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The update on kitty - sm [2008-11-30]
I have been overthere at various times of the day and making sure I was there at the regular times I had seen him previously (sometimes 4 times in a single day!) and have not seen him again. I have waited in my car for him and gotten out to call *kitty.* I still have the carrier in my car and I am ready to bring him home. I have put out 2 cans of really yummy canned food over there for him, but they have gone untouched. I sure hope the little guy is okay. I will continue towatch outfor him!
Update on coffee. [2008-10-22]
I used the tablespoon method fromthe poster belowand then measured into my cup measurer. It was almost 1/2 cup of coffee grounds. The coffee tasted just a wee bit better, but still not good enough.
I was thinking about buying some already measured coffee to see if that makes a difference, but ya can't just buy one (to test), so I think I'll play around with the measuring a little more.
I'm also going to break open the 100% Columbian coffee hubby bought and see if that makes a difference.
I had noticed that over the last few months, whenever I opened a new can of coffee, that whoosh never happened like it used to, so I'm thinking these stores/manufacturers are just keeping the coffee in storage too long....probably because of the high prices, people aren't buying as much. LOL
Can you stand another kitten update? [2008-10-15]
They are a month old today and I found a home for 2 of them with my sister-in-law. YAY!!! I'm hoping to keep the cream colored one or the orange tiger.
Update on jealousy/stepkids... [2008-10-10]
Okay, the man in my life with the kids did not come home until 5:30 this morning and at 5:32 AM I was telling him that I had taken all the disrespect from him and his kids that I was going to take and that we were going to have to just end this relationship.
Don And ya know what? I just feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest...
Kitten update...sm [2008-10-01]
It's been two weeks since my car became a delivery room and I'm happy to report Mama and babies are doing fine. Two of them have their eyes open, 1 is almost there and the other still has his/hers closed. They are still in the box where I put them when I took them out of my back seat and the mother hasn't moved them. She lets me peep in on them, but is right beside me when I do and then jumps in the box with them. She's a super mom. Oh, I see on the pic the dark gray one is buried in the dog pile, er, I mean kittie pile, but he's there and has dark blue eyes like the dark orange tiger. Too cute.
Update [2008-09-10]
She came home from school today in a much better state of mind with regards to physics class. She spoke to her teacher who explained things a lot better not only to her, but to the whole class (she isn't the only one who was having problems). She had homework tonight that she did with just one question for her father. For now I'm going to let her stay in the class, but I'm going to keep checking up on her, and see what happens after her first test. Thank you all for all your help and advice.
UPDATE ON HURRICANE GUSTAV [2008-08-30]
Just UPDATEd to a Cat 4 Storm near Cuba. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who will be affected by this storm. I hope everyone gets out safely and we definitely SHOULD NOT have a Katrina repeat. So far, it look likes officals are being Proactive and not Reactive as stated by FOX NEWS.
update [2008-08-25]
Well, 4 hours was probably too harsh to expect an 8-year-old to sit on a chair. He sat for about 1/2 hour. Then I went out and talked to him. My husband is not physical in any way. He has never laid a finger on me and he rarely even argues back with me. If anything, I However, I don I We have spanked our kids when younger, nothing more than a tap or 2 on the bottom. It probably hurt their pride more anything. However, we My other 2 kids don't have this problem with controlling their tempers.
I seriously think he just is impulsive. He I basically told him that we all have to be in control of our own bodies and that sometimes it I also told him that I know that he knows how because he does it in school. He I also told him that I loved him but that his behavior upsets the whole house. He has to learn to get in control of it and to get used to people telling him what to do. He resists authority; he likes to think he In the end, I left him off the chair after about 40 minutes total and gave him a hug. I told him I loved him and asked him to apologize to his brother, which he did. He I know it's never over, but at least this one is.
Thanks for the support.
update on 16 YO daughter. sm [2008-07-28]
Well, here is the latest. She saw the therapist on Friday and the therapist recommended that my husband and I be on the same page about what the limits and boundaries are, but that my husband be the one to take over the disciplining, be the one to have the conversations and explaining the expectations, compromises etc. with her. She recommended that we make it very clear what the limits are and make sure she understands them. She recommended that we stay calm and try to avoid threats, but rather try to communicate with her calmly and positively. That does not mean that she can do what she wants, it just means that once she understands what we expect, then how she makes her decisions will guide the consequences.
So I have basically pulled myself out and told her that anything she wants to do she must get permission from her father and work out the details with him.
He is much better at this than I am and I am hoping that she will develop enough respect for him/us to be willing to do her part. Time will tell.
For now, she is still here and it seems to be working positively so far.
We still have a lot of work to do and I am sure it will be a long, bumpy road, but if we can get her through these next couple of years and be successful in keeping her interested in going to college, that is my goal. I would hate to have her give up on that.
