This week has been hell. Pure hell.
I have been watching a baby for about 3 weeks now. Last week they dumped the news on me that they were bringing her at 6:30am and leaving her for 2 extra hours, without an increase in pay. I told them that would not fly… get her early or pay me for 6 hours. They decided $100 more a month was just too unreasonable (I charge waaaaayyyy less than 50% what they would pay elsewhere, probably closer to 30%).
So today is day three of the new change… should we see if they will get her one time? Monday dad had training, he got her 3 hours late. This was pre-arranged so I was only slightly irritated.
Yesterday, 10:30am came and went… no pickup. FINALLY at 11:15 they come get her… I bit my tongue, he bitches the entire time how tired he is… wahhh, YOU asked to work nights, you CHOSE to not increase the 4 hour agreement, you picked up late and you STILL got more sleep than I did.
Today if he is late, I am not biting my tongue. 4 hours of listening to a baby cry for no reason is my limit. Yesterday my baby sat in a shitty diaper for 30 minutes because I was waiting for him to get here and I didn’t want my options to be either change him while holding her, or change him while listening to her wail.
I finished and e-filed my taxes last night, the refund was not what I was hoping (but it WAS what were were expecting) and when it gets here it will be used to pay down some Credit Card Debt, not exciting, but necessary.
It is estimated that the average US household carries $15,000 in credit card debt, and that 40% of Americans spend more than they make in a given year. I can totally see us being one of those 40% at times, and in my eyes that is unacceptable. This year we have really tried to make it our mission to pay down our debts, lower our bills, and eventually pay off our credit cards.
So what can you do?
It’s pretty simple… Pay more, and Spend less.
Call the credit card companies at least once a year and ask for a lower rate. They will often lower it to keep your business. If they don’t, call back and speak to someone else.
Transfer balances to a lower fixed rate. Introductory rates are a gamble, if you are good about making a budget and sticking to it, you can save a lot.
Be careful of “90 days same as cash”, if you pay it off after the 90 days you may be compounded with the interest incurred during those 90 days that was deferred. Anytime you have a specific interest free period, plan on paying it off one month early just to be safe.
Anyways, there is countless other ideas out there for reducing credit card debt.
*This is a sponsored post.
Wait, I have not read Part 1 yet!
When Christopher started first grade, I noticed how much he enjoyed self teaching himself through websites like Yahooligans. Within days he was able to name and locate all 50 states by location on the map and shape of the state within 3 minutes. Soon he was moving on the state capitols, continents and then countries. He also discovered his love of weather at this time and decided he wanted to be a meteorologist when he grew up. This was the year that he used his Christmas money to buy his first Children’s Alamanac and has been collecting them every year since then.
Christopher was the brightest student in his class, and he knew it, and would tell others. He also had problems with frustration, especially when he lost a game and would cry in class about 2-3 times a week. He was also disorganized, rude and interrupted frequently, talked too much in class, and sang and made noises for no reason. For the most part, except for the frequency in crying, this behavior has all continued into third grade. He still does cry, but maybe only 2-3 times a month now. For Halloween in first grade, he insisited on being a Meteorologist for his costume.
Despite how bright he is, Christopher continues to get mediocre grades because he fails to turn in his work, does not work well in groups, needs frequent reminders to stay foccused in class, and is disruptive. I told myself when his behavior started interfering with school, I would make a doctor’s appointment to find the problem. And this is where our journey begins….
After the first parent teacher conference of third grade, I called his pediatrician to evaluate him for anything and to see if he could rule out ADD/ADHD, Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID), Aspergers Syndrome, or any other Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). After speaking with his pediatrician he immediately decided Christopher’s case was too complex for him and referred him to a Pediatric Neurologist. The Neurologist said he has some behaviors that he felt fit into the Aspergers spectrum, so he referred us to Neuroconnections for testing and evaluation for an official diagnosis by a team of qualified doctors, to include a Pediatric Neuropsychologist. This whole thing has taken 6 months and we hope to have a diagnosis soon.
In hindsight, I wish I had started this when he was in preschool. Looking back I notice a lot of red flags that I may have brushed off. He used to line his cars up for hours on end making parking lots. When he was nervous he would flap his hands and make strange noises (like an uh-uh-uh-uh-uh noise). He would obsess about certain things and not be able to focus on anything else until the main idea was resolved. He used to “assume the identity” of inanimate objects, like a motorcycle or a school bus. He avoided eye contact and preferred to play alone instead of with other kids. As a baby he did not enjoy being cuddled or held, he was easy going and rarely cried. He then became over emotional and I noticed he was clumsy and uncoordinated. He woulds also notice the smallest irregularities about a room… something about Christopher was just different, and you could never quite put your finger on it.
He is truly a gift, and I cherish everything about him. The lessons he has taught me, the humor he brings to the family, and everything else he brings to the table, good or bad. He has taught me patience, flexibility, and so much more. No matter what the doctors say, no matter what the diagnosis, if any, is. I will still love Christopher, he will still be the same lovable boy. He will still be the same eccentric old man trapped in the body of a 9 year old boy.
Yesterday, the Neuro-Psychologist’s office, the doctor was asking Christopher various questions about his family, his friends, his school, etc. He would occasionally ask me to confirm or deny what Chris was saying, but most of the questions were asked directly of him. When the doctor got to the question of his behavior at school, he asked me directly.
Doctor: “How does Christopher behave at school?”
Me: “…Well”.
Christopher: “I can handle this question… my behavior at school is not so good, I get in a lot of trouble and my cards get pulled almost every day”.
