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The sky is not falling!
Oct 19, 2008 | 2:08 AM PST
Category:
News
Like many folks, my 401k and my 457 took a big hit on the stock market.
It is too depressing to keep up with the numbers. I have checked my accounts on-line a few times. The numbers change so much that I never know what to expect.
I have to quote Warren Buffett. "A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful." If it is good enough for Warren Buffett, then it is good enough for me. He is the wealthiest man in the United States.
If I hadn't been through this before, I would have panicked. I'm not panicking.
We are seeing news reports of widespread foreclosures.
I have always been fond of reading finance books. When we purchased our home, I insisted on a 15 year fixed interest loan with no pre-payment penalty. The real estate agents tried to persuade us into an ARM loan on a much larger home. (keep in mind that real estate agents get 6% commissions on most home sales. If the listing agent and purchasing agent are not the same person, they split the commission between selling agent and purchasing agent) I politely said "No thank you, I want something that we can qualify for with a 15 yr fixed interest loan." I also told them that I wanted to have a little wiggle room in our finances. As a result of these decisions, our home will be paid off in February.
It has been a few years since I saw a foreclosure in my neighborhood.
We are seeing news reports about it being impossible for people to get car loans.
When my car was totalled in an accident recently, I had to get a new car.
Luckily, I had been looking at cars on Edmunds.com and consumer reports for about a year. When I watch programs that I'm playing back on my DVR, I have the habit of backing up if I see a commercial for something that I'm interested in. I had watched a lot of car commercials, too.
I thought about all of those reports that I had seen on TV about how "most people are unable to get car loans". I swallowed hard and applied for a loan on-line with my favorite credit union. (the one that gives the best deals, if you qualify) I could not believe what I was seeing when I was approved within one minute. I called the next morning and told them that I needed to speak to a loan officer about my loan, that I had just been qualified for. She told me that I had excellent credit and also offered me a credit card that I could transfer high interest balances to. I asked her what I should expect at the car dealership, and what I needed to do. The process was simple.
I'm one of very many people that get approved for car loans.
We are seeing news reports about how banks are no longer sending pre-approved credit card applications in the mail.
Oh really! I get at least one every week.
The message that I'm trying to get out there is;
Don't believe the hype! The sky is not falling!!!!!!
Apparently Fox4 wants for you to see this.
It shows up in the middle of every page in the blogs!
I think I'm going snow blind!
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I truly believe that we are living in the era of 'entitlement'.
Take a close look at TV commercials, if you don't believe it.
Loreal is probably the most obvious, with their line "I'm worth it!"
McDonalds is famous for "You deserve a break today."
Nationwide is on your side.
Have it your way. (Burger King)
Puffs Tissues "A nose in need deserves Puffs indeed."
There have been very many companies that use "You deserve _____________"
This has even been used in politics.
Just watch commercials on TV. Now that I've warned you, you are going to be able to identify the entitlement tag-lines more frequently.
The reason that I'm bringing this up is that it is destroying the fiber of our society. I have been given many entitlement messages from well-meaning people, and I've been given these messages in a number of different ways.
I've been told:
Live a little.
Life is too short.
You deserve it. (of course)
Don't be so hard on yourself.
When someone gives me this kind of message in person. I tend to go into analytical mode. I ask myself why this person has this message for me.
If if is a relative that truely loves me or the message comes from one of my doctors, I might feel that the message comes from concern. I have had stress related medical problems.
If the message comes from a person that I don't know very well, I consider it neutral.
If the message comes from a person that is working in sales, I become hyper-alert, because this person is trying the entitlement psychology advertising on me.
Unfortunately, this is one of the most effective advertising methods that has ever been created.
The reason that I'm very wary of this, is that we are becoming lazy and developing entitled attitudes.
This is the reason that people no longer have common sense about what they can actually afford. More people are in debt and don't save today.
This attitude has also discouraged most people from bringing a healthy lunch from home. I remember a time when most people carried a lunch box with a thermos bottle to work. We don't see that very much any more.
