These postcards. Straight from the edge of hell and sleazy real estate. Kissing cousins to the “we buy houses” signs you find nailed to telephone poles.
In the COVID-19 world in which we live several things have been on the uptick like these postcards, solicitation calls, and online gambling commercials on television. Sociologically, it’s fascinating. From a personal preference I would prefer seeing less of both.
It kind of makes me sad because there are a lot of desperate people out there who have been completely knocked down by a global pandemic and the shaky economy which has followed. There are so many people who are barely hanging on due to reduction in salary/reduction in force (layoffs) that there’s definitely a market for these predators. And I find these people to be predatory.
It doesn’t matter how many times your request to not be solicited in anyway by these people they don’t pay attention. So I just started having fun. I block my number and I call the number on the postcard. Today I had some guy outraged named “Alex“.
“I can’t talk to you.” He says.
The number on this postcard I got today leads to some VoIP line somewhere. The company is “Problem Property Pals” and what an ACME Scam Company Looney Toon worthy company name, right? It doesn’t even sound respectable does it?
“Why not?” I replied
“You have a blocked line. Why do you have a blocked line?” He says (sounding slightly outraged.)
“I block my line because I can.” I replied.
I then proceeded to tell my new friend that I found them to be the slezoid pimps of real estate. I told them it doesn’t matter how often you ask to be on a do not solicit and do not call lists, they ignore those requests so essentially, they deserve obnoxious phone calls as penance.
Then like magic, I ended the call. Petty yes, but I enjoyed it. They prey on the vulnerable and desperate to make money. In my opinion that’s horrible.
I have taken to looking up these companies to find out who they are and where they are from. I traced the address on the postcard back to a ReMax in either Northern Liberties or Fishtown. Newsflash to them: some people will fall for their sleazy crap, but most people want a realtor close to home they actually trust to sell their home. And I don’t quite believe no fees and no commissions, do you?
Now it’s time for the circular file for this latest postcard.
Hello everyone and greetings from West Chester University!
Yes….. I JUST GOT MY FIRST COVID SHOT!
It has been a perfectly crappy day full of babysitting adult toddlers in Facebook groups so this is the highlight of my day.
Truthfully today is the highlight of 2021 so far.
I was beginning to wonder if this day would ever arrive.
The registration process was pretty seamless and the people here are so nice!
I am on the 30 minute post-shot wait and so far I just feel a little warm and somewhat thirsty. I can be shot reactive so I sit for 30 minutes while most everyone else sits for 15 minutes. There is a paramedic sitting with us in the post shot room.
I was surprisingly emotional when I got my shot.
I feel like I can breathe again.
This has been a hell of a year since we all entered the COVID19 world in which we now exist.
Last night I attended the virtual East Whiteland Historic Commission Meeting. One of the people presenting were representatives of the Great Valley School District.
You see, they are now faced with supersizing the elementary school campus. But nooooo of course it’s not due to wanton development in the area. Since the meeting occurred on St. Patrick’s Day I guess it was leprechauns just not being nice to them or something. Sorry not sorry for the deep sarcasm.
Anyway, the reason they were there as they want to tear things down and build new things and so on. But the district representatives did not like when I commented on the fact that school districts everywhere seem to do this following large swaths of new development in various communities. They will basically tell you it’s not true and everyone knows it’s true.
Of course I also commented that all those school districts are autonomous from municipalities, it’s still somewhat of a codependent relationship and I never for the life of me will understand why school districts won’t be honest and say “hey that’s too much development for us to handle.”
Again, sorry not sorry pointing out the truth.
I had to go out to Exton at the beginning of the week for a medical appointment. As I went up Route 30 from Malvern, I was again struck by the sheer volume of development I saw just there along that road. Every square inch that can be developed is being developed.
People are talking about the Ship Inn being for sale. Now that makes me sad because that is a very historic place. That used to be one of my landmarks years ago when I was going to a friend’s house further west. It was always this cheerful beacon on the road and so pretty and historic. Hopefully it survives.
