Ex-bookkeeper is charged with embezzling $9.9 million from her company
Vista, Calif. - A former bookkeeper embezzled $9.9 million, forcing her company to make layoffs as she bought 400 pairs of shoes that she kept in a room-sized closet decorated with a crystal chandelier and a plasma television, authorities claim.
Annette Yeomans, 51, surrendered at the Vista jail on Friday and was booked for investigation of grand theft and embezzlement. She was being held Saturday at the San Diego County jail in lieu of $10 million bail.
It was not immediately clear whether she had an attorney.
Authorities allege that Yeomans embezzled the money from 2001 to 2007 while she was chief financial officer for Quality Woodworks, Inc., a cabinetry business in San Marcos.
She spent at least $240,000 on 400 pairs of shoes, $300,000 on designer clothing and 160 purses valued at $2,000 each, investigators allege. She also remodeled a bedroom into a closet with the chandelier and a 32-inch TV, they said.
"On a weekly basis Yeomans would spend $25,000 on her credit card and then pay off the balance the following Monday with company funds," said Sgt. Mark Varnau of the sheriff's Financial Crimes Unit.
The losses went unnoticed and the company never hired an outside auditor to check the books because she had a trusted position, Varnau said. Meanwhile, he said, the company was forced to lay off workers and restructure operations because of the losses.
An investigation began after American Express notified the company in February 2008 that one of its checks had been used to make a payment on Yeomans' account, Varnau said.
Yeomans was fired last year and agreed to turn over her assets to the company, which has recovered about $2 million from the sale of her home, some cars and other property, Varnau said.
Her husband was a cabinet installer at Quality Woodworks but was not suspected of any crime, Varnau said.
Ah, hubby had no idea? As the shopping bags and delivery trucks blocked the windows and overflowed into the driveway, the lawn, the garage and bathroom, what was hubby thinking? As it became a living nightmare of shredded tissue paper and receipts forcing him to squeeze through towers of shoe boxes falling over the microwave to nuke his nightly turkey pot pie because the missus was cleaning out the malls, what could have been running through his head?
While the years passed on and he ran rosewood through his tablesaw and blew off the sawdust mixed with sweat with his air compressor nozzle, as the missus slunk around the executive suite in Jimmy Choo slingbacks with her Kate Spade signature pushkies, wasn't hubby perhaps at times, burning with a little embarassment? Maybe confused, maybe suspicious there was a hidden sugar daddy creepin' round? Maybe all the time he watched, he was watching for the wrong thing. Maybe he satisfied himself by overvaluing the sweetness of a white collar suite. Maybe he satisfied his silent curiosity with various illegal substances and more than a few double lives, stripclubs and buddies and one night stands and adult video rentals while everyone else was settling down, having kids, having Thanksgivings and Christmases and backyard barbecues and birthday parties...
Meanwhile, this shopaholic female twist on a Bernie Madoff Ponzi had to have been under the influence of perhaps entire fistfuls of benzos, saving the Oxycontin for late nights with the 32' plasma when she'd safely be out of the crosshairs of radar guns in hidden speed traps. Maybe then she'd peel down to her Victoria's Secrets and play baby doll in Sundayschool anklets and 10" maryjane platform spikes. Well, hey, you think hubby joined in the jokes? Maybe hubby hogged the remote.
My friends, is it any wonder that the mass spiritual awakening we so desperately require in order to go straight as a global people and get it right and fix this crazy world gone mad is taking its own sweet time? I don't know ANY people like this and maybe I am naive to imagine you don't either. Let us at this minute fall on our knees and bow our heads in gratitude that somehow, by the supreme miracles of the Beloved and Wise Creator Most Divine and Loving, we are just who we are, doing the best we can, for our people and our Earth in all our dullness, in our simple ways, with kindness and consideration for all living species, every day and every night.
Mostly we can give thanks we are not, never were and never will be, them.
42 comments:
Well, they lived the good life for a while. Seeing as "hubby" seems to have been completely ignorant of the goings on of his home, I wonder what he'll do now that he doesn't have a home anymore?
Skye, I'm getting the feeling lately we're going to be hearing many more of these stories. One's in tent city, the other in prison, or both in prison or both standing in the relief lines wondering how they got there.