However, on the other hand, if things don't work out and if she continues to be defiant, then as I have told her, she will have to live with the consequences of her actions. The end result will be up to her and she is well aware of that.
Thanks again for all the support and great advice.
I do feel relieved that I am no longer carrying the burden by myself. I still hurt a lot and I am sure that pain will be with me for a while. This is very hard for me, but at least now whatever happens, I am not alone and my husband is in it with me 100%. That in itself is helpful. I am hoping for the best, but I won't be surprised about anything at this point. Bottom line, I do know that we are doing everything we can. The rest is up to her.
Thanks again.
latest update on 16-year-old daughter. [2008-07-18]
Well, I did it. I told my husband. He had a good stern talking with her about how what she is doing is not good and will not be tolerated, and told her that the rules were expected to be abided by. He grounded her for 2 weeks and we took away her license and car keys. She is beside herself and of course hates me more than anything because I betrayed her to her dad. Go figure. Anyway, now she states that there is no way she will stay in this house and will just run away. Or she will get a job and as soon as she can get some money together, she will emancipate herself from us. My husband told her that if she runs away, the next step will be something like military school. What a mess. He says we have to be tough or she won't get the message. This is so hard for me. I feel like I lost her. She wants nothing to do with me. I just hope and pray that someday she will understand that I did what I think is best for her.
At least now he knows and he can help me handle it. If she does run away, at least now he knows. I told her I love her more than life and I am doing this for her own good. She just reiterated how much she hates me.(sigh)
Thanks for all the good advice everyone. Please pray for me and my daughter. I never thought being a parent could be this hard.
update for today [2008-07-16]
My daughter and I had another big blow out. I told her that these are the rules and she is expected to abide by them while she lives in my house. She of course threatened to leave. I told her that was fine, but first she had to wait for her father and tell him she was leaving and why. I kept her in the house and did not let her go out. Pretty much literally watched her, listened to her curse me out, etc. But I did not relent. I kept telling her that she could have it her way or my way. My way, follow the rules and stop fighting me. Her way, tell her father what is going on and then feel free to leave.
After a while when she realized that I meant what I said and would tell her father this very day, she calmed down and I could see she was afraid of my telling him. She expressed that she was willing to follow my rules and did not want her father to know.
I told her that she was officially on probation with me now and anything more over the boundary I set up, then she will be her father's problem.
I know I should probably tell him right now, but I actually fear for his reaction and I am hoping that if she takes me seriously, maybe she will come around a little more.
Please pray for me and her and wish me luck. I am going to take it one day at a time. Today she was home and I did not let her go out. Tomorrow will be another day and we will see what happens. But whatever does happen, I will stand firm and I will not back down. I think she figured that out today. I'm hoping against all hope that this will get better.
I will not hesitate to tell her father if the nightmare continues.
Thanks for all the great advice. Everyone is really wonderful and I feel lucky to have this board at this time.
UPDATE.....sm [2008-06-25]
After discussing the subject with my husband and coming up with the right words to say, I have spoken with my MIL and there will be NO MORE 4-wheeler rides. What a relief! And talking to her about it wasn I just hope she sticks to it. I told her I would bring the stroller along from now on, and she can my daughter around the yard in that instead. I feel much better for now, but I I will just have to remind her that I amthe mother, and when it comes to my daughter, it:)
UPDATE ON MY CAR sm [2008-06-06]
i took my car to my mechanic today and he said it it it just thought i'd pass this along in case any of ya's come across this problem.
Update [2008-06-01]
Some of you may recall a few weeks ago when I posted about getting into a verbal altercation with the mother of a child on the opposing team. I just wanted to give those of you who commented an UPDATE. We played that team again yesterday and the mother was there standing where I normally stand. I chose this time to stand on the opposite side of the field, even though my view was a little obstructed. I said nothing to her the entire game and didn I took your advice and kept my mouth shut. We lost the game, but that's okay because I had the chance firsthand to see the embarrassment a child suffers when parents get out of control
Earlier this week, it was team picture night. The mother of the child on the opposing team was there, as was her husband who is one of the assistant coaches for their team. He made a nasty comment about the manager of his own team (using 4-letter words in front of the team) because the manager didnfired him from his assistant coaching position. So instead of just his mom standing in my usual spot, his dad was there, too. I can only imagine the embarrassment their child must have felt because his dad was not on the field.
I know now that my actions could have caused me to be suspended from even watching a game or 2. I wouldn So thanks to all for your good advice. I have spent the last several weeks videotaping my kids rather than worrying about who
The dandruff girl update [2008-05-20]
My son stopped in to talk to the counselor about her today. The counselor had no idea she was exhibiting this behavior and thanked him for letting her know about it. Hopefully it My daughter said she saw her playing with her dandruff today, collecting it on a paper, but she didn Instead, she brushed it onto the floor, then she started picking at her arm.
