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the--blackdahlia · 5 years ago

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Too Young to Fall in Love Chapter 51 (Dirt!Nikki x Reader)

Title: Too Young to Fall in Love 51

Summary: Nikki Sixx was a hard partying musician on the strip. He never expected to fall in love with anyone, until a girl knocked on his dressing room door looking for a ride home and took his breath away. Just like everything else Nikki did; the drugs, the money, the music; Nikki went hard with love. (Y/n) Bass never expected the bassist of Motley Crue to be the one to shake her calm and calculated life up. She had a plan. Graduate school, become an epic producer, and watch from behind the scenes as her brother’s band rose to fame. Nikki and (Y/n) were perfect for each other, too bad her brother, Tommy, didn’t think so.

Series warnings: Smut (18+ Please), drug use, language, referenced miscarriage, drug overdose, mentioned attempted suicide, out of character moments for everyone in the band, the timeline might be a little screwy but it’s fanfiction! I know nothing of music production and my medical knowledge is really screwy, so it won’t be accurate.

A few months later

“Babe! I’m home!” Nikki called out as he came through the door. “Stopped at the bakery and got the cake! And those cupcakes you like!” It was quiet downstairs. “Babe?” He sat the baked goods on the island and headed into the house. He made his way to the nursery, where he could hear music playing. (Y/n) was decorating, wanting everything to look perfect.

“(Y/n).” Nikki said softly. She jumped and turned to look at him.

“You scared me!” She laughed. “So, what do you think?” They had went with softer, neutral tones, and the paint had just finished drying, so (Y/n) was putting up all the decorations. Cute little animals playing instruments.

“It’s perfect.” Nikki smiled and wrapped his arms around her, his hands resting on her bump. “Everything is amazing.” He kissed on her neck, holding her close. She moaned softly, then glanced at the time on the watch Nikki was wearing.

“Shit!” She called out. “Everyone’s going to be here in like an hour or two!” She pulled away from Nikki. “I need to get a shower and...and…”

“Babe, relax.” Nikki smiled. “I got the cake. Pizza is scheduled. You just go get a shower and calm down, okay.” He kissed her gently.

“What would I do without you?” (Y/n) asked, kissing him again.

“Be a lonely, but still a really hot, producer in New York.” He smiled at her. “Or be married to Bret Michaels.”

“Oh, don’t remind me of that.” (Y/n) shook her head. “Okay, I’m getting in the shower. Be out in a bit.” She headed towards the bathroom while Nikki went downstairs to get ready for their guests; Vince and Vanessa with Dean and Samantha, Tommy and his new girlfriend (Pamela had the boys this week), Athena and her new husband, and Mick going solo, as well as (Y/n)’s parents. Tonight was the gender reveal. Nikki and (Y/n) didn’t even know what they were having yet. The doctor had wrote it on a slip of paper and put it into an envelope, which (Y/n) took to the bakery to have a cake made. It was chocolate icing, but inside would either be pink or blue.

About an hour and a half later, the pizza arrived, along with Mick and (Y/n)’s parents. Mick helped Nikki get it all set up while (Y/n) finished getting ready. Vince, Vanessa, and the twins were next, followed by Athena and her husband James, and then there was Tommy, being fashionably late, but no girlfriend in sight.

“She, uh, didn’t want to come.” Tommy shrugged. He leaned over to Nikki. “I haven’t been dating. Don’t tell (Y/n). She worries about me after prison.”

“Well, I wonder why.” Nikki laughed. “It’s cool man. Your secret is safe with me.”

“So, when do we find out what this little sucker is.” Vince asked (Y/n) as she walked past him.

“Once we cut the cake but this pizza smells really good.” She grabbed a few pieces and smiled down at the twins. “You both are just so cute!”

“Well, Dean keeps stealing Sammy’s bow all the time, and Sammy likes to bite.” Vanessa laughed. “Those two are going to be a handful. You think your brother and your husband are the terror twins? I think my little pumpkins here are.”

Conversation flowed throughout the evening, Tommy giving vague answers when asked about his girlfriend and Mick saying he was just fine being single. Vanessa and Vince alternated between feeding the twins and feeding themselves. (Y/n) smiled. This was her family. She never thought in a million years that the most notorious band in metal would be sitting together in her living room, waiting for a gender reveal while making small talk like they hadn’t just been doing coke off of naked strippers about ten years ago.

“Okay guys, are we ready?” (Y/n) asked, standing up. Nikki and (Y/n) made their way to the kitchen, everyone else in tow. The cake sat there, ready to be cut. Nikki handed (Y/n) the utensils.

“Be my guest.” Nikki told her, kissing her cheek. (Y/n) cook a deep breath and cut a piece, laying it out on a plate.

A pink cake.

“We’re having a girl!” (Y/n) gasped, hugging Nikki. “Oh my god!”

“We’re having a girl!” Nikki echoed, holding his wife close to him. He had never dreamed that he would be a dad to a little girl. She was going to be so loved and protected, because she had not only her three uncles in the room who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt anyone who hurt her, but a long list of musicians that Nikki and (Y/n) had befriended over the years.

Nikki and (Y/n) Sixx were having a girl.

****

“I don’t know anything about shopping for girls.” Tommy said. “At least, not baby girls. Big girls though, I can buy for.” Tommy said as they passed by Victoria Secret.

“Vanessa was in charge of getting everything for Sammy, so I’m at a loss.” Vince shrugged.

“I haven’t bought baby clothes since the 1970’s. And I’m pretty sure I was drunk then.” Mick added. Nikki sighed. He should’ve just invited Slash or something to join him on this mall trip. He wanted to start buying clothes for the yet unnamed baby. He might have been going overboard with buying baby stuff here recently. Most people assumed that the mother would be the one going crazy. But not in (Y/n) and Nikki’s case. Nikki wanted everything to be absolutely perfect.

“So, any names yet?” Tommy asked as he looked at a display in the window at a music store. A small poster was hanging in the window, with a picture of him at his kit that said “Tommy Lee Uses Vater”. “Dudes, check me out!”

“Good thing we’re not visiting a music store in the 1980’s. Sober Tommy pointing out every picture of himself would get real old, real fast.” Mick grumbled.

“I should’ve just left you losers at home.” Nikki sighed. They headed into the baby store, looking extremely out of place. Vince had recently died his hair a deep red, Tommy looked like he had been pulled from the hip-hop block on VH1, Mick looked like an old man shopping for his grandchild, and Nikki was in all black with tattoos.

“Can...can I help you?” A young girl greeted them.

“My wife and I are having our first child, a baby girl, and I might be going a tiny bit overboard.”

“Oh, congratulations, well we have a great selection of girl clothes over here,” she gushed and showed him all the latest clothes for baby girls.

Nikki and the guys all looked at all the ruffles and pink around them. “Do you think she’s be mad if I dyed some of this black?”

“I think there’s a store on the strip that has baby clothes,” Tommy told them.

“I guess we can try,” Nikki shook his head, “I’ll buy some of this just in case though. I don’t want her getting mad at me.”

“Man, she is so laid back about this. Compared to Nessa pregnant, she’s pretty chill.” Vince told him.

“And her favorite color is black.” Mick shrugged.

“True,” Nikki nodded. “Then let’s go Crue!”

****

“Look at this onesie!” Tommy called out. “It’s so cute!”

“Yeah, but her dad isn’t the drummer dumbass.” Vince said, smacking the back of his head. Everything in the store was rock based, and Nikki had already found a couple

“Can I get it custom?” He asked. “My uncle is the best drummer in the world type of thing?” Vince found matching t-shirts for the twins. He wasn’t sure if Vanessa would actually put them on the kids, but they were cute.

“Hey, aren’t you those guys from Motley Crue?” A guy asked.

“Uh, yeah.” Nikki said, looking over at him.

“Dude! You guys were so awesome! I got laid for the first time when Home Sweet Home was playing.” He high fived Tommy then headed about his shopping. The guys looked at each other with smiles on their faces.

“Oh man this looks good,” Nikki said as he grabbed a onesie. It was a Motley Crue onesie, black with pink trim and the band's name in pink.

“Get it. I dare you.” Tommy laughed.

“You don’t have to dare me,” he laughed, “I’m getting it”

“Baby Aphrodite is going to be the best dressed baby in all of LA.” Tommy laughed.

“Not naming my daughter after a Greek goddess. Especially not Aphrodite.” Nikki shook his head. “(Y/n) have a few ideas for names. But we’re not certain on anything until we meet her.”

“What? Are you thinking of something like Olive or something?” Vince asked with a laugh. Nikki stayed quiet. “Wait, really?”

“I said that we’ll know for sure when we see her.” Nikki told him again, grabbing another onesie. “But yes, Olive is on the list.”

“Olive Sixx.” Mick said as they bought the stuff and headed out.

“I didn’t say we had a great list. Just that we had a list.” Nikki pointed out. “It’s a work in progress but we still have some time.”

“Ok, dudes I’m starving let’s go eat.” Tommy smiled and clapped his hands together.

“When are you not starving?” Mick asked. Nikki pulled out the little onesie and smiled, running his fingers on the fabric. He was going to be a dad, and he knew he was going to be a better parent than his ever were.

****

“I feel so fat.” (Y/n) groaned as she sat on the couch with Vanessa, watching the twins on the floor. “My feet are swollen, my ankles are the size of an elephant, I’m either sad, horny, or hungry. There’s no in between.”

“Welcome to pregnancy,” Vanessa smiled. “But you look gorgeous. And I bet Nikki can’t get his hands off you.”

“He said that he’s already looking forward to more kids.” (Y/n) told her. “But I look awful. I don’t get where ya’ll are getting this gorgeous look from or whatever.”

Vanessa hugged her, “because you are drop dead gorgeous (Y/n) Sixx!” Vanessa looked to the twins and sighed as they crawled around the small space they made in the living room for them. “Nikki not able to get his hands off you should be proof of that.”

“How are you and Vince doing?” (Y/n) asked. “Last I heard, you were convincing him to get snipped.”

“Well, I’m good with just two. Plus he has his two other kids so four kids for him should be good enough,” Vanessa sighed. “I just don’t want to risk anything bad happening.”

“Nothing bads gonna happen.” (Y/n) rubbed her arms. “And, if you decide you want another set of twins later on, it can be reversed.” She teased Vanessa. She watched as Dean reached out and stole Sammy’s bow, making her cry and try to bite her brother. “Wow, you were right about that.”

“Terror twins! I told you.” Vanessa took the bow from Dean and fixed Sammy’s hair.

“The boys are going to drop a new album soon. I just hope the tour is after the baby comes.” (Y/n) sighed. “Could you imagine me being in labor and Nikki in Europe?”

“That would drive him crazy,” Vanessa laughed. “But aren’t you in charge of scheduling it? Since it’s the label you guys created?”

“He’s not letting me do anything.” (Y/n) sighed. “I think the miscarriage from the 80’s still haunts him. He wants me to take it easy. I’m going stir crazy.”

“Talk to him hun,” Vanessa smiled. “I mean I can understand where he’s coming from but you guys are past the miscarriage point.”

“I know we are, he knows we are, but he’s still scared.” (Y/n) told her. “He’ll still wake up in the middle of the night, pull me to him, and tell me he’s sorry. It’s been years Nessa.”

Before Vanessa could reply the guys came back with bags on their arms. Nikki walked up to (Y/n) and kissed her on her head.

“How are you feeling?” he put the bags down.

“I’m okay.” (Y/n) smiled. “Think I can do some work for the label soon?”

“As long as you don’t get stressed I think we’re ok?” he held on closely to her.

“Nessa! I got some shirts for the twins.” Vince said excitedly. One was blue, one was pink. Both said “I’m cute, mom’s hot, dad’s lucky”. “What do you think?”

Vanessa smiled at him, “I love them and you’re still getting snipped,” she gave him a pat on his cheek before handing Dean to him. “Your son loves to make his sister cry, and your daughter loves to bite.”

“Well, as long as it keeps the boys away, right my little man?” Vince asked, smiling at Dean. Dean gave Vince the biggest smile. Nikki pulled out the small camera (Y/n) had bought him when she found out she was pregnant and snapped a picture of him and Vince. The small camera came in handy when he was on the go.

“Someday we’ll have camera phones. That’s what the guy on TV said the other day. That soon, we’ll have really good cameras and computers in our pockets.” Tommy told them.

“Yeah, but nothing will beat the real thing.” Nikki laughed.

“So, when is the pregnancy photoshoot?” Vanessa asked. (Y/n) looked at Nikki. They hadn’t really thought of it, but (Y/n)’s mom had been bugging her about it so she could send pictures back to Greece. Nikki smiled at (Y/n) and rubbed her back.

“Well, maybe we could plan something out in the backyard with Jett and Ziggy.” He shrugged. “I know they’re just going to love their little sister.”

“But I look like a house.” (Y/n) groaned. “I don’t want anyone to see me like this. It’s bad enough you guys see me like this.”

“At least she’s not throwing stuff at him.” Vince mumbled under his breath.

Vanessa smacked him lightly, “honey, you look lovely! I can help you with hair and makeup.”

“But…” (Y/n) sighed.

“No. It’s going to be great!” Tommy told her. “As long as there are clothes on in the photoshoot, I’ll be happy.”

“Yeah, I was going to do a naked photoshoot to send to your aunts in Greece.” Nikki sighed. “Seriously, where did all the brains go?”

“My little sister stole them.” Tommy said, not sure if he was insulting himself or complimenting her.

“You could always save the naked ones for your private collection,” Vanessa smiled.

“Oh, I already have plenty of those.” Nikki teased.

“Gross!” Tommy called out. “I don’t need to think about that.”

****

(Y/n) sat on a bench, her hands resting on her belly while Nikki snapped the pictures. Ziggy and Jett had posed in a few, but a squirrel ran by and Nikki hadn’t been able to reel them back in. So (Y/n) was going solo for the rest of them.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be in them dad?” (Y/n) called out to Nikki. “I mean, it’s not just me that was involved in this!”

“I could set the timer,” Nikki said as he grabbed his tripod and began to line the shot. “Ok, so everything is set.” (Y/n) stood up so Nikki could run over and wrap his arms around her and place his hands on her belly. Once he got the time set, he did just that. (Y/n) leaned back against him as the camera went off.

“I bet you look very handsome in it.” (Y/n) said with a smile.

“You look better,” he muttered as he kissed her as the camera went off again. They took a handful more pictures before Nikki went to develop them. (Y/n) lounged outside.

“Your daddy and I love you very much sweetheart.” (Y/n) whispered to her belly. “We can’t wait to meet you.” She rubbed small circles and smiled. She had never thought she would be this happy. She looked at the house with loving eyes. Soon, they would have a family there.

****

“Vanessa, my belly feels tight.” (Y/n) told her a few months later. They were out and about for the day while the boys did interviews and made their rounds. “And little miss thing is all over the place. It’s like she’s breakdancing or something.”

“She might be getting ready to come out,” Vanessa gave her a smile.

“You think?” (Y/n) asked. “Nikki will be in a panic if I’m not with him when I go into labor. You know it as well as I do.” She laughed a little.

“Well she sin;t going to come out today, I hope,” Vanessa chuckled. “But it sounds like she’s getting herself in the position to come out.”

“Dramatic, just like your daddy,” (Y/n) sighed. “Gotta make sure you make a big entrance and put on a show, right?” She rubbed at her belly. She looked at he stroller the twins were in. “Nessa, you’ve got to see this. Get the camera from my purse.” She told her. The twins were fast asleep holding hands.

Vanessa grabbed the camera and smiled as she took the picture, "I need to get a copy of this."

"Of course." (Y/n) smiled but then groaned.

“(Y/n)? Are you ok?” Vanessa rushed to her. “Maybe I should call Nikki.”

"She’s mad about something." She rubbed her stomach. "I...maybe we should call. But he's on TV with the boys."

Vanessa pulled out her phone and called Nikki, “Damn it.” she cursed, “It’s going to voicemail.”

"Leave a message and I'll just go on." (Y/n) gasped. "Little lady your daddy will be upset if you come before he gets here."

Vanessa left Nikki a message as she led (Y/n) back to the car, “I’m taking you to the hospital.” she said. “I think they should check you out in case you are in labor.”

