The quickest way to blow a budget....

Is for Mom to get sick...

We have gone sooooo long without eating out. We have done great since mid-Feb budgeting 10.00/meal for all eight of us. We are saving each month, even though both of us are on unemployment.

Then Mom got sick. I am absolutely fine... as long as I sit.... but when I try to stand to cook... I start swooning.

So we ordered out, twice!!! Even though I was very careful, it still cost 30.00 for our family (Pizza Hut) and Wendy's (25.00). For two meals, I spent more than 5 meals worth of budget.

Aggghhhhh....

It has been two weeks and my voice is back, the fever is gone, no sick stomach.... throat feels great. Still congested... and dizzy. Boo is sick too. We seem to be on the same stage with this bug.

My carpet looks disgusting. I guess no one else knows how to run a vacuum. Of course they would say I didn't specifically tell them to. Oh my. The table is cluttered. The kitchen, remarkably clean... Oh yeah... I am not cooking!!!!

Kids are sick of cereal and sandwiches. Yesterday I was going to cook something easy... TACO's.... I didn't get thru browning the meat. No way I am going to chop lettuce when I am this woozy. Somehow, this infection must have made it to my inner ear...

But sitting.... sitting works. I can key on the computer. I can help kids with homework. I could work.... if I had a job. Just can't walk yet. Maybe by Monday. If not, I will need to break the budget further and go the the Doctor. YUK.

Meanwhile, going to try to brown that meat again.... and perhaps chop the lettuce from the table instead of standing... Gotta try to restore our budget before all my savings vanish.

Blondie had her chorus concert last night. She was so cute. She is a shortie and normally in the second row and completely hidden from view. This time, she was front row. YEAH.... I could actually see her. She really loves singing. I almost didn't go due to the dizziness but made myself. I am glad I did... She didn't think I would be there. It was precious seeing her face light up when she saw me sitting with the rest of the family. Definately worth the effort. Remarkably, her brothers were attentive. I did leave after her part of the concert and went to the car to lie down. Boo, Spanky and I rested while the concert continued.

The stock market does have a bottom

It is zero!!!! And we are rapidly heading there it seems.

Another change I can credit to Pres. Obama...

So now I have

1. The dollars in my purse changed to change in my pockets

2. Employed changed to Unemployed

3. Tax paying changed to Tax consuming

4. Preparing for retirement changed to completely unprepared for retirement


Seems daily the changes come.... some future changes to fix things...

1. Tax Cow farts

2. Tax Farmers dirt from plows

3. Double my electric bills and force me to go back to candles and wood furnace. (I am sure these things are NOT better for the environment. But to be prepared, I am going to learn how to make my own candles. Maybe learn to work with raw wool from sheep. Buying my emergency seed supplies. Learn how to can meats since refrigerators cost so much in carbon credits. Bet I could go back to washing clothes in the creek. That is good for all the critters who drink the creek water but imagine the carbon credits I would save.)

4. Raise my gas prices. Hmmm... force us to ride bikes again versus driving cars. I mean, we don't need gas to power the cars to get us to work so we can earn money to pay for all these new debts our government has promised we would pay.

I am not sure if I liked or disliked this video, but it intrigued me enough to post it here. He seems less bewildered than me. I am surprised that MSNBC has turned on the Pres. During the election, he was their golden boy. Now they are calling him to task. Hmmmm... that has gotta hurt.

But Good news for the Pres... my relatives in Kentucky are still under the allusion he is for clean coal and will build new power plants using clean coal, thus making them secure well into the future. Bless their hearts.... the man says he is anti coal plants.... and they just don't listen. I haven't read the whole stimulus package but what I have read... hasn't mentioned clean coal in the U.S. Still there are those who gave this man their whole hearts, they whole hearted support... believing in his change. So far, all I hear is the same thing we have heart from new President after new President... it is all the old President's fault.

