Thump...Thump...Thump... Dang Loud Car Stereos!

I love summertime...hot weather, hanging out by the pool, backyard bbq's and spending time outdoors.

However, I don't enjoy thumping loud car stereos!

We live in a quiet area of our neighborhood, but for the past few weeks...we have had to put up with cars driving by with their stereo radios cranked up and thumping! You can hear them coming a 1/2 mile away.

When they are approaching, my windows start to vibrate...yes folks, it is indeed that loud! Earlier today, one of my precious Boyd's Bears figurines vibrated right off my knick-knack shelf and busted because of a passing car who had their car stereo blaring.

We have noticed that 80% of these people are young drivers....teenagers but there have also been adults who are GUILTY of doing this!

We have a 17 day old grand daughter who visits us often and on Friday, one of these idiot drivers with their car stereo blaring, woke her up from a sound sleep.

Why don't people have common sense? You don't drive through neighborhoods with your radio blasting! Don't get me wrong, I like to jam out to a good classic rock song myself, but I do it going down the state highway where it doesn't bother residents!

There are laws here regarding car stereos but, these folks whiz by so quickly, you can't get their license plate information.

So, my beef today deals with disrespectful people who invade my quiet space with their loud car stereos.

So...You want to pester me again today???

What is up with pesty neighbors in the Summertime? Does nice weather give you a license to bug the crap out of your neighbors? I am getting fed up with my pesty neighbors who need to get a life and leave us alone.

The Story...

A few months ago, we got new neighbors. At first they seemed really nice and down to earth. We became friends (not best friends) over the first few weeks. As time went on, we realized that they are nothing but users and pests who have nothing better to do than to run around bugging all of their fellow neighbors.

The wife who I will call 'Jane Pest' is driving me nuts! This woman will call me several times a day, beat on my door at least twice a day, send me numerous emails and text messages all over nonsense stuff!

Hey Shel...can I borrow some milk? Can you watch the kids? Got any bbq sauce? car cleaner? Can I borrow your hose? blah blah blah...I think you get the point. She wants to borrow a minimum of 2 different things almost daily. Let me add, she never returns ANYTHING she borrows.

Then when she is bored with herself, she will call, bang on my door, email and text me just to say she is bored and wants to chit chat.

I have tried tolerating her at first as they were new to the neighborhood and not from our local area. However, I am probably guessing that her old town disowned her because she is such a freaking pest!

I work from home to make a living. I have told this woman numerous times that I am working and please don't bother me between the hours of such and such time. You think she would be respectful and save her pestering nonsense for when I am not working...but nope! She does what she wants, when she wants to do it.

Yesterday happened to be the last straw for me. By lunch time, she had banged on my door 3 times, sent me 5 emails, 3 text messages and called me 3 times. She comes over banging on my door yesterday afternoon and I refused to answer it for 5 minutes. I finally just opened my upstairs window and asked her what she wanted? She wants to know why I am not answering my door? (like its any of her business), I did reply "Because I am answering my window, what do you want?" Can you believe she wanted me to babysit her 4 year old??? ugh! I finally had to tell her in a not so nice of way to bug off. Now you would think my smart ass attitude would be enough to make her just stay away...but nope! She pestered my hubby last evening and its 8:30am here this morning and I have gotten 2 new text messages and she came over to the door (which I am ignoring). So....let the pestering and ignoring games begin. I have had enough!

Do any of you have pestering neighbors? If so, how do you handle them?

I am not NUTS for Squirrels...

My peeve today deals with those furry critters we call squirrels. I used to enjoy feeding them peanuts and sitting out on our swing and watching the squirrels do their thing. ahhhh, what the hell was I thinking???

Now that Spring is here, the squirrels in our yard are really starting to drive us NUTS (pun intended).

We had a beautiful finch couple (birds) make a nest in our flower hanging basket and momma finch laid 6 eggs. As I patiently waited, they finally started to hatch 8 days later. Within 3 days, Fat Albert (name given to the nasty squirrel) climbs up the brick wall and steals 2 eggs and 1 of the baby finch's. I was hysterical and hosed him down with the garden hose. It was too late, so we lost them and he enjoyed his free meal. Albert wins round #1.

