lost touch. There's thanks that should go out to Facebook too, I guess!

With all the stress and anxiety going on in my life, I'm glad that I had this dream. It makes you realize what's really important and that's family.

Erika, Rachel and Billy are GREAT kids.. ones that every parent would hope to raise. Jill and Bill did a great job as parents and I'm so so happy that in our family, at least, there is no such thing as 'step' anything.. we may not technically be 'blood' relatives but we're family.

File This Under The YOU GOTTA BE #$%^&* KIDDING ME Category.. AGAIN!!!!

2010-11-28T23:46:00.000-08:00

... it just keeps getting better and better!!

So.. if you don't know what happened with the whole Western Union thing, you can read it HERE

Or if you don't have time, then the cliff note version is that I tried to send money via Western Union Online and was told by a customer service rep that they would not allow the transaction to finalize because my cell phone was not in my name and neither is the home phone.

I know.. you just had a WFT moment. I can relate. But the important thing to know is that I specifically ASKED if there was going to be an issue with my bank account because I could not have TWO 400.00+ charges. And it's also important to know that the customer service rep told me that I absolutely.. positively.. had NOTHING to worry about.

Got that?

I'll repeat it again..

In caps .. just in case you're a little hard of hearing:

THE CUSTOMER SERVICE REP TOLD ME THAT I ABSOLUTELY.. POSITIVELY.. HAD NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.

You know me, right? You've been reading this blog and all my other blogs for a while now, haven't you? So you know what's coming, right?

Earlier this evening, I go online to check my account balance. I always do that. At least five or six times a day. When you don't have money, you kind of get anal about keeping track of it. And guess what I found???

See that? It's an overdraft fee for 105.00.

Do you happen to see anything that looks like a negative balance? No.. you do not.

So.. like.. WTF??? right?

I dig a little deeper and find this under the pending transactions:

Ok..

So it's obvious to me that the 438.00 transaction was returned.. or taken off hold.. but not as fast as Western Union originally took it. There was only like.. no more then a half hour.. between starting the first attempt and finalizing the second attempt..

And this was a Wednesday so it wasn't like there was the weekend to contend with ..

So I call my bank and talk to Jamal. Nice guy .. very professional. I explain to him what the situation is and he tells me that TECHNICALLY I did over draft because I authorized the transaction. I told him that it was ridiculous.. and a few other things that I won't repeat here.. and when I asked him if he agreed with me, he said he did. On a recorded phone call. Props to him.

When I said, "... so I'm going to have to eat this?" I already had plans on going to the branch office bright and early and having a *cough cough* discussion with the branch manager. But Jamal told me that I needed to call Western Union.. that they are responsible for reimbursing me.

Oh. Ok. Another chance to go off on them since my first time was cut off by Tim. Cool.

So I call and get some dude that I can't understand. I'm more polite then I think the situation warrants but yknow.. I believe I'm going to have more then enough opportunity to lash out on these people.

I explain what happened and in the middle of it.. Tim comes in the bedroom from taking a shower and having overheard the conversation I had with the bank, HE starts going off about it. Now I have some dude that I can't understand in one ear.. Tim yelling in the other ear.. and yknow.. if you know Tim and how much he HATES when I try to talk when he's on the phone then you'll understand why I was like SHUT THE FUCK UP, WILL YA??

I go back to the call and the dude must have been like ".. uh uh.. nope.. they don't pay me enough for this" because the next thing I know there's a ringing on the line and some chick answers. Her name starts with a B and even though she spelled it for me, I still don't remember it. Bria.. Brianne.. Briar.. something like that.

Anyway.. it's SO DAMN OBVIOUS that's she's reading from a script ".. yes, Lisa.. may I ask how you are doing this evening?"

OBVIOUSLY, not peachy since I had to call YOU on a Sunday night, right?

Yes. I did say that.

Once again I explain what happened and she asks me all kinds of details about the transaction.. who it was going to .. where it was going to.. etc. etc. She THEN tells me that she will have my money returned.

Excuse me? WHAT?

She said to give her a few minutes and that she will make sure that my overdraft fees are returned.

OM effin' G!

She asks for the telephone number of the bank .. and then says that she will forward the information to her supervisor for approval.. then they will call the bank and I'll have my money issued in about two hours.

Could it really be that easy? Remember.. we're talking ME here!

Tim says that it makes sense that they will so willingly pay for over draft fees resulting in something they did because they cancelled the transaction.. and that would open them up to a lawsuit which would wind up costing them more then 105.00.

He also said that the bank is at fault also because the actual money NEVER left my account.

He has a thing with banks in general and think their sole purpose is to rip you off but I see his point.

As of now, there's been no activity on my account that I can see online but tomorrow morning I'll call and see what the dealio is ..

I'll keep you updated.

Just What The HELL Is It With Us and TVs???

2010-11-27T17:28:00.000-08:00

No.. this is NOT my tv but you get the idea

hmph.

Ok.

Remember that post I wrote a few days ago about how our 50" Flat Screen just up and died and we had to go on a quest to find a ceramic fuse the size of a finger nail?

And how we moved the really heavy and really old 36" tv from the bedroom into the living room because, yknow, HEAVEN FORBID the little princes didn't have anything to entertain them!

Well.. we finally did find the little fuse and even though it did make the tv go on... it doesn't stay on. Maybe 10-15 minutes at the most before it clicks off again.

Tim seems to think it's the power board itself and was able to find one online for something like 80 bucks but right now that's not in our budget so the old tv remained in the living room.

Last night we had the house to ourselves. One kid was there and the other kid was someplace else so I took the opportunity to sit in the living room and play Call of Duty on the flat screen.

I know.. I know.. I JUST SAID that it pops off every 10 or 15 minutes or so but what can I tell you? I'm a glutton for disappointment!

After having two games ruined, Tim hooked the PS3 to the old tv. Let me tell you, there's a BIG difference between 36 and 50 but I was happy just to sit on the lounge chair!