Update sm [2008-05-07]
I just talked to my daughter She is really nice. I told her about the situation and that Iwas concerned, especially since the mom hung up on me. She told me she kept an eye on them in class and at lunch the girls sat together, and there were no problems as far as she could see.
She felt I did the right thing by attempting to talk to the mother and also contacting her to let her know what was going on. She seemed to think that the friend has a problem sharing my daughter with the other girls and that she is a one friend type of girl.
The teacher said she wonfriend mom at this time because it could escalate things and I agreed with that.
The friend may be going to another school next year (they She also said she was going to make a note that they not be in the same class next year in case she comes back next year.
I'm definitely happy about that!
Update: I am waiting for doc to schedule an abdominal CT for me - sent my husband a message saying [2008-04-10]
that they will be scheduling me for a CT today or tomorrow. His answer: 10-4, I hope you get your health in order. Exercise please.
I am having abdominal pain, back pain, bleeding, etc. but I guess if I exercise it will fix all that.
Update on son [2008-04-09]
Once again I thank all of you for your responses. We (DH and I, with son) went to the therapist today. We did not tell our son about the appointment. We just checked him out of school. I really thought there would be a lot of drama but he went very willingly. My biggest fear after reading the post on his myspace was suicide. I myself have a history of deep depression and at 18 tried to commit suicide. Anyway, I liked the therapist immediately.
After a bit of discussion with my son he asked me why I thought he needed to be here. I told him about what I read on myspace but since making the appointment I found out a few other things. I talked with each of his 3 closest friends separatley and they all told me very similar things. My son is 5 In my opinion this kid is an incredibly healthy eater for the most part, but take him to a Chinese buffet and he eats 2 to 4 plates full. Same thing with lasagna, he can He has never said a word to us when we are together as a family about eating too much, but when he is with his friends eating out, which is at least once a week or more, he always talks about how fat he is and even sometimes says oh I ate so much I have to go throw up now. They also talked about his moodiness but just sort of thought, we all go through those days, which I agree.
When I told this to the therapist in front of my son he kept saying it was a joke. Well, 2 of his friends are very overweight. I asked him how he could joke about this in front of them. He just kept saying, just like about the myspace post, it is just a joke. Obviously there is more going on here.
He then talked with the therapist alone for about 30 minutes. We took him to lunch afterwards and I asked him if there was anything he wanted to talk about and he shrugged his shoulders and acted like what in particular should we talk about, so I let it drop. We took him back to school and he did tell me he loved me before he got out of the car (I said it first and it is something we say in our family all the time). After school he seemed fine but only had a few minutes because he had to get to tennis.
I think possiblyI over reacted to the threat of suicide, but I am now afraid of an eating disorder. His bedroom and bathroom are in the basement so if he is thowing up I am definitely not aware of it.
Yes I will definitely be more aware of his actions after we eat together and it really sucks that I have no idea what he and the therapist talked about, but I do feel better for having followed through with the appointment. We go back in about 10 days so I feel the doc does not think he is about to harm himself. As a matter of fact he told my son in front of us that everything they discussed he could not tell me unless he thought there was a possibility of him harming himself.
Gosh guys, this is soooo long again. If I didn Thanks!
thanks for the update sm [2008-03-25]
I do not watch Oprah since I am usually working when her show goes on. I felt bad for the family that was promised the money. I am sure the guy (cannot remember his name)felt bad also. I am glad it all turned out great at the end.
UPDATE [2008-03-17]
he does have the flu. that swab put tears in his eyes. Thanks for the advice.
Update about dentist from below post sm [2008-03-12]
My dentist called me last night and apologized. She is doing to write off the difference. She was very nice and I told her I So we worked out stuff and I will continue to go to her.
Here is an update [2008-02-18]
It seems like it is looking more and more like he was playing the strangulation game and died accidentally.
This happened on a Thursday night and he had made plans to go out with friends on Friday night just a short time earlier.
There was no note, nothing on his myspace page, or any other reason to suspect it was suicide.
Either way it is a terrible tragedy.
Can anyone explain to me how a person can play the strangulation game (the way it is worded really creeps me out) by themseleves. I asked my 17yr old and my 15yr old and neither could tell me. I hope that is good thing.
just an update.....sm [2008-02-09]
I posted back in December about finding out my husband was having an emotional affair.
I just wanted to post again and let you all know that we are in counseling and it is really helping us. We are communicating better than we have in years. My husband is realizing just how much he hurt me by his actions and I believe he is truly remorseful. We still have a long way to go. I still am having trust issues but he is doing pretty good at keeping in touch and letting me know where he is and what he is doing.
Thanks again for all the advice and e-mails.
