Whole Life Insurance

As an adult, there are some things I worry about, like who will take care of my kids and dogs if something happened to me. I worry that I won’t be able to pay for their college and will we ever afford another family vacation. However, one thing that I, and many other adults, don’t worry enough about is whole life insurance and taking care of our loved ones when we’re gone. How will the bills be paid? The cars and house and credit cards? I want to leave many thing many things when I’m gone, however, on my list of hand me downs, I prefer that the burden of paying my debts not be one of them.

Pool Toys

We have a pool this year. Not the beautiful, step off my patio into the lush tropical oasis that I wanted, but an above ground, cool us off when it’s hot, give the kids a place to play kind of pool. We have slowly been purchasing pool toys and now it has become a game to see who can bring home the coolest pool toy. Mr. Right just brought home a set of inflatable chairs. Not the lounges, actual sit upright chairs. I think I’ll get a patio TV so we can sit in the pool and watch movies. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Moose

I collect moose. All shapes and sizes. I love them. I think they're beautiful animals and in my life, I have only had privilege to see one in the wilderness. It is the only moose I've ever seen in real life and it was on a dead run away from our vehicle. It was a baby moose, not at all grown and no antlers to be seen. He was still beautiful as far as I was concerned.

Now that we live in Arizona, I fear my opportunity at moose spotting has passed me by.

Tired

I am very tired this week. I don't know why, but I am more tired than normal. Last night I went to bed at 11:30 and the night before, I went to bed at 9:45! I haven't been to bed that early since I was pregnant and had a toddler to contend with.

Recently, I've been exercising and taking vitamin B to help. So far, I notice I am not comatose driving home so it must be helping a little. The problem I have is that sometimes, I cannot sleep, so I'm afraid if I take something, perhaps it will keep me up all night. Which is fine, becuase I'm functional when this happens, but when I finally crash, I crash hard.

What do you do to stay awake during the day?

Carefully

Sometimes I wonder how it will all turn out.  If the things I struggle with now will become easier later on.  I read today that a person who lost everything in hurricane Katrina won the powerball lottery and is not a multi-millionare. I don't feel any jealousy toward them.  They can live now with a whole new set of worries, but a place to live and how to eat will not be one of them.  I got this joke in an email today.  It made me laugh. 
A woman arrived at the Gates of Heaven. While she was waiting for Saint Peter to greet her, she peeked through the gates.

She saw a beautiful banquet table Sitting all around were her parents and all the other people she had loved and who had died before her. They saw her and began calling greetings to her 'Hello, how are you? We've been waiting for you! Good to see you.'

When Saint Peter came by, the woman said to him, 'This is such a wonderful place! How do I get in?' 'You have to spell a word,' Saint Peter told her.

'Which word?' the woman asked.

'Love.'

The woman correctly spelled 'Love' and Saint Peter welcomed her into Heaven.

About a year later, Saint Peter came to the woman and asked her to watch the Gates of Heaven for him that day.

While the woman was guarding the Gates of Heaven, her husband arrived. 'I'm surprised to see you,' the woman said. 'How have you been?'

'Oh, I've been doing pretty well since you died,' her husband told her. 'I married the beautiful young nurse who took care of you while you were ill. And then I won the multi-state lottery. I sold the little house you and I lived in and bought a huge mansion. And my wife and I traveled all around the world. We were on vacation in Cancun and I went water skiing today. I fell and hit my head, and here I am. What a bummer! How do I get in?'

'You have to spell a word,' the woman told him.

'Which word?' her husband asked.

' Czechoslovakia '

Songs to my ears - NOT

My husband is an ass. The Boy, our only male dog, English Mastiff, big HUGE square head with jowls that hang six inches off his head, he sings. Not howls. Sings.

