Goodbye, and Good Luck

2013 is almost over! Thank God!! What a crappy freakin' year this has been. It has seen:

1. Home mortgage refinance- what a joke that is! Sure our payment is almost cut in half, but Wells Fargo created a 40 year loan for suckers like us and didn't forgive the $55,000 our home is upside down. Our property is worth $45,000 at this time and is unlikely to gain any value in the next 3-5 years. Really, you bunch of crooks? And the refi delayed the bankruptcy. If we had declared, they wouldn't have refinanced us and we would be stuck with an awful payment.
2. Bankruptcy- that is a painful process, for sure. I get it. I really do. But the process itself sucks ass. And to have to delay just threw us for a serious loop and almost left us more broke, and broken, than when we started. The loss of any available overtime hurt our bottom line and almost broke hubby because he has a harpy for a wife and an asshole for a boss.
3. Strife between hubby and wife- yeah, it rhymes. I needed a little joy. The first 2 came between us so badly at times, I wonder that anyone makes it through the process. We have seen some serious stuff during our time together, but the stress from the above can be a killer, for people and a marriage! Hubby sat one weekend and almost had a breakdown. I do not use that term lightly.  
4. Family sucks!- and I mean mine, too. My only bright spot: Big Sis!!! Go, Big Sis!! Hubby's family needs a serious beating, and sometimes so does mine. Forgetting birthdays, judging our choices on raising our family, not taking responsibility for their words and actions. What. Ever.

I am optimistic about 2014. I won't say "It can't be any worse" because that when it rains. For days. And floods the world. But I do have high hopes. High hopes that hubby and I got through 2013 and 18 years of marriage. Hopes that our family can grow stronger and smarter. Hopes that we win the lottery and can buy that island in the South Pacific. Come on, 6 numbers!!!

Happy New Year!!! May it bring you peace, and joy, and fruitfulness, and prosperity, and much, much love!!!!!!!!!

The More Shit Changes, the More Shit Stays the Same

It's a Christmas wonkies, random kind of blog night. I got a little gin and tonic working, so there's no telling what I'm gonna say. Woot, let's get a move on!

• We bought a Roku. Best $50 we ever spent. I am not kidding. One of the channels we added was Netflix. We stream Netflix in the living room through the Wii, and wanted something in the bedroom. I have added so many shows to my list. House of Cards is a great show. I watch that in the morning while I'm taking some quiet time for myself. When I get caught up with that, Breaking Bad is next, followed by Drop Dead Diva. I haven't been able to watch some shows because of our lack of cable, which I am more than ok with, but also because of the kids. Breaking Bad isn't something we can sit down and watch as a family. Some of the channels are added were crap and got deleted almost immediately. I had added a channel of war movies. Yeah, that was a bust. Just a reminder that sometimes, free means crappy.
• One of my favorite shows that I am finally getting caught up on is Sons of Anarchy. Oh my, Jax has an amazing ass!! Sometimes, I just hit pause and stare at it's loveliness. But it's also just a good show. I even have hubby hooked on it. We are almost done with season 5. As soon as 6 comes out on DVD or Netflix,  whichever comes first, hubby and I are all over it. I have a friend that won't spoil the show for me. I am all about spoilers. Which brings us to number 3.
• I am all good with spoilers about Walking Dead on that social site. Again, I have to wait 'til the season updates on Netflix or hits video. The big girl and I are almost done with season 3, I think. We have time over Christmas break to spend snuggled under the covers in my room catching up. I see the spoilers and it gives me an idea of what to expect. I have friends that just can't stand it. I say bring it on!
• Today was the last Christmas performance for my kids dance company. As much as I love my kids dancing, I am looking forward to having a couple of Saturdays off. Rehearsal for recital starts in January, so Saturdays off are a rare thing around here. Hubby and I bought a camera and it took me forever to get the hang of it. I finally got video today, because I am slow. The first or second performance the batteries died. My fault. I forgot to check. Grrrrr. But I got it today. They were amazing...
• So now I get all political, because that's what I do. There is talk of raising minimum wage. Do we all understand what the impact is when minimum wage goes up, especially n this struggling economy? That means that businesses will raise their prices. Why? Because they won't eat the cost of extra wages. We get to do that. If they have to pay people more money, but can't really afford that, guess what happens then. They lay people off. That means higher unemployment. What happens when they've laid off as many people as they can and still can't make it? They close their doors, laying off the rest of their staff, and unemployment goes up again. The price of everything goes up. Transportation prices will go up. If that happens, food prices go up, clothing prices go up, housing prices go up. And at that end, guess what happens? People can't make a living on minimum wage because everything is too expensive. Do you see a big, ugly cycle forming? I do. And in the meantime, let's distract the public with things like naked pop stars on construction equipment and reality stars giving opinions in magazine articles. It's a distraction from the important stuff. Now you know.
• I live in the snowbird capital of the freaking country. Do you know what a snowbird is? It's retired people that live up north, but come down south during the winter. Just like birds, they head for warm weather. I am so ready for them to go home. They clog up our roads. They drive super fucking slow in the fast lane and pull out in front of you because they are 800 years old and don't need to be driving. They fill up the restaurants and stores and complain about having to sit near or be around kids. Just send us a check for the extra tax revenue you give us and stay home please. And thank you.
• I think I am in adrenal fatigue. I looked at the signs and I have all but 2 out of 10. Ugh! I am so tired all of the time. I think part of it is stress. Goodness knows I don't have enough of that! I have been researching and most studies point to magnesium as the thing to help bring the adrenals back to normal function. On a bright note, magnesium also helps during menopause and it helps with headaches. Hopefully, I can kill 3 birds with one pill. My next research project is progesterone. For many years, estrogen was thought to be what women need during peri-menopause and menopause, but research now points to progesterone. It is widely believed that excess estrogen leads to breast cancer. Do not get me started on my mother and estrogen, or I will get super pissed off because that's what she was treated with many years ago. I can't even go there, I get so angry.

That's about all I have for now. I think I need another drink. I'm not going to tell you I already had 2 drinks while I was writing this. Wait, I think I just did. And I need to go wrap some presents. I am excited about this Christmas. I'm almost ready. How about you?