I Won't Be Posting Anymore

Since I'm not doing extreme couponing anymore, all I'm doing is just gibbering. You have better things to do. I appreciate all my readers, but, I don't think you'll be too disappointed that I'm ending this blog. Work is good. We are relatively happy as far as being mid-50's can be. Molly, the MinPin, has found a new babysitter so that we can go out of town more often. We are going to Key West in January. Nice time to be in the sub-tropics. I'm all in! Funny, I won a sweepstakes prize a few weeks ago of some very expensive sunscreen. Last month, I won a case of tea, 4 bags of popcorn, 2 bags of pretzels, and some other stuff I've since forgotten. I would like to spend more time entering sweepstakes. In the past, I have won 3 really good trips. Over the years, I've won lots of stuff. The one I think of most was a $250 GC to an art website. I ordered a Georgia O'Keefe print and several "artsy" switchplates for my wall light switches and electrical outlets. One Monet, one Any Warhol, and some others I don't know about. I also won a $100 GC to an outdoors website and I received a wonderful hammock swing. I love that thing in spring and fall. Summer is just too hot here to be outdoors for no reason. It's a bit of a thrill to come home and find a FedEx or UPS package or envelope at the door. Thank you all for your patience over the years. This started out as a good idea, but, I just think it's time to end. Peace to all of you and HAPPY COUPONING!!

Still Hangin' In

Work has been a bit crazy lately. I'm not complaining. Oh, no, far from it. We enjoy being busy, but, we just aren't used to such activity. Rick has worked really hard in securing new clients. In the past, I have had orders to take a child away from the parent on two different occasions. I had talked to Rick about it. He was somewhat dismissive, thinking, I later learned, that I didn't really do it because I didn't have police authority to do so. Well, last month, we had another one. I let Rick take the lead in taking the child away. We had police back-up, but, they never got out of their cars nor did they assist in any way. Rick spent 40 minutes talking the woman into giving him the child with no further consequences. Of course, she could have been arrested for contempt of court if she didn't comply. Anyway, afterwards, Rick said,"Give me a cocktail!" He says he'll never do it again, but, in our line of work, we can't really rule out any particular kind of paper that we will or will not serve.

Well, A Lot Has Changed!

We kept this woman for 3 weeks. We fed, clothed, and housed her. We bought a bed for her. We bought a TV so that she would have one in her room. We got her a job with our friends. She lasted at the job 4 days before exploding to me, "None of this is working out!" She then proceeded to berate Rick and call him a scam artist (he's not), a drug addict (he's not), an alcoholic (well, that's up for debate), and a schiester. During this tirade, she called him Steve. That's the man who brought her here. We had to call the police to get her out. We paid for a taxi to a hotel, one night at the hotel, and said, good riddance. I bought her over $50 in clothing to go to work in uniform. Rick bought all her cigarettes, and she was smoking like it would never end. I know we did the right thing at first, but, she wanted chaos and we are calm people. My therapist almost laughed when I told him about her. He said a grad student could write a whole thesis based on her alone. OK. Waiting for all of my readers to chime in and tell me I was an idiot. I couldn't leave her on the side of the road when Steve left. We did the right thing. She just wouldn't accept it. We talked to her dad after she left. He said, "Well, that didn't take long. I told you so." Her parents will have nothing to do with her. We are still recovering from the trauma. Hopefully, we can get back to work tomorrow and put this episode behind us.

What A Monkey Wrench In Our Lives

Long story. Bear with me. Rick has a friend, or should I say, as of yesterday, an ex-friend, from the Atlanta area. They go back more than 25 years. Golf is the thing with them. Anyway, Steve called on Monday and said, "You need to get me a hotel room in Chattanooga for a couple or three nights. I'm coming up to play golf." So, since I work the hotel points game, I booked him into a very nice, new, Holiday Inn for 3 nights. He called back a bit later and said, "Is it OK if I bring a friend?" Well, Steve is married, but, we didn't object. He showed up Tuesday with Stacey in tow. He had just "rescued her" from Myrtle Beach, SC. We went to dinner, we treated, and put them up in the hotel. Rick and Steve went out before 8 AM the next day to play a round of golf. When they finished, Rick called and asked me to pick him up from Steve's hotel. I was waiting when they pulled up. Steve got out of his truck with a pillow and a shoe box in his hands. He shoves them into Rick's hands and says, "I really have to go to the bathroom. I'll just go here in the lobby." So, he disappears down a hallway. Rick found me at the computer, checking emails. We chatted. He had this pillow and shoe box and put them down on a chair. We waited for Steve to come back from the bathroom. Remember, his female friend is upstairs waiting for him. Ten minutes go by and Steve doesn't come back from the bathroom. Rick went to check on him. The restroom was empty. Rick went outside and Steve's truck was GONE!! He immediately called him and found that his phone had been turned off. He brought this woman from SC to Chattanooga and just dumped her! He hasn't been heard from since. She has no home, no place to go, and she's in our hotel room. Nice, huh? So, Rick and I have decided that the only thing we can do is to take her into our home for a period of time. We went out and bought her a bed today. She's still in the hotel tonight by herself. We'll go get her and all her worldly goods she brought from SC to our house. We don't know her. She admitted that she has been clean and sober for two weeks. TWO WEEKS!! What are we doing? Anyway, she is going to move into our tiny little house tomorrow. I can't even pronounce her last name. My heart goes out to her as she has no support system at all. Her parents live in NC and they say, no, you cannot come here. She has 2 ex-husbands and two children who live with their dads. Nobody wants her. Nobody wants to help her. She's all alone with $8 in her pocket, no car, no place to go. I can't stand the thoughts of her going back on the streets and making it that way. No, I won't stand for that. We are doing the right thing, although, I feel a bit scared. I just think that for the grace of God, I should be in her shoes. I'll be in touch more often for the next little while to let you know how this drama unfolds. Rick is ripe to talk to Steve if he ever answers his phone or calls. I don't think Rick will ever hear from him in his life. This is just too extreme to ever recover from in their relationship.

