Monday, December 31, 2012

Simply Excited about the New Year! Took a road into historical concerns

     2012 brought many challenges. It was the year I buried my grief and learned not to associate the holidays with the loss of my Mother, I finally have peace. It was the year I grasped hold of my independence by taking a job in the flight industry. I decided that although we drove everywhere because my husband was taught that was the way to save with a big family. I decided I wanted to change that experience for my family. I took it for granted that I flew every summer and it was past time my children did the same. My son made a friend who was on his flight to visit his father. The young chap called my 16 year old son a rookie, he was 11 years old calling my son the rookie. It was a cute story but it expanded my sons experiences.

     I spent the year working at places I thought would be fun for my children to work. Exploring the benefits as well as the pay. After reading Harry Belafonte's books and a myriad of other great men of history such as Paul Robeson to my sons through my home school endeavors, I wanted to understand their frustrations toward the service industry. I saw first hand how slavery truly does still exist in America. How we sugar coat it by calling them contractors or temp agencies. How people are treated like third world workers right here in America. The first thing I did was ask my sister to bake them macaroni and cheese and my daughter to bake them cupcakes.

    I just felt so guilty that we take so much for granted when we are in Corporate America enjoying our weekly pot lucks or company sponsored meals. It was just sad to see how service workers are treated and not even compensated for what they are truly worth by some of the biggest names in the industry. They hide behind the name subsidiary or contractor.

    Harry Belafonte is so right when he said there is still so much work to be done. However, I also explored why 90% of the population flying is non minority. I wondered do we not want to fly or is it financial? The best kept secret was most people don't know that if you work for the industry you fly free, so do your children and your parents. Foreign minorities seem to be the exception that is up on the scoop but your average american born minority seems to be out of the loop.

     My goal is to educate in this blog but to also ask you to help a service worker by being mindful that being nasty and leaving your garbage in a seat back only costs the airline industry more money, but also keeps a service worker away from their family that much longer. I saw 60 to 80 year old women working 12- 16 hour days to keep the airline clean for you or handling your baggage. Be clean and help our service workers in anyway that you can. I have since resigned from the service industry because I am not built for it per my husband and I believe you can only be abused if you allow it. Some people don't have a choice, they don't have a degree and feel stuck because it's the only way they can visit their families. So please keep that in mind, when you decide to not take a minute of your time to be clean in travel or on the ground. Be blessed in 2013 and take care of others as you would yourselves! I enjoyed the opportunity because it was temporary and gave me free flights and something new to write about....:-) I recommend you look into who is hiring you in the industry to have a better experience than I did. Get on directly with the airline not the subsidiaries or contractors if you can.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The new "ism"

This summer I spent some time exploring the types of jobs I would want my sons to pursue and I actually applied to work where they wanted to work because I needed to see the types of environments they would be subjected to. Needless to say I was grateful I took the time to apply. I learned that our boys are facing a new ism. We had to deal with racism and sexism growing up but the new ism is "gayism." If our young men choose to take their roles as Kings they are now faced with the possibility of not being promoted because they choose not to partake in being Queens. I always thought of Charlotte as a great place to raise our children in the south, in a neutral town away from the hate that hate creates such as in the harsher portions of the south such as Georgia. However, I am learning why it's called the Queen city. I don't have a problem with people choosing their lifestyle. I just have a problem when your lifestyle is now being forced down the throat of those who choose to live a lifestyle they believe in. No ism should be forced on people to become something they are not to make others feel comfortable. If your comfortable in your life style you would not feel the need to force it on others. Isms have no place in the workforce or in America.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Memberships are the cheapest in most instances