Have a great weekend.
update after second opinion [2008-02-07]
Adia has a completely torn cruciate, she tore it jumping off a very high cat tree, she is chubby and has short legs, but of course she is beautiful. He said this is a rare injury in cats, in 20 years he has only seen 3, hers being the third. Since she is young (8) and a large cat, he said to fix it which I think I will probably do. Will let you know in the next couple of weeks the outcome, picture of my soul companion below.
Interesting update plus thanks for all your input! [2008-02-06]
So, guess what. There was something the counselor was angry about, and the principal called my husband and apologized for her behavior. They wanted my children to stay in the school until the FCAT was over. This is the score which rates a school A to F for the state. The school we were at then was C. But my 2 sons and 1 daughter all scored top of the school. The principal said the counselor was defensive because she was upset we were leaving and she asked my husband if they could just stay until after the reading test next week and the FCAT next month.
He could not believe how transparent this all was, and how I got in the middle. Well, the kids had a good day, saying good bye to friends.
Today we enrolled in the school by our house we originally had lived in and just about everyone we saw including the principal had hugs for all of us. As I escorted each child to meet the teacher in their rooms, many children shouted out to my kids they missed them. All 3 kids had tears in their eyes they were back. What surprised me was a bunch of the little ones were yelling for me, because I was room mom in kindergarten and first grade and I cannot believe they even remembered me.
Finally, the counselor at this school (an A school) told me in the hallway as an aside when they contacted the other school, the expressed an interest in keeping my children until after the test. Well, this new counselor just laughed and said we by law go where we are zoned and this is where they should be. BTW: It is an A school.
Finally, the counselor who escorted us to the classroom wanted me to help with the spring play as she said they all missed me being their right hand gal from the old days.
See, you never know why people get angry or pick on people. Sometimes as in this case it had something to do with the counselor losing us and the principal wanting us to stay for the grades.
And by the way, I have the utmost confidence in my colleagues in the MT world which is why I share these things with you. Not because I am immature or afraid of dealing it with myself. I already had dealt with the situation before I came here. I just think it is nice to chat and be supported by a group of people who you respect in your profession. And you did not let me down. Thanks for every different point of view, and thanks for reading this long post again. I just had to give you an UPDATE. Moral of the story: You never know what is going on in people's agendas AND what goes around comes around. So true!
Hay catlady - did you get the kitty??? [2008-11-27]
Please UPDATE !
I have a problem with the coffee's presented here [2008-10-21]
Theyand some kind of Green Mountain Coffee. All those gourmet coffees are too high in price here - $6.99 per 13 ounces is ridiculous!
Never heard of Fresh Market coffee or Boca Java, and yes, I clean my pot out once a month. I did not change coffee filters but that's a thought. I've been using the cheapest I could find, but the same brand. Been using the same filters for years.
We Tomorrow, I am going to try 100% Columbian coffee that hubby bought. I already have 3 kinds of coffee in my 'fridge besides the new coffee, and he bought the biggest can you can buy (why? I don't know.)
I will UPDATE you on using this coffee, plus I think I will buy some different coffee filters. Maybe it is the coffee filters. I do have some older ones not made for this coffee pot, but will use one tomorrow and see what happens.
Thanks for all your help and I'm open to more suggestions. LOL
TY for replies/advice - see "wait a minute" below for [2008-10-01]
UPDATE. I plan on talking to principal and teacher today and go from there.
Husbands and money [2008-09-19]
I keep a spreadsheet of our income and expenses for a two-month time span. That way, I know in advance how much, if any, extra cash is left over on payday and can plan for any unusual expenses that might be coming up. Every couple of weeks, I sit hubby down in front of computer and together we look over where the money is going and how much cash we have until the next payday.
I UPDATE it every other day as we spend pocket money, unexpected expenses etc., and keep him informed if we are broker than expected. It's never richer than expected unfortunately!
I also take care of all the bills, etc., so it is easy for him to fall into a state of ignorant bliss. But I am an organized computer nerd at heart, so I like playing with the numbers.
But I think if your husband had concrete numbers of your financial situation, he would realize what a difference that $3 can make.
Husbands and money [2008-09-19]
I keep a spreadsheet of our income and expenses for a two-month time span. That way, I know in advance how much, if any, extra cash is left over on payday and can plan for any unusual expenses that might be coming up. Every couple of weeks, I sit hubby down in front of computer and together we look over where the money is going and how much cash we have until the next payday.
I UPDATE it every other day as we spend pocket money, unexpected expenses etc., and keep him informed if we are broker than expected. It's never richer than expected unfortunately!
I also take care of all the bills, etc., so it is easy for him to fall into a state of ignorant bliss. But I am an organized computer nerd at heart, so I like playing with the numbers.
But I think if your husband had concrete numbers of your financial situation, he would realize what a difference that $3 can make. Or even see that if he didn't drive home, he would save a gallon of gas a day, x5 days = $20 bucks or whatever.
