You Should Know

I have a lot of pet peeves, most of them to do with manners and personal hygiene but today's pet peeve is brought to us by none other than Mrs. I-Know-Everything.

Crazy as it may sound, I do have a little experience with my job.  I've been doing the same thing for approximately 22 years.  Suffice it to say, I think I've picked up a few pieces of knowledge along the way.

So when a client starts telling me this needs to be done and that should have been done before this was done and the Judge in that court can sign off on an order in that other court so we can keep moving along with our stuff.  Dontcha know?

No. I don't know.  What I DO know is this: we don't tell the court clerks or the judges what they are going to do and/or when they are gonna do it.

I play very nice with the clerks and their judges because you know why?  Because at the end of the day, those folks can make my job very miserable and very non-productive.  Kind of what Mrs. Know-It-All is doing to my billing hours* today.



*time spent blogging not included

John Elway is DOUCHE

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no football genius.  I know enough about the game and players to enjoy it and spend some of my hard earned dollars buying the NFL's overpriced licensed sh*t.

But the situation in Denver with John Elway and Coach Fox and Peyton Manning has me straight up pissed off.

Okay, okay, so Tim Tebow isn't the highest caliber quarterback in the NFL. We all know and acknowledge that.  Tim himself would readily agree with that. But wait a minute! What's that you say? Yes, yes, you make a good point!

NOBODY was the "best" quarterback in their 2nd year in the NFL.  Certainly nobody was ever considered the best quarterback in the NFL after their first 8 games actually ON THE FIELD.

John Elway's ego is splattering its crap all over this deal.  He can NOT stand the fact that Denver Bronco fans (which, let's do some math here . . . there's a whole NEW generation of fans in the bleachers who never even saw Elway play) have some serious love for their crazy popular, inconsistent new quarterback.  Elway doesn't want ANYONE to be successful in Denver and that is the straight up truth.  I hope while he was hanging out with King Douche, Peyton saw what kind of person Elway really is and I hope he saw his future with Denver bright and clear: Elway condescending to Peyton, undermining Peyton's leadership on the field, basically putting it in Peyton's face that it will be Elway's way or nothing.

I think Peyton is a tremendous quarterback.  I also think his day in the sun is done.  Considering his neck repairs, I just want the guy to walk off the field under his own power without crutches or a walker or a wheelchair.  I would hope that he would like to be as healthy as possible and go out on top.  He's still relatively "young" out here in the real world.  He's stinking rich.  He needs to enjoy his good health and his family.  I have serious concerns that he is going to set himself up for a debilitating injury that will decrease his quality of life off the field.  It's disappointing to see him looking so hard for a new team.

At the end of the day, I want Tim Tebow to be happy. He deserves to be with a team that WANTS him and sees the investment of helping him evolve into a great quarterback is worth the time and effort.

AND I see a Super Bowl ring in Tim's future.  But maybe not one in Elway's.

White Trash Rich

First let me qualify this post with the statement of fact that Big Daddy is a very intelligent individual.  He is also somewhat of a brat.  You'll understand in a few . . . .

Having relocated three years ago, and due to circumstances etched in concrete, we put our former home on the market to be sold.  I'm pretty sure I don't have to draw a diagram for anyone in an attempt to explain the complete pile of crap that is the housing market.  Needless to say, our former home is still on the market and after three years of renters (to pay the mortgage that we could not continue making when we moved), the former home?  She's not so nice and neat now as she is ragged and sad.

I am HORRIFIED at the condition of the house.  But just short of kicking out the renters and paying the mortgage ourselves, thereby putting a significant strain on our monthly budget, our only choice is to continue renting it until someone buys it.  And with the market and the lack of care . . . chances of selling it for what it would have been worth during a strong market are none to zilch.  So we will be taking a significant hit on the price just to unload it.

Here's where Big Daddy and his intellect come in.

It is time for me to get a new truck.  For the 25+ years I have been driving, I have always had a car payment.  I've never not had one.  My thinking is that I would rather have a newer, financed vehicle than deal with an older paid for vehicle that will probably require more than maintenance expenses.  Besides, I'm a car hound and I appreciate a sharp vehicle as much as the next guy.

So with me needing a new truck and my current truck only 3 (THREE!!!) payments away from being paid for, we figure once we get the house sold, one of the first things to do is acquire my new truck.  Big Daddy will keep my old one because it's still in really good shape and, since he has a take-home patrol unit, he doesn't drive a personal vehicle but maybe 2 or 3 times a month.

We have the potential profit split in two: half to spend and half to put aside.

My plan is to take a chunk of the profit and put it towards a new truck - maybe end up with a $200 or so monthly payment (as opposed to the current $500 payment).  Then take another chunk and put it towards the condo we want in the mountains (which pays for itself each month + some with rental income).  Then the rest would be put in the IRA.

Big Daddy's plan?  PAY CASH FOR A BRAND NEW TRUCK. Period.  That's it.

While I appreciate his thinking that it would be nice to be without a payment every month, I cannot get on board with his "white trash rich" budgeting strategy.  I like to think that we can get our money to do more for us than just buy one overpriced vehicle.

Did I mention Big Daddy is a brat?  Yes.  Well, he thinks pouting is going to work in his favor.

He thinks wrong.

Fear the Mullet!!

No. I'm serious.  There's a chance that there may be mullet in my future and not in a good way.

A couple of high school alumni and myself got together this weekend and decided that with our 30th (e-gads!) reunion coming up, we wanted to make it a good one.  BUT, our class is notoriously a low-show on the organized get togethers.  So we (the Co-Chairs, as we have dubbed ourselves) came up with the terrific idea of putting together a multi-class reunion to hopefully ratchet up the attendance numbers.  Thus the PDHS Classes of the 80s was created via our collective brain pans.

Great idea, huh??

Yeah, not so much.  Now Big Daddy is thinking he needs to grow his mullet back out in time for our "retro 80s prom."

You know my husband? Big of bone structure, small of head hair follicle ownership?  Yes. Yes.  He thinks a mullet a la Gallagher is something I've been desiring in my only amorous relationship.

This retro 80s class reunion prom idea ain't sounding so fun after all . . . .

The Spaz

Lord knows I love my child.  He is the light o' my life and I wouldn't have it any other way.

But . . . .

the kid is a freaking spaz sometimes.  I want to save him from a future of dateless dances and the untold number of "let's just be friends" conversations.  However, that is not for me to do.

We started carpooling this week with a couple of classmates who live nearby.  Seeing as how the school is 18 miles from our area, we country parents try to help each other out when we can.  Since I work full-time, one of the stay at home moms will be available to watch my kid during spring break and other non-school days.  It's a win-win.  Anyhoo, one of these classmates just happens to be a girl and she is in the 2nd grade too.  She is very cute and very sweet and the Bear is very smitten with her.

On the ride in to school this morning, I had to tell him to dial it down no less than three times.  When he is excited and/or overly happy, he completely spazzes out.  He talks too loud and sometimes says the silliest, off-topic comments.  He does karate moves IN his booster seat IN the back seat of the truck. Now that's just plain unsafe.

The classmates will not be riding home with us today due to their mom coming to the school to update paperwork this afternoon that lets everyone know I am allowed to pick them up in the afternoons from now on.  I'm going to take this private opportunity to have a few words with the Bear regarding exuberance control.

Who knows? Maybe I can help him with his future playah skrillz.