Now, here's the thing (as if it couldn't get any worse) .. we had two plugs that connect the PS3 to the old television. One was bad (it made everything look blurry) and the other was good. When we first set up the old tv, Tim told his 15 year old Matt to throw out the bad cord and give me the good cord so that I could put it away where it was suppose to go.

So what the the Lord of Laziness do? He gives me both cords. There was no way of knowing which was the good one and which was the bad one so I had to put them both way. So of course, when Tim hooked up the PS3, he did it with the bad cord.

Since it was kind of an ordeal, I tried playing with a blurry screen but after a few rounds I started getting a headache so I asked Tim if we could just change the cord before he went to sleep.

No problem.. he asked me to unplug the cord from behind the PS3 while he connected or disconnected the wire from the back of the tv.

All of a sudden?

CRASH BAM BOOM

I snapped my head around and there's the tv laying face down on the floor. Laying on the floor after having fallen off the 3.5 foot kitchen cart (the one with wheels). I guess he pulled on the wire.. or I pulled on the wire too hard and the cart went one way and the tv the other.

Neither of us wanted to pick it up because we were both afraid that the tube was shattered but we couldn't live in laying in the middle of the living room floor either.

We finally did. The screen wasn't broke and when we plugged it in and turned it on, it worked fine.

Except the screen looked like a rainbow on crack. Obviously the color tubes got screwed up and there really isn't much you can do about that.

Honestly, I'm not worried about it. The flat screen in my bedroom works just fine and I could care less that the boys have to watch rainbow tv or only 15 minutes at a shot.

But really.. I think we need a break (no pun intended) from wrecking tv's.

Changing It Up

2010-11-27T15:04:00.000-08:00

I played around a little with the blog's appearance. The other theme was looking a little cluttered and um.. pink.

Not really a pink kinda gal so I spent the last couple days looking through millions and millions of themes...

Downloaded the ones I liked..

Then tried out each and every one...

This isn't my first choice but I think it works...

Let me know what you think.. and as always.. CLICK ON MY ADS AND BUY FROM MY STORE dammit! Christmas is less then a month away!!

Will Post For Food...

2010-11-25T01:50:00.000-08:00

Well..

Not really.

I mean, I have a WHOLE freakin' deli sitting in my house so I'm okay on the food part ...

But a little pocket change would really help a sister out so I became an Amazon Affiliate .. meaning that whenever you buy something from Amazon via the links on this blog, I get a cut.

Not a big cut ... not something that could make me retire to the shores of Hawaii .. but maybe enough to buy the dogs' treats or something..

It's worth a shot ..

So with the holidays coming, if you're going to hit up Amazon for books, or DVDs or video games or music then could you think about doing it through here? Just check out the links on the side of the blog.

You know.. with pride comes humbleness and realizing that you can't do it all yourself. While I much prefer to take care of myself and my family on my own, I've realized that right now (especially with the holidays) I need a little help and maybe this is it.

So no pressure .. just keep the thought in the back of your head in case!

File This Under The YOU GOTTA BE #$%^&* KIDDING ME Category

2010-11-25T00:41:00.000-08:00

Ok.

So I'll post about this later but me and the man made one of those life decisions that sort of get stuck in your throat after it's finalized.

You know what I mean, right?

Anyway.. this one happened to include sending money via Western Union.

I never had to use Western Union before and being that we're in the age of technology, I did what everyone with a laptop perched on their lap would do.. I went to their website.

All good so far.

I had to create an account which always bugs me because you can't do ANYTHING anymore without creating an account and if I was Mel Gibson in the Conspiracy Theory, I would think that creating accounts have become the government's way of tracking your every move.

Oh wait. Mel was actually right in that movie, huh?

Anyway.. so I create the account and with the dude who's receiving the money on the phone, I filled out all the information they wanted including two phone numbers.

So far.. so good.

Then it tells me that same day transfers cost 38.00. Um.. excuse me? 38.00 to have the money picked up the same day I sent it?? You're kidding me, right?? I mean, I am a capitalist at heart so I don't object to companies making a profit but 38 FUCKING dollars?

This is a WIRE transfer for God's sake.. basically shifting numbers on paper .. it's not like some cowboy jumped on a horse with a satchel of cash and rode non-stop to a destination.

Nothing I can do about it though so I go ahead and hit SEND, a message pops up saying that I had to call their customer service department because I had to verify information.

Um.. okkkkkkaaayyyyy.. so maybe it's because it was a new account? Maybe this was just standard practice?? Dunno .. because I've never done this before!

I call and talk to the lovely :: read that as dripping with heavy sarcasm :: Monica. She asks me basic questions.. tells me that my transfer is ALMOST completed and would call me once it is finalized.

Ok. Whatever. I say "fine".

She asks me if the phone number I gave is the correct number, I say it is and then she asks the million dollar question:

IS THIS YOUR CELL PHONE NUMBER?

I tell her it is and then there's this llllooooonnnngggg pause before she tells me that the cell phone isn't coming up in my name.

Ooohhhh... yea... THAT.

See.. a few Christmas' ago, Tim got me a crappy little PCS Metro cell phone. If you're not familiar, PCS Metro has unlimited phone / text / internet service for a flat rate with no contracts. You can buy a phone and sign up for service and basically use any name you want. They don't care.. as long as you pay the bill.

His romantic way of proposing was to get me this cell phone registered with my new "married" name.. and like all the other "nice" things that he does, it came back and bit me in the ass!

I explain to Monica why the cell phone doesn't have the same last name that my bank account does and she tells me that even though she understands, WU policy states that they can't release funds unless the phone number is in the sender's name.

Huh?

What?

She asks me if the other number I listed as a contact is under my name.

Actually, MONICA, it isn't because that service is under HIS name.

She says she can't do anything but cancel the transaction. WU Policy.

