Back By Popular Demand

Here I sit after shutting down for a week to regroup after the announcement of my daughter's engagement and impending nuptials. As a mother, I would like nothing more than for my daughter to stay single and at home with me forever. But alas, she refuses to cooperate as did my oldest daughter. Being too old (in my opinion at least) to have more kids I'll have to suck it up and live vicarously throught my sisters' grand kids.

I recently spent 4 beautiful days in Manahawken and LBI at Chez Torry. A wonderful B&B I would recommend to anyone in my family. LOL This wonderful mini vacation has raised some questions and concerns -

Strolling along the beach at Ship Bottom one day I accumlated a lovely collection of NO, not shells or sea glass, but empites - water bottles, beer and soda cans, broken kids toys, chip bags etc. I didnt stop to pick up any of the thousands of cigarette butts that people leave in the communal ashtray once knows as a beach. Perhaps the Army Corps of Engineers can stop hauling in sand and just leave it to the smokers to replenish the beaches with butts. It has to be a lot easier to get a butt out of your butt than that pesky sand.

Now I know that people pay tons of hard earned cash to live at or rent property on LBI and for the life of me, I just can't understand why they want to pay that kind of money and turn it into a garbage dump????????? I wonder if they also throw trash out in their own back yards???

Coming home, I was so happy to find that the dogs in the neighborhood had left me tokens of their appreciation on my front lawn. There is nothing like stepping out on my front porch in the AM and inhaling the sweet aroma of dog doo.
Again I ask, do these people let their dogs crap on their own lawns and leave it there? I think not! We pay big bucks in taxes here, we have a Pooper Scooper law that to my knowledge seems to be unenforceable - so I get the dubious honor of grabbing a bag and picking it up and leaving it as a gift for our trash collectors. Just today, the hubby who refuses to pick any up (he retches at the thought of it-similar to his reaction to the presents our daughters once left in diapers), just kicked it off the lawn and into the street for others to enjoy. Feel free to stop by and enjoy it for yourself.

Pig Races and Other Fun Stuff

Yes, it's true. I was at a Pig Race at the Sussex Fair yesterday. Never been to a county fair in my life until yesterday - being unemployed certainly leaves me with a lot of time on my hands.
Pigs, goats, cows, roosters, guinea pigs and hamsters too. We saw them all. I must admit, I enjoyed the day. First of all it was sunny - what you say, sun in NJ? Yes it is true the sun was shining. Today of course it is pouring her in Central NJ.
Secondly I was with some nieces and nephews and watching the kids on the rides brought back memories of the days of putting my own children on rides.

Which brings me to the topic of Disney World. Just read an article in today's paper announcing that due to falling guest numbers the brilliant Disney execs have decided to raise the price of admission. Hmmmmm - let's see how that discussion went -

Gentlemen, as you know due to the economy, guest sales are falling and attendance has dropped dramatically. Seems people can no longer afford to come to our park. How do we get them here - Oh I know, lets raise the price so even fewer families can afford the daily passes. You know they say less is more. So sure we'll have a lot fewer paying "guests", but we can now charge those few who still can afford it an arm and two legs to get in. We are Disney after all, while everyone else is cutting prices we must raise ours to stand out in the crowd.

So now a the cost of pushing a sleeping 3 year old around the park on a daily basis is $68. (Yes 3-9 year olds pay $68 a day.) Adults will now get in for a bargain price of just $79 a day. WOW what a bargain!!! Reminds me of the time we took our daughters of 4 and 5 to the park, waited almost 2 hours for the Dumbo ride and then watched them go around only 3 times before they were dumped off. What fun! My oldest daughter cried when they put her off.

I think I'll take a mortage on the house and book my trip now.

Cash for Clunkers

OMG the $950 Million Dollar Cash for Clunkers Federal Govt deal has been suspended after only 4 days. The govt. thinks they have already reached the limit and the auto dealers have warned the goverment that "they are in danger of losing track of how many trades have actually been made."
Now how do I translate that statement. It means one of two things to me.

A. The people we have working for us (auto dealers) can't add two plus two.
OR
B. And this is my pick - We have been trying to rip off the program and we just can't figure out how to report the numbers so we don't get caught.

Good news is that the govt has already rejected a boatload of claims due to incomplete or illegible paperwork. Translation: trying to get one over on us huh?
Question - why didnt this program make it mandatory to purchase an American Made car to qualify for the rebate???????

Another go green sugguestion also seems on the ridiculous side to me.
We have been encouraged to stop using those plastic bags at the grocery store.
Did anyone besides my husband notice that those plastic bags are made in the USA and the ones they offer for sale for for free in their place are made in CHINA????
I say keep using the plastic, there is no law against using the same ones over and over until they are useless. In the meantime, lets stop supporting other country's people and keep employing our own while encouraging them to go green and make resuable bags here in the USA.

Last Time I promise

So, my house is as clean as I care to make it. Floors washed, furniture dusted. I can't stand being at home. But the job hunt is pointless unless I want to be a driver, a salesperson or a computer tech. I am qualified for none of them.

Todays "news" includes a report on the woman (can I say that) who called 911 to report the possible break in in Cambridge. It's all about her having to deny that she actually mentioned race when she reported the alleged break in. So I've come up with the politically correct way to report a crime in progress:

911 Call
Hello this is a human being calling in a possible crime. No, I cant tell you my name as it may lead you to my gender identification and I am pretty sure that would be considered biased. (Be sure to disguise your voice)

I would like to report a possible break in at (address).
No I cant identify the suspects but there are two beings kicking in the front door.
Or perhaps they are not kicking it in, perhaps they are writing some percussion for a new song. But I must say, the door seems to be caving.
What kind of beings you say? Well, I dont want to say as it may be considered species bias. Male or female? Cant say, again, gender bias.

But if you would send a few police beings to investigate perhaps they can canvas the entire human race to see if the suspects can be identified.

Why is it?????

So I'm reading the paper this morining and there is yet another article on the President, the Policeman and the Harvard professor. Why is it that policemen can be identified as white, black, hispanic or whatever and suspects can't?
I'm getting a little tired of the hypocracy. Actually I am a lot tired of the "politically correct" bs that this country seems to thrive on.

The news media looks to sensationalize every item. Every storm is the storm of the century. Every time a celebraty farts it's front page news. What is wrong with us? We watch it, we read it, we condone it. Reality shows? OMG who cares? Don't we have our own lives to live?

I say stop it!!!

What's Next?

So, I get fired the day I am leaving for vacation. It's not the end of the world, but it sure stinks, especially in this economy and at my age. (50ish- as you might have guessed)

I'm thinking what do I want to be when I grow up and to date (2 weeks and counting) nothing has come to me.

But this blog could perhaps make me a millionaire or not.

So I'm thinking that a daily report on what's on my mind and what I might be up to might help me solidify some ideas.

It's July, looking for a job is oh so boring and oh so frustrating. I would much rather be on the beach, but fiscal reality demands I look for a new job. I am too young to retire and too old to land a job easily. Not to mention the fact that financially, I am no where near prepared to stop working. My investments like everyone elses are currently in the crapper.

The great state of NJ is currentlymy only source of income- not to mention the extra $25 the Federal Govt chips in. Needless to say, I need to downsize my spending.