Tag Archives: Families

LITTLE REMINDERS

30 Thursday Mar 2017

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LITTLE REMINDERS

I’m driving home from a weekend in the Eastern Sierra Mountains. A place that has always brought me peace; except for recently, the peace has been replaced with the deepest sadness and despair.

Am I crying as I drive through the winding hills and valleys? I must be, although I don’t seem to notice much anymore, considering this an everyday occurrence.

Hopelessness washes over me as I fiddle with the iPod left behind, but has somehow become my security blanket into her mind.

Randomly the song changes from the Eagles to Blink 182, one of her favorite bands. It’s a song I have not heard, called Not Now. I intently listen to the lyrics… instantly mesmerized by them.

The song calls out to me…”God has a plan for you”
“I will be waiting”
“I wish I could give you one last kiss”

As the tears stream down my face, I look up to the mountains, covered with powdery, white snow and see a cross. As clear as day… a cross in the mountain formed from the melting snow.

At that moment a sense of comfort washes over me…she is always here with me and waiting for the day I will see her again.

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi
Photograph By: Ask Ms Mandi
Copyright March 30, 2017

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Excerpt from Manuscript – Snow

31 Thursday Mar 2016

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SNOW

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January set the pregnancy stick down on the white Formica counter-top. Tapping her finger, as she bit down on the tip of her it, she was lost in thought. Did she want the test to come out positive or would it be safer to have a negative result…

She knew she loved Jack with all her heart, but was he marriage material…

Unexpectedly she jumped, hearing the creak of the front door.

“Honey, are you home…”

Damn, it was Jack. Closing her eyes and reluctantly opening them again, she peeked down at the pink stick. Her heart dropped.

“I’m in here, Jack.” She called out.

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi
Copyright: March 2016

Excerpt from Manuscript: Snow

28 Sunday Feb 2016

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SNOW

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I sit in a trance like state, remembering the flashbacks from my life. Remembering how I took life for granted. Remembering how I thought I had all the time in the world. Not knowing, that I did not.

Remembering that one day…it had such a significant hold on me and a tight hold on who I become later in life.

My mother…holding the shiny, silver shears in her hand. I remember thinking, “She does not appear sane.”

“Mommy, what’s the matter…” I asked.

“You have been a very bad girl, very bad indeed. Did you not know that I would find out.. did you not…I’m speaking to you, January…”

“Mommy, I do not know what you are talking about.” I whimpered.

“But you do. Yes you do, January.”

“But Mommy, I do not.”

A fast and sharp burn spread across my face. I had been hit.

Suddenly, I blacked out; not remembering what happened next…as I sat on the cold, expensive marble floor, gathering my golden curls into a pile on the floor.

Silently, I glanced up, seeing my reflection in the bathroom mirror… “I’m hideous!” I cried.

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi
Copyright: February 28, 2016

I Married a Psycho

24 Wednesday Feb 2016

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I Married a Psycho Series

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“Bella are you packed…”

“Yes, Mama…Mama the phone is ringing.”

“Sweetie will you please grab it for me…I’m out on the porch.”

“Hello, Daddy. Why not… okay, I will go and get her.”

“Mama, it’s Daddy, he wants to talk to you.”

“Jack, when will you be home…Bella and I are ready and waiting for you. What do you mean you’re in Twin Pines…I thought you were at work and then coming home to pick us up…we are all supposed to go there together…as a mini vacation. Or did you forget!”

“Mama, don’t cry.”

“Hysterical…I’m not being hysterical. I can’t believe you went without us. How could you and what am I supposed to tell Bella, Jack!”

I looked over towards the doorway. All was silent now. My heart broke, as I watched my only daughter, as tears as big as crocodiles, spilled down her cheeks.

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi
Copyright February 2016

Keeping your Roots

17 Sunday Jan 2016

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Keeping your Roots…

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Life can derail us off our track of focus. When this happens, we must get back to our roots.

Roots can mean different things for different people. Losing one’s roots may stifle our creativity. It may suffocate our mind and spirit; drawing us into its madness.

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi
January 17, 2016

The Fight is Half the Battle

19 Tuesday May 2015

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The Fight is Half the Battle…

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Do we fight harder to keep something we love or do we fight harder to get out of something we hate?

I believe that when gifts are handed to us, it is easier to ease up on the fight until a more convenient time comes around.

