March 24th - 26th 2009

March 24th PAYDAY! (or so I thought). Since my account said I had been paid on "Pay Day", I went to buy those things we have been needing, but didn't have the money for. I also paid several bills I have been holding off on.

This week is the opposite of last week with highs in the low 30's and lows around 10 degrees, with snow daily from Monday thru Wednesday, which melts in the afternoon.

When I got home I checked out my bank statement and found out that "Wells Fargo" makes extra money by giving your deposit a "PENDING" status. This means that WF did get your money from your employer, your money is right there when you check your balance, but it takes a day or two for that money to perhaps: take a shower, get a nights rest, maybe go out for a couple drinks and see a show. After breakfast, your money tells the receptionist to hold all calls and requests because it is "PENDING" for the next day and a half, and that if anyone attempts to get money, to send the sorry bastard a $35 fee for just for asking. My money was on "pending" status for well of a full day before I could use it without being charged. Their "Pending" times are sure getting longer. I just assumed that since the money was in their bank, I should be able to use it. Bad idea for yours truly folks!

Turns out that I tryed to use MY money, which was loafing about in MY bank, and got charged several fees which amounted to $170!!! This my friends, is why Wells Fargo is doing well. They steal from average income and low income people. It's the seeing all that money posted into your account, but getting a hot check fee for trying to use it, that gets me. Why post that the money is in your account before you can use it in the first place?. Other banks I've used would actually put checks on hold, if they arrived one day before you were to get paid. WF does the opposite and worse by dragging out this "Pending" process longer and longer each pay day, and using your own money as BAIT in order to get fees. People warned me about this before I even got the account.

This makes Wells Fargo even worse than Walmart. Walmart makes mistakes which cost you money and aggravation. Wells Fargo, merely steals from the poor, under the guise of fine print on a contract, baits you with a high balance, then rips you off by claiming your money isn't quite ready ("pending") to be used, and fining you $35 each time you try to use your money that is sitting in their frickin' bank! ARRRGGHHHHH...

March 25th, my paycheck was still "Pending" but I had to do some laundry, so I broke out the change jar and found enough quarters to do two loads of mine and Logans laundry. As I mentioned before; I love doing laundry with my son. I will not buy a washer and dryer while he lives in my house. The weather was quite strange. When we left the house it was 35 degrees outside and snowing freely, but the snow would melt as soon as it hit the ground. We went to the laundromat, put our meager two loads in the washer, then drove to McDonalds after scraping up the 2 dollars for 2 double cheese burgers. The McDonalds employee had a look of pity on his face, while sadly watching me count out nickles and dimes to buy Logan and I dinner for the night (meanwhile several grand lays "pending" in my bank account), but we had a good time with it, and the hamburgers were a good after school snack. By then the snow was coming down in big wet snowflakes, that were so waterlogged they kind of looked like domestic turkey's being dropped out of a helicopter or something. We returned to the laundry place and hung out in the camper while watching the freaky snow gather its forces and within a few minutes the ground was covered white with the wet dying snow.

Thursday the 26th was a nice day. My paycheck was finally available. School was great, the sun was out in full force, and the therometer never went above freezing. Quite cold for being 4 days away from April. I made a curried pork chop casserole for dinner, which Freddy enjoyed as much as me. It's nice to have another family member to cook for. Since I got these thick boneless pork chops for $1.49 a pound, Freddy gets served as a dinner guest tonight.

Al's Curried Pork Chops:

Rub curry powder all over your pork chops. Then mix in some soy sauce, some brown sugar, and some tabasco sauce (the amounts are up to you). Marinate as long as you want, then brown the chops in a frying pan, but don't cook em' just yet. Chop up a large onion not too fine but not too chunky and scatter half of the onion across the bottom of the casserole pan. add some olive oil down there as well. Place the pork chops neatly on top of the onions (I used 4 pork chops) then pour the remaining marinade on. Pour a one pound can of Bushes baked beans across the top and down in the spaces between the chops, then top with the other half of chopped onion. Bake in oven at 350 degrees, for 30 mnutes to an hour.

After eating all that Freddy and I slept like babies for nearly the rest of the night.