My challenge, stand up, be a leader.... go thru this budget... line by line as promised.... remove 100% of the pork/ear marks. Give us some hope that you really intend change. Quit blaming your signature on the Bush administration. If you sign this budget, it is your budget. Maybe I can sign a bad check for my tax debt this year... and say it was leftover from the Bush Admin... and I will do better once I am working under this Admin... just give me a year. Next year, I will be more responsible. But right now, I have to clean out all this leftover Bush stuff. Somehow, I don't think it would hold up in court... Neither does blaming anything in this budget on Bush.

We don't Care....

I guess I am a birther.... according to AOL anyway. I am someone who doubts Pres. Obama's legal right to be President.

Oh I don't doubt it because of the many conspiracy theories.... I have not signed on any lists demanding proof. I have not called my congressmen. But I do wonder.... why... if he is eligible, doesn't he just release the real Birth Certificate for our perusal? Why not release his college records? When people do not release info to squelch the fires of conspiracy... it flames them... and it makes people like me wonder.... which gets us labeled things like "birthers".

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=90447

I don't blame my wondering on WND and their many articles highlighting his supposed ineligibility. I blame it on the Dems and the President himself for not providing this info and quickly extinguishing the flames.

What concerns me far more, is America's "I don't care" attitude. So what if he isn't eligible.... So what if our constitution is ignored... so what if there are 20,000,000,000 in earmarks every year... so what if we are borrowing, for one stimulus, that we couldn't repay it if we paid 1,000,000 a day, every day, since Jesus was born. For those of you who cannot add... that is 1,000,000 a day for 745,000 days. So what if our elected officials, in both parties, promise one thing at election time, then fail to deliver, blaming the other party (We heard it with Pres. Bush and now with Pres. Obama..., sorry but I am still not seeing change.... except in my pocket... where dollars once lived.)

Why don't we Americans care anymore. I remember Pres. Obama, during the debates, stating that American didn't care about a mere 20,000,000,000 in pork/earmarks. It was such a small percentage of the total yearly budget. Yet when the auto industry asked to borrow less than that... America suddenly cared. I guess it is OK to give it away without question... but loaning it out... not so OK. Then again, at least America seemed to care with the auto industry. I will cling to that at least. I may not like their decision, but they seemed to have passion.

During the election, American seemed passionate about change... but now that Pres. Obama is in office... we just don't seem to care anymore.

The Octomom... another case of American not caring. I hear people screaming for CPS to take her babies. What she did makes me ill. But after parenting five children, who came from foster care..., I am not anxious to put these 8 babies thru that loss until it is necessary. My kids love our family and we love them. But the yearning they have for their lost siblings... lost grandparents... lost cousins...., no amount of love can make up for their losses. And who is going to adopt all 14 children... and let them have access to their bio family?

Right now, lots of families would jump thru hoops to adopt those sweet babies. They are adorable. But who is going to be there when they struggle as teens... when they end up making mistakes... when the juvenile courts refuse to take into consideration that the disruptions in their early life affected them and their ability to mature in a normal fashion. I can only speak for my own family... but no one. When our kids struggled, we were on our own in uncharted territory. We thought the system that moved our kids so carelessly... would help us heal the damage. Nope, the system seemed to think the damage should vanish the instant a new, stable home was provided.

I don't want to see these 14 children put thru what my own, very, very loved children have gone thru. I don't want their adoptive mother to one day find stories/poems they have written about their despair at having unknown siblings, relatives in photos that they don't know... a history lost. My daughter wrote an incredible poem to her little sister, adopted by another family. It broke my heart. Her pain at losing her sister was far greater than we had realized. Her fears for her sister... the unknowns. At the end, she wonders how many other siblings are out there that she doesn't know about.... and worries that they are not OK, not loved, not cared for.

I don't know what I believe about foster care and adoption anymore. I know I think it needs to be a chosen path, not a government forced one, unless the child's actual life is in jeopardy. This life or well being thing is for the birds.

Looking at my kids now... it is hard to say what would have been better for them in the long run. I can only love and raise them as best I can....

I do know... I don't have to like what Octomom did to want what is truly best for those children... and staying with their siblings, unless it truly endangers their lives, seems to me to be the best thing.