Back to school [2008-09-10]
How is everyone doing with back to school? I
An UPDATE to the school lunch thing that I posted last week. Hubs and I decided to give our 10yo the benefit of the doubt and see what happened without imposing guidelines. Wasn Lunch is his favorite part of school - I wonder why with ice cream, french fries, soda, and pizza to choose from! I called the school and they are starting the program where we can go online at home and see what he chooses, UPDATEd every day; it is just not running yet. So to the one who suggested that I ask about that, Thank you! I wonder how many other schools have this and the parent
Not only that but.....sm [2008-09-08]
we have been seeing each other over a year and are supposedly very close...yet he didn He said he talked to some friends who calmed him down....his mother called the friends because she saw how upset he was. He lectured me because I said my feelings were hurt instead of asking for an UPDATE on how his dad was doing and told me that for future reference when someone I do everything for this guy and I am not self-centered in this relationship at all. I can't outright say to him that I think he lied about the whole thing, and now he is acting like everything is just fine between us.....like he has forgiven me for my insensitivity.
Before the post gets buried below regarding credit - very long message sm [2008-08-24]
I just wanted to share with the posters who were considering bankruptcy.
Unless you are on the verge of losing your home, I would strongly encourage you to consider another option. Bankruptcy does not just go away after a few years. It Even if you rebuild your credit afterwards, it A friend and my in-laws also filed bankruptcy in the past.
My in-laws filed over 20 years ago and have recovered financially but it
My husband is a credit card spender. I would only spend when I had the cash and did not depend on credit. It didn Our spending habits combined nearly led to our financial demise a few years back too.
This is what I did and I hope you give it a try and it works for you too.
I started with a complete inventory of all of our bills, separating them into three categories.
Home (mortgage and utilities)
Credit cards - (lowest balance to highest balance regardless of the APR)
Miscellaneous bills (entertainment, clothing, food, gas, fast food, etc.)
Since the Home category is pretty consistent every month, I set up a budget for that first. I went back through our utility bill for the year prior and chose the highest month bill of the year and added that amount to our mortgage amount.
Next, I reviewed our telephone, internet, and television (satellite) bills. On average, I was paying about 230.00 per month for them all combined. Way too much in my opinion. I started shopping around and found a bundle package with Verizon. Now I pay 153.00 per month for unlimited long distance telephone, satellite TV, and DSL service. Saved $77.00 per month, just doing that.
Then I added this amount to the mortgage and utilities. This totalled amount is what I know I absolutely have to pay every month and I better make sure it's in the account.
Next, I did the Miscellaneous. I I started going over what was spent where and learned that we spent a lot more than we really needed to. I set up a weekly grocery budget and a fun budget. If there was anything extra at the end of the week, it was divided evenly between the two and added to the next week. I do this every week until the end of the month. If there is anything left over, that amount is divided in half again and half is divided again and added to the following week's budget (grocery and fun), the other half is locked away in the savings account.
The money for monthly gas was a little trickier when the gas prices skyrocketed. I first had a set limit for gas each week but did have to adjust that. I did manage to adjust it a little bit upwards and still be able to pay the cards down (see below.)
Also, every time I spend cash, no matter if the amount is $5.01 and all I need is a penny, I don Instead, I will give them $6.00 and get 0.99 change to put in my giant size espresso cup of change. When the cup gets full, the change is rolled and turned in to the bank as a deposit into the savings account. My cup last gave me $281.00 change to put in the savings account. That was in March. It Nobody touches the cup! They might lose a finger or even a hand!
That being said, and having two set amounts for each budget, I then subtracted that amount, plus the Household amount from our combined monthly income.
Lastly came the dreaded credit cards. To be honest, I was floored when I learned just how much credit card debt we had. My husband had wracked up over $40,000.00 in credit card debt alone. Since he paid his own credit card bills each month, I had no idea. Even worse than that, he is very inconsistent about paying his bills on time so he had late charges and the interest rates were way the heck up there. It was terrible.
I took each of his cards most current statements and started from the lowest to highest balance. The lowest one was about 1200.00 but the interest rate on it by that time was 22%. This is where I started.
I had him call the company and basically gave him a script to go by (my name wasn He requested a decrease in his APR on each and every card. Two of the five card companies agreed on the first call. The 22% card was reduced to 11% so they cut it in half. Not as low as I would like but it was a start. Another card was up to 31% and they reduced that to 20%. The other three didn't budge the first time.
This is where I made two The first one was MS Money software. I highly recommend it. You can set up your checking, savings accounts, print your checks, balance your checkbook in about 5 minutes, pretty much a no brainer software that really keeps you in line with your bills and spending as long as you remember to faithfully enter any debit card purchase in your check register provided with the software. It will also link to many banks to UPDATE your balances online. You can also set it up to remind you for upcoming bills. (Maybe if the husband had used this earlier, we would not have been in this situation?)
