I have arrived!

I have finally decided to go into high speed internet. I have been on dial-up for about 15 years. Mostly tired of people teasing me. First I had to convince my mom to change because she did not want to go the the hassle of changing email addresses. But once I did it she was fine with it. In fact she said yesterday that "this is so fast it was gone before I could read it." But I think she likes it.

I have much to learn with it. I know I can now look at u tube and watch something without waiting 10 minutes in between each second.

I still do not do much on computers but maybe I will learn more.

Anyways I have arrived, just sayin....

God has provided once again and I have met my goal

Once again I am blessed beyond measure. I set a goal a few months ago to pay off my second mortgage. Today I went to the bank and paid it in full. God has been very gracious and generous to me. So now the house and the cars are all paid in full.

What's the next step? Saving for retirement and working on giving abundently. I think they may conflict with each other but we will give it a try. Since my spiritual gift is giving it should only take a little learning on how to manage the two together.

I could never have done it without the help of my two brothers who came to stay with mom or dad so I could work the extra overtime.

Please understand I am not debt free yet. I still have some bills to pay on but it is coming. Plus my emergency fund was just depleted, so it will take a while to build that back up.

Just wanted to share my good news with you.

story from my father

My dad told me this true story. I know how much you guys love to hear their stories so I thought I would share it with you.

He was a camp counselor one year and the head of the camp told them to find out who in their cabin needed a Bible because there was an organization that offered to purchase them. So he had 1 child in his cabin who said he would like one but his parents could not afford to buy one. So dad went back and told the camp leaders only to find out the organization backed down and would not purchase. So dad felt bad that he told the boy he would get him one so he went to our cabin and took out $5 from mom's purse and was able to get the Bible. He felt really good. He went back to our cabin to tell his wife what he had done only to hear his wife say "I hate to bust your bubble but that was the last $5 we have. I don't know how we are going to have gas to go home or groceries to eat. Well now he really felt bad. So he started walking back to his cabin and some guy called his name. He turned around and this guy handed him $30. He had no clue what had just happened, he just knew that was what he was to do.

I think I have gotten myself in trouble

At work today I was told by my supervisior that I may be taken from where I am now and put doing some things that "they" want done. She said "everyone wants you." I guess because I am such a fast typer and know alot about the programs everyone wants me to do their work. I'm not sure that is a good thing.

Also found out I have to work 40 hours of overtime from last Sat. to the 30th of June. I am off the week of mom's surgery.

Mom appears weak tonight. Maybe she just woke up when I came home or something. She had been pretty strong the last 2 days. Waiting is not her best trait.

The air conditioner on my car broke again. I have an appointment to have it looked at again on Wed. Aug cannot come to soon. That is when I hope to trade it. But of course it is to be stinkin hot this week which is hard to drive home after work.

God is meeting my goal

May is almost half over and I just found out today that God is helping me meet my goal of paying of the car loans. I got an email today at work saying Saturday is a mandatory 8 hour work day.

I am so thankful for my brother who is able to come Fri. to take my dad to his doctor appointment and stay until Sat. so I can work it.

That will make a major dent in the balance due. It won't come till the beginning of next month but every extra money helps.

I am also thankful for Cindy Scribner who has agreed to come take my dad to another doctor appointment on Wed. of this week. I am able to help her and she is able to help me. That's how it is suspose to work.

I talked to a women at church on Sunday who was saying she is in medical dept that she is trying to pay. I susjusted she contact the church to see if someone could help and she said no she wanted to do it herself. I told her in order for there to be a abundent giver there had to be an abundent receiver. For some reason I like that sentence and I am making it my yearly sentence. Whatever that means.

So BC I guess you still have to tell me how the church gets people to admit that they need help?

obtaining a financial goal is all about priorities

I have set a financial goal of paying $4400 by July 2010 in order to pay the 2nd mortgage off. Then my house deed will be free and clear. But how do I do that?

It really is all about priorities. If you set a financial goal you have to make it a top priority. You set your eye on the goal and you put all money toward that bill. That will mean if a friend asks you to go out to eat or you see a really good sale you have to use the word no.

Priority is a really hard word. It is a word that is easy to say but hard to do. Because everything becomes a priority if you let it.

I encourage you to set a financial goal and then watch how you accomplish it.

Agencies that may be able to help the working poor

I have worked for the Family and Social Services now for 26 years in Indiana. I work with people applying for Food Stamps and Tanf and Medicaid. I realize that we have a new level of people out there needing help. So I thought I would share some information about agencies that may be able to help those that do have a job but still need aditional help. Keep in mind the names of these agencies are Indiana names and may be named something else in the state you live in. Also keep in mind that each agency have their own income standards. So it will depend on the income you make a month and the amount of money they have available to help.

