Blinded By Rent

“Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail.”~ Kinky Friedman

Welcome to April!

And for those of you who are keeping track: 25% of the year has now gone by.

As it is for so many of us, this week is rent week. A week that we all feel so much good fuzzy feelings for! Am I right? No?!?? Oh well. It can be a chore and a hassle but we do it because we want to keep having a place to live.

This morning as I was going to grab my coffee, I remembered that I needed to grab the money order that I had for my own rent.

Well, April in Texas is also stormy season. A cold front blew in so it was a bit chilly outside. Very windy too!

I picked up the money order and headed back outside. But the wind nearly pulled the money order out of my hand. I do have pockets, but they aren’t that deep and I didn’t feel secure enough with all this wind that it would stay in there. I did the next best thing that I could think of.

I stuck the money order in between my teeth and bit down and proceeded to move forward.

The moment I turned the corner at top speed and was facing a northern direction, that crazy wind got in the way.

As I was accelerating in speed because I was going down a hill, the wind got stronger and flipped that flimsy piece of paper upwards and back into my face. The width of the paper and its placement between my teeth literally caused a blind spot.

Before I knew it, the wheelchair had turned off of the sidewalk and I went tumbling down the rest of the hill, head over heels, over and over and over again. The money order never coming out of my mouth.

It took quite a while for the empty wheelchair to catch up to me. And I climbed back in. All the while gritting down on the money order so it would not fly away in the wind.

I am fine though. I didn’t seriously hurt myself. I wasn’t bleeding or anything like that. I had the sense to roll with the roll so to speak.

But I have always said that rent was going to kill me one day. It came a little bit closer today than before!!!

Everyone enjoy a laugh from the story. Happy April to everyone!!!!!!!

Idiot Award For November 2017

“As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot.”  ~ John Lennon

Well now, look what we have here!? Looks like I haven’t given out the last of these awards.

Hang on because this one is very frustrating.

http://whnt.com/2017/11/08/alabama-woman-sentenced-to-prison-for-faking-terminal-cancer-to-collect-over-260k/

A woman in Alabama got herself caught dealing with donation fraud.

She was able to collect over $264,000 in donations and checks when she lied to family and friends about having terminal cancer and went to GoFundMe to share her “story” about wanting to take a trip to Disney.

It is really sad and disgusting at the same time that she did this. Many people use GoFundMe in their desperate hour of need. I used it when my wheelchair broke and I was unable to even get out of my home. And now, I may have to use it again because the wheelchair that I was able to buy due to the overwhelming generosity of over 100 people has been broken down and fixed three times already! And I have exhausted all the funds that I had received by those kind and generous people in order to do it. I did the best that I could.

I’ve been in contact with a medical supply company and surprisingly they were able to work with me to measure me and find out just exactly what I am needing and it is not going to cost as much as I thought it was going to. But the only way that I am going to be able to get it is through crowdfunding. And hope that it will take longer than seven months to break.

Now with this turd waffle getting HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars and using it to fuel a drug addiction, it makes it so much harder for people to be just as generous as they were once before. I certainly do not need $264,000 but with that kind of money I would never have to worry about buying another wheelchair again for the rest of my natural life!!

It is stories & people like these that make others less generous.

The Art Of Sale

“I had more clothes than I had closets, more cars than garage space, but no money.” ~ Sammy Davis, Jr.

This morning there is a garage sale happening at our apartment complex. It is expected to go well into the afternoon. But I don’t see it actually lasting until noon.

I went early and I could not believe my eyes to the amounts of CRAP that were being sold.

If its one thing in life that I have not figured out, it is the garage sale.

One table has nothing but clothes. Another table has nothing but assorted and various electronic equipment, such DVD’s & CD’s. Another table has nothing but knick-knacks. And yet another table has nothing but decorative items to “dress” your tissue or Kleenex boxes. A very neat and decorative idea, but not neat ENOUGH for $15 each. And definitely not for a garage sale.

At the time that I showed up, pretty much everything was nothing but useless rubbish. With the exception of the clothing which was overpriced for a garage sale, plus they were women’s clothing. The DVD’s were not what was being advertised. There was a DVD cover for a specific film, but when you opened the case, a burned off copy of a totally different film was inside.

