Sis had to come out of retirement and go back to work just to bring in some money and pay the basics, like food and the utilities. But the rest of the bills are getting harder and harder to put off. I’ve helped her out a little here and there, but they are going to need a lot more help than what I can give.

She finally started looking into debt consolidation and counseling, and I’m sure the possibility of filinf for bankruptcy is in the back of her mind, too. There’s a wide difference in the types of debt relief services and I want her to make informed decisions about this important financial matters. It’s bad enough that we are in a tough economy, but with her husband hurt and her two sons in college, she has a lot of worries.

What she might do is refinance her house and use the equity in it to consolidate debt and come up with a schedule to pay off the important bills. But there’s a chance that the real estate market being in the tank will limit how much she can borrow against the house. So she’s busy talking with a real estate attorney and her bank this week.

Cross your fingers that this will all work out for her and her family. Obviously this car wreck has done more than just wreck their car and hurt her husband. It’s wrecking their credit, too. I’m sure the credit will work itself out with some help from the right people. I hope her husband gets healed up and can go back to a normal life sometime this year, too.

But I do like reading the ads in this magazine. You can learn a lot about a variety of things in today’s pop culture by reading the ads. Especially if you have an interest in liquor and electronics. You’ll read about things you aren’t exposed to in any other popular medium. That’s the downside of targeting ads to narrow demographics. The slick marketing pros in NYC and LA don’t always get it right.

I want to give them a chance to learn downhill skiing as well as snowboarding and have fun with some other winter activities, like sleigh rides and ice skating. We don’t get enough snow here in the South to even go sledding. So going someplace that is completely family friendly with a variety of winter activities for all ages is vital to our skiing holidays.

If we want to stay in the United States, I think that Killington is the most family friendly area and I’ve been reading the internet for more information on skiing in Vermont. But I have several friends who swear that we are better off going further north, into Canada and the Directline-skiing.co.uk/Whistler website seems to back them up. If we decide to go on up into Canada, we’ll definitely go to Whistler. From reading the website, Whistler is not only one of the top ski destinations in the world, it is especially great for families and beginners. There are adventure ski camps for all the different age groups, and the beginner trails take them through enchanted forests, past magic castles and there are even lifts dedicated to just kids. This is exactly what I have in mind and there are packages for every budget. This website is great for putting it all together and giving you all the details so you can plan the entire trip with just a few clicks of the mouse.

If we all have as much fun on their first learning to ski holiday, we can plan on a nice winter getaway next year, too. I’ve been wanting to ski France and Italy, and I’d love to bring the kids to Europe while they are young and appreciate being with their family. I’m afraid that once they turn into teenagers, the idea of a family vacation will not be met with as much enthusiasm. I intend to pamper and enjoy the kids as much I can while they are young and fun to be around. I hope that being a teenager doesn’t change that, but I’m preparing myself mentally for that, just in case.

On a good note, Southwest is the only airline this year that is still operating in the black. All the others are in the red. That says a lot for Southwest’s excellent management practices and their customer service. They’ve always been good to me and I can’t say that for the other airlines, especially with some of the horrendous experiences I’ve had with American and Northwest. So I’m glad to see the good guys are still winning.

When I fly, I always check Southwest for an available flight first and it has to be an extreme situation for me to fly on a different airline. There are only a few cities that Southwest does not service from here, and most of the time I don’t have to go there, thank goodness. I love their website - its so easy to make reservations and check in online - I can’t believe we used have to make long phones calls and stand in line for everything that now just takes a few clicks.

Part of my strategy for buying the new house depends on the work I’ve been doing on my credit report. I met with a loan officer and talked about what I need to do to have a good rating and we made a plan that I’ve been working on all summer. According to the loan officer, I need 5 open lines of credit and all of them need to be paid down to less than half of the credit limit or loan amounts.

For that to work, I need two more credit cards and I’m applying for them now. I found a web site called Smart Credit Choices that has information on all the major credit cards and I can sort through the different options, like 0 balance transfers to find the cards with terms that I need.

One of the attractive offers is for a0 APR balance transfer. I’ve seen commercials for those and they promise 0% APR for up to one year. However, after reading the information on this site, I find out that most of them offer the 0% for only 3 months, or possibly 6 months. That is still technically “up to” one year but it’s not the full one year that most people would expect from hearing that commercial.

But I did find a Discover Card that offers no fee balance transfers and 0% interest for one full year. This card also offers cash back on purchases. That’s the one I’m going after and there was a link right there on the Smart Choices website that takes me tot he Discover Card site to put in my application online.

My neighbor across the street says that his trash can that was put out for pick up was knocked over and the trash strewn across his yard a couple of weeks ago. He thought at the time it might have been animals that did it, but it could have been kids trying to pull a prank.

My next door neighbor says that her boyfriend’s car was left parked on the street one night and that the next morning it had been broken into and all the personal items gone through, although nothing seemed to be taken. We doubt that the CD’s with titles like “Country Hits of the 80’s” and “Best of Travis Tritt” had any value for the punks down in the ghetto.

All three of us suspect the new renters down the street or their friends. I’m going to have a little talk with the owners of the two houses down the street and suggest that they run background checks on the tenants who are renting their houses.

It is easy to order criminal background checks over the internet and they don’t cost very much money. I think it is within a landlord’s right to run credit checks and criminal checks on people with whom they are going to be trusting their houses and income. It’s for their own protection as well as peace of mind.

that was really annoying and if I catch the punks there will be drama. As it was, nothing was broken - except their eggs - and no real damage done. I took my dog to the vet and once we were finished there I drove through an automatic car wash and got the egg off of my car. At least this was the old beater car and not my nice truck. And like I said, there was no damage. But it is disturbing that this neighborhood is experiencing even these minor acts of vandalism. We have enjoyed a nice, quiet, respectful neighborhood until recently when a few houses down the other end of the street have been rented out to tenants with kids. If it wasn’t those kids I suspect it was some of their friends. If it happens again I’m calling the police and setting up a trap for the punks. As long as they keep getting away with it they have no reason to stop.

All of this interview and hiring aggravating might pay off, though. I found a website that is hosted by a human resources consulting company and they are asking people to take an online survey. Anyone who interviews people or has been interviewed for a job over the past 12 months can take this survey. Anyone who completes the survey is automatically entered into a drawing to win an iPod. Winning that would be sweet!

Click here to take the survey if you’ve interviewed this past year and want a chance to win an iPod.

The closest full service grocery store is a Food Lion. This store is good for basics and a quick trip when I run out of something mid-preparation. They have a limited selection of produce and all I usually buy there is maybe bananas, onions or potatoes. Their meat section is not much variety and too high prices, so unless it is on sale I might pick up a pound of hamburger meat or a ham steak. Their freezer and cooler sections are good and when they put things on sale I stock up.

But today I’m heading out for a long day down in the “Land of Excess.” Their grocery store is a marvelous wonderland of all kinds of treasures shipped here from all over the world. If they have some good prices on meats and vegetables, I’m prepared to take advantage because I’m taking my cooler in the back of the truck to keep them cold while I finish my errands down there. The temps will be in the 90’s today, so leaving groceries in the truck without benefit of a cooler is not practical. But I’m prepared - let the adventure begin!