Help with utilities:
Community and Family Services-
Project Safe takes applications 2 times a year to help with utilities. Once starting in January for winter heating assistance with utilities and in the summer for cooling assistance. The cooling assistance is like a one time $50 or a fan if you meet the income qualifications.

United Way
If they have funds available they can help pay on utilities or rent one time a year. I beleive you may have to have a disconnect notice before they can help and you have to have not been eligible with Community and Family Services.

Help with child care:
Community and Family Services has a daycare program that can help pay on child care. This program is first available to people on Tanf but also for non Tanf if they have slots available. There may be waiting lists but it is best to get your name on the list.

Help with diapers and clothes for kids:
Family Centered Services occasionally will have diapers available in their closet place. They also have children's clothing. (at least in Bluffton they did not sure about other counties)

Help with prescriptions:
rxforindiana.org is a website that you can enter your income information and the prescriptions you take to see if you qualify for free prescriptions or reduced prescriptions from the pharmacuticals that make the medications.

dog miracle

Do you believe God can do a miracle in dogs? I believe He did one in my dog, Shaggy.

About a week ago I saw a spot on his neck that looked like 2 tiny black holes. Within a weeks time it grew to about a nickel size black spot. I called the vet on Wed. and got him an appointment for Sat. I thought for sure it was cancer.

On Friday night I gave him a bath, because he had the vet appointment. It was still there after the bath so it wasn't a mud spot, ha.

I prayed that night, please God don't let it be cancer. The next morning I woke up to take him to the vet and the black was GONE. Just a spot where you could see where it was. The vet said "you over think things." Imagine that. And said whatever it was it healed very good. So I guess it was a scab and he scratched it off.

I believe it to be a miracle. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

What music do you listen to on your MP3?

Do you like to listen to music on your MP3 player? Do you even have an MP3 player?

Amazon has music that you can download into your MP3 player. They have Christian artists like Amy Grant and many more. Download one today through my affilate program.

I need to raise money

I need to raise about $300 from now to Aug. for a women's retreat in PA. I need some ideas of how to do that. Last night I looked at writing articles for the internet but wasn't real successful at finding the right webpage that wasn't a blog page. I am trying to take $10 a week out of my Ebay selling to put toward it. But would like other ideas. I know, I am usually the person that has the ideas. So suggest away!!!

lesson from the mallard duck

I was at work this weekend when a saw a mallard duck sitting on top of a nest near the waters edge. She stood up for a few minutes to adjust herself long enough for me to see the 2 eggs in her nest. Today before going into work I walked over to see if she was still there. Sure enough, she was still sitting there. It was pouring down rain but she was still there protecting and keeping her eggs warm and safe.

Made me think that no matter how hard it is raining in our lives, we need to ride out the storm, protect the things the God has given us and know that at the right time something Great is going to come from it.

My day the last few days

Yesterday I got a phone call from my previous supervisior asking me if I wanted to work for her again. She has a job opening in benefit recovery. I would stay in Allen County but just do different work. I would be figuring overpayments and underpayments of benefits. She asked me if I have ever done benefit recovery before. I told her I have not only done it in the old world, but trained it for all of Allen district counties about 10 years ago. I told her I would think about it. I prayed about it last night and do not feel like I should not take it. So I emailed her today and told her I would take it. I am not sure when it will start.

Mom canceled her doctor's appointment today. She went to the chiropractor and he told her that because of the stroke she has had she favors one side when she walks. That has thrown her bones off and that is what is causing the pain. He will be treating her every other day to try and get them back in place.

Dad's blood pressure has been doing better since he started wearing the nitro patch at night. Hope that stays that way for awhile. He so wants to live long enough to celebrate the paying off of the house in July party.

my flabitis has flared again. It happens about once a year. It can be rather painful at times. When it is at it's worse pain I grab my brest, that's where the pain is. I am sure it looks awful, but oh well it helps the pain to go away.

At wit's end

I am at wit's end with me mother. I have done everything that I know of in my power and nothing has worked. She has been experiencing horrible lower back pain for the last week. We've tried Tylanol, back brace, back rubs, sleeping on her stomach. Nothing seems to help.

She thinks it is her tailbone which was broke in the rollover accident 3 years ago. And since you can't do anything for tailbones she just says there is nothing they can do. So she won't go to the doctor or the ER.

My niece, Kelly, says it could be a kidney infection. Never thought about that.

She cries every day. And it keeps her from sleeping at night. So I am at my wit's end to what to do. Any suggestions?

Garage sale tomorrow

I am participating in a garage sale tomorrow at the park in Huntington. I paid $20 for 2 tables and then you can bring in a table. Dad had a bunch of books that either he was given or he bought at garage sales last year and read. Then a friend of mom's gave her some things. And I have some things left over from garage sales that I did not sell on Ebay. Usually we make around $50 after expenses are taken out.