"Okay, not gonna argue." They got the twins in the car and headed towards the hospital.

****

"I heard a cell phone while we were on stage." Tommy checked his. "Wasn’t mine."

“It was mine,” Nikki sighed. “This is Vanessa’s number,” he put the phone to his ear. “She thinks (Y/n) is going into labor. I got to go.” NIkki rushed out of the studio before the guys could say a word.

“Didn’t we come with him?” Vince looked at the guys.

"Nikki wait!" Mick called out. "Your our ride!"

The guys all rushed after him and piled into the car. Nikki drove like a bat out of hell to get to the hospital. He tripped over himself as he ran to the nurses station gasping for air.

“Wife… in… labor…. Friend… brought… where?” he gasped.

"Nikki!" Vanessa called out. "She’s in being seen." Just then (y/n) came out.

"Guys?" (Y/n) asked.

Nikki rushed to her voice and went in side, “(Y/n) I’m here. Are you ok?” Nikki rushed to hold her hand. “Is little lady coming out?”

"No not yet. she just is being a dramatic little girl." (Y/n) smiled. "Are you ok?"

"I… you…baby…" he tried to catch his breath. "I got scared I was going to miss it."

"Guess she's running drills." (Y/n) laughed.

“Once I get you home I’m going to have to come up with something so I don’t miss the real thing,” he smiled.

"What if you're on stage or at another interview? It could be on the national news." (Y/n) laughed.

"Then everyone is going to know that little lady is here to rule the world," he caressed her cheek and kissed her.

“So you’re okay?” Tommy asked, sounding a little worried. (Y/n) smiled.

“Yes Tommy. Honestly, just tired right now.” (Y/n) told her brother.

“Little lady wanted to keep us on our toes,” Nikki chuckled a bit. “She’s good, and I about had a panic attack.”

“I’m sorry honey.” (Y/n) told him. “I’m ready to go take a nap. Do you have to go back anywhere?”

“Nope I think that was our last interview,” Nikki looked at the guys who gave him a thumbs up.

“Good. Now which cute guy wants to take me home.” (Y/n) laughed, giving Nikki a smirk.

“Hey,” Nikki pinched her nose playfully. “Only cute guy taking you home is this guy!”

“I said cute. Not extremely handsome.” She smiled and kissed him.

“Hey now. No kissing. Kissing leads to more babies once that one comes out.” Tommy laughed. “Go rest. Who knows when my niece is going to make her world debut.”

“Come on sweet girl,” Nikki smiled. “Let’s get you home.” He led her out to the car. Vanessa kissed Vince.

“How much did he freak out?” She asked, looking at him and the other guys.

“He almost left us at the TV station after the interview,” Vince shrugged and smiled. “How did the kids do with you guys?”

“(Y/n) has a picture she’s going to have Nikki print off for us. But the babies were asleep in their stroller holding hands.” Vanessa to him with a big smile.

“I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that little lady is going to make her appearance at the most inconvenient time.” Mick told them with a shrug.

“Now that's what I want to see,” Tommy said as they all watched Nikki help (Y/n) into the car. “I kind of want to see him freak out when it actually happens… remind me to get the camcorder ready though.”

“Oh, we won’t let him live that down.” Vince laughed.

“Wait, Nikki’s taking (Y/n) home. He was our ride.” Mick told Tommy. Mick and Tommy turned to look at Vince and Vanessa, giving them little pouts and puppy eyes.

“Come on you clowns,” Vanessa sighed. “But that means you’re on baby duty!”

“Hehe, she said duty.” Tommy laughed. Vince handed him Dean. “What’s that smell?”

“That’d be the duty.” Vince laughed.

“WHAT?” Tommy smelled Dean and put him at arm's length. “Dude that is not funny! He smells like one of Nikki’s old pairs of underwear from the Theater of Pain tour!”

“I don’t want to know how you know what the smells like.” Vanessa shook her head. “Give me my son, I’ll change him and you can walk home.” Tommy sighed and looked at Vince. He hadn’t really changed too many diapers, since Pamela did most of that.

“Come on drummer, I’ll show you how it’s done.” Mick grumbled, taking the diaper bag from Vanessa and leading him to the bathroom to help him change the baby.

Forever Tags: @anathewierdo @dekahg @marvel-af-imagines @feelmyroarrrr @nanie5 @imboredsueme @gemini0410 @aiaranradnay @babypink224221 @mogarukes @xxwarhawk @sandlee44 @shatteredabby @caswinchester2000 @supernaturalwincestsblog @lauravic @mrsambroserollinsacklesmgk @teller258316 @horrorpxnk @tommyleeownsme @marvelismylifffe

Motley Crue Tags: @primal-screamer @waywardprincess666 @twistnet @saint-of-los-angeles @vader-kai @motleyfuckingcruee @sharon6713 @kawennote09 @2dead2function @nikkisixxwiththebass @iamtiber-andtiberismusic @jayprettymuchomw @charlyallise @you-know-im-a-dreamer @sweet-dreams-on-butterfly-wings @estxxmotley @arianareirg @the-normal-potato @nikki-sixxtynine @jjjjjjjoshdun @just-a-normal-fangirl18 @stella20131991 @tarahell @wowilovenikkisixx @i-want-to-shoot-myself @motleycrueee @sams-serialkiller-fetish @getbackhonkycatt @are-you-reddie54321 @flamencodiva @scarecrowmax @major-tom-is-a-junky @anyasthoughts @bandaids-not-groupies @ilovetomkeiferslips @kaitieskidmore1

Nikki Sixx Tags: @daisystuffsstuff @unknownoblivion @deakysblueoutfit @fandomshit6000 @sixx-mckagan

Too Young to Fall in Love Tags: @kingbouji3 @leximus98 @thekidbakerinthetardis @crystalbaby12 @shawnsstxtches @knockemdeadgirl @deansgirl1993 @haileynicoleseavey17

#too young to fall in love #Motley Crue #nikki sixx #nikki sixx x reader #nikki x reader #the dirt #dirt!nikki sixx #dirt!nikki sixx x reader #dirt!nikki x reader #dirt!nikki #fanfiction

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billnoncipher · 7 years ago

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Wendip Week Prompt 2

Just My Luck

By William Easley

(Not part of my normal continuity and written for the Wendip Week 2018 prompt 2, "Typical Pines Luck")

Before the Mystery Twins had been in Gravity Falls for more than the first three days of June 2015, Mabel had found a new boyfriend.

"A fawn?" Dipper asked. "Seriously? You're going with a baby deer?"

"No, silly!" Mabel, who was preening at the mirror, said. "F-a-U-n! As in part hunky boy, part goat!" She narrowed her eyes and whispered confidentially, "He doesn't wear pants!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dipper said. "T.M.I! And also, no. No, you cannot date this guy, thing, whatever it is—"

"He's a faun," Mabel insisted. "And his name is Raymond."

"I don't care if he's a—Raymond? Raymond is a faun's name?"

"Yup," Mabel said, changing her earrings. "He's got the cutest little hoofs, and a twitchy little tail, and these two little curly horns."

"Yeah," Dipper said grimly. "I've read in mythology that fauns were always horny! Look, you know this guy's just gonna dump you for another girl. Or maybe another goat. Take my advice and give Raymond a wide berth!"

"You're not gonna spoil this for me, Dipper!" she said. She'd settled on earrings in the shape of little gold pine trees. "Anyway, we're just going to frisk in the meadow for a while. You can come along if you want. Hey, you could do the—"

"Don't even say it! I am not doing the 'Lamby Lamby' dance. Especially for a guy whose mom may have been one!"

Dipper told Wendy, whose response was, "Mabes can take care of herself, Dip. Besides, I give the relationship two days, tops. Just wait until they have a meal together!"

He had to chuckle. "Yeah, heh. I guess a faun would be pretty disgusting to watch eat."

"Um, right," Wendy said. "The faun . . . ri-i-ight."

Next he told Ford, who said, "That's interesting. The fauns rarely come down from the tablelands below the western cliffs. I'll have to ask her to collect a hair sample for DNA analysis."

And the last resort was Grunkle Stan, who shrugged. "Meh, she'll find out soon enough the guy don't have any money, and that'll be the end of that."

When Dipper collapsed groaning into a chair, his Grunkle gave him a sharp look. "What's the matter, kid? Scared a goat-guy's gonna elope with your sis?"

"Noooo," Dipper moaned, drawing it out. "It's just that—we've been here practically no time, and she's got a date already! I asked Wendy if she might want to go see a movie with me, and she told me, 'Wait until you're old enough to drive, and then we'll talk.'"

"So, ask somebody else," Stan suggested. "Plenty of seafood in the ocean, kid!"

"Wouldn't do any good," Dipper said. "I have terrible luck with girls."

"Give me a fr'instance," Stan said. "Maybe I can help."

"Aw," Dipper said, "there was this girl, Francine, at one of the school dances, and she wasn't dancing with anybody, so I walked over, got my nerve up, and asked if she wanted to dance. She said yes."

"See, you were in luck!"

"No, because when we walked out onto the floor, she stepped into a little pool of spilled punch and her heel skidded and she sprained her ankle! Just my luck!"

"Don't sound like hers was any too good, either," Stan said. "Come on, Dipper, that was one time!"

"Another time," Dipper said, "Mabel talked this girl, Ellen, into being open if I asked her on a date. I asked her to a movie for that coming weekend, and she said yes."

"Luck turned around, see?"

"No, it did not," Dipper said. "Because the movie was on Saturday, and on Friday her dad moved the whole family away. Turns out he was in witness protection, and somebody in the family let their real last name slip."

Stan's eyes narrowed. "Realllllly? Uh, what was the name?"

"Farghandahler," Dipper said.

"Never heard of 'em. Well, it was worth a shot," Stan said. "Kid, it sounds to me that you need a good-luck charm."

"Oh, come on," Dipper said. "I don't believe in horseshoes and rabbits' feet and all!"

"Got a point there," Stan conceded. "Horseshoes were invented so hicks could beat city folks at a stupid tossing game. And if a rabbit's foot brought luck, you wouldn't be able to buy any, 'cause every rabbit's got four of 'em! Nah, I'm thinkin' along the lines of an amulet. They really work. Sometimes."

Dipper remembered Gideon's amulet of telekinesis, which did seem to work. "Worth a shot," he mumbled.

"Come with me."

Grunkle Stan led him to the stock room. Though Soos was Mr. Mystery these days, and Melody was engaged to become Mrs. Mystery soon, Stan still kept a close eye on what the Shack offered. He fiddled around in a box and then came up with something shiny. "Aha! Knew we had half a dozen of these. OK, kid, I'm gonna make you a gift of the world's most powerful good-luck charm. It comes all the way from Niue!"

"Where . . . is that?" Dipper asked. He'd never heard of it.

"Ah, somewheres near Metuchen, I think. Anywhoo, this here is a five-dollar silver piece. No kiddin', real silver, so take care of it! Look at it. See these little insets? This here is a genuine four-leaf clover from County Cork, Ireland, blessed by a priest who's also a part-time leprechaun! And this is a miniature horseshoe, actually manufactured from a real shoe once worn by Man O'War, the luckiest horse that ever ran in the Derby! This is, uh, a preserved ladybug. Not killed, it died of old age, ya understand. Ladybugs are notoriously lucky!"

"What?" Dipper asked.

"C'mon, Dip, ya never heard of one's house actually burnin' down! And last this is a little figure of a lucky elephant. With all them on your side, your luck will turn right around! You'll see! If it don't work, double your money back."

"How . . . much are you charging me?" Dipper asked.

"Nothin'! It's a free gift! Take it before I change my mind. I could sell this dealy to a sucker for fifty bucks!"

Oh, well. The silver disk had been pierced for a thong, and Stan threw a rawhide one in for free. "Word of caution," he said. "The gals go nuts for a guy who wears a thong! Don't get yourself in trouble, kid—or them, either."

Dipper put the rawhide cord around his neck. What the heck, it would either work or it wouldn't.

And Gideon really had almost cut out his tongue with lamb shears that one time.

Strangely, that night Dipper had a vivid dream of a tourist couple parking in the Mystery Shack lot. They had a cute daughter about fourteen and a little baby not more than a year old. The weird thing was that they pulled their Grand Rover van into a slot, the dad and mom and daughter got out, and they turned to take a photo of the Shack and the totem pole—and the van rolled away backwards, because the dad had evidently not put it in Park. The mom screamed as the van rolled over the edge of the hill and then fell and rolled over and over down to the forest edge, where it collided hard with a tree.

And the baby was inside.

The next morning, while chatting with Wendy at the sales desk, Dipper glanced out the window and saw a maroon Grand Rover van—exactly like the one he'd dreamed of—just pulling into the lot. "Be right back," he said to Wendy and dashed outside.

He felt creeps all over his skin—the van was parking in the exact spot that he'd dreamed of. He sprinted across the lawn and leaped over the low fence just as the mom, dad, and teen daughter got out and the dad hefted a camera. The van started to roll. Dipper leaped into the driver's seat—the dad hadn't closed the door—and jammed on the brakes, while pulling on the emergency brake handle. The mom screamed.

The dad came running up, white-faced. "What happened?"

Dipper said, "It's OK, sir. I saw the van start rolling. I think you didn't put it in Park."

The mom opened the rear door and took the baby—a cheerful little one-year-old boy who had no idea he'd been in any peril—out of his baby seat. "He's OK," she said. "Bless you!"

The father was reaching for his wallet. "How much can it—"

"No, sir," Dipper said. "Just—I don't know, pay it forward. Help out somebody who's in trouble. And enjoy the Mystery Shack!"

The dad got behind the wheel, started the engine, and pulled the car back into the parking slot. He very carefully put it in Park and set the emergency brake.

Someone tapped on Dipper's shoulder. "You can take this, anyway," the teen girl—braids, freckles, really cute—said. And she hugged him and kissed him on the mouth. "Thanks for saving my baby brother!"

Dipper realized he had an audience. Wendy and Stan had come out on the porch. "Uh, you're welcome," Dipper said.

The girl took his hand and wrote something on his palm. "My email," she said. "Get in touch with me. My name's Laramie."

"O-OK," Dipper said.

He walked back to the Shack, where Grunkle Stan clapped him on the shoulder. "Lucky you spotted that!" he said. "Saved us from losin' some customers!"

Wendy, settling back behind the counter, asked, "You know that girl, Dipper?"

"Uh, no," he said. "Just saw their van start to roll and she was, I guess grateful or some deal."

"You mean this isn't gonna be a regular thing?"

"Gosh, no! They're probably from Canada or someplace. I'll never see her again."

Wendy grinned. "Just teasing, man. Good going."

Later that afternoon, because he really couldn't think of an excuse, he went with Mabel to meet Raymond. Raymond waited for Mabel in the bonfire clearing. He seemed skittish when he saw she was not alone, but then she introduced Dipper as her twin. "I'm Alpha, though," she confided.

Well, Raymond wasn't quite what Dipper had expected. True, he had curly little horns and a crown of curly black hair. True, his ears were pointed, and his eyes had strangely slit-like pupils. And he definitely had hoofs and a strange ankle joint. However, the fur on his legs and waist and, um, that general area, was six inches long, very fluffy and shaggy, and he might as well have been wearing pants.

And he talked normal. No baaas or godawful puns, no "I'm Mr. Satyr day night" or anything like that. He seemed interested that Mabel had a brother. He wanted to know where they were from, what Dipper liked to do, why they had come to the Falls, did they like the forest, would he like to see some secluded beautiful areas, and so on.

Mabel looked increasingly uncomfortable and finally reminded Raymond, "You were gonna show me that beautiful forest pool with a cascading creek leading into it. Dipper doesn't have time, sorry." And she led him off.

In about an hour she was back, looking mad. "You win," she said. "I broke up with Raymond. I hope you're happy!"

"Hey, I didn't do anything!" Dipper said.

"Yes, you did! Raymond asked me if you were attached. He wants to date you! Lucky!"

"Tell him I'm not into guys or goats. And especially not into guy-goat combos!" Dipper said. He was beginning to think that luck had its downside.

