Man, I just can’t stand it any more. I’ve been trying to hold it in and let it go but this whole bailout thing is really frying my fritter! First that the big companies are receiving these huge bailout packages rewarding poor performance with billions of our money.

Then the politicians of both parties saying they want to help out people defaulting on their mortgages. Keep them in their homes, they say. Its not their fault, they are simply victims of predatory lending. Really?!? Those lenders forced these people to sign on the line for a sketchy loan, huh? Held them down until they signed, I’m sure.

Come on. Where is the personal responsibility? Here we sit clipping coupons and pinching dimes to make sure we stay in the black and can pay our bills when they are due. We moved two years ago to a new city. Our bank was offering us a mortgage amount that was stunning, and we knew there was NO way we’d be able to pay that much back. So we went with a house that we knew we could handle and a debt from the bank that was far less than what they were willing to lend us.

So what happens to folks like us? We see huge failing companies being bailed out, a possibility of struggling folks being helped to keep houses they shouldn’t have bought in the first place. What about us? Why the heck did we go and be responsible, budget our money and live frugally? Where is our bailout?!?

Man, it is so frustrating to watch the news. I can feel bad for some folks, I really can, but to expect our money to help folks who dug their own hole… its frustrating. Dig them out and what will they do? Turn their life around, become fiscally responsible? Yeah, right.

I better stop, I can feel my ire going higher.

Peace,
Tony

Last week I was sure that gas prices would climb as soon as the November elections were over. I was wrong. They have continued to slowly drop. I guess my cynicism was misplaced on this topic. I drove past gas for $1.89 this morning.

To think it was twice that a couple months ago really makes me wonder about the whole process though. I’ll never admit to being an economist!

Peace,
Tony

Get out and vote. Go vote today, please everyone go VOTE!

Here’s the deal, I don’t care who you vote for so long as you go and vote. I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t had something to complain about in politics, economy, the state of the nation, or the progress of the war. People like to complain about ridiculous city statues, state policies and taxes. GO VOTE! You don’t like something VOTE about it!

If you don’t vote, you have no business complaining. If you are unwilling to vote, I don’t want to hear you complain. Think about this, too: your vote at the local level carries more weight than in national elections. You want to vote for someone who will do something to affect your life directly? Inform yourself about the city council positions and other local races.

It took me maybe an hour to familiarize myself with my ballot and who is up for election.

Peace,
Tony

It is my fervent belief that gas prices will soar by the end of the week. In fact, i wouldn’t be surprised if they start climbing tomorrow afternoon. I drove by $1.98 today! The day before a major election, gas under $2 isn’t that big of a shock to me.

Watch though, it’ll shoot up back close to $3 by the end of the week. I bet two growlers of my beer on it! Any takers?

Tomorrow is voting day, no matter what your politics make sure your voice is heard. If you haven’t found out what is going to be on your ballot yet, do so. Check your county website for a sample ballot, take a quick look at who is up for election and vote your choices. Your vote at the local level carries much more weight than the national level. Do a little homework tonight before you cast the ballot tomorrow! Prove the naysayers wrong, our population can make informed voting choices!

Peace,
Tony

Today was the first day. We enrolled her in all day every day Catholic kindergarten. Not exactly a way to save dimes and pennies, perhaps, but it is well worth it. Here she is in the morning. The first picture I took of her she said “Dad, I can’t see my headband very well.”

It was teddy bear day so she got to bring her turtle along with. Look close at her eyes, for a girl who used to wake up at 8am, having daddy shake her awake at 6:50 was a bit of a shock to the system. She popped out of bed and tip toed out for her breakfast without waking sister.
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Here is a quick easy way to get something free, how frugal can that be?!?

Head over to my other blog, Brew Dad, scroll down to the contest, read the rules and post a comment! The contest will close in a week and a half, so there is time to get in. Its for a free something or another with a Guinness logo on it. NO, I am not giving away beer.

Peace,
Tony

I wrote about using our cashback bonus money for gift cards to restaraunts. We saw that one of them was going bankrupt, namely Bennigan’s, so we went to lunch there today to use up the cards before they were no good any more.

Tragedy! “We’re sorry, we don’t accept those any more. Corporate shut down and we can no longer redeem the cards.”

Oof. While I can understand fully the local restaraunt’s position, they would be out out meal cost, it was still a bit of a let down thinking we were getting a “free lunch” when we weren’t. Thankfully, the manager was very understanding and took off 20% for the inconvienience. That was nice!

The very large up side to the whole process, a brief call to the card with the cashback bonus got the bonus refunded for the now defunct gift cards! So, while we were looking forward to an afternoon out on the gift cards, it ended well.

Peace,
Tony

We were out of town this last weekend visiting relatives and doing other stuff. The girls grandma and great aunt watched the girls while my wife and I got away for the day. Among the other things they did was fishing off the dock. About 1pm we got a call from a very excited little girl.

She caught a fish!

The two girls together, they had a LOT of fun!

Last year we picked up a used pop up camper for a song. It’s in pretty decent shape for being nearly 25 years old. The roof was rebuilt and one corner doesn’t lift any more so it takes two people to raise it, but other than that its great, especially for what we paid for it.

 We took the camper a whopping 25 minutes east to a campground with a lake and stuff with some friends. Overall it was a blast, and we’ll be doing it again! It turned out to be a really fun weekend. The kids slept well, and it was borderline comfortable enough for us to sleep ok too. I added some things to my list for the next time we go, but it was still super fun.
(Still not what I consider Camping, no tent, sleeping on the ground, hiking in a few miles with everything on your back…)

The funniest, man-I’m-lucky moment happened at 4:15am Sunday.

I forgot the trash bag hanging from the picnic table. I woke up to the sound of crinkling and rummaging, look out the screen to see a silhouette of what I swore was a dog. First thought was Zorro, our four month old puppy, had somehow gotten out of his crate and the camper, I was dead asleep, you know, weird thoughts, so anyway, I figured it was a dog digging in my garbage.

I get up, grab a 2.5′ piece of 2×2 that we have holding up a cabinet in the camper, tip toe out so I don’t wake the kids. I figured I’d give the dog a good scare to chase it off then throw the trash up higher.
Tip toe tip toe, I get within arms reach of the bag, the dog hasn’t noticed I’m there and its on the other side of the bag, so I couldn’t see it. I tap the wood on the ground and was whispering “hey buddy”.
Remember, I am close enough to touch the bag…
It starts turning as the dog is trying to get some particularly good morsel.
The dog comes with it, head still buried in the bag.

I see it now,
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I realize yesterday’s post is useless with out a picture. I know this doesn’t do it justice, but you get the idea.

The front “row” consists of four little bush plants that I don’t remember the name of around the two four by four foot beds. The one on the left has my lettuce, the one on the right has tomatoes and a spare bean plant or two.

Behind that is a spread of four ten by eight beds. Cilantro and beans (I think) on the left, assorted vine things in the middle, more vine things and then corn in back and peppers and beans on the right.

I’ll be looking for a trellace… trellase… arbor type thing on clearance at the end of the season to  put in the middle, with those bushes as the base. Then we’ll put some clamatis to grow up the trellis… thing.

When I work up the ambition, I’ll snap a pic from the deck to get a better angle on the garden. The kids and dogs are napping, though, and I don’t want to disturb them by doing that right now.

Peace,
Tony