There was a time when people would save money until they could afford what they wanted. I remember that well.
I also remember when people were more likely to admit that they can't afford it.
Has anyone else noticed that we are being bombarded with entitlement messages?
Please give me your examples!
I tried to leave a comment on The Real Estate Lady's blog. (She gives awesome advice and information)
I tried three different times on her blog site and the comments would not post!
I had the same problem when I tried to post a comment on "Happy Feet Macarena" Dallas47_Rocks
Is anyone else noticing that some blog sites are a little bit messed up?
I have several family members that have signed oil & gas leases. I have some tips to help you get the best deal.
Do not be too quick to sign directly with the oil companies. They knock on a lot of doors and try to get victims to sign their oil & gas lease contracts. They will try to make you believe that you are running out of time. Actually, they are the ones that are running out of time. They want to get you to sign before the neighborhood groups get to you. Even if the numbers sound good, the contract might have something in it that will make it very expensive to try to sell your home. You also do not need to lease your mineral rights.
When the oil companies start canvassing your neighborhood, you need to do an internet search to find the neighborhood group that has organized to draft a fair contract for the homeowners. All of the neighborhood groups that I am familiar with have attorneys drafting the contracts. You will eventually see signs in your neighborhood that have information on the neighborhood group for your area. There will also be signs advertising the oil companies that are purchasing oil leases.
My husband and I just signed an oil & gas lease and our sign-on bonus was $25,000.00 per acre with royalty payments of 25%. Our lot is extremely small, but it was still a large sum of money. (a lot more than what we owe on the house!) All of our family out here (that owns their property) lives on the Barnett Shale. I'm convinced that if the oilmen are paying such huge sign-on bonuses, they fully expect to extract oil! I have been told by a very reliable source that the average royalty payments in my neighborhood will be around $170.00 per month. They have not started drilling out here yet.
One of my husbands friends owns 152 acres in Burleson, TX. His sign-on bonus came to $4,104,000.00! He just resigned from his job, and I don't blame him. If they strike oil in his area, the money will just keep coming because he gets the 25.25% royalty payments. It must be nice.
We have 7 house payments left, and I have never been sure of whether I wanted to stay here. This new situation will keep me here.
I am very surprised that cities all over this area are allowing homes to be built on little tiny lots.
There are many reasons that this is a very bad idea.
Any time you decrease the green space, temperatures will go up and that area is more susceptible to flooding and noise. Green areas do absorb noise.
When you have a tiny lot, you are not able to safely plant a tree because the roots will ruin your foundation. Many cities do not allow a tree closer than three feet from a structure. I sometimes wonder how easy it is to get a lawn mower around a tiny lot.
One of the many reasons that I bought a house is because I don’t want to hear my neighbors loud music, TV, arguments or other noises. In a home on a small lot, you will hear your neighbors, even if they aren‘t that loud. This causes a lot of friction between neighbors, which does cause the crime rate to go up.
Sometimes, when I’m in a neighborhood that has tiny lots, I look at the rooflines. Very often, it appears that I’m looking at one roof, when there are actually two or three. This makes me wonder how quickly a fire can spread from one rooftop to another.
Has anyone noticed that we are seeing more vehicles slamming into homes? This is also due to houses being built on tiny lots. I lived in a duplex many years ago that had a very large old tree in the front yard.. That tree kept a car from running into my front porch.
I've observed some lazy reporting!
May 16, 2008 | 4:11 PM PST
Category:
News
I know that any of you that watch all of the news programs will remember this story.
Parkland Hospital obviously sent press releases to all of the news outlets, bragging about their five 'nominees' for the Great 100 Nurses ceremony. With cookie cutter precision, all of the reporters sounded alike. I believe that they read those press releases almost verbatim! I sat there thinking about my old days in broadcasting and how sad that they missed an opportunity to go to the ceremony and actually see who won!
