So now Sharon is hunting for free or discount moving supplies to start packing up her apartment.  I told her that she really shouldn’t race into anything because short sale offers can take a very long time to be approved, and she shouldn’t count her chickens before they hatch!  My girlfriend Laura has tried three times to get a short sale approved on the house she wants to buy and she’s been waiting over nine months!  Sometimes I think that the banks just don’t know what they are doing when it comes to these kinds of things!

Nonetheless, I advised Sharon to check with the local book stores and liquor stores for empty boxes.  They both throw away a lot of perfectly good moving boxes that she should be able to get for free, just show up and take them!

Have you ever been frightened when your pet has fallen ill? Perhaps you do not have pet insurance and cannot afford to run to the veterinarian whenever your pet is sick. Sadly, this is the truth for many pet owners. Just like these pet owners, I cannot afford to run my pet to the veterinarian all the time either. So, my solution has been to use medical pet websites with my wildblue satellite internet connection.

Using medical pet websites has proven to save me thousands of dollars. I cannot emphasize how helpful websites like www.petmd.com are. One time, my kitten was vomiting everywhere in my home. Not a pretty scene, I know. I was scared that my kitten was about to die, and I could not afford to take her to the veterinarian. Using a medical pet website, I was able to look up her exact symptoms. It turns out she just had consumed too much of her pet food and had a stomach ache! She was nowhere near dying, but I was still relieved. The website also suggested ways that I could take care of the kitten, to ensure that she would get better.

I am so grateful for medical pet websites. They have saved me and other pet owners thousands of dollars in the long run. More importantly, the lives of our pets have been saved!

Everyday I watch the satellite TV, which I got from www.Direct.TV, with my son and see the same commercial for Pull-Ups. I absolutely love this commercial simply because of the reaction my son gives. There is a little boy just about my sons age who is sitting and playing with his toys when he realizes he has to go potty. He drops everything he is doing and runs to the potty. My son is also being potty trained, so when he sees this commercial he mocks the little boy on TV and runs to the potty. I think this commercial will help my son remember when he has to go potty. I wish that I could record this commercial and play it over and over so my son gets the point of the potty. He is at the point of mocking people, so this could be a good influence on him. It reminds him that no matter what he is doing he must stop and use the potty. I wish there was more commercials like this. They really go down to the child’s level and pinpoint their key audience.

Eyeglasses are way more expensive than I think is reasonable, and I think that buying them at the optician’s office is a consumer rip-off.  There are so many other places that a consumer can go to and buy eyeglasses that cost less money!  You can even buy eyeglasses over the Internet at ZenniOptical.com if you can convince your eye doctor to give you your Pupillary Distance.  I’ve bought my glasses at other places before I found out about the great prices at Zenni.  The only problem that I would have with buying glasses from them is that I found out that they cannot accommodate prism in the prescription, and that is something that I need.  Just my luck, I can’t use them!  Sigh…..

Once I was able to figure out my satellite tv installation, I have been watching this great show called Tosh.0. I have started recording all of the upcoming episodes that will play in the future for sure. I absolutely love how he takes clips of videos from the internet and pokes fun at them. You have to admit that one of the best things about the internet is the fact that so many people choose to put funny videos of themselves that show the folly of mankind quite accurately. Lots of the clips that people have posted that he pokes fun at are funny not by intention. I have been watching the reruns that have ran this week as well, and I really love this show. He even had Dave attel and other stand up comics do special bits for the show too. i have always loved the stand up of Daniel Tosh, even though he really reminds me of Hillary Swank.

I don’t have the time to sit and go through all of the epic fail videos that are abound all over the internet, but Tosh.O gets them all for me and condenses them into a single, 30 minute show. he will never run out of videos to make fun of, so this show should go on forever.

When my hubby was injured in my car accident in 2007, I tried to get my mortage company for our house in New England that we were trying to sell to grant me a hardship forebearance. Since he wasn’t able to work due to my injuries, I was hopeful to get some empathy from the company. Boy, was I wrong!

Long story short, the mortgage company has dropped the ball and tossed me around from department to department, where I have been met with gross incompetence at every turn.