We Americans are so vocally opinionated.... when we are passionate about something, like Pres. Obama getting elected, or removing Octomom's babies from her care. But where are we months or years later.... it seems once we get what we want, we don't follow thru. We just don't care. I fear Octomom will lose her kids and I wonder, who will follow thru? Who will make sure they are really cared for and loved? Who will make sure they are kept in contact with their siblings? Sadly... I don't think anyone will. After all, that would take years and years of holding people accountable. Pres. Obama has been in office less than two months, and already, we are not holding him accountable.... we just don't care.

I'm not sick.....

I'm not sick. All I've got is a headache and a fever and a cold.....



For years my parents told this story about my older brother. He wanted to go somewhere with friends but Momma said he was too sick. He replied, very firmly, that he was not sick, all he had was a headache and a fever and a cold. My parents loved it so much, they turned it into a little ditty.... we younger kids would run around the house singing...



"I'm not sick. All I got is a headache and a fever and a cold" every time one of us got sick but wanted to go somewhere anyway.



Today, that someone was Boo. She and I have both been suffering from some sort of flu/cold monster. (round two... we had round one two weeks ago.... cold made it's way thru all the kids and back to us much stronger and vicious.)



Tonight is skate night (kids skate for 1.00). Boo wanted to go so badly. Too bad her fever was still 102. But Boo, being Boo stated she was not sick... not at all... all she had was "A sore brain, sore hands, sore feet, sore ribs, sick belly, sore throat, cheek that hurts, and a fever." Not sick at all.... bless her heart. Even as she argued, she was drowsily falling asleep. Granted she did eat today and her toilet trips were much fewer... she didn't cough that horrid hacking cough... so she is getting better... but no where near "not sick".



As she argued her points, I could vaguely hear children chanting, "I'm not sick. All I've got is a headache and a fever and a cold".



Too bad our parents didn't have video like we do today. Instead, the chanting song stays in our minds versus us sharing with the world.



Time for Mrs. Mommy to drug herself back into a peaceful slumber.... I hate colds/flu's....

anyone else tired of government budgets?

I am sick of both parties. I am sick of our elected officials telling us one thing, then voting on another.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090227/pl_politico/19411_1

Even though I didn't vote for Pres. Obama, I must admit I had a hope he would actually follow thru on his promise of change.... no instead, the Dems seem to be blaming the Reps for all the earmarks in their first spending omnibus...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iIg34ct-JZVW_v1Nx7Yg9GhIScqwD96LEJLG0

Wouldn't it have been nice to see them stand up and say "NO when we said Change, we meant Change".

Well the only change I see is the dollars I once had in my purse have been replaced with change in my pocket.

Why are both parties allowed to do this? It was one thing in Clinton's era, when everything was roses.... but now we are in a crisis and wasteful spending needs to stop and stop fast.

You know what I want our government to do? I want them to live by the rules they have set for the auto industry. After all, they have gone many, many more decades... not years but decades... without living within their means... than the auto industry has. They have been more irresponsible with their finances, than the auto industry has.

Now the US Government has figured out all the things wrong that the auto industry has done, and has forced them to change in order to get more money.

Please note, Mr. Dad works for the auto industry... or did... now he waits for unemployment... Anyway, please note, my views may be lopsided as a result of my family depending on income from the auto industry.

Well, before the US Government continues to take my grandchildren's money... I want them to live by the wise standards they have set for the auto industry.... including but not limited to...

1. a 50% cut in staff

2. The staff that is left takes a huge cut in benefits

3. Retirement more in line with common America - no golden retirement benefits

4. Across the board salary cuts (auto industry was suggest to drop 50%)

5. No company paid for retirement (Social security is it... no more PERS)

6. More co-pay insurance (we pay 100% for Dr. visits now... not sure how much higher our co-pay could be?)

If the government wants to continue to borrow from us... I think we have every right to ask, no demand, they be fisically responsible... and use their own blueprint... the one they gave the auto industry. Here is a list of some of the things the auto industry has given up recently. It doesn't include the hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the past decade... or the salary and insurance benefits that were given up...