But here's the clincher - California has over 170,000 people in prison and is looking to set the lightweights loose asap. They have no more room and no money to support them. And something else, tent cities are becoming gated communities with strict rules and regulations. Not everyone qualifies. We are seeing the re-emergence of populations with nowhere left to go, but to wander like itinerant hobos in the woods cooking beans over a tiny fire.
I just shoved my cellphone up my ass and am holding a brass rod that I have grounded into the ohio soil in one hand, and a metal coat hanger in the other--with my tin foil hat on, I can hear god if I tilt just slightly off center with my bare ass up in the air (sorry if you had to pull your eyes out) , but he only speaks in ebonics--good thing I used to pay attention to our first black presidents speeches--thanks Bill!!
yep, god is a black rasta man and has the best weed you can imagine--he says that he kinda forgot about us--no shit-- and that basically we're too late--we're fucked--
He also plays guitar and steel drums--pretty sure you can find some of his work on itunes--
or just take your cell phone and.......
tee hee
(tried posting this at psychs but there is no anon button)
Jj
Well, Jim, its works just as well here.
My favorite Rasta once said to me in all seriousness "God washed his hands of this place a long time ago."
His little brother plays steel drum every Carnival. They call it "pan".
I can hear it now ... so melodic, like birds at your window. You ever heard Sparrow? A class unto himself.
Hello, my name is Chris, and I am a guitaraholic.....
Seriously, this is an illness - one I am all too familiar with I'm afraid.
I'm not embarrassed to say it, but there was a time when I had a "collection" of over 60 guitars in m y house. I am not a rock star. I am not a "professional" guitarist, cover-band bargigs notwithstanding.
I used to surround myself with my instruments and just sit there, hanging out with a pile of wood and wire that would seldom be used for more than a few minutes.
It is an illness. I used these things to temporarily feel good, and after several years it all turned on me.
Imagine having every color and every brush at your disposal, but no creativity to use them. Imagine having an unlimited supply of creative materials but being OWNED by the stuff and ashamed to be so "rich" and yet so devoid of any sense of connection to the expressive agency.
Am I a musician or someone who pretends to be by surrounding (literally) myself with the trappings of the craft?
I feel sorry for this woman. I feel sorry for anyone who finds their identity in their material possessions. If this woman hadn't gotten all this stuff via theft, she'd be revered in our society. In our consumerist country, she was doing exactly what she had been trained to do - buy as much stuff as possible regardless of "need".
Maybe that is why we might see all of our "things" taken away, so we can refocus on what is important.
My problem is being solved via bankruptcy rather than prison. They can come and take it all. I'm learning to live with less and less.
It feels fantastic.
I missed seeing all of your words when I was "gone". I hope you are all well.
With love,
Z
Excellent post Z, sensitive, insightful and expressive. I've missed you.
The difference between what you did and what she was doing is defined by her personal Ponzi scheme playing out while her employers' life blood swirled down the drain. In essence, she was committing economic suicide and burning everybody elses' bridges at the same time.
Nasty.
On the other hand, owning 60 guitars doesn't make someone a better musician. I am sure you can make beautiful music with one well-worn D28.
Z: if i never said it, i always enjoyed your posts--come around more often!! i understand the guitar thing--they are works of art that you can make come alive so to speak--I have 4 myself --my original fender that just sits there, a Seagull that's just beautiful and the perfect size--a taylor 214e that is a little big for me, but the sound is spectacular--and my other electric a sammic t3 that fits perfectly-got that one for a great price-for me it's how it feels to the touch--just got some new strings on 3 of them that i play and it's like learning to play a bit differently--lighter touch with the new ones--i only started playing 2 years ago and just print chords off the net--but i like it--just for me--
i was the same way with guns--just something about them--some are works of art that come alive--love target shooting too--also playing pool--you can do them all by yourself and always get better--
the only one who can make us feel guilty about something is us--whether it's an addiction or not is your call--did you learn something from it all--that's the question--
Jj
Nina, the true shame in my actions comes from not devoting my time and energy to my craft and often being dishonest with my wife about what I was doing with our money. I also spent an insane amount of time on Ebay looking for more gear to buy, leaving less time for my wife, my kids, and my responsibilities.
I'm just as guilty as she is, and am paying a price right now, but I still have the love and respect of my wife and kids. I'll make it up to them somehow.
My best sounding guitar is a '70's Yamaha student model I bought for $40 in a pawn shop. A Martin has never been in my collection, but I'd be willing to see what it had inside.
