Monday, April 30, 2012

Dating Diversity

You know, its kind of weird how the majority of the race issues we have faced since adopting transracially have actually been with the white children I gave birth to.  (Not that there haven't been issues with Mouse.)

Like the time my teen-aged son declared that racism doesn't exist anymore after I called him out for spouting a stereotype at the music booming car next to us at a stop light.  Oh yes he did.  And the kids did learn a lesson about saying that kind of stuff in front of mom.  You should see the gleam in their eyes and the grins on their faces when someone else in the family makes the same mistake.  I have a reputation on the subject apparently.

And yes I've had to call BS on not only my father-in-law, but my own father also. It sucked but I did it. And when my own father told me he could say whatever he wants, he's old and he earned it.... Well my response was that I could never come back or bring his grandchildren to see him any more. Which way did he want it? (No that was not easy.)

Anyways.

Bones pretty much kept a low profile on the subject after that.  But Songbird?  She's become a little champion on racial issues.  She calls people out for using the worst of words.  She has debates in class when someone gets stereotypical or flat out racial. She reprimands people at the lunch tables.

And she is funny too.  When people see pictures of her little sister on her phone and ask her if Mouse is adopted....Songbird says "No.....I am."She's thrown quite a few people with that one.

We are always hearing about the racial issues here from her. She comes home just appalled several times a year.  Once it was because none of her high school friends thinks it wrong to call Asian's Chinks.  Really??
But the latest one was the hardest so far.

You see, the kids were discussing dating and the subject of inter-racial dating came up.  And according to her nearly 100% of the kids claim they are not allowed to date anyone of another color/race. Parent mandated NOT ALLOWED.

My first response was "Are you kidding me???"

And then she went on to say she told everyone that she was pretty sure her parents would be happier if she dated a black man than a white.

Waa...what???

So here I sat as a mom with a million things running through my head and trying to figure out how to handle this one.

Does she really think we want her to date based on race????  If I jump up and say NO that's not the case will she take it as not practicing what I preach??

What do I do????

So after asking her why she thought that (well...look at our family mom) I proceeded as carefully as I could to explain that she had it all wrong.

Actually the EASIEST thing she could do in life is to date and marry a white man.  And every mom wants her kids to have it easy and be accepted and face as little hatred as possible.  So for the sake of ease alone dating a white man is the way to go.

But dating is not about color/race.  And our assessment of her dates is not about color/race. It's about character.  CHARACTER.  It's not about how alike or different your backgrounds are.  It's about character. It's not about how much money they have or what college they attend.  It's not about where in town they live.  It's about character.

So I hope I did okay.

All I know for sure is that I was horrified that she really thought we wanted her to date based on race.

Any other mixed families out there that have dealt with something similar?




Friday, April 27, 2012

Embracing Life...Quietly

Here is my guest post from a couple of weeks ago over at Embrace YOUR Life:


Embracing Life….Quietly

Today we have Autumn from Autumn Asks Why guest posting today - it is such a great post and I think we can all learn from it and/or take something away from this post. 

What could be more exciting than embracing life? Truly, if you do so it’s a great ride.

My grandfather lived through the depression and was career military and a war vet. He had a wonderful outlook on life and it came across on those times I was lucky enough to visit with him. Love life. Be honorable.  Live every day.  Be HERE now.

My father was also career military. We traveled and lived all over the states and overseas also. I learned much. I experienced much. And at 10 years of age I discovered the camera.  And it was in that time frame that I really began to embrace life.  (Even though I was painfully shy and did most embracing within my family and travels.)

Then I married career military.  I mean, what did you expect? How could I possibly stay in one place? There was too much to see. Too many places to travel to. Too much life to live. I had so much more I wanted to embrace!

And all these years that’s what I have done.  Place after place. Time after time. Move after move.

And all these places I’ve made friends or just been an observer of others.  And I have always been astounded and saddened by those that do NOT embrace life.  Those that worry about what others will think. Those paralyzed by the thought of stepping off the path their friends are walking.  Those ruled by popular opinion, keeping up with the Jones and outward appearances.

What a waste of time and energy.  And talk about being untrue to yourself. That’s not what I would call embracing…its enslaving.

But right now we are in a very unstable place.  After 26 years my husband finally retired from the military.  And the jobs he had a pick of? Well, they disappeared with the latest budget cuts.

We are jobless.  We are far from all family.  And we have two girls that just don’t get the fact that we have less money coming in than going out.

