Yeah, in my city, it was a $50 permit fee and you had to have the property surveyed by a "city approved contractor", of which there was only one approved for surveying.  He charged $600. Needless to say, we still don't have a fence - but the hedges we planted instead look wonderful. ;)

Gawd, I loved it when we finally got our flat screen. Our pre-TV era home had a living room that just does not work when you have to split the focal point between the fireplace and the TV.  Being able to hang the TV over the fireplace brough the room back into focus.

We have no idea what poor looks like in this country. We really don't. Our "poor" would be solid middle class in many other countries.  There will always be "poor" people, what poor is just depends on your point of view. Here, if you don't have EVERYTHING, you are poor.  In other places in the world, if you can put ric...more

I can honestly say that I think the biggest issue Sears has is customer service.  In a world where I can buy online and return the item with no questions and no hassles, last year when I went to return a clothing item that was Christmas gift to my son (wrong size), I was told, I could not return it to THAT Sears store ...more

It is her life and her career.  I am not quite sure why so many women have a problem with it. Perhaps if we all just stopped attacking our own, we could actually make some real progress.  Here is a woman who is doing everything that we women have been told we can do and yet the story is not about that.  It is about how...more

Not to metion their parents have not given them the upbringing, morals or self-control needed to deal with the situation. Yup, they arre screwed.

I think how you treat people who loan you money makes a difference too.   For example, I have one friend I loaned money to who (as also mentioned in this article) does little things for me - like offer to drive my kids places where she might be going with her kids too or is quick to offer her car if my breaks down. ...more

Do these parents not realize from their own life that high school valedictorian has about a 2 minute lifespan of meaning past graduation. Be glad she graduated and is going to college, then move on to the real world like everyone else.

They use the "zombie" scenario to attract volunteers. The CDC has released a "zombie" survival guide because it attracted PR, but the same things you do to survive a "zombie invasion" would apply to any kind of disaster. I don't care where you live, you need to have a bug out bag in your closet (emergency supplies kit)...more