Thanks for the kind words, Nina. I missed me too, and the company of so many amazing virtual people. I just had to look away and get some work done.
Z
JJ, the answer is "yes, I hope so".
I sure would like to gather us all up somewhere some day so we can jam and share in person. You people make me feel there is hope and that I'm not totally insane. Thank you all.
Z
Z, OK, by rough calculation, 60 guitars averaging 2 grand ea. = $120,000, a far cry from 10 million bucks. You still have your family, no one was ruined, starved or orphaned, I think you're pretty normal. Call yourself a collector and a survivalist getting on with a survival program by cleaning up and moving on. No blame.
I think when we look to the Illusion for a way out, we'll never find it. You will, instead, get more glue on your portion of flypaper. Other people's opinions flagrantly cast in stone about your wrongness in normalcy amounts to absorbing truckloads of guilt for participating in a system which they mandated you adopt.
Does it make sense you are court ordered to relinquish merchandise when the president told you to shop?
Right. That's the Illusion. Its two worlds Z, on one little planet. You can see just where the illogic of that system has them now.
Did you kill people? Did you deprive hardworking men and women of their livelyhoods so they became destitute beggars and cheat suppliers and clients for your own twisted pleasure? Did you assault people in alleys and leave them for dead so you could buy something on ebay?
I don't think so. I think you are struggling in this economy like everyone else and blaming yourself because they want you to blame yourself exactly as they want to blame subprimers when the real blame is with an unworkable bubble system that could not be sustained.
Still the matter of the cup you are trying to fill with guitars--I filled mine with other stuff from time to time--i guess the secret is to throw the fuckin' cup away--who told you you had to have one anyway--THAT is the secret--or at least one of them--
Don't just tell Mrs. Z you're going to change--show her, and through showing her, you show yourself--
Instead of the cup make sure you don't pick up a bowl, or pan, or bucket--
Eckhart Tolle does good job of explaining why we do this sort of thing,and we all do, or did, or just do it to a lesser degree now--take your pick--you can't change it until you can see the how, and the why-- "The Power of NOW" is a good book to start with--
Make a promise right now to forgive yourself--accept that you did what you did and that's it--leave it behind in the dust--
Jj
Nina, JJ, all, thanks for the kind words yet again.
My anger, guilt and frustration are the result of buying into the model presented without question. I feel like a fool for participating, and am not sure how to get out completely. Bankruptcy will keep the wolves from the door, but it seems more are lining up and devising new ways to try and control how we function here. Clamping down on fruit stands and farmer's markets? Are you f'n kidding me??
I want to teach my kids how to be self-sufficient, and to value pretty much the opposite of what is presented as worthy of pursuit. I want a community, a tribe, a real-life extension of what we have here in cyberspace. It would be nice to be among people who at least have open minds, rather than be confronted by those who look only at differences to judge by. I can't measure up to insane standards, nor would I want to try anymore. I want out.
It is difficult to feel like everything you have been told is complete b.s., and I have a very low tolerance for being lied to. 2 worlds, huh. So where is the path to the "other" one? I have some ideas, I guess, but still feel stuck here.
The other thing pressing ever tighter against me is the desire to run. I don't want to run away, however - I want to run towards something.
It seems like so much to do, so much to learn, with a limited schedule and a definite expiration date.
"Please, please, remove these veils! The illusion holds no attraction for me and I see it for what it is, now guide me to what is true".
Please.
I'm rambling and will stop now. Thanks again, folks. I'm sorry if I unloaded a bit of toxic cargo in this beautiful place.
Z
Now I am Zoner rather than Chris. Not sure how or why, but this Blogger deal just switched my name. I'll still just go with "Z" when all is said and done.
And JJ, it seems I'm a tick ahead in posting, but thanks for the advice. I bought "The Power of Now" a couple years ago and have tried to get through it. Like many books of this type, it seems like I can only get into it a little before I gloss over. I'll try it again, though, as it seems to be popping up frequently in recommendations.