In case you're curious, the link to the actual winners is below. We have a lot of special nurses in region 3 & region 4 of North Texas!
http://www.tnad4.org/images/2008-Great-100-Nurses.p
df
I would also be willing to bet that there are some good interesting news stories if the reporters will explore this list.
I will probably be a grandmother by this evening. My oldest daughters water broke and she is at the hospital right now.
She told me that I should go ahead with my plans for today. I have physical therapy this morning. I had rotator cuff surgery recently and I'm not working yet.
My youngest daughter had a seizure at work and had to be rushed to the hospital because she remained unconscious on Friday.
I LOVE baggy britches
Feb 27, 2008 | 4:26 AM PST
Category:
News
First of all, I should explain that I work in a jail. Baggy britches make my job much more easy. First impressions are very important. with baggy britches, you know that the person wearing them is:
1) not very bright
2) possibly a gang banger
3) not going to run very fast
4) easy to take down in a fight
I'll explain each point.
1) you can't be very bright if you wear pants that are so baggy that you have to hold them up with one hand. this decreases your efficiency at doing anything!!!
2) let's face it! baggy pants identify the gang bangers.
3) how can anyone run very fast from the po po when they have those pants flapping all over the place?
4) since the gang banger is probably holding pants with one hand, they don't fight very well. when they let go of the pants, they are very easy to trip and take to the ground.
Ya gotta love em, if you have to deal with the little punks.
As most of you know by now, I am a sewing maniac. I have been very busy making maternity clothes and baby items for my oldest daughter. I was working on a pair of maternity slacks for her when my old faithful sewing machine quit zig-zagging. It did some really freaky things when it died. I was zig-zagging a seam edge when the setting moved by itself. I tried to make it zig-zag again and all it would do is straight stitch.
I called my favorite sewing machine mechanic and told him what had happened. He said that it would probably cost around $150.00 to repair it and I could easily get a new machine for that amount of money. I thought long and hard about what to do. I had my eye on a lot of the sewing - embroidery combination machines. I was not sure of what I would do. The following Monday I put the sewing machine into the repair shop. They told me that they had a back log of work and would not even get a chance to look at it until the next Monday. I have had a chance to think about what I want to do. Since I have a lot of add on gadgets that will only work with my old machine, I will just get them to fix it and I'll keep it. I figure that I can afford $150.00 much more easily than I can afford $1,000.00 for one of the low-end embroidery-sewing machine combos.
This did not stop me from shopping and seeing what is out there. I went to some of the high-end sewing machine dealers and was shocked at what these machines can do. They have little windows that allow you to preview your design. The controls that select the designs and fonts are right by the little windows. With some of them, you use a little stylus to move the design or letters around. If you really want to go high end, you can get a machine that threads itself. I watched two of those machines thread themselves. They were way out of my price range! ((((($5,000.00 and up!)))))) All of the machines that I looked at had USB ports to be hooked up to your computer. This way you can download designs into your machine. There is a digitizing software that will allow you to convert photographs or clip art into embroidery designs. I have never wanted anything so bad. I have had dreams about embroidering my grand-daughters name on some baby items. (I am going to wait until she is born - due date 05/13/08 - just in case her parents change their minds about names)
I have been afraid to spend a lot of money, because right now I have several medical issues and I'm having to spend a lot of money on medical care (even with good insurance)!!
If I get a large sum of money out of sources unknown, I will consider it a sign to buy the low-end sewing-embroidery machine.
The hundred mile diet
Jan 22, 2008 | 9:50 AM PST
Category:
News
My son-in-law will call me a tree hugger for this one, but there are also health and political reasons for following the hundred mile diet.
I guess, that first I should explain what the hundred mile diet is. When you shop for food, you go to farmers markets or fields where you are allowed to pick fruit or veggies for a certain dollar amount. You do your local farmers market food shopping for 90% of your diet. The place to shop very cautiously is the grocery store. You can sometimes find local produce in a grocery store, but most grocery store items are from all over the globe.
