Gobble!

Had a TON of fun after my son’s swimming lessons last night.  We needed to send some snacks to school again for him and stopped at the local HyVee.  There they were in all their glory.  A whole RACK full of these beauties!

Yes… Me and my two children wore these around the store giggling like crazy.  Thank GOD my hubby didn’t have a camera on him.  I’m not sure that he would have snapped the photo since he was hanging back.  It’s not the first time I’ve embarrassed him.  It won’t be the last eitherJ

Ethical?

I am not pregnant and it would be next to impossible for me to get pregnant at this point in my life due to hubby’s vasectomy and my own health issues. In spite of this, somehow, somewhere, I got added to a new/expecting mother list.   I am getting emails from a couple of places about where I’m at in my pregnancy, I got an email from a formula company and most recently, I got a catalog of baby items from Target.  Included on that catalog was a sticker which when peeled off, was a coupon which would give you a $20 gift card when you create a Target gift registry and then present the print out along with a coupon at customer service.

So my question to you is this…  Is it unethical to create a fake baby registry to get the gift card? 

If I had four million dollars..

People sure are funny.  We all want to daydream about good stuff happening.  Not too long ago,  a local group won the lottery and all we could all talk about is what we would do if it would have been us. 

So… Here’s my “list.”

First off, I think after you take the hit for taking your lotto proceeds as lump sum and paid your taxes, you would have really only got around 4 million.  Only… I know, funny, right!

The 1^st thing I’d do – QUIT MY JOB and tell my husband to quit his.  I’d most likely do this immediately but it would be tempting to not say anything and the first time my boss pisses me off (which I assure you, wouldn’t take long) just walk out.  Neither one of us likes our jobs.  That’s not to say we won’t do something else but it will be part time doing things we love!

I REALLY wish you could stay anonymous.  I’d be afraid I’d be getting hit up for loans etc all over the place.  I think I’d be able to say no because my son’s future needs are so uncertain but still. 

Here’s how I would spend my money:

Type of
Expenditure	Item	Cost	Balance
	Starting Balance		4,000,000
Car	replace corolla	15,000	3,985,000
Car	Truck replacement	20,000	3,965,000
Debt	student loans	45,000	3,920,000
Debt	Mortgage	131,000	3,789,000
Debt	Truck	8,000	3,781,000
Donate	East Central IA Autism	250,000	3,531,000
Donate	Hospice	150,000	3,381,000
Remodel	New Windows	8,000	3,373,000
Remodel	Kitchen	40,000	3,333,000
Remodel	bathrooms	8,000	3,325,000
Remodel	Trees trimmed	1,500	3,323,500
Remodel	landscaping	3,500	3,320,000
Self Improvement	Children's education	100,000	3,220,000
Self Improvement	ABA therapy (autistic son)	25,000	3,195,000
Self Improvement	Hubby Music Studio	15,000	3,180,000
Self Improvement	Computer equip	10,000	3,170,000
Self Improvement	Dog Training	150	3,169,850
Self Improvement	Personal Trainer	1,000	3,168,850
Travel	Disney vacation	6,000	3,162,850
Travel	New York Vacation	5,000	3,157,850
			3,157,850

No that’s not a mistake.  I’m not moving.  The price of the vehicles is correct too.  I don’t need a bigger home or fancier cars.  I want more reliable vehicles.  I would make the someday I want to do this to my house list happen sooner.  But there is nothing on that list that I’m not currently saving for and thinking I will do that at some point. 

I also know that I have a ton of money left.  I didn’t even completely burn through the first million and that’s with donating 10% of the winnings.  That’s on purpose too.  I will be investing the remainder in stocks and bonds in the hopes of living entirely off the interest and not touching the principal.  Hopefully with the right investments, we can grow the balance a little.  Assuming a 5% rate of return, and the fact that we won’t have any debt, I’m sure we can live quite well on 100,000 per year and roll the rest of the income, less taxes, into the principal balance.

Here’s what I see us doing with all of our extra time.  Hubby will pursue his dream of being a music writer and studio musician.  He will also be on hand to help me run children and with my business.  I will expand my ebay business.  This is a flexible enough job that I can volunteer at my children’s school, run them to their appointments, and not have to worry about daycare.  Since I won’t have a full time job for another company, I can leave to score the best deals for my store.  Perfect!

Know what the funniest thing is about all of this dreaming though?  My husband and I both feel strongly that it is a waste of money to play the lottery.  We NEVER buy a ticketJ

Not in Advertising

I understand that the typical Craigslist advertisement is not written by an English major or reviewed by a professional editor prior to posting.  However, most word processing programs will point out the majority of these errors.  Please use your spell and grammar check so that I don’t get a migraine for looking for my weekend bargains.

Just check out the following and keep in mind that this is just a small portion of the interesting ads I found today.

Expert in Sharks

My daughter has become an expert in the “What time is it Mr. Shark” game.  She also had lots of practice with “Wheels on the bus,” red light green light, and Simon Says.  Apparently playing these games every day for two weeks is supposed to teach young children how to swim and pass their Red Cross Level Ones. 

Seriously… $50 for games I can play with my daughter when I take her to the pool!  I wanted her to learn to float and do bobs, and do an elementary paddle so she can have a shot of saving herself if she accidentally gets into deep water.  Instead the kids are assisted for less than a minute each day to float on their back and then on their front while kicking and play games the rest of the time. 