I took the day off today to get ready for it. I stopped by a friends house whose husband had surgery yesterday. I wanted to bring them lunch but they preferred to eat food they had at home. So I stopped by to just check in on him. Had a good talk with them. It was nice.

Sometimes I feel so helpless when it comes to helping. I like to help people. But I can't always come up with the best idea of how to help. That's when I feel helpless. Pretty sad when a person's sense of worth is bound around helping people. Guess I will work on that.

I can't check everything

My dad was not able to start the lawn mower the last 2 days. I tried too but the battery was dead once I got to it. So I called Angie's husband who came over to look at it. The first thing he said was "does it have gas?" I looked and sure enough dad did not put gas in it. I can't check everything. His memory is getting worse.

Why I blog

Let me explain why I blog? I have been told by many friends and family that I hold my feelings in and I need to find a way to express them. So blogging seems like a way that I can just write what I feel and it allows for those feeling to get out. Now please keep in mind that I am not saying my feeling are right, I am saying they are my feelings. I believe that everyone has a right to their feelings and no one has the right to tell someone their feelings are wrong. They are after all, their feelings. You have a right to disagree with my feelings, because you have a right to your feelings also.

So please understand that this blog is designed for me to share my feelings.

Home from vacation

I am home from vacation out west. I love going out west because what the churches are doing out there usually hit the midwest about a year later. So I get to see what's out there.

My nephew is from California. His church is teaching a program called Acts 2 Community. He explained it this way. Here's what he said: "When the church works the way it is suspose to it takes care of the people with needs." So he believes that a person should not save for retirement because "if the church works the way it should work they will take care of you when you can no longer work." So any extra money that you have now, you should be using it to meet the needs of other people in the church. Because what good is it if you have $10,000 in the bank for retirement and your fellow believer doesn't have enough money to buy food?

His church has several pastors and they are in charge of communities within the town they live in. When someone with a need calls the church office it goes to the pastor in charge of the community that they live in. They then send out 10 or 20 emails asking for donations to meet the need.

I asked him if he thought the church was working as it ought to now and he said no not yet, but it is changing.

Well you know what they say: as California goes, there goes the world!

Great discussion

Had a great family discussion today. You get our family together and we talk biblical ideas. Today we talked about wheather or not it is ok to judge your brother? Britt Charles and his wife said we should and the rest of us said we should not. It was quite the discussion. Got kinda heated at times. Got the Bible out and was tossing scripture back and forth. I love those kind of discussions.

vacation

Having fun on vacation. Spending way too much money. Last night we ate at Outback. I ordered a dinner salad, smoothie and ice tea and it came to $20. Unbelievable. I didn't even order meat and it was $20.

We got to the baseball game late about the 5th inning so it was FREE. I like free. We got to see Jeff's favorite player steal home and was a very close play but he was safe. The team lost by 1 but if was fun.

We are going out for breakfest today and then going to church. I am not sure what we are doing after that. I love breakfest. My favorite meal of the day.

Found out I am a Great liar

Last night we played liar dice here at the house. It is a dice game (duh) where you shake your dice in a cup turn them upside down and then people have to guess how many dice of one kind there are. So I may say I think there are 10 6's. If someone challenges you then everyone reveals and counts up how many 6's everyone has. 1's are wild so they would count as a 6. It was a lot of fun.

Today we are going to a college baseball game. Jeff (Nichole's husband) wants to see a player that took his GED at 16 so he could graduate and go to junior college for 2 years so he can go pro after he gets his diploma.

Here are some pictures for you of Issiah. He's a red head! He is 8 montha old.

Am I up for the competition?

I think this vacation I am about to go on, is going to be a big competition week. I have not been competitive for a long time. My friends will not like me when I come back because they have worked a long time to get me to not be competive.

So can I get it back? OK, Deep breath, slide hand down over face....... GAME ON!

Who will come and get you?

We had a man pass away at our chruch this week. I spoke with his son whom I know from college and he said his dad saw Jesus 3 times in the room. I had to stop and think, I think I always thought someone else would come and get me but not Jesus himself. It was an interesting thought.

I am not sure who I thought would come and get me, maybe my grandparent, or sometimes I think Kristen who was a 16 year old quizzer who was killed in a car accident.

I have often said that Jeses is my husband since He has determined that it was not in His will for me to have one. And I guess it would be cool to have him come get his bride.

Who do you think will come and get you?

what a laugh today at work

I got another good laugh at work today. I was reading case notes again and here is what one said.

So and so has filed for devorce. He is still living in the same home as his wife but they are separated.

OK, did I miss something? That is not possible. If you are living in the same house you are not separated. Separated means you are apart! You don't live there. I just shook my head.