This is where my Italian starts rising and I get loud and tell her that this is bullshit and that I can give her any kind of information she wanted because the dude is waiting at the counter on HIS end to pick up the money.

Nope. All she wants is a phone number listed under the same name that's on my bank account.

WU policy.

Now, let me tell you that while I do understand that this woman is only doing her job. But that isn't doing one damn thing for me and it isn't helping matters much that Tim is in my OTHER ear repeating "... let's just go to 7-11 .. let's just go to 7-11"

Nooooo... I'm PISSED and I'm going to be PISSED and if there's one thing that he should have learned a long time ago is that if I don't get PISSED at the person who should be the object of my PISSED then it's going to be redirected at him.

Sometimes.. he's not so smart.

So I continue telling Monica where she and WU can stick their policy and how stupid their policy is because of ALL the things they can require for security, a phone number ISN'T it .. because, really, how many people do NOT have their phone service in their names? Think about a house number.. think about cell phone family plans.. I mean, it's just ridiculous.

I guess it did make a little sense to her because after she told me that I could just go somewhere in person with just my driver's license to put the money through, she came me a promotional code to give me half off the same day fee.

Which I also told her was bullshit for moving numbers around on paper.

Ok. Now. With ALL THAT said... AND a half an hour until we had to be at Josh's school for a parent/teacher conference..

There's this little debate that goes on about whether or not the local supermarket has WU .. I say it does.. he insists that it doesn't .. I remind him that he also insisted that yeast was not in the refrigerated section when I clearly knew that it was and so we spent 20 minutes in the baking aisle until I get tired of looking at him stare at shelves of flour and went and got the yeast in the REFRIGERATED section..

Off to the supermarket we go...

Sure enough.. right there on the counter .. was a BIG WU display. I grab a form.. and me, who generally has half a dozen pens on me .. didn't have a single one. This at a supermarket the day before Thanksgiving with 15 minutes left before the meeting with Josh's teacher.

Tim winds up wrangling on from somewhere and I fill out the form. When the woman behind the counter is ready to do the transaction, I start telling her about my experience with the online service and right away she cuts me off and goes on this rant about how there is SOOOO MUCH fraud and they have to be REALLY secure blah blah blah.

I knew I wasn't going to win a conversion here so I just put my debit card and driver's license on the counter. She keys the information into her computer and swiped my card. She shoves my driver's license back and me and says, ".. oh, I don't need to say that."

Wait.

WHAT?

You just went on and on about how WU has all this fraud and how they have to implement strong securities and blah blah blah... I can't send money online because my phone isn't in the same name as my bank account but you'll let me swipe a card without checking to see if that I'M the actual cardholder????

Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?

I think Tim recognized the face that I make when I'm about to go off on principle so he mentioned how he felt bad that the dude waiting for his money and how we only had five minutes to get to the school for the teacher's conference.

Point made.

But can I at least mention that I was literally thisdamnclose to jumping over the counter and strangling the bitch when she was folding and refolding and refolding and stapling and stapling and stapling the receipts?

FINALLY we were finished and when she circled the transaction number, Tim asked if that was information that the dude who was waiting for the money needed. She said, "... nah. It may make the transaction go faster but he really doesn't need it."

Guess again.

We called the dude to tell him the transaction was complete and headed off to the school.

Not FIFTEEN MINUTES later, guess what?

The dude calls.. and guess what he needs?

Yep.. the freakin' transaction number.

So kids.. learn a lesson here. If you have to wire money, do yourself a favor and get a money order and overnight it. It's cheaper and you won't wind up spitting fire through your teeth!

Wanna Annoy Me?

2010-11-23T23:02:00.000-08:00

Make me wait ALL BLOODY NIGHT for you to fall asleep so that I can watch all the "girly" shows I can't watch when your awake.. and then after 10 minutes of solid snoring, you wake up and want to turn the tv off so you can fall asleep.

There's six pillows on the bed.

I'm positive I can make on find itself on top of your face!

You Gotta Be Fucking Kidding Me...

2010-11-23T22:53:00.000-08:00

See this flat screen on the left?

Isn't it pretty?

It's mine.

Well.. THAT one isn't mine but I have a 50' Vizio.

That suddenly decided not to work.

Tonight.

Spent a few hours playing Call Of Duty: Black Ops with the boys and everything was fine. No issues at all.

Then Matt went on the computer.. I went into the bedroom to check my email.. Tim was in the kitchen checking on dinner and all of a sudden we here Josh sarcastically saying, ".. thanks DAD!"
Tim was all like, ".. what the hell did I do?" and Josh told him that he turned the tv off while he was watching it.

Because... um... Tim being in the KITCHEN could turn the tv off.

Or am I missing something?

Anyway.. Tim goes to check on it and it didn't work. No lights.. no hum.. no fan.. no nothing that makes the inside of these things do what they're suppose to do so that I can watch Skating With the Stars in HD.

Seriously, I was like DOUBLE U .. TEE .. EFF ..!!!

Of all time for this ridiculously expensive tv to blow and it's now.

NOW.

With the holidays a month away.. a lost business.. trying to find another house.. and having way too much piss to piss in a pot that I don't even HAVE .. the damn tv has to break.

It wasn't the kid's fault .. not unless you count the endless times he's left it on all night or all day for no apparent reason other then being lazy as all hell.. it was just bad timing.

To not really blow my cool, I went back into the bedroom where Tim followed me and we dueled banjo laptops trying to find out anything that could help us get it working.

All praise be to God, we found something. A 5mm x 20 mm little 8amp 250v ceramic fuse something. Could it be that it was just as simple as the problem the guy on a random internet forum had?

So with a broken flat screen that couldn't get any MORE broke.. but just maybe fixed.. we unscrewed the million screws on the back cover.. layed it face down on about a hundred blankets on top the dining room table and found the fuse.