There was  collector’s edition of The Pink Panther films. Supposed to be a 6-disc DVD set. Discs 1 and 4 are missing.

Do you see where I am going with this???

Nothing honest, and nothing cheap.

I am embarrassed to live next to these people. I really am.

One table had various and assorted junk such as clothing that didn’t fit, telephones with cords attached, and the like. The difference here was that every item on the table was less than $1.00! Some things broken, chipped, or missing pieces. But it was less than one dollar.

The table next to her were decorative pieces and reused personal bags that were crafted by someone who formerly lived here and had passed away. I was there for that transaction back in November. These personally created bags were sold to the neighbor for $2.00 a piece. Now today they are on a table, listed as $4.00 a piece. The unfortunate thing that she does not understand is that those of us here who would want to buy those creative bags– already have them. They aren’t going to sell here. Her luck will be greater if someone from the public comes in and buys them.

So I still don’t understand the whole idea behind a garage sale. Is it to turn a profit or is it to lessen what you have and get rid of things you no longer want without worrying about whether or not you will earn or lose money???

Someone please help me out!

Do you enjoy going to garage sales? Do you sell things to make a profit or do you just get rid of it all? 

Ice Cream Saved Me $60 And About Three Hours of Grief

“It is only when the rich are sick that they fully feel the impotence of wealth.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

My home health nurse adores me. Let’s just leave it at that.

Today she brought me ice cream and it saved me so much money and I got to keep my sanity as well before heading into this upcoming weekend.

How?

It was late enough in the afternoon and just early enough in the evening when she stopped by with the dessert that my stomach was starting to tell me that I was getting hungry.

Having to eat all of that ice cream began to fill my stomach with food and the thought of eating anything else was not as pleasing any more.

But how is it that so much money was saved?

Pretty simple. For those of you who don’t know or don’t know how to pay attention…. I don’t drive. And today would have been one of those times where I was feeling like cabin fever was setting in and I was wanting to actually GO OUT and sit down and eat somewhere.

The only way to do that is to have a neighbor drive me somewhere. The only person with the capability to deal with storing the wheelchair in the trunk or in the back of their vehicle is a guy who is married.

And of course it would be horrible of me to ask this guy to drop me off at a restaurant by myself and expect him to pick me up when I was finished. Of course, I’d have to have him come along with me. But then again this is food. And these vultures here at SGC are all the same. They lose themselves when it comes to food. Whether its homemade or going out to eat.

There is only so many times a person can eat here and not go crazy.

So the outing would be a party of three. And here’s the kicker: the couple has a short list of  “approved” restaurants.

For example, if I was to go to them wanting a ride to go out to eat at some fast food place and I knew that I was going to have to take them with me and said “Hey, I want to go to McDonald’s…” they would decline the entire adventure and I would not go.

If my taste buds were not in line with what THEY cared for, I would not be going out to eat. Pretty sad.

Golden Corral is in fact one of the top approved places that they enjoy eating at. In fact that’s all I ever hear them talk about . With the exception of this afternoon when I heard the husband say that he and the wife was taken out to eat as a treat and they went to Red Lobster.

Ummm huh??

And yet an adventure or trip to the Golden Corral would have cost me about $20 a person. So about $60. Meal and drinks and then tip included.

Not to mention the awkward socialization on the way to/from the restaurant and the not so small talk that they consider dinner conversation which is hardly things that people would want to discuss while “going out and having a good time.”  All of that time of wanting to stab myself in my full stomach to just get away from the mind-numbing conversations.

And to be honest, the last SEVERAL times this same arrangement happened that I am talking about  it was a poor experience overall. I often get tired of having these bad experiences and then having to come home and tell you all about it on this blog.

Now I could take the metro bus system but that’s tricky as there’s no worth while restaurant that would be close by and therefore I wouldn’t know what the routes would be and I would hate to be sitting on a bus just to go one way for an hour to reach a place to eat.

The saving grace of the ice cream being bought earlier saved it all from disaster. I am soooooooo thankful!!!!!