What a day

I called my mom's cell phone today to find out how dad's heart doctor's appointment went only to find out that my mom was sick and could not drive home. So my dad was driving on 69. No biggie except my dad has not driven in like 8 years. The doctor took his license away when his memory was fading. So mom is telling me he is driving because she can't. Said it was a medical emergency. He did very well until he went to exit 69. you could hear mom saying "watch out" (the last words she said to me before the car rolled 3 years ago. I keep telling her she cannot use those words in a car again, but she will not listen to me. I think he just tried to exit to soon or something. Anyways they were going to stop at Dairy Queen to get something to eat because she thought she was having a low sugar attack. So I called about a half an hour later to see if eating helped her. She could barly talk and said all I want to do is sleep. So here I am in Fort Wayne, 45 minutes away and she is going into a diabetic coma. So I tell my boss I am leaving. I get home and she is awake and taking her blood sugar. It is 92 which is really good. So eating made it come up. Don't know what it was originally because she was too weak to take it when she got home. She was still week so she went to bed. She slept for about 3 hours and woke up cold and shaking. She kept shaking uncontrobly. Finaly called her doctor and she said take her to the ER. So we did that about 4:30. Final conculsion is that she was on the start of a blood infection. Most likely started by a low blood sugar attack. She is home and praying for a restful night. I have jerked the heat up because her body still feels cold to the touch and she is cold.

My dad turns 85 tomorrow. What a blessing God has bestowed on him.

naming domains

I am having a fun time naming domain names. I found a website called pickydomains.com. Someone pays them $50 to come up with a domain name for them. Then they list what their site is about and I go in and try to think up a name for their domain. If they like my suggestion, I get $25. I think I am very creative and I love thinking up different names. This site tells you immediately if the domain name is already taken.

For example: a newspaper in Ohio has a website that lists all the entertainment for the week. So they want a domain name to represent that. So I gave them "letmeentertainu.com" and upickrelaxation.com"

Here's the ones I got rejected on. A person wants to set up an online food ordering service. So I suggested "duhgrubonline.com", vittlesgalore.com and grubchopchop.com.

The best one I like is for a betting site where you can make a bet on anything and see if anyone will take you up on the bet. I said the name should be watzatstake.com.

I'm having a blast. I don't care if I get chosen, it's just fun coming up with names. Of course what is not fun is when you come up with a good one and it is already chosen.

Dad has one more thing

For those of you related you may want to know this for family medical purposes.

Dad went to the ear nose and throat today and found that the lump by his ear is a turmor. It has not grown in the last 6 months. He said this type does not tend to grow fast but once it starts growing it grows fast. He does not want to do surgery until it does start to grow.

So here is what he has so far:

1. Neropathy: when you stand up your blood pressure drops.

2. Blocked arteries: carotted artery is completly blocked, arteries going to the kidneys are almost blocked,

3. High blood pressure: often going into the 230's with no know cause.

4. congestive heart failure: Don't quite understand this one as he is not on a water pill. I think it is more of a heart failure than congestive. As congestive means there is water collecting.

5. precancer of the esopegus.

Are there really financial issues in the US?

Now there is a controvercial question. I still find it hard to believe at times that the people in the US are struggling to survive. Not because I have been to countries that I have seen first hand people struggling to survive. But because I have see people spend their money on things that still don't lead me to believe they are really struggling.

I do believe people are still depending too much on credit cards. But I see way too many cars at restaurants. I see way too many electronics being purchased. And strange things people spend their money on.

Was looking on Ebay last night and there are still scrapbook pages going for over $90. Those people certainly have money.

How Embarressing

I was totally embarressed this morning during church.

Every night I shut my phone off and put it next to my purse. So I picked it up and put it in my purse when I went to leave for church. Well in the middle of the sermon guess what goes off? You guessed it, my phone. I thought for sure I shut it off last night.

Then you are in this delima, do I reach down to shut it off or let it ring? Well it was one of those forever moments before I could get to it to shut it off. Good thing I did becaue the person left a message. If I would have left it on it would have started playing "when the saints go marching in."

more pictures

Dad's birthday party

Today I threw a surprise birthday party for my dad. We met at Logans and most of the grandkids and their family came. It was a great time. Mom said when we got home that that says something when all the grandkids take the time out of their schedules to come. They both were impressed and felt special. Dad will be 85 on the 23rd. Here are the pictures.

Fiasco #2

Last night at 9PM mom asks if dad is taking his medicine? I hear him in the kitchen and it sounds like he is trying to get the backing off the Benedryl. So I tell her yes. At 3 in the morning both of them are up. Dad has a bad headache and mom is having a low sugar attack. Dad takes his pressure and it is 223/119. Mom sits at the table to try and figure out why it is so high and she sees 4 pills on the table. It appears he got the pills ready but never took them. Thus, the high pressure. This is the 2nd time in a month that he has left them on the table and not taken them. So I need to be more diligent to make sure he takes the medicine.

quit my job

I am thinking about quitting my job. I am getting annoyed with it. It's a good job but somethimes it can bring me to my wits end.