Tim, knowing about these kinds of random ass things, wrapped the fuses with tin foil to see if there would be some kind of transfer of electricity by bypassing the fuse and wouldn't you know it, the damn thing worked.

NOTE: I would not recommend you try this yourselves. We ARE the King and Queen of Idiocy, yknow.
He immediately pulled the plug in case the thing got to over heated and blew out the circuit board and off to Radio Shack we went to get more fuses.

But we couldn't find the car keys.

Anywhere.

Either set.

High.. low.. over.. under.. behind.. in front... no where. At all.

Are you KIDDING me?

But finally after about a half hour, he found a set in the jacket that I had hung up on the front porch and away we went to the Radio Shack that he swore was on the Pike but wasn't there...

Then off to the Radio Shack he INSISTED was in the mall but wasn't there...

We finally jumped the highway and went down to a shopping center that I don't know the name of and right there next to Shop Rite was a Radio Shack.

But they didn't have the fuse.. because why would they carry it? Lord knows somebody might NEED it or something.

Then we tried the hobby store.. nope.

We tried Auto Zone.. nope.

We tried Home Depot.. nope.

NOTE: I told him that Home Depot was a wasted trip but he insisted and I needed to use the bathroom anyway so..
We tried Pep Boys.. nope. Kind of.

They did have a few that was the same size but a little wider. Tim said he could make it fit.. I told him it was wishful thinking.

I won. Didn't fit.

So tomorrow we're going to drive over to this place in Drexel Hill that fixes televisions and if he doesn't have it, I'll order them online.

Which I was going to do like 4 hours earlier but Mr. I-Have-To-Fix-Something-I-Don't-Even-Watch-Anyway couldn't wait.

We wound up moving the old 36" television into the living room and I swear that if I hear the kids complain one more time that the remote doesn't work on that tv.. and the Playstation isn't set up for that tv.. and why can't they use the flat screen in my bedroom... they're going to get their ears boxed.

Click On This Logo..

2010-11-22T17:58:00.000-08:00

Absolutely LOVE this sight!

SWAYABLE.COM

Quest For A House Part 5: Or When Enough Is Enough

2010-11-22T07:05:00.001-08:00

.. so it's no secret that finding a house to move to have been a hell of a whole lot harder then I thought it was going to be.

WAY harder.

And with time ticking away, I've developed every kind of intestinal problem known to medical science and some that I'm sure isn't.

It sucks.
The other morning, after a particularly bad night of tossing.. turning.. and hitting the bathroom, Tim wakes me up at an ungodly hour with the laptop screen in my face screaming YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!!

Before I was even mentally awake.. had my glasses on.. OR had a drip of coffee in me, he starts showing me this mobile home and his brilliant idea of buying a mobile home instead of renting a house and then we can get a lot and park it there and then have chickens and pigs and grown corn.. because, you know, corn is going to be worth more then gold.

Now, don't get me wrong. I've been in mobile homes before.. ones that were nicer then any place I ever lived before (except my house in Penrose Park which I loved so much it kept me in a bad marriage for 18 years) .. we just don't have the money for one of the "nice" ones.

Not to say that the ones he was showing me wasn't nice. There were. If you were HIM. He who could care less about anything materialistic or if there are curtains on the window or if the blinds are straight or if his furniture matches.

Please let's not get into that! HUGE can of worms there with no fishing pole.

Point is that he doesn't care where he lays his head. I do. It's not that I'M materialistic or have high standards *cough* or anything like that... I just want to be comfortable where I live.. want it to be presentable and clean.. and would rather not have to worry about falling through the floor.

It's a ME thing.

Plus, you know, I don't think I'm ready to knock out some teeth and start chewing tobacco to fit in to my surroundings.I mean, really .. my stilettos and concrete steps just don't seem to mix.

Then there are the kids to consider. If it was just the two of us then believe me, I would be a lot less selective but it isn't..

We found out that we have to give 60 days notice to our current landlord so we're going to have to pay another month's rent here which means we have to stay until the end of January.

We're at the point where we have to take a leap of faith. If we officially give notice, will we find something in time? Will we have to ship the kids off to their mother's and live in a tent somewhere? How the HELL did I find myself in this situation?

If you thought sleepless nights were bad before, well.. we're talking NO sleep AT all now.

The big difference between Tim and me is that I'm a planner and he flies by the seat of his pants. I like having a plan.. know what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. The ducks need to be in a row. Needless to say this situation is putting holes in my stomach.

But then yesterday we got an email that took a lot of pressure and stress off. I'm not going to go into detail but let's just say that regardless of what happens, we have a plan and a place.

When I woke up this morning, Tim was like, "... wow, you look happy and well rested".

And I was like, ".. because we have a plan and a place, douchebag!"

'Cause that's really all it takes to give me a good nights sleep ... a plan and a place.

Quest For A House Part 4: .. Or How Everything Up There Is At Least 45 Minutes From Something Else

2010-11-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

.. so in the week between weekends, we scoured the internet and came up with more houses to look at and even had THE best realtor in Pennsylvania (April) come up with two places to look at.

Total, there were 6 houses to look at:

1 in Sunbury
2 in Williamsport
1 in Jersey Shore
1 in Montgomery
1 in Coal Township

In that order.

The Sunbury property was a twin at 550.00 a month. On the drive over ( and just before you get on the bridge in the picture) we saw another twin for rent. We figured we'd catch the number on the way back.

Sundbury is a gorgeous town .. historic. Very Norman Rockwell-ish. We ooohed and ahhhhed driving through the whole town .. until we got to the place to rent. Obviously the ONLY part of the town that was left off the tourist brochure. It wasn't that it was bad, per se.. it's just the front door look out on the back of business' so we had a loveLY view of dumpsters.

As the Italians say .. FURGEDDABOUTIT!

So we drive back the way we came and got the phone number for the house we saw on the way in. Called the number and left a message.

On to Williamsport.