So you could say there isn’t much to embrace in my life right now.

But I disagree. I’m not living in fear.  I know God has a plan whether I can understand it or not.  I don’t curse him or blame him or reject our situation.  Don’t get me wrong … I am in no way rejoicing in our situation.  After all, I can’t do anything but sit around the house pretty much right now.  Our savings are draining away at an alarming rate.  Our last paycheck is mysteriously missing and after a month and a half the military still hasn’t fixed the problem and doesn’t appear to be in any hurry to do so.

But still, I consider myself as embracing my life.  It’s a very different embracing than it has ever been before. It’s a very quiet embrace.  But it is still my life.  It is still a new day EVERY day.

It’s still worth embracing.

I embrace the time at home with my husband. The husband who spent more time in the desert than with his family for years and years as he served his country.

I embrace the time at home in the quiet. The time I am not running around doing a thousand things and wasting money on little luxuries.

I embrace the downsizing of possessions – that brings in a little more money for our next meal.

I embrace doing our clothes shopping at the thrift stores.  It’s like a treasure hunt every time.  And my girls are learning skills in looking over things and really making sure they want to spend their money on an item.

I embrace the challenge of spending as little as possible on groceries and still eating a balanced meal.  This is a skill I used to use to make it paycheck to paycheck…but haven’t needed for years.  We are rediscovering some old favorites and exploring new recipes to add new dishes to our diet.

I embrace the unknown and am excited about what is to come.  Where will we end up? What’s around the next bend?

Don’t forget that all life is worth embracing. Even if you can’t see it today…just maybe tomorrow…..

Especially if you go looking for it.

Even if it’s a very quiet embrace.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Great....We're Trendy Now

This was a post for a contest over at Preparedness Pro that I wrote 2 weeks ago.  Just sharing.


Doing the popular and trendy thing has never been a priority in our lives.
But I must say I am thrilled to see so many people preparing their homes and families for hard times.

Notice how so many of them can recall relatives that lived through the depression…and the things they absorbed from their actions? That is really the starting point of my story. My grandfather lived an honorable and prepared life because of what his family lived through.  I love the stories of the whole family following the dad…a lineman…and how they lived camping. Transport was by horse.

My Papa grew up to be career military.  Then my mother married career military.  Then I married career military.  Yes, my children are third generation born in military hospitals. So again, being frugal and being prepared was a way of life all the way down the line.

But we didn’t call it prepping.  Actually I grew up with a “Deep Larder”.  And it felt safe.  Even when we moved there were boxes of food to open on that first day in a new home.  Always we could eat.

Fast forward to now. Hubs just retired from a 26 year military career.  We were expecting a quick move and a choice of jobs. And we knew we were overweight on our household goods so we spent the last 8 months eating that larder to keep down all the money we are going to have to pay to have it moved that last time.  So the freezer was empty, the pantry was close to bare and we were ready to start packing. And I must admit I was a little uncomfortable without my deep larder because tornado season was coming.  But it was temporary.

And then it happened.  Several billion in defense cuts.  And the jobs that were waiting…all disappeared.  And nobody is hiring.  And we aren’t even getting call backs.

So here we sit.  With no deep larder.  No security of any kind.  And I HATE it.  It keeps me awake at night.  Because the retirement check covers our bills, but only leaves us $52 to live on for the month. Not doable.

And I morn the fact that we took the steps we did – because we KNOW better than to be caught without.  And now we are paying for it.But I also don’t see spending the extra thousands to pay to move food.

And there is no money to do anything to start building back up.  So instead I’m working on some of the other basics….mindset and getting in better shape.  Its not much, but it is SOMETHING.  Because even without money you can work on some areas of preparing.  And I learned that right here.  Thanks Kellene!

A.F. OH

Monday, April 23, 2012

Oh The Haters You Will Meet!!

(Think Dr. Seuss.)

Can you believe? Again?  The old working vs. non-working mom/women debate again???

Like many others I sat stunned as I watched a woman on national television tell me that I am a pathetic waste of space.  Because I don't work.

Oh the politicians have jumped all over this.

And at first I was beginning to be outraged....but then....it was FUNNY.

This is SO tired!!!

I don't need some hater that has no connection to my life telling me what I am or am not worth.  And I actually don't care what hateful people think.  I don't live their life and they don't live mine. So why is this person even relevant?

And that's just it.

