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Archive for December, 2008

Resolutions

December 29th, 2008 at 05:52 pm

My resolutions,

1) To read my Bible more and set a better spiritual example for the kids.

2)To be more financially secure, including get out of credit card debt, not using credit cards, only paypal or debit cards, save for emergencies.

3) To lose the weight and develop better eating habits.

4) To traverse through at least 4 more belts in Karate.

We're back!

December 25th, 2008 at 02:30 pm

We are home from our few days away. Did anyone miss us? Don't answer that ok? Anyway when I made the reservations and DH took the time off we were told we could swim till 9 the day we arrive (Sunday) and from 9 to 12 and 4 to 9 on Monday and till 3 Tuesday the day we check out. They also have a cool game room where I planned on letting the kids waste a couple bucks each. Well when we got there we were told they aren't open (waterpark) on Tuesday till 4. That pretty much blew that day for us and I called the manager and politely (even nicely) explained that that misinformation messed up our plans. i told him I doubted there was something that could be done but I wasn't happy. He offered to do something for us but wasn't sure what. I suggested dinner at their very nice restaurant if they could figure out what to feed us and my husband said if that was too hard then a free day pass for a later time. He gave us the dinner, 5 free day passes and each child got $4 dollars worth of tokens for the game room. I was amazed. I was also quite grateful. Needless to say we'll be back there every year we live here. Made for a fun trip that didn't cost as much as we thought it would.

ok That didn't work!

December 21st, 2008 at 03:08 pm

Had to change back to my old number of minutes for another 20 bucks a month. Seems that I only get one free number to call if I go down to 500 minutes. In order to only use 500 minutes a month I need at least 6 free numbers so I upped to the 900 plan that gives me 10 mumbers free. Everyone I call is out of state. My DD uses the same service so she is free but my DIL doesn't and I actually talk to her more since my DD and I can IM on gmail. Ah well at least I don't have the extra 25 dollar charge for tethering anymore. That saves some.
WE are going away for the first couple days of Hanukkah. There is an indoor water park near us that the kids love. It is a log cabin "theme" and really fun for them. I am so looking forward to cuddling and playing with my two. Of course we are taking schoolwork so we don't get out of practice on that! Since I cancelled the tethering I won't be able to get online either although for what we are paying a night, they should give us wireless service but sometimes DH's computer won't work with that.

Spent money

December 19th, 2008 at 08:22 pm

Sometimes you have to spend money to make money! My cell phone keeps going on the fritz so I changed phones. In the process I decided to down grade my account. I went from 900 minutes to 500 minutes (I rarely use more and now can be careful)and I cancelled the tether. If my DH needs it again we can add it for 30 a month so can't see spending that when we weren't using it. I probably dropped our bill by half.

Bad news at work

December 17th, 2008 at 04:19 am

Hubby's work not mine. He was told no raises in 2009 and very little bonus. Some folks won't get any. he makes good money and it is our own fault we are in debt but we were hoping for the bonus and raise to get us out of it. Oh well, we can conserve more I'm sure. I have been doing a bit of saving, not much with the holidays but a bit and I can do a bit more. I want an emergency fund that is healthy. Then I want to pay off debt. I am actually putting the same amount in the fund as I put on the credit card. The income tax return will help with the credit card pay off I'm sure and at least there will be some bonus.

He's Home

December 6th, 2008 at 04:15 pm

I got to talk to my son this morning. He is home from Iraq. This second tour seemed to take forever to be done. I didn't realize how big a weight it was till he talked to me and the heavyness floated off. I am soooooooooooo hoping he gets a different job so he can be home for awhile. It is so hard on his kids and my DIL when he is gone that long. Should have heard the cheering around here when the kids found out the person on the other end of the phone was their big brother!!!! My DH was shouting at the computer and the kids were yelling. For once the noise didn't bother me. i seem to recall adding to it a bit!

Can you hear me now?

