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. 

Better Watch Your Kneecaps!

For the most part in the last couple of years, I have tried to stay away from the political stuff.  It is very evident to me that most (not all) of the bloggers I enjoy reading are of a very different ideology than my own.  And while I appreciate different opinions, I don't appreciate the "conservatives are mentally defective and educationally inferior" that so often accompanies the liberal commentary.

With that being said, I'm going to voice my own personal opinion about last week's Komen Foundation debacle.

While I am most definitely ANTI-ABORTION, I am very strongly PRO-CHOICE.  Contradictory, say you?  No, it's not.  I do not agree with abortion.  I fervently wish that such a thing had never ever been enacted by man.  But it was.  Probably hundreds of years ago.  I don't know the beginnings and I, quite frankly, am not interested in reading about something so heartbreaking.

But let's face it, folks.  Abortions happen and they happen all the time.  I won't even get into the whys or justifications.  I'm not here to pass judgment on those who choose abortion.  Being against abortion does not unequivocally mean that I feel it should be outlawed.  Most definitely not.  Because we all know that abortions will continue to happen, either legally or illegally.  I, for one, would rather a licensed medical doctor be performing abortions in a sterile medical facility than some butcher in a back alley with a wire hanger.  Because that is exactly what will happen if pro-lifers get their way.  They actually believe that outlawing something will make it stop.

So it was with some disgust that I watched the mafioso attitude of Planned Parenthood go after Komen when it announced that it would discontinue its charitable contributions to PP.  Wait.  Back it up a bit.  CHARITABLE.  Yes, that's right.  VOLUNTARY.

I don't care about who said what or who did what because of somesuch.  What matters is PP's tactics in basically publicly "kneecapping" Komen into continuing its funding of an organization that it no longer wants to donate to.

"Nice little charity you've got there; be a shame if something were to, uh . . . happen to it."

I appreciate what Planned Parenthood does for our communities.  At one time I was a low-income college student who needed their low cost healthcare and almost free birth control pills.  Chances are good that without PP, I might have found myself with an unplanned pregnancy.  But despite the health services that PP offers, it is acknowledged fact that it does not offer mammograms, for which Komen is this nation's most verbal advocate.

So why the very public lynching of a private charitable foundation by a federally funded organization?  I disagree with PP's words and support Komen's right to donate to whomever it wants.  A right we should all have without penalty.

And as a little side note to all PP's blustering and blathering about Komen's financial withdrawal being tantamount to Komen not caring about poor women's health, I bet most of you didn't know that the average salary of the top eight executives of Planned Parenthood* is $270,000 which makes them officially part of what the Obama administration calls "the 1 percent."  You know, the people who make too much money and should pay more in taxes to spread the wealth.




*Planned Parenthood's target demographic are low income/poverty level women.