I bought a W.i.i

Need I say more? I just couldn't take it any more. Been wanting one for a year and a half (thanks to my visit to my brother and his family!). I've spent the last 3 bonuses/tax refunds on responsible stuff, and now that I've paid the medical bills off I found I had enough to get a W.ii. Instead of paying down some credit card debt like I should have, I got the Wi.i. And Mar.io K.art. (That one is my sister and BILs fault.) [g] BUT I did get a second wheel free, and also got an extra remote 30% off. Had little sis and her family over for dinner friday, and we had fun. Mom M is very good at baseball. KT is good at all the sports. I'm fairly good at bowling. Little Sis wasn't doing to well. Until we tried out boxing yesterday. (I only have one nunc.huk, so only one person can box. I was done with "sports" by that time, so let her have a go.) She is very, very good at boxing. Pow, pow, pow. And boy, did she enjoy that. LOL. We also played several hours of M. Kar.t. I'm much better at that. Although she's catching up fast. I've already opened up 2 new racing circuits (or whatever they're called!). Only drawback to the fun yesterday is I spent all night dreaming I was playing M. K.art. Ughh.

The Reason I Cringe

"the proposal is big and the reason it's big is because it's a big problem". G.W.Bush That's the best our president can do? That's the best he can say? God. No wonder confidence is crumbling. If all the people surrounding him can't come up with something better than that to explain the madness of our government's actions this week, we are in dire straits indeed. It's the reason I cringe when I turn on the news now. Where the heck are the economic and business advisers? The REAL ones, not the ones that got us into this mess. Why isn't anyone standing up in front of the people and saying "This sucks. We know it sucks. But we have to do this without a guarantee of getting all the money back. Even then, the economy will get worse before it gets better. The taxpayers are going to take the burden. CEO salaries and golden parachutes ARE NOT THE PROBLEM THEY ARE A DISTRACTION. Right now we HAVE TO FOCUS ON STABILIZING THE FINANCIAL SECTOR. After that we can deal with the salary cap issue. After that we can deal with the wrong-doers, the speculators. But WE HAVE TO STOP THE CHAOS FIRST." We need to be told in blunt terms the average person can understand that this is not a bailout of the CEO's. This is a bailout of the economy. Which affects all of us. Yeah, no ones paying my mortgage. But financial stability is necessary for economic growth. We may not reach the levels of the Great Depression, but things aren't going to be great for a few years. Unemployment will rise from historic lows, interest rates will go up from historic lows, home buying/values will still decrease from historic highs...But these are all things that need to happen. The economy cannot sustain a high forever. Corrections are needed. We can't hold them off. And the longer we hold them off, the harsher the correction is going to be in my opinion. I'd apologize for yelling, but I need to vent in a BIG WAY about the stupidity of Congress finally listening to "what the voters want" when most of the voters (myself included, even if I do have an Economics degree!) don't have the slightest clue how the economy works, how everything is inter-related, how the banking & finance system works, or the short and long-term effects of bailout vs no bailout. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO LISTEN TO JOHN Q PUBLIC. Once again, politics trumps doing what's better for the people/country as a whole.

The Things I do...

...for my dog

Like leaving a nice, cozy, warm office to go buy meat for her home-cooked meals. I could have used meat I have in the fridge for myself, but noooooo. I know that makes her asthma/bronchitis worse, so I went out in this lovely 7*F weather to go grocery shopping for the dog.

....out of my own stupidity

So I've been trying to track down this missing Debit card transaction for about a month now. My bank says it hasn't cleared, and isn't even showing up at Vis.a. It's only for $11.37 (according to what I wrote in my checkbook ledger, no receipt in sight until this past weekend.) They usually clear the same day. My bank gave me some bizarre story about the grocery store having 30 days to report (?) the transaction...Ummm....hello? Isn't a Debit charge immediate? I thought that was the whole point of electronic transactions?

Well, in my belated spring cleaning this past weekend, I actually found the receipt. (In the bin where I keep the potatoes, but that's beside the point.) Took it to the grocery store today since they couldn't research it earlier without the receipt. Met with the bookkeeper, who looks at my receipt for a few minutes, then looks at me and says "Honey, this is for a cash transaction. You didn't use your debit card for this." DUH.

Apparently I'm so paranoid about forgetting to deduct debit transactions from my check book balance, I'm now subtracting cash payments.

It's the blond highlights. Really. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)