I know it's Winter right now, and although a mild one, most people aren't thinking about outdoor activities such as camping, but it might be a good time to start preparing for it. For me, I'm all about the fun of it, and don't like messing around with the politics. The last thing on my mind is 5th wheel insurance, and really, it should be the first. I hate dealing with insurance companies, mainly because I don't understand all the technical jargon that goes along with it, but all that aside, it is important that you have adequate coverage in place should something happen.
For me, the easiest way to get around the whole insurance debacle is to have my husband deal with it. I'm not sure he understands it any more than I do, but he always seems to get it done. If that isn't an option for you (having your spouse do it, not mine......lol), the next best thing is to go online, research various providers, and secure what you need. I've found it is relatively easy to gain vehicle insurance this way, and not that difficult to understand. We even have our car insurance this way. Still easier to have the Honey do it, but this works, too.
Be Smart
Whitney Houston
The news that Whitney Houston died yesterday leaves me with a deep sadness. I remember listening to her music as a rebellious teen and finding inspiration and hope in the lyrics. She sang some of my favorite songs at that time, and the video for the song, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" just made me want to dance. I envied her beauty and talent.
It's shocking to think that at only eight years older than me, this icon is gone. No cause of death has been named yet, but years of drug abuse is surely to blame for this terrible tragedy. A person't body can only tolerate so much abuse before it gives out. I am sad that it had to end this way for her. I think we tend to put celebrities on a pedestal, thinking they are like gods who can do no wrong, especially someone like Whitney Houston, who at the peak of her career, exuded a persona of purity and goodness. We forget, they are just people like us, with real lives and problems.
As a tribute to the great Whitney Houston, I've attached her video "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."
Paper, Paper, And More Paper
I just got done doing our taxes a couple of days ago and got them all sent off to the IRS via e-file. What a wonderful invention, that e-file. And doing them online, too. It still took me a couple of hours, what with having to enter all the information and answer the endless questions that make no sense to me, but it is done. I'm happy to report that we are getting a refund again this year, but I can see an alarming trend that shows a smaller and smaller refund each year. As the rules change and the kids get older, we qualify for less credits every year.
As much as I love the advancement in technology, though, I still like to go old school and print out the documents for safe keeping in my filing cabinet as well as saving a copy on my computer for easy retrieval in the future. Last year, I forgot to save a copy on the PC and for some reason, didn't print a hard copy, either. Wouldn't you know it, I needed it for something later in the year, and had a heck of a time getting the information I needed. I was in a panic for a few days until I finally managed to get my hands on my return and got the information I needed. Once again, technology came to the rescue, and using document imaging software, I was able to recover what I thought was lost forever due to my own stupidity.
The whole tax thing gets me in a tizzy every year, though. Even with the ease of doing it online and e-filing, I always wonder if I've missed something, done something wrong, or made some mistake somewhere that is going to cost us big time. Even after the government approves it and notifies me that our refund is on its way, I still worry. It is the government, after all. You know how it works. If you owe them, you'd better sell your children and hock your belongings, whatever it takes to pay them yesterday. Fail to do so, and you'll end up in a secret prison reserved for tax evaders while they threaten your family and make you eat bread and water until it's paid, after which they will deny everything.
Oh my! I think I've been watching too many episodes of Heroes lately........
Anyway, the moral of the story: Do and pay your taxes!
Idiotic Husbands and Getting Back To Normal
Idiotic husbands. Who has one? You? What about you? Come on, I can't be the only one that has a husband that refuses to use the common sense God gave him.
Oh, you have one, too? I thought so. I think it's something in the male make up. Even though you know they have what it takes to be smart, men have the option to use it or not, and unfortunately, quite often, they choose to be stupid.
Case in point: This weekend marks the opening of sturgeon spearing here in Wisconsin. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's a hunting season of sorts, where men cut six foot holes in the ice and sit inside an ice shanty all day staring into said hole waiting for a huge prehistoric fish to swim through so they can spear it. Mike has sturgeon speared all his life, and this year should be no exception, but common sense should tell you that it is.
Winter this year has been extremely mild. We've seen forty degree temps more than we've seen freezing ones. Hell, it hasn't even been freezing much at night. There is no frost in the ground, and very little snow has fallen. Because of the mild temperatures, the lakes have not frozen normally. The lake the guys sturgeon spear on normally boasts an average ice depth of at least three feet. This year? The average ice depth is only ten inches. And, it's not uniform. Several spots on the lake are thinner, with cracks running this way and that. It's not safe for travel by truck, by any means.
So this morning, Mike and his crew loaded up the four wheelers, in a blinding snow, no less, to head out to the lake to cut their holes. Now, tell me, how much sense does it take to realize that unsafe, cracked, thin ice plus a blinding show storm equals trouble......death, even?
I'm not the type of wife to tell my husband he can't do something, but I had hoped better sense would prevail in this situation.
Hope, schmope.
He's got no sense.
On a lighter note, things are starting to return to normal around here. After the flu hitting each and every one of use, methodically every three days, I'm happy to report that both the children are back in school and Mike has returned to work. It was a rough couple of weeks, but we made it. Just let me say, I never, never want to go through that again.
Lysol is my new best friend.
Scary Story
Guest post from Constance Rodgers
I was catching up with a friend today when she told me the scariest story. She was home alone late at night with her eight-week old baby while her husband worked a night shift at the hospital. At about midnight, a stranger started banging at the door. Her car was hidden in the garage so she assumed the would-be robber assumed no one was home. She was scared and immediately turned on the lights so the person would know there was someone home. When she did that, the banging on the door only got worse. She then hit the panic button on the alarm system, which went off and alerted police. This scared the guy away. I was so happy she had an alarm, because who knows what could have happened to her if she didn’t. I immediately went tohttp://www.homesecurity101.com and got my home connected. I feel much better now that I have a home alarm. That story shook me to my core. I couldn’t deal with the thoughts that someone might have the audacity to try and break into my house while I am home with my kids.