But right where it’s located is at the vortex of a development tsunami. It’s West Whiteland and they are definitely one of the municipalities that can’t say yes fast enough to new development. Once upon a time I found these historic photos of Exton before all the development started. Night and day.
But it’s not just one municipality it’s more like pick a municipality. Look at East Whiteland. Do we really think the school district would be considering expansion if they weren’t out of room because of all the influx of people due to development? I mean come on let’s get real.
Go a little further east and you look at Tredyffrin and Eastown. Is the school district there not experiencing the same problems and need for expansion? It’s because of all the development, right? It doesn’t matter if it’s single-family McMansions, fake carriage houses, town houses, apartments, condos whatever you want to call them they are bringing people into our districts. The interesting thing is I still don’t necessarily believe that the economy is following the people so I wonder about the long-term sustainability but that’s another conversation for another day.
Go to other areas in Chester County and look at other districts. The West Chester Area School District is a monster it’s so big now. Owen J Roberts is huge, and so is Downingtown. And when you get out to areas like Elverson the kids actually go to school in a dual county district . This school district is Twin Valley, and it services two counties and like seven municipalities.
If you go east out of Chester County down to the Main Line, look at Lower Merion School District. The nasty eminent domain battles and fights because why? Because there are so many people coming into that district they needed to build another middle school. Now that middle school is going to be right on the border of Radnor Township which also has development worries of its own and only has one high school which is pretty crowded from what I’m told these days.
Of course in the case of Lower Merion School District and the location of their new school I have to ask what volunteer fire company is going to be responsible for that big complex? Especially when fire companies are going to be faced with the ongoing super sizing of both Bryn Mawr and Ardmore? So will that necessitate an additional fire company being built? Where would that go? And maybe it’s time for all fire companies to consider more paid staff because I think the volunteers are spread a little thin don’t you?
When are municipalities going to wake the hell up and realize the songs and tales of the Pied Piper-like developers and the Emperor’s new clothes they strew about are ruining our communities?
These developers are marching through our communities leaving overcrowding in school districts and stressed municipal services and infrastructure in their wake. And the Municipalities Planning Code ( aka the MPC), the Bible on which local development and zoning is based, allows all of this. It also allows all of the crazy zoning overlay districts which allow developers to get more and more into our communities.
The MPC was created at the end of the 1960s and I think it was signed in to being in 1970. It contains the extraordinarily outdated definitions of suburbs and exurbs that are still fueling all of this development today. And it’s got to stop. There needs to be a comprehensive update. And that update needs to contain language that actually protects our communities from over development. It needs to contain language that has more meaningful historic preservation and land preservation.
No matter where we live we are drowning in crappy new construction. And people don’t like when I say that because you know they’re reading this post from their McMansion. Well talk to me in 20 years and see how your house endures time and wear. I mean look at all the people alone who have had to remediate stucco in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
These developers roll into communities, they make a lot of money, they offer municipal rabbits the tiny baby carrots of ratables and they just move onto the next project. Or they will say to a municipality that they really care about the community in which they want to over develop because they live there? What do they really care about: the community or how much money they’re making?
Oh wait? What is that I hear? Oh that would be the chorus of I hate all development coming from some of you reading this post. I don’t hate all development but I really dislike the volume and lack of quality of the development we are seeing today. Why on earth do developers think that here in bucolic Chester County we want to see things that look like fake industrial?
And then there are the developers who basically take the same design and apply it to projects in multiple municipalities. Do they really think the public is that stupid? I mean maybe the local politicians are but not necessarily the people that live in these municipalities. Do we really want to live in developer created Stepford Land?
