So I have been laid up in bed for the whole week.  It started with a migraine, went to a sinus headache, then went to the flu.  Today is the first day all week I have even wanted to be out of bed.  My first impulse is to clean my house, but I know  that will sap any and all energy I have.  Besides, I have to go to work and clean someone elses house.  My one client has been increadably understanding about me taking the week off of her so I can rest, and not risk her kids getting sick.  Thank you Boss Lady. 

I hate being sick, I hate losing a weeks worth of wages, but I also like not passing this crud on to a family that I love working for.

I am slowly getting back into the swing of things.  I am grateful that Paul does not expect me to get everything done right away.  I am grateful I will have a job to go back to on Monday.  Most employers would have canned me for missing more then 3 days.

I will come back later, energy permitting and try to start getting things caught up.

I hope things will get back on track quickly.  I can't afford to keep missing work. 

SA Crossing HalloweenParty

Will edit and post tomorrow.

Kick the Bucket Bash

I have had the most amazing week with my Momma.

She was fun to hang out with, fun to talk to, fun to get to see again, and best of all, she said I did a good job planning her vaca. 

There are a few things that did not go as planned but they were so minor, it was no big deal at all.

I will be doing more on this at a later date, but she did inspire me to do something that has been in the back of my mind for some time.

As everyone knows, I live in San Antonio, TX.  It is a place rich with history, historical landmarks and buildings, amazing architecture, and just when you least expect it, a piece of art work will pop up out of no where and surprise you.

I am going to start a 2nd blog or just post to this one, and call it Sights of San Antonio.  I am going to spend at least one ay a month exploring a new to me part of the city.  I am going to give you the highlights and lowlights of the area and let you decide on your own if it is worth visiting.

If you have a special area in San Antonio that you would like me to visit, please, ask me, and I will make it happen for you.  I will give some of the usual known tour guide book stuff, but I will strive to find the hidden secret in each place that makes it a special place to visit.

Baking Spree

This week has been an interesting week. 
Will leave it at that.

But on the other side of this coin, I got some much needed detailed cleaning done in my own home. 

I have banana bread baking in the oven, Paul is sleeping in.  He needs the rest, so I am doing quiet cleaning. I have my kitchen 90% done (just waiting for the dishes in the dishwasher to dry so they can be put away).

I have a few more dishes to do, then I am going to start inventory of what is in the pantry.  I need to get it cleaned and sorted before My Mom comes out for a visit.

I know there is several times in my life I have disapointed my Mom.  Just things a daughter does, regardless of how old we get.

My mom, has my entire life, joked (?????) that by the time she was 63 she was going to kick the bucket.  Well, her 63rd birthday has come and gone.  She is still here. Thank the God or Godess of your choice for that.

I deciced that I am going to bring to her San Antonio for a week to celebrate.  I have not seen her in 5 years.  Yep, I am scared for her to come visit. 

Will my apartment be good enough for her?  Will She have a good time?  Will I be able to give her enough to do with out tiring her out?  Will she be bored?  Will she tell me she is having a good time when she really isn't?

How long will it be before I get to see her again? Will I get to see her again?  Longevity is not a blessing in our family?

Will she approve of my Mate, My Best Friend, and my chosen partner? 

There is so many unknowns with this visit.  All I can do is the best I can do, and hope it meets her approval.

I love Mom.  I am glad I will be getting to see her.  I am also scared to see her.  But I suppose any one is scared to have the Parental Unit come visit when the relationship has been strained at best.

Just pray this is a good visit, and things turn out for the best.

Best Buy attempted to rip us off

So last night, 9/27/11, Paul and I decided to get out of the house for a few.  We headed over to Best Buy where he had a $45.00 and a $40.00 gift certificate to burn.

He decided that he was going to get the 6 pack movie set of Star Wars.  They had two price tags on the item of $124.99  and $99.99. 

Next to that, there was a Darth Vader tshirt, which you could buy for $9.99  or (as it plainly stated on the yellow price tag) Gift with  purchase.  After double checking with a floor person, we were assured that the tshirt would be free. 

