At A Loss

For words that is.

I have a case of bloggers block...Sounds good anyway...It is my story!

Basically I have some ideas but cannot get them into words at this time. Tired of ranting at you guys so I'm going to take the day off and see if I can refresh my out look.

Don't worry not going off the deep end on you just need to change my perspective on a few things.

Hey I did wake up this morning so things started out good

It is what it is

Rod

Amazed

Look at what I got!

I have received a blog award from Serenity

This is the award and the stipulations for accepting:
This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.

The rules to follow are: 1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link. 2) Pass the award to another 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.


Well I got my notification last night but was too overwhelmed to do anything with it until now.
To have anyone think enough of me or my dribble, and give me this kind of overwhelmed me. I have not been on the blogging scene that long so I thank Lydia again. Without her well timed kick in the butt, this probably would of never happened.

Now the hard part. I don't follow that many blogs, and would be surprised if 15 people follow mine, so I don't know 15 blogs that I feel are worthy of this but...

Don't you think that I can't at least come up with 1 maybe 2...

The problem is I don't know how to contact them so it is going to be a big surprise for them!

First is Missi with Obscure Labyrinth. She has bared her soul to us, and I admire her for that. She helped to inspire me to go ahead and say whats on my mind.

Second is Edain with English, Pagen and in Canada. She is like me and has not been blogging for to long but has a good following and has accomplished allot in her short time on the Internet.

There are more that I could give this to, but they have already been given this recognition so I will leave it at 2.

Thanks again to Lydia, and all my blogging friends.

It is what it is

Rod

Some Wandering Thoughts

I have started this post with no idea where it will head. But have some wandering thoughts for you.

Remember when you read this that you are reading the thoughts of an average middle class American with a high school education who was born and raised as a small town boy.

As I have said before I read a lot of different Blogs, and other things on the internet that catch my eye at the time. Some things I have noticed is that no one believes that the stimulus plan is going to help, and you are finding more and more about self sustained living.

Now about the stimulus plan, I am still trying to read through all of it but I do not see where they believe the stimulus is going to happen. Most of it is in tax cuts that will go to the people that are not in need of it. If what I have read is true the average middle American will see around 15 dollars a month in tax cuts.

Ok now my question is who is hurting the most from our failing economy...the middle class. So once again they have passed right over he bread winners of our country.

Just for an example of who is really running our country let me take you back to the late 1980's. I had a small business at the time that we had to close down for various reasons but anyway we had to file double bankruptcy, one for the business and one personal. We were at the hearing and I thought it was all over, but the judge had one last question about a deal that had happened just before we closed down.

Ok the only people that would be interested in that deal would be the bank.
So I asked him who he worked for and he said the federal government. I then asked him why he was asking a question for the bank if he was working for the federal government and if they had wanted to know the answer why were they not present as they had been notified so they could ask their own questions. Well he got very red in the face and closed the hearing right there. So in my mind it shows that the banks were running things even back then.

So my thoughts are if the banks have been running things for this long and we are where we are then why not let them get out of it on their own. If they fail they fail. I'm sorry if that sounds evil on my part but because of them or who ever has done this I have failed period no fault of mine other than trying to live the great American dream. Ok enough of that.

Now a lot of my other readings were blogs on prepping. At first I read them because I got a big laugh off of some of them. They were not prepping for anything but a war...How many guns I've got , how many bullets I've got, stuff like that. But I have noticed a shift in them.

Now you read allot about prepping for food, water, shelter. More worst case scenario than who has the most guns. They are talking about canning food making your own soaps and how to save money period. It is amazing what you can do to save money in your home. Some of these people have put allot of time and energy into it. Some are even to the point of being self sustaining on very small parcels of land.

My grandmother was raise on a homestead where they had no electricity, no running water, no frills a bare bones life style so there is a wealth of information I'm going to start collecting. If you are interested in any of this go to Jims Blog as he has a bunch of sites on his blog that cover this information.

Well I'm gonna close now before I start a full on rant. Just remember...

It is what it is...

Rod

Just Another Day

Now you might not believe this but I got a call from the bank on the car today.


They wanted to know when the payment was coming.


So I explained to the nice lady that I was unemployed and that it was not feasible at this time to make the payment. She then asked if I were getting unemployment. Yes, but most of that was going to health insurance. So she asked if I thought that was necessary. Yes so I gave her my health conditions. So here comes the winner and I quote " Can you borrow the money to make the payment".