I have seen development in other areas, even urban areas that are clever and they actually have architectural design to them. Or they’re wonderful examples of adaptive reuse. My favorite recent example is something in Philadelphia called The Gotham. It was originally The Gotham Silk Factory, as in stockings. This project is amazing. It pays homage to its past yet it’s modern and new. It’s really cool. It proves you can meld old with new and come up with a good product.
But people, we have to start taking back our communities. We need to hold elected officials accountable. And even if they tell us there is nothing that they can do we still hold them accountable. And we need to find better replacements from within our communities and move these people out.
If you change the face of who governs you you can start to enact change in communities. But if it’s just the same old people sitting there year after year we are just going to keep on getting more of what we don’t like where we call home. That’s not just with local municipalities that’s with state representatives and state senators as well. So far with regard to the newbies in office on the state level I’m not really impressed. And there are some who skated in for additional terms riding on the coattails of others and they never impress me at all.
These are our communities. We deserve more of a say. But in order to have more of a say we all have to become more proactive within our communities. that starts with attending meetings. While they are all virtual, it’s much easier, so please take advantage of it. Pick a meeting and participate.
So recently there was this major kerfuffle at a Radnor Township Board of Commissioners. This board has been devolving for a few years but the recent commissioners meeting was painful. ( See around 3 hour 48 minute mark)
These are grown ass adults who are elected to serve Radnor Township residents, right? Only some of them are turning their meetings into a sitcom meets a three ring circus.
Anyway, Commissioner Sean Farhy has a beef with Commissioner Jake Abel. Farhy is a Democrat and Abel is a Republican. So because it’s Radnor, it’s super political too when Commissioners beef. It’s painfulto watch.
The problem between Farhy and Abel? Abel blocks Farhy on Twitter. Rich Ilgenfritz from Main Line Media News reports:
📌At a board meeting this week, Radnor Commissioner Sean Farhy, a Democrat, proposed the board censure a fellow commissioner, Republican Jake Abel, for blocking him on Twitter….“The blocking of both public officials and/or private citizens is a violation of the First Amendment which he swore to uphold when he took his oath of office. The Board of Commissioners should formally distance themselves from this type of unethical and immoral behavior which has now been deemed by a U.S. Federal Court as unconstitutional and illegal,” according to a portion of the resolution that would have censured Abel….According to Farhy, since Abel disseminates township information over his Twitter account, blocking someone is a violation of the First Amendment.
“All I’m asking is you unblock anyone that you’ve blocked on your Twitter account, which you use to disseminate government information,” Farhy said.
Although Abel admitted to blocking Farhy, he said he did not know of anyone else being blocked.
“This is the first I’ve heard of any resident being blocked, and if somebody is being blocked, they can reach out to me. I’ll have my team look at it, but I’m not aware of specific people being blocked,” Abel said in response.📌
Umm Jake Abel, I discovered this evening that you block ME. I found that damn amusing because I do not recall ever interacting with you. Did I? Have we met?
So Jake Abel who is your “team” (sounds super pretentious) and how MAGA paranoid are you? So Jake Abel was I following you on Twitter? I did not recall doing so although I follow plenty of local and national politicians. I guess blocking me is a preemptive strike because I am a blogger? That’s totally lame, but truthfully, I don’t care. You don’t matter in my world. However Jake Abel, baby politician, I totally do not buy you don’t know whom you have blocked.
Now I do think Abel actually can block another politician like Farhy because he isn’t a constituent. But it’s not good politics and turns the boardroom at Radnor township into Romper Room.
Anyway get out the wammmmbulance…then they were hurling accusations at each other (read article, watch YouTube.) Accusing each other of photographing each other…rock ‘em sock ‘em robots who wouldn’t know Roberts Rules of Order if it bit them on their asses.
Tasty Table Market & Catering is one of my favorite food gems. Located at 10 Leopard Rd, Berwyn, PA 19312 they are a delight to deal with and their food is amazing! They are breakfast, lunch, take home dinner, corporate events, private events, weddings, any kind of catering you can think of.