Bank Error Distributes Wealth

“He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.”~ Socrates

South Portland, Maine… a bank customer comes up to an ATM to withdraw the amount of $140. He swiped his card, punched in his code, and then it all went crazy.

The homeless man ended up with receiving well over $37,000 in cash that he had to put it all inside of a grocery bag.

I know what you are thinking. Neither you or I have ever had that kind of luck. I mean, who wouldn’t want to put their bank card inside of an ATM machine and then suddenly have a stash of cash so large that you can’t fit it all into your pockets.

But the money was actually returned. The other bank customers were not affected by this error. And no charges have been filed against the ATM customer by the bank. A police investigation however is still in progress. 

The bank claimed the ATM machine was faulty and a code error distributed that much money at once.

Not every day you hear about these kinds of stories. I for sure thought that this man was going to try to take off with his newly found fortune. But he did not. He returned the unwanted portion. Or at least the parts in which he did not originally decide to withdraw.

I often think that people who are that honest should be rewarded. I’d love to see the bank or some organization throw $1,000 into his bank account for his bravery and honesty. But that’s just me.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Broken-ATM-at-Maine-bank-spits-out-37-000-5376131.php

Dumbass Award For February 2014

“When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.”~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Wow. Well, I knew that this was coming soon. I could feel it in my bones. The problem was that I never thought it would hit on a local level. 

“You always hear about it happening. But you never thought it would happen to you.” Yeah that. EXACTLY that! 

So here I am on Friday evening, sweating the weekend. Knowing that this is not going to be fun. In fact the entire weekend is going to be nothing but not-fun-for-me full.

Instead of going into a panic, such as running out into the middle of the street, pulling what hairs I have left on my head from getting my head buzzed a few weeks ago, and ultimately getting hit by a bus or some idiot without a license, I went for the “next best thing” and asked the neighbors to take me out of this place for a while because it was going to be the only escape I would receive for the entire weekend. 

Sadly though this means that my suggestion to go out to eat comes with the fiscal responsibility of paying for the guy driving me there, and his wife. But I struck a deal with him that he was to know full and well that I would be reimbursed once he was paid next week. And any and all debts that were still outstanding with me would also be paid. 

He agreed and then we went to his wife to see what she thought about the idea. And she didn’t get what we were pitching at her. We had to walk her through it with baby steps. 

Finally, we were up and on our way to go out to eat at a restaurant of THEIR selection. $42 was the bill and I was told that $26 (plus tip) would be added to their current debt and be paid off next week. 

But I will say this before I go into the reasons why the nomination was so close to home. I was out of the house for nearly three hours, and the time just melted away. Everything that I had been poisoning my mind… I hadn’t even thought of. I am sooooo  thankful for that. 

So at the end of our evening, our waiter by the name of Jose came by and asked if we needed anything more. We declined but then the neighbor’s wife spoke up. 

Holy crap! What is she doing??

She was feeling absolutely rotten because neither she or her husband could participate or pitch in on at least the tip that was being left on the table. And it was really eating her up inside. 

What does she do?? One of the weirdest and dumbest things I have ever heard in my life!!!!! 

She asks Jose for his business card. And poor Jose!! English as a second language Jose. 

Between his faulty grasp of the English language, the babies that were screaming, crying, and carrying on. The multitudes of people talking all at the same time…. he just could not understand what she was asking for. 

So he brought over someone else who was actually busy trying to direct traffic of customers who were just coming in for their dining experience of the evening. And so the neighbor’s wife again explained the following scenario as I will write it below from her point of view: 

“My husband and I were invited here as a special treat to come eat here. And we don’t get paid until Tuesday of next week. So I was wondering if y’all could give me his card.”

Confusion set in on their faces again, just like Jose. 

“What I mean is write his first and last name on one of y’all’s cards so that the next time we come in here to eat, I can give him our half of his tip for tonight. We come in here regularly, and I just wanted to make sure that we gave him his tip.” 

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT, OVER???????

First of all, she lied. Neither she nor her husband frequent the place that much. Probably once every couple of months. That’s not “frequent” by any definition. It might be consistency, but that’s not high frequency. 

Secondly, who does that and can say that they are of sound mind?????? NOBODY! Who gives an I.O.U. for a tip?? I have never heard such ridiculousness in all of my life. 

