Money Problems

Have you ever had problems with money? It seems like in the twenty years I have been married, all we have had is money problems. I am only now finding out just how much trouble we are/were having. We have gotten ourselves in such debt that I don't think we will ever be free. It is sickening and no matter how mad about it I get, I still only have myself to blame. Being a stay-at-home mom, my attention was almost exclusively focused on the children. My husband "paid" the bills and I didn't think too much about it. On several occasions I offered to take the burden of paying the bills off of my husband's shoulders, but he refused. A couple of times, after I insisted, he showed me his bookkeeping and had it so confusing, and so complicated that all he did was yell at me when he was trying to show me what he was doing. I have always been a little "old school" with my bookkeeping--paper and pencil and a tickler file. Anyway, in the last year, I have taken over a good bit of the bill paying and was shocked at the amount of credit card debt we are in. I had no idea my husband had used cash advances and balance transfers to max out most of the credit cards we had. While I would love to put all the blame on him, I certainly have to take responsibility for some of the situation as well. If I had not wanted to get a table for the kitchen, or landscaping, or bedroom accessories, then he might not have felt so much pressure to put things on a credit card. At any rate, we are in a terrible fix. I don't see any other way out except to file for bankruptcy. This makes me heartsick. We have children who will be going to college and very likely will be affected by this move. We are considering Chapter 13, which makes me want to vomit every time I think about it, but unless one of us has a rich uncle we don't know about, or we win a sweepstakes, we are out of options. I recently got a part-time job after being unemployed for 17 years, but now I am wondering if I will even be able to afford gas for my car to get me to that job. It is a black hole we are falling into, and I am scared!

Math Facts Speed Test

Maybe some of you can relate to this: the faster you try to do something, the slower you get. That is the situation I have been dealing with with my second grader. Every Monday her class goes to the computer lab and sits in front of a computer to do their "math facts." The idea, I guess, is to get kids to know their basic math facts in an instant, which is a good thing. My kid is having a devil of a time with this though. She gets all hung up on the idea of doing it fast, and the harder she tries, the slower she gets. It is SO frustrating. It seems that every little thing in the classroom distracts her--the teacher clicking her pen, another kid standing over her shoulder watching what she is doing, other children talking. My kid just can't deal with the environment. I addressed this with the teacher a couple of times and she sent home the "Math Facts Fast" cd for us to use on the computer here at home. All I have asked is that my daughter do the facts for five minutes everyday. So far she has only gotten them finished under two minutes one time. The most frustrating thing about it is that she knows the answers. All ten are correct every time, but only after about 2 minutes. I just don't know what else to do to help her. Now she is becoming so anxious about Mondays that she is getting stomachaches and nervous habits. Anyone have any ideas for me?

Why Don't Athletes Sing the National Anthem?

I love the Olympics. Summer, winter, either one, I love watching them. I enjoy the watching the sheer joy and determination and "the agony of defeat," but there is one thing that has been bothering me lately. When Lindsey Vonn was standing on the podium after receiving her gold medal, the American flag(s) were raised and the national anthem began, but she didn't sing or mouth the words to our anthem. I noticed that other medal ceremonies as well and it just is a little bit disheartening. I know the song is awful to sing because the range is so wide. Those high notes are killers and I usually drop down an octave or just mouth the words at that point in the song, but out of love for my country, I sing it. It would be nice to see our American athletes at least try to sing while their country is being honored. I noticed that the Canadian snowboard gold medalist seemed to belt out "Oh, Canada" when she was on the podium. It has occurred to me that perhaps American children are no longer taught the words to our national anthem in school; it would probably offend someone. Maybe that is why these young athletes do not sing or at least pretend to sing the song. It is a sad thing though, and I am going to make sure my kids know the words even though they will probably never have to stand on top of a podium in front of the whole world and sing them. ****At least Lindsey Vonn did have her hand over her heart--that is a start, I guess.......