I stopped in to pick up lunch and discovered all sorts of new things on the menu, as well as a slightly new look inside. You can go and eat your breakfast and lunch. The seating is limited but it’s very socially distanced. Oh and they serve La Colombe coffee!
Today I am having one of their Vietnamese hoagies which is a really good sandwich. I also checked out something new on the menu which is a vegetarian broccoli rabe quesadilla. Some of that is coming home for heating up at another time along with their famous crab cakes which are absolutely delicious.
Anyway check out Tasty Table. You’ll be glad you did!
And I will note that I am not being compensated in any way, shape, or form for writing this post. I am a happy customer and paying it forward and supporting gladly a local business.
So yes, I saw this Huff Post Politics headline (see opening screenshot) go by on social media and giggled because I watched Little Orange (son of Big Orange) and his mansplaining video (because you know we will all always take our royal commentary from a Trump, right?)
Dayyyyummm. My bad. They quoted me. That’s pretty funny….. Thank you Huff Post Politics for reading my thoughts…which were kind of knee jerk because mansplaining on it’s own merits is bad enough, but from Baby Orange? Completely ridiculous.
In honor of International Women’s Day yesterday, the men in my house left not one but two sinks of dishes for ME to clean up last night that I did not see until this morning because I made the mistake of going upstairs earlier than normal .
I have tried leaving the dishes, I have tried not emptying the dishwasher, and all it does is cause more dirty dishes to pile up. And I hate the look of a messy kitchen.
I love my husband and stepson, but I do NOT love this. I have had a full COVID19 year of this, and I don’t ask for much around the house except basically things that are common courtesy or once in a while helping around the house. I would love to have these little things without having to nag about it.
Little things also include making your bed, which is something that my stepson finds particularly annoying. Essentially he treats me like housekeeping in a dorm. He finds most everything I do or say annoying.
If home, he literally stays holed up in his room either on his classes or his games. It’s a little sad because I remember the little boy who once upon a time wanted to know what I was cooking in the kitchen and who used to make me his go to childhood snack of peanut butter on apple slices.
I understand that a global pandemic has turned the world of the young completely upside down, but hello? I’m here too. This global pandemic has affected ALL of our worlds and I joke about being the maid and chatelaine, but I am kind of over it.
Some days I am very tempted to treat them like the messy girl who lived in a beach house with me and others one summer when I was much, much younger. She never wanted to do her dishes either, so we put a beach towel on her bed and piled her dirty dishes on them. After that she learn to do her dishes.
This is why a lot of the time I don’t feel I can leave the kitchen and go upstairs for the night to watch TV or read a book or whatever until the kitchen is completely cleaned up because if I don’t, I come down to this in the morning. To the male in the human species, this really doesn’t matter. But to most women I know, not leaving little dishes all piled up is a little thing that goes a very long way.
And I don’t necessarily think my husband should be stuck with these chores, either. He works hard every day. But my stepson, as much as I love him, has never really helped around the house. He lives here, and simply put, he is NOT a bad person, he is a love, but he is Captain Oblivious to everything that doesn’t immediately affect him, and sorry not sorry, I don’t expect him to be my man servant but it would be nice if he helped once in a while.
Is my life so hard? No it’s not. I have a really nice life. But there are little things in this world that make any woman feel appreciated in a household. And it’s pretty basic, little things like cleaning up the kitchen and not leaving two sinks full of dishes or even one sink full of dishes goes a long way.
File under rantings of a suburban housewife and have a nice day. #ChooseToChallenge #IWD2021
So today I got a couple of calls from “Alex.” I learned her name when I called the number back. I was on the phone with my mother when they came in. In normal times, I don’t call unknown reasonably local numbers back, but this is life in the time of COVID19, and a call could be a vaccine appointment. I am registered for shot interest all over as a 1A so I have been calling some unknown numbers back. Like this one today which came in from Allentown 484-460-5990.
