Justa Retirement story.

I think he's counting the number of friends he has now. I know I'm not exactly on the leading edge of this story, but it's the tail end I'm really thinking about.

Courtesy of Moolanomy.com

He has some major decisions

to make now doesn't he? I don't think Elliot has to worry about money right now. He has to make sure his supply of Soap on a rope is full, if you know what I mean? As that great Philosopher Earl Pitts says "Wake up America". I don't know where you are in life right now. But the time to think about retirement is yesterday!! (That was a wake up call to myself) I'm 54 going on 70. (Not really except for my leg I'm feeling pretty good) I don't have a little nest egg waiting for me or even building up as we speak.

Be patient I'll get to the point here I hope. I was talking to my Mortgage lady Tracy check out her website here the other day. It appears that because of my current state of affairs.My leg situation.That I am Persona Non Grata as it relates to the meager contribution I make to the family financial coffers. In English, It don't count. That's right, the whopping $400.00 per week that Workmen's comp pay's me to hurry up and wait, Will not for all intents and purposes count a whole lot in the final determination of our ability and willingness to pay our Mortgage.

That being said. $400.00 is not chump change (after all it keeps me supplied in bon bon's and tissue when I sit around watching soaps). Because the powers that be, the Grand Marshals of finance, in other words the Banks, can't use my income as a guide for ability to pay because there is no guarantee of that said income. Whew!! Now back to Elliot, A week ago he had a reasonable "guarantee" of a check every so often from us fine folks in Ny.That "guarantee" is now gone. Don't cry to much for him, I believe he'll scrape buy.(Money wise anyway)

So in a very around about way. What I'm saying is as some of you already know and many are finding out. DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED. Because we never know what is going to happen do we? Save when times are good, so that when things come crashing down around you your prepared. Wow, look at the stat counter in the upper right. Some one from Bulgaria happened across the blog. Welcome.Thanks for stopping by. I justa put the new stat counter in yesterday. The other stat counter is still on the bottom right. It's pretty neat to see the number's rise. Thanks to everyone for stopping by and reading. I'm Justa saying!

43 Things Tags: Elliot Spitzer,Money,planning ahead

Justa one reason I'm glad I'm off the road.

Photo courtesy of Diane over at Heads Carolina/Tails California.

This is one of many reasons I'm glad I'm off the road.(See picture) The main and most compelling reason is because Cindy couldn't come with me for various reasons over the years. She had to be home for Jeff & Adrianne(when she visited) while they were going thru the school years. When It became a possibility that she could go after the kids grew up,she didn't want to because of career situations. I really can't blame her. Let's see go live in a little box traveling down the road hurrying to the next appointment so you could hurry up and wait. So that while you were waiting you could go inside and use a usually dirty bathroom,if they had one at all. Or could it be the same truck stop food in anywhere U.S.A.

Or maybe was it because her husband said "Sorry dear no time to stop for a shower today". I think once we were out I had to say that two days in a row. Try that out for size. I have no Idea how Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett did it back in the day. Did they have time to dip into the river or was there one more bear to hunt before their bath. It's kind of bad when you have to decide between a Shower or a meal or a nap. Hmmm. A nap usually won for me. (Just open the window up,and grab another bag of chips.) I could go on, I don't want to beat up the career I had for 28 years. There were good times too. I think, well maybe, but, yeah I remember one, no wait, it was... oh never mind.

I 'm envious of Craig & Diane's chance to take the journey they are on together. It's much more fun as a couple then it is a Single. Especially if the whole time you are out there all you can think about is getting home. All that being said to get an excellent take on being on the road and with the insertion of some awesome pictures. Go to their website by clicking on the link by the picture. Oh yea another thing, there were some fun times out there. The interaction with drivers that became friends, the awesome views, the spine tingling downslopes on some cowpath they called road, just the pure pleasure of operating a 70 ft long vehicle weighing 80,000 lbs safely with no accidents for 25+ years. Many more that I might be able to extract from the cave of my brain. I'll let stories trickle out over time. Stay tuned. I'm Justa saying! To leave a comment click just to the right of the time stamp ie, 0 comments.

43 Things Tags: Truckdriving,Great carreer?,seeing the country

Justa Perfect day!

“If There Were NO Limitations or Consequences, what would your perfect average day look like?” by Frank Kern

Where Would You Live? What Would You Do? Who Would You Know? What Time Would You Wake Up? What Would The First Thing You Say Be? What Would You Have For Breakfast? Who Would You Eat With? What Would Your Friends Be Like? What Would You Be Thinking About? What Would Your Business Be? What Would You Do at Work? What Are Your Clients Like? What Is Your Personal Relationships Like? What Fun Stuff Do You Do?

