Down On Our Luck

I’m getting close to the end of completing goal number one of my weekend projects and this has gone surprisingly fast. I found a ton of expired coupons, upcoming release paperwork and in stock printouts from 2007. Obviously, the coupons and the in stock printout from my distributor have gone in the recycle bin. I’ll be making a folder for current fliers and sales items from each distributor so I know where to find these items when I need them. That was a majority of the clutter that you saw in the picture yesterday.

Once I hit rock bottom in the mess I found a winning lottery ticket worth $2 (I know) and $1.20 which immediately into the change jar that Q has started.

I still have a Kleenex box full of personal receipts to file away somewhere, but I think I’ll just put these downstairs by the business receipts in case something is in there that shouldn’t be; I don’t want to be caught off-guard. Once this is done I should be ready to dust and get down to business with an uncluttered desk. Then I’ll be ready to get running with my next project of the weekend; going through the feeds which I subscribe to.

We bet you thought this blog was dead, I was just on vacation with no access to a computer. I know this isn’t a real post, but I thought I’d write about the fact that I signed up on the Million Blog List while I was thinking of a better post to write. That’s it, that’s all I have for now; I’m numbers 528 and 529.

Are you a gambler looking to get some things off of your chest or do you have a loved one with a gambling problem? If so, we’d love to hear from you. Drop me an email at BKayCarter @ gmail.com.

Writing about your problems is a good way to really dig deep inside and figure things out. We want to help as many people as we can.

What a crappy week.

This whole month I have had just way too much going on. It’s year end at my day job, I’ve been trying to post every other day here (I know, it didn’t happen this week), as the pet pics come in I’ve been updating them, I’ve had to relist a bunch of stuff on eBay, ship orders out, and… you get the picture. The whole world came crashing down in my head this week when I got the sinus infection from hell. These things have a way of sneaking up on me; one hour I’m fine and the next minute my head is about to explode and if I sit upright I may hurl.

Sinus infections are my body’s way of telling me to slow down and this time I tried not to listen because I had so much to get done at work. At 1:00 on Wednesday I just had to call it quits and go home as I was getting to the hurling point of the infection. On Thursday I realized that I had no choice but to just stay home and lay on the couch all day, otherwise, this headache was just going to rear its ugly head again. This is a very rare occurrence, I’ve called in sick like 4 times in the last 5 years. I wish my body would come up with a more subtle way of telling me to take a break, but I probably wouldn’t listen anyways.

This doesn’t happen to me very often, so this huge gap in posting should only happen about once every 1.5 to 2 years. Of course, some visitors may have enjoyed the break

Anyways, I’m looking forward to April 1st, when work will be back to some semblance of normalcy.

I have had a little bit of writer’s block the last couple of days which explains my lack of posting. I really need to get a voice recorder to keep in my car and record all of the ideas that I get while I’m driving too and from work as it’s a little difficult to write things down when driving.

This 13 year old is definitely on the right track when it comes to thinking outside of the box. When you think about it, we are taught from Kindergarten on that the way to being successful is to get a good paying job and save. Then at age 65 you can retire and enjoy life. Who really wants to wait until they are 65 to be able to enjoy life? The middle class/poor way of thinking is part of the mindset that could lead to problem gambling. The people that get into trouble take the rent money to the casino thinking that they can double their money; when they lose it all they end up either borrowing to pay the rent or borrowing money to gamble in order to get the rent money back. It’s a vicious cycle that can end up consuming a person’s life.

Instead of gambling, what can a person do to make their financial position better? That is totally up to the problem gambler. They can keep spending the rent money and land up on the street or they can turn into the next self made millionaire; it all depends on their mindset and what they really want for themselves. Are they willing to work to make themselves better or does the problem gambler want it handed to him/her on a silver platter? I hope they realize before they are on the streets that what they are doing isn’t working and seek another way of making money that is successful.

Q is funny when it comes to this way of thinking. In the past, he has went to the casino and blown a week’s worth of pay trying to “hit the big jackpot”, but when he has a business idea he thinks throwing $50 at a craft fair entrance fee to see if something he made is successful is totally out of the question. What is wrong with this picture? If you find that this a portrait of you, please find a way to change your train of thought before it’s too late.

Let me know what you think.

I found a Guide to Beating Addiction over at ExperienceNewThings.com the other day and found that he has some extremely helpful tips to getting over any addiction.

The one thing that the blog post stated which I have been driving home to Q is to find something to replace the gambling. Scrap recycling is Q’s new addiction. On a good night, he can bring in a decent amount after paying for his gas and the rental shed that he keeps with his buddy. Q has also started selling on eBay as part of this, but he really hasn’t taken to that as well as I had hoped. He does go through his phases.

Are you or a loved one going through a recovery period? Feel free to share the “new” addiction that has replaced the unproductive one.