I recorded the phone call. One of the phone calls because I called back to see if they would give me a website address:
When I called back at first they said “Philly House Buyers”. Couldn’t find a website so I called again. This time “Alex” said “Home Buyers Incorporated” and gave the website of www.homebuyersincorporated.com . That gives a company in Nebraska (“NE”) , registered in Nebraska but I can’t find a registration in Pennsylvania (“PA”). BUT if you look up “Philly House Buyers” on the Pennsylvania Corporations Database, there is a company registered since 2009 with a Chadds Ford address. So are either of these companies the company behind the calls or are they both behind the calls? Here is what I found on state websites in PA and NE:
“Dan” is so helpful on his pre-recorded message, yet I am still waiting for the first two notices he supposedly sent. Here is what you get when you call him up:
The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote about these types of calls (not the postcards) in 2019 and the pandemic has caused (in my opinion) an uptick in these calls and things like ads for online betting. They are opportunistic because a lot of folks are struggling.
So we are living La Vida Loca scam style. And yes I did file reports today with the FCC and PA Attorney General’s office. Not that I am convicted they consistently act on these things, but I took the time to do it.
Anyway, be aware. Also note these people prey successfully on our most vulnerable like senior citizens.
6 ounces chopped Velveeta cheese (the kind that comes in a block)
14 ounce can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
12 ounce can of vitamin D evaporated milk
1 – 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1 lb ground beef
1 small red onion, chopped small
1 pound bag of Gemelli pasta
Salt and pepper to taste
I have never written this down, so bear with me.
First I sauté the pound of ground beef in a nonstick pan with the red onion. Salt and pepper to taste. Because I am using a nonstick pan I don’t grease it. Remove from heat.
In another pan I make my cheese sauce. It starts with a roux which is butter and flour. I just eyeball the flower and I use Wondra which is a great flower to use for things like this and gravies because it’s very fine. So I say a few tablespoons, it’s either that or a few dashes.
After the flour and butter have kind of cooked together, I had a dash of nutmeg and a few dashes of Tabasco sauce. Then I add the buttermilk.
I incorporate everything together whisking constantly and then I add the can of milk. Next I add the Swiss and Gruyere mix, whisking constantly until it’s incorporated. After that I add the cheddar and then I stir in the Velveeta chunks. As everything comes together you may have to add a little more milk. It just depends.
After it’s creamy and smooth I add the can of tomatoes which I do not drain. I then let the cheese sauce kind of meld together and I keep on stirring it. When I think it’s the proper consistency I turn it off and put a lid on it.
In a big Dutch oven I cook the pasta as per the package instructions and then drain. First I put the pasta back into the Dutch oven. Then I stir in the ground beef mixture. Then I slowly incorporate the cheese sauce until everything‘s together.
I always make a little more sauce than I am expecting but you just let your pasta sit for a few minutes with the lid on in the Dutch oven and the heat off on the stove and a lot of the moisture from the cheese sauce will be absorbed.
We went into Center City Philadelphia to see my parents this weekend. I have not been in Philadelphia since before the riots this summer.
I didn’t have a camera with me so I captured a couple of photos on my phone but it really doesn’t do what looking at the city looks like now justice.
The city of Philadelphia after a year of COVID19 and riots and protests is not good in my opinion. So many boarded up store fronts. And these weird outside pods for bars on the sidewalk which are mostly on the street making them more narrow.
The streets themselves are in horrible condition, holes and potholes and trenches everywhere. Broken pavement everywhere waiting to literally trip you. Coming up 16th St. going home we also passed this generator that was almost a city block long that was running.
The streets are mostly empty. The people you see the most of are homeless. It’s back to Filthadelphia.
Philadelphia looks grey and grimy , depressed, and sad. And it wasn’t just a grey day making me feel that. I used to love the city. It felt alive and vibrant. Now it feels to be barely hanging on.