Z
Zorro,
My wife bought it for me and I tried reading it the first time and would have burned it if there had been matches around--just wasn't ready to click yet--picked it up a few months later and read it 4 times--
It's in the timing--
The only thing we are trying to run away from is ourselves--we are us wherever we are so who do you want that person to be--not what that person does or does not do, but who are they--it's up to you to fill in the blanks--
Take responsibility for yourself right now--accept that which you can't change as the way it is right now--it doesn't mean you agree with it but stop beating yourself up over that which you can't change--
If you're a news freak, stop reading it--just stop. Monitor what you think and when--what triggers it--what gives you that "fuck em all"--get even thing--
You have to break the shit off piece by piece and leave it where you dropped it--
I was under the lightening bolt thing for a while--you know, stick your quarter in the annointing machine and BAM life is wonderful--it doesn't work that way--it's gradual and each period lasts a while so that it makes an impression on you and means something--it's in the letting go right where you are--if you were rich and had 500 guitars or a bigger house, or whatever--you are still with you--do you want to enjoy your own company or not--
I know it's simple, and trite--but smile--every time you start going where you don't want to be --smile and hold that smile--
Your happiness is the happiness you create and allow--fuck the rest--
It's in the letting go--not sure what there is after that but the past is past, the future doesn't exist yet--all you have is right now--do you want that to be full of dread or something else--
Jj
Well, I hear that the FORD workers have just agreed to a wage freeze with a cut in some benefits--great, they can keep making cars that no one has the money to buy--how long will that last--no, don't answer
I hear Obama is going to pay people with tax dollars for building roads to nowhere for the non-existent goods that won't be shipped across them because no one has any money to buy the cheap crap anyway.
Local levy's aren't passing because no one has any money so there goes the police and fire protection--schools, the same--which may not be a bad thing--should be fun driving over, and into the potholes this spring
Crime is up, and so are gun sales--me thinks the natives are getting restless and are ready to shoot the first mother-fucker who looks like he works at a bank--politicians offices are, I assume being fortified--address unknown--
Our Congressman is spending our money and wants to hook up free wireless internet service for the poor in Appalachia--that's just too fuckin' funny when you think about it--what a fucking idiot--
There is job re-training for training for jobs that aren't there,and won't be--that huge sucking sound is all the colleges going belly up too--again, maybe not a bad thing--maybe just throw a hundred grand out the window and go apply at McDonalds--or, just hit the crackpipe and stay home watching re-runs of Happy Days--
The list continues to go on--our turn is coming up soon but I have a plan--I'm going on unemployment,medicaid, food stamps, anything I have paid into for the last 35 years---I want it---
Then I'm going to move to Appalachia, marry my 12 year old cousin and surf internet porn for the rest of my life--maybe they'll give me a FORD to live in--ya never know!!
Jj
Being very rural and in black ice territory, I ordered a two books and a bale of Timothy for the Guinea Pigs last week. Both orders arrived in 3 days flat by ground delivery. Used to take 7 - 10 days.
What, they got nothing else to do?
Guess not with missus Youman's in the clinker now. Every cloud has a silver lining.
Although, every silver lining has a cloud on the outside.
Where is Su?
If its okay with everybody, I'm going to put up my brand new piece which is another variation on a lengthy series, the Farmhouse. I'm going into the interesting details incorporated in the late 19th century before everything turned into barrel tiles and faux Mediterranean.
We all have our own ways of beating back the HARP dragons.
The last job I had a year ago was as a supervisor for a GC. They specialize in renovating office spaces in South Florida. One of the last offices I finished was for, Kaufman Rossin Co. This is basically an accounting firm, with about 250 employees. I knew they had a forensic lab, and one day I asked one of the accountants why on earth do you have a lab. He said they do a lot of detective work and have an actual lab to use in their investigations. He said, "you would not believe all the creative ways people have figured out how to embezzle money from their employers." He said they kept very busy investigating fraud of all kinds.
I pasted the item below, from their web site.
Forensic accounting services to assist businesses and financial institutions in preventing and investigating, or complying with money laundering and other regulations.
I never imagined that there was that much thievery going on.
Someone left a comment for su at her place--might be a straight forward les--got that feeling anyway--
Window of opportunity is how I feel sometimes--a bit weathered--but then that blue comes in and even though it's painted over the old, it's vibrant and alive--also, the window--hard to tell if there is glass in it or not--until you touch it--I love the "looking up" angle--I felt like an immigrant who found a place full of possible surprises that no one else had looked up at--they were too busy keeping their eyes on the sidewalk where you're supposed to walk--and look
Jj
oops, I should have said that it does not appear as a farmhouse to me--it's like one of those very few houses left in a city that someone refused to sell out to the builders-bankers and city hall--with the angle, it looks as if its on the bottom of the "V" where two roads angle and merge--maybe it's where the crazy lady of the high plains lives when she visits the city under cover of darkness--painting murals by candlelight while the city sleeps--
Jj
Su's back from the magic kingdom....