But he tested it. The next day he asked Wendy if she'd like to go see that movie on Friday night. "I'm still not old enough to drive," he said. "But I don't mind being driven."

She grinned. "OK, Dip, just this movie. But it's no big deal, understand? Just two friends going to see a three-D earthquake movie!"

"I understand," he said. "Just friends."

And then the next day Candy came over to visit Mabel and wound up telling Dipper he was really growing up to be a handsome guy, and she sat uncomfortably close to him. And a little later he went outside just to get away from her and found a wallet on the ground.

He opened it and saw a drivers' license, the picture looking familiar—oh, yeah, a guy who'd gone out on the tour with a bunch of others. And speak of the devil, Soos came driving the tram back just then, and the very guy jumped off, looking anxious, and headed for his car, which he opened and checked—

"Excuse me, sir," Dipper said. "I just found this wallet. Is it yours?"

"Yes!" the guy said, looking relieved. "I must have dropped it while going out to the tram."

Dipper handed it over. "You might want to check to make sure everything's there."

The man did. "Yep, all the cards, all the money. Here you go, son." He held out a twenty.

Dipper shook his head. "I didn't want a reward, sir. My great-uncle co-owns this place, and he'd never want to make money from someone's misfortune." That was true, sort of. Of course, Stan didn't mind a bit if he made money from them any other way.

But the guy asked his name, went inside, and evidently praised him to Soos and Wendy, because they both gave him thumbs-up when he came back in. And Candy hugged him. "My Dipper is an honest and truthful man!" she announced.

Wendy raised an eyebrow at "my Dipper."

Still later, downtown at a convenience store, Dipper fed a dollar into a vending machine and bought the first and only scratch-off lottery ticket in his life so far. Back in the Shack, he scratched it off.

Yeah, it figured. He'd won $1,000.00. There was, of course, a catch. He gave the card to Stan. "I can't use it," he told his Grunkle. "You have to be eighteen or over."

"I'm eighteen or over," Stan pointed out. "I'll do somethin' nice for ya, kid." And he did. He went into town to cash in the ticket and brought Dipper back a candy bar.

That night, Dipper complained to Mabel about the amulet. "It's making me lucky," he said, "but not in any way that helps me out. And it's got you mad at me."

"I'm not mad," Mabel said. "Just disappointed that Raymond prefers you to me. That's not your fault. My irresistibility must've rubbed off on you a little." She picked up the candy bar. "You gonna eat this?"

"Don't like coconut. You can have it."

"Thanks, Brobro!"

Mabel bit into the candy bar and chipped a tooth. Fragment of coconut husk. Stan had to rush her to a dentist he knew who owed him a favor. She came back with a repaired tooth and a rueful, "You're lucky you didn't want the candy, Dipper!"

But the amulet didn't work with Wendy. The next morning, she said, "I gotta break our date, Dip. Sorry, man. My dad wants me to go with him and my brothers to visit my aunt this evening."

And without Wendy—meh. The kind of luck he was having just wasn't worth it. After some soul-searching, Dipper walked out to the Bottomless Pit and walked back a little lighter and amulet-free.

Just before quitting time, Wendy apologized again—but then the phone rang, and she answered it. "What? Oh, OK. No, tomorrow's even better. Sure. OK if I see a movie, then? Thanks, Dad!"

She hung up the phone. "Huh. My aunt called Dad and asked him to put off the visit, so our date's back on, unless you got someone else to see it with."

"No!" Dipper said. "Uh, no. No, I don't. Uh. If you want to go."

"Yeah, I guess so," Wendy said. "Guess you're in luck, Dipper."

Yeah, for a change, he guessed he really was in the best kind of luck. Seeing a three-D movie about an earthquake sitting next to a gorgeous redhead who made a practice of not dating anybody under the age of sixteen? But she would make one exception?

Hmm, maybe he shouldn't have tossed that amulet away so quickly . . . .

Nah. Typical Pines luck was better than anything it could dish up!

The End

#wendip week #gravity falls #william easley

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kor-knight · 8 years ago

Text

Darkness Prevails epilogue

AND ITS DONE. Though, this was actually very hard to write. I overall wish to thank all those who read my story, and everyone who liked it, reblogged, and commented. You are my very existence. I also wish to thank my boyfriend, cause he’s like my biggest fan, following the story alongside all of you guys haha. Angel, enjoy it hunny! @stillapieceoftrash

Perfect

Of all the words in the plethora of words known to man, Betty would have never thought she would use that specific word to describe her life right now. But no amount of words that came to mind could possibly describe it better than that – her life was perfect.

7 years had past since the events of her teenage years – since her life was on the edge of a blade and she danced with darkness more times than she liked to. After her trip to the hospital and court hearings, Betty finally went back to school, soon after graduating top of her class – valedictorian obviously – alongside Archie and Veronica. Jughead had graduated a year later, having to repeat due to absences and lack of good grades. But once they were all done high school, it was a collective agreement to attend college together.

So they all applied, and got accepted to NYU; Betty and Jughead with the English majors, Archie on a sports scholarship with a minor in Music, and Veronica majored in Fashion design. After long conversations with parents, tons of planning, and house-hunting, the 4 set off for the city that never sleeps (or was that Paris?) They moved into a slightly larger apartment relatively close to the campus, adorned with two huge bedrooms located on opposite sides of the space - “for privacy sake” Veronica had said, a coy smile on her lips. The large common area had 4 desks, one of which was huge – Veronica clearly stating she needed a big one for her designs. Betty was solely in charge of cooking for the 4 of them, whilst Jughead and Archie were strictly on cleanup duty. Their little family was dysfunctional, but just as much home as Riverdale was.

College had been fun too, albeit insane exams. Classes were easy (at least for Betty they were), and her professors were pretty cool. They had even attended a few parties, more so a ‘Veronica and Archie’ scene as a designated “Power Couple” on the campus. Jughead and Betty had chosen more reserved extra curricular activities, such as poetry reading nights at the Java Jones down the road, or (big surprise) the double feature at a local theater.

But it was during their last year of college when Betty and Jughead’s life had changed for the better.

Betty had found out she was pregnant.

After countless failed attempts at getting back into their rhythm, of nights spent crying over too real nightmares and reoccurring ptsd, Betty finally sought the help so the elephant in the room didn’t butcher her relationship with Jughead any further. Though, even with all the struggles, Jughead never pressured Betty into anything, always letting her be the one in charge, pulling away when he felt her whole body tense, or just sit and talk her back from the edge of insanity. He had been everything she needed, and then some. So after weekly sessions with a therapist, Betty was able to expand their relationship to the peak they had it at before.

They spent nights wrapped in naked embraces, whispering sweet nothings to one another as they conquered Betty’s internal battles and heeded Jughead’s external desires. So little words were said during their times together, only primal sounds of need and want, battling for control throughout the night.

And thus lead to their baby.

She still remembered telling Jughead the news, every single detail.

“Juggie, I need to tell you something.” Her lip was between her teeth, eyes carefully watching the man in front of her. They were in their room at the apartment, Betty seating at the edge of their bed while Jughead was perched at the head of it, back against the wall.

Jughead blanked, body timid, eyes concerning. “Did I do something wrong?” His voice was raspy but soft, just above a whisper.

Betty shook her head furiously, placing her hands on the sides of his face. “No Juggie, you didn’t do anything wrong.” His smile melted her heart, hands coming to rest on her sides.

“So what did you need to tell me?” Jughead asked.

“I uh-” Betty bit her lip again, looking away. Jughead’s hand came to rest on her jaw, bringing her eyes back to his, without saying a word he just nodded. Letting out a breath and standing from the bed, Betty finally said. “Juggie I’m pregnant.”

The first thing Jughead did was drop his mouth open in shock. Or awe. Or dispair. Betty didn’t quite know what emotion it was, but what came after is what Betty truly loved. Jughead smiled. He smiled so large she thought his face was going to crack. A full, toothy, completely and utterly happy kind of smile. Then he kissed her. He kissed her again, and again. Peppering kisses across her face, along her neck, back to her face. His arms were around her, pulling her so close she thought he was trying to morph them together.

“Really?!” He asked, so much excitement and joy, Betty had never seen him like this before. She just nodded, unable to find words in this wonder. “I’m going to be a dad?” He said the last word tentatively, sorta like he was testing it out. His smile a few seconds later made Betty assume he was fine with the term, and new title. He picked her up in his arms, twirling her around a few times before setting her down once more, placing another quick kiss on her smiling lips. Jughead stood quickly, launching himself off the mattress with ease.

Then he dropped to his knees, side of his face flush against her tummy as he smiled. “My baby,” was all he said. A tear escaped Betty’s eye, words cutting off from the lump in her throat. She just sniffled. Jughead looked up at her, concerned. “Whats wrong?” He was standing in front of her again, hands on either side of her face. Betty just shook her head, a few more tears streamed down her cheeks. Jughead’s thumb gently wiped them away, kissing her cheeks softly. “You are so beautiful.” Betty just smiled, closing her eyes. “The mother to my baby.”

He kissed her then, and no matter how many times Betty relives the moment, the kiss gets longer and longer. Better every time. Their lips played a devilish dance, limbs wrapping around one another in a fight for dominance. Betty finally let Jughead take control, falling into step with his movements and just living for the moment.

Betty flushed at the memory, touching her lips with her finger and smiling. The door opened to her right, Jughead appearing from the threshold.

“Hey Juggie.” Betty said, smiling. She was making lunch, smiley face sandwiches and only the best fruit. Jughead took a step forward, placing a quick kiss on Betty’s temple.

“Hey Betts, where’s Hunter?” Jughead asked, grabbing an apple slice and shoving into his mouth.

“In the living room with Ronnie. Archie should be here soon.” Jughead smiled, kissing her temple once more before retreating to the other room, happy giggles erupting from within. Betty smiled as she continued to cut the fruit. Finishing up, she plates everything and quickly emerges in the other room, food in hand and a smile on her lips.

Before her was Jughead, seated on the floor with Hunter – their energetic 9 month old son – while Veronica laughed from the couch. Archie was walking into the room as Betty put the food down, nodding for everyone to eat while she pulled Hunter to her arms. He cooed loudly, throwing his tiny arms around her neck. Betty giggled, enveloping him with her arms.

Jughead was beside them soon after, picking up the toddler easily and tossing him up slightly in his arms, igniting fits of laughter from the tiny boy. Hunter’s green eyes bright with excitement as Jughead continues to play with him, tickling and playing airplane. Betty just watches, laughing at her two boys. Veronica comes to sit beside her, gushing about a new set of cute clothes she’s going to buy Hunter. Archie pipes up about teaching their son how to play the guitar.

“He’ll be a rock star, like me!” Archie puffs out his chest, smirking. Veronica laughs, while Betty just smiles.

“Sure Archiekins, whatever you say boo.” Jughead says coyly, making silly faces at his son.

Archie just smiles wider, laughing. “I don’t know what’s more scary. Jughead calling me boo, or the fact that Ronnie didn’t have my back!” He feigned hurt, thrusting a hand to his chest and hanging his head. Betty bursts out laughing, covering her mouth to stop herself from snorting at the poor boy.

Veronica moves to sit beside Archie, placing a manicured hand on his shoulder. “Babe, there isn’t anything I can do to help you there.” Her smile was smug as he pulled from her grasp, gasping at her words.

“You guys are so mean to me! Why did I ever become friends with you again.” Everyone was laughing then, even Hunter, at Archie’s exaggerated expressions and flailing of his arms. Betty held her stomach tightly, the muscles in her core tense from the fits of laughter.

Once she calmed her laughter, she leaned back against the couch, watching her friends. Archie and Ronnie were talking about something, both their face close to one another and animated. Ronnie was smiling at something Archie said, leaning her head against his shoulder before kissing his cheek. Betty smiled at them, fingers tracing the scar on her wrist idly.

Jughead’s hand engulfed hers, bringing her attention to him. His blue eyes were filled with concern, looking down at Betty’s fingers then back up at her. She just shrugged, smiling at him. He mouthed the words she knew all too well, nodding before he could finish. He frowned, placing their son on the floor in front of him before scooting over to drape an arm over her shoulders.

“You ok?” He whispered, voice tickling her ear and sending a wave of pleasure down her spine. She bit her lip and nodded, not trusting her voice won’t sound heady. She notices his frown again, before leaning her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes gently.

“I’m ok Juggie.”

He cleared his throat, Betty feeling his head move in a nod. She keeps her eyes closed, unaware of if she’s falling asleep of just lost in thought. She’s brought back to reality when Jughead moves away from her, causing her head to dip painfully to the side. Rubbing her neck, Betty just opens her eyes. Hunter was sleeping on the couch behind her head, snuggled closely with his toy monkey named FP. Looking around, she stands.

Jughead was watching Archie and Veronica closely, waiting for the signal. When Archie finally looked over at him, a slight nod was all he got before Archie stood.

“Ronnie?” Veronica looked up at her name, concern filling her perfect features.

“Yes Archie?” She stood, sparing a glance at Betty, who just shook her head with lack of knowledge. “What is it?”

“Veronica. Ronnie. You’ve been by my side for longer than I can remember. You’re my biggest fan, and truest supporter, you’re one of the reasons I even continued with music when I wanted to quit.” Veronica was watching him, a charcoal tear trailing down her face. Archie reaches behind him, grasping something, then drops to one knee. “Veronica Lodge, will you marry me?”

“Holy shit!” Betty’s voice broke the silence, causing Jughead to chuckle. Veronica stood silent, tears streaming down her face, smudging her makeup. She had a hand over her mouth, nodding furiously. Archie shot an eyebrow up, confusion all over his face.

“Yes!” Veronica finally shouted, a choked laugh following. Archie smiled huge, standing up and enveloping her in his arms. “100 times yes, Archie. Oh my god.” Archie kissed her then, while Betty whistled, laughing at the two of them from her side of the room.

“Betty?”

Jughead’s voice broke through the noise, Betty turning on her heel, still smiling. Then she halts. Before her is Jughead, down on one knee and navy blue eyes burning bright. A hand comes up to her mouth, strangling the gasp that escapes her closing throat.

“Betts, I don’t have a fancy speech like Archie does, but I just have one question.” He pulls out a tiny box, opening his with a click. Inside is the most beautiful ring Betty’s ever seen, engraved on the side is a J, opposite of that is a B. Tears flow freely down Betty’s cheeks as she inhales sharply. “Elizabeth Cooper, will you marry me?”

“Oh my gosh.” Veronica’s voice rang out, a shrill sound in the silence that followed.

Betty doesn’t respond, just launches herself into his arms, tears flowing quickly as she wraps her arms around his neck. He wraps his arms around her torso easily, holding her tightly. She could hear his small sniffles, indication of his own crying.

She pulls back slightly, leaning back on her knees. “Yes.” His face lit up at the one word, leaning forward to capture her lips in a kiss so full of passion, it was a wonder the whole world didn’t shatter. Betty wrapped her arms around his neck, tangling her hands in his messy hair. His arms came around her waist, pulling her as close as possible. They stayed like that for eternity, or at least it felt like it to them.

Pulling away, out of breath and flushed, Betty leaned her forehead against Jughead’s, biting her lip.

“I love you, Elizabeth Cooper.” She opened her eyes, looking up at him through her lashes.

“Jughead Jones. I love you.”

#Bughead #bughead fanfic #riverdale #riverdale fanfic #betty cooper #jughead jones #archie andrews #veronica lodge #betty x jughead #betty and jughead #bughead fanfiction #riverdale au

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exquisitelyeco · 7 years ago

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On the subject of dad..........

I have spoken a fair bit about my dad. Mostly, if not all, horrible. I only have three or four, at the most, good memories of my dad.

The rest was fear. Stomach dropping terror. Or humiliation. His humour was to hurt, ridicule and belittle, most of the time.

I have said before, on hearing my dad had been in a car crash at 6 or 7 years old, my first though was, ’ Good, dads dead.’ And sadly, that was, many years later the best thing he did to for me. To die. So I could not be hurt, used or abused any more.

Dad is now with God. Would I want him to be in hell? Most of the time! I am still on the journey of forgiveness. And still have, as Yoda said ’ Much anger in her……’

But as much as I want my father either to be in hell, or in the words of Luke skywalker, (should he be in heaven) he would be …..’ on the planet that it’s furthest from….(Me!) I have times I do not want him in hell.