Besides…. there was already a tip on the table that I left. It wasn’t a lot. Nor was it the “average” but I gave what I could. And this woman decides to go pull this stunt. Probably because she felt he deserved more. But when you are being treated to dinner, it is really not your responsibility. It becomes yours only if you decide to chip in. And she was wanting to but found out that she was unable to. And pulls a stunt like that. It only caused her to get strange looks and an explanation in return that there’s a privacy policy that needs to be in place to protect their employees and she was not going to get what she requested…. but thank you for coming in and come back again soon! 

I do not know what her husband thought or was thinking at the time. But we were trying to leave and she insisted that she was going to wait for that second person to come back with a card with Jose’s full name on it. We waited ten very long, boring, and grueling minutes before she saw that same person again and realized that she was going to receive nothing. 

We marched our way to the exit doors. Our stomachs full of disgusting buffet food that was probably not good for anyone to eat. And the wife again found the second person she talked to and asked for that card just one more time. By then it was just embarrassing. And I bolted out through the front door into the chilly night air as the sun had disappeared for the evening and I realized we had been gone for hours. 

This is the quality of people that I live around. NOW can I get some sympathy?????????

 

 

Last Minute Opportunity

“Fundraising is very, very time-consuming.”~Arlen Specter  

Dear readers: 

For most of you who have been around long enough, you know that I have been doing my best this season to raise enough funds so that I and the other assistant captain of the team can go to the USA HOCKEY DISABLED FESTIVAL  in Boston this  coming April.

Our original cut date was supposed to be the 31st of January. However with just a week and a half remaining and the lack of donations in the past few months (sadly), the two of us honestly did not see that we would reach our goal in that short amount of time.

We had even trimmed our goal by $1,000 and we’re still under 25% of reaching the full amount. We just did not know the right people to ask for donations and the nation’s economy is still pretty bad.

But all reasons and politics aside, we still want to thank those who read about our campaign through the blogs and thank those who tried to help spread the word. 

We also want to thank Author Jodi Ambrose and those good people up at Cape Cod Cookie Company for offering their personal incentives for this fundraising campaign. It was a fun deal for those to give to a good cause. 

Now we know that the website link will always and forever be available to receive further donations. We haven’t figured out how to “delete” the campaigns.

I will have it in the Blogroll for a little while longer, but I after this post …. I will not be advertising the link. Eventually though, it will be removed from the Blogroll. Unless its found a different purpose later on in the future.

If you still wish to donate or are the kind of person that likes to wait until the last minute, NOW IS THAT TIME!!!

We will be letting the ship sail at MIDNIGHT PST…. tonight!! For those of you who do donate and I receive the e-mail that you had done so before the cut off date, then your donation amount will be considered towards those incentives. 

And for those of you who find it too late and still wish to donate, I think that the idea that we had was to hold the money for the next season in case there are plans to go to the next tournament in 2015. So your donation money will still go towards the Austin Blades sledge hockey team, specifically for me and for my partner in crime in this adventure. We thank you in advance!!! 

No matter what, we will always be thankful to everyone who supports us, whether it be financially or moral support or whatever. We love you all. Thank you most sincerely!! 

 

Our donation page:

http://www.gofundme.com/2t2pvs

 

Black Widows

Marjorie Orbin

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” ~ Voltaire

I am thinking either one of several this evening. Either I need new friends or the rain that has been falling over the past 24 hours is getting to me. Or it could be that the knowledge and information that I have been obtaining as of lately is poisoning my head. But I think the last option is far from the truth, to be honest.

This afternoon I was given a surprise visit by a male colleague and his brand new, spanking-fresh girlfriend. There’s probably more emphasis needed on the spanking than usual, but I’ll leave that one alone.

So then yeah, a surprise visit from him with his new girlfriend on his arm, and lap, and neck, and groin. Made me wanna roll my eyes so far into the back of my own head that I could look at my brain.

You see dear readers, she’s a stripper at a local gentlemen’s club. Whether or not that’s where he found her, I do not know because I didn’t ask.