Jj
Jj: Thanks, dude, I'm wiping coffee up off my keyboard now. And the Anon issue has been duly cleared up ... sorry about that. Those damn default settings again.
Oh, and next time you're sitting in a drum circle with the almighty, could you maybe prevail upon him to get some of that fine kine bud out this way? Been dry as a Mormon housewife's you-know-what out here.
-----
I can't help but wonder how it all started for her ... with baby steps, I'm sure. Fifty bucks for dinner here, a day at the spa there, until eventually what's one more $1000 pair of shoes to distract attention from her cankles? Hubby probably never even thought to ask where the extra money came from ... and when he did, he believed whatever lie he was sold ... and as that lie became less believable he kept believing it in an act of deliberate doublethink, and the lie grew and so did his blind spot and we all know how that goes. Assuming of course he wasn't in on it from the beginning....
There's a guy down the road from here, a contractor, who my parents hired thirty years ago to build our house. By the time they noticed that he'd skimped on building materials, it was years after the fact. He'd pulled the same scam with I-don't-know-how-many others, and, saving up the materials from this job and that like a larcenous squirrel, was able to build a beautiful waterfront house. Well, his wife died several years ago when the lung cancer got to her brain, and his grand-daughter spent high school sucking cock for coke, so ... it all catches up with you, one way or another, but the hell of it is that it often catches up to you through those you love. And make no mistake, this man's care for those in his life was genuine ... he was not a psychopath, merely unprincipled, with a sense of entitlement. And I think he may even have learned the lessons he was supposed to ... but that could be just wishful thinking on my part.
Dadnerd, that is a shocker. The CSIvilization of the populations. Surely we are well past 6.6 billion. Actually, the planet could handle 20 billion IF it was managed well. But its not managed well. Its greed-driven screwballs managing piecemeal.
I could make an attendance chart to appear on each comment page. Show up and you get a green star. No show, no star. Show up and contribute, gold star. Show up and twaddle, black hole. Show up and alert, red star. Show up and bear glad tidings, silver galaxy.
Jj, silver galaxy.
Psychegram, the difference between you and me is you are more consistently interesting.
Angles of blue
offset by simple cream geometry
meeting simple orange rising
set brief window of opportunity
in a special sphere
in my visual heart.
No one wakes up in the morning and decides to be indulgent to the point of disgust.
As no one wakes in the morning and decides to rape or steal.
Evariste Ahimana as a child did not contemplate what fun it would be to kill his neigbour.
You get it Nina, there by the grace of God go I.
If my situation had been different I could have been Mariah Carey and her 1000 pairs of shoes.
Or Posh Beckham and her eternal quest for a daily tabloid appearance.
Or a Jade Goody to have her death relayed in grizzly detail.
I don't know how often I have resisted my life with its incredibly difficult financial restraints - and yet had there been more, I would have fucked up a long time ago. I am that kind of person. No virtues apart from what life creates.
Z - you were created specifically to appreciate this beautiful instrument. And you did this impeccably. You had no choice.
In my younger years, if I had the money, I would have just put it up my nose--good thing i was always hand to mouth in those days--now 3 cups of coffee gives me the jitters--hearing from younger folks that the price of coke and heroin has just kept going down and down--and we know who runs that racket--cheap addiction for a reason
Nina, On your delivery note, the trucking firms around here (10-30 trucks avg) have all been in the lots when I have driven by--nothing is moving--heard a woman at the post office yesterday talking with another woman about the last time their truck driving husbands had been on the road--it's been a while--
Just got back from buying some scope rings for a rifle at a local sporting goods store--they are out of ammo and have no reloading supplies--
Besides the clocks moving ahead around here, there have been days when it's not overcast but our vision has been fucked up--like mirages--also, healthy people including myself with hip pains--soreness--gotta be haarp or something similar--but how do the elites avoid it--
psych--i'll check on the godbud and send the mormon ladies a truckload of vibrators--batteries not included
Yours truly from the silver galaxy--
Jj
Thank you Susana.
O.K., so I hit the "reset" button and am going to try and mitigate the self-doubt and blame. It's tough to look at foreclosure and bankruptcy as positive things, but hey - I'm in a warm house with food in the pantry and my wife and kids seem to adore me. What do I have to complain about?