I got looking tonight and I could retire from the state of Indiana and get paid $713. Minus $300 for health insurance would pay me about $400 a month. Not enough to live on.

But maybe I could do Ebay to gain the rest. I calulated my bills and I need $1500 a month to meet my expenses. That would be about $50 a day on Ebay. Humm. Working for myself seems far better than working for somone one else.

Then I could care for my parents and spend the rest of their time with them.

Of course the health insurance is 80-20 and medical bills are not included in the $1500.

I don't have enough in my savings yet. Since my house was just paid for.

But the dream seems reachable. What do you think?

todays fiasco

I came home from work tonight to mom in tears. She said she had messed up dad's medication. When he came home from the hospital last week they changed one of his medicines, blood pressure, to take a half a pill twice a day. Instead he was taking a full pill 2 times a day. When she went to refill it today the pharmacist told her he was only suspose to take half a pill. So now the refill has the pills cut in half so he can take the right amount.

Taking care of him is getting to be to much for her. She of course will not admit it. I suggested we get a pill box with lots of squares and she said no, she will figure it out.

Healthcare

The news is saying more and more that we may have a vote on healthcare within the next 30 days. Here are my thoughts on healthcare.

1. Can the government run a program for healthcare? Does that mean it will be put into the Family and Social Services lap to run? Currently they are over burdened with the current programs. And with many states cutting the hours of workers at Family and Social Services because of budget cuts how will adding another program to them work?

2. I beleive we need some sort of a healthcare program. I talk to many people each day who are denied access to healthcare. I can't imagine being sick and not being able to get the help I would need to get better.

3. I believe we have lots of people who take advantage of free healthcare. A lady was telling me yesterday she saw an EMS pull up and a guy limped to get inside of the EMS. Now if he could walk why didn't he have someone drive him to a doctor?

4. I believe the charges for healthcare are outragous. My mom had a stroke and was taken by EMS about 23 miles. Total bill $2300 plus mileage. That is outragous. Then there are the hospital charges that charge you for sneezing in the hospital.

5. I'd like to see healthcare for all but maybe a ceiling on what can be used.

Half way to my goal

I have just scheduled a trip out west the beginning of April to see my sister. My niece Nicole and her husband are coming with me and my nephew will meet us out there with his wife and son. I will spend almost a week with them. That will fulfill my time with them. Then all I will have left is Bruce's 4 kids. And I will have fulfilled my desire to spend a week with all of my nieces and nephews this year.
I am not sure what I will do with Bruce's children. Any suggestions? I was thinking about maybe a trip to MN to Mall of America this summer. I will need to check with them to see if they even have a weeks vacation left. They all went to Florida for a week this year so they may not have time left for me.

New way of thinking about the ER

I took my dad to the ER last night. I think I had my mind changed on what they are suppose to do. I think if you are going to the ER they are suppose to take care of your problem. Well I think I am now changing my mind on that purpose.

I think the ER is now a place that just deals with pain releivement. Last night they kept saying "our job is to get the pain to go away."

I'm thinking, no it's not, it to fix whatever is wrong. Not to mask what is wrong by taking the pain away.

They gave him a nitro drip and when that did not take the pain away they gave him Morphine. The nurse told him that he would feel the morphine take effect in about 5 seconds. So after 5 seconds the nurse said do you feel the medicine? He said no. 5 seconds later he said do you feel the medicine and dad said no. Then dad said oh I think I feel the medicine. I feel like "whoa". The nurse said yep that's the medicine.

Celebration

We had a wonderful time tonight. It got off to a shaky start but everything worked out well.

Angie and I met in Fort Wayne this afternoon and left Angie's van at Smokey Bones. Then I took her home and picked them up 3 hours later. By the time I got back to the house JR and Cathy were already there. Cathy tried to get in the car but I told her I needed them in the house. You see I did not tell them that a limo was coming to pick us up. I wanted it to be a surprise. When we got in the house I told her that my date was not there yet. She said "really"? I said yes. Well then the limo did not come and did not come. It appears he was on the other County Line road in Markle. So I had to call the office to see where they were. Then Cathy figured it out. So it wasn't a total surprise. But is was a nice treat. Angie enjoyed playing with all the buttons inside. It was very roomy. And we had lots of laughs. Smokey Bones was good also. I had ribs, Cathy had wings and pulled pork, JR had a steak and Chris had chicken I think. We had to wait an hour to get a seat. So we were ready to eat when the food came. I had just a Marvelous time! Great memories.

Winter olympics

Wow, what an excellent 2 weeks of Olympics. They went by so fast. I will have a hard time next week. It's a good thing that basketball tournaments start next week.