There are several good reasons for following this diet:
1) You help the little guys in the local economy instead of the price gouging big stores that do not care about the consumer. Lets face it. Some grocery chains are trying very hard to monopolize the market. Anyone that has taken 5th grade government knows what happens when big business monopolizes a market. When they gain the monopoly, the prices go up!
2) This is good for the environment. By buying locally, you are avoiding the pollution and fuel that result from shipping items long distances.
3) This is very healthy! This forces us to eat fresh vegetables, fruit, nuts and honey. If most of us substituted our trans-fat, corn syrup laden fast food for veggies, we would be losing approximately 2 pounds a week, and our triglycerides and cholesterol levels would crash. ((no kidding))
I know that a lot of people will reject this idea, because they don’t think that it is user-friendly. It is easier than you think to do this. Every community in this area has farmers markets. I just go to my favorite farmers markets, take my veggies home and start cleaning and cutting them. I fill up enough plastic lidded containers to last me a week. When I get ready for work, I grab a container and go!
There seems to be a lot of confusion among some news anchors on determining the difference between Ft. Worth and Arlington. I hope that this guide will help!
When you visit Ft. Worth (cow town) you will see steer heads on water towers, city vehicles and police officers uniform shoulder patches.
When you visit Arlington you will see the red and blue 'A' that looks like a couple of hockey sticks with a star in the middle. You will see this on water towers and city vehicles. The police officers shoulder patch has a gold colored star. There are rumors that the patch will have a silver star on it when the Cowboys move to Arlington. Some of the city vehicles have a silver star inside the 'A' instead of the old half red half blue star.
The reason that I bring this up is that there has been so much confusion among reporters that don't know where they are.
Examples of the confusion are below:
A reporter is in front of the Ott Cribbs Public Safety Center (in Arlington)! The news anchor identifies the location as the Fort Worth Police Station. The reporter is reporting on the Arlington Crime Tax.
A news anchor is reporting the Arlington Crime Tax and is talking about what Forth Worth city council is doing on it. (What does Fort Worth City Council have to do with the Arlington Crime Tax???? - not a thing!!!)
A news anchor is reporting a Fort Worth police officer that has been arrested for a sex crime. The graphic next to the reporter shows an Arlington Police patch with some handcuffs in front of it. As far as I have been able to determine, Arlington Police did not have anything to do with his arrest. Why was the offensive graphic there?
Don't these reporters know that they anger and hurt feelings in both cities.
I love both Fort Worth and Arlington. I have favorite places and friends in both cities. They both have some of the nicest Police Officers that you could find anywhere.
Has anyone else noticed the discrepancies?
I was too stressed to blog!!!!
Oct 22, 2007 | 1:21 PM PST
Category:
News
I had too many things going on to bother with blogging.
My youngest daughter has two adenomas on her anterior pituitary gland. She has to have MRI's to determine if the tumors are growing. If they grow, they will have to come out to avoid hitting the optic nerve or the carotid arteries that are in the brain. The doctor has explained "transphenoidal surgery" to her. I have had to learn a lot about her condition for my own sanity and to help her.
My oldest daughter has had two miscarriages and she is pregnant again. I'm hoping to be a grandmother this time.
My husband sprained his ankle (really bad sprain)! He was off work for a while.
All this stuff caused my blood pressure to get dangerously high. Getting old is such a beach!
I've learned a lot about methods to calm myself down.
I'm taking the time to sew, since it calms my nerves.
At least once a month my girls and I have a beading get together. We bring our bead boards to my oldest daughters house and make jewelry for hours. Being with my girls is great and this is very calming and fun for all of us.
Does anyone have any other ways to chill out and calm down?
I have noticed that other bloggers have had freaky issues with posts and comments disappearing.
Things got really strange this morning. I made a comment that disappeared after I wrote it. I commented again, and both comments showed up. Then I commented on the way both comments showed up. That ended up being posted twice!
What is up with that?
Did anyone else have a similar problem this morning?
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