In fact, I am sad. Heartbroken for both him and myself. I feel robbed. Of a father. A man with so much talent it made you sick. I boast not. My father was a genius, literally. Highly intelligent, ambidextrous, amazing with his hands, a carpenter, painter. He was in charge of working plants worth millions. And you did what he said. Immediately. His presence changed the atmosphere.

He could be funny. And he would play with us for hours. Lego. He always was a child at heart. Play mobile, pirate ships. He built us a real chocolate factory from lego once. It actually worked. He made my cat a cat house, with all different shaped windows for him to climb around. He made us a dolls playhouse and an amazing garden swing. He taught us card games. Although this could have been a little misguided. I think what he called fours and threes, may have been poker……

But often the games would end up either in humiliation or trouble. One minute literally everything was ok, then suddenly it changed. And we knew what was coming. There was no changing it. Beatings were coming.

It took me years to realise what was going on. I only realised as an adult. My father was a coke head. That’s why he would flip, suddenly. I knew he smoked grass, and I still remember the day, when he had cancer in hospital, him saying about skag. I came out of the room feeling surreal. My dad was a skag head!!

As well as a raging alcoholic.

Funny as it seems, it was not only the anger, pain or hate that drove him. I don’t believe. Although I had not realised this till I was an adult. It was fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of getting caught. Fear he was hated. Fear he was laughed at. Fear of betrayal. Fear of not being good enough. Fear of failure. Even probably, fear of himself. And this root fuelled a fire that destroyed everything he wanted. His wife and his family. Every relationship he had, literally everyone, was poisoned to one degree or another by his damage.

Fear? In a bully? Yes. Of course. That’s what makes the bully into a bully. So that no one can find out the secret - they are full of fear. They hide it behind hate. That is what drives it. And it ran rampant in our family. I am still dealing with it, as is my sister.

What made him that way? Well, my dad never got over being adopted. Never. His birth mother had an affair with his father. She was married with three other children, she left her husband and children for him. And it must have gone wrong. Because she returned, pregnant to her estranged husband. And he said ‘I’ll take you back. But not the baby.’

So he went to an orphanage. My father inherited Milroys disease from one of his parents. I do not know which ones. It is a lymphatic disease. Actually a mutation of the VEG5 gene. I am part alien……because yes, it is hereditary. It makes your feet look like elephants feet, for one thing. And he hated himself because of it. He thought, for some dumb reason, it meant he had failed. I need to add in humour, Hermoine’s quote, when Harry mounts his broom stick to go after Malfoy. ’ What an idiot……’

He believed nobody wanted him because of his feet. But that was not true. My grandmother adopted him. Actually, she went to court over him, as his birth mother was reluctant to sign him away. So she had to fight for him.

Apparently he loved his dad. I have heard tales of my grandfathers prowess as a man. It appears he was immensely strong. And he died when my dad was 10. His grand papa died either just before or just after. So yet another iron band around the pain of betrayal.

Being abandoned. Then his step sister, Gina, who he was apparently fond of, was taken back to her parents. More locks snapped shut on his heart. And he was already so young.

I say apparently a lot, because I am unsure. I realised, as an adult, my father was a pathological liar. He made up stories that made him feel wanted. And I am unsure of the detail of my grandparents family.

I remember him telling me stories of a cat woman he lived near, who kept loads of cats. In New Zealand, I think. Maybe this was true. But I remember realising It may not be, when I found the same story in a book I was reading….

He said he had brothers. And one was called Frank. In fact, I was told he had sisters. And I figured out Frank, it was the name his best friend was called….

He never forgave women for hurting him. Held them all responsible. Not that he was aware of it. He wasn’t. But he did make sure that the women that got in his way, paid for it. Including his two girl children. My mum was scared of him. Terrified. I remember her telling me once, and I too, have a partial memory of it. Dad was in the kitchen. Being silly, doing the German frog March. He could be really funny like that. And his foot caught the really heavy, huge frying pan, (my father loved large, for some reason….) and it flipped up the pan, in the air, spilling all the cooking sausages, that flew out of the pan. The pan, hot fat and all landed on my mums leg. She must have been in immense pain. It was lucky her leg wasn’t broken. But she told me later, we held our breath, and breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, when he chose to find it funny.

I think he must have been badly bullied as a child. Looking at photos of him, as a young man, he looks sensitive and artistic. He moved for a while to New Zealand, where he smoked and had Mouri tattoos. I loved my dads tattoos. A laughing dog and a sad dog, among them, as well as a tiger on his chest. He got homesick and came home. And at one point, for some reason, dropped off at my mums house. They had never met. She had five sisters. Mum wanted him. She eloped with him.

She was 18. She worshipped him. And he terrified her. His drinking friends made her angry. They took advantage of him, when he was drunk, did daft things.

I don’t know if it is true, but I was told my dad was abused. I can believe it. So he had more reasons for pain. And he not only turned that pain on his wife and children, he turned it on himself.

Drank, took drugs, got into fights. My father was a hard man. The gentle person he should have been was firmly locked up. And he gave nobody the key. Not my mum, not us. Nobody. Nobody got in. He made sure they didn’t.

He was even, at one point, involved with the Mafia. He was very lucky it did not blow up in his face, as it did for his friend……funny thing is, that was when I was 10. Not long before he died, when I was in my middle thirties, he was boasting and laughing about it. But suddenly, when it was time for him to go, the facade slipped, and sheer terror came over his face. If I remember rightly, he asked us to tell no one about it all.

One of the memories I have of him that was good, and is special, is when I was about four. Mum, who was short of money, cos dad drank it, had made some sausages, and stuffed them with stuffing. Dad woke me up at stupid o'clock and we crept down stairs and ate them. Mum was mad. But I remember it. Dad and me, in naughtiness together.

Poor mum. I realise now, how hard it wold have been for her to actually prepare food ahead. (She had her own troubles to contend with, as well as two very young children. One of whom could be very rambunctious….. ) And dad and me ate it. But they were good mum! Sorry!

But mostly it was horror. Dad would make us put our hands on our head. Not like you would normally, with your fingers locked on and slumped on your head. But your fingers upright, in a v shaped, pointing down to your head. It was designed to punish and hurt. And it did.

I remember having to sit in his bedroom, with my hands on my head. Facing away from the window. Suddenly dad was in the room. He had climbed out, onto the window ledge of the first floor and climbed in the bedroom window, just to see if I had moved my hands. Course not. I didn’t dare.

My poor sister was made to hold up a drain one day, whilst he sorted out the sewage. There were huge spiders all over it. But she didn’t dare drop it.

At about three, I remember my sister and I having to carry old bricks from the back of the house to the front. One of the bricks I had, had a thick spiderweb, with a big fat bodied spider. I didn’t dare drop that bloody brick. I was three. Four at the most.

You just didn’t dare.

At three or four, we were having a bath and washing our hair, when my dad came in. He decided we were not allowed to put our head back to wash our hair anymore. We had to go face down in the bath. Straight in. If we didn’t do it willingly, he would force us too. Mum couldn’t say a thing to stop him. But nothing ever stopped my dad, if he didn’t want it to.

Within a short amount of time, my sister and I were showing off to my dad we could do it. That’s how we coped. Made friends with the fear. I did not know what that was called, till a friend, mentoring me, told me. That was water boarding. I was three or four, my sister two or three.

Even now, if I drink a drink of water too fast, or go swimming, for the first half hour, I am scared I will drown, because of putting my head under the water.

It was stuff like that, everyday. More than once a day. It was my life. My dad enjoyed beating us. All his anger, believed failing and hate were given in those beatings to us. We used to compare bruises.

So I learned to hate. Hate made me feel powerful in a world where I had no control. I learned to make friends with fear. Because I had no choice. It was the safest way to survive. I learned to blame and abuse myself, rather than be able to take it out on the person responsible.

My dad so wanted affection, but he couldn’t get it, because of the hate that was in him, it made us shut him out. We feared him. And we hated him. I realise now, he so wanted love and affection. He had been starved of it. But his pain and anger at his betrayal as a baby got in the way. The bitterness he allowed to grow, over this, ultimately killed him. As I said, most of the time, I am glad he is dead. I still hate him at times. But…..if I could say something now, this minute, it would be;

“ Dad, I am so sorry you were so badly betrayed by your biological mum. I am so sorry you felt rejected. I am so sorry the added pain and phycological damage having Milroys disease caused you. I understand dad. Because I have it too. It’s horrible. People stare. And it hurts.

If only you could have trusted me dad. If only you could have let me in. I really would have loved you. I would have been a daddies girl. I would have been everywhere you were. I would never have rejected you. I would never have hated you. On the contrary, I would have loved you so very much.

So your anger and fury and pain robbed both of us. And my sister. And my brother and mum. Because you could not let go of the past, but relished bringing it with you. And by doing that, you destroyed everything that could have loved and helped you. You turned all possibilities to hate and hurt. And who got hurt the most? You did. The rejection you tried so hard to avoid, you caused to happen, again and again and again. I don’t love you at this moment dad. I don’t feel you were my dad. You had no idea of fathering. I can’t even say always, that I hope you are with God. But I can say this: Dad, I wish it had all been different.”

I do not say all this to excuse him. What he did is inexcusable. But because of his damage, some is able to be understood. Even though it was terribly wrong.

Cancer of the oesophagus killed my father. At least that was the medical term. But the cancer was actually bitterness. It had taken root when he was abandoned. Been made bigger with the death of his father and grandfather, and the loss of his foster sister.

But then, though his choices, not to let go, not to let anyone in, it grew. Bigger and bigger. And it consumed him.

When I saw his body, they had to glue his mouth shut. The cancer was coming out of it. He was literally going to spew bitterness.

And now, I hope he has met God. I hope they got on. And I hope now, his pain has been taken away. And he is the person he was meant to be, before all the pain, shame and horror of his life.

I am not ready to see him. I may never be. But if I do, in heaven, then he will be the father I was meant to have. A Gentleman. He always did love proper umbrellas….. I bet if he is actually in heaven, he will be wearing a bowler hat……

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drmarkwrites-blog · 6 years ago

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“HE’S GOT THIS!” (1/2/19)

“When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "LORD, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.” (Matthew 8:1-3 NIV)

You were in trouble, in a tight place financially, emotionally, or spiritually, or maybe you just needed someone to talk to. You did not call the pastor. You did not call the patriarch of the home; the father who often would declare, “This is my house! Nothing happens unless it comes through me!” No, you did not call Papa! Neither did not call the priest. You did not call on your peer who had the reputation of begin a real genius! You were in trouble and in a tight place and you needed someone to hear you out, help you out, give you hope while you while you were on your way out. In most cases, you did not call your oldest sibling; not your only sister or your other brother. You all know what we did! We went straight to Momma! The Spinners had a song that honored a mother and the lyrics included these words, “She’s my favorite girl!” Yes, from the crib to college; from college to our career start; from many dangers and our movement through the stages of life, we called on Momma. I know it’s not Mother’s Day, but the truth has to be told! Last year I might have told you about the time I was running from a charging dog and my father and older brother were within three feet or less. Did I call on them for a rescue? No! I cried out to Momma who was nowhere near. She was few blocks away, at the house! My experience correlates with a message someone just posted a couple of days ago. It had a picture of a mother elephant walking behind her baby elephant with a red umbrella; no concern for her own protection from the rain. The saying embossed in the picture said, “Nobody has your back like your Mama.” Oh she is a great “go to” source, and a place where great wisdom resides, particularly with mothers who knows the Lord! Even if our mothers have gone on home to be with the Lord, her sayings still resonate as a source of counsel and act as a dependable reference source for us! Oh, there were and there are some great Dads too! But when it came to people, the saying on the message is mostly true, “Nobody has your back like your Mama.” That’s why mothers have to make sure they are led by the Lord and not leaning on their own understanding! And fathers, you are not off the hook! Get in the book! However as we have crossed over in the new year, know that there is another Person who you need to depend on, regardless of your dilemma or circumstance! The songwriter made it clear, “Can’t nobody do you like Jesus! Can’t nobody do you like the Lord!” So starting with today, turn everything over to Jesus first! And when friends ask you, “How are you doing to deal with your dilemma? How are you going to combat your circumstance?” You just point to Heaven where the Lord Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the throne of God and reply, “He’s got this!” Hand things over to Him and have a great day!

“When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "LORD," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly." Jesus said to him, "Shall I come and heal him? "The centurion replied, "LORD, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” (Matthew 8: 5-8 NIV)

Still committed to the climb, Mark L. King

#daily #Devotion #meditation #bible verse #Scripture

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adambstingus · 6 years ago

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Gentrification X: how an academic argument became the people’s protest

In the first of a special series on the impact of gentrification on cities around the world, Dan Hancox meets victims and beneficiaries of this highly emotive issue and finds that the anger is real, and resistance is coming to a head

When Amal had stopped crying, she apologised. I wake up so sick, you know? I have to go to study but I feel so sick. A victim of domestic violence and now a single mother, she lives with her three young children in grimy temporary accommodation in Tooting, south London. She was telling me that Wandsworth council, which has a legal obligation to house the family, tried sending them to a rented flat on the outskirts of Newcastle, then suggested West Bromwich. Shed never heard of either place. I said to them, I already told you, I have a job interview in London, I am studying in London, my children are at school in London, my ex-husband visits every week to help with the children.

West Bromwich, the council insisted, was her last chance. Otherwise she would be declared intentionally homeless, and be put out with her young children on the street. They said, just one option: West Bromwich. If I said no, they wouldnt give me another chance.

This was one London councils response to the housing crisis to spend £5m on properties for their poorer families, hundreds of miles away, while across the borough, the Meccano scaffolds rose up for the £15bn development of Nine Elms, where most flats will cost more than £1m.

The same year I met Amal, in 2014, on the other side of London the now notorious Focus E15 Mums were stepping up their campaign to remain in the city where theyd been born. Nine billion pounds on the Olympics and theyre telling us and our babies we have to go live in Hastings, lamented 19-year-old Adora Chilaisha during their occupation of East Thames housing association offices, as the hokey cokey played out in the background. Theres no way Im going anywhere, she said. My boy Desean is one, and I dont want him to grow up away from his family, from his home. I dont know anyone in Hastings.

An elderly man walks past a regeneration project hoarding in Elephant & Castle, London. Photograph: Richard Baker/In Pictures/Corbis

Two years later, both Amal and Adora and their children are still in London after a long and exhausting struggle against the authorities to simply stay where they are. Meanwhile, those same authorities prostrate themselves before luxury property developers, Chinese business conglomerates and buy-to-let rentiers.

Gentrification is an intensely emotive issue with almost endless potential for argument. That shouldnt be in the least bit surprising it speaks to fundamental questions of home, identity and community, how those places define us, and how we define them. The process of displacement of societys poorest members is, of course, not a new thing. You can trace it back centuries, to a time when there was a literal gentry responsible for social cleansing; when the bailiffs were on horseback and artisanal was a descriptor of a pre-industrial social class, rather than vogueish hipster branding.

Nonetheless, there is something of the zeitgeist about gentrification. Until a few years ago, only academic geographers and housing campaigners used the term. In recent years, however, the subject has entered the mainstream, and the word has become increasingly ubiquitous in what seems like almost every city across the world. But it is not only the debate that has intensified: opposition to gentrification is rapidly becoming less marginal, and more organised. While it is easy to locate historical rent strikes and neighbourhood uprisings to what you might call gentrification avant la lettre, for the first time, gentrification itself is a serious point of political contention and resistance.

The tipping point in the UK came last autumn, when members of Class Wars so-called Fuck Parade, flaming torches in hand, daubed SCUM on the windows of east Londons quintessential hipster cafe, Cereal Killer. The restaurant was already castigated by Channel Four News for serving £4 bowls of cereal in a borough in which thousands of poor families cant afford to feed their children. Although several people, myself included, argued that the bearded cereal entrepreneurs were hardly gentrifications true villains, the news was reported around the world not just as a riot that launched a thousand hot takes, but as the expression of a rising tide of anger. The issue had leaped into the mainstream.

