My sister is crazy. We took a trip to Georgia to a state park there, and she left them a note in their suggestions box: “Too many bugs and leeches and spiders and spider webs. Please spray the wilderness to rid the area of these pests.”

She was being serious! I told her that was the spiders’ home and we were just visitors. Not sure if that sunk in.

But she’s a little smarter about money. Sometimes when I’m running short, I ask her to borrow some. She loans it to me when she can, but the last time she gave me a better idea. She said go to Car Title Loans in Midfield.  It’s car pawn shop, a place to get fast cash on your car title.  So I did, and it worked! I called me friends all around — in Brookside, Kimberly, Morris, Mulga, North Johns and right here in Midfield –– to tell them how easy it is.

The strongest muscle in the body is the TONGUE. You can make what you want of that fact, but I think it has more to do with the power of words, good and bad.

Center Point is a small town in the overall scheme of things. But with the internet, it’s the center of the universe, just the way places like Birmingham, Bessemer, Midfield, Cardiff, Sylvan Springs and Graysville are too. You go online and say what you want and that’s it — someone in New Guinea might be reading it two hours later.

But all this ability to communicate can come up and bite you in the ass.  Turns out I got nailed with a defamation lawsuit for something I said about someone on the web. I didn’t know it could happen, and in fact the case was thrown out of court. But that wasn’t before I spent $3800 on a lawyer to help me fight it.

And that was NOT money I had to spare. So I did what my father taught me: use your resources for the problems at hand. That was the first time I considered a car title pawn store. Except this one is online — I used Car Title Loans in Center Point to get me that cash.  It was fast and convenient, a great way to find money when you need it.

I’m not sure how they figured this out, but I heard on the radio that the average human eats eight spiders in their lifetime at night.

On my diet, that has implications.

I’m a bariatric surgery patient.  We’re only allowed to eat small meals. So the spider thing actually works. Usually, I eat two bites of something and that’s it. I had the operation done three months ago and I’ve already 40 pounds, with 120 to go.

My insurance company from work wouldn’t pay for the surgery, even though I think it will make me healthier in the long run. But that’s insurance for you. I had to lose that weight. My granddaughter is two and I couldn’t babysit her, she was more than I could handle.

So where did I find the money? I went to Car Title Loans in Gardendale. They are a car pawn shop, but it doesn’t really work that way.  You keep your car, you just supply title information through the internet on their website. It’s great, you get the money in one day. I needed $4000 and my car was worth that and more.

The money is making me healthier, even if a few spiders crawl into my mouth once in a while!