However, when push comes to shove and we are fighting for our very survival and what is rightfully ours, then our instincts tend to come out with our claws…fighting harder for what we cherish closest to our hearts.

Written By:  Ask Ms Mandi

Always Remembering 911…

10 Tuesday Sep 2013

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Always Remembering 911…

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September 11, 2001.  I remember the day as if it were yesterday.  I remember walking into my house around 8:30 am, turning on the television, and watching in horror as the second airplane crashed into the Twin Towers.  The thing that struck me most odd that morning was watching the individual white sheets of paper flutter around the streets of New York, thousands and thousands of paper.  I remembered thinking who had touched them, who had just recently stored them into the filing system, who was missing them?  It was an eerie thought to wonder about these thousands of sheets of papers coming from the Twin Towers.  I do not know why this particular image has stayed in my mind for all these years, but it has.  Perhaps my mind needed to fixate onto something less horrific than watching a city fall apart to an awful bout of terrorism.  The images we endured that day will forever be stuck in our minds.

September 11th is a very special and memorable day to my family and I because we named our second daughter after a Naval Contractor who had died on September 11th in the Pentagon.  We named her Julian Cooper.  She reminds us every year on 911 of the loss, we as individuals, families, and as a nation, had to endure on that fateful day twelve years ago on September 11, 2001.

Written By:  Ask Ms Mandi

Fighting Back – Mortgage Companies vs. Homeowners

12 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by in Financial Weblinks

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Fighting Back – Mortgage Companies vs. Homeowners:

There is a new California Homeowner Bill of Rights Law that was passed in January 2013 by California Attorney General Kamala Harris:

1. Restriction on Dual Track Foreclosures:

Homeowners that are in the process of loan modifications will have the foreclosure process paused, while the banks are reviewing the loans for the modification.

2. Guaranteed Single Point of Contact

Homeowners are promised a single point of contact during the foreclosure / modifying process. I can say that this has not been our case. Each time we seem to be getting somewhere positive, they change the point of contact on us.

3. Verification of Documents

There is a $7,500 penalty assessed to the mortgage banks if loan documents are not verified. This too has not been our case. Our original loan document had no income verification and unknown assets on the balance sheet. Maybe this only applies to the new loan modifications, but I think they should go back and verify the existing loan documents as well, since this is where the problem originated.

4. Enforceablity

Borrowers will have ability to seek redress of material violations of the new foreclosure process protections. injunctive relief is available prior to foreclosure. This also includes recovery of damages available following the sale.

5. Tools to Prosecute Mortgage Fraud

This has been extended to 1-3 years. Mortgage fraud will be reported to Attorney General

6. Tenant Rights

This gives tenants 90 days before the eviction process, once foreclosure owners purchases the property. 18 billion dollars have been authorized to the top five largest banks for California borrowers.

7. Tools to Curb Blight

Foreclosure owners are ordered to pay for upkeep to foreclosed property to keep the curb appeal for other, nearby homeowners.

More information, go to the website at the State of California Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General:
https://www.oag.ca.gov/hbor

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi

WHEN A HOUSE IS MORE THAN JUST A HOUSE

24 Friday Aug 2012

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We have all wondered how much more our economy and as people can take.  The mortgage crash of 2006 has severely affected our country and other countries.  So many families have lost and are still losing their homes.  It may just be a home to some.  It may just be hard times, some may say.  However, true these statements are, the fact of it is that a house holds a lot more than merely a roof over our heads. 

A house is our home.  A home is a place where we raise our children.  A home is a place where we keep our memories.  A home is a place where we grow as a family.  A home is a place to feel safe in.  A home is a place where we gain our future.  A house is a lot more than just a dwelling.  Our home is our house.

If you are losing your home, do not give up.  Write letters to your lending company.  I do not mean one letter, but letter after letter after letter, until you are heard.  Study your mortgage documents so you understand what the legalities of your documents mean.  What kind of mortgage do you have?  Was income verified and documented?  Do you have a fixed interest rate or a variable interest rate?  Is your mortgage owned by one investor or several investors?  Find any discrepancies you can in your documents.  The Government is working to create new programs for homes in distress and the longer you can hold on to your home, means the better chances are for you to save your home from foreclosure.  Fight back and do not give up.

Written By:  Ask Ms Mandi