It Is Done

I've worn myself out.
But first: Mary did pay - I shouldn't say I'm shocked, but it is a bit amazing after all we have gone through. So - tomorrow or the next day we'll be signing a new lease agreement.

Umm, so, I did something that I now - don't regret but didn't remember how much work it is.
Throwing a party, that is.
Haven't done it in a long, long time. I guess you could call that shindig at Christmas a party - but it was family only.

No, long ago - like 5 or 6 years ago anyway - I used to frequently throw parties. Masses of people would show up and it would always be a great time.
So, seeing that lean ground beef is on big-time sale, I decided to do a totally crazy thing: Have a Craigslist Foreclosure Party.

I am not being foreclosed on. My payments are late, but not foreclosure late. Every month the payment will get reigned in until it's current. I haven't really talked about it because I have it under control at this point. I'm hoping to get in on this government bailout refinance bandwagon or whatever they're going to end up doing so I can bring my payment down by at least a couple hundred per month.

Anyway, the amount of email I received from that ad was incredible. One story after another after another after another from people who have lost their jobs, are losing their homes. People writing to tell me they're college graduates, have decades worth of experience in whatever field - and can't find a job. Some of them have been unemployed for almost a year - others 6 months.

You can tell they're afraid. Unemployment benefits don't last forever - even if they did, you're only getting $1,000.00 per month. That's not enough money to even pay the mortgage, much less buy food, pay for electricity, etc etc etc. It's better than nothing, sure, but - I was pretty overwhelmed by all of it. There's at least 20 people coming tomorrow - plus more people who wrote and were shocked that anyone is doing anything like this, and can they help? Darn straight - bring food, drinks whatever. One lady is bring all kinds of condiments, beans and other stuff. Another guy is supposedly bringing some chicken, another guy a case of coke, one lady actually offered $20.

Even more people wrote and thought what a cool idea - they were thinking of doing something like it themselves. I've always loved large social gatherings and I've always been good at organizing and throwing large parties - even up to a couple thousand people. Just a matter of mobilizing enough people to help get everything done.

You think I'm crazy. Maybe I am - just the lifestyle I've lived most of my adult life. Nothing fancy, either, didn't want to spend too much on it, but - hamburgers are good and it IS lean ground beef : ), homemade coleslaw, numerous bags of $1.00 chips, some dips, lots of onions, tomatoes and jalapenos for topping. I also found a HUGE picnic roast on sale at Fry's - the were dumping it at $5.00 because it's sell by date is today. I already cooked it - 8 hours worth. All the fat just fell off of it, the meat just pulled apart with forks - hence known as fork-pulled pork, dumped a bottle and a half of my favorite BBQ sauce on it - done! Oh, and HUGE bag of frozen french fries at $3.00 something. I'm counting on others to bring the rest. If they don't, it's sufficient in itself what I already have.

I think it'll be a blast. Nice way to say goodbye to a 4-day off stint. Definitely be working all 5 days this coming week. Hopefully, anyway!

Anyway, I've been cleaning, cooking, cutting, dicing, etc etc etc for hours and hours now, I'm ready to go to bed. Party to start at noon tomorrow. See what happens.

As for now - I'm going to bed. Just about everything's done that can be done in advance. A little more cleaning. I've done this before, gotta have things ready the night before and leave as little as possible for the day of the event so you don't get inundated!

G'nite, folks.
ben

Saturday

I must have reinstalled the drivers for sound in the wrong sequence - the software is there but it ain't working.
So, I will probably have to reformat the hard drive yet again and start over.
Ceptin' this time I copied and pasted the sequence into an email to myself and I can just get back online after going through - all of that - and try again. I HATE having to reinstall windows. I have it down to as fast an install time as it's going to get - but there are so many things you have to install after it's done.
Internet Explorer 7
Java
Adobe
Video Surveillance
Kodak Easyshare
Printer
Sound
Avast
On and on. It basically takes a couple of days cause I don't usually feel like sitting here doing it all at once.
Now, if I knew how to find that downloaded junk, get rid of it and try reinstalling, great!
But I don't.
The desire to have sound on the computer is enough to make me want to go through all of this yet again.
Computer geek - I am definitely NOT.
But, at least - given enough time - I find a way to make things work - usually.

Today? Another gorgeous day outside. I do not trust that the cement has set well enough yet, so I'm waiting maybe til' tomorrow to hook, stretch and secure the chain link to the posts. Just hate to go to all the work and find out the hard way that the cement has not set enough yet to be able to put that kind of stress on it : )

Ummm, what else. Mary should be getting her paycheck in the mail today. Therefore, today will be the determining factor. She's certainly anxious for the mail to come, is all I can say about that.

I don't have anything else, really. Oh, yes I do: the tree has actually put out leaves! It's the only "real" tree I have - it's in the front yard. It started "dying" not too long after I put it in. But - it was the beginning of winter and I assumed/hoped that since it's a deciduous tree, it was merely dropping it's leaves because of such.

Considering the amount of work it was to put that thing into the ground, I am very happy that it's showing definitive signs of life again. I do believe it might be starting a little too early, though - it's still getting our version of cold in the morning.

Anyway, hope you all have a great day!
ben