The next day he comes back thinking he is getting dessert. WRONG buddy! I go running out and spray him with the hose which in turn, pissed him off. I was trying to deal with him in a humane way. He ends up throwing a temper tantrum and comes after me. I picked up a can of ant spray and left him have it. Yeah, I win round #2.

A few hours later he comes back to attempt to get to the babies again (now there 2 babies and 1 unhatched egg). This time I have my hubby deal with him. My bee goes out with the broom thinking he would scare him away but, it made him more agressive. He finally hoses him down with the garden hose and after a few minutes, Albert takes off. I will say that round #3 is a tie. Hubby then went and found Alberts house which was a disgusting nest type of thing up in our rain spout/gutter. He destroyed it so no more condo living for Albert.

Next morning...we hear scratching noises outside our bedroom window...it was Albert, back again for round #4. He was climbing up the brick wall again so that he could get into the flower basket to get the babies. Hmmm, Not on our watch buddy! Again, we go out and do battle with Albert. He gives up and takes off. Enough of this! My hubby goes to the wildlife center and borrows a humane trap and sets it up on the ground right under our window. This is one nasty agressive squirrel who is NOT afraid of people. He was able to get the bait that was in the trap 3 times before it finally trapped him! yeah yeah yeah!!! Round #5 and we win! Hubby takes him to the wildlife center and they are releasing him near the mountain ridge. So, you are probably saying to yourself, why is she still bitching about this?

Well...6am this morning we hear scratching noises going up the brick wall, again! ugh! We go outside and what do we see? Another freaking squirrel! This one is smaller in size and immediately took off once he heard us coming.

Squirrels...take notice: You are NOT getting my baby finch's! I will protect momma, pappy and all 3 babies until they fledge (in another 10 days)...after they fledge you can have my stinky flower basket but not before then!

I am really beginning to hate squirrels!

Here is a picture of the babies that I am protecting.

Phone Company Get Your Phone Line Off My Roof!

My garage roof needs fixing. It leaks. It's been leaking for a good amount of time now. The weekend is suppose to be beautiful so it would be the perfect time to fix it, but there is a freakin' telephone line laying on top of it. (As you can see in the photo above). A telephone line I don't use. I don't have a landline phone. I wouldn't be so bitchy about this freakin' telephone line if it was suspended in the air like it's supposed to be. Really, all the company needs to do is stretch it out and tighten it.

I called my local telephone company and told them I want it to be removed pronto! Before I even got to speak with a Rep, I had to jump through mega hoops and I don't know how many times I had to push a button on the keypad to get a live person.

They offer every choice on the phone, but they never offer the choice you need and for me that would be Customer Service Non-Account holder. Once I mentioned I was not an account holder, it was like "I can't process your work order." WTH? This is your damn telephone line. I chosed not to have any telephone service with your company. I do not and will not ever have a landline phone. So come get your freakin' line or fix it so it's not laying on my garage's roof!

So the incompetent moron told me to dial this 3 digit number for technician support or whatever it he called it and I thought he was telling me to dial this number to get a different department that can help me get this work done. I pushed the 3 digit number and it sent me to my telephone provider. WTH? My VoIP service company and the landline telephone company are two different companies. They have nothing to do with the landline telephone line.

But, at least she was helpful. She processed an internal report for me. I get a strange feeling the landline company is going to ignore it.

If worse comes to worse, I will disconnect it from my house and let it hang on the street. Maybe then they will take it away.

Have You Forgotten Your First Name?

I know when I started online I was really afraid to let people know who I was. I remained anonymous for quite some time with only a few people knowing who I was at the time. You know, I didn't have a business to promote so it never occured to me to let people know my real name. I didn't feel there was a need.

Fast forward to today and I have to wonder what I was so afraid of. What can a person find out about a first name? A lot of people share my name -- so big whoopie! The funny thing is there are still some friends I've met online who still call me by a username I chose many years ago. I guess some habits are hard to break.

What really puzzles me are the people who have a business, who requires connections or clients, who are marketing online and who chooses to not reveal their name. Recently, I read on a work at home forum a woman offering her services and then signed her name with her username. EH? I mean, what's the big deal?

If you're afraid to reveal yourself online then you have no business being online. Market yourself offline if you feel safer.