It all started one night, he was laying on the couch with me and I was calling for Ms. Brainiac. Ms. Braiiiiiiiiiinnnnnniiiiiiiaaaaaaaacccccccc I would call. She would call back "What?" I would call her, she would cal back. After about the sixth time, I noticed another sound. At first I wasn't sure what it was, then I realized, ever time I would call Ms. Braiiiiiiiiiinnnnnniiiiiiiaaaaaaaacccccccc, The Boy would moan a deep, sorrowful moooooaaaaannnnnn. I started to laugh. I would call her more so he would sing more.

Now, when we want him to sing, we call his name in a low moan voice. He will start to sing too. I find this highly entertaining yet the down side is that when The Boy sings, the other dogs bark. They bark and bark and bark.

My house is all tile except the bedrooms. It is a very acoustic house. The noise reverberates off the floors and vaulted ceilings.

I think I'm going to be deaf.

I like to play online poker. Not for real money because I'm poor, I don't need more debt, I don't want Guido coming to my door looking for me, and mostly, because I have better things to waste my money on like food and cokes and Lays potato chips.

Lately, I have been playing with Mr. Right. Not against each other, but on the same site. He seems to win and win and win. I cannot buy a decent hand with real money. No matter what I do, the cards don't seem to come my way. He gets decent cards all day long. I am only half kidding when I say I'm jealous.

4 All Memory

Did you know that by simply upgrading the memory in your tired old computer, you can improve its performance and make your programs run faster? Apparently, many people do not know this. I learned the hard way. I owned a Dell once and it was old and tired so I decided to buy a new computer. When I told my computer guy about the problems I was having and why I bought a new one, he said “why didn’t you just upgrade the memory?” I had no clue. By then of course, it was too late, I was the proud owner of a brand spankin new computer. I couldn’t have saved myself hundreds of dollars had I simply invested in a little dell memory and twenty minutes to install it.

Efinancial Term Life Insurance

Would your family have money if you died? Would they be able to pay off the house? Could they afford to live?

Do you have life insurance? Do you have term life insurance or permanent? Term life insurance provides temporary coverage for a specified time period and the benefits are paid only if the insured dies within the specific term of the policy. There is no cash value on term life insurance and term life insurance polices can be converted to a permanent life insurance during the conversion period.

Regardless of the type of insurance you have, make sure you have some. If you are gone, will your family be in financial trouble?

Crappola

Oh my heck! Last night, I could not stay awake to save my life! I fell asleep on the couch at 9:40 p.m. That is like, oh, three hours earlier than I normally go to bed. Ridiculous.

I don't know how I am going to get any thing done at this rate. Falling asleep early. I have been getting up at 7:00 a.m. to try and get in 30 minutes on the treadmill. I'm tired of being "fluffy" in the middle.

Ms. Brainiac said the other day "yea, Ms. Sarcastic is going to be tall like our dad, I'm going to be short and fat like my mom."

Proud. Proud mommy moment there.

Air Purifiers

I cannot breathe at home. I have had severe allergies since I’ve moved to the desert three years ago. Lately however, I have been seriously considering purchasing an Atlas Air Purifier for my home. Among the various local plant life that is trying to kill me, I am also allergic to dust and pet dander. I have a house full of dust and I own four dogs which means plenty o’ dander to be found around my place. However, I wasn’t sure what purifier to get. There are so many to choose from.

There is the electronic, Electrostatic Tower which is 17” tall and 6” in diameter and will purify the air in a 500 square feet area. This purifier is quiet and sleek and uses very little power. You have to clan it approximately every three weeks and it does not require filters. You just wash the blades clean and it comes with a one year warranty. However, the newest 2007 model, the Altas HEPA covers nearly 3500 square feet and has a three year warranty. It will remove 99/7% of particles from the air and is 12.5” by 8.25” by 9.10” and weighs 16 pounds!

The Credit Exchange.com

With our economy the way it is these days, do you find yourself getting in deeper and deeper with your finances? Are your credit card bills out of control? Do you make the minimum monthly payment and yet your balance isn’t shrinking at all? If so then you are like countless other people in American who need help. One way to get it is to seek out Credit Card Counseling and take the steps toward financial freedom. The Credit Exhange.com is one way to begin that journey. They provide referrals to people who are looking for help with debt consolidation and debt management. They also have financial analyses help, credit card counseling, and some of their affiliates offer debt settlement programs. Don’t wait. Begin your trip to financial freedom now.