It was scary to see the US bobsled team slide over on their heads. But the second US team broke 2 track records. Still miss the Jamaica team in it but watching US come in first after 2 runs with 2 to go sure was exciting.

The US has improved greatly in all sports. We used to be good in skating and that was about it.

There have been lots of things go wrong. But on the whole it has been good games.

Today is Celebration day. I am so excited. I have to clean my car out. So I had better get busy.

I am very disappointed

I just found out that Mayo Clinic turned my brother down. He has horrible migraine's and we were hoping to get him into their migraine clinic. But they looked at his doctor records and are sending him a letter explaining why they will not schedule him. Guess they just lost one fan.

My brother needs to look for a deep skin massage therapist near the Ohio area if anyone knows of one. That seems to help him. But the doctor he is going to may be moving to Calf.

I guess there was a reason why my Uncle Don walked out of there.

I am so excited

I am so excited about Saturday's celebration. Chris and Angie and JR and Cathy and I are going to Smokey Bones to celebrate God's goodness to me in helping me pay off my house. I can't wait. It seems the week is going by pretty fast. I think we will have a great time together.

I cannot release any information about the celebration because some things are a surprise, but I will try to post pictures either Sat. night or Sun morning.

I am not sure what I will order yet. Most likely ribs. But I might change my mind.

Then when the weather warms up I will have a big celebration at my house where everyone will be invited. It's a bit cold to have people sit outside now. LOL.

Bad news

Today I received some bad news at work. As of April 1, 2010 we have changes to our health insurance. So I am asking for help in deciding what insurance plan to go with. I will do my best to explain each one.

Anthem Traditional Plan (I have this one now.) But the change is I will have a $500 deductible. That was always waved because I did not smoke. (I knew I should not have started last month) After you meet the deductible it is $2000 out of pocket maximum. Physicians office visit after deductible is met is 20% for me, specialists is 20%, preventive is zero for 1 office visit, emergency room is 20%, hospital admit is 20%, prescriptions count in the deductible, and are $10 generic after deductible, formulary is 20% $30 min.

Aetna: $600 deductible, %5500 out of pocket max, $25 copay for physician visit, $45 specialists, Preventive care $25 copay then 100% up to $500 calendar year max., emergency room $150, then 20%, Hospital $350 co pay admission then 20%, Prescription Generic 15% with $10 min and $20 max, Formulary 25% with $30 min and 60 max.

Consumer Choice Plan PPO, $1500 deductible, $5000 out of pocket max, 20% physician visit, preventive care 0 no deductible or copay, 80% after deductible for emergency room, Hospital 20% Prescription Generic 20%, Formulary $20. This ACS would put $45 a month into a HSA and we could put in what we want.

Now I do not understand all this garbage so which one is better?

I see a doctor once a year for a physical, I have to have managrams every 6 months. I do not take any prescriptions now. But I am highly scared of an emergency room trip.

Starting to look at houses

This afternoon I am looking at my first house. I have never done this before. I had this house built so I did not have to house hunt. But this house is killing my parents. The steps they have to climb to come in from outside is bad on my dad's heart and on my mom's knees and hip and heart.

I am looking at a house in Markle that has been for sale about as long as it has been built. It is the right size yard but I think the inside is too small for me to cohabitate with my parents. There is no basement. I am not sure I can live without a place to go to get away from them when I need to.

I have considered adding on a sunroom to the back of my existing house and putting in an elevator. There is a company in Huntington called Zimmer that sells sun rooms. Union has a half elevator they had put into their chruch that I am wondering if that will work inside the sun room. So the room would extend from the garage door in back of my house to just past where the porch is. The elevator would go where the porch is now so it leads to where the back door is now.

Thanks my thoughts, what do you think?

Can I fundraise $10,000?

I mind is reeling again. I have spent the last 24 hours thinking about ways to fund raise $10,000 for my Church. Do you think it is possible to fund raise $10,000 in a years time? I am thinking about writing up a proposal to offer to the elders of my church to guarantee $10,000 in fundraising over the next year. That would totally be a challenge for me. I love a good challenge. Here are some ideas I am thinking of.

1. Union (my parents church) ad a chili cook off yesterday that we went to. They had 30 people bring in crock pots full of chili. Everyone took small bowls and got to sample which ones they wanted. That was a great fundraiser because you don't have the expense of the materials in the chili. The people provide that. You just have the expense of bowls, spoons, napkins and drinks.

2. I think I can do a penny collection contest against small groups that could easily raise $1000 over a 10 week contest.

3. I think that I could find 50 people to give $20 to and have them double it.

4. I called the University last year and they said the college students could do a cookie sell but we could not. We have lots of college students at Church so I think if we had 50 people making 4 dozen cookies we could sell for $.50.

