Sharon won tickets to a Brad Paisley concert.  The concert is tonight with Josh Turner opening for Brad.  This should be an excellent concert. We have seen Brad before and he puts on an excellent concert.  He is really in tune with his audience.

We win a lot of concert tickets.  Sharon and I have been to a large number of concerts and we have never paid to get in.  Most of the concerts are by country singers, but we have seen Janet Jackson, Prince and have even been to a rap concert once.  We were front row for the MTV music awards and up high in the balcony for the American Music Awards.  ALL FOR FREE!

Did I say we like radio contests?  We figure we have won somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000 in cash and prizes on the radio.  That includes a $10,000 cash prize, a number of $1000 prizes,  a trip to Hawaii with $1000 spending cash and numerous concerts.  This does not include the $10,000+ Cavalier car we won in 2004.  It was announced on the radio, but was not a radio contest.

Yes, we claimed the $10,000 on our taxes, also the car and trip to Hawaii and the individual $1000 prizes.  We never got a  1099 tax for any of these prizes.  I am not sure what has to be claimed and what does not. We just claim it all and pay the tax.

How are we doing since we got turned in to the city for living in our warehouse and had to move our residence somewhere else?  We are doing GREAT.  Our income is has jumped and we are already ahead of where we need to be for rent and bills due at the first of the month.  The “jerk” who turned us in does not know it, but he actually did us a HUGE favor. 

It is amazing the “terrible things” you can turn around an make them into opportunities for success and happiness.  It merely takes a frame of mind that accepts a situation and finds answers to deal with it.  Sharon and I have dealt with a lot of  “situations” over the years.  I think we come out smelling like roses because we have each other to get through each “adventure”.