Tuesday, November 28, 2006

A money rant

I hate money. I am tired of being ruled by it. I am really tired of worrying about it. I am beyond tired of having ignorant civilians act like we live life on a free ride from the government. It is not like I am some loser in Section 8 with 6 kids who keeps popping them out to stay on welfare and is too lazy to get a job.

No, my husband works to earn the pittance that we are supposed to live off of. Hear that? He works! He is gone for 12 hours a friggin' day. We have one car and we live in East Bumblehoo where there is no public transportation so I can't get a job. Even if we had 2 cars or a random bus, well gee, since he gets home at a different time each night, I would not be able to keep a job. If work starts at 6 and he gets home at 8:30, um, I'd be fired after three lateness incidents.

When we were in MD I worked nights and he worked days so we didn't have to pay a sitter. It worked then because he was home at around the same time each night. And I think it is ridiculous to work just to hand your check over to a sitter. But since it is not an option for me anyway...

I am just tired of money. We have enough to pay the mountain of bills and eat on the cheap. That's it. I hate not being anywhere near a friggin' commissary and having to pay the local outrageous prices. If I want to save money and use a commissary I have to drive 2 hours just to find one. ANd we lose money in gas. It's a no-win situation. I hate being so remote.

This next pay period is going to suck. The first always does. But this one is going to suck more. I think we will be able to make ends meet but the fabric is fraying. I am tired of being stressed about it and being afriad to look at the bank balance. I just hate money.

It just pisses me off when civilians come around, thinking that we are living the high life because "the military pays our rent." I swear, so help me. Military servicemembers get crap-for-pay, and included in said CFP is the "rent money." Hear that, you swarm of ignorant people? It is part of the pay, just the same as you take the money you use to pay your rent from your pay. We do not have tons of money. We don't get a slew of money per payday and then rent on top of all that.

We have bills just like everyone else. We do not "have it made." Did I mention I hate money? Because we don't have any.

Monday, November 27, 2006

A few more pics


I haven't gotten any film developed from Thanksgiving yet, but I wanted to post a few updated pics of the babies for you all. The top one is when they were still in the hospital, but much bigger than they were at a week old, the middle one is of SIL, their mom, holding them both and the third pic is of both girls as a vision in pink.

Monday, November 20, 2006

My Christmas Wish List

OK so the holidays are right around the corner. I am a big fan of making wish lists so that people who ask for suggestions can have them. It worked wonderfully well for my kids' joint birthday party this past weekend. When both families asked what to get the kids, I had the wish list in hand, and I was able to recommend different things to both sides of the family, and woo hoo for no duplicate gifts! I love a wish list because if someone gives me one, I know I can get them either something they want or something they will use.

If you are related to me, you know that I was not always this way. And in 1997, quite the memorable Christmas, I got 13 bath sets. Thirteen. Thirrrrrrrrrrrr-teeeeeeeeeeeeeeen. All different smells, and all appreciated, since I actually do like smelly oaps & lotions. However, in that big of a quantity, well, I wondered if the family was trying to suggest something???

So, on with the greedy pig-ness. In no real order of importance.

Since I walked the belt right off the old one, a new motorized treadmill. Not a manual one. I don't need one with all the bells and whistles, like a belt that can be elevated or 25 differeent levels, (my old one was flat/normal and had 6 levels) but it does need to be motorized since they are less stressful on the knees. Of course the ones I am looking at are running about $500!

Harry Potter Scene It game.

The Da Vinci Code DVD

A pasta maker, whether extruder-style or hand crank, I don't care. I just want one.

A Kitchen Aid mixer is a bonus. A silly want: a Doozer toy. Remember them from Fraggle Rock?

Rubbermaid rolly carts for craft storage. Deep or shallow drawers don't matter--I can put my crafty stuff in both. Also, things to go in those drawers would be really nice too, like yarn. Whether funky or plain or supersoft, I love me some yarn. Scrapbooking stuff too, and cross stitching. I love crafty things. Finally, gift certificates to any of the following stores: WalMart, Target, Barnes & Noble, Michael's, AC Moore, JoAnn Fabrics, any local scrapbooking store, or just plain money so I can buy Creative Memories supplies from my local consultant. Pass the info along people, because I like presents!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

A few minutes to update on the past month

It has been a while since I last posted.

So I cleared off the bar for the bazillionth time. And today I also rearranged the cupboards. I did a food purge as well. I checked all the expiration dates on the food and threw out the questionable stuff. No food poisoning for us please. I have no clue what will be for dinner. Eh, probably sloppy joes. I don't necessarily want to eat them, but I am supposed to be watching the neighbor's kids this afternoon and evening so I want to serve something kid-friendly. Sloppy joes and chips it is!

Heard a funny saying today. You know how people talk about pinching pennies/saving money etc? One lady said," My mom can pinch a penny till it screams." Hahahahaha!

My sink is shiny, a la Flylady, but I do not have shoes on. How bout no? I hate wearing shoes. My bathroom is clean and company-ready all the time, a la Flylady as well. www.flylady.com It is a lovely website that has helped me muchly. Though sometimes I feel like all I do is clean. But whatever, because right now I am on the couch, using the laptop, and the living room is clean, vacuumed, windows washed, heat registers dusted, etc. I do that for maintenance every day, along with the aforementioned bathroom.

I changed a blown bulb in the outside front-door light fixture.

I amassed all the nonperishable party food on the counter. Because it is extra food and not normally purchased, it does not fit in the cupboard but I don't want to put it on my clean bar.

The kids' joint birthday party is Saturday, and I thought they would like to have their own parties since they are getting older now but they asked to have it together because they wanted "a big party, Mom." OK. No big deal--I get to feed the same people once instead of twice, LOL.

Jonathan is having a Pokemon party and Katie is having the 12 Dancing Princesses. They will each get streamers in their own colors, which I will put up on Friday night so when tey wake up Saturday morning the house will be decorated for them. They are getting cakes in their own theme as well. We are doing pin the tail on the donkey and a pinata and a bean bag toss and coloring sheets also. I am not doing favor bags. I have treat sacks for the kids for when they whack the pinata and they can take that home as favor.

I will be taking tons of pictures, of course, and I will post some as soon as I get the film developed. Well I am about out of time so I will post this, find something small to clean in the few minutes before the kids' bus arrives, and then my evening as entertainment director, homework facilitator and waitress begins! Wheeee!