The Cereal Killer Cafe in protest in Shoreditch, London. Photograph: @jamieosman

Last month, the pre-Christmas episode of This American Life featured an astonishing segment about a San Francisco dad going to see his six-year-old daughter in her school play, and discovering that the entire show was a fierce polemic against the malign influence of tech companies making the city a sterile playground for the rich. The play culminates in a huge demonstration outside city hall, with the young children holding placards reading resistance = love of community and singing that the city is not for sale.

So why now? The short answer is demand and supply: demand for well-positioned urban space is higher than ever, while the supply of housing options for the urban poor, and the strength and willingness of the state to provide them, is weaker than in decades. In urban policy, we are witnessing the triumph of the market and the capitulation of the state. If an area becomes desirable to those with money regardless if it was hitherto undesirable or dominated by public housing then sooner or later, the wealthy will get what they want. The problem, said Yolande Barthes from Savills estate agents at a Guardian Live debate last month, is the area of London that people want to live in hasnt expanded at the same rate as the population.

As Londons affordable housing crisis deepens spurred by the collapse of new social housing construction, and the sale of hundreds of thousands more social flats under right-to-buy the galvanisation of the British capitals local communities has been astonishing. This customised Google Map, created by Action East End, drops pins on the map for each hyper-local campaign. From Save Chrisp Street Market in the east to Save Portobello Road Market in the west, the campaigns many formed only in the last year range from demands to protect existing social housing, to protests against new luxury flat developments or against the destruction of community assets such as much-loved markets, nurseries, pubs and small businesses. At the time of writing, there are 53 different campaigns.

Focus E15 Mums fought eviction from the Carpenters Estate. Photograph: Jess Hurd/Guardian

One is Reclaim Brixton, who formed in March 2015 in opposition to the rapidly accelerating gentrification of the south London area. Co-founder Cyndi Anafos mother used to run a Ghanaian grocery in the covered market that has recently been rebranded Brixton Village, a target destination for food tourists and wealthy Londoners. Via social media, Anafo and friends arranged meetings, leading to a carnival-cum-demonstration in Brixton town centre that drew thousands and attracted widespread national media attention. For about 20 years its been on the edge of gentrification, Anafo says. But the last five or six years its all come to the fore Reclaim Brixton came about chiefly through frustration.

While the transformation of Brixton is visible in the proliferation of more expensive shops, bars and restaurants, and the influx of a non-resident, affluent demographic visiting places like Champagne + Fromage, Anafo is clear that the cultural and commercial changes are not the main event. It all comes down to housing, she says. Being a kind of accidental activist, and getting to know all the existing housing groups, made me realise the severity of the situation on the ground in Brixton, meeting people who are on eviction lists. People moan about particular types of businesses or shops, or estate agents like Foxtons, but my feeling is that rent stabilisation is something that could help everyone.

Last June, Berlin made headlines when it began enforcing rent controls for all, limiting landlords to charging new tenants more than 10% above the local average. The previous year rents had gone up by more than 9%. We dont want a situation like in London or Paris, said Reiner Wild of the Berlin Tenants Association. Such strident legislation to protect poorer citizens does not just drop out of the sky, of course. It emerges from a history of equally robust civic campaigning on housing, gentrification and the right to the city.

The Tacheles in Berlin was formed in the 1990s as a squat by artists seeking to save the building from demolition. It closed in 2012. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty

Nottingham University geographer Alex Vasudevan, author of a recent book on the subject, Metropolitan Preoccupations, says Berlin is in a sense diametrically different from London its a very poor city, where wages are one-third lower than its western German neighbours. In the wake of unification Berlin has seen waves of gentrification, while remaining very poor by German standards, says Vasudevan. Before the fall of the wall, there were subsidies given to squatters to renovate buildings, and they would be legalised as a result a kind of compromise. But that programme ended in 2002, and since the wall came down Berlin has become this laboratory of neoliberal urban governance.

As in London, Vasudevan says, funding for social housing collapsed, and simultaneously thousands of what used to be social housing properties were privatised. Berlin tried to become a financial centre. It failed. So then they went with the whole creative city agenda, or at least a version of it, connected with touristification and this kind of Airbnb urbanism. Theres a great Aibrnb map of Kreuzberg: until recently there was only one property in that neighbourhood that was available on the normal rental market everything else was Airbnb.

Grassroots resistance in Berlin has revolved mostly around very local geographies, such as saving one particular building, park, housing project, or even fighting the eviction of a much-loved Turkish grocery store. Nonetheless, Vasudevan explains that each victory has galvanised the city as a whole, and made gentrification even more of a common talking point than it is in London. The challenge now has been scaling up, making connections, and sharing information between neighbourhoods, and even internationally.

Theyve managed to get the rent cap by just being incredibly well-organised, and absolutely dogged and they are also good at talking to each other. You have local working-class Germans who remained in Kreuzberg, and Turkish migrants collaborating; so everything is written in both German and Turkish, theyre all networked.

The gigantic crocheted tribute to Wes Anderson which appeared at Bushwick Flea Market in Brooklyn. Photograph: London Kaye

Theyre also talking to the Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH) in Spain, the grassroots group whose phenomenal success of blocking thousands of evictions propelled its spokeswoman, Ada Colau, to become mayor of Barcelona. Spains housing crisis has been so destructive that the PAHs use of community self-organisation and support, and direct action to block evictions, has been copied across the world. Ive seen Spanish parents in tears in PAH meetings, being comforted by their foreign-born (often Latin American) neighbours, before rallying to take on the banks trying to evict them. Ive also seen Sí Se Puede, the PAH documentary, screened to housing activists in London. The international sharing of both tactics and inspiration highlights globalisations double-edged sword: property developers and investors may be operating simultaneously in Berlin, London and Barcelona, but the people resisting gentrification in these cities are beginning to network themselves, too.

What remains to be seen is whether campaigning against gentrification will grow into any city-wide protests. Certainly, the G word has been tapped as the new culprit for a lot of urban tensions emerging from the influx of younger, whiter, wealthier people into city cores. After a yarn-bombing artist, with the support of the hipster Brooklyn Flea market, put up a 15ft crochet homage to Wes Anderson on the exterior wall of his family home in Bushwick without asking for permission, New Yorker Will Giron wrote: Gentrification has gotten to the point where every time I see a group of young white millennials in the hood my heart starts racing and a sense of anxiety starts falling over me.

***

The argument that gentrification represents a kind of urban neocolonialism is hard to miss. Spike Lee made it clear with his viral rant against Christopher Columbus syndrome in Brooklyn. Indeed, after decades of white flight to the US suburbs, since 2010 American cities have seen increases in white populations. Protests in 2014 targeted Microsofts corporate shuttle buses in Seattle; not only did they raise rents, went the argument, they didnt integrate, adding to social tensions in a city where working-class African-Americans were being pushed out. That same year, a video went viral of (older, whiter) Dropbox employees trying to get rid of mostly Latino young people from a football pitch in San Franciscos Mission district. (The Latinos protested, and won.)

It is surely the higher-profile, less sensitive invasions that get the headlines, but they speak to a deeper malaise of newly arriving communities with no interest in connecting with the existing populations they are displacing. Dont let the door hit you on the way out, they seem to say.

The Strata tower in Elephant & Castle, London. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

Inevitably, the rise of anti-gentrification sentiment and action has provoked a counter-attack, either to defend the process or deny it exists. Critics of gentrification romanticise working-class poverty, goes the main line of argument. They hate change, and fetishise urban decrepitude. Dont you want the area to look nice? Dont you want poor people to have better lives? Giles Coren characterised anti-gentrifiers last year as middle-aged, middle-class dinosaurs who are determined to keep London shitty. Why? A mixture, he said, of aesthetics, nostalgia and condescension: Snobs [who] like the thought of people less well off than themselves scoffing rubbish [food], so they can keep on looking down at them for it.

This shit but real versus polished but soulless dichotomy was borne out in Hackney in London in 2009, when the boroughs mayor, Jules Pipe, condemned opponents of regeneration for wanting to keep Hackney crap prompting a tongue-in-cheek campaign proposing to do exactly that. The sad irony is that local community groups calling for positive state intervention to regenerate a local area for example, to make a local park safer, improve litter collection or fix transport will often have to wait for the area to become more affluent and desirable before those changes will take place. And in a grim example of the law of unintended consequences, where urban communities dosucceed in changing their neighbourhood for the better, the result is often higher rents, more interest from developers, and the gradual displacement of the very people who forced those changes into being.

Another argument used against anti-gentrification campaigns is that they are fighting a force of nature. Gentrification is a process as old as time itself, and you may as well just protest against the changing of the seasons. There is a tendency, as with anything, for older, more experienced commentators to take a puff on their pipe and remark, Oh you hot-heads, do you think any of this is new? This kind of response, while containing some truth, is often used to stifle action. This has all happened before carries with it an unstated corollary, … and is thus an organic, inevitable and inexorable process and, presumably, since we are both standing here today having this discussion, with all of our limbs intact, and roofs over our head, not an especially harmful one.

It is true that the feared mass exodus of poorer residents from inner London since the Conservatives introduced the bedroom tax and benefit caps has not occurred. Anecdotal evidence from charities and food banks suggests many are staying, paying more rent and just getting poorer. But the numbers of those forced out are still increasing substantially. Many people who are placed in temporary accommodation in outer London and deal with some horrendous conditions, jars of bugs and all are travelling enormous distances to work or school. Perhaps the most dramatic single visualisation of how gentrification is changing our cities is this map of the displacement of former residents of Elephant & Castles substantial social housing project, the Heygate Estate.

As the critic Jonathan Meades wrote in 2006: Privilege is centripetal. Want is centrifugal in the future, deprivation, crime and riots will be comfortably confined to outside the ring road.

The architects of gentrification are extremely careful not to talk about it. Given the word was coined by a Marxist, and is most often used by opponents of the property industry, this is good common sense on their part. When in 2014 I was asked to interview a property developer about gentrification, I worked through seven or eight before I found one willing to return my calls. Though I was careful not to scare them off by uttering the G word, their PR departments were too good at obfuscating until someone at property giant Bouygues Development agreed to speak.

Richard Fagg, deputy managing director, was neither hostile nor evasive, but still chose his words carefully. He denied that their building of expensive new blocks of flats would lead to any displacement. Instead, he suggested that poorer areas would benefit from becoming blended communities.

In the poor parts of London where weve been working in the past, they have been and I use this term politely but they have been social enclaves, Fagg said. No one buys homes there, because your money will probably depreciate. But thats changing. So hopefully, the likes of where were working in Barking, people are taking their hard-earned cash, investing it in a mortgage, buying a property because there youre getting good capital growth over time in the future. Yes, its starting at a low base. But youre going to get good growth, because the whole area is changing. Its not gentrification. Its just becoming a more balancedcommunity.

Fagg was not factually wrong about the demographic composition of London areas such as Barking, north Peckham or Elephant & Castle. In fact, many are concerned that whats happening to the Heygate Estate in Elephant & Castle will become an example that is replicated in the years to come. As the 1950s and 1960s tower blocks reach the end of their life a decline hastened by years of disinvestment and failure to address poverty one popular development model says they should be demolished and replaced with mixed use developments. Social problems are supposedly reduced if you dont have enclaves.

Simon Elmer from Architects for Social Housing points to Andrew Adoniss report City Villages: More Homes, Better Communities, which is the basis for Conservative housing plans, embodied in the housing bill currently going through parliament. The report recommends recategorising all social housing estates as brownfield land. In greater London, that amounts to 3,500 estates, 360,000 homes and more than one million people. The concern, says Elmer in a paper entitled The London Clearances, is that these ageing estates will be demolished and replaced with the same mix of luxury flats and affordable housing that have cropped up in Elephant Park, the new private development being built in place of the Heygate, and in which a two-bedroom flat will set you back £659,000. This past weekend David Cameron gave further shape to this plan when he announced a blitz on poverty, suggesting the demolition of sink estates in favour of more homes for private rent.

A protester smashes the front window of the Foxtons estate agency in Brixton. Photograph: Pierre Alozie/Demotix/Corbis

The property industry, meanwhile, has become markedly more sophisticated in how it readies the ground for demographic transformation, by engineering the change in atmosphere that will draw in young creatives to a new area. (Again, the colonial language is always bubbling just under the surface.) Sometimes this is called place-making, and amounts to extravagant marketing exercises that seek to brand (or rebrand) an area, to follow in the footsteps of the advertising industry and sell not just a product, the bricks and mortar, but an entire aspirational lifestyle.

We dont think its good enough to build a lovely flat, anyone can build a lovely flat anywhere, Fagg told me. From the very first moment, even before seeking planning permission, marketing is at the heart of your strategy. What are you offering over and above every London borough, every other developer? Particularly in London, when everyone is competing for your hard-earned capital to invest in their new location? In some cases, place-making has meant going to extraordinary lengths: in poor parts of Harlem, estate agents bought up vacant street-front commercial properties and opened four trendy coffee shops, in an unabashed attempt to instigate gentrification themselves.

Newham council released a promotional video, Regeneration Supernova, to encourage development in the borough.

It isnt the most flashy cultural manifestations of gentrification, the cereal cafes and the hipster baristas, who are the most influential actors in this process. Indeed, they are a distraction from where the most important decisions are taken. It is often the less glamorous and headline-grabbing developments, such as the granting of planning permission, the cynical redefining of affordable housing to mean 80% of market rate (it used to be more like 50%), the payment of cash to struggling councils by developers wishing to avoid their legal section 106 requirement to build affordable housing, or the eviction of poor families with no access to the media, that go under the radar, and where the real pain of gentrification resides.

Saying that, the cultural manifestations of gentrification do matter. It is partly about symbolism, about a change in atmosphere that tells poorer residents that, soon, they will no longer belong. Or, in areas with an explosion of attractive bars and clubs, it is about the behaviour of the new arrivals; where that sense of belonging is indirectly seized from poorer families by revellers, students and nightlife tourists who drunkenly smash their beer bottles on the pavement.

A new independent boutique coffee shop may be benign in itself, but does it help usher in a new clientele to the area, even as a bridge-and-tunnel, just-visiting crowd? Will other hipster businesses follow suit? Will this surge lead to a buzz, to press coverage in newspapers aimed at middle-classes with the money to buy property, or help to entice buy-to-let landlords, property developer interest, and estate agents revaluation? Does this then entice bigger chain shops and cafes, lead to small businesses closing and rents rising? As the hugely telling place-making videos make abundantly clear, for the money-men, a proliferation of art galleries, hipsters and small independent businesses are a great sign. Indeed, for the sharper investors, by the time Starbucks arrives, youre already too late.

***

Last year I saw standup comedian Liam Williams tell a joke which went broadly as follows: Everyones talking about gentrification at the moment, and I can understand why. But its a difficult one, isnt it? There are so many pros and cons. On the one hand, your local area is nicer, safer, cleaner, there are cool new shops and cafes and bars to go to. But on the downside, you have to feel guilty about it.

A man makes coffee at a boutique cafe in Brixton. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

It was delivered sardonically, undoubtedly tongue-in-cheek, but was also a useful pointer to white, liberal, middle-class feeling. It was also an unintended guide to what we talk about when we talk about gentrification that the filter for the media conversation remains depressingly narrow. The rise in volume of media coverage of gentrification in Britain has not been accompanied by a rise in awareness that minority citizens are more likely to be victims of displacement. The neighbourhoods on the receiving end of racial profiling and stop-and-search by police, or aggressive raids by border agents, are the same ones transforming into places ready to have the word village added to their name. For every story about the Focus E15 mums there have been two more along the lines of Im middle-class and even Im being pushed out of London.

Hard though it clearly is for them to believe, gentrification is not about newspaper columnists who want a bigger garden having to move to zone three. It is about people like Maria, a single mum of three forced out of Westminster into damp, cold, asthma-inducing temporary accommodation in Haringey. Although she is pregnant and has back problems, when I met her Maria was taking her kids on the 90-minute, three-bus journey back to their school in Westminster every morning, just to retain a modicum of stability. She would then spend the day sitting, penniless, in Westfield shopping centre, to keep warm.