The lowered demeanor of the both of them made me so glad when they left my home that I was quick to lock the door behind them and it wasn’t even dark outside. Which brings us to our lovely tale of black widows. 

Marjorie Orbin was a showgirl and a stripper. When she met her husband Jay, she was 35 years of age and going on her seventh marriage. That’s right — 7 marriages by 35 years.

Marjorie with then boyfriend, Michael J. Peters

As I went through and learned more about her story, it was blatantly clear that Marjorie had a taste for the high life. She had champagne tastes and caviar desires. A woman, whom I personally probably would go through life and never be happy.

But she had the world brought to her whenever she snapped her fingers. Men pined and craved for her. And the attention blew her ego to 100,000 times the size of China.

And then enter Jay Orbin. A successful man who fell for Marjorie’s charms.

It had seemed that Marjorie was totally and completely irresistible.

After having spending time with the wealthiest of the wealthy in Florida, she knew she found her true desires.

But as with many of these kinds of women who’s appetite can never been conquered, she began to mess around with yet another man, even though she was married to Jay.

The marriage got in the way, and Marjorie needed Jay to leave her alone so that she could continue on with her affair. 

The next thing you know, in 2004, a homeless transient in the Phoenix, Arizona desert was passing through when he found a large container. At the moment he opened it, he found a human torso, with all of the internal organs removed. The police were then called in.

It was the torso of Jay Orbin. His head, legs, and arms had been cut off and stuffed into the container.

A murder mystery was now in the hands of the Phoenix Police Department.

And I actually started to feel bad for Marjorie when I read about this horrible murder. But the more that I read and researched, the more sick to my stomach I became.

Longer story short….. the boyfriend that she had the affair with while married to Jay is enjoying his freedom while Marjorie is in jail for the murder of her own husband. And she claims to this day that she had nothing to do with it, that she did not kill her husband. 

But you know what? I’m not buying all of it. She KNEW it happened. She KNEW that Jay was the obstacle in the way of her getting what she wanted.

Marjorie was even found on security camera actually purchasing the container that would eventually hold the severed remains of her husband from a local store.

There are others that I’ve read about, such as Karen Newell. Another woman who was found to be so attractive and irresistible that she claims that men would kill and DID kill for her. However, I did not spend a second of research on her because the pattern was already there from what I had learned to that point.

But its all a part of this fantasy life they have in their heads. They are innocent, their boyfriends/lovers are the ones who are guilty, and they’ve not done a single thing wrong. And now that their lives of glamour and riches is stripped away from them, they are bitter. It repeats itself over and over and over again when a woman is often found guilty of murdering their husband and/or boyfriends/lovers.

To go back now…. does my colleague have money? OHH, you bet!!! Is he rich? DEFINITELY SO!!!

Do I take from him? Not at all. I don’t even allow him to pay for times that he and I have gone out to eat or whatever, if I have the money, then I will go and pay for my own.

Will this local stripper kill him for his money? Ehh, I don’t know. But what I do know is that he better be EXTREMELY CAREFUL about it. And this blog post is my warning to him.

Yes, he will be receiving the URL link to this blog post when I am finished writing it. And its probably going to piss him off a little bit. But hey…. I’d rather have him pissed than have him robbed of what he earned…. or worse.

3M Challenge

“I get half a million just to show up at parties. My life is, like, really,  really fun.”~ Paris Hilton

There is a bus stop in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada where the maker of this particular kind of security glass has offered anyone who can break the glass is more than welcome to take the money.

3M is so confident that this challenge became a part of their ad campaign for the security glass that they were making.

I just found out about this today. I don’t know how long this has been there in Vancouver.  Nor do I know for sure if it still stands today. If you want to find out for yourself, its at the corner of Broughton and Pender Streets.

Some say that inside the glass case is three million dollars, thus taking the amount from 3M.

Others aren’t so sure, but their eyes sparkle in wonder when they come across this tantalizing deal.

Are you ready for the buzzkill? OR the “fine print” as I call it??

There is a security guard there watching over it. And there are rules to this endeavor should anyone wish to attempt to breaking the glass and walked off with the stash.

Here are some of the rules that I found on the Internet while searching to see if this was or was not a joke.

