It's Time for Another Brain Dump

So I came to bed the other night.  I am laying there tossing and turning as is my usual MO, when Hubs started laughing.  I turned to make a sarcastic remark to him and saw he was dead asleep!
I have never known him to laugh in his sleep.  I was almost tempted to wake him up just to see what was so darn funny that I was missing.

I could have used a laugh after having Daughter home again for 15+ days.
Why oh why do winter college breaks have to be so loooooong?!  I don't remember mine dragging out for MORE than a MONTH!!
I love the girl but geez, she is Drama Central and High Maintenance.
Plus she and the youngest don't get along, which ramps up the negative energy around here.
I sort of got use to having some tranquility in my life the past few months.

And yes, both of my college student kids brought me Dirty Laundry for Christmas!
Fortunately, they both have working appendages and can run the washer themselves because after I told them what it was going to cost them to have ME do their stinking laundry, they made time to take care of that chore themselves.
Some day......I'll get them fully trained. ;-)

I am happy with how the whole eBay thing turned out this season.  The weirdos and stoopid buyers are good for a laugh(usually that's after the fact, NOT while I'm having to deal with them!lol).  I didn't have any buyers flake on me and not pay....this is a FIRST for the Holidays!
I sold a good deal for ok to good prices but there were some big ticket items that didn't go before Christmas.  I put the store on vacation settings about 5 days before Christmas because, from past experience, I KNOW I don't want to deal with the panicked last-minute Christmas buyers.
Ever.
Again.
I was going to wait a week or two into January to open the store back up, but a little voice instead of me said, whattheheck!....open it up the week after Christmas.
And I'm glad I did because I sold 3 of those big ticket items between Christmas and New Years!
Go me! ;-)


Hubs was home all week from work from the day before Christmas until  this past Tuesday.
I'll just say this.....
3 kids, 1 husband and 2 annoying dogs for 1 week solid can drive a person to drink.

I think this Husband Day Care is a GREAT idea!
I just remembered it's alternative name....the BAR.lol

Between my glasses of wine nerve medicine, Hubs and I got some quality couples time in and did some paperwork/filing/getting stuff together for taxes so it's not all on me to slog through.  We also sat down and went through our goals for 2012 and went through the financial stuff to see just where we are with the money at the moment.
Speaking of money, I am trying hard to ignore the fact that I have to write checks amounting to $15,000+ in the coming weeks.   It's the price we pay to keep the two oldest in college and NOT HOME!


Funny Spam Time!
I did a review of a product back during the summer of 2010.  It was a boxed supper-type product called "Good Earth"....it's from Betty Crocker or something and based on the meals they serve at Good Earth eateries, of which there are NONE around here, so I am clueless as to what they serve.
Anyway, I get a comment to moderate about 6 weeks ago.....a comment posted on that Blog Post from over a year ago.

Here is the blog post title...."Good Earth Review and GIVEAWAY TIME!"

Here is the comment......verbatim....
"okay so i have to read the good earth for school but it is soo boring every time i try to read it i doze off because it is soo boring.  HELP!"

Yes folks, she thought my product review was a review of the classic book, THE GOOD EARTH by Pearl S. Buck.
I should have directed her to the excellent old movie of the book with Paul Muni and Luise Ranier.  I believe Ms. Ranier won an Oscar for that role?(I just looked and Ms. Ranier is still alive at 101 and is having a birthday next Thursday!)
Of course, if the commenter found the book boring I kinda think she'd find the film stinko too.  Maybe an updated version starring Lucy Liu and Jet Li as poor dirt farmers in rural China would be more exciting to her?  Or maybe not......

What I DO know is that Mormons are H.O.T.
I have more keyword searches hit on my blog for this one word than any othere topic.
Maybe I need to talk about Mormons and my favorite "Plig" family more often?
Or I could just direct you over to This Blog HERE to get your fix of Those Wacky Browns.
Thanks go out to 444 Express for the heads up on that blog.
*And on a side note--don't Google Search Images for the word "Plig"....unless you are looking for lots of images of pigs.