At other times there is a risk of chauvinism and outright xenophobia. Anti-gentrification artist Gram Hilleard had his sardonic postcards featured in the Observer last year, and in an accompanying interview lamented that his family had been in the same area of London for the last 200 years, but now the indigenous Londoners have been moved out. Its not only suspect to talk about indigenous people in a major cosmopolitan city, its also a misunderstanding of what a city like London has always been.

Today, more than 300 languages are spoken and 36.7% of the population were born overseas; the proportion of people who can claim their family have been in the same area of any major city for 200 years continuously must be microscopically small. Legitimate coverage of super-rich Qatari, Chinese or Emirati investors buying up high-end properties in London and then leaving them empty can easily be taken out of proportion, and spill over into the misguided notion that the problem is wealthy foreigners, not wealthy investors. But what about our plucky homegrown rentiers, not to mention those granting planning permission to luxury flats and hotels rather than concentrating on building genuinely affordable homes?

Gentrification is a viscerally emotive subject. People take it incredibly personally. As the debate grows louder, fingers will be pointed wildly in every direction. I think I first noticed gentrification, before Id ever heard the word, when the branch of the discount supermarket Iceland in Balham, where I grew up in the 1980s, closed and was replaced by an organic supermarket called As Nature Intended.

In my childhood, this part of London wasnt particularly one thing or the other; neither particularly posh nor poor, central but not that central, mixed by race and class and age, the kind of area that thrived precisely because it didnt have a particularly clear identity. A couple of years after the organic supermarket opened, I saw a property advert on the tube that had created annoying alliterative couplets out of different London place names. Balham was Bankers Balham. I have rarely felt so ashamed. But I also know that none of this is at all important, in the scheme of things that places change, and they should change, and getting a bit sentimental about the fact you cant go home again is part of growing up.

The challenge for the citizens of the 21st century is to decouple this kind of personal sentiment from the generally unheard or ignored stories of displacement and suffering, from the resounding triumph of private profit in civic life over everything else trampling, in particular, the idea that shelter and the right to the city ought to be fundamental human rights. Gentrification is becoming one of the defining issues of our age.

As rich and poor people alike continue to flock to cities like London, Berlin and San Francisco, either for work or a better quality of life, the controversies will only intensify and multiply. Apologists for gentrification can continue to pretend a city is a force of nature, and displacement of poor people from their homes just ripples on the tide, but the rising popular sentiment against social cleansing is not merely a fabrication of leftwing activists, academics or journalists. The anger is real, and the determination to resist is growing.

Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter and Facebook and join the discussion

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/gentrification-x-how-an-academic-argument-became-the-peoples-protest/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/181391054767

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gethealthy18-blog · 6 years ago

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2018 Ultimate Holiday Gift Giving Guide (For Everyone on Your List!)

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/news/2018-ultimate-holiday-gift-giving-guide-for-everyone-on-your-list/

2018 Ultimate Holiday Gift Giving Guide (For Everyone on Your List!)

I don’t know about you, but this time of year can be a little hectic for me! With Thanksgiving, Christmas, and several family birthdays, there is a lot to plan and a lot of gifts to wrap. We try to stick to experiences instead of stuff as much as possible (here are some of my best ideas), especially with our own kids, but also usually give one physical gift per family member.

Also, for extended family and close friends that we don’t live close enough to share experiences with, we send small gifts as well. I know it seems early, but I try to get my shopping done now so that I can savor and enjoy the holidays while knowing gifts are already wrapped!

This holiday gift guide is a compilation of the best gifts we’ve ever received and the ones that are favorites to give. As much as possible, all these gifts are eco-friendly and limit plastic whenever possible. They are also natural, organic, and health-promoting.

My Natural + Eco-Friendly Gift Giving Guide!

I’ve included my favorite gifts for every member of the family, age group, and interest level, so keep scrolling if you need ideas for a specific family member. They go in rough age order (adults down to babies) and then special interest gift ideas are below that (for the chef, the grandparents, white elephant gifts, etc).

Important: Please note that many of the links in this guide are affiliate links. This means that if you purchase through these links, the price will be the same for you and I’ll receive a small commission that helps support my blog and my family. Many thanks!

Gifts for Mom (That She Won’t Just Pretend She Loves)

As a kid, we always got my mom new kitchen gear and equipment as gifts. I remember feeling a little guilty because my brother and I got toys and fun gifts, and I always thought she got the short end of the stick just getting kitchen items that she used for us. Then, I became a mom myself and developed a love for cooking, and now I get just as excited about new kitchen essentials. This list includes some of the best practical gifts for moms, as well as some pampering and relaxing ones!

Amazon Prime Membership – Get free 2-day shipping on many items, plus free streaming music and movies.

or Real Plans Membership – My biggest time saver – this plans all of my meals and shopping lists and can handle allergies, bulk prep day and more!

Shiatsu Massage Pillow – Seriously rivals an actual massage for half the price!

Hydroflask Water Bottle – The water bottle I use that keeps water cool (or hot) for days!

Complete Facial Kit – Amazing facial oil with the highest quality ingredients and no junk!

RTIC Tumbler – Great for hot or cold drinks.

Wake-up Light Gentle Alarm Clock – Wake up gently to gradual light and sound

Himalayan Salt Lamp – Soothing warm orange glow at night from these beautiful lamps.

Blue Blocker Glasses – I wear these after dark for better sleep (some studies show that avoiding blue light after dark helps melatonin levels).

Sleep Master Sleep Mask – Great for travel – a sleep mask that is actually comfortable!

10,000 Lux Happy Light – Feel blue in the winter? I use this super-bright light to keep my cortisol levels healthy.

Anything Le Creuset – Incredible (but pricey) dishes. I’ve been collecting a few pieces over the years and resisting the urge to buy it all!

Microwaveable Slippers – Does someone you love always get cold? These slippers have microwaveable pads that stay warm.

Dry Brush – Brushing isn’t just for hair and teeth. Brushing skin can help it stay smooth, supple, and may improve collagen.

Low EMF Hair Dryer – Did you know that hairdryers produce a lot of EMFs?

French Press Coffee Maker – Make wonderful coffee with this classic method.

Instant Pot – Revolutionize dinner! This electric pressure cooker makes roasts in about an hour and turns tough cuts of meat into deliciously tender meals.

Grown-up Coloring Book and Markers – Coloring isn’t for kids anymore and studies show it may reduce stress levels. Try a “grown-up coloring book.”

Kokomo Cream Organic Deodorant – This natural deodorant smells like the tropics and lasts for months.

A good book – Just off the top of my head… maybe The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox or The Wellness Mama Cookbook? 🙂 Ok, I’m biased, but it’s a great way to have all of the best recipes and health hacks on the site at your fingertips.

Blackout Curtains – Even a little light can interfere with sleep quality. We use blackout curtains to keep our room really dark.

Wine Bottle Tiki Torch – Upcycle old wine bottles with these adorable tiki-torch kits.

Gifts for Dad (No Ties or PJs on This List)

I’ve always had the most difficult time finding good gifts for the men in my life, especially my husband. He has incredibly high standards for products and prefers really high-quality items that last forever. These have been some of his favorite gifts in recent years and they might be perfect for the guys on your list too. (Also, check the lists below for more specific ideas for dads who travel a lot or who love the outdoors!)

Magnetic Wrist Band – Holds nails and screws for the handyman!

Fire Starter Kit – Useful tool to start fires without matches or a lighter.

Blue Blocking Glasses -These glasses help reduce eye fatigue from computers and reduce blue light for better sleep.

Lifestraw or Sawyer Water Filter – Survival water filter that fits in your pocket.

Comfy Slippers – My husband loves these slippers he got a couple of years ago.

Heat Proof BBQ Gloves – For the man who likes to grill, these gloves will protect his hands.

Smart Wool Socks – Warm but not sweaty and they keep feet dry. Great for hiking or everyday use.

Surefire Flashlight – High quality and super bright pocket flashlight.

Wine Aerator – Pour wine through this to improve flavor.

30-day Lantern for Camping – A really long lasting lantern for the outdoorsman who loves to camp.

Esse 3 Knife – Really high-quality multi-use knife.

Saddleback Leather Wallet – This wallet has a 100-year warranty!! (yes, really!)

Quality Shaving Kit OR Beard Oil– Great options for the clean-shaven or bearded man in your life!

RTIC Insulated Tumbler – This insulated large mug keeps things cold for up to 24 hours and hot for up to 12.

Hydroflask Insulated Water Bottle – Insulated water bottle that keeps water cold for days.

Backjoy Seat – Does your guy sit a lot? This may help improve posture and alleviate tension in the back.

Defender Phone Case or Tablet Case – Protect him from EMFs when using electronics.

Tactical Pen – More than just a pen, it works in all conditions and can break a car window if a person is trapped.

ENO Hammock – Portable hammock that fits in a small bag and is great for travel and camping.

Tactical Backpack – For the outdoorsman, this bag holds everything he could need.

Tool Pen – Available in hex and mini-tools for easy use.

Whiskey Stones – Freeze these rocks to use in place of ice in drinks “on the rocks.”

Gifts for Older Kids & Teens

My older kids have gotten harder to shop for, but these gifts all got their seal of approval!

Buddha Board – A relaxing way to paint with just water (it evaporates and you can paint again).

Leather Journal – A beautiful leather journal for sketching or journaling.

Japanese Puzzle Box – These beautiful puzzle boxes are a unique way for older kids to keep valuable items safe and fun to learn.

Rubix Cube (or Giant Rubix Cube) – The 1980s called, but we told it we are keeping the Rubix Cube. Older kids love learning to solve this.

Star Wars Legos – Popular among big kids and teens with dozens to choose from.

Build Your Own Programmable Robot Kit – A favorite with my oldest. Build a robot and program it!

Grown-Up Coloring Books – Coloring isn’t just for little kids anymore. These “adult coloring books” are very detailed and studies show that coloring is relaxing.

Boogie Board – Reusable board that encourages doodling and drawing.

Kindle Fire – An affordable tablet with a lot of capabilities.

Runaway Alarm Clock – Does your teen have trouble waking up? This alarm clock runs away and keeps making noise until caught!

Natural Makeup Brushes – If your teen is old enough to wear makeup, these natural brushes are great!

Power Cube Wall Adapter – Surge protector and charges multiple devices at once.

Collapsible Duffel Bag – Great bag for short trips that collapses to a tiny size.

Minnetonka Chrissy Boots (for teenage girls) – Super comfy boots!

Cash inside a Money Maze Puzzle Box – Give money so they can get what they like, but make it fun by hiding it inside this puzzle cube.

No Crease Ponytail Holders – These are really popular right now. They are gentle on hair and don’t leave a crease!

Travel Hammock – Have an outdoorsy teen? These travel hammocks collapse small and are awesome.

Pocket Strings Guitar – A fun way to learn guitar! Fits easily in a backpack.

Gift Ideas for Younger Kids

There are certainly the most options to choose from when looking for gifts for children, but I’ve found that many are lower-quality plastic items that break easily and release harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals into the home or that only facilitate one activity. These are a few of the gifts I’ve found in recent years that have survived the durability test of our house and that the children have enjoyed the most:

Gym 1 Indoor Doorway Gym – Our kids’ favorite Christmas gift of all time. It is a gym that mounts in a door frame and they use it every day.

Snap Circuits – Really neat kit that lets kids learn about electricity by building different types of basic machines like a fan, a radio, etc.

Art Kit – A favorite among our girls. This kit contains markers, paints, colored pencils, and more.

Seedling Wooden People kit – Kids can create mini wooden people.

Mini Trampoline for Indoor Play – We’ve had a trampoline in our house for years and it is great for cold or rainy days. Rebounding (bouncing) is also great for adults!

Wooden Twig Colored Pencils – Wooden colored pencils made from twigs. Good size for younger kids just learning to write and draw.

Wooden People and Craft Supplies – Our kids loved making their own little wooden dolls with these.

Plasma Car – Our little kids love these and they are great for kids of all sizes.

Natural Paints – Made from natural earth pigments.

Design Your Own Superhero Cape – A fun activity that encourages creativity and is great for imaginative play.

Microscope Kit – My oldest loved looking at hair, dirt, and all kind of other things in this microscope.

Crayon Rocks – Portable and fun for littles who still have trouble with regular crayons.

Or Beeswax Crayons – Triangular crayons made of natural beeswax.

Doll House – Fits Barbie size dolls and other smaller dolls.

Stainless Steel Play Kitchen Pots and Pans – My daughters play kitchen with these for hours!

Beginner Piano Keyboard (and free Hoffman Academy Lessons) – These are a great way to get the kids started with music.

Boogie Board – A reusable writing tablet that encourages creativity.

Sun Art – Fun educational craft idea that kids love.

Kendama Game – Fun interactive game that encourages movement.

Gifts for Babies (and Expecting Parents)

There are literally thousands of options for gifts for babies, but many of them contain endocrine disrupting plastics or will just never get used. With over a decade of parenting and six kids, these are the gifts, toys, and gear that made the cut for us.

Pregnancy Affirmation Cards – I love these sweet cards that encourage pregnant moms!

Organic Mattress Cover – Protect baby from mold and allergens in mattresses.

Organic Cotton Crib Sheet – Soft organic sheet for crib.

Organic Muslin Swaddling Blankets – My favorite blankets that are perfect for swaddling or nursing.

Snot Sucker – Not as gross as it sounds and a lifesaver if baby is sick!

Baby Bouncer – This bouncer actually bounces! Rock with a foot to keep baby asleep.

Food Grade Silicone Fruit Teethers – A favorite with my 9-month-old!

Hape Wooden Toys – I love these high-quality wooden toys!

Ergo Organic Baby Carrier – A great organic baby carrier that is comfortable for mom or dad too!

Sophie the Giraffe – This teething toy has a passionate following with the under-one-year crowd!

Fleece Newborn Booties – Babies always manage to lose socks, but these stay on and keep toes warm!

Manhattan Toys Rattle and Clutching Toy – Little ones love this engaging wooden toy.

Natural Rubber Orthodontic Pacifier – For babies who will take a pacifier, try this natural rubber option.

Baltic Amber Teething Necklace – May help soothe teething pain.

Manhattan Toys Circle Toy – A beautiful and fun toy that baby love to play with.

Natural Rubber Teething Toy – The only toy my baby prefers to my finger when teething gets bad.

Organic Cotton Teether – An organic cotton and wood teething toy option.

Shea Moisture Baby Wash and Lotion – Fabulous smelling baby wash and lotion without the junk!

Animalz Wooden Animal Toys – Adorable and durable wooden animal toys.

Gifts for the Chef or Foodie

Does someone in your life love to cook (or eat)? These gifts make spending time in the kitchen so much fun!

Stainless Steel Coffee Percolator – No plastic, no junk, just awesome coffee that stays warm for hours in this all-stainless percolator.

Blendtec or Vitamix – both are amazing blenders that will last for years!

Stainless Steel Immersion Blender – Great for sauces, smoothies, blending things in a pot or pan and so much more.

Yogurt Maker – Homemade yogurt tastes so much better than store bought and is simple to make.

Ice Cream Maker – Make any kind of ice cream: dairy-free, sugar-free, etc.

Lead-free Crock Pot – A great slow cooker with a lead-free crock.

Instant Pot – This electric pressure cooker has almost replaced our slow cooker and I use it at least three times a week.

Crinkle Cutter – So the kids can help cut food for meals.

Stainless Steel Bowls – Great for mixing, serving, and storage.

Spiral Slicer – Make vegetables into noodles with this spiral slicer.

Stainless Steel Straws – Replace disposable straws forever with these steel straws.

Huck Towels – Similar to the towels they use in emergency rooms… these towels are super absorbent, great for cleaning and easy to wash.

Mason Jars + Cuppow Lids + Sprouting Lids – Use mason jars for cups and the opportunities are endless.

Kombucha Brewing Supplies – Do you drink kombucha? If so, do you make your own? It is so much better and the flavors are endless.

Dehydrator – Preserve foods with a stainless steel dehydrator.

Xtrema Cookware – Scratch-proof ceramic pans.

Bamboo Utensils – These inexpensive bamboo utensils are great for cooking.