This summer I had a lot of time to observe parental spending habits and I must say we waste so much money without realizing it. If there is anything I can emphasize it is memberships. I watched people use coupons and think they saved, saved, saved. While I just smiled because I finally get it, memberships are not just about being exclusive it's about those who have it will keep what they have. It's a way of saving money for those who have. So I just wanted to pass a message to my sisters who maybe single moms, the best way to save at most organizations is through membership. I am not endorsing any particular organization. I just want to advise you that by the time you pay for parking and you have used your $10.00 off coupon you may as well buy the membership. If you can't find yourself parting with "all that money at once" at least buy the least expensive membership and upgrade later but please stop buying one ticket at a time. It is going to cost you in the long run...as my Mom always said "the cheapest becomes the dearest":-) You get unlimited entry when you have a membership if it is $15.00 more or a little more for the membership go for it!:-) Don't buy a $55.00 ticket when the membership is $69.00 and feel you have saved. You paid $12.00 for the parking so you would have had the membership anyway......we have to change our way of thinking to truly create wealth for the future and improve our ability to enjoy this blessed life God has orchestrated.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Be an expert first and mind your business...so you can have some business of your own...

You know I woke up feeling good this morning. I thought although I said "I will not be writing any personal blogs I just have to grant this request. I felt led to share on something important I have previously written on. I am asked time and time again how our marriage has lasted 19 years. It is because we were best friends first. When people approach us we walk over to each other and we chuckle and say "See what you saved me from." I laugh because I think man you wouldn't last 1 year if you couldn't handle the last female you had.

People always want what they can not have. Or like the previous scandal I wrote on where a friend tried to approach my husband, he was very real he said "if you can't maintain your own marriage, what makes you think I am going to leave my wife of 19 years....he chuckled.... then said they better know "I am not going anywhere?" or he will say "do you know how many guys I had to beat out to win her heart?" People need to understand you may think you can fill someone's shoes but chances are you can't. We truly love each other despite our trials and tribulations. So when negative forces approach to offer advice our first question is did your marriage last? That is the first question that comes to mind and if it did, are you happy? Ultimately our goal is to be both.

Before you give advice please be wise. My mother always laughed when my in-laws gave advice because she would say. "That is dangerous", she would further say "they can't give him what you can so they better mind their business," If there was one area she left alone it was a man and his woman. She would advise us that "they will be smiling with you and you could truly mean them well but once they make up you will be the outsider." So I live by my mothers advice and I leave other people's relationships alone unless there is true danger where a friend is being physically placed in danger. My advice is to keep negative influences out of your life and focus, achieve and set goals.

For example, when I returned a neighbor advised there are too many people in your house for you to be cleaning your car. I just smiled because I know we are a team, I know that my husband just drove many hours to bring us home safely, he cleaned out the major suitcases and brought in everyone's bags last night and my boys helped more than enough. So this morning I felt compelled to do my thing on my own. Now I don't fault her, she only sees half the picture..... she didn't see what they accomplished in the midnight hour. She only saw me doing what I was doing at that moment.

 My husband often chuckles because although people see me as an at home Mom and they have to add their two cents about how I should be doing more. People who really know me, know I am always making money via sales, my contracts, my writing and my seasonal positions that afford me important time off during the school year when I am home schooling my children. People tend to see a snipit and think they know. So my husband chuckles and says if they only knew how you tend to hold down 2 jobs when they think you have none.

However, I make it pretty clear that while I do appreciate advice, I was always taught to look at the full picture. My pastor's wife once said "stop looking in other people's back yard. If you have a pinto take care of your pinto and stop worrying about the lady with the Mercedes because you don't know what she has to do to maintain that Mercedes. She speaks from wisdom because she has counseled many. She knows that women with the Mercedes in relationships may have to pay for their hotel for them to be together because he maybe still living at home with his Momma or that they maybe living together and she maybe carrying all the weight and all the bruises.  Yet your pinto takes care and gets you to your destination and blesses you with a lovely meal. I think that sums up my thoughts on relationships.