I just can't shake the feeling of being woken up 2 minutes before the bus arrives, and I'm still naked and groggy. I don't want to miss the bus, but maybe I need to walk this time?
It has gotten very tough to sell off my gear, so I have been looking for other ways to offload it (that which I get to keep, that is). I have given some of my stuff away to kids who are just starting out and don't have the money for a good guitar. It feels liberating to see the pile grow smaller, and the next step is to see how best to stop contributing to the machine.
Man, the hardest part of all this is looking at my kids and wondering what the best move is to protect them from the pressures that our society lays on them, pressures to consume and follow the rules. We don't do television - ever. No, you DON'T need a cell-phone. Sorry, but the used clothes from the thrift store will have to do since Aeropostle will see none of my money. It doesn't help that we live in a neighborhood with some of the wealthiest kids in the state attending the kids' school, but it gives them good examples of how the other side lives and shows them how having every material whim met doesn't always make for happy kids. It's also hard to preach the value of living simply when I can't navigate my studio space because there are still too many guitars and amps (and pedals and recording gear, etc...) in the way.
I will take to heart what you said, JJ, and SHOW my wife and kids change and lead by example.
And on it goes.
I still want out, though. I still want community and connection to the land. I have been looking at the "off the grid" lifestyle for several months now and while it seems romantically blissful on the outside, I wonder if my physical being is up to it (I have a few "issues" medically). I'm betting it would either kill me or cure me.
Rambling again - sorry. Or did I just "twaddle"?
Z
P.S. Word verification - nonnina. Heh.
Z: so much of what you tell your kids now won't settle in until they get older, or until a non-parental unit tells them, or they read it--
we home schooled our boys and they didn't know what aeropostal or hilfiger was--they still shop at the goodwill--it's cool now for them and their friends--they do have the games and some video stuff--got one of them a used laptop one year for xmas, that kind of thing--they do stupid things every so often involving the local barnie pfifes--police--but they will make it through--whatever that means--they are aware of how the gov't and world works but in a "passing" way--we never rammed it down their throats--
ask nina how it is to heat your house in winter as far as "off the grid" goes--
If the shit hits, we will do what we need to do and have prepared as much as we can without living in a cave--I like AC and heat--freezers and fridges and having a toilet that flushes--no illusions here on that part--a warmer climate year round would help as far as off the grid--most of the grid is in your mind though--I know people who have been waiting for the big one for 25 years--they are still waiting--that's no way to live--
Jj
Dadnerd, I've been thinking about what you said here and I see you really digested the post exactly as it was intended. Once we were blades of grass way off in a pasture without outside pressures and then suddenly, we are squashed dead by the rushing wheels of millions of angry, greedy, trampling slavedrivers.
Su, how did George fare over the past week? We are always thinking of him. When our Timothy bale arrived, we wished he could have been here to chomp and nest with the Guys.
My brother is a lawyer, and is the city prosecutor in an affluent suburb of Cleveland--I was joking with him one time and asked if kids soaping windows on Halloween was the major crime--he said no, domestic violence---lot's going on behind those fancy gates with the BMW's in the driveway--
I can only imagine that it's going to get worse as the economy crumbles further--
Jj
Nina.
Imagine my surprise when I logged in tonight. Got a jolt, literally pulled back viewing your latest painting, needless to say I like it.
All this talk of possessions and the attachment to them is interesting. Strangely I've never had that particular condition. In my younger healthier days, I would pack up a few possessions and give away whatever I had to friends and family. Wondered all over the good ole USA, I enjoyed doing that, for me it was a relief to get rid of it and fun to give things that others needed.
Now I'm in the same predicament. Married about 6 years ago, and actually had a child. We bought a house only because that child needed a place to grow. I cringe at the idea of owning anything, but knew it was the right move. Even took a real job to make ends meet.
When I met the young woman, she was quite a bit younger than me, I said "listen you are very lovely, but I have two big problems. First I'm not a church going guy. I'm deeply religious therefore I have rejected all religions. Second, I'm way too old to even think about having children goodbye and good luck".
And about three years later I knew I had failed on both counts when I found myself on the way to a Catholic day care, picking up my daughter. :>)
Anyway my wife slowly filled up this house with the usual stuff, and I was getting claustrophobic. And last year she had some immigration problems and we decided the best thing to do was go to Canada. So she took the kid and went north. Meantime I kept paying this insane mortgage, only because I was lazy and comfortable, and stuck with it because the value went down.