I'm going to link to the page this article is on a little further down in this post. First though, lets ponder these questions. What if we could have a life with the answer's that we put in? We'll skip around, If you didn't have to go to work. What would you do? I'm there now, and I'll tell you it's not easy to answer. As my leg has gotten better and I'm more mobile my freedom of getting out and about has increased, but now what?

What time would you Wake up? Just think of this. If the Alarm clock wasn't controlling what time you got up... For me it doesn't control what time I get up. It control's Momma's life though. She sets it to go off so she can sit up, reach across and reset if for the "extra" 15 minutes and flop back down again. I've never understood this. Can someone explain it to me? Why not just get up and "Seize the Day"? If I'm lucky enough to sleep until the alarm goes off. (Usually I wake up well before) I get up and get moving. Granted I'm groggy for a few minutes until my body figures out that yes my Brain is engaged lets move it. This puts me into my "Job" mode. Everything I do is to make Momma's job easier to get ready for work. I feed the Pets, make the coffee, If it snowed I'll go out and clean the stairs and sidewalk to the car, clear the car of snow and warm it up. I need to point out here. When Cindy wakes up her whole thing is, along with her own requirements for getting ready for work, making me a lunch even though I'm home and could do so myself. Am I spoiled or what? "Damn Mark," you say. "You sure are a windy fellow!"

I know I'm sorry. last question, I promise. What would your business be? I think I've found it. I want to do some writing like this on line. Will I ever make money with it? maybe. Do I like it? Most definitely. I like engaging in conversation with people. I like to learn what others do to save money, make money, spend money,also saving time, saving energy,heck yea even saving the planet. I mean we have to live on it you know. You've all surely heard the saying "get in on the ground floor" well folks today it's the ground floor. We're on it, go out and live. I'm justa saying! Oops, I said I'd link to the site here it is. Thanks for reading.

43 Things Tags: seize the day,family,having fun

Not justa nother bagel shop

I stopped at Bagelicious  at Bayberry Plaza in Liverpool, Ny yesterday. I was a good boy I only bought a coffee. I hadn't been in to Bagelicious in a long time. After I got my coffee, Rich the owner and I got to talking ,and he told me that he had sold the place back in October of last year. (I hadn't known that, I guess it was a while since I had been there.)He said he was holding the note for the guy trying to buy it from him. The guy ran it into the ground and had Rich not jumped back in around December, there would have been nothing to rescue. This is a shame. Rich had built up one heck of a business and was the place to come to. Him and his wife Peg and various other family members made you feel like family when you came in. Heck, I was in the hospital for Colon surgery a few years back and Rich & Peg sent flowers up to my room. When Cindy had surgery, they sent her a plant. Let's see Bruegers Bagels or Star bucks do that.

I remember  going in on a Saturday or a Sunday after Church, getting a Cheese and Broccoli Omelette and Italian toast. He cooks all the meals in frying pans on 2 burner units. Cindy loves his pancakes. His bagels are the softest bagels I think I ever had. He has a good variety of cream cheese flavors. He has soups, sandwiches, and all sorts of neat items .

If you are having company over, or a gathering of people at a function, you can give him a call. He will make up a fresh bagel platter for a reasonable price. If it is in the morning, the bagels are still warm when you get to your destination.

Rich is one of the most down to earth, friendliest people we know. He is a people person, he will remember your name. He runs a professional business, a family environment and always makes you feel special. If you're out for a ride on a Saturday or Sunday and find yourself in Bayberry give yourself a treat and stop in. Tell Rich that Mark & Cindy sent ya. He might just charge you an extra $0.25. :)

Some very interesting and informative blogs

Picture courtesy of Google images.

Below are some of the most interesting and or informative blogs and information sources I have come across in my meanderings through the Internet. I've tried to put them in categories and some kind of useful order. If you can think of any others please let us know in an email at Mkrusen@twcny.rr.com or by way of a comment at the end of a post you may be reading. This week I'll be adding Personal Finance. These blogs are a wealth of information and I hope you enjoy the information as much as I have.