Right so I asked her how that would help. She said well then you could make the car payment. Ok could not let it pass. So I asked her if I could get a loan so I could make the payment then. She said no, No I said are you not a bank? She said yes but they could not do that. Why not I asked? She said that I already could not make the payment why would they loan me money to do it. Exactly I said (Here's your sign) come and get it and oh by the way bring gas as it is out!


Enough of that, kinda makes you laugh.


Here's a site that lets you keep track of the stimulus plan...


Recovery.gov

In typical government fashion you get redirected to 10 or 50 different sites to get all of it. Guess they need to show you that all of the departments are working for you.


It is what it is


Rod

Stress Management

There are allot of people in the U.S. going through my same predicament so here is how I handle the stress.

My Winter ritual is sure to change when the weather gets better.

I wake up in the morning in a bed, still have a roof over my head..Things are looking good so far.

Wiggle around some, no great pains...Getting better.

Get up turn on the lights and TV...Still got power great.

Heat some water for my morning cup...Waters still on getting better.

Read my emails and my favorite blogs...Still got Internet, things are going good.

Chat with my friend some...That always puts a smile on my face.

Eat breakfast..Still got food!!

Look at the clock..Hey it's time to harass the bank.

Call the bank...Want to let them know that their house didn't burn down in the last 3 days.

Call the other bank...Hey your car is still here..you want me to deliver it...Can't, it's out of gas you will need to come and get it

The mail shows up great...

Taxes are do on the house ...Need to call them and tell them that I don't own the house the bank does..will have to remember to tell the bank next time I call them.

Chat some more with my friend...More smiles.

Check my business dealings on the Internet...Not bad..Not real good..Not allot of money there to begin with...Still good keeps me occupied.

Lunch..Hey still have food great.

Watch some TV...There are some great shows out there.

Work on my blog...Change this move that put it all back start a post maybe finish maybe not..

Oh of course add in allot of play time with my little furry friends...Do I need to add to that.

Do some more reading on the Internet...What subject am I interested in today?

Chat with my friend some more...Smiles again.

Dinner...Hey still have food.

Work on blog while chatting..Multi tasking...More smiles.

Finish blog post and send to my favorite editor...

Yawn time for bed ..Hey lived through another great day.

Oh also some time during the day log in and check for jobs...Now that will make you laugh.

Never have to look at a clock.

Don't usually know what day of the week it is and don't really care.

But the best part is that I get to spend all my time at home in fairly good health with my pretty wife.

Always wanted to retire early...

It is what it is.

Rod

A Lesson Learned

I was going to write about how some people are always so negative but every time I sit down and try to start my mind wanders.

Yesterday I went to a friends house to watch the car race with some other friends and the first topic we talked about was their work. How long they were going to stay employed what the future held for us all.

They were quizzing me a lot about how we were doing and what was out there and what to expect if and when it happens to them...That's how bleak it is here in our small part of the world.
My day started out with some reading on the Internet and when I read Jims blog yesterday it about floored me. Had never even thought about that before. It made me think if that was how it is, how much more could be cut.

It has gotten to the point in my life where I no longer can watch the news on TV. It upsets me that much. I get angry and my hands start shaking and my two stress monitors (the furry friends) let me know about it. How do those reporters stand there with their pretty little smiles and lie to us?

So after listening to my friends concerns, reading Jims blog, and just letting my mind wander I came to a conclusion.

I can't rant at someone for being negative when there is no positive input in their lives. I don't know what they are going through. But with the way things are looking for us (and I mean all of us) I can certainly see where it would be hard to keep a positive outlook for them.

In an earlier post I talked about how my friends here on the Internet have positive attitudes and that I was trying to surround myself with these people. So whenever I'm around negative people I try to steer the conversation in a more positive direction. Well today I was outnumbered so I let them rant, answered their questions, asked them questions in return, and let the conversation go in whatever direction it went.

Well it finally was more focused on the fact that what they were so worried about was where I'm at now. No job. It was brought up that my wife and I were looking good and seemed to be handling our situation very well.

So I explained to them that at first it was not like that but once we decided that it was out of our control that we basically sat down and decided to take it one month at a time. Can we pay our bills this month? Yes, ok great. No, ok then, this is what we can pay, and this is what we can't pay, and this is what we have to do to handle that situation. And then we pay those bills and then we basically forget about it.

Well they all said that they could not do that and my reply was...

It is what it is...

And you can not change it...

But then I added my good friends comment..

It is what you make of it...

And the rest of the day was nothing but fun and laughter...

Amazing what happens when you let them blow off a little steam first

Rod

Holiday

As far as I'm concerned today should be a national holiday.
So no post for today!

NASCAR.COM Video - Duel 1: Final laps

See you at the races...

It is what it is

Rod