Other keywords sending me viewers recently are.....
cat hoarding
cat hoarders(these are perennially among my tops search words....WTF?!?!)
mead xpanz 2" organizer binder, new release (huh?)
good grades in school ornament

And my most popular post last week was my BRAIN DUMP from mid November!
Really?
That train wreck of wackiness gets 144 pageviews and saving $34 THOUSAND DOLLARS in 1 year gets 20???
Even my jackwagon Sunny D and Rum(yum, yum)post got 49 hits.
I give up!
People are wacked......

And speaking of wack jobs....

There is a blog(which shall not be named here)I have off and on followed for a year or so.  It touts itself as a PF(thats "Personal Finance" to all you non-PF peeps)blog.  She isn't a prolific blogger like yours truly, but she posted a monthly networth accounting and then shortly afterwards, a spending accouting each month.  After a few months I noticed that her networth always went up yet her spending was always MORE than her income.  After seeing this consistently I commented and was "pooh-poohed" with the retort that her checkbook always balances out and any overage is covered by their savings.....though they never show this savings acct. in their accounting each month.
The numbers just didn't add up for me.

And over the year she continued to overspend their income by $1K to $2K each month(except for 1 month when it was only $250+).  They never lived within their income a single month in the last year.

And then she stopped posting her spending report this past summer and soon after her networth report.
When they bought a rental property when they had no money to do so and it needed renovations as well, and they continued to spend on frivolous crap(eating out and expensive hobbies)and had HELOC loans, credit card balances, 2 student loans still(in their 30's) each month, along with all the other bills and a mortgage, I threw up my hands.

Let's review--
Spending more each month than you make.
Buying rental property with advances on credit cards and HELOCs.
Buying rental property that needs renovating and you don't have the cash and/or the ability to do any of the work yourself.
Still paying off Student loans will into your 30's.
Eating out and spending large amounts on food each month.
Spending on non-essentials like fancy manis, hair salons, coffee, clothing.
Taking in rescue cats that have chronic conditions that need serious vet care(surgery/pills/etc.)on an ongoing basis.
Going on expensive vacations.

While she is NOT giving out financial advise, I hope people don't see this as a good example of how to handle your finances.
Of course, she is not disclosing everything so there may be money stuff coming in/going out that the blog doesn't show(and after her previous blog was brought to my attention, I honestly believe this is true), so I shouldn't judge her just from what she posts.
It's just my humble opinion folks that she has a long way to go in her money journey.  I just hate to see people make that journey to Money Valhalla even longer and more painful than is has to be.

I really need to sit down and figure out where the blog and my life by default is going in 2012.  I need to set some new goals and review old goals to see what still works for me and what I need to trash.
I also need to update/redo the blog list as it is sorely out of date.
In addition, I have to get rid of the Holiday theme and find something a tag more exciting than my green background.   Hopefully what I come up with won't hurt your eyes like a Mexican Bus....

Sluggy

Brain Dump....Random Things on My Mind

Ok, if MARK can do a Photo Dump on his blog, I am allowed to do a Brain Dump on my blog.
Yes, I said Brain Dump....deal with it!
You know....just putting all the random crap that bounces around in your head out on cyber-paper so you can stop thinking about it.

*I woke up this morning and my teeth all seem loose.  I don't know WHAT I was doing in my sleep(grinding, clenching?)but they seriously hurt!  I take pretty good care of my teeth and have regular check-ups.  Heck, last time the dentist couldn't find a speck of tartar on my chopper and I have no gum disease.  But today they hurt like a bitch and I am waiting for the Tooth Fairy to be making an appearance.

*You know what irritates me?.....Ok, that's a very long list....but something recently.
Mormon mommy bloggers.
Let me say first off, I have nothing against Mormons....unless they are on my front doorstep trying to give me literature.  (But then again, I don't want ANY devoteé on my front doorstep selling me religion.)
I believe everyone can/should believe what they want.  But please, keep it sacred and to yourself, much like your genitals.  Don't be whipping those or your religion out in public to beat anyone over the head with it to prove that yours is better than mine.  Ok, bad metaphor but you know what I mean.