Haters aren't relevant.

Whether its the stay-at-home vs. working mom debate or shots vs. no shots or internet trolls slamming your blog posts.

So what?

We all have opinions and live different lives.

We all also know that manners are not dead and being ugly is not acceptable.

So if someone is being ugly, untruthful or behaving unacceptably -- they are irrelevant.

Which is not to say that someone with a differing opinion is irrelevant. That's not the same thing.  I personally welcome different opinions.  As long as they are truthful and respectful. Because that is actually what makes life great. Debate is good.

So lets give our time, attention and debate to those that have manners.

And more importantly, lets give our time and love to those that love us.  Because there are so many that love and support us on a daily basis. And they deserve much more or our time. If we give them half the attention that the haters get....they will feel very loved.  And aren't they the ones that DESERVE our attention?

That's where our attentions and energy belong.




Friday, April 20, 2012

Another Week Gone

Time is just flying by....while it drags at the same time. Does that make any sense at all?

Each day seems like an eternity with no answers.  Yet I can't believe its been over 5 months since Hubs went to work in the morning.

Ah -- and we found out why our final check was short. Seems they paid our allotments for March....twice.  And its our problem to get the money back from those it was sent to of course.  And its our problem to find out exactly how another branch is going to be taking the money back we "owe" for being overpaid by thousands of dollars.  My gosh.  Can't I just write them a check for what they dumped in my account??? Ugh.

But even with all of that its just business as usual.  Well, maybe that is an exaggeration. Its very low key and close to home business as usual. LOL!

Hubs is considering being shipped off to Afghanistan for a year because it pays insane money...and its not like we've got anything else going on.  Yeah.  Not ready to wrap my mind around that one yet. Does that mean we would be stuck here until he returns?  Eeewww.  Although the money is good.  Really good. Hmmm.  Lots of questions.....

Songbirds High School solo performance and Mouse's school musical are scheduled for the same day and time. Yep.  Yet another reason this school district should be slowly tortured to death.  Unorganized and unprofessional...two very good words....

But everyone is healthy.  We still have a roof over our heads.  We still crack on each other constantly because that is just what we do. Its a sickness I think.

I have a friend that is going through a really tough time right now.  And through it all she draws closer to our Father and grows in her faith.  That is probably exactly what I should be doing also.  I am very much in awe of her faith and spirit.

Fail. Prayers have gone unanswered so I stopped asking. That's a no right?  I hate it when my kids ask me for something over and over. So I don't.  The loudest no is a silent no in my book.

So I'm just waiting for whatever the yes is.  I'm actually getting pretty good at the waiting thing.  I might not like it, but its not that bad.

So another week is gone.  Wonder what next week will bring.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Slappin' Myself in the Forehead

I am about ready to put out a contract on Murphy.  Oh yes I am.

We finally got paid!!!

Except.

You knew that was coming, right?

We got a nice big deposit of 11K.

Because apparently we are still active duty.

Ummm. But we are not.

Oh they know that, that's why they held it for 4 pay cycles before depositing it.

(IS THIS MAKING ANY SENSE TO ANYONE ELSE?????)

So they will adjust the number to "xyz".  (Except that number is half of what they owe us so we are having to fight to get it recalculated).....by just not paying us until all the money is accounted for.

So, we don't get a check for like 8 months.

But Autumn, why is that a problem since they dumped that deposit in your account???

Well, that would be because I don't have exact figures on what we get from retirement AND after paying bills we are actually living off of investment funds we cashed in.  Which means I no longer am sure exactly what my numbers are.

That probably doesn't sound like a big deal to some, but it is.  I need to know how much we are bleeding out of that investment money and this royally screws up my checking account.  (And yes it is still doable but its going to be a lot more work on my part -- and I'm lazy.)

My question is - WHY did they ever deposit this money and make an accounting nightmare for everyone involved? WHY not just do it right? They know its wrong and they did it anyways.

Oh wait, oh wait until these are the people paying your healthcare bills Joe Public.  You have no idea what you asked for.

 

Monday, April 16, 2012

Pinterest Project #6


You can't really tell so much what these are as is.  They are actually firewood carriers. You take an existing canvas bag and cut the sides out and shorten the handles basically. Makes it easy for the kids to gather fuel when you camp. If you do these make sure you find bags with no seams anywhere in the bottom or it becomes and hot mess in a hurry.  Otherwise it is a quick and easy project.  About thirty minutes tops.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Spring Break Camping

With the girls having Spring Break, and us having little income, we needed to get a little creative to keep them busy this year.

