Hello All You Diva Darlings!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
For some reason this Thanksgiving seems to be happier in general feeling. Of course for those that are out of work, losing their homes, it’s is not such a wonderful feeling, but I’ve been talking to a number of people who, because of such circumstances are in that situation.
But the reason why they are Thankful is that they had Family to fall back on, there are many who don’t, and they must depend upon the limited largess of the Government and the Churches and Synagogues who are working hard to easy the burden of an overburden population.
But some of the people I have been talking to are saying that they are looking upon these sad events as a reason to regroup and take stock of what is really valuable, and what they really need.
I’ve even heard on the news that on “Black Friday” many people are avoiding using credit cards and instead are paying by cash that they have saved or using their debt cards.
Now I just want to re-iterate something, I have said that it pays to have two checking and two savings accounts, The first checking and savings account is to be used to pay bills and groceries, and the savings account is to save up for any sudden repairs.
The second checking account and savings account, is to be used for purchases that you have up money for, like a Christmas club account but it’s more flexible, I have a friend that has an extra savings account that she puts her funds in to pay for her property taxes. But the second savings account is also for something special, like a trip, or to make that big purchase.
The whole idea is to have your saved money make money, even if it’s only 1 or 2 percent it’s better than nothing. And a lot of people are forgoing the 401 k’s and are looking into IRA’s and short term CD’s like 6 months or 1 year at the most. That way they have control over what they want their money to go into. So many people who had 401 k’s have lost a great deal of value, as bad as the stock market.
One other thing if you have several checking and savings accounts always make sure that there is some activity, even if you are just putting 20 dollars or so into them, that way the bank will not close them, so always watch your account activity.
Juanita is gone this weekend to be with her daughter and new grandbaby, she is so happy to have a little one to spoil.
I spent Thanksgiving at my brother’s house in San Francisco, and stayed a couple of nights, I had no desire to be driving home late at night, but it worked out well. I took public transportation as if I was going to my ‘office’ and then managed to grab a taxi to take me to my brother’s, I tipped the driver handsomely as well, it was a bit of a drive.
Then Friday my brother took me to a Bart Station that was not involved with Critical Mass and I took Bart back home.
I’m so use to using the Public Transportation system that it doesn’t faze me, and with that dangerous “S” curve it would be just my luck to be involved in an accident. Even my brother agreed.
It was so good seeing my nephews and nieces and their children, my brother had also invited some of his business acquaintances and their wives quite a full house, and such a feast! But one has to be careful about gaining weight around the holidays.
When I arrived home on Friday I was happy to have several phone messages from friends wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving, Kevin even called long distance. I miss him, I haven’t seen him for a while, his work keeps him on the road a lot.
I am avoiding the shopping Malls as much as possible this weekend, all those sales and everything just makes for a serious headache which I do not wish to have. But there are some gallery events that I will be going to tonight and tomorrow with Betty and her husband, so my weekend will be busy.
And we are planning to go to some Christmas events as well, like Dunsmuir House, The Dickens’s Fair, the Ballet for the traditional Nutcracker, and one or two choral events.
My family agreed that it would be best to just get presents for the children, since the grownups don’t need anything, but my oldest niece has been saving the old family pictures onto disc and wants to show them at the family Christmas party, she says a number of the photo’s are not labeled, so by showing them on the big screen (T.V.) we can identify them and she can label them.
Makes sense to me. And I’ll be looking forward to seeing those pictures.
Now I must go and get dressed and run some errands, I have a busy evening tonight.
Until Anon, Kisses Darlings.