I know that many of you have attended churches that have had many successful fund raisers. What are those?

I JUST PAID MY 1st MORTGAGE OFF

As of today, I made the last payment on my first mortgage. I am so excited. I went to the auditors office today to report to them so they can start sending me the property taxes. She said "so you are the one." I said what? She said "you are the one that pays off their mortgage. Everyone else is refinancing." That made me feel really good.

First I have to thank God for providing me a job and the financial knowledge to afford paying off the house.

I have to thank my uncle Don who when I first bought the house said to get an annualazation printout and then make extra payments on principle. When I first got the printout my principle was $19. I paid $200 extra every 6 months and it would pay off 6 months of payments.

I also have to thank Jared and Cory Baker from Evansville who encouraged me to buy a house and gave me so much knowledge on owning a house and looking for bank loans.

I need to thank my family who believed in me and did not discourage me from building. Of course they did that so I would house the parents so they would not have to. Just kidding.

I need to thank my friends who supported me and encouraged me in this whole endeavor.

Gees, I sound like an academy award winner.

What to do, your opinion counts

There is a meeting at my chruch tomorrow to discuss the finances and where the chruch is going. I do not know if I should go or not. I know that if I go, it will get my German blood running. But on the other hand I would like to know what is happening. You see I get all wound up when it comes to the chruch. Mainly because I have ministry in my blood and I know the workings of the chruch better than my back hand. I am afraid if I go I will say something I will regret. So what should I do go or not go?

1st weekend of Olympics

Well the first weekend is almost over. Opening ceremonies Friday night I think I liked the Fiddler dancers and then the boy on the rope. I thought the flame lighting was chincy. Even if all four would have worked it just was not exciting. But then they had half the budget to work with. I felt sad for the girl lighter because she did not get to light since hers did not come up. Can you imagine being so excited about lighting and then not get to do it? I still think Michael J Fox should have been one bringing in the flag.

Yesterday was a really busy day. I worked on taxes in the morning and afternoon. Which was interrupted by Sears bringing in the new refrig. Then went to the grocery store. I just felt rushed all day. But I bowled a 136, 164 and 121. I liked that. And I finished the part of my taxes that determine if I get to claim mom and dad on my taxes. And the answer is yes. I have my tax appointment on Fri. this week at 3. I am hoping for more back this year. But I don't know. I worked a buttload of overtime last year. Was just a tad bit shy of $50,000. I have never been that high before.

I loved watching the Moguls last night. But staying up until 11:00 each night is not for me. Maybe 10:30 I will shoot for. And ski jumping was yesterday. That was fun watching.

I could really do without the commentaries. I wonder if Tebo lets you cut out the commentaries along with the commercials? Does anyone know?

In 2 weeks I will make my last mortgage payment. I still have the car loan that has the house a collateral so I will not get the deed until that is paid off. But it is exciting to know the mortgage is done. Hoping to have the cars paid off by Aug. Then throwing a HUGE party.

Got a chuckle at work

I got a chuckle at work today. It's not really funny, but it struck me as funny.

I was reading case notes and it said someone called and asked for a client and the person on the phone said "I am sorry she died yesterday. Can I take a message."

I heard on the local news this morning that a person on the city board was not going to bring up a bill in favor of trans genders because she could not get enough votes. It made me wonder are there really that many trans genders in Ft Wayne? Do I work with any? Maybe I do and I don't know it.

2 days and counting. Ha you thought I forgot....

3 MORE DAYS

The Countdown continues. 3 days.

Today the upstairs refrig/freezer broke on me. Called Sears and it will cost $69 for someone to come out and if it is the compressor it will cost about $325. So I said forget it I will just buy another one. So tomorrow or Saturday I will be shopping for a new refrig. We have the fridge downstairs so we plug that in for now until we can get one delivered. It will just be a pain to go up and down the stairs to get food. But then maybe that will help mom lose some weight.

We did not get as much snow as they were predicting today. They said 2 inches overnight and we only got a dusting, 4 inches today and we only got about 2 and 4 inches tonight. Hoping for less. But the wind is blowing hard now. And I think we are to get 2 more tomorrow. We shall see. It is still snowing so overnight may tell. Maybe the wind will create moguls in my yard and I can do it myself. HA Visual person here!!!

I took a suitcase to work today in case we got all the snow and I couldn't get home. But the roads were fine.

My oldest brother's birthday is today. He is pushing 60. Well about 3 years away. I remember thinking I would feel old when he hit 50. But I refuse to get old so there.

Bad, Bad Mrs. Warnock for texting me on Monday with sympathies for my sorrow. She just had to rub it in that the Colts lost.