NewBatteries.com

How many times have you realized you needed batteries? I routinely buy batteries and keep them in the house. Especially now that my whole family is wired with MP3 players, CD players, portable video players, etc. Once, I got all the way to a school program and realized I needed camcorder batteries so I had to call my husband and have him stop on his way to the school. It happens. Another problem I have is when I go to a store to buy batteries and they don’t have the ones I am looking for. NewBatteries.com carries a wide variety of batteries for just about anything you might need powered up. I have bookmarked the page and this will now be my one stop battery shopping site. Thank goodness!

Traveling Man

We do a fair amount of traveling between two states to keep up with friends and family. We just returned from a road trip last weekend. One thing that always strikes me when we return home is how you never seem to forget the streets or landmarks. When I’m in Arizona, I am pressed to remember a particular landmark or directions to any place back home. However, it seems that once we cross that state line, it all floods back. I remember back streets, landmarks, addresses and could direct a blind man to exactly where he needs to be. I find this weird.

Get Me Calling Cards

I have a cousin in England. He has applied for a student visa and is planning on moving to the United States in August of this year. We’ve spent a lot of time on the telephone working out details and arrangements and figuring out what else needs to be done. When we first started the process, early last year, I got my first phone bill and about had a heart attack. The charges my phone company hit me with were outrageous and we resorted to emails back and forth for a time. Then it dawned on me. Way back in the day, my roommate met a fellow online and he lived in England. They struck up a friendship and eventually he moved here and they are still married, nine years later. However, the thing that got them through the distance was talking on the telephone via calling cards. What a brilliant plan! GetMeCallingCards.com is a large retailer of phone cards and they carry cards from all major vendors. If you find yourself in the position of calling another country frequently, you should get a phone card. That is what we did and now we talk unlimited using our United Kingdom Calling Card.

ActionCoach

Are you bored at work (yes); do you work too many hours (yes); do you want to make more money (yes); could you use some time off but you are afraid if you leave, everything will fall apart while you are gone (yes); do you want to employ a team of people who can handle things while you are gone (yes).

If you, like me, answered yes to any of those questions, perhaps it is time you got some help. ActionCOACH is a company designed to help you meet your goals, keep you on track and give you the push you may need to get where you want to be. They offer tested, successful ways to build and improve your business. No person or team is too big or small to benefit from business mentoring, especially if they want to move positively on a direct path to achieving their dreams.

Prudentail - Douglas Elliman

For a short time during my 20s, I considered moving to New York. I could make twice what I was making in Utah in corporate law, and the thought of living in New York was refreshing and exhilarating and exciting. However, once I started really considering it, the move, leaving my family and everything familiar, oh my gosh and transportation! and exactly where to live, I scared myself out of even trying.

The me of now twenty years later my late 30s would have done it. Even if it didn’t work out, I would have looked for experienced Manhattan real estate agents like Douglas Elliman. I would have sent my resume to a few places. I would have gone there for a visit and checked it out at least instead of just scaring myself out of even trying.

The Animals

I have four dogs. When we lived in Utah, we had five dogs, four cats and some foster kids; as well as our own three kids, the husband, and me. We were a very busy house. I saw this today and it reminded me of the good ol’ days when we had dogs AND cats. It is so true the species are entirely different from each other. This made me laugh out loud.

If animals kept diarys:

DOG DIARY:
8:00 a.m. -- Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 a.m. -- A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am. -- A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 a.m. -- got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 p.m. -- Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 p.m. -- Played in the Yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 p.m. -- Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 p.m. -- Milk bones! My favorite thing! 7:00 p.m. -- got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 p.m. -- Wow!! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 p.m. -- Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

CAT DIARY:

Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am. Bastards!! There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage. Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow---but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released-- and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now......