Mormon mommy bloggers are fascinating.  So domestic and so uplifting and perky all the time most of the time on their blogs.  You can't tell me that even the most patient Mormon mommy blogger doesn't have moments when their brood drives them stark raving mad and they don't want to throttle their kids....C'mon!
And this NieNie person?  I want to know what her husband does for a living to afford all the money they seem to be dropping on airplane tickets, trips, stuff, etc.  And he must have one heck of a flexible schedule to be jetting off everywhere at a moment's notice.  And she needs to lay off the proselytizing and Mitt Romney links because she is driving folks away with that. My advice?....Stick to photos of your kids and telling your survivor story cuz those rock!

*And since we are on the subject of Mormons, it's but a short step to my next BD topic.....those Sister Wives folks on the TLC channel.
I confess, I have watched that show from the beginning.  I really like some of them though I do think that Cody guy is full of himself and tad bit narcissistic.
I woke up earlier this week as I was coming out of a vivid dream.  The dream was about the Sister Wives.  In the dream I was worrying about the IRS implications of the Sister Wives family.  I know.....I have too much time on my hands even when I am asleep.
But you have to admit, that come tax time, being part of a polygamist family has to be a nightmare!
Wife #1 is legally married by government standards and they have 1 kid & 2 incomes.  So they take a tax hit.
Wife #2 also works and has 6 kids.  Not legally married, does she file as Head of Household or Single?
And she makes out with 6 tax deductions.
Wife #3 is the problem for me.  She also has 6 kids but doesn't work so has no income to claim.  What must the IRS drone who gets her return think?  7 deductions and no visible means of support.....
Wife #4 has 3 kids from a previous marriage....who takes the deduction for the kids?  She must get some form of child support.

*I have had my eBay Store reopened for almost 2 weeks now and I am already having problems with stupid people. 
I had someone send me a Question to Seller asking the specific size of a miniature doll, as well as asking me to take the doll out of the sealed package and to email them more close-up pictures of the doll.  First off, if they had actually READ the listing it says that the doll is 1" tall.  There are 3 close-up pictures of the item where you can see that the said doll is visible.  And if I opened the sealed package it would no longer be New in Package as the listing states.  They also did NOT give me their email addy so I could email them the photos that they can already see in the listing.

I have had someone forget to pay me for 1 week though this was not a deadbeat but an eBay regular who just lost track of their dealings.  I quick nudge rectified the situation.

The worst has to be the people who don't know how to negotiate.  On occasion I put the "Make Me An Offer" feature on listings.  If you are unfamiliar with that, it allows potential Buyers to offer you less than what you have listed the item for.  You can then accept, decline or counteroffer them.  I believe they have 3 bids or chances to make an offer on any item before the system automatically rejects their dealings with the Seller.   When you make an offer to a Seller it is a good thing not to piss them off by offering them some outlandishly low sum.  And if you are in a counteroffering/bidding situation with a Seller, you need to man up and meet them halfway...or at least that is my take on things.  I had someone this week offer me $15 on an item I listed for $30.  While not outlandishly low, it was pretty insulting.  And seeing as I had just listing the item 1 day before, I was not about to sell it for that little.
So I made them a counteroffer by knocking $5 off the item, making it $25.
And guess what price they came back with?   $15.50.
I come down $5 and they come up .50¢.
As Suze Orman would say.....Denied!
So I send back a new counteroffer......$30. LOLOL

*And now I know I will piss off many of you with this one......
What is this fascination with the Pioneer Woman?
I just don't get it.
Ok, she cooks.  She takes photos of cattle and cowboys' rear ends.  She's written a book.
Can somebody please explain to me why I should care?lol  I've seen her recipes.  Not impressed.
And no, this does not come from some kind of jealousy or blog envy.   What she has works for her but it's not what I want.
I just don't get whatever it is everyone else sees.  If you put shots like the one above on her blog I might be easier to convince that I need to read her. ;-)

I see it as something similar to all this Oprah worship women do.  We get fixated on people and then can't get enough of them.  I think I am missing some female gene thing.

Whatever......
Ok, I guess my brain is empty enough now for some new thoughts.

So tell us.....What is on your mind?

Sluggy