We met April, THE best realtor in Pennsylvania at her office (which happened to be a few business' down from the hotel we stayed at.) She had two properties for us to look at so we climbed into her little clown sized Jeep. Nimble Tim got in the back which was so small that being nimble was of no help. Good thing he stopped wanting more kids because his manly parts got kind of mangled getting in and out of that thing!

The two houses that we had called her about the week earlier were already rented and she was overly apologetic for it. She explained that because of all the gas workers flooding the area because of the shale finds, not only have rental prices doubled but they get scooped up as fast as they are listed

Figures.. I'm always a day late and dollar short.

First house was in Williamsport. Nice size house.. but even though they were doing remodeling, it really wasn't much better then the shit hole we had seen the week before. But it did have nice large bedrooms and a full sized walk in attic. Color choices were a little bizarre but it seemed like the hunt was going a little better. Wasn't crazy about the yard (shared with a neighbor that apparently bought every Fisher Price toy for her kid) because there wasn't a fence but it did have a balcony off the master bedroom. The only thing was the owner wanted 1000.00 but April said he would negotiate.

Eh.

Next stop was Jersey Shore, located about 12 miles outside of Williamsport.

This house was GORGEOUS!!

Recently remodeled, it has an updated kitchen with granite counter tops, a double sink with the new old-fashioned Kohler spigots and tin back splash.

OMG.. I get goose bumps just thinking about this house.

As Tim said, this would be a house I would have my mother visit .. because right now, she's not allowed anywhere near where I live! Ghetto Chateau that it is!

But this house.. OMG is all I can say

While I was still picking up my chin in the kitchen to stop drooling on the ceramic tile floor, Tim checked out the basement and was all giddy about the new furnace.

What can I say .. it was the whole Mars / Venus thing. I was giddy over the asthetics and he was more concerned about furnaces.

He's the ying to my yang.

Me and April were still in the kitchen looking at pantry sizes and cabinet space when Tim walked into the next room which was the dining room and loudly exclaimed YOU CANNOT COME IN HERE!

Pay no attention to the fridge and the gym equipment. Just look at the refinished original hardwood floors.. the built in hutch! The light fixture!!

But what you don't see is what really knocked the socks I didn't have on off.

See that doorway to the left?

That's a bathroom. A HUGE bathroom. A FULL BATHROOM!! Big enough even to have the washer and dryer in it.

Can you say SOLD!!!!!

The living room was a nice size.. LOVED the stair way and was completely enamored by the light fixture hanging in the foyer.

The whole downstairs was really tastefully decorated.. there wasn't one thing that I would change. Tim neither.. and that's a big thing because we have completely different tastes when it comes to decorating.

The upstairs had three bedrooms.. all nice sized except for the third one. That was a little small and had the stairs that led to the attic. The attic could be remodeled to make it a room so I really wasn't that concerned about the size. I mean, right now both boys are in one room anyway and the whole upstairs isn't being use at all. Paying for a house that I'm only using half of sucks. Big time.

The other selling point is that the house sits on a nice piece of ground and has a detached two car garage at the other end of the lot.

No fence, but that wouldn't really be a big deal. I've built fences before and until one could go up, there's this thing called leashes for the dogs.

The stickler is that the owners want 1000.00 a month. Way more then we wanted to pay however, Tim and April started talking and he said that he was willing to pay 800.00 a month is there was a lease / purchase deal.
The house has apparently been on the market for sometime and even though it's 89.9 price tag is considerably cheap where I come from, I guess it's a lot for Jersey Shore. But April said that she would talk to the owners and see if she could negotiate some kind of deal.

Reluctantly, it was back to Williamsport to see another twin that we found on Craigslist. April drove us buy it and we didn't even have to pull over or slow down. Not for us.

We returned to April's office to get our car and I told Tim that while we were driving back from see the house that I would give all my eyelashes to live in, I had seen another house for rent on the main street going through town.

So back to Jersey Shore it was.. found the house.. got the number.. called it and left a message.

Back on the highway now to Montgomery, PA. About 20 miles outside Williamsport. I had found this house online.. had sent an email to the owner and also made a phone call. She sent me the address but no pictures. I checked it out on Google Earth and it seemed like a cute little town. But just like Sunbury, we were all stoked driving through the town until we got to the actual house. And like Sunbury it was a nooooooo!! A bunch of houses squeezed together in what would have been a cul de sac if the road didn't cut right through it.

Call me whatever.. but I really don't want to live in an area where all the neighbors have cruddy houses.

We still had one more house to look at in Coal Township.

Now.. the only picture I could find of Coal Township was of the prison. Traveling through there I can tell you there's a reason for that.

I don't know whether it was the weather, put the place looked dark and dingy. I half expected to see people walking around with coal dust on their faces and head lamps.

The house we were going to look at was being rented for 410.00. Three bedroom, one and a half baths and from the pictures that were sent, looked well kept and nice. I do have pictures of it but out of respect for the owner, I'm not going to post them. I will post one of the outside because she included it on the ad.

When we saw the pavement, we realized that the house was on a street but it was a single and looked like it was something that I wouldn't mind inviting my mother to. The other good side is that it was only 2.5 hours out instead of 3.5.

But the drive to the house gave me the same feeling I had the weekend before when we went to see the shit hole house. This seemed like a step back.. not forward but the rent amount was attractive enough to get out of the car and we had already said we would see the house and I wasn't about to stick anybody.

I wish I could show you the inside of the house.. it was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! Stained glass windows.. wood trim.. three really nice size bedrooms.. really cute bathroom... balcony off the master bedroom.. back deck.. really nice size fenced yard. The current tenant had to move for personal reasons and she had a dog and cat so the pet issue wasn't really going to be an issue at all.

We met the owner's mother who lived next door and she reminded me so much of my grandmother that it was almost frightening.

I loved it .. and didn't think going back to a house on a street of row homes would be that bad. It's been over 20 years since I lived in South Philly but yknow.. I would deal.