The second purchase was about $8.00. An accordion file folder for the monthly statements. Husband always threw his away and I cana dumb idea that is. KEEP them. Organize the tabs for each bill and put your statement in when you pay each bill. I also write the date and the amount when I make a payment somewhere on the statement, then keep them in chronological order.
The actual payments came next. The smallest balance card was paid off first. All of other cards only got the minimum payment PLUS $1 more. I started doing this just for my own peace of mind I guess but I learned later that this actually helped us a bit when negotiating the lower APRs on the three more stubborn cards. It may have only been $1 extra but it was EXTRA payment and, believe it or not, they do look at that.
Excluding the card to be paid off first, I added up the minimum payments of the remaining four cards (plus the extra dollar to each of those) and decided on an amount to pay the lowest balance card to get that balance moving toward 0 as fast as I could.
In this case, I decided on 200.00. This left me with a little over 200.00 extra (I call it mad money but it really goes into savings anyway -planning ahead for birthdays, auto insurance, Christmas, and emergencies.)
I had that card paid off relatively quickly in a few months. When it was paid off, the card was cancelled and that 200.00 was added to the minimum payment (plus $1) on the next lowest balance card. After the first month of this, once again, had the husband call his credit card company and ask for a reduction in his APR. This time it was granted. Should also mention that this card was one of the three that refused the request the first time.
The first six months or so of this wasa mildly painful transition. He was used to whipping out a credit card, I was used to having cash on hand for whatever I wanted. It wasn't going to happen anymore.
Finally, I wasdown to the last remaining card (754.00 per month payment by this time, having applied the payments for each card to the next as they were paid off.)
When I got to this point, I started shopping around for cards with rewards programs and started comparing those cards. The last card I was paying on also had a rewards program but not quite what I wanted. I wanted to know if the terms were negotiable. It was! How about that!
So, instead of losing a valuable customer the card company decided to keep me.
Now I get 3% back on purchases of most things as long as I pay the balance in full every month (which I do). Any kind of air or rail travel purchased with the card is a 6% reward.
I no longer use a debit card. The husband is not allowed to get a credit card again but instead, takes a certain amount of cash every week. Say what you want but he got us into this mess pretty much so he has to live with it now.
It I find that I average about 400.00 per month AFTER the rewards bonuses kick in so essentially I am able to bank another $354.00 per month in savings. It adds up quicker than you might think.
Should also mention that we have two teens still at home and they can really be expensive. They were made a part of the plan and do their part to help out too. Their contribution is mostly the avoidance of fast food all the time. They can come home and have a meal or eat before they leave. Things like that.
Sorry for the lengthy post but hopefully I can help anyone else get out of a potentially bad financial situation like we faced.
punk neighbor kid [2008-08-03]
Awhile back I wrote that I wish there was a draft and the neighbor Got lots of messages telling me bout the terrors of other neighborhood kids. Just thought I This kid is 14 years old (is about as big as a full grown overweight adult) and his attitude is getting worse and worse. Seems like his parents don He calls his little brother the B word (usually what we refer to other women as), hehomee and home boy, uses the f word in about every sentence that comes out of his mouth. The other day was about the final point for me. He was usinghedge trimmers todo whatever he was doing. Well the thing wasnevery swear word imaginable in a single sentence. The lady two housesacross from mein the back yard yelled out to him - Hey watch your language. She was coughing and sounded sick and Ishe didn His reply to her was Shut the f up or I. I don All I could think of was where are his parents. They were there about 5 minutes before that. He also has a couple freinds of another color and when they are in the back yard with him he feels the need to do a whole routine like what you see in the movies. Well yesterday we happened to catch a movie on TV (by accident - it was on and we couldnNot sure if any of you have seen it but it is exactly the way the kid next door acts and talks. They call each other the B word (still didn I told my DH I have a good mind to go talk to his mother but that wouldnif I did I wouldn His parents talk to him like nothing If word talking to their kids). But the kids parentname (I won But when he asked why she called him that shestated because you don. They are constantly yelling at him. The other day he told his parents he wanted his room to remain completely dark and they said to him like your heart. Kind of creeped me out. Anyway...we have been planning to move for quite some time, but this was the breaking point to speed up our search. I believe hehead to the hills and to really search out what kind of neighbors in different area. We also get a lot of kids playing the base on their car radios so loud the stuff inside our house vibrates. Told my DH today where can we go live in peace and quiet without having to move to a 55+ park. I I wrote before I wished theymilitary school with a uniform and drill sergeants keeping an eye on him 24 hours a day teaching him respect. Being in the Army and going through basic training myself really taught me respect for others and how to be an adult. Anyway...just wanted to vent.
Thanks! That DOES help. I was leaning towards - sm [2008-07-16]
turning on the water first, but when I have a new appliance, I really do need to have very clear directions, or else I start asking myself all these questions!
I'm off to the store to buy the recommended detergent, and will post an UPDATE on whether it works or not.