And last October I got the pink slip at work, and that was the last time I paid a mortgage payment. Now slowly but surely I'm once again giving away all the things in this house. I love doing that for some reason. Forget about Craigs list, it's more fun to give it away. I will be leaving for Canada in a few weeks, and was prepared to just leave the house. Now my son finds he needs a place to stay, so he will be living here, basically for free. And a friend called yesterday and was in trouble, and I said, don't sleep in your car, we have room here.
I bet I can drag out the foreclosure for months and months. Let them stay why not. We bought a sofa last year, my wife paid two thousand for it. Why I will never know, I can sit on the floor. So my oldest daughter needs one and will be over this weekend.
One thing I will keep, is this computer. For such a small thing it sure packs a powerful punch.
I wonder why I said wonder instead of Wander?
Hey I wasn't finished digesting the barn house thing you painted. I've had a weakness for unpainted wooden buildings all my life, think I'm gonna find the photo I took years ago. It was an unpainted bird house attached to an unpainted human house, I always like it for some reason.
Manicured gardens and freshly painted buildings...blah!
George remained with the granny and Iona.
He was fed three feasts a day.
Iona with much pride took photos of each meal as she decorated the plate with her utmost zeal. Works of art and fully rainbow food - each colour represented.
So he is doing well and has gained some weight. Something has shifted, he is strong again.
Su said "something has shifted, he is strong again"--perhaps you and George are in parallel--
dadnerd: wonderful sharing--I was a bachelor until 31 and Juli was 30--met plenty of nice girls-women along the way but the timing just wasn't right--I knew when I knew--long time between dating in high school and 30 and 31-she still has the same wonderful smile and sparkle in her eyes--she was reading a thing over at kevinjohns about the difference between men and women when taking a shower last night and was laughing so hard it was freaking out our 16 year old who was laptopping next to her--she actually had tears in her eyes and couldn't talk without laughing--she still has that sense of wonder and adventure--i actually think it's growing--what a pleasure and honor to see things through her eyes from time to time--
Jj
A long time ago came a man on a track
Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
He made a home in the wilderness
He built a cabin and a winter store
And he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travelers came riding down the track
And they never went further and they never went back
Then came the churches then came the schools
Then came the lawyers then came the rules
Then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
And the dirty old track was the telegraph road
Then came the mines - then came the ore
Then there was the hard times then there was a war
Telegraph sang a song about the world outside
Telegraph road got so deep and so wide
Like a rolling river
And my radio says tonight it�s gonna freeze
People driving home from the factories
There�s six lanes of traffic
Three lanes moving slow
I used to like to go to work but they shut it down
I�ve got a right to go to work but there�s no work here to be found
Yes and they say we�re gonna have to pay what�s owed
We�re gonna have to reap from some seed that�s been sowed
And the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles
They can always fly away from this rain and this cold
You can hear them singing out their telegraph code
All the way down the telegraph road
You know I�d sooner forget but I remember those nights
When life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder like you don�t seem to care
But believe in me baby and I�ll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
�cos I�ve run every red light on memory lane
I�ve seen desperation explode into flames
And I don�t wanna see it again
From all of these signs saying sorry but we�re closed
All the way down the telegraph road
This is "Telegraph Road" Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits--pretty sure you can find it on youtube if you don't know it--he's a masta'--how prophetic--
Jj
I know exactly what you mean, Dadnerd. When I went to Japan I gave away everything I couldn't either wear, listen to or read and it was liberating ... did exactly the same before I came back. Not that I've ever had much, certainly not a mortgage or nice furniture ... but then I've never really wanted much, either, not materially at least.
Whereabouts in Canada are you gonna be? I myself am a couple hours south of Ottawa on Hwy 15. Drop me a line when you get settled in if you're not too far away.
____
The difference between you an me, Nina, is that you've actually got talent that's been developed into a skill. Speaking of which, Arawaka is gorgeous ... it makes me think of snowfall on the great pyramids ... impossible, of course, short of an ice age ... but then Atlantis was an ice age civilization, and when the ice age returns Atlantis will rise....
psychegram:
Cool, sounds like you are near where I'm heading. I think some of us are genetically disposed to the wandering, mendicant, bowl carrying way of life. Maybe we have some nomad blood, hehe. I'll definitely send you a line when I get up there.