Luckily we had a brand new RV to break in.  And we were a little nervous.  All our previous family camping had been with a tent.  This was a whole new world.  With sewage.  Ewww.

But we put our big girl and boy panties on and made reservations at one of the State parks.  I know I've mentioned about a million times how great Ohio state parks are.  I am so not kidding.

We went mid week to avoid the weekend crowd and get a decent spot that would be easy to back the trailer into.  That had us pretty nervous also.  But it was really not that bad at all.

We managed to get the trailer into its spot - straight even. Hah. That means I wasn't driving. But newbie mistake number 1? Picking a pad with a tree over the awning.  We didn't hit the tree but it dropped all kinds of crap all over the awning which we watched get rolled right up into it when we were prepping to leave.  Note to self.....

In no time at all we were exploring the woods behind our site.  Of course Mouse found herself a big stick right away.  That is some unwritten rule with kids, isn't it?
Cinder was less than thrilled.  I already suspected that she is slightly claustrophobic - and she cried and barked the whole ride.  She has been banned riding free due to her inability to obey commands and climbing all over my girls and trying to climb into the front.  She is a crazy spaz in the car.  So, she now must ride in her crate for everyone's safety - including her own.  She hates it.  And she is very verbal about it.  I see sedatives in her near future.

We also learned this trip that she REALLY does not like change.  She cried every time Hubs was out of sight.  Not very impressive from a guard dog point of view.  She does like being outside though. And will happily stay out all day as long as Hubs is out there too.
Of course its hot dogs and hamburgers cooked over the camp fire for dinner.
Mouse will eat her weight in hot dogs she roasts herself over the fire.  Its the best we ever see her eat.  That alone makes camping worth it.
We really roughed it that next morning.  Poptarts, hot chocolate, cartoons.  Man that camping stuff is rough. (Why yes, Hubs did steal the tv from my mom cave/sewing room.)

We had a busy day.  We found lots of foraged firewood for the fire.  Because camping is ALL about the fire, right? I mean, why else would you even go?  Who doesn't love playing with fire? And Mouse has been well trained in fire-making and wood gathering through Girl Scouts.

The firewood carriers I made from tote bags weren't as great as I hoped.  It was nice to be able to carry that much wood, but I actually think it would have been better to just use them as they were and not alter them. Mouse got the most use out of them.

This is Hubs and his face full of hair.  I don't like it.  Seems like almost everyone else does.  The funny from the trip was when I called him Mr. Crocodile Dundee.  Mouse thought I said Mr. Un-Done-Dee.  Yep. A new nickname.
We went for a hike and then a walk.  We ended up down by the lake.
What is it about throwing rocks into water? Its almost as mandatory as making a fire.
And speaking of rocks, what is it with girls and "collecting" rocks? Songbird drove us nuts with this and now Mouse is following in her footsteps.  These were in her pockets from the lake.
Hubs and I collected something else: wild garlic (sometimes called wild onions).  This stuff is everywhere in Ohio.  Hubs cleaned a bunch up and we put it in our (mine and hubs) foil dinners that night.  Oh my goodness! Talk about making the meal.  Hubs even brought some home.

Some of our other adventures from the day were the chicken hawk that wanted Songbirds Chihuahua and the Dobbie pushing me down the steps of the trailer and taking off to parts unknown....twice.  Luckily she came back both times.  She is faster than any other dog we have owned or even seen so there is no chasing her down.  Luckily she really doesn't want to be separated from us, she just wants to stretch her legs...so she comes back.  But its not good to have a 70 pound doberman running loose where people have their children because they tend to think she will eat them.  Even though she won't.
Mandatory s'mores.
MMMMmmmmmmm. Hah! Caught the teen eating!
Hubs kept rather busy keeping the firewood stocked.
I tried out the fire starters I made.  They worked so good.  The toilet paper roll ones were easy to light with the wax dipped fabric strips I left hanging out.  And the muffin shaped ones with the wicks I pushed down in the were also great.  The brownie shaped ones had to way to light so I threw them on top of something I had started to keep it going and that worked well.