Thanks for your answer!
Thanks for the tips - I too.... [2008-06-06]
am not quite at that stage where I think Idoing the gray thing.
Update [2008-06-01]
Some of you may recall a few weeks ago when I posted about getting into a verbal altercation with the mother of a child on the opposing team. I just wanted to give those of you who commented an UPDATE. We played that team again yesterday and the mother was there standing where I normally stand. I chose this time to stand on the opposite side of the field, even though my view was a little obstructed. I said nothing to her the entire game and didn I took your advice and kept my mouth shut. We lost the game, but that's okay because I had the chance firsthand to see the embarrassment a child suffers when parents get out of control
Earlier this week, it was team picture night. The mother of the child on the opposing team was there, as was her husband who is one of the assistant coaches for their team. He made a nasty comment about the manager of his own team (using 4-letter words in front of the team) because the manager didnfired him from his assistant coaching position. So instead of just his mom standing in my usual spot, his dad was there, too. I can only imagine the embarrassment their child must have felt because his dad was not on the field.
I know now that my actions could have caused me to be suspended from even watching a game or 2. I wouldn So thanks to all for your good advice. I have spent the last several weeks videotaping my kids rather than worrying about who
Suggestions [2008-04-28]
Hey Kaydie, I used to work with special needs kids and had one with a similar weight problem though not nearly as severe. What your sister needs to understand, and if she gets defensive tough give her some tough love, is that if your nephew develops diabetes and then goes off on his bike and eats whatever the heck he wants, he can do more than lose a toe, he can die. A guy I was friends with in middle school, died after we graduated from a hyper/hypoglycemic episode when we were like 20. He was short and skinny!
As far as suggestions, the pediatrician needs to UPDATE his malpractice insurance because there sure as heck is something wrong. As far as South America sizes, we Now, as far as his job is concerned, if this is under adult programming, tell them he is under dietary restrictions andcan only eat vegetables or what have you. I assume he has some sort of superivision at work regardless because of his disability. Do not let him carry around pocket money if he is going to insist on using it for food.
Get him involved in something that equals exercise like Special Olympics or something. Riding his bike is great but not if he Give him errands to run like going to a post office or the library, things that don Get him a paper route that he can ride his bike for. Have your sister turn it around on her and say that her doctor told her that if she doesn Get him to help develop healthy meals for mom and help shop for them. Get that cookbook that shows how to sneak healthy foods into meals for kids.
Above all make sure your sister understands that you love her and your nephew and want them both around and healthy for a long, long time. Heck tell her a friend of mine who is 6 feet 2 and weighed 225 at one point started having knee problems at 26? He has lost 40 pounds and guess what? His knees don It makes a huge difference. I don Good luck to you!
Reminds me of those ads which have always run in the back of comic books or magazines [2008-03-21]
Ever since I was little, the same ad still runs, I think it is for a learn at home program it says:
Become a Medical Transcriptionist in your spare time. Earn over 25K a year. I am not kidding this one has been running in the back of magazines and comic books forever. I think it also says, learn by typing doctor They never UPDATE it. So, we make the same as we would have 15 years ago... but then again, that might be true considering we never get a cost of living raise... hmmmm.
it appears I still have your old e-mail...sm [2008-02-15]
I sent an e-mail to you a coupla days ago and it bounced back. Just e-mail me and I can UPDATE my address book. What did you think about barforama! Poor JulietCat
Look at it from their point of view. You have lived there 20 sm [2008-02-10]
years and may live there another 20 - they want to UPDATE. You don't have a lease - you are month-to-month and although you have been an ideal tenant - it is their property and they cannot do their renovations with you in there. I would try to rent another unit in the building if possible - but not sure you have any legal right to stay there - but hoping for your sake I am wrong!!
Rigged chair [2008-02-07]
Thanks for asking, meant to give an UPDATE, but forgot. Nice older man made the repair for me, owe him my life, or at least the life of my back. Love love this chair, out of it for 5 days, and oh the love I have for this chair, forgot how much I love this chair.
Called Herman Miller and they sent me to a chair repair place on the phone who said they would replace the seat of my chair for $250, which I was willing to pay, but thought I would try this fix first, still may get it in the future, but hey, may not be pretty, but it sure as he@ll works. Man friend said about the putty, you mean that Super BullS@it putty, so no I didn't try it.
Interesting update plus thanks for all your input! [2008-02-06]
So, guess what. There was something the counselor was angry about, and the principal called my husband and apologized for her behavior. They wanted my children to stay in the school until the FCAT was over. This is the score which rates a school A to F for the state. The school we were at then was C. But my 2 sons and 1 daughter all scored top of the school. The principal said the counselor was defensive because she was upset we were leaving and she asked my husband if they could just stay until after the reading test next week and the FCAT next month.