It started getting dark so we left .. and I'm not even going to go into just how dark it got.. just how many winding roads we had to drive down and just how many times I almost got us killed because I have a really difficult time driving in the dark on roads I'm not familiar with.

Let's just say our next trip will include Depends.. just in case.

This particular tirp was EXHAUSTING .. other then being out of the car for a total of 45 minutes.. it was all driving. We started out at 7am and didn't get home until almost 9pm. That's 14 hours.

14 hours of fighting with your bladder.. and dealing with asshole drivers.. and running out of coffee when you really NEED coffee.. and willing your digestive system not to revolt because of the Egg McMuffin you had eaten earlier.

As soon as I got home, I emailed the owner of the Coal Township house and told her that we loved it and would be more then happy to rent it. She said that although we were the first to look at it, there were still a few more people that were lined up to see it. She sent an application and I filled it out and emailed it back. She then asked if my current landlord knew we were moving and I said that he didn't. She was concerned because she wanted to contact him for a reference but didn't want to jeopardize our situation here. I told her that I would call the landlord and tell him that we were looking but wasn't going to give an offical notice yet.

I did call and talked to the property manager.. she said that she understood our situation and that she would give us a good referral. I then shot another email off to the Coal Township owner telling her that she can go ahead and call.

I had had a really good feeling about this place.. but then later on in the night, we saw that she reposted her ad. Nice. What a let down. The current tenant was vacating at the end of December and we told her we'd pick right up on the lease on the first so she wasn't going to be losing any income. So I don't know. Not so much of a good feeling now.

April, THE best realtor in Pennsylvania, did email me on Monday and say that she's negotating for the house that we really loved in Jersey Shore and that she should have an answer soon so there's still that.

It's just getting harder and harder and I'm really not looking forward to putting out another month's rent here. That's 1400.00 that could be used on another property but the pieces don't seem to be falling together.

But I have to walk on faith and not by sight and we'll end up where we're suppose to end up.

It's just getting harder and harder to afford going up there just to look and coming back empty handed.

Quest For A House Part 3: .. Or How Some Home Owners Are COMPLETELY Delusional

2010-11-16T21:38:00.000-08:00

... so I apologize for being MIA. There's been a lot going on.. a lot of roads traveled.. and a lot of coffee consumed in this quest for a house.

Believe me.. I'll be glad when this is all over with!

But back to last weekend.

To bring you up to speed, we decided to spend the weekend in the Williamsport area to give us a leg up on finding a house to rent. The internet is all finThe.. well.. and good but we figured that spending the night, combing through the local paper and then having Sunday to check out whatever we find would probably be the most responsible thing to do.

So we found two properties listed in the paper so I called. The first one answered and he said that he was going to have a kind of open house on Sunday after 12:30 and I had to leave a voice mail for the second. I stressed that we were only in town until Sunday afternoon and if at all possible, would like to see the house before we left. I went on the whole spiel about living 3.5 hours away .. blah blah blah.

The hotel had a free continental breakfast thing going on and so Sunday morning Tim was trying to use his mental man skills to wake me up early. I was NOT going to be woken early .. I used my mental woman skills to subvert his. He tried making noises.. turning on lights.. putting his face two inches from mine and staring at me but nope.. wasn't going to happen. There's nothing I hate more then waking up early.

I was up in plenty of time to get the free breakfast .. which basically consisted of eggs from a carton.. Jimmy Dean sausage links.. make-your-own waffles.. and cereal from this weird container. No bacon though. How the hell do you have breakfast without bacon.

I'm a really, really picky eater so the only thing I can say about that breakfast is that they had good toast.

My cell rang when we got back to the room and it was about the house that I had left a message for the night before. The woman was all "hun" this and "hun" that and told me that we could see the property after 1pm because her and her husband were going to church.

So we felt very optimistic.

We had to check out of the hotel by 11 and so we figured we'd drive by the houses prior to our appointments just to get the feel of the neighborhood and where they were at.. what was surrounding them and what they looked like.

The first house was.. well.. I want to say "ghetto" but not sure if that would be a compliment or not. We didn't even get out of the car and look in the windows.

Disappointed, we drove to the second house and I literally wanted to cry. I remember saying, "... the power of words" and Tim was like, ".. I didn't say anything." and I was like, ".. No, I meant that they worded the ad like they were renting something beyond spectacular."

They didn't lie about the size of the house.. it was huge. We got out and walked around.. looking in the windows. They were obviously painting it and cleaning it but there's only so much you can do with "bad". The little alley way was covered with pigeon shit and feather.. there was no fence so there was full view of the back of the houses on the street that ran perpendicular and all their lovely piles of trash. Most not in trash bags.

The street itself looked like run down and anyone who knows me well knows that I have this thing about blinds and curtains. I don't understand how people can NOT keep their blinds straight or knot their curtains. I moved once when the people who moved in across the street from me doing that.

To me, moving into that house would be a step back and I may only make baby steps going forward but at least it's in the right direction. Plus, neighborhood don't usually frighten me.. this one kinda did.

Tim had a different point of view. We could stick it out for a year, he said. It's not THAT bad, he said. He said some other things that made me thing that he was doing his best to put a round peg into a square hole and I had to tell him that, look.. I don't think this is going to work. I'm not moving to someplace like THIS. And it was kind of like he thought that I was saying I was too good to live in a place like that and that wasn't it at all and if I wasn't in the middle of driving in an area that I wasn't familiar with, I would have punched his bald head. He should know me by now. If it was just me and him then that would be a whole different thing but I wasn't comfortable bringing the kids into that area.

We went in search of the Sunday edition of the newspaper thinking that there may be more ads. We stopped at this little deli and when we walked it, it looked exactly like ours did.. except everything was behind the counters. The behind the counter said he didn't sell the paper and I forget who mentioned our deli first but it was brought up and the guy was like, ".. you want to buy this one? It's only 125gs and you get the apartments upstairs!"