We gather our items, head to the check out were we were promptly charged $2.34 for the tshirt.  When questioning the cashier, we were told that the free tshirt was a first week only promo and he would not honor it.  I told him "You're price tag says it is free, your floor people stated it was going to be a free shirt, I don't feel it is fair that we are being charged.  We don't get the ads, we don't see any sign stating that sale is no longer valid, and if it is no longer valid, you need to get some one out there removing the old tags, and re-pricing them corectly."  Paul at this point is sorry he took me there. 

I am not going to apologize for my actions.  The big box stores were trying to rip us off, and I was trying to save Paul some money.  I don't care that is was $2.34 that I was trying to save him.  By the end of the day, all the Best Buys that try this and get away with it are making a huge amount of money by the customers who won't protest and raise a fuss.

After talking to managment, it was agreeded, that they were in the wrong, we got the shirt for free, and Paul is mad at me.  I was not yelling and screaming and having a fit.  I calmly told the cashier I would not stand for being ripped off.

Was I wrong?   I don't think so.  After all, Welcome to the Land of Piss  me Off is all about exposing the people that give crappy customer service.

I will continue my struggle to do stand up and do right, even if I am the only one standing.

Money saving tip for 9/28/11

Todays money saving tip is brought to you by the letter W. 
W as in Water.  I personally use a 5 gallon refillable jug.  It weighs 48 pounds when full of water.  It is heavy to lug up to a 2nd story apt. But I am glad I use it.  I save I don't know how much plastic on the single serving 20 ounce water bottles.  I also use a refillable sports bottle for my single servings.  It holds up to 24 ounces, so I can get my morning quotient of water as I am working or commuting on my bus trips.

But for those of you that use the 20 ounce water bottles, what do you do with the water that is left over?
Some people use that water to fill up their pets water bowls, which is a fantastic idea, but when the bowls are full, and you have water left, what happens to it?  Some people use the left over water to water their houseplants.  Fantastic idea.  But I have no indoor houseplants.  Not yet anyway.

I do have outdoor plants though.  I went to a big box hardware store, purchased a 3 gallon insectide sprayer with an extendable wand.  I put all my leftover water (including my dirty pet water) in that sprayer.  I use that to water my plants. 

Here in San Antonio, where there is watering restrictions, people can litteraly get fined for watering their lawn on days they are not allowed to water on, so if you have a green lawn, you can expect a visit from a city water inspector to find out why your lawn is lush and green and your neighbors lawns is akin to a dust bowl.

When you put your left over bottled water in that sprayer, you can water your lawn all you wish. You already paid for the water.  Why not use it accordingly? You are not taxing the current water system.  You are not running up your home water bill.  You can have a lusher lawn. And you can't get fined for resuing something that would just get poured down the drain anyway.

I know times are tough, I know people don't have any money, but if you can spend the $8.00-$10.00 to get one 5 gallon water bottle that can be refilled for an average of $1.20-1.50 per trip. Or you can continue to pay $5.00+ for one package of 24 bottle of water.  I will research the numbers later and expand on this to show average savings.

I will bring you more tips to save money as I can get them. 

Please, if you have a money saving tip that you want to share, please send it to me.  I will post it and give you proper authors credit if you so desire.

Blogger on the Mobile

Just when I thought I could'nt get any more done, I went mobile with the blog. Yikes.  Now I can voice opinion even quicker. Like the world needs more of that.

Saving Money when you have none.

This post will be edited frequently as I find new ways to save.  I don't expect every single tip to work for you, but if you find anything usable or hear of a new way to save that is not on this list, please let me know, so I can post it and give you proper authors credit.
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Start a savings account and give some one else the card.
When I moved here from California to Texas, I kept my savings account open.  I did not know if I was going to stay here.  After realizing that I was going to stay here, I gave my best friend my ATM  card for my account. If I need money, I have to justify the purchase when I ask him for the card.
Every time I save money on groceries, sales, laundry mat money, found change in my change jar, etc. I get a money order and mail it to that out of state account. It is very slow growth with that account, but I do see progress. That money is sitting there, easy access if needed for an emergency (God forbid) if we need it.

I also opened a club account with my standard bank. With this account, it is on total lock down until a certain due date.  Some banks will allow you to open a club account with a due date for as little as 3 months.  I maxed mine out for 7 years.  I regret doing that, but knowing me, in the long run, it is better as I can't access it to spend it.