Jj:
Are you saying you married someone you knew from high school? Anyway sounds like an awesome relationship, few find that in this world. I know you are in Ohio. Funny I was married twice before, both from Ohio, both named Janet, both had a sister named Joan. I got in trouble once, as their birthdays were off by one day, and made the tragic mistake of getting them confused. What's that saying about no storm hath more fury that the scorn of a woman? Especially a read headed woman, hehe.
I bet most of us could write a book about our lives and it would make a great movie.
Yep, Juli and I dated in high school--we are a year apart in age but were two years apart in school--she was quite the hottie!!!
I happened to be in Ohio visiting my folks between boat deliveries and saw her at my 10 year high school reunion--we were both all a flutter when we saw each other--I told her what I was doing for a living and a few years later she got a mailing address for me from my folks--I was in mexico that winter on a boat in Cabo and this letter shows up--I knew who it was from before I even opened it--light blue envelope--she was looking to see how she could get on a boat and go to australia-she was tired of the grind--had her own house, etc-long story short, I went to atlanta where she lived--she never made it to australia and we were married 5 months later--that was 20years ago--
We were in Chicago working on a boat together--the boat from hell--we used to go to this little mexican bar-restaurant and one night there was a younger guy in there, maybe 30--we talked to him about life, marriage, etc for a few hours and then I knew--I proposed to her at 2am, drunk, in a seedy bar and she accepted--I remember her telling me the next morning I could go back on the deal due to the circumstances under which the proposal was made--I guess I didn't cuz' here we are--the guy in the bar, we never saw again and when we asked the bartender who was always there at night, he said he didn't remember us talking with anyone that night--our angel--plain and simple--
Jj
I was wondering why no one was commenting on Chiaroscuro for days, it seems my computer was defaulting to that one, instead of going to your completely new, and wonderful essay on the Ponzi's.
Maybe hubby thought his wife the accountant was making $1.2mil per annum? Hahaha! (Did you hear Madoffs judge revoked his bail in a surprise twist - seems Bernie won't be retiring to Israel, after all - hahahaha!!!!!)
Jim - "Then I'm going to move to Appalachia, marry my 12 year old cousin and surf internet porn for the rest of my life--maybe they'll give me a FORD to live in--ya never know!!" If I liked milk, it'd be streaming from my nose right now!
****************************
Most of you know my past. If you don't - childhood sucked, crackhead mom, yadayadayada. Military. Airline. Present. My current job pays a handsome ransome. My wife and I decided to buy our first home 2 years ago. We got just under 4000 sq/ft (bear with me...)Brick floors, custom woodwork throughout, 2 fireplaces, massive bathrooms/dressing rooms... (bear with me here....) Our town is 14k people. This is "the" neighborhood. Quiet. Business owners, doctors, etc. I got a retarded good deal from an older woman with an empty nest. (Bear with me here...) None of that shit played a factor in the purchase. We bought it because it had 4 bedrooms. Too many chirrens...
So, this is how incredibly awesome my wife is - the other day, while driving I had one of my cases of verbal diarhea (where all of a sudden shit just comes out) and said "we should sell the house, take the profit and buy a doublewide and some acres, where we can raise animals and food, and won't have a housenote...".
I thought, due to her lack of response for 3-4 minutes, that she was ignoring me, which she is prone to do when I say stupid things. The next words out of her mouth were solid gold... "That's a great idea, I think we should do it!" "Imagine all of the things we could do with and for the family with the extra 2 grand a month"
I can't explain how much I love this amazing woman. She has a startling beauty and wears no makeup. She does not like or want jewelry; will take a worn out t-shirt over Versace any day of the week. Her dream job is as a ranch hand (which she used to do), working cattle. So, I will be selling my house, before the market is affected, down here - and buying something with some land. I'm checking in to solar power now so their "smart grid"can kiss my ass, too! I will install a hand pump (secondary use only, as I, not-unlike-Jim appreciate AC/Heat, running water, flushing toilets,etc).
I can't explain the value of growing up with absolutely f*cking nothing. I don't need much to be happy. My wife grew up in a solid home with working folks who always had a little extra, but they raised her right. I hope I can accomplish this latest diabolical plan before the balloon goes up.
Z - very nice to see you popping up again. I wish you all the best, and look forward to seeing you more.
I'm off to the new post.
NOTA
Post a Comment