Stainless Steel Large Baking Dish – These have been a lifesaver when cooking for large get-togethers with family and friends.

Glass Electric Tea Kettle – Make tea in seconds with this glass electric tea kettle.

Salt Block for Cooking – I love cooking fish, meat and even baked goods on a salt block for amazing flavor.

Premium Milk Frother – If you want to spring for an unusual (and more pricey) gift, this milk frother makes coffee shop worthy froth for coffee.

Organic Spice Set – These super high-quality organic spices (from my favorite olive oil makers) are beautifully packaged and come in ready-made blends like Smoky, Tex-Mex, Savory, Taco, Bagel, and more to make flavorful cooking easy.

Gift Ideas for the Grandparents

Our parents both live nearby and are involved in our kids’ lives. I always struggle with what to get them that somehow says “thanks for everything you did for me all of those years and thanks for being just as awesome with my kids.” We usually give them something handmade from the grandkids, but these are some other ideas that have been a hit. (Some of these are also ideas for this year, so Mom, if you’re reading this … don’t read past here. 😉 )

Amazon Prime Membership – What my parents are getting this year (don’t tell them!). This gives them free 2-day shipping on many items and free streaming of many movie and music.

Photo Frame – This photo frame was a hit a few years ago with our parents. No fancy motion detectors, wi-fi, bluetooth or anything else that can stop working.

Kindle Fire – My brother got my mom a Kindle a couple of years ago and she uses it quite a bit.

Terracotta Plant Waterer – Perhaps not the most fancy of gifts, but very practical for anyone with house plants (I just ordered some). It upcycles a glass bottle to water a plant for weeks.

Wine Subscription – If your parents are wine-drinkers, they will love this wine subscription box of organic biodynamic wines.

Royally Flawless Face Oil – Ditch all the overpriced anti-aging creams out there. This oil uses high-quality ingredients for real results.

Shiatsu Massage Pillow – I got this for my mom last Christmas and she uses it all the time.

Glass Electric Tea Kettle – For tea-drinkers, this electric glass tea kettle makes tea available almost on demand.

Instant Pot – The grandparents love it for all the reasons we love it- faster and more nutritious meals!

The Grandparent Book Journal – A sweet way to encourage kids and grandparents to spend time together and a beautiful keepsake of family history.

Or anything on the lists above that they will love!

“Just in Case” Gifts

These inexpensive gifts are great to have on hand for when someone drops by with a gift or to take to party hosts. I keep several of these wrapped to give when someone brings a gift by unexpectedly:

Electric Wine Bottle Opener – A fun way to open up a bottle of wine.

RTIC Tumbler – Great for keeping drinks hot or cold while on the go.

Bottle of Wine – We have a subscription to these delicious biodynamic wines, so I always have an extra bottle on hand.

Grocery Bag Carrying Handles – They make carrying all those bags of groceries a lot easier!

Bag of Organic Coffee – Who doesn’t love coffee, especially when it’s organic and fair trade?

Hario Mizudashi Cold Brew Iced Coffee Pot/Maker – I’m a big fan of cold brew coffee and this is a great way to make it.

Car Diffuser – Keep the car smelling great all year long!

Mason Jar Solar Light – Add some beautiful ambiance to any room with these solar lights.

Mason Jar with Drinking Lid – Ditch the plastic and drink out of old-school mason jars!

Funny Gifts for Dirty Santa and Gift Exchanges

These are some of my favorite funny gift ideas for dirty santa or white elephant gift exchanges. Sure to get lots of laughs!

Toilet Light – For those night time bathroom trips.

Nap Sack Prank Box – Take a nap anywhere with this hood.

Prank Pack Crib Dribbler – A fun prank for baby someone with a baby.

iDrive Prank Pack – This is just hilarious!

“You Parked Like An Idiot” Cards – I think my husband would actually use these!

Slipper Genie Mopping Slipper – This might actually get my kids to help sweep the floor more often.

The Obsessive Chef Cutting Board – For the OCD chef.

Pooping Pooch Calendar – Yep, it’s exactly what you picture… perfect (or awful?!) for the dog lover in your family!

Banana Slicer – If you’re going to eat bananas, why not slice it correctly?

Cards Against Humanity – These are incredibly irreverent, but will have you on the floor laughing for hours.

Maybe Swearing Will Help Coloring Book and Markers – For the potty mouth (or clean mouth?) in your life 🙂

Family Gifts & Outdoor Fun Gifts

If you’re like us and often choose family gifts that the whole family can enjoy (or enjoy better health because of), you might love these options. This list also includes outdoor activity gifts that we use and love.

Sauna – This is one gift that will have long-lasting health benefits. It isn’t an inexpensive gift, but one that family can enjoy all year.

Joovv Light – Like the sauna, this gift also brings the benefit of boosting health. Red light therapy is well-studied for its skin and mitochondria benefits and this is one of my favorite parts of my daily routine.

Rapid Release – Like a chiropractor and a massage therapist built into one. This device is designed to release muscle tension and it works! I love this thing.

Myobuddy – A percussive heated massager that targets muscle and fascia. A lot of people use this for cellulite, I just use it for relaxation and fascia massage.

Wholetones Music Subscription – Uses soothing music with targeted sound frequencies to induce health benefits like stress reduction, focus, sleep… and yes, it works even for kids! I love this one too because it isn’t a physical item to store around the house.

Organic & Natural Mattresses – This was our gift to each other one year and we love our mattress. We have an Intellibed and love it, but My Green Mattress is also a great option and not as pricey.

Natural Cookware – I got some of this cookware for Christmas years ago and have been using it since then!

Matching Organic Jammies – Switching to organic PJs is one way to reduce chemical exposure from clothing by half and these organic jammies are our favorites.

A Year of Wine – I love wine, but most wine is contaminated with chemicals and additives. Hubby and I give each other natural wine from Dry Farm Wines.

Trampoline – Not just for kids when you consider the lymphatic benefits of jumping!

Swing – Our kids love this backyard swing and they can all fit on it!

Slackline – Like a balance beam and trampoline in one. It encourages balance and coordinating and is hours of fun.

Ninjaline – Like monkey bars but tougher. A lot of people use these for Ninja Warrior training, but our kids just think it is fun!

Natural Beauty & Home Gifts (Ones to Buy or DIY)

Home & Beauty to DIY

I love receiving homemade gifts and making them for others. I have hundreds of DIY recipes and tutorials on the blog, but the ones on this list make the best gifts. These are especially perfect for stocking stuffers!

Home & Beauty to Buy

If you aren’t into the DIY options, here are some great store-bought alternatives:

Lotion Bars – If you’d like lotion bars similar to my recipes, but that you don’t have to make yourself, check out Made On, a small, family-owned company that makes all kinds of lotion bars, soaps, natural baby products, and hair products that are up to my standards. If you use the code WELLNESSMAMA, you’ll get a 15% discount on your order!

Alitura Skincare – Alitura uses organic botanicals and superfood ingredients to nourish the skin. This is serious skincare with the works: clay masks, intensive moisturizers, derma rollers, and more. Use the code WELLNESS for 20% off!

Toups Organics (Makeup & Beauty) – Heather of Mommypotamus introduced me to this line and they have an incredible line of clean cosmetics, lotions, and even a baking-soda free deodorant for sensitive types.

Crunchy Betty Facial Serum & Natural Deodorant: Mentioned before, but I can’t say enough about them.

Branch Basics Cleaners – I know I’d be happy to find some all-natural cleaning products (I don’t have to make) under the Christmas tree.

Vibrant Blue Oils – Wildcrafted and organic essential oil blends made to support specific health conditions. Use the code WELLNESSMAMA10 to get 10% off through December 31st.

Magnesium Oil – Spray on for relaxation, detox support, even deodorant!

Homebiotic Spray – Like a probiotic for your home, this freshens air by targeting the source of bad smells… bacteria and mold.

Genexa OTC Medicines – So much of what goes in children’s medicine is just flavors, dyes, preservatives, and fillers. Genexa is the first to come up with a line of over the counter and homeopathic medications completely free of all unnecessary additives. I give these to my kids for colds, coughs, fevers, or even just a bad night of sleep, and they’ve worked great for us.

Kid-Safe Essential Oil Roll-Ons – For sleep, headaches, cold relief, and more, without having to worry about negative side effects.

There’s probably a lot more that could be added to this list, but these are my current favorites. If you still haven’t found the perfect gift on this list, Heather shares all of her favorite natural gifts here.

What is on your Christmas list this year? What are you getting for friends and family?

Source: https://wellnessmama.com/25195/gift-giving-guide/

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numberonetrashcollectorus-blog · 7 years ago

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Tip cheap car insurance quote florida

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If so, How much is it per month? How old are you? What kind of deductable do you have?? feel free to answer also if you do not have insurance.""

How can I get insurance to cover at home birth through a midwife?

My Insurance company is saying that they will not cover an at home birth through a midwife, although they do cover midwife care. I do not want to pay for it up front if I am not certain I can get most of the cost reimbursed. I am admit on doing an at home birth as long as it is safe for the baby. I keep hitting a wall with insurance, what can I do?""

Is my Car Insurance Valid?

If i use my Aunty name (dose not live with me and lives one mile away from my home) as the Main Driver and my name as the second driver on our car insurance policy (as it saves me some money and even i will be the main driver) will my insurance is valid? Please help me. If it is not, please tell me how can i save money by using her name as she is an experienced driver. Many thanks.""

Ideas for a research essay on Private Health Insurance?

Hey, We're supposed to write an essay on any topic of our choice and show it relates to well being and opportunity in Canada while addressing inequalities (that part is optional). I'm thinking of writing on Private Health Insurance in Canada. But what can I focus on on in terms of the health insurance. Any suggestions""

Can a vehicle get insurance by someone other than vehicle owner?

Will the car insurance know?

I am a single parent, unemployed and I care for my eighteen month baby while my other child is at f/t school. I have recently passed my driving test and found the car that I want. The only problem is that the f/t course I applied for at college is full and the insurance premium is more for unemployed people and less for students!(which I can't understand). I can't tell them I am a housewife as I am not married, If I tell them that I am a f/t student will they need proof when I pay for the car insurance.""

Is Motorcycle insurance the same price as car insurance or is it cheaper?

I had a coupld of friends that have motorcycles and some that have cars. They don't pay for their own insurance but i wanted to know if by any chance if motorcycle insurance is cheaper then auto insurance. I know auto insurance these days are sky high. But since a motorcycle is a lot smaller, shouldn't insurance for it be cheaper for it?""

17 soon. just wondering about car insurance?

whether when i pass n get a car if il be able to pay insurance monthly? and does it cost more tht way (uk)

I live i Delaware and have had my car impounded due to having no insurance.?

I will be getting insurance this friday. After I do that what do I need to do to get my car back this weekend about how much will it cost? Is this a fee I pay at the troop or do I pay towing and storing charges?

How much will insurance be for a 16 year old in california?

how much will insurance be for a 16 year old in california? lets say i get a bmw or porsche how much will it be?

""Which car would you prefer? 2006 Volkswagen rabbit, 2006 toyota corolla, or a 2006 honda civic?

which do u think would be a suitable car for a university student and cheap on insurance and gas.

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Cheapest Auto Insurance Humanly Possible?

I am a college student living on campus and want to have a car but will not be driving it much at all. I am just looking for the most basic and least expensive auto insurance I can find. I am 19 with no tickets or accidents yada yada yada. Where can I find some cheap coverage?

What is the best begeners motercycle in Canada insurance and operating cost wise.?

Are cruisers cheaper to insure then sports motorcycle for the same displacement engines? And what are some good models in the market? Thankyou

""Tax and tested, but no insurance on the car?""

Hi, i recently bought a new car. So my old car is up for sale, it has currently got tax and MOT. But the insurance ran out yesterday, my car car is for sale on private land and will not be driven on the road. Is this ok??""

How much does health insurance cost for a Florida student?

I am going to be a college student in Florida and I want to know the cost of health insurance in Florida. I have no illness or family history of illness. I am not disabled or as such but it is good to have insurance and in my case, required. So can anyone help me find the cheapest health insurance plan in Florida please?""

How many percentage in texas citizens buy life insurance?

how many people in texas buy life insurance.

Can you have more than one car insurance policy?

Okay, imagine the situation. Mum's got a car (A), but it's too expensive to run. Son has just bought a car (B) but doesn't want to drive it much until next year. Mum's already got an insurance policy on Car A, she wishes to take out an insurance policy for Car B with another company, but still keep her insurance policy on Car A with her old insurer. So Car A - Insurance Policy A - Mum driver. Car B - Insurance Policy B - Mum driver, Son named. Many thanks.""

How much did you pay for car insurance as a new driver?

....yes......

""Lawsuits have been limited to $250,000 in California for years now - insurance costs haven't gone down...?

...at all. Why do Republicans pretend that is the solution to healthcare costs?

How much should I ask for the compensation from insurance?

I had a car accident and the fault side's insurance compay paid for body repair ( abuot $960 in their recommanded bodyshop ) and also the rental (my car is still in bodyshop). I am not sure if I need to ask some compensations for diminished value of my car and also missed work hour on dealing with the accident. I never done this before. My car is 1997 Toyata Collora and the private value from KBB is $3185 (for good condition), some people said the compensation for diminished value could be 40% of the KBB private value, which to me is 3185 x 0.4 = $1274. They are going to replace the right fender, repair and repaint the passenger side door. So I want to know if I ask for $1274 from insurance is fair. I hope anyone can give me some advises on how to deal with this. Thank you!""

Injured with no health insurance and a big hospital bill?

My girlfriend dislocated her shoulder while playing volleyball with no health insurance. Her parents health insurance stopped covering her because she had just graduated from college ...show more

Cheapest car to insure?

im looking to buy a car but im a 18 yr old male and my insurance will be very high. so im trying to find the cheapest car out there to insure and something good on gas. i know ill probably be paying around 3000 a year. but any ideas?

I'm17 and have not got my license yet but when i do how can i get cheap car insurance?

I have heard that if i buy a classic car, my insurance will be cheaper, is this true? And do you have any tips for getting it as low as possible""

What is the difference between term insuarnce and whole life insurance?

""As a 20 year old male, how high can I expect my car insurance to be if I drive a 2001 Mustang GT?""

Hello, I'm 20 years old and just now starting to drive. I've always commuted with my bicycle and it's kept me in great shape, but with school and a full time job, I can't be every where on time! So now it's time to drive! So, I visited Geico's website for an insurance quote, and I received the following; Start Your Policy Today for $107.65 plus 5 monthly payments of only $106.75 each 6 month total policy premium: $611.40 Is that too much, or does that sound about right?""

How much does insurance cost a month?

Okay, I'm 21 years old and I'm a full time college student I work part time and I live with my mother and step-father. I'm on my fathers insurance. My father is a Department of Transportation worker he has worked for the state for about 33 years. He has PEIA insurance. He called me today and was complaining cause he got a doctors bill for me for $35...he wanted to know why and I said idk maybe it was a mistake can you pay it since it's not that much...and then he goes into this whole thing how he pays my insurance every month...blah blah blah...but he doesnt realize that my mom and my step dad do everything else I mean they pay my other bills. He hasn't paid anything since I turned 18 except for insurance (he won't even take out a loan for my education...my mom and I do that). I pay my car insurance,gas, and cell phone bill out of my part time job check cause I commute to school. He has the nerve to call me and gripe over $35!!! WTF?!?! Does anyone know how much he pays a month or about how much he pays?""

What are premiums in insurance?

I'm looking at insurance policies.

Does full coverage car insurance cover a car that just dies?

I have full coverage car insurance on my car (for legal/employment reasons), comprehensive, collision, PPI, theft, vandalism, rental, etc. Yeah, its an 99 Accord. What I never asked, and now want to know, is if it just dies (cus its about that time that if it did I wouldnt be surprised) will I get the value of the car? I know I do get its value if it is stolen or totaled or vandalized, but does that apply to car death? Pretty sure if it stopped working the cost to fix it would be more than the car is valued at, does that count as totaling? I am getting to that point where the car may be worth more to me stolen or wrecked. I hate dealerships otherwise I might consider a trade-in, but I don't know why anyone would buy it??? I would feel dishonest selling to anyone else, poor saps. I do better off finding someone who is selling a fixer upper. (I got this car for 500 bucks and I put 70,000 miles on it, not too shabby.) I know a guy who can fix up cars real cheap, but when its time, sometimes there is nothing you can do. The car is Kelly Blue Booked between 2900-4500, so would I get a decent price from insurance if I let it die under full coverage?""

