Black Coffee: My Favorite Blogs, Money News & Opinions #45 (Mothers Day Edition)

It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe…

Blogs I’ve Been Following This Week

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance. Here’s what caught my attention over the past week…

Happy Mothers Day, Mom!  I love you.     And Happy Mothers Day to all you other mom’s out there too!

Whew, what a week.  While in Philadelphia last week I thought I’d catch a Phillies game.  Unfortunately, being unfamiliar with the stadium, I couldn’t find my seat and got hopelessly lost.   As you can see here, apparently the Philadelphia police department has zero tolerance for dweebs like me who can’t find their seats quick enough.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, after I got home I came down with a nasty flu bug that kept me bedridden for two whole days.  As a result, this week’s edition of Black Coffee will be extremely short.

Sorry folks, but it’s tough to type or read a computer when you are coughing up bits of your lung every two minutes.  At least I got to catch up on how Judge Judy is doing.

Frugal Dad – What better way to kick off this abbreviated Mother’s Day edition of Black Coffee than with a terrific cautionary tale by Dad (no, he’s not my Dad) who ended up getting scammed after Mom (no, not my Mom) decided to “take advantage” of an on-line ad for an incredibly inexpensive teeth whitening deal.  Is it really “teeth” whitening?” Or is it “tooth” whitening?  Well, I guess that really depends on where you live, doesn’t it?  (Yes, I know that is my second tooth joke here in eight days.  Like I said, I was sick this week – give me a break.)

Money Relationship – On a related note, although this post is several months old now – hey, at least it’s not as moldy as bleu cheese – Adam wrote a very short but sweet post on the differences between credit and debit cards and how to limit your liabilities for fraudulent charges.

Control Your Cash - The whole Goldman Sachs fiasco is confusing to a lot of people.  It’s so confusing many have simply failed to care about its ramifications.  That’s why I really enjoyed this post from Betty and Greg over at Control Your Cash, who wrote a great little article that explains what happened in layman’s terms.  I know I’ll never look at Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss the same way again.

Fickle Finance -  Last week, ChrisFM – the Superfly of personal finance – put me on his coveted “He’s So Cool, He Kicks One Ass, and Then Another Ass” list.  I believe so far the only people on that list are me, Chris (of course), and Chuck Norris.  Naturally, being ill this week I gravitated to this post from Chris that pushed the idea that it is your health – not the money in your bank account – that really makes you wealthy.

Darwin’s Finance - Meanwhile, Darwin wants to know if putting in a pool is worth it.  That all depends on who is paying for it.  I know my kids and neighbors would say “hell yeah, it’s worth it!”

Money Reasons – Don wants to know if you are you letting your family history determine your earning potential?  Good question.  Do you find yourself picking up trash on the side of the road for minimum wage simply because your family history has a, say, very long but proud line of department of transportation trash picker-uperers?  Well, I’m just askin’.  (Hey, Don started it.)

Canadian Finance Blog – How can you tell a car dealer is lying?  Answer: His lips are moving.  For more insight into dirty car dealer tactics, check out this piece by Alan Schram on dirty car dealer tactics.  Somehow, that didn’t come out quite right.  Did I mention I was sick this week?

Financial Highway - If you are sitting on some extra cash and are looking to take advantage of the next wave of foreclosures that many have predicted will soon be hitting the housing market, then you may want to check out this piece by Kathryn over at Financial Highway.

Fiscal Geek – Still trying to figure out what to get mom for Mother’s Day?  Well it looks like earlier this week she actually called Paul over at Fiscal Geek – of all people! – and told him what she wanted on her special day.  Damn.  I always knew Mom liked Paul best.

The Way-Back Machine: Past Posts You May Have Missed

From June 2009:

Recipe: Easy Homemade Macaroni and Cheese -  Oh yes, I do recipes, people!  Believe it or not I am the family cook in the Penzo household and last year I decided to share a ridiculously simple and delicious homemade mac and cheese recipe that is so easy my son has been making it for the family since he was 10.

Credits and Debits

Credit: The Washington Post reported that Greece’s Parliament this week approved drastic austerity measures in order to secure a $140 billion international rescue package.

Credit: I wonder if those in Congress who supported this country’s plunge into socialized medicine finds it ironic that one of the European Union’s stipulations for the Greek bailout money was that Greece privatize its own nationalized health care system?

Debit: In other news, on Friday stocks slid for a fourth consecutive day, erasing all of the 2010 gains for U.S. benchmark gauges.  This after the Dow plunged nearly 1000 points on Thursday before recovering roughly two-thirds of its losses at the close of trading.

Debit: And just when you thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, it turns out that a Massachusetts woman ran over Lord Jesus Christ with her car as he tried to cross the street last Tuesday.

Credit: Authorities told Len Penzo dot Com that Christ declined to be taken to the hospital, saying he would heal his own injuries.  (I hope the real Jesus knows that is my innocent attempt at some cheap humor.  Did I mention I was sick this week?)

By the Numbers

Some stats on my recent illness…

5 Pounds I lost since getting sick.

2 The number of days I was stuck in bed trying to get rid of this nasty flu bug.

8 The number of episodes of Judge Judy I watched while I was laying there.

1 The number of episodes of The Wendy Williams Show I was forced to watch after I misplaced the TV remote but was too ill to get out of bed to find it.

26 While lying in bed, the number of times I wondered how the hell did Wendy Williams ever get her own television talk show?  (Oh well, it could be worse – I could have been stuck watching a rerun of Private Practice.)

Letters, I Get Letters

No letters this week, but if you have a question you’d like to ask, or a comment you’d like to make regarding some of my irritating opinions, please feel free to drop me an e-mail at: Len@LenPenzo.com

I’ll feature the most interesting question or comment I get each week here on Black Coffee – assuming I get one, that is.

If you’re lucky enough to be the only question in the mail bag I’ll highlight your letter, whether it’s interesting or not. 

Other Useless News

The 2009 Plutus Award winners have been announced!  I was a nominee for most humorous personal finance blog, but I didn’t win – which is no surprise to me and most likely no surprise to any of you out there either.   Congratulations to J over at Budgets are Sexy for winning the award!  Well deserved, my man!   (Okay.  Now I know how Susan Lucci feels every year.)

As a reminder, if you happen to enjoy what you’re reading – or not – please feel free to follow me on Twitter. And don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed too!

Carnival News

This week I had articles featured at the following carnivals:

- Money Hacks Carnival at Nerd Wallet (Editor’s Pick – Hooray!)

- Carnival of Personal Finance at Well-Heeled Blog