After over two years, even though we FINALLY did a deed-in-lieu with the company last November, and the deed to the house was transferred into their name in December the company is continuing to send me notices that I owe them the money and the company is still sending notices to the credit agencies that the mortgage is overdue. This is resulting in credit card companies closing my credit cards or lowering my credit limits.

Every time I call Bank of America I am shuttled around from department to department, and told the matter will be escalated and someone will call me back within the next week. That never happens. I have called them about once every two weeks, and nothing is resolved. I have sent them letters, and I get replies that someone will contact me within 20 days, and that never happens either! I got collection calls several times a day for years on end until I finally blocked their telephone number!

As of today, I have been on the phone with Bank of America for the past four hours, being shuttled around from department to department, trying to find some help. I’m on hold at the moment, waiting for a supervisor to talk to me. The lady I just spoke with said that my account was in the process of being assigned to someone in the home retention department!

I have contacted my state senator Mark Warner’s office, asking for help a couple of weeks ago. Haven’t heard back from them yet.

Anyone know a good lawyer that would like to sue this company on my behalf to get this resolved and maybe some punitive damages for emotional distress it is causing? I had hired a lawyer that I was told is an agressive lawyer that loves to sue people, but for some reason he just doesn’t seem to be in the mood to take this on! If you know of a class-action suit going on for people in situations like this, or know a good lawyer that could/would help me, please post comment to this blog and I’ll get the information!

Can you feel my pain?

I always thought that asbestos was essentially limited to insulation and brake pad linings, but listening to my mom talk about it I’ve learned that it is roof shingles, and tile flooring as well. I can recall a time when I was driving home from work one day and saw a house that was being demolished, but it was in a very large clear plastic tent as part of the demolation process. No one had to tell me; I just figured it was part of an asbestos removal project. That’s rather a scary thought to me, that there is so much asbestos out in the world that entire houses have to be tented in order to be demolished!

Guest post written by Belinda Thomas

About 3 months ago my husband and I finally made the big move to our first home. Well, our first purchased home. Until then we had been living in rental homes since we were married 4 years ago. We finally found the perfect house at a great price and they accepted our offer, so we canceled the cable providers, phone providers and electricity- and here we are at our new place. Truthfully we’re still getting everything set up even after 3 months but there has been a lot to do! And believe me, there are plenty of things that have been forgotten along the way.

For example, when it was time to hook up all the utilities I totally overlooked the cable providers. I had the power hooked up about 3 days before we actually moved in and I decided to go with unlimited cell phone use and a magic jack for the phone service (my husband doesn’t really care since he rarely uses the phone anyway). But I totally overlooked his favorite part which is Direct TV Service. He refuses to use dish because he says it won’t offer good enough reception during storms (whatever!).

Anyway I checked out the local cable providers and it was easy enough to get it all set up. In fact, I was able to do it right over the phone. I guess the hardest part was deciding on a package to pay for- there is quite a bit of television to choose from compared to when I was a kid. So even though we went the first week without cable and my husband spent most of that time pretty grumpy, it looks like we are on track now.

With that in mind, Lynn was telling me that if she knew that, she probably would have just kept the money to herself and waited to see if anyone asked her if it had been found.  What do you think you would do in that situation yourself, turn it in, or keep it?  I’m not sure what I’d do myself!  Who knows if maybe the store manager just kept the money for himself?  Seriously, what would YOU do?

Why did God make mothers?

1. She’s the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.

2. Mostly to clean the house.

3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?

1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.

2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.

3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?

1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean .

2. They had to get their start from men’s bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?

1. We’re related.

2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people’s moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?

1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.

2. I don’t know because I wasn’t there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.

3. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mom need to know about dad before she married him?

1. His last name.

2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?

3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?

1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.

2. She got too old to do anything else with him.

3. My grandma says that Mom didn’t have her thinking cap on.

Who’s the boss at your house?

1. Mom doesn’t want to be boss, but she has to because dad’s such a goof ball.

2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.

3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What’s the difference between moms & dads?

1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.

2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.

3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power ’cause that’s who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend’s.

4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?

1. Mothers don’t do spare time.

2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?

1. On the inside she’s already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.

2. Diet. You know, her hair. I’d diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?

1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I’d get rid of that.

2. I’d make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.

3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.