This writing stuff is hard. Not much going on in my life to warrant writing it down Plus the news is the same as it was yesterday. I did notice that people are not spending those stimulus checks as expected on big ticket items. Probably a hard decision, do I buy that super big LCD tv or food for the kids? Lucky we can't live on that $4.00 a gallon gas, we would really be hurting!

But from the White House we're told things are not that bad. Of course, this from a man who carries no money.

There is six inches of green grass in our back yard. The desert got rained on. We don't own a lawn mower either. Maybe we need a goat? The dogs have loved it though. My neighbor was talking about going to the pawn shop and buying a lawn mower. Wonder how many lawn mowers are pawned in the desert?

Mr. California continues to wash his driveway. Last week he broke the axle on his Jeep so he hasn't been out playing in the mud. So the driveway washing has slowed down a bit. No longer a daily event.

Saw that "look" the other day from a visitor. You know the "look". When someone finds something that they don't like but don't want to say anything look. Yes, we're all a bunch of pack rats. With the food storage taking up space and each of our collections filling in other spaces combined with the lack of closet space our house is well beyond the cluttered look. Actually, on a daily basis it looks more like a bomb went off. Yes, we do own a lot of stuff. And yes we probably won't use most of it. But what people fail to understand is how we came across the stuff. Someone living on a comfortable income when needing a do-hickey might just pop out to the local Walley World and buy one. Than one day you'll see it in their garage sale or Goodwill donation because they have not used it sense the original day they bought it. My neighbor just gave me 2 tape decks because he has no use for them and they take up space. Besides, if he needs one at some point in the future as he put it, he will uy a new one. We on the other hand, have looked high and low for the do-hickey we could afford. Than when it comes to passing it on to someone else, its hard knowing how hard it was to obtain in the first place. Than there is the "percieved value" concept. That big screen in my living room in the nice wood case cost somebody a pretty penny. Not me mind you. I paid very little for it 20 years after it was first sold. The stereo looks very impressive for the $50 I paid.

So if people would stop and think a minute perhaps "the look" would not come out so easily. Than again, I've been guilty of the same looks myself. Back during the first days of Katrina I sported "the look" every time I saw someone trudging thru the water carrying new LCD TV's on their shoulders............