Coward's way out

Sad but true, two former Wall Street traders took their lives recently, in separate incidences, since they were under water on their mortgages, and facing financial ruin.  At least to them, it was financial ruin.

The first guy found another job, after he lost his first, but he was only making $125,000 or so a year.  Well, I can tell you, from a double income family that does NOT even bring in $100,000, you CAN live on less!  But why wait until everything seems hopeless.  Why didn't you give the house back to the bank, find a nice apartment to rent, tell your kids the truth as to why you're downsizing, and LIVE for them?  Nope.  Too much ego?  Too macho?  Too humiliating?  Hey, there are a lot of us out here who would have envied your $125,000 salary, and would have thought you did the right thing by your family.  Rather than taking the coward's way out and leaving them in a potential lurch.

The second guy, more recently, torched his house because he couldn't pay the mortgage.  Which was in the range of $17,000 a MONTH!  That's more than a lot of people LIVE on per YEAR!  But although he was a Wall Street broker, he wasn't very bright in the ways of the world, and got caught as the arsonist.  So after his trial, which he was found guilty, he decided to take the coward's way out.  Again leaving his family in a lurch! 

Obviously, both these individuals loved money more than their families, and if they couldn't have it all, then they didn't want to live.   A very sad legacy to leave their children.

Living poor by some standards, and enjoying life...on Day 217!

No good deed goes unpunished...

This line was in an e-mail sent to me by someone who did not think along the same lines as I did, concerning conservation, and tearing down a house.

I simply said that the people who bought a house on the property adjoining theirs, for over $4 million dollars, only to raze the house so they could have a "better view" perhaps should have considered the house could have been salvaged by people who wanted the wood, windows, etc, for architectural purposes.  I don't care that they wanted to tear it down, after all it's their money.  I just though that rather than go into a landfill, the pieces could have been conserved, for other more useful purposes.

It would have taken a bit longer than a bulldozer, but so what! 

The writer of the note said in not so many words that he/she never got any satisfaction from good deeds, and so did not do anything along those lines.  That most people really don't give a crap.  I tend to disagree.  I thought he/she was being very cynical.

I'm not rolling in dough, but I do make contributions if I think it's for a good cause.  I also hold the door open for people who need an extra hand.  I let people cut in line in front of me, or if I'm in my car, provided they're using their turn signals!  Even a smile can lift some spirits.  I don't expect to get a "hurray" every time.  If I think the benefactor is obviously ungrateful, then I just don't help that person again.   But most people are grateful, even if they are not effusive about it.  It just makes me feel good. 

Keeping up a positive attitude on Day 216!

For love or money?

Ho hum, Rielle Hunter has penned a tell-all book about her tawdry affair with the one-time presidential candidate, John  Edwards.  If you've been sleeping under a rock, you may not know that he was married at the time, to a woman with terminal cancer.  Of course he was one of those "born again Christians" (before the affair, in fact!), and now he's oh so remorseful.  All the more disgusting turn of events. 

This affair even produced a child.   Of course Rielle, who seemed to be smarter than she looks, did not practice safe sex, and obviously John didn't either.   Being a woman, she should have known her cycle better than she did, or if she was practicing the Catholic standby of rhythm, she should know its effective only 50% of the time.  In essence, it's a crap shoot. 

So, I'm wondering, does Rielle not get enough child support from John, that she expects to reap a fortune with her book?  I can tell you unequivocally that I will not be reading it, even if the library has it in stock, where reading it would be free to me.

Saving my money for more important things on Day 215!

Buy patterned socks!

That's my new mantra!

I'm doing the laundry, and as usual, I'm coming up with a couple odd pair of socks.  You know, the kind that don't match, so the mate must have been turned into lint in the dryer screen.  I mean, what other explanation is there?

Earlier, as I took the socks out of the dryer, of course I had to pair them up, and, although this may be rote to some people, I finally  noticed how easy it was to pair up socks when they had a pattern.  No all- black, or all-navy, or all-brown again!  Give me a bit of color, or a small, unassuming pattern, and I'm all set.  Should make the missing sock easier to spot also, in case it got caught in the static electricity of a shirt that also went through the same spin cycle.