In the evening it got too cold for me and Bogart.  We wimped out and went inside the trailer and kicked back and read a book.  The rest of the clan stayed out until well after dark.
We were having so much fun that we actually paid for another night and extended our stay.  Unfortunately I had a hole in my pants.  Right.  You might be a redneck if....you use duct tape to fix your pants while you are camping.  Well.  The pants from the day before got ripped in the seat when I was shoved out the trailer by monster dog.  I had to make do.
And just to prove that it really was cold enough for me to be indoors wimping out..... This is what greeted us in the mornings.  No way I would have tent camped this week.  LOVE the heater and the air conditioner in the RV. Both work excellently.

And then we loaded up and came home- after dumping the black and grey water. Wasn't bad like I expected.

It was a really great time and reminded everyone (except the dogs) why we love camping so much.  No phones.  Minimal electronics. Lots of fresh air and exercise.  Fire.

Can't wait to do it again.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Too Important...

..to post on my blog today.

But you can find me at Embrace Your Life on Embracing Life Quietly

and

At Preparedness Pro on Great...We're Trendy Now.




Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Pinterest Project #5

If you have ever used a travel trailer, you are probably aware that the mattresses are not really standard sized.

In the master there is a queen...but it is a "short" queen.  If you have some older sheets you might find some that fit okay, but the newer sheets are usually deeper so they don't fit as well.  Luckily I found an older sheet that looks like it will work just fine.

For the bottom bunk the mattress is a twin but it is really thin.  Again, with an older sheet or one with lots of elastic you might be in luck on fitting it.  Again, we found an older sheet at Goodwill for pennies that fit just fine.

But that crazy top bunk? Narrower than a twin and thin.  That had to be a custom job.

If you have ever looked to buy RV sheets, you know that means a starting price of about $60.

And since we could very well end up living in the RV for a bit, sheets are necessary.

So again, I found a sheet at Goodwill for pennies to alter using a pinterest pin on my camping board.
 I didn't have a large enough work surface so I had to pull out the sofa bed.  I tried the floor but monster dog thought that was an open invitation to use it herself.  Anyways, I followed the directions and cut down to the size I needed and then sewed it all up.

And it worked perfectly.  So glad someone pinned that picture and then I actually saw it.

Love it!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Murphy Takes a Break

Although the missing paycheck is still, well...missing...

things have settled down a bit around here.

We went on a Spring Break Camping Trip to break in the new trailer.  But that is a whole 'nother post.

Hubs at least had a phone screening with a company....which is more than we can say about the prior months since losing out on the government jobs.

Everybody is healthy.

Today is Cinders Gottcha Day with us.  She had her annual vet visit. With that and a years worth of heartworm and flea control, along with 6 month of the same for Bogart, I dropped over $400 on the fur kids. Completely out of savings. Ouch.

Mouse celebrated her 8th birthday with a big pan of Mac N Cheese -- her request for dinner, and cupcakes with light blue frosting - also her request.  Bones also celebrated his birthday yesterday. It stinks being so far away from him.

And the days blend one into another with no answers or progress.  Have I mentioned how much I hate waiting? Patience is not my thing.

Yet, we wait.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Pinterest Project 3 and 4

Since camping was in the cards for Spring Break, I have been doing projects for that with supplies already on hand.  Although for this one I did go pick up some candles at Goodwill because I had just thrown out all of my candle ends and pieces.  Most moving companies wont pack candles so there was no need to keep them. Or so I thought at the time.

All good camping has a campfire.  Its my favorite part of camping.  But not getting a fire started quickly makes me mad.  And I don't use flammables or cheat.  I'm a Girl Scout, remember. Lol!

But I'm not above making some of my own firestarters!

I had just purged all the files of the things we keep for a year.  After shredding all of that I had a whole bag full of shredded paper.  I had recently pinned some tutorials on pinterest on how to make these so I gave it a shot.

I did some of the empty toilet paper rolls stuffed with lint and paper.  Since I did these last I went ahead and dipped them in my leftover wax also.  I took scraps of fabric from the sewing room and twisted them and dipped them in wax also and then put them in the tube with an end hanging out for a fuse. I think these will work well.

I also did the most popular kind I've seen....in the muffin tins. I also used some disposable plastic containers from lunch meat to make some bricks.  These I cut into 6 pieces each after removing from the container.

When I had an wick I could salvage I stuck them down into the muffin ones to make them easy to light also.

This was time consuming but not hard. I wouldn't do it with younger kids simply because of the mess involved -- but that is a personal thing. It would not be hard to do with kids as long as they obeyed basic safety rules.

