It was sad, because we fell out of tradition.
No Christmas tree. No presents. No music. No cards. No pretty lights. No symbolism.
I realize Christmas is imposed on other religions, and is probably unconstitutional,
but I'd be tempted to join in at the Naked Man Festival in Okayama if I had a loin cloth,
and I've definitely worn green pants, and drank green beer on St Patricks Day.
When you decide a family tradition is just another day, something happens inside.
You realize all the memories of that tradition have been degraded to normal,
and you realize you have lost a part of yourself that you really liked.
We had a mighty fine dinner that night, but we'd suffered a casualty that day.
I think we should develop a new holiday...lets call it Squirty Day
During the day, we'll carry or chew on bright colored balls,
When we here anything that sounds like a knock, we'll run around in circles and say 'bark'.

Jimmy... Last XMAS, you were with Ms Rebecky, so how could it be so bad? Right, I was there to ruin it. Bad me. Bad Dog! Bad Dog!

Happy Birthday to Rebecky. Happy Birthday to Rebecky. But you aren't old enough to be 45... Someday maybe you'll as old as Jimmy... Now, time to get those Birthday swats from Jimmy... OK Jimmy.. Get out that wooden swat paddle..

Jimmy went to FLY'S Electronics... Lucky guy... So did you also get a new pocket knife? Hee Hee....

Jimmy.. Does this mean I can now set my autodailer to call Robert's Cell Phone three times an hour for all eternity? Glad you are finally ready to get that Notary business off the ground. HOWL..... But I still think it should be called "Squirty's Notary". It'll be much better driving all around town in that Mustard Car. Is it red like in the picture? Well, I pick up the keys for the new apartment tomorrow. Have to turn in the keys on the existing one on Saturday. They are charging me $425 to fix a spot where the paint was scraped off the wall in what was your bedroom, by the bathroom door. The new apartment is on the second floor over in the building across the way, where that "Sheila" (british term for "woman") saw you playing nudy... Mr. Short is coming over Saturday morning to help me move. Between tomorrow evening and Saturday morning when the big pieces are being moved, I am making what will probably be a dozen or so trips with smaller items. SAE

I forget how much they offered those Camden Apts for.
But after they add on the application fee, and all the other stuff, what did it actually cost per month.
I know the apartments around here offer $300 move in,
but there are always those nasty little catches that get the monthly bill up for each month you stay there.
You'd think as being a 3rd time landlord, I'd already know some of those crappy little tricks.
The $300 move in apartments charged that much if you moved in by the 20th...but they'd bill you $1,000 by the 5th.

Businesses (apartment companies in particular) are full of those tiny little scams.

Labor hard Jimmy....

You got $200 cash and someone's paycheck? And if you have their paycheck, what is the story? They signed it over to you (third party)?

Even though it was a signed, Bank of America paycheck, Bank of America wouldn't take it without the signers ID.
They would take a copy of his id though. Strange procedures.
At any rate, the guy met me at Sam's Town's main cage; cashed the check, and paid me $1,000 cash.
I also took a picture of his drivers license (which I should have done when I rented the place).
The tempting thing about this whole rental affair is, the tenant prefers paying us in cash.
Its tempting to run with the cash, and not declare the income. hmm.
But we'll play it on the square. We won't be paying any taxes on the rental anyway.
Know what else feels good?
Renting the condo for $900 a month. We were being steered into renting it for $750.
Shoot, the property management people wanted us to rent it for $750, and us pay 10% for them doing it.

Its right behind Carls Jr on Trop and Mtn Vista.
Some people came by to look at the condo.
They said they were renting a 1 bedroom at Camden, and they went up to $905.
They said the 2 bedrooms were $1,150.
WOW!!!
So, I guess the Camden methods are country wide!
They said their water bill was $20 a month too, with a $15 late penalty,
and that they'd have to pay $150 for the lease renewal.