Insurance brokers?

Y do insurance brokers force u to join bt whn its time for the insurance to pay up they tell u all sorts of stories Even though ur account was never on arreas!!! please help guys........

What insurer would insure me for around 200?? And what car would that be?

My friend had a ford fiesta as her first car and her insurance was 180 a month There are now kids in my school and their insurance varies between 210-250 Their cars are peugeot 3 doors and stuff I've been looking at cars between 300-700 to buy and every time I check the insurance is HUGE I am talking 800 a month nearly!!!!! The lowest I found was 360 once but then the car was sold Does anyone what car I can get so that the insurance will be around 180-250?? All the people at school I've asked don't want to tell not does my friend. I need serious help ;( The cats I've been looking at are peugeot, Nissan, ford All between 1998-2002 years 3 doors - anyone have any ideas? Or can help me with posting links?? Of cars and then insurance I am a new driver, passed my test YESTERDAY I live in the UK West Middlands Thank you!!""

Can a Company charge more for insurance monthy for employees who work out of state?

This company who's headquarters is in California, is charging about 45 dollars a month for insurance, but if you work out of state, anywhere else, it is 105.00. This is the same position with the company despite the price difference. Is this employee fairness? Is this legal? Thanks!""

Driving without Proof of Insurance?

I was recently stopped by a police officer for speeding and when giving him my license and proof of insurance he stated that my insurance had expired. I then received a $550 fine for not having insurance, but not for speeding. I do have insurance, but the proof of insurance is what expired (we searched everywhere and the cards that the insurance agency was supposed to send did not show up). My question, then, is what do I do about this? I was not aware that my proof of insurance had expired (again, not the insurance) and I was freaked out because this is the first time that I have ever gotten pulled over (I'm a college freshman and the car is in my grandmother's name, it was a grad gift) On the ticket do I contest the claim and go to court or do I admit the claim and go to court? What are the possible outcomes or what is most likely to happen?""

How much is the insurance for a 2003 Nissan Maxima?

I am a teenage driver and i need a cheap car but a nice car

""In general, How much does car insurance go down after marriage?""

I live in Seminole County Fla, am 22 and getting married. I pay 135ish a month now, how much does it usually go down???? I'm not asking exact just a rough estimate?""

Does anyone know a good insurance company that will insure a young driver on a sports car?

i'm buying a convertible with a 1.8 engine i'm having trouble finding quotes below 4000, if anyone could suggest some cheap insurance companies that would be great!""

Mustang GT car insurance?

Hey in 16 and im looking at buying a 1994-2005 Mustang GT. I like working on cars and this car seems to me an awesome car to work on. I just wanted to know how much people pay for insurance with a mustang GT. Also how much more would it cost because i am 16.

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""Cheap Home Insurance Companies Orlando, Florida?

I used to be insured by Homewise Home Insurance but for some reason they cannot longer insured me and they are transferring me to another insurance company when my renewal comes around and increasing my premium by close to $300. I need to know right away the cheapest home insurance companies in Orlando... help..

California people! who knows about teenage insurance prices?

I am moving from nc to california. i pay $150 every month for my insurance and i am 18. soon to be 19, iv been insured sense Nov 2010 any ideas on how much it would be for me in Cali? thanks :)""

Do I automatically have to get car insurance right after I get my license?

I'm 18, I live with my parents...In order for me to get my license my mom wants me to pay for car insurance (since I'll be under her name) which is understandable, but I don't have a car yet, and I just want my license in case of an emergency...like I won't even be driving around her car rarely. She told me that even if I wanted to get my license and not get car insurance yet, I can't because I live in her house?? Does that sound right? Can't I just get my license without car insurance until I actually have my own car?""

Am I required to get rental car insurance if I don't have my own auto insurance?

I am planning to sell my car and cancel my auto insurance. If I want to rent a car, am I required to buy their rental car insurance, since I wouldn't have any other auto insurance otherwise?""

TRADE INSURANCE..................?

is it safe to buy an insurance for a trade insurance owner as if he then puts your name in his policy and drive your own car for social purposes?

Anyone ever heard of a car insurance company called The Electric Company?

I called them and got a really great quote on car insurance. Has anyone ever used this company and is it a good company to go with?

Can Insurance company go bankrupt form a disaster?

the bush fire in Victoria. the insurance gotta pay around 100million dollars. um, what if they don't have that much....""

""Where can l find low cost Dental care in Orange County,CA?""

I would like to find low cost dental care in O.C,but the one l find on the net is called Medical Discounts International,Inc, l don't believe it's a government program and l have my reservations. Is government programs better than private ones? Any agencies that are reliable and good? Thanks.""

What is the blue sheild of california (health insurance) code format?

Please help.. like the number on the card you get. I need to draw a picture and i want to make it as accurate as possible :) what is the blue sheild of california (insurance company) code format? for example if it is ABC123 = letter letter letter # # #

What is the best affordable Medicare supplement insurance for Indiana?

""What do I look for in a company to insure my quarter horse for loss of use, mortality and surgery?""

If one had an expensive barrel horses what would they look for in a company to insure them. ONly looking for protection on loss of use, death, theft and major surgery. Who are some of the better companies?""

How much is car insurance in New Jersey?

my sister lives in new jersey and she is wondering how much is the insurance going to cost. She doesn't have a car yet .. she is 17 .. what does she need in order to get a car. Like how much should she save up in order for her to be able to buy a car.. ..

What is the cheapest auto insurance for michigan?

for the most basic insurance

Can i report my hmo insurance to someone?

they keep giving me the run around saying my meds are covered for the next quarter then denying them every month. Is there something like the BBB to report them to?

How can we get health insurance?

My Fiance (22) and I (18) are planning to get married November 30th, but if we do, I will no longer be covered by my mother's health insurance. We live in NY (currently Broome County) and we need cheap to free health insurance. At the moment, both of us (full-time students) have an income of zero, with no pay stubs (obviously) or other proofs of income. How can we get health coverage?""

I am leaving country for couple of months. I want to cancel my car insurance. Is it possible?

I am paying my insurance monthly and it's very high. I won't be using car for couple of months, so I want to cancel it for some months and take it again after I come back. Is it possible?""

How much will my insurance go up with 2 points on my record with allstate? im 21 yrs old.?

Would the insurance for a 2004 or 2006 Ford Mustang V6 or V8 be affordable for a 16 year old male?

If someone hits my car does my insurance go up?

So basically I was stopped at a stop sign and someone came from behind my car and hit me. afterwards I looked at my rear bumper where I was hit and there was no major damage that I can see. Just paint from her car and a some scratches but no dents. Do I even report something like this? if I do does my insurance go up, because it seems like it is 100% their fault since I was going 0 mph at a stop sign.""

Visa debit card for rental car insurance?

I read that Visa covers the damage/loss insurance of rental car. Is that just for credit card? How about debit card? Thanks!

Is there a site I can get insurance quotes online without someone calling me?

I'm trying to compair car insurance companys and renter's insurance, but I just want a estimate. All the sites I try tell me that an agent will contact me. I really just want to compare prices over the internet.""

NY Full Coverage Insurance Rates?

How much is full coverage on any plan for a new driver?

Car insurance cost for 17 year old?

Im 17 and ill be needing to pay for car insurence the car and th insurance compnay is in my parents name righ tnow they pay 150. my parents are putting me on the insurance policy and they are making me pay whatever is above 150, how much will i be paying. I live in virginia if that helps""

Pay as you drive insurance..?

What company's offers pay as you drive insurance? And is it any good? Or do you know any cheap insurance schemes or company's?

Where to buy affordable health insurance?

I was forced to retire at the age of 64. I am not eligible for medicare until Sep of 2011. Looking for health insurane I can buy now

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What is the best low cost car insurance in california?

we have a 2004 honda odessey and a 96 acura, and our 17 yr old will also drive""

Insurance quote for a vehicle?

hey i just want to know the 5 important factors they consider when giving an insurance quote and an example of an insurance quote?

How can I get cheaper car insurance?

Im 17 and just got my full uk driving licence and got a car it's a Subaru 2.0r sport but insurance is 7-8k for my own policy but 3500 if I am a second driver but is that Ilegal

Is this insurance Fraud?

My Fiance and I have very expensive car insurance right now and when we went to change companies the company we were at (its a certified insurance company) wanted to keep our business so they made our insurance allot cheaper by saying we are married, but we are only engaged. Can we get in trouble for this? Is it insurance fraud.""

I filed a claim with my insurance company and am now being charged a claim surcharge. Is this legal?

I've had a home-owner's and auto policy with Allstate for the last 4 years. The increase was labeled a claim surcharge. The surcharge is almost 500 dollars

How much is car insurance for a 19yr old N driv er in BC?

I am nearly 19 about to buy a cheap car and insure it for the bare legal minimum how much approx will that cost me

Can you be insured on a car with two different insurance companies?

At present I am already insured on one of my cars, however I want to be insured on another car that I have recently bought. the problem is that the insurance company I am with now isn't the cheapest to insure on my new car, there are other insurance companies that offer a cheaper insurance quote. So my queston is can I have two different insurance policies for two different cars? and will this void my present insurance in any way if I buy another insurance policy?""

California speeding and no proof of insurance ticket?

It was dark and raining. I just came off the bay bridge in SF and am positive I was driving below 40 on the bridge and between 40-60 when I got off the bridge. The cop was on 80E past fremont exit. He said I was at 67 in a 50 zone and also did not give me enough time to look for my proof of insurance. He said lets make this easy and quick and cited me for speeding and for no insurance and not no proof of insurance. He cited both as non-correctable. It this accurate? I don't think his radar reading isaccurate. How can Ichallenge this?

Can i sue my insurance company for hit and run?

I live in Yuma, Arizona. I'm 15 I Have my motorcycle permit i can drive from sunrise to sunset Okay February 21st YESTERDAY at 3pm Me and my brothers were going to jack in the box they took our car (1996 Isuzu rodeo) and i took my motorcycle (1994 Kawasaki ZX-6) we were going down this curved street they are on the left lane I'm on the right lane and this Winter bird (An older person from out of state that comes down to living in our city in the winter) pulls out on my right lane. While he's doing this i horn my horn he looks back and completes his turn and the brakes and doesn't move... i'm down shifting and my rear wheel locks up when i downshifted my bike shakes and i going onto the curb my bike gets eating up from the curb and i go over the curb and start to eat **** my hip and left get bruised i was wearing this thick overcoat my arm gets road-rash and then the old *** man drives off... doesn't even assist me... my brothers flip a U and we pull my bike to the side of the road and go to the hospital at the hospital we called the police they took pictures of my motorcycle and skid marks on the road then take my statement and brothers i wanted to know can i sue my insurance for anything? I'm not sure what coverage i have I'll add more detail tomorrow Monday morning Here are some pictures of the motorcycle P.S. I'm not sure if you can see but my front tire is flat it got a hole from the accident http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x262/JokerSmokes/?action=view&current=crash1.jpg http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x262/JokerSmokes/?action=view&current=crash2.jpg http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x262/JokerSmokes/?action=view&current=crash3.jpg http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x262/JokerSmokes/?action=view&current=crash4.jpg What broke Front tire Possible bent rim front brake lever Oil casing headlight windshield possible gears and chain my muffler my front right flaring my bottom flaring""

How much a month would car insurance be for a 2010 dodge charger? Im about to turn 18 and plan on getting this?

car. I know it depends on where u live etc..but i want to know the average cost per month of this particular car. I'm going to be joining the marines..idk if this matters but most places offer a military discount. So any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

What is the car insurance cost for a 2005 or 06 saturn ion for a 16 year old or somewhere around that age?

this car is not that great but if you could give a better car with a low insurance cost that would be awsome.

Insurance for a renault twizy for a 17 year old male?

i'm 17 and looking to buy a car, would like to get something cheap to insure. i still haven't passed my test but i am not far off it. im looking for something cheap and a bit different, the renault seems to be both. i have no idea how much it would cost to insure though? anyone have any idea?""

Best choice of car for 18yr old male FOR INSURANCE?

Im looking for a first car, but being a 18yr old male, all the insurance companies just look at that, deem me a Boy racer and whack an extra 600 average to my insurance! (I know this as i did the research.) So im actully asking 2 questions 1) What is the best cheap/cheapest car to run? 2) What is the best insurer to buy from? I dont really mind what sort of car i drive, so long as its not pink.""

Weather Related Car Accident How Much Will Insurance Pay For?

Ok so I was driving home late morning a few nights ago, it was snowing pretty badly making conditions pretty bad, difficult to drive in and especially with my car (eclipse) so I was not doing any more then I could handle. I was on the highway going around 15-25 mph at most. Suddenly I began to swerve and spun out and got turned around and finally hit the guardrail, not much force because I was driving pretty slow to begin with. So the side of my car hit and I ended up facing the other direction. I have noticed there are a few scratches and marks on the front side one on headlight, a little below the headlight and some orange marks along the side, also a crack on the very bottom of the back bumper (not sure how it got there, kinda in the middle) So I was the only one involved and was wondering since it is a weather related accident how much my insurance will pay for? im just very confused because I am not looking forward to body shop and getting estimates, Greatly Appreciated Thanks""

What is the cheapest auto insurance in texas ?

16 for 2 months and havent recieved my national insurance card?

I have been 16 for 2 months and i still haven't received my national insurance card. I haven't moved house or anything. (sorry if its in the wrong category :L)

Life Insurance questions?

Why do life insurance companies often charge different rates for males and females? Who pays more by age, male or female, and why do you think this is so? Come back later and respond to two other classmate's posts and answer any responses to yours.""

How much cheaper is bike insurance (if at all) than car insurance?

i am 18 and am torn between the two, i will go for the cheapest option. as none of my parents can drive i cant be put on one of there policies :( so id have to start from scratch. if i am to insure a bike im lookin at insurance for a bike of 125 cc.""

Disability Insurance?

If I have disability insurance through my job and I also have independent disability insurance, will each insurance pay me the amount I am entitled too if I was to become disabled?""

Who need health insurance?

Do a part time job need a health insurance?

Cheap car insurance for a teenager .?

I WILL BE GETTING MY LEARNERS PERMIT SOON... GOT DRIVERS ED AND WILL BE GETTING BEHIND THE WHEEL TRAINING.AND LOOKG FORWARD TO DRIVING A 2008 SCION TC ..ABOUT HOW MUCH WILL INSURANCE BE A MONTH... ANY STUDENT DISCOUNTS I CAN GET...?? ..OH YEAH IF IT HELPS ..I LIVE IN CALIFORNIA

Car insurance and court hearing?

i drove my car without insurance and got by police got 6 points as i m on provisional then again after 2 months i got a car just to move in local place like for shopping and instead of geting a cab i thought i can use it but the moment i bought it i was driving back home police stopped me coz 1 break light was not working and got again points but the point is dvla didnt sent me a disqualification notice and after 3 months i was driving my friends car as it was just a scrap and had no fuel i was in petrol pump abt 12 at night police guys caught be because my friend was making some funny sounds there so got hearing and 1 yr ban...can some one tell me how much fine will i get and will they sentence me for jail...any help will be appriciated

21st Century Car Insurance?

I have a weird question. I'd thought I'd ask you guys first. Here goes: My SUV got broken into. The steering column was damaged. My insurance, 21st century, had a tow truck take it to a shop. It was fixed.......TWO WEEKS LATER! I have full coverage, but my policy doesn't cover rentals. Well anyways my question is: Will my insurance pay for HALF my car payment since it took two weeks for it to get fixed? I know it sounds dumb, but I had to ask. Thanks.""

""Just a stab in the dark, anyone care to share what their insurance cost is on a Honda S2000?""

I'm looking at 2002 S2000. I m 36, good clean driving record.""

Are insurance rates high for classic cars?

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https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-much-motorcyclescooter-insurance-southern-california-luis-curry/"

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