December 5th, 2008 at 07:14 pm

When my DH was a teen he lost almost all the hearing in his right ear. His left was so so. He was left with a constant ringing in his ears. That was decades ago. He tried a hearing aid but it didn't help. He was told it was nerve damage and untreatable. Well he is sick several times a year with a sinus problem that is apparently uncurable and not very treatable. Maybe i should say he is healthy a couple times a year. Anyway we finally got a referral to an ENT yesterday. I was holding a Simply Fun Party at the same time (which had been planned for 3 months) so couldn't go which made him unhappy but we couldn't make him suffer another week so we reviewed what the Dr needed to know and off he went. When he came home he said they had scheduled him for a CT scan to see exactly what was going on. Then he dropped a bomb............Seems the Dr thinks he can fix his ear. This Dr doesn't think it is nerve damage but fused bones. He says the ear drum is fine and sees no reason why he can't operate and solve the problem. Needless to say we are reeling from the news. DH just looked at the DR and siad that would be nice but I've lived with this for years, and while annoying it isn't a big deal anymore, can you fix the sinuses!! The Dr was a bit surprised but understood when DH told him how many days a year he is sick with it. WOW he could hear again!!!

On another note my son comes home from Iraq tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Schoolwork for 5

December 4th, 2008 at 05:08 pm

i have 3 extras today. A friend has to take her youngest for all kinds of tests today so dropped off her 5,8,& 9 year old here. We had school for 5. My 3 year old wanted to show off but settled down. My 5 year old buckled down after a couple minutes and worked really hard cause the other 5 yr old is his best friend and he wanted playtime as soon as possible. I was amazed at the small amount of work they did in a school day. Maybe it is because they came here but 4 division problems seems pretty low to me. Oh well guess I am a slave driver!!
My DS2 read to me last night and it was wonderful!! He did an awesome job. He is sounding out so much less than he was. I taught him to sound it out in his head and that goes so much faster for him. I am a very proud Mom!

Blah Day

December 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 pm

We had the first decent snowfall of the year last night. My first clue was waking up to the little voice of my 5 year old when he asked, "Mom is it winter?" I groggily said no go back to sleep and after a couple minutes it hit me why he must have asked. I checked and yep lots of white stuff out there.

I am having a Simply Fun party tomorrow afternoon during our normal playgroup time. I traded parties with her. I really hope this is worth her while. I don't have many people coming. Most people seem to hate these things but I honestly like them. I am in the minority I guess. Her Usborne Book party (my business) went well so I hope I can do as well for her.

I said yesterday that I was going to try to turn over a new leaf, both health wise and financial. So far so so! I have no motivation right now, for anything. Mornings are pretty good but afternoons aren't.

Long Time no write

December 1st, 2008 at 05:03 pm

I have been keeping up with Sparkpeople but not here. Guess I figure my finances aren't great so what do I have to add. Of course neither do I really have anything to add on Sparkpeople (a weight loss site) since I am not losing weight. So I am making some resolutions. I intend to blog here everyday and on Sparkpeople (actually I don't blog there I comment on the loving your husbands forum). More importantly I intend to have something to blog about!!
As in I intend to do something about our financial and health challenges.
Right now we have very little savings other than retirement stuff. I have some I have been saving for when we can take a really nice trip but that is out of my allowance and investments so am not counting it. We save 15% for retirement every month from the gross so will not be changing that. We have started saving another 10% for an emergency fund but only last month. We need to put a great deal away so we can visit family every year and last year did it on credit too much. We had to go, our DIL was having some health crisises and our DS was in Iraq. This year we hope to head East in July, and November. It is a long way off and we are unhappy about that but it gives us time to save. I'm sure our DD and DIL won't like the long time till they see us but can't be helped. DH is in a time crunch at work too which if we do this right may lead to a move closer to the kids so we can go alot more often. It will cut the drive from 3 days to 1 long one. That of course cuts the costs.