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1864085,00.html

As Earl Pitts would say....."Wake up America.... those in glass houses should not throw rocks".

Maybe the Government should fix it's own house, before it starts fixing everyone elses.

I am waiting to see if Pres. Obama will hold Congress accountable for how they spend taxpayer money... as he promised with the stimulus.... after all... this omnibus is our tax money as well... and borrowed from our grandchildren as well... Maybe this Pres will impress me and put a stop to it... one can hope... but for some reason... I am not really expecting it to happen. It is much easier to go with the flow and make it look like all the problems are someone elses. It is much easier to throw rocks... than to clean one's own house.

A Great Loss.....

I am always sad when Icon's die. Today I read that Paul Harvey passed away.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090301/ap_on_en_ot/obit_harvey_10

I have loved "The rest of the story" for as long as I can remember. When we were young, my brother's and I would try to figure out who he was detailing... before the famous... "And now you know, the rest of the story".

We rarely solved the riddle.

My in-laws recently bought an Edenpure... because Paul Harvey recommended it. And they love it!!! I am seriously thinking about getting my parents one for Christmas next year. My poor parents are always cold. My In-Laws swear their house is warmer than it has ever been and their electric bill dropped dramatically. Their furnace is now set at 50 degrees and the Eden Pure does the rest. Supposedly using no more electricity than a coffee pot. Wow...

http://www.edenpurestore.com/

Anyway, they would never have believed the hype had it not come from Paul Harvey!!!!

Myself, today I received a bit of the rest of the story in the first link above. Reading that he died less than a year after his beloved wife, brought back memories of my own Great Grandparents... who likewise died less than a year apart, both in their nineties. I truly believe that sometimes, great loves like theirs, cannot survive without each other. With the US at 50% divorce rates, I wonder.... what has happened to these great loves.

We watched "Fireproof" last night. (rented for 1.00 for five nights, for those of you wondering how we afford to rent movies on unemployment)

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

What a great video. The acting was not the greatest. You could really tell who had acting experience (Kirk Cameron) and who didn't. But the message... it was stunning. You never leave your partner behind.... especially in a fire. So many marriages die during fires. One partner runs off and leaves the other. Yet for those who stay and fight to survive the fire... well one day, their grandchildren and great grandchildren get to tell stories told about their "Great Love". It wasn't that they had a "Fire less" Marriage... rather that they fought together during the fires and made sure their marriages survived those fires.

Paul Harvey.... Thank you for many years of great stories.... and for the last story of your own "Fireproof" marriage.

homeschooling and cheating....

Where there are kids and school, there inevitably will be cheating....

What is it that challenges children to find ways to cheat? Seriously, if my kids spent a fraction of the effort they put into cheating, into learning the material... they would master the topic.

Plus I am one of those evil Mom's, who makes a child re-do the entire year, when she discovers cheating on one assignment. No kidding. One child, Spanky, has had to re-do pre-Algebra two times this year... and I am still not sure he has learned his lesson. He is now behind in three other topics due to my discipline method (going back to the beginning). However, he is definitely learning his pre-algebra!!!

Now one might ask, what kind of homeschooling parent, can be manipulated by a child, twice, in one school year? How did he manage to cheat at homeschooling? Good questions!!! In one case, he took my teacher's answer book and copied the solutions. I caught him red handed. The second time, about four months after the first, he discovered that once I logged him into an online test, my password was saved automatically. The next time, he could sign in as me, jot down the answers, hide them, then ask me to log him into his test. I caught on after he scored perfectly on five tests in a row. Had he missed a few problems here and there, I probably would not have caught him. Little stinker.

And is it wrong for me to secretly be proud of his skills at deception? He did not argue either time about the punishment. He knew the rules and accepted his consequences.

I am a bit proud of him for finding creative ways to cheat. I just wish he would apply that creativity to his pre-algebra assignment.

Oh wishing and wondering.... punishing while grinning with pride inside.... been there... done that....