He could not believe how transparent this all was, and how I got in the middle. Well, the kids had a good day, saying good bye to friends.
Today we enrolled in the school by our house we originally had lived in and just about everyone we saw including the principal had hugs for all of us. As I escorted each child to meet the teacher in their rooms, many children shouted out to my kids they missed them. All 3 kids had tears in their eyes they were back. What surprised me was a bunch of the little ones were yelling for me, because I was room mom in kindergarten and first grade and I cannot believe they even remembered me.
Finally, the counselor at this school (an A school) told me in the hallway as an aside when they contacted the other school, the expressed an interest in keeping my children until after the test. Well, this new counselor just laughed and said we by law go where we are zoned and this is where they should be. BTW: It is an A school.
Finally, the counselor who escorted us to the classroom wanted me to help with the spring play as she said they all missed me being their right hand gal from the old days.
See, you never know why people get angry or pick on people. Sometimes as in this case it had something to do with the counselor losing us and the principal wanting us to stay for the grades.
And by the way, I have the utmost confidence in my colleagues in the MT world which is why I share these things with you. Not because I am immature or afraid of dealing it with myself. I already had dealt with the situation before I came here. I just think it is nice to chat and be supported by a group of people who you respect in your profession. And you did not let me down. Thanks for every different point of view, and thanks for reading this long post again. I just had to give you an UPDATE. Moral of the story: You never know what is going on in people's agendas AND what goes around comes around. So true!
Well, updated news... [2008-01-04]
…Morning show Today said pulled. You have to listen on a day to day basis to get UPDATE on the news, just like the wind blows. If they did not pull I think Disney channel would be a big joke. Supposed to be for kids, good clean shows, not a pregnant 16-year-old unmarried girl.
I didn't know that! (sm) [2008-01-03]
Since switching from DirecTV to cable (moved), I don't get Court TV any more :0( so I had no idea she had even gotten married!! Good for her!! And twins :-)
...thanks for the UPDATE...
Dennis Quaid's children in medicine mix up sm [2007-11-20]
Dennis Quaidbleed out. Both babies are now at Cedars in the neo-natal intensive care unit where we're told they are stable.The twins were born to Quaid and wife Kimberly Buffington November 8 via surrogate.A rep for Quaid did not immediately return our call for comment and there was no immediate comment from Cedars.We're told a technician stored the Heparin in the wrong place, and when a nurse grabbed the medicine for the babies without looking -- it was the wrong dosage. A source says the babies are now being given Protamine, which reverses the effects of Heparin.UPDATE: We're told as many as thirteen patients at Cedars were mistakenly given the overdose of Heparin, but the effects are more critical because of the age and weight of the twins.Story developing ...
Installing Husband Version 1.0 [2007-11-05]
Subject:INSTALLING HUSBAND Version 1.0Dear Tech Support:Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and almost immediately noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance-particularly in theFlower and Jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programssuch as NFL 5.0, MLB 3.0, NBA 4.0, NASCAR 4.2 and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.Ihttp//www.I-Thought-You-Loved-Me.com and try to download Tears 6.2, and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 UPDATE. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default toGrumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very badprogram that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources).Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. This is an unsupported application and will crash Husband 1.0.In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. Yo u might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 7.7.Signed,Support Tech
How about this [2007-10-31]
No where in my original post did I ask for opinions, I made a statement to vent my frustrations. I wasn't going to make a big flap in the local community about it so I posted my vent here and it was just DONE! That was it.
You must be a terribly lonely person who is so desperate for attention that you just can't help yourself but to post negatively to everything that catches your eyes. I recognize your writing style. I have seen it throughout these boards.
I posted early this morning and here it is at least 11 hours later. You must have been waiting with baited breath for the UPDATE. What a sad state your social situation must be.
I feel bad for you and hope your situation changes because ugly runs real deep.
Post what you will to this (I'm sure you will come up with something.) I won't respond to YOU again. As i said, IT'S DONE!
Unless your "auto" clock has been updated [2007-10-29]
with a new program telling it the new daylight savings time schedule, it is going to change as it was programmed to do.
Same with my computer, I did not install the patch from Microsoft to UPDATE it so when I got up Sunday morning, it had fallen back so I had to manually change it back and I will have to manually change it next week.
Cedric [2007-09-16]
Congratulations Misha!.....I know Tuesdaycan Cedric(as in the Entertainer) sounds good.Practice screaming it out the back door and see if you like the way it sounds coming outta your mouth....Iwho were trying to name children (whether they be human kids or furkids). You might have to look him in the eyes first to discern what his name should be.
You mentioned cats being royalty andstretching out 3 times their length....Napster gets up on theback of the couch and straddles it and hangs his head over the edge....looks like a cat skin rug.....as if he
As for getting lost, go on Google and type in Mapquest.....you can get directions from your front door the pickup destination andprint them out. I can
Cat
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