Apparently this guy opened this place 7 months ago.. ONLY had 2 problems that he took care of (read into that what you will) but now he want out. Honestly, I would have considered renting it from him if he didn't seem so damn desperate.

We wound up finding a paper but there was nothing new in it .. and with a bladder that was stretched from here to Arizona, we found a McDonald's and lamented on what our next move was.

Fortunately, I had my iPod on me and with the free WiFi at Mickey Dee's I was able to pull up an email attachment that a realtor had sent me during the week. It was a list of properties that were for rent and even though it was kind of old, we found ones in our price range. We also checked Craigslist and called a few that were a little further out from where we were originally looking.

There was hope.

Well, there's always hope but sometimes it's more obvious then not.

Since the two houses from the realtor's list was in the general vicinity of the pigeon shit house we had an appointment to see, we went to look at them. Both were in neighborhoods that looked a hell of a whole lot better then the one's we saw from the paper and both had fireplaces.

Yes, there was hope.

Tim being Tim said to screw the pigeon shit house all together but I couldn't do that. I made an appointment and I was going to keep it.

So I call the woman and she said she was sending her husband over to meet us. We got there first and parked a little ways down from the house. While we were waiting, we happened to see a cat sitting on a front porch. To entertain himself, Tim was psst psst psst to it and the damn thing got off the porch and came over to the car.. stretching his paws up to the window's edge.

We were laughing hard and then the damn cat jumped into the car. Literally. Jumped right into the damn car.

I had a better picture where the damn thing had just plopped himself on its back and wanted Tim to rub it's stomach but it didn't save on my camera phone.

Now, I could make a witty, sarcastic comment about Tim's ability to attract dirty, back alley pussy but I'm going to refrain.

Anyway.. there were these two guys in their early 20's that were walking by and Tim asked them if they owned the cat. One dude said that it was just the neighborhood cat named Smokey .. will refrain from a witty, sarcastic comment again .. and that he's always siding up to people.

I happened to ask the guys if they lived in the neighborhood. They said they did and that it really wasn't as bad as it looked. They've been living there for about 3 years.. each had young children.. and that basically people did their thing and were into whatever they were into but it didn't spill out into the street or anything like that.

For some reason, that made me feel better and that maybe I would be able to deal with this. I can deal with a lot for 650.00 a month.

The husband shows up and we go into the house.

Let me just say this... the house was not without it's charm. Unfortunately, the owners didn't do anything to improve ANYTHING from when the house was first built .. probably around 1920 .. the previous tenets had been college kids and they trashed the place. Instead of properly fixing the holes in the wall, the owners tried to hide them.. and honestly believe that a coat of paint will hide a lot of sins. There had been a leak in the roof and you could still smell the wet lathe.

But the most RIDICULOUS thing was the kitchen. I wish I had taken pictures of it. It was seriously that bad.

It was big. Big enough for a washer and dryer but apparently, not big enough for a sink. Yep.. there was no sink in the kitchen.

The sink was located in what I guess they would call a mud room. Why the hell they didn't just put the sink where the washer and dryer was is beyond me. Beyond Tim too.. and when he asked the husband why they didn't do that the husband (who reeked of whiskey, btw) was like "... oh!! You're going to have to take to me wife. This is her property, I'm just the handy man."

So the wife shows up and at this point, I'm thinking that maybe this is kind of do-able. Not by dream house but I felt a little bit more comfortable about the area and like Tim had said, it was only going to be for a year. Tim asks her if she would consider switching the sink with the washer and dryer if we moved in and she said that she would rather he didn't.

Tim and the husband go outside and I'm talking to the wife inside.. spilling out about how much charm the place has (barf) .. but really, what was I going to say? If I was TIM, I would say that the place was a shit hole. I know that's what he would say because that's what he DID say to the husband outside.

Have I mentioned that I'm the nicer one of the two?

At any rate.. we had to get out of there because we still had a 3 hour ride ahead of us so we told them that we would make a decision and get back to them.

So we left feeling a little deflated.. but a little elated because we had found the two houses on the realtor's list AND we found a drive in movie theater that was still in operation! Fun times. We definitely have our priorities straight, huh?

But what it all meant is that we would have to make yet another trip up.. but this time it was going to have to be a one day trip because we had a catering order that had to go out on Saturday.

The novelty is definitely wearing off...

Quest For A House Part 2... Or How The TomTom Is Out To Kill Me

2010-11-08T11:08:00.000-08:00

Seriously.. does this LOOK like a road?

Ok..

So you know we're on a quest to move 200 miles away into the mountains of north central Pennsylvania.

BEAUTIFUL area far, far away from the city and all the crap that it is and will fast become.

200 miles ONE WAY is a long way to drive.. about 3.5 hours if you stick to the highways .. more if you take local roads .. so after making the round trip in one day last week, we decided that this weekend we were going to stay over night.
It's HARD trying to rent a house and a store from far away.. Craigslist only has so much and driving aimlessly around an area that your not familiar with is even worse. Like, the PERFECT house could be one road over and you'd never know it ..

So the King and Queen of Idiocy decided it was best to grab a local paper, stay over night and spend Sunday checking out places.

We did have an appointment to see one house.. the blue one on the right. It was advertised on Craigslist as a four bedroom farmhouse with an assumable mortgage currently at 527.00 a month.

This was located near Rt 87, and according to the Tom Tom, we just had to take the road that ran parallel to Rt 87 on the other side of the creek.

At first, the road wasn't bad. Wasn't paved.. but wasn't really what I would call a "dirt" road. I've since learned that what I consider a dirt road is a what locals call a damn super highway! What I didn't know is that the damn TomTom was taking us UP and AROUND the outside of a damn mountain. I mean that literally. There were some place that were no wider then my car with a 300 foot drop to nothing and no guard rail. It didn't help that there was a local driving right on my bumper because OBVIOUSLY he knew where he was going and what to expect and was really, really pissed off that I didn't.