There are no perfect relationships, simply follow your heart and as Mom always said "take your eyes off of other people." Even this weekend my son had his first opportunity to contribute to the family trip. It is training time. I have to teach him that one day he will have a wife and there are certain things he should take care of. I am sure people will say this... that and the other if they see me training them. However, it is not their wives duty to train them to be men. It is our responsibility to train them now before they get in serious relationships. I don't need my sons to do certain things, but I know their wives will need them to be men at certain times in their lives. Therefore, I see it as our responsibility to teach them to take care of their families. I also teach them to mind their business, so that one day they will have business of their own.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Mecklenburg County water company has a $58.00 delinquency fee vs $5.00 for Union County

To my amazement, I recently spoke with community members about the rising cost of the water bill. I was informed by many that their bills keep rising yet there has also been an outrageous delinquency charge. When I contacted the Mecklenburg County water and sewer company I learned that it is normal for them to charge a $58.00 charge for an $85.00 bill. In fact they charge one for any amount that has a 68 day balance. Even though they recently issued a 60 day bill late to residents and some were cut off. For example, if a senior is on social security and can not pay her bill not only do they cut off the water and charge a reconnect fee but they then charge her $58.00 every 68 days on top of that. What was more interesting is when I checked with our local Union County water company, "to my not surprise" I learned the neighboring county who can afford those outlandish fees had a delinquency fee of $5.00. Makes you wonder if this is not just more hurdles and just another way of keeping people in lower social classes from being able to do better. How do you justify charging anything over 10%-20% in interest on a utility bill. The law was recently changed to protect people from those pay day loans. Yet our own city council members approved this last July. I know it is time for our water company to be held accountable and this $58.00 delinquency fee needs to be refunded to every Mecklenburg resident.

IRS and the State Revenue Department maybe running out of money

I have taken my hiatus and worked on grading the end of grade tests but it is now time to get back to writing. The IRS deal, it is apparent in the US we do not have enough money to pay people. From late federal refunds to children's savings account being taken by NC's revenue department. The state is sweeping common individual bank accounts. They have been fining people whether they owe the state or not and quite frankly the only way to fight back is to file law suits in court. It is quite disheartening to see people losing their tax returns and their earnings. Some people have provided proof to the state and the IRS has alledgedly lost the documents that were provided. Don't waste anytime with the tax payer advocates because some have been instructed to assist you with the minimum that can be corrected. If they owe you $5,000 you may get $1,000.00 it is truly sad. You are better off hiring H&R Block but once they are off season they too can be difficult to get a hold of. It would be better if the IRS simply said we don't have money to pay you rather than stringing people along and making them believe they have made some erroneous error. Most found that they were being advised they needed social security numbers on pages they did not. When checking previous returns they realized it had been done the same way for years. They are tactics to make you believe you have made an error when you have not.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

"Our" IRS is going after average citizens who have difficulty fighting back

As a US citizen I have often wondered how people like Redd Foxx etc could possibly die poor after working so hard in America. After seeing Wesley Snipes incarcerated, I wondered if there is not something we could do differently in the United States about the IRS. Afterall the IRS is given full power and control to take your money whether you truly owe them or not. They are given 10 years to collect from the average American and the average American is given 3 years to collect from them.

It is ironic that an institution such as the Internal Revenue Service given it's power and control would lack the integrity to ensure that the average citizen would receive the correct amount of money when they file their returns if all their w-2's are included. What would prevent you from making necessary adjustments in the favor of the client. Afterall, if the client err's you hit them with ridiculous penalties and even imprisonment as we see with Wesley Snipes. What can we do to ensure the safety of the average citizen? That is what we are currently investigating.

Stay tuned as we interview Americans who state they are being asked to furnish receipts they initially furnished to the IRS and 7 years later the IRS and the state revenue departments are still going after seniors, low income people and your average citizen. When they furnish an advocate the advocates are giving people the run around. If you have been forced to pay taxes you know you didn't owe or been forced to pay taxes after using AARP, or paying a CPA or someone to file on your behalf please email us and let us know at unjustirsfees@hotmail.com

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

So proud of you Taylor!

Although I am no longer blogging on a personal level. I MUST SAY CONGRATULATIONS TAYLOR ON YOUR 3.9 GPA...You go Baby Girl!!!:-)