Amy Currioman

Sue decided to spend a week in Chicago, visiting with Aunt June.  Aunt June hasn’t been feeling well lately, and wasn’t able to come visit with us like she usually does.  We’ve been quite unhappy with air travel of late, so Sue decided to drive up instead of flying. So Sue borrowed my EZ Pass and drove her Toyota Corolla to Chicago.  We figured that was the best idea because that would make her departure and arrival days and times flexible.

While Sue was in Chicago, she was driving Aunt June around town to run some errands and her car overheated.  She took it to a Chicago auto repair shop and they told her that she needed a new water pump.  I had to give Sue my credit card information so she could get the car fixed.  That’s one of the drawbacks to taking your own car on a trip!  Maybe next time she’ll rent a car for the trip.  Getting a rental with unlimited mileage just might be the best way to go; if it breaks down you don’t have to pay to get it fixed, you just trade it in for a different rental car and you’re on your way!

Post from Stephen Liggins

I have always been a lover of animals. I have two dogs who are just like a part of my family. I make sure my dogs get their yearly checkups and shots from the vet. I feel like keeping up with their yearly maintenance is saving me a lot of money it would cost me if they got really sick.

I have noticed over the past few years that the cost of their tick and flea medicine just keeps increasing. I thought I would do some research online using my direct tv internet services to see if I could save myself a little bit of money. I found the same product that my vet sells for a lot less money. At the vets office I pay $180.00 for a three month supply. If I buy the product on the wild blue internet I will only pay $30.00 for that same three month supply. I often wonder why the markup on this product is so high.

The most important thing to me is keeping them healthy and happy. By saving myself $50.00 per month I can use that money to buy them a new doggie pool for my backyard this summer. What’s that old saying, the lazy dog days of summer. I think my two dogs wrote the book on that.

My horoscope said nothing about how great today was going to be. First, I went to Starbucks and they gave me a free chocolate cherry mocha coffee. They had made one for someone else who decided they didn’t want it and the barrista didn’t want to throw it away, so she asked me if i would like it. Heck, yes!

Then I went to Home Depot to get a couple of rakes for my overdue yard work and went to the self checkout. The rakes both had the bar codes on them, but the second one would not scan. the checkout display said to wait for assistance. I waited and waited and even with 4 idle workers milling about, no one came to help me. So I got a little ticked off and loudly asked “Where’s my assistance?” the clerk came and tried to scan the rake, but it didn’t work. So he went somewhere else and left me standing there along with a growing line of other impatient customers. When he came back he tried to scan it one more time. It still didn’t work. He leaned toward me and said softly, “I’m not going to charge you for this rake. It’s not your fault the scan won’t work and I’m sorry you’ve had to wait so long.” He smiled and handed me the rake – another freebie!

In today’s technological world Online Trading seems to be a very popular way for the investor to be involved in Stock Trading.  I think that having an Online Broker would be a very convenient way to deal with investing!  There have been many times when I wanted to talk to my own stock broker and had to leave messages on his voice mail and wait for a return call – sometimes several days!

With doing stock trading online, you don’t have to wait for a return call – you place your order and “poof” it is done the same day!  And the fees for trading with an online trading firm are often much lower than the fees for a “regular” stock broker!  And nowadays you can get just as good advice about stocks online as you can with a “real” person.  In fact, sometimes the advice is even better because it is impartial and just relays the facts and figures.

I’m amazed that my unemployed son gets at least Credit Card Offers in the mail every week.  I don’t understand why he keeps getting these Credit Card Offers; he hasn’t had a job for over a year now – he’s been going to college and counts on me to pay his bills.  I’m sure his credit score is wonderful because I HAVE been paying his bills, but I find it very aggravating that so many Credit Card Offers come to him anyway.

I have to assume that if he accepted any of these offers, that after a little bit of research they would turn him down, but I really don’t know that for sure.  In this crazy economy I just can’t even imagine that they’ve been sending him these offers to begin with!  If and when he is ready to actually get a credit card in his name, I’ll be sure to help him compare the different cards and make sure that he gets the best deal that is available.  In the meantime, these junk-mail offers are getting shredded!