I will let ya'll know how they worked after our Spring Break Camping!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Where We Go From Here

...is a big mystery.


We cannot stay where we are because there just isn't enough money.  The rent here is way too high for us to keep paying.  Yet, if we move into another rental here it would be in an unsafe neighborhood for my girls. And the military will only move us once.  So that option is off.


We could pick a place in Texas and move on faith.  But that is crazy. 


Luckily we CAN move out of this house and have up to a year for the military to store our stuff until we have an address for them to bring it to.  That frees us up a little.  To be stuffless anyways.


We also have to think about the dogs. They complicate absolutely everything.  


So after going over all different kinds of possibilities and scenarios and our finances,etc., we made a decision that is actually rather nuts.  Or unconventional anyways.


At this point if Hubs got a job the girls and I would stay behind so they could finish school. Its just too late to move Songbird.  So that is two rents (which is fine with another paycheck).


And when we do move we have the pet deposits at each hotel. With two dogs that is $100 extra, non-refundable.  And if its Texas we get back to it will be at least a three day trip as Cinder does not travel well.  That's three nights in hotels while traveling and then whatever time while we try to find a place to live where ever we end up. If we can find a place that will let us have a dobbie.  


So we started throwing around ideals.  You know we've always wanted a camping trailer.  With Hubs back surgery tent camping is just not that easy for him.  And hey, if he has to leave us behind, instead of staying in a hotel he could stay at a RV park much cheaper.  It's cheaper than renting an apartment also. 


Then there is the travel whenever we do move.  In an RV we have cheaper stays nightly without that pet deposit.  Plus I wont be so worried about the dogs barking in a hotel room or having an accident or whatever.  We find an rv park that allows pets and then we can even stake them out while we chill outside with them.  So much better for them. 


It all makes sense.  And on top of that we end up with a RV to camp.  And say we decided to never to \camp again.  Well then we sell it.  There is at least some kind of return-- which is more than you can say about a hotel room stay.  


Of course we went through all kinds of pro/cons lists.  Its a thing with us.  


And in the end the pros won.  


The only downside of the whole thing is the money.  We had the rv place run the numbers and I just did not like the %rate we were given.  Being jobless we are a risk so we didn't get a great rate.  And I'm used to getting a great rate.  So I said no.  Plus, the last thing we need is another bill.


So, we robbed the bank.  


Our retirement bank that is. We cashed in an investment we had..


And paid cash for our new RV.  No bank note. No bills. Free and clear.  


Say hello to our new home:


At this point we plan on staying in the rental until the girls finish school.  We can handle the financial strain until then. After that we are free to pull up stakes.  We will have our belongings packed up and stored by the government.  Then we are free to travel where ever Hubs wants to job search.  And we have until next March before we will need to worry about our stored belongings.  



Not that this will be easy. How could it be without our belongings, with two dogs and two girls that love to pick at each other and fight?  But our housing expenses will go from about $1550 to just under $600 (ipad internet, monthly rental at rv site and laundry costs). We can live on that.

So there you have our biggest news.

Its definitely going to be an adventure.







Monday, April 2, 2012

Monday with Murphy

And here we go again with another week of things going any way except for as expected. We are sure kept too busy to be bored!

1. A lovely person decided to door ding my van. It's very ugly. White on dark blue so very visible. Not a big deal in the big picture of life, but it really sucks when you can't have nice things because jerks destroy your property. Thanks friend.

2. Still no sign of the missing paycheck from March 1. BUT  the retirement check showed up exactly on time on April 1.

3. Sadly the amount of the check wasn't as good as I expected. After bills we will have $52 for food and gas and everything else we might need.  Not sustainable at all.  So we have back-up plans in the works.

4. We did get a bill from the hospital. BUT its for $30. It was all processed right for once and that is a civilian ER visit co-pay.  I can handle that.  Well -- not on $52 a month (lol) but I am ecstatic that we are only paying $30 on a $3000 bill.

5. Both the girls are over the top BABY'S lately!!!! I know things are out of wack....but is that any excuse for trying to send your parents over the edge????

6. Dion and I both got hit with scams that added charges to our phones. Luckily I called ATT after I found the problem on his phone...which resulted in finding 2 on my phone. The charged on my phone were taken  off since I caught them so quick.

So that's my week. A little better in some ways but we are still operating in the red. No real progress on the job front.  And right now I'm just looking forward to the school year being over.