Still Kicking

Snagged a new client this week. We have 10 papers from them to serve this week or next. That's about $600 for the week. We usually work about 3 hours per day at this. I would like to work 6 hours a day. Need more clients. Rick has been out pounding the pavement for new clients. He's really good. I have a stack of coupons on my desk from the past 2-3 weeks I've clipped, but, gotten no farther with them. I need to enter them in the HCW database for trading, file them in the binder, and USE some of them! I guess I need another golf trip to get caught up. I had to break down and buy reading glasses a couple of weeks ago. I could no longer read the exp dates on coupons. I wear bi-focals anyway as I can't see anything farther away than my hand in front of my face. Now, the near vision is almost gone. I'm telling you, gettin' old ain't for sissies! Summer is only about 3 weeks old and we've had 100+ weather for days and days on end. I'm just in Tennessee, for goodness sakes. It's not like I'm in Florida. Step-mother got out of the nursing home on July 4th. She's still in a cast. Her leg just won't heal. She will probably never walk again. I don't know how she's going to care for herself and her brother. I just stay away. I can't take it. Rick promised that he would have the boat repaired, checked out, and in the paper for sale by Sunday. This boat has been a boondoggle from the very beginning. I'm sick of fixing it, looking at it. I just want it gone. It's a classic; 1978 Glastron-Carlson 17 ft. power boat. Original Mercury outboard. Rick's in love with the piece of junk, but, I'm serious, it's going! Anyone want a really cool boat?

Business Is Looking Up!

As you know, we are civil process servers. We are hired by local, and sometimes out of town, attorneys to serve papers on defendants, witnesses, things such as that. It's a roller coaster ride. One month we may have very little business, the next month we are covered up. We've gotten a couple of new clients lately. They've been keeping us pretty busy. It's a great mental challenge at times. We have to figure out how to find someone by various means. We also have to time our attempts to serve with what we think might be their schedules. It can be a daunting task, but, we love it. Oops! I made a mistake today after lunch. I let Rick go in the grocery by himself. He has no self control whatsoever. He bought 20 pork tenderloin cutlets. We won't eat that in a year. And, he won't let me wrap them in freezer paper. He says we'll eat them soon enough. As you know, the wrap from the butcher shop is porous and won't keep out the freezer burn. I'll have to step in and do this the right way. Oops! Tried that. He adamantly refuses to wrap them in ziploc or freezer paper. So, let's just toss out 10 of them now and be done with it. I haven't been "coupon shopping" in quite a while. I am truly trying to use stockpile. I don't do much of the shopping, so, most of my efforts are for naught. We are planning a big trip to Key West for next March. I have the points and frequent flyer and all that to do a thrifty trip. We will have to rent a car for a week, but, other than that, just food and drink. Rick has wanted to do this for a long time. I'll make the arrangements now so that we can get premium seats, hotel rooms, etc. by booking so far out. I guess we'll board Molly for a week or so. That's "only" $25 a day. Dogs are expensive, aren't they?

Had a nice little mini-vacation

We went to Stockbridge, GA, for 4 nights. Rick played golf with a friend a couple of days. I was able to get completely caught up with my coupons. That's a big job! I found a great deal on olive oil at my local Bi-Lo, but, the deal goes off tonight and I just got back from GA and don't want to get dressed and go to Bi-Lo. That's OK, just grab it the next time it comes around. We took our little Miniature Pincer, Molly, with us on this trip. The hotel doesn't charge extra for a pet. Many charge $20 per night for one. It was a nice break, but, back to reality tomorrow morning. In my mind, I'm still on vacation 'til 8 AM on Wednesday! Since I was in the Atlanta area, I bought 4 Sunday papers. Better coupons than at home. Also, found some inserts in a weekly local paper at a restaurant. Rick wouldn't let me go through all the papers and take the inserts. I only got away with one extra. He's such a wet blanket! I'm really trying to get back in the coupon game and find some deals. I'm somewhat limited in that. Bi-Lo is the biggest grocery chain here aside from WM. Won't shop WM. It's a moral issue with me. Food Lion closed all their stores here. There's a couple of Publix, but, way out of the way for me. Luckily, Bi-Lo doubles up to .60, so I can get some pretty good deals there from time to time. I still have a healthy pantry. Rick didn't make me get rid of everything! We took over $800 in goods to the local rescue mission last week. It runs the gamut. Soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, mouthwash, towels, clothes, music, household goods. It was a load. Took 3 days to get it all there. Good things happen when you give. We received $70 in free Chili's GC since we gave all that. We like to eat out a lot. Bad for the budget, good for us. What can I say? The bad news. Since we left last Friday, 5 credit card bills came in the mail. Bummer! We play the points game with every purchase. Use X credit card, earn airline miles. Use Y credit card, earn hotel points. Use Z credit card, earn cash back. We play them all. The trick is to pay them off every month so we don't pay interest. Trying, trying. Usually pretty good at it.