If you want to go overboard, you could buy colored socks, such as yellow, red, green, but then just one of each, otherwise you're still in the dilemma of matching up the correct reds, yellows, or greens.  But patterns are individual.

My money's now going towards patterned socks on Day 214!

I'm not a hoarder...

...but I could be, I think.

I hate to throw some things away.  A favorite shirt, a favorite pair of shoes, even some older underwear, even when they're in somewhat tattered condition.  I guess I think maybe they'll "repair themselves" when they're stuck away in the closet or a drawer.  Maybe I think i can get just one more wear out of them before they definitely have to go. 

I find myself keeping old newspaper clippings thinking that I may write an article to combat what I've read.  I cut coupons for a while, thinking that I'd use them, but I always left them at home when I went shopping.   I bought hard back books thinking that they were a better value than a paperback, or a trip to the library.  Mind you, I still buy an occasional hard back book, but then I donate it to the library so others might have a chance to read it, in case the library didn't see fit or ahve the money to buy it themselves.

I try to purge myself of some of these things on a yearly basis, when some piles just seem to get too high.  But it's two steps forward, and one step back.  It always seems  that as soon as you throw out a favorite "thing", that "thing" is needed in some way, shape or form, and you end up buying another, and swearing you'll never throw it away again!

I don't hoard old newspaper.  I don't hoard food; that I eat! Enough said there!  I can walk comfortably from room to room.  I don't have to "find" a place on the bed to sit, or sleep.  I'm not that addicted.  I cannot understand how that can happen, but I can understand some clutter.  Or at very least, I make allowances for those who keep things a bit past their prime, as long as it won't smell bad.

I could see my desk last week, but not so much today, so I guess that's my next area of concern.  Here's to yet another trip to the trash can, on Day 213!

Whatever happened to permanent press???

When permanent press was invented, I thought the age of the iron and ironing board was close at hand.  Finally, you could wash and wear your clothes, and never worry about slaving over a hot iron, trying to keep them from get "re-wrinkled" while repositioning them to make sure you got all the little corners of your collars, and cuffs.

Oh sure, if you didn't get the clothes out of the dryer on time, you might have to iron out wrinkles.  That being said, I did have a "boss" who put his clothes on directly from the dryer, but not right after they were dried; more like a week later.  I'd like to think that was the story, rather than he just dumped everything on his floor, and took whatever was needed to wear.  He was way beyond wrinkled.  He was absolutely disheveled.  But I digress.

Today's fashions seem to have spandex included in all of them.  So my pants, and blouses have a bit of stretch.  While I like this particular factor, when they come out of the dryer (on time) they still do not have that "finished" look.  They aren't wrinkled, in the old fashion sense, but they're not smooth or crisp either.    So tonight I took to ironing all the things I've not worn, as I thought they needed to look better, fresher.  Perhaps no one would notice any way if I wore them directly from the dryer, but it makes me feel better knowing I'm not "wrinkled." 

I used to iron a lot more things in my youth...sheets, pillowcases,  blouses, shirts, skirts, pants, never underwear.  I even made money ironing men's shirts, as that was almost a special skill.  Or maybe it was because it was such an awful chore, it was worth it for people to pay me to iron those shirts.  The bottom line of all this, is that I believe I even need a new iron!  After all, I did get mine almost 35 years ago. 

You may find me appliance shopping, on Day 212!

"the most radical, leftist president in American history."

Gees...let's not mince words, Newt!  After all, you are the paragon of all things good, correct, and fair, aren't you?

The man never fails to amaze by his virtiolic words concerning people who seemingly stand in his way!  Now that he's officially out of the presidential race, he'll probably take back some of those things he said about Romney, because he needs some of Romney's money to pay for the costs of his failed run for the roses.

He did say this evening he is totally not interested in being a VP candidate.  Hmmph...and why not?  You'd be a cinch to run Romney's candidacy into the ground!  You'd have about as much negative influence, with voters with a brain,  as Sarah Palin did when she was teamed up with poor John McCain.    Cute does not win elections and you ain't cute!

There has got to be someting more interesting to read and write about than the presidential election, but not as of Day 211!