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.

Just an update on my life, such as it is. Last week, I bailed on my step-mother and left her brother to his own devices. Other family members, my dad's family, not hers, have stepped in to pick up the slack. My doctor told me last week that I was in the midst of a mental breakdown and that I was not to take care of anyone but myself for the next 2 months. Rick had a scare last week. I thought he was having a stroke and took him to the ER. No stroke, but, lots of stuff wrong with him. We are trying to address those issues. We are going out of town tomorrow for some R&R for a few days. Rick will be playing golf and I will be catching up on my coupons. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? It's about 160 miles from home, just far enough to say, "Sorry, can't get there today." Received an email from CVS this week for a free body wash. It had a short date on it, so, I went by today and got it. It was $2.37. Not much, but, every little bit helps. We had a serious problem at Chili's about 3 weeks ago. Sent 3 emails, nothing. Talked to the area manager yesterday. He was very interested in our take on things. Gave us $40 in GC to use later. He also gave us a "mystery shop" form to send him on all our visits. I've told you about the SBKC thing before. You send in your junk emails and mail and credit card bills and such. I earned $40 from last month's submissions. I'm going to redeem for $20 CVS GC and $20 Chili's GC. I'd love to have more, but, I'm thankful that by sending some junk to them, I'm earning $40 for a month of participation. I am on the lookout for ANY coupons for a free GC to a pharmacy for NEW prescriptions. There's plenty for a transfer, but, I have 3 scripts not in my Medicare formulary that I have to pay for. GC are just sweet! Our regional store, Bi-Lo, out of SC and in my area, have a free coupon every time you send in your survey from your receipt. We now have enough bagels and spaghetti to feed an army. Rick has a fit when I bring more in. Hey! Free is good! What can't he understand about that? My great-nieces scored 16 packs of pudding cups last month. I'm sure their parents aren't thrilled about the sugar high I gave them, but, hey, I don't have to live with them! Sorry about my absence lately. I've been overwhelmed with family responsibilities for quite a while. I'm trying to get back to normal.

I've Been Absent Awhile. Here's The Reason.

Hello, all. I'm sorry that I've been absent for 2 months. Time flies when you're having fun! My step-mother fell and broke her leg in two places about 5 or 6 weeks ago. She is diabetic and has serious heart disease. She is currently in a nursing home, in a cast from thigh to foot. She has a 63 year old brother who can do nothing for himself. He, too, is diabetic and is really just a lump. He doesn't even know how to take his own blood sugar reading. She's always done it for him. Anyway, I have moved into her house to take care of him and Rick is at home keeping things going. I still have to work and I have responsibilities at my house as well. I'm stressed to the max right now. I have to be there early morning to prepare his "special" breakfast (can't just sling him a bowl of cereal with milk!), I leave him to his own devices for lunch, and I prepare his dinner at EXACTLY 4:45 PM because he says so. I usually stay overnight, although, I am staying in my own bed tonight. He'll just have to figure out how to put bread in the toaster and push the button. Deals? Coupons? I don't have a clue what's going on right now. We found a good home for the chocolate Lab. The lady who took her called that evening to report that she had bathed her and clipped her nails, treated her ear mites, and boiled a whole chicken and deboned it for the dog's supper. Where do I sign up for treatment like that?! When I dine out at Chili's, they make me PAY for the chicken! Anyway, she has a good home with a 3/4 acre fenced yard to run off her energy. You're going to love this story. The day after my step-mom broke her leg, her sister-in-law, my aunt, my dad's baby sister, called her and asked to borrow her car. She was on morphine and said OK. The next day, my aunt came by, driving that car, and I asked her if her car was in the shop. "Oh, no. It's going to cost $3,500 to fix it and I don't have any money or a job." Well, that told me, as I'm sure you will all agree, that she thought she had just lucked up on a new car for as long as she wanted. I put a stop to that in a hurry. I made her bring it back the next day. She hasn't spoken to me since. I told my step-mom that she thought it was a gift forever. She was upset about it, but, didn't want to rock the boat. All she has for a support group is my dad's family. Her family couldn't give a lesser hoot. Anyway, aunt had said she would bring food for brother and me from time to time. Haven't seen a single green bean out of her in 6 weeks since I took the car away from her. So much for "blood is thicker than water." I know just about now, you are all saying, "quitcherbitchin." I will. I don't ever get any tearpad coupons around here. The inserts have been crummy for a while. I'm living in a coupon desert and my store doubles up to .60. Publix doubles up to .50, but, it's way out of the way and I don't make the effort to go there as my close store does .60 coupons. Work is sporadic. Been working our tails off this week, might not have anything else for two weeks. You just never know. It's crazy. We've had some interesting cases lately. We start with nothing, have to find the person, gather all kinds of information, and figure out how to serve them. We're close to 100%, no matter how crappy the initial information is that we receive from the lawyer. I'm really proud of Rick. He's very good at this. He's getting better every day without me having to tell him what to do. He pulled off a very good one yesterday without any prompting or help from me. He's really, really good at this. Close for now. I will try to stay in touch with you a bit better in future.

No New Deals Here

I have no new deals for you. I did go back to Bi-Lo and got the onions for .79. It's up to Rick to plug them into the menu somehow. The 30 boxes of veggies? Rick, at first, told me he was going to take them to the food kitchen downtown and donate them. I put my foot down. We still have them. Luckily, I bought a few boxes of brussel sprouts. He loves those nasty little things. That mollified him a bit.

We found a dog a couple of weeks ago, wearing a collar but no tags or I.D. We advertised everywhere we could think of and no one has come forward to claim her. So, we put an ad in the paper to sell her. Rick doesn't want any money for her, but, he says that by putting a price tag on her, it will only attract people who really want a chocolate Labrador. He says that if he finds the right person, he will tell them, "Put your money away. I only wanted to know that you were serious." Anyway, I received a phone call this morning before 7:30 from a hearing impaired person. The operator read what the caller wrote on their device, then, typed in my response to the caller. She gave me an email address to contact her. I did that. I received an email back from her wanting to know where to send the check, as this was the only way she had to pay for the dog. She said she was going to send more than the asking price and asked that I keep my portion and send the rest by Western Union to the shipping company for picking up the dog and shipping to her. Sounds like some kind of scam to me. This dog is only going to someone with whom I can have a face to face discussion of how they are going to treat her. I don't know, but, her email just creeped me out.