The last day the manager of the pool who has been walking around the pool every day but not really doing anything comes over and wants them to float independently and do full bobs and get their hands a feet going at the same time.  How could they possibly be able to do this???  They’ve not been taught how!

I will most definitely NOT be enrolling my children in the Cedar Rapids Recreation department swimming lessons again.  We will go through the YMCA or CRAA or maybe a different town (Marion or Vinton)  Here’s to my daughter learning to swim NEXT yearL

Pride before the Fall

I understand how scary it is to have your company purchased by another company.  I would be terrified about losing my job because the new company wants to shut down our location and bring operations to the “Home office”.  But resisting needed help will only help that happen faster.

I live and work in the Midwest.  The company I work for wanted to expand and did so by buying a company on the east coast.  The person that does the same thing I do for the new company is going to be on maternity leave for the next several months.  Her boss thinks he can do what he does now (which he submits late already) and what she does. 

My boss asked me to offer to her boss to help get things done in her absence.  Her boss said no.  He wants to keep things “in house” but to expect questions.

I truly believe that if he keeps resisting Home Office help, he’s going to find that he’s in greater risk of losing his job than if he would have let us assist getting through this short time of being short staffed.  I think he’s being foolish and prideful.  I’ll be here to answer his questions, but I’ve already notified my boss about his resistance to help.  Pride goes before the fall.  I’ll make sure it’s his fall and not mine.  I tried to help him avoid that but there’s really nothing more I can do.

Swimming in Autism

Do you know how much it costs to teach an autistic child how to swim?  I don’t either but I’ll keep you in the loop.

The Cedar Rapids Recreation Department offers a nice array of activities and opportunities for our children here in Eastern Iowa; that is, our neuro-typical children.  Now, I understand that not everyone everywhere should be expected to accommodate children with special needs.  I do however think that a town the size of Cedar Rapids should be able and willing to accommodate them. 

I signed up my seven year old autistic son for swimming.  He passed his level ones before and so I had him enrolled in level two.  He was unable to listen to the teacher, unable to wait at the wall with the other children, unable to cooperate, and unable to stay in water that he could touch the bottom so would need to be pulled back.  For his safety and for the safety of the other children since the teacher had to keep a constant eye on him, he needed to be removed from the class.  I have no arguments in this since he clearly wasn’t cooperating and being safe. My problem is that when I left messages requesting options for him, I never heard back.

I had my doubts about having him in a class like that but also strongly felt that he needed to learn how to swim.  Being his mother, I’ve learned that I shouldn’t automatically count him out so I gave it a shot.  But unfortunately he couldn’t do it.

No we have signed him up for a child membership to the YMCA for $17.50 and are shelling out another $20 for a half hour lesson twice a week until he can at least tread water and do some basic floats.  I want to know that if he gets a wild hair, which he is prone to doing, and jumps in over his head that he can keep his head above water.

So we’ll see where we are after all is said and done.  So far we are at:

1 youth Y membership $17.50/mo

1 youth private lesson $20

The smile on my son’s face when I tell him I found a teacher to help him… priceless!

Flea Bait

Is there a stigma with having fleas kind of like having lice?  I’m so embarrassed!  My dog brought fleas into the house.  I was in a hurry and bought a different flea medication for my dog.  He’s a moose of a thing and bought the one for the largest dog the pet shop had but it wasn’t the same brand as we normally get.  Do NOT buy Zodiac spot flea treatment.  The pet shop assured me it was the same as our typical Frontline but it’s not.

We have now treated the dog with Frontline, multiple flea baths, bombed our house, sprayed our house, sprayed our yard, flea combed the dog, washed all bedding, vacuumed everything and thrown away the bag...  What am I missing?!?!  They are still biting the heck out of my daughter – she must taste extra good. 

It looks terrible, it makes her itchy, and I’m SO MAD. 

My mother, ever the pet lover, says to get rid of the dog.  I think given the fact that she’s annoyed that dogs even exist negates that suggestion.  I am wondering if it’s time to call in the pros like Orkin or at least call a pet store (not the one that sells Zodiac!) about a flea dip.  BLAH!

It's mine, all mine!

I keep thinking I want to be a blogger.  How cool would it be to have something I specialize in and have all these followers.  Maybe even get on some late night tv program and talk to GMA about my specialty.  The problem is, I have self diagnosed adhd. 

I started doing the coupon thing just as some of them were starting to get popular and well before that stupid show Extreme Couponing came out and everyone asks you in the checkout line if you are an “extreme couponer”.  Well no, I don’t store toothpaste under my son’s bed!  Before couponing it was all about losing weight watcher, dottie, my fitness pal, spark people style.  After that, it was ebay reselling.  After that, it’s been organizing and decluttering.  And let’s not forget the generic parenting talk, being a good wife talk, career, autism, religion…  You name it, I’ve probably written about it and thought I should get involved in some form or fashion.

So this is for me.  I’m not going to try to write in some niche unless that niche is called whatever is floating in my head.  I will not post a picture or my true name, because sometimes what is in my head isn’t nice towards me or the people that are around me in real life.  I’m not going to gloss over life like a Facebook timeline.  My life is not all roses and rainbows but it’s not sludge and sewer either.  It is mine, like it or not. 

Further, I may offend people and that’s ok too.  This is for me, not you.  If people don’t like what’s happening, then don’t read it.  That’s not to say I can’t accept constructive criticism.  But say your piece and move on.

So enjoy this glimpse into real life.  Or not;)