Snoring

Okay, I might have posted about this before, but it is really becoming a problem. My husband snores, snorts, farts, shakes the bed, moans and makes all other sorts of disgusting sounds in his sleep. It is killing our relationship and he thinks I'm making it all up. I dread going to bed with him. I love the idea of having a peaceful, dreamy, relaxed sleep, but I can't remember the last time I had that. My husband hears what I am saying about all the noise and junk he brings on at night; he even went so far as to purchase those Breathe Right nose strips, but he has yet to open the box. I think my husband thinks its funny, but I am now to the point where I am angry. It isn't my fault that I have to sleep out on the sofa or in one of my kids' rooms, but he acts all indignant when he wakes up in the morning and I haven't slept in that hellish bed with him. It is ruining our relationship, and he thinks it's funny. He also emits this terrible sweating, old man sort of stench when he sleeps and I can't bear to be around it. I don't know what to do because I have told him how I feel and he just blows me off. I am open to any suggestions.

I Am No Longer a Reject!

I just got a call this morning that I am being recommended for a job I applied for. It is in the public school system, so I have to wait for the school board to give approval for hiring me, but once the approval is given, off I go. It is not a prestigious job, and it is only for the morning hours, but for me, it seems like the perfect job. I will have the best of both worlds. I will be home until all my kids board their morning buses, I will go to work assisting a little visually impaired child, then I will be home for lunch and the rest of my housewife duties. The icing on the cake is that I will be paid a decent hourly wage for the work. I don't think I could ask for anything more right now. We have tremendous bills that need to be paid, and while this job won't be able to cover them, it will provide me with a little money to put in the bank as a cushion should we come up short. All that I can say right now is: "God is good."

After All These Years, Rejection Still Stings

I have been on a little quest the past several months to find a job that can provide me with a little pocket money. My kids are always asking for money for school stuff, or gas money or something, and lately, I have not been able to always supply them with much. I guess now is not really a good time to be out there looking for a job, but I really feel this pull to get back out there; at least part-time. In the Fall I applied for a job at one of the local high schools in the Special Education Department. I went through all the interview stuff and of course, was promptly rejected. Then, I applied for several other jobs at schools, and never heard anything from them. Recently, I tried applying for a job that I found through snagajob.com. I never thought I would get a response, but I did and went through the interview process, and even though the job doesn't pay much, I thought it would be something that could work with my busy schedule with my kids activities. Well, wouldn't you know it, I get the lovely rejection letter in the mail today. Ouch! It still stings when you are told that someone doesn't think you are worthy. In any kind of situation, be it a personal relationship or a working relationship, it hurts when you realize you have come up short in some way. I know I am a good worker. I am reliable, trustworthy, funny and dedicated, but the people I have interviewed with apparently think I am lacking in some way. It sucks, really, to have always been good at what I did/do, and then be reduced to being just another unemployed person who doesn't fit the bill. That seventeen year gap in my resume is killing me. All I want is a little money for gasoline and the little extras my girls might ask for. I still feel the sting. . . . . . .

The New iPad, Ick!

This week, the big "techie" news was that Apple was introducing their "iPad." When I heard that, I had to think about it for a minute. I am not into technological things. I like my cell phone and think texting is really handy, so I like my QUERTY keyboard. I also think the internet is cool, but I don't have any idea how any piece of technology works. I don't even care. So, when I say I heard about the iPad coming out, the thing that caught my ear was the name. The iPad. . . . hmmmm. . . . are you kidding me? What a terrible, unimaginative name. It sounds like a feminine hygiene product. Yuck! Just try it out. Picture a real nerdy guy talking to another nerdy guy, "Oh hi, Poindexter, I am so excited! I'm going to the store to get an iPad!!!" Ewwww. I just don't like the sound of that. Couldn't those brainiacs at Apple come up with something better; more clever? The thing looks like a giant iPod Touch, so I don't think it is really all that impressive. It looks clunky, but of course, what do I care, I will never have one because I have no use for one. I just think that every time I hear someone mention it, I will get a chuckle, and think of some silly jokes about feminine hygiene products. Here are a few that I have already heard: Do you think my boyfriend will be embarrassed to go to the store to buy me my iPad? Can I wear white while I'm using my iPad? Does my iPad made me look bulky? Silly, isn't it? Maybe they should have some contest to rename the thing, or at least start calling it the iTablet, or iTab for short. I'm just saying. . . .