Personal Finance and

being Frugal:

1. GetRichslowly
2. Fivecentnickel
3. Thesimpledollar
4. Mytwodollars
5. Dollarstretcher
6. Bloggingawaydebt
7. Mightybargainhunter

I took My 6th favorite sister in Law Melanie to task yesterday in the post. She wrote back to me in another email , To read the information she sent me, go back up and click on The title for this post. It will take you to the website. Very interesting, as much as I dislike doing this I might have to admit that I may have over simplified my position and that Melanie may be right also. I should have written this in red, right Melanie? That being said, we still can't begrudge a business making money. The free market system is what feeds our economy.

43 Things Tags: having fun,saving money,wasting money

Justa giving credit, where credit is due!

photo courtesy of google images. I (me) am the one on the left.

I'd like to thank my 8th favorite sister in law.No maybe it's 7th favorite.(I mean really what would the other 7 think if I didn't pick them my favorite) In other words, they are all my favorite even Melanie. That out of the way. I want to thank Melanie for giving me the idea for my post today. She had an idea via of email for lowering our gas prices at the pump. I'm not going to print it,it's to long to post and I'll paraphrase it by basically just saying, that she(and others, want us to boycott Exxon/Mobil).I will post my response to it:

Melanie, I usually don't forward,forwarded mail. You've got me thinking on this one. I'm not saying I'm going to send it. But I'm contemplating it. It has potential to upset Exxon/Mobil very much.That being said. It isn't going to lower the prices for the oil though. You see Mrs. G. As I was trying to explain to you at our breakfast... The supplier of the oil (NOT US) can set what ever price they(Iran, Irag, Saudi Arabia, etc) want to for their oil. How is that you ask??? (I heard you ask, really I did) Supply and Demand. In other words they have the supply. The rest of us.United States, Russia, China, India, etc, etc, etc.have the demand.I know your favorite thing to do is to blame George Bush.(Poor George). George or President Bush if you prefer. Doesn't even buy his own gas. We, You and I, buy his gas for him. That is one of the perks of the job. Amongst many. That being said, and in the interest of brevity. To make a long story short.In other words. The oil barons of the World(not Georgieee) remember the suppliers now, can charge what they want for (THEIR) oil. Because we(everyone) need it.What's next Melanie. A forwarded letter to boycott Burger King, because they dared raise the price of a cheeseburger????? Where ever would Daniel go to redeem her "Burger King" gift certificate. I'm justa saying! Don't get mad Melanie. Get even, it's much more fun. If you would like to continue this discussion. You know where we live. Stop by, Your sister and I would love the company. Dinner's on us. (Tongue firmly implanted in cheek)

XOXO your 8th favorite brother in law

Mark

Thank you Melanie for the material for my post today. You keep providing me material, I may move you up to 6th. I would like to thank The Lime Green Drama Queen for commenting on a post the other day.

This all being said and more important for me and I also I think for you. Would be to click over to the wordpress.com Justakrusen and read my most favorite wife's(so far anyway) post. I love her and I don't deserve her. (Thanks again Walt) You can click over there by clicking on the other Justakrusen websites on the right side of this post. Thanks everyone.

43 Things Tags: High gas prices,driving,family,havingfun,saving money

Justa bookmark

  I bet I have at least 150 book marked sites. How many do you have? It seems that every time I go online and come across a Website or Blog I find something in it I liked and have to save it. I guess this isn't so bad,as it's not stacking up beside my recliner like magazines would be if I had subscriptions to them. It is cluttering up my mind though. I click on "Bookmark this page" and poof something else saved that I probably won't ever go back to. This is why that sometime in this coming week I'm going to start going through my bookmarks and start cleaning them out. I'll let you know later how I'm doing. I've already started getting my sidebar links organized into groups. I'm working in the background and when I'm ready to Publish them in an organized manner I'll bring attention to that in an up coming post. Let me know if there is a subject that you would like indexed. Some of the links that I am either working on or intend to work on are. Personal Finance (I have 10 of the best ones  I've found on the web so far),Sports,Local Syracuse Info,News(local and National links), Weather(local  and National),some of our favorite Restaurants and things like that.If you have something you have found that might benefit the rest of us, just let us know in the comments or Email me at Mkrusen@twcny.rr.com.   

On May 17, 2008 is the "Race for Cure" at the New York State Fairgrounds.Cindy works with someone that is facing this battle and goes out for Surgery on March 12th. Everyone in Cindy's work area are wearing the pink ribbons. So on Tues (and I believe this works) put a thought out into the universe for one of Cindy's co-workers  and her family.Not a lot of humor in today's post. Cancer's not a laughing manner and some days you Just have to step aside (scandalous) and take a ride on the serious side. I'm Justa saying!