When we got to the house, the owner explained that someone had already looked at it and looks like a deal was cut. He felt horrible because we have drove so far and honestly, I felt a little let down but after we saw the inside, it wasn't going to work for us anyway. It used to be a duplex that was re-converted into a single home but all the bedrooms were open and there wasn't any kind of privacy. The dude was a trip. This was actually his vacation home (he lived in florida) and looked like he could have been cast in an old episode of the Soprano's.. complete with gold 9mm Glock earring, pinkie ring, 4th wife and coiffed hair. It was ridiculous that he lived there but he had a great personality and I did like him.

So with no other prospects yet and time on our hands, Tim wanted to show me the mountain house that his father built in Shunk, Pa. So I punch that in the TomTom and start following the.. This time, instead of taking us AROUND it took us THROUGH the mountain in what I can only call a secondary access road or a damn fire road.

If I thought the other road was bad.. OMG!!! This one was sooooooooo much worse. Only as wide as my car but filled with pot holes and rocks sticking up and the HUGE drop into nothing.

No.. I'm sorry.. THIS ISN'T A ROAD!!

It was getting late.. I didn't have cell service because I was IN a damn mountain .. my back driver side tire has a habit of leaking air and all you heard from underneath the car was SCRAAAAP!! BANNNNG!!! BAMMMM!!!

All that and trying to avoid the pot holes and sticking up rocks? Yea.. I was more nervous then a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

I kept on having to swerve to avoid the holes and rocks and at one point when Tim was looking over the 300ft drop, I swerved and his sphincter immediately cramped.

WTF!!!!! he yelled. And started screaming that he was going to drive .. he made it seem like I didn't know what I was doing or.. worse, that I was SCARED (because, yknow, I don't "get" scared) .. and so I did what every badass city girl does when she's disappointed in house she didn't get and is driving on a PATH through a mountain with pot holes, jutting rocks and a car she doesn't trust ... I stated to cry.

If I was a devious or malicious person, I would SO use that to my advantage because me crying just makes Tim feel horrible.. worse when he causes it! But I think I only had to let out some emotion and then we were as fine as we were going to be.

We had to be on this semblance of road for 8 miles and at around the almost 6 miles mark, guess what?

Only Me

Yep.. Road Block.

Now to be fair, we DID see home made signs saying that the road was closed but y'know.. nothing official and we really didn't know when they were posted because they looked kind of worn.

Now we knew.

So we had to turn around and do this again for another six miles. I wasn't a happy camper but there was nothing else that could be done.

The ride back wasn't AS bad because I knew what to expect and I there weren't that many holes or jutting rocks on what had become the driver's side.

But I did see the view.. and which I hadn't. It's hard driving with a cramped sphincter!!

We finally made it back to a real, honest to God highway. Rt 14. And it only took me one more time to follow the TomTom directions and it told me to go over a bridge THAT WASN'T THERE ANY LONGER.. that I said, "Screw it .. " and just stayed on the highway. After about 20 minutes of the damn thing telling me to turn around when possible, I won that battle of wills and it recalculated. Made me drive 20 miles out of my way and through southern Tioga county but at least we got to Shunk with both me and the car in tacked.

Tim was going down memory lane.. pointing out this to me and that to me .. Him, his brothers and my BFF Pam (their cousin) had spent a lot of time there when they were young so it was fun for me to see him that animated and full of childhood stories.

He told me about hauling stones as a kid .. and the pool table they had and the pond that used to be on the side of the house that has since been drained.

He told me how the place was actually two houses since his uncle wanted his own kitchen and entrance and whatever .. so the house has two of everything on different levels.

They spent a lot of time up there being boys.. hunting, fishing, etc. and it's a shame that circumstances were what they became and his dad had to sell the property.

You might not be able to see it, but in the middle window there's a wooden sign.

Apparently, it's tradition to "name" your hunting cabins in those parts and so this became "Lazy Acre" because it's located right outside of Lazytown.

Tim's dad had made the sign and it was kind of awesome to see it still there.. it used to hang but for whatever reason, it's now in a window.

Kinda cool, huh?

Okay .. so now that the trip down memory lane was over we had to get back down to business we keyed Williamsport into the TomTom to make our way back to semi-civilization by nightfall.

You know.. I'm pretty good with directions and landmarks. Once I find my way to someplace, I always remember the way out so after all the previous attempts on my life with the TomTom why I didn't follow my instincts if WAY beyond me.

Maybe I was drive-crazy .. which is exactly like being stir crazy except your in a car for 7 hours driving.

And so, once again, I let the TomTom guide us and ONCE AGAIN the TomTom put us on a damned fire road on a mountain. If I didn't think that we would need the TomTom to help the rescue people find us in the event of an emergency then I would have chucked that thing right down the 300ft drop.

I had a fear that this road was the SAME road that was blocked on our way up and we would have to turn back around but my REAL fear was the bunch of campers that we saw when we had to make a turn. Say I watch too many scary movies but I'm not going to lie and say that being on that road, in that car, at that time of almost-night got me thinking that maybe one or more of them were weekenders that might want to find out if they could murder people in the woods and get away with it.

Fortunately, it wasn't the same road and after six torturous miles, we got back to the highway and made our way to lights, fast food joints and a Dunkin' Donuts!

How Cool Is It That The Quality Inn Gives You
Free All You Can Eat Popcorn?

We check into the Quality and start combing the classifieds.

Found two places listed and made appointments for Sunday to go see them.

I wasn't really that into spending the money to stay over night but it was the best decision and gave us the opportunity to explore more of the area.

And sleep in a King size bed..

Without the dog or the cats stealing the blankets.

Tim, though, was a whole other story and it's amazing to me that no matter how big a bed is, his skinny ass has to take up 90% of it.

I'll post about what happened on Sunday a little later .. you won't want to miss that!!