If you do a club account, start TODAY, challenge your self to find ways to cut back on money and put that savings in that account.  Make the due date for a few days before the Holiday Shopping Season.  Then you will have your Shopping money, and not have to juggle your bills to come up with money you don't have.

Treat your laundry room as if it is a laundry mat.
I was very lucky to be able to move into an apt that has a washer and dryer hook up.
We got a washer for free from a former neighbor, and found a great dryer off of www.craigslist.com.
Every single time I do a load of laundry, I toss change into a jar as if I was still going to a laundry mat. All that change, (along with coupons in the paper and online) help me replenish my supplies.  I  know that my washer and dryer are not going to live forever.
We have only had to do one repair on the washer, but instead of paying some one $45.00 and up to come look at the washer, we just youtubed the issue, and did it our selves.
Cost of part was less then $2.00 on ebay, and we had it fixed in around an hour.
I saved over $40.00.  I am disiplining my self to put all the savings in an account at least once a month.

You can also cut back on your coffee and soda consumpution.  Really, do you need 5 sodas a day?  Start weaning your self to 4 sodas a day.  These days, a 20 oz soda average cost is $1.50 from a vending machine.  That is $6.00 a day in sodas.  After a 5 day work week  ($30.00 spent in that machine), 52 weeks a year, that totals $1560.00.  Not to mention the health benifits of you cutting back on sodas.  How much money can be saved by dropping back one soda a day.  Put that $1.50 in a jar at work and see how quickly it adds up.  Once a week, put that money into your club savings or into your savings account for emergencies.

Plus you will have the health benifit of getting uneeded sugar out of your system. You body will adjust, and you will start to see a weight loss.

If you are losing weight, intentionally or not, you are obviously going to change sizes.  Why spend $25.00-40.00 on a pair of jeans that are not going to fit you in a few months?  Just go to a local thrift store.  You will be helping a charity, and you can get jeans as low as $3.00 if you are willing to dig.  And when you get to small for those jeans, you can bring them back to the same thrift store or sell them on ebay, etc.

The Fires are never ending this month.

This month seems to be the month that San Antonio, Bastrop and most of Southern Texas wants to burn to the ground.

I am watching my Facebook posts, catching up with family, friends, news and views, listening to www.radioreference.com, and there is yet another fire.

I have lost track of the amount of fires that have happened over the past 2 months.  Even living in So Cal the fires were not this bad.

This time it is an apt fire that is about 3ish miles from my apt.  Makes me so damn glad I have done certain things to protect my family (Paul) and that Ollie, as much as I miss her, is currently at her Dad's. 

I really don't give a damn how much further in the hole this is going to put me financially, but starting Friday, I am going to be shopping for renters insurance.  I am also going to be spending my days going crazy taking pics of everything I own, so God forbid, we do have a fire here, I have record of what we have lost.

Damn, just came across that there is an injured fire fighter.  I pray the fire fighter is ok.

Paul thinks I am a bit silly for wanting to go to the extreme of packing a fire bag, but can I afford not to.  NO, I can't.  I am going to have a bag ready, and have it by the door. 

I would rather have it, and not need it, then to be caught with the proverbial pants down the first time a cop comes to the door and tells me it is time to get out.

I am glad I am safe here, but I am also glad that I have learned from experiences past, and have the knowledge of what I need to get out safe.

The Begining of the End

First and foremost, no freaking out.  This is not a depressing whoa is me lets create drama pity party post.

I can't stand that, I can't stand people who do that.

This is the Begining of the end of bad customer service.
This is the Begining of the end of people who are stuck on stupid.
This is the Begining of the end of my constant bitching, complaining and whining of how crappy life is and how stupid peope can be.
I am not the Devil's advocate.  I am his corporate trainer.  I say things the way I see them.  I am opinionated, I am an asshole at time.  But I am who I am, and at this stage in my life, I am rather fond of me, and who I have become.

I will be here off and on.  I will be ranting and raving and giving more then my two cents worth.

I will be surprised if I have any followers,  So for those of you brave enough to join my world, Thank You, good luck, and you are brave souls indeed.