While there is a security guard standing nearby. If you wish to attempt to break the glass, you can only use your feet. You cannot punch it, you cannot throw anything at it, you cannot ram it. You may only use your feet to try and break the glass.

Security cameras have already caught a few people attempting this. I am sure that you can find them by doing a search online.

All that money, seems like millions.

Not exactly. The pile of papers inside is exactly that: paper. It is lined across the top with $500 in real currency and the rest is fake.

So you’re going to basically risk breaking your feet for only $500 in Canadian currency.

And if what I read from yet another web article is true, if you are able to break the glass….. congratulations. You have proven to 3M that they need to re-think their strategy in making this security glass.

But remember that security  guard that I spoke of? Yep. He’s going to be there to STOP you from reaching inside and removing any of the real money.

All in all, its a lesson in futility. The only thing  that it proves is whether or not 3M was successful in making a security glass that cannot be broken. There’s no real money waiting for you in this adventure whatsoever. Only jail time.

 

Swear Jar

“When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear.” ~ Mark Twain

When was the last time you heard about this idea?  

One of my neighbors has a literal swear jar.

Sad but true.

We’ve all seen the entertainment of someone who walks into a house where there’s a swear jar. They attempt to curb their profanity but then find that they just cannot help themselves. So they dump in all the money that they have and just let the waves of swearing come pouring out of their mouths.

Its pretty funny to watch. But have you ever actually seen a swear jar?

I recall a time when I was in grade school that the teacher actually had a swear jar in. Although the money wasn’t piling up to the top. We were responsible for our own bad language. Writing it down how many times we had said something that was considered inappropriate in class and putting it into the jar. Then the total amount would be added up and then the student would have to pay.

The thing of it was that the money collected was to help supplement a fund to pay for a field trip that was coming up. A field trip that I missed due to illness.

The teacher NEVER enforced. However the students were more than happy to enforce it upon others. When the class was not allowed to even use soft swear words, such as “dang” or “crap”, it surely made for an interesting time period. This kind of language is what I call PG-13 language, and it just wasn’t acceptable in class.

So fraudulent pieces of paper of students tattling on other students when those students weren’t even guilty of swearing.

My neighbor has a swear jar.

But she operates it differently.

The thing of it was that this neighbor gets super-duper offended with profanity and cussing. So much to the fact that she had publicly told people who had the urge to swear that she was going to charge them for each and every foul phrase that rushed out of their mouths. 

There was one big problem. She couldn’t enforce it at all. Her idea was never a good one as she did not have authority to correct other people’s language.

But what she COULD do was make the attempt to supervise people’s mouths who were inside of her own home.

We all have our own little house rules. And she then realized that she would be able to have a swear jar. What she didn’t factor was that she wouldn’t be able to enforce it. So basically, the only thing that she can do is scold you for anything that came out of your damned mouth that was considered freakin’ inappropriate.

OOPS!!

Anyway, how in the world do you enforce against another full grown adult that they must pay for the bad language? It just wasn’t working out.

She’s had to change how she does things.

Now instead of just charging people money, she enforces humiliation upon the person who just said something she didn’t like by telling them to apologize and she won’t allow the current conversation to go any further until said apology was issued by the offender.

Other people who break the no cussing rule have to give her a hug.

And if someone comes by and brings a friend with them, someone that she doesn’t know personally and THEY get foul? Then, that’s a flat cash charge of up to $2 per “fuck, shit, and bitch” that was uttered. Other lesser swear words are simply $1.

Rule of thumb in her home: If you couldn’t say it on television in the 1970’s then do not say it in her home. UNLESS you are quoting someone.

It is so easy to get around by using words like “fricking” and “dang” and other uses of PG-13 language.

I am not opposed to someone having a swear jar. If the money put into it was to go towards something like paying for a hobby or a vacation or even something that was noble. Having a swear jar to curb the mouths of people around you isn’t such an excellent idea. Those who want to curb the offensiveness of language will always have a long battle ahead of them. And they usually will not win. And you’re only kidding yourself if you believe that some way or some how you are about to become rich overnight be employing a swear jar. You can charge people all you want for them using what you consider bad language, but enforcing it is a totally different issue when you are faced up with grown adults.