Please enlighten me if you know why people don't want to tell others their first name. I'm just asking for a first name. Is that so hard?

Disrespecting Others For Their Opinions....

I was verbally attacked last night on a social media site because I didn't agree with a particular users opinion on a particular topic. This girl would NOT shut up about her point of view, for over an hour. Calling out wahm's who didn't run over to her dang blog and leave comments about the topic she blogged about.

Then after a few folks went over and left comments, she started tweeting rude comments about so and so. I finally tweeted back, that I was one of those people who disagreed with her opinion, but yet respected her opinion about the subject matter.

Well, she then got on her high horse and started name calling. She tweeted that I was being selfish and rude because I didn't agree with her opinion. WTH???

I finally got sick of it, called her out on it and proudly defended myself. I take NO verbal abuse from anyone...including online folks who hide behind their computer screens.

I told her repeatedly...it boils down to respect. We all need to respect one another's opinions. However, she felt that if people didn't agree with her opinion, we were all selfish and childish.

boohooo bah humbug!

No one will ever bully me into their way of thinking, EVER.

Now you all might be wondering what this blog post was about that she was so happy to tweet about. Topic was: Universal Healthcare

Now, I personally don't believe that is the way to go in this country. However, I respect those who believe it's the way the country should go.

My main beef was: This woman felt that 'I' should have to pay for the healthcare of poor people. Don't get me wrong, everyone deserves good healthcare, but frankly, it's not my job to pay for someone else. My taxes and bills are high enough, I don't need more finacial burdens.

Then this person starts with "What would you do if you ever got sick?" Okay, you really don't want to go there with me since I have been chronically ill all my freaking life and have had 48 surgeries and counting. My medical bills are astronomical but you know what? We make payment arrangements! We don't ask other tax payers to pay our medical bills and give us a free ride!

Anyway, that is my opinion, which really isn't the issue here.

The issue is....You should never 'brow beat' someone else online just because their opinion is different than your own. What ever happened to all of us acting like adults? Respecting one another as women and for who we are? RESPECT, RESPECT, RESPECT!

Okay, getting off my soap box now.

~Shelly~

Ring...Ring... Prank Phone Calls!

I have been doing business online since 1999 and I must say, it amazes me how childish some adults can be when it comes to making prank phone calls.

No, I am not talking about prank phone calls that teenagers make! I am talking about female adults who feel the need to make prank phone calls because they are jealous of you and your networking abilities online.

Back in 2004 I started a very popular online Business Women Networking group over on Ryze (a business networking social site). Shortly thereafter, the prank phone calls started rolling in. For awhile, I couldn't figure out how these 3 or 4 women were getting my phone number and then I realized that they were getting it from my business website.

I continued to keep my phone number on my website as a lot of my customers call me or potential new consultants call me about my business and/or business opportunity. I finally had to give in and remove my telephone number from my website 6 weeks ago as the calls kept happening.

Why? These immature ladies have nothing better to do with their time. If they would spend their time working and promoting their businesses instead of calling and harrassing other successful work at home moms, they too, might become successful. Instead, they choose to ruin their reputations by playing immature phone games.

As work at home women (and women in general) we need to lead by example in both our professional and personal lives. These few rotten eggs are not setting a good example for anyone, including their own families. I sure hope their children are not seeing their own bad behavior and learning from it.

A few days ago, I made a comment on a forum board to my one friend named Tara, who had just recently updated her profile picture. My comment was innocent and just basically said that I thought she was hot and pretty. This comment was made just for fun and I have known Tara for years and we are indeed good friends.

Sadly, a immature work at home mom who is obviously jealous of our friendship, felt the need to call my home using a restricted and blocked phone number to PRANK CALL ME about that specific comment that I made to Tara. This Prankster stated that they thought it was hilarious that I am now trolling work at home forum boards looking for girlfriends and then hung up before I could tell them off.

Frankly, it is not me who is hilarious. What is hilarious is that there are cowards and lurkers online who have nothing better to do with their time than to spy on others who they are jealous of their success.

Prank Phone Calls are immature and should NOT be done by adults (they shouldn't be done by teenagers either, but its more acceptable when teens prank call others just for fun).

So my Pet Peeve Post today deals with catty, immature and jealous women who all need to grow up and do more productive things with their time.