Doctor: “Is the card system working for you, or does it seem unfair?”
Christopher: “Nope, I deserve the trouble I get in, when she pulls my card it is only when I earn it”.
Doctor: “What gets you in trouble?”
Christopher: “I talk a lot, but sometimes it is for not turning in my homework or not paying attention”.
Doctor: “Does your teacher ever reward you?”
Christopher: “Only sometimes, but only when I do good, which is not much lately, I get ROAR tickets when I do good though”.
This whole time, Christopher is walking around the room, and dancing, he is not saddened, uncomfortable, or embarrassed by this conversation. He is very matter of fact and there were several times I had to fight back a giggle.
Who knew websites like this existed for people who wish to date a millionaire, or millionaire’s looking for someone to date. Websites like this Millionaire Dating Service cater to single millionaires, and the men and women looking to meet them. The website boasts “Find Your Sugar Daddy Today!” which seems ethically wrong to me, however this website caters to people who wish to take care of their partner, or those who want someone to take care of them. I saw a couple on Dr. Phil who met through one of these kinds of dating services, he just wanted to lavish money on his hot young girlfriend.
You can search by numerous variables, including age, gender, ethnicity, income, location, etc. For fun I did a search in my area and was able to locate several singles, from wealthy individuals, to unemployed.
*This is a sponsored post.
Well, I have been slacking lately on blogging, this last week has been so busy.
Saturday we had friends over, we played the new Monopoly “Here and Now” Edition. This reminded me WHY I hate Monopoly so much, I have ALWAYS hated the game, it bores me to tears, and people tend to take it to far.
Sunday I helped Bobby with his website.
Monday the kids FINALLY went back to school, thank goodness, they were driving me nuts!
Tuesday we took Christopher to the Pediatric Neuro-Psychologist for his testing, it lasted from 9-4 and we will be going back in a few weeks to finish up. No diagnosis yet, but it is not Asperger’s, so I am quite relieved since that was kind of the “worst case scenario” in my mind.
Today I had baby A., and when she went home, M., who is 4, came over so I can watch her while her parents go out for their anniversary.
Christopher has been an “odd-bird” since he was born… nothing HUGE, no big glaring red flags, but over time little things that added up and finally concerned us enough to seek a diagnosis. Right now he is at a neurology diagnosis and testing facility for day one of two days of tests and then he should have a diagnosis within the month of completing testing.
Some of our concerns were Christopher’s over development of some senses and underdevelopment of others. As a baby he used to stare at bright lights and as he got older he started covering his ears at normal sounds that seemed overly consuming to him, like the toilet flushing or us raising our voices. His only delay in milestones was his speech and he started seeing a speech therapist at age 3. He then had a hard time potty learning and was still having accidents a few times a week until age 4, these increased at preschool because he avoided the sounds of the restroom and seemed scared. Patterns and numbers came easily to him, he started counting WAY beyond the level of his peers early on and started reading before his fourth birthday, he also figured out to count well beyond 600, he also could count beyond 100 by 2s (odds & evens), 3s, 5s, and 10s. His memorization skills were way ahead other children and even adults, noticing little things like what number was written on the sleeping mats of his classmates at nap time. In preschool one of his teachers did her final project on Christopher because he was so bright, unique, and struggling so much with peer relations.
When Christopher started Kindergarten, his teacher struggled with Christopher’s active mind and active body. On the first day of testing for reading levels she told me that Christopher already knew 116 or the 120 sight words for the entire year, and she would have to devise a special curriculum just for Christopher. She ended up sending him to a first grade classroom for certain lessons like reading and math.
The summer before kindergarten, Christopher had spent the day with friends and I at Six Flags. When he came home he was tired and uninterested in eating or drinking and very tired. I thought nothing of it, because he had spent the entire day at a theme park in the sun. That night he started vomiting and became very weak; he spent the night on a palette in the hallway by the bathroom because he was too tired to make it to his bed. The next morning I took him to the ER for IV fluids because I was worried about dehydration, which is more dangerous at our altitude. His doctor, an intern, was overly cautious and ordered an x-ray to rule out a bowel obstruction and then a MRI when the x-ray was clean. The MRI showed his appendix was suspicious and was removed as a precaution. When kept us scratching our heads and second guessing the diagnosis was the fact that Christopher was in very little pain. Even in his recovery period, he never needed anything stronger than Tylenol. This got me thinking back to the time when he was 18 months and broke his leg and seemed to have no pain, just a limp. His broken leg was not discovered until 2 weeks after the break because the first doctor could find nothing wrong, and told us to give it a couple weeks before returning. So this was the next red flag, which again was not glaring because Bobby also has a high tolerance for pain.
Anyways, this is getting long, I will finish this next time I have a break. To be continued……
This week’s theme is: Wild.
I had a hard time thinking of what to chose for this week’s theme. I thought of catching the puppy at play, or wildflowers, but I could not resist this darling picture of this wild ferocious lion. This is Matthew at 18 months on Halloween.
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Making the decision to get a Home Equity Loan is a big decision that should not be taken lightly; however, if done wisely can really help you get ahead. When we got our Home Equity Loan, we did so because we did business with our friend’s brother and we were told we could get completely out of debt without increasing our monthly payments of our Home Mortgage and credit card payments, the secret was how you apply it.
Learn by our mistake, if it seems too good to be true, it is, no matter who the loan officer is. Thankfully our terms now are still lower than what the going rate is right now, so there is no reason to refinance, but I am not sure I would have done it again if we got to do it over. If you do decide to get a route, make sure you research all your options for Home Equity Loans.
*This is a sponsored post.