Sick, Sick, And More Sick
It has been an eventful week here in the Live, Laugh, Blog household. The flu has reared its ugly head, not just once, but four times, starting with Mike. Tim was next, then me, and now Rebecca. It's like a war zone in here, and until everyone is well again, I am at a loss as to how to keep up with it all. I just throw my hands up in defeat and wait for better days.
It's nasty. This bug has got its victim writhing in pain, spending countless hours in the bathroom not sure which end what is going to come out of. The details are gory, so I won't go into them for your peace of mind. Let me just say, I've never seen anything like it before.
And the flu shot? No match for this virus. I got my flu shot back in October of last year, and it didn't even touch this evil. As a matter of fact, I swear I heard it actually laugh in the face of my flu shot. I might have been hallucinating because of the fever, but it seemed real at the time.
So, as I type this, Rebecca is snoozing on the couch after being up all night long. It seems the worst might be over, but I'm not letting my guard down. I just know this ugly intruder may still be lurking just around the corner, or under the toilet seat, to nab its next victim. I've already warned everyone I know to stay away, so hopefully it will end here, today, and not hitch a ride with some other unsuspecting, unprepared individual.
On To The Next Step
Now that the walls and ceiling are done in the living room, it's time to start thinking about the floors. I'm still undecided as to whether to put down carpeting or stick with the natural hard wood floors, but I need to make a decision soon as this unfinished room is driving me crazy. The only problem with redoing the hard wood floors is that I just know I'm going to have to rent industrial floor scrubbers, and the work will not be easy. While the floors are in perfect shape, they are very scratched and dull. The previous owners had carpeting in here, so the floors were well protected and can be restored easily. I just don't know if I want to put that much work into it.
I can envision this room with beautifully restored hard wood floors, and it's beautiful. I've never done anything like this before, but with auto scrubbers and battery powered machines, how hard could it really be? I wonder just how long a vacuum battery life is? Will I have to stop and keep recharging the unit, or will it be enough to finish the entire floor on one charge? Once I start, I don't want to have to stop until it's finished, ya know?
Decisions, decisions.
I'll have to do some more research and find out what all is involved in restoring the hard wood floor. I'd like to have it done within the next few weeks, before any type of warmer weather starts making its way here. I don't want to be stuck in this house any longer than I have to be!
Steel Buildings
Over this past Summer, my father-in-law, having come into some money after his father died, decided to put up one of those steel buildings to house all his toys. You know the toys men buy as they get older: a muscle car (his is a yellow and black Dodge Charger), a camper big enough to house a family of five comfortably, and is actually decorated better than my house, and a decked out work bench area that any auto mechanic would be jealous of. There are other amenities and things besides, but you get the picture.
The funny thing is, the older you get, the less you tend to work on your own vehicles. The less you do around the house. It's just so much easier to hire someone to do the work for you, so I have to wonder why he went to this extreme, just because he could.
On the other hand, the building is so big that he has allowed us to store some of our bigger assets as well. Mike's ice shanty and boat, for instance. What once stood outside, naked to the elements, is now tucked cozily inside, right between said camper. No more shoveling feet of snow to uncover the ice shanty when it's time to go sturgeon spearing. Yay!
Butts, Winds, And Books
I'm happy to report that my butt is feeling much better today. I only tell you this because I'm sure you're just dying to know things about my butt. My rear and I both thank you for your concern.
Still dealing with the standing water puddles in the garage today. Try as I might, yesterday's winds did nothing to help dry it out since they refused to enter the garage. Today, though, is another story altogether. Hurricane force winds are a blowin', and thankfully are blowing in the right direction to come full force through the open garage door. Hopefully after today, at least for a little while, I can walk through my garage without hip waders to take the dogs out.
God, I never thought I'd be thankful for the strong winds that blow in this state on a semi-daily basis.
On a lighter note, I am reading a pretty funny book called "Is It Just Me, Or Is Everybody Nuts!" by Judi Coltman. It's been a while since a book has made me laugh out loud, but this one does. It's not a story, but instead, one woman's view on life (her life), and the things she observes. There are so many things I can relate to, having raised kids of my own, and the things she says about her marriage and such has me nodding my head in confirmation. It's a great book for when you need to know that you're not alone and need a laugh. I got it for free on Amazon for my Kindle Fire, but I believe the going price for the book is $2.99 now.
It's A Harmless Fetish, Really......
I don't get out much, what with my visual disability and all, but for reasons I can't explain or control, I have a shoe fetish. It's more of an obsession, really. And the funny thing about it is, I only wear just a select few pair despite the numerous pairs that line my closet floor. Keds shoes are my favorite. So many colors and patterns.....yeah. They remind me of summer days. No socks, just a pair of cute Keds to make a summer outfit complete.
Oh, and Dr Martens shoes........drool. So many pretty boots to choose from. Who cares if they don't keep your feet terribly warm. They look fabulous!
For me, buying shoes is like a true religion. I believe strongly in the power of a new pair of shoes to make you feel complete. OK, so maybe comparing shoe buying to religion is a bit extreme, but seriously. I might need professional help to get past this. How much sense does it make to keep buying all these cute shoes if I really have no intention of actually wearing them? Why do I keep buying shoes when the trusty old faithfuls are my favorite?
Someone stop me cause I can't stop myself!