Countdown to the Winter Olympics

Countdown to the Winter Olympics: 4 days. YAHOO

I am so excited. Even though they are on late at night it is fun to watch what I can. I love speedskating, and some ice skating, and love watching bicycle racing in the dome with the banked curves. And I also like ski jumping, mogulas, and of course bobsled. I do not care for fencing, boxing, weightlifting or wrestling. And once in a while I like watching the shooting contest where they ski and then stop and shoot.

As of today I am offically a Xerox employee. Xerox bought out ACS so now I work for ACS a subsidery of Xerox. I do not know what this does to my benefits yet but they are to tell us sometime. Xerox gives 6 weeks of vacation and ACS gives 5 so maybe I will get 1 more week of vacation out of it. Maybe they have a better retirement plan that the State does as far as health insurance for retirees. They will accept the number of years worked for ACS who accepted the number of years we worked for the State. So I now have 25 years with Xerox.

I took a hit in the market the last 2 weeks. I decided to move $1000 in 4 of my retirement accounts to more aggressive stocks and so far have lost $50 in each one. Still hoping for those green numbers each day. But so far only red.

What's the best way to have enough money at the end of the month?

I was talking with a friend this week and once again those wheels start turning in my head.

I see it as two ways that you can overcome this world we are living in.

A: You can spend less.

You can listen to tons of people who talk about making and staying on budgets, but that is not the answer in the days we are living in. If you don't have any money coming in how is working on a budget going to help? I think most people have normal bills that do not meet the income that they are bringing in. I don't think they are over spending on other things that can be cut out with a budget. But if you are one whose bills are not over your income then spending less would work for you.

B: You can make more money.

I believe this is the only answer for most people in order to meet the amount of bills they have at the end of the month. I can guarantee that your boss is not going to increase your salary. So you are going to have to look elsewhere in order to make more money.

We have a lot of creative people out there who if they only started looking to put those creativities to work to bring in money they would be surprised what they could bring in. Did you know that there are people out there that HAVE money. You have to find them. You have to figure out what they want or think they want and give it to them. There are many ways to do that: Internet, newspaper, fliers, and word of mouth.

Today at work I was thinking "it sure would be nice if we had someone come in and sell popcorn." I think break times and lunch would make a pretty good chunk of change.

Figure out what your talents are and start looking for availability. But don't think about it too long or you will do nothing. Doing nothing will not get you out of the rut you are in.

Why employers don't want me

I spoke today to a General Manager of the old county I came from to see if they will be hiring any new people this summer when we roll out to the Hybred system. He did not fall over backwards over me as I expected. I had interviewed with him for another job a few months ago and I guess he just must not be interested in me.

I can't image why? I am such a great worker. I work circles around everyone else. I can produce more work than a normal person. I am often told to slow down because I am producing too much. (If that is such a thing.)

I have 25 years of experience and I know a whole lot. I am a great catch for any county with an opening. So why did I not feel good after I talked to him? I guess I will wind up whereever. I figured I would have counties fighting over me. Did I just say that?

I think the reason he doesn't want me is the problems I bring with other employees who are not producing as much as I produce. That does cause a management issue. But can I help it that my mind moves fast and I sit at my desk and work all day instead of wondering off and talking to someone else. Humm, isn't that what they are paying me for?

Cheer Contest today.

This is a picture of Ethan doing a handstand.




This is a picture of Kayden in a stunt stance. He's the one on top.








These are pictures of my great nephews at a cheerleading contest today. They do really, really well. I am so proud of them. They both got gold medals and trophies. Sorry that the pictures are dark. That's the best I could do.

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes

Why is it that when you work overtime you end up not getting as much money as what you should? I worked 7 hours of overtime last pay weeks and that totaled $240. I was hoping to about $200 extra thinking $40 is a lot to take in taxes. But alas, they ended up taking $65 out in taxes. I guess I have to pay for the defecit somehow. But it makes me wonder, I wake up an hour early every day for what reason?

I am hoping to work on my 2009 taxes this weekend. Still have about 8 months of bookkeeping on Ebay before I start figuring if I can claim my parents again this year.

I am working on my budget for $2010. I have to change my budget because my net income dropped by $40. Thanks to increased health insurance premium and no raise.

Why do I spend money when it is in my purse?

Last week I went out to eat with some friends and took enough money to make sure I had enough. I ended up with $15 left over which I left in my purse. I have noticed in the last week that it has been easy to spend that when it is in my purse. If I don't have it in my purse I don't spend it. Why is that? It just seems that because the money is in my purse, I can buy all kinds of things because I have extra money in my purse. Does that make sense? Why can I deny myself when I don't have extra money and not deny myself when I do? I am a great saver as long as I don't carry extra money in my purse.

One more day until the start of the X-games. I am excited about watching that. But why do they have it on so late at night? It does not start until 9:00.

Tonight I want to watch the President's speech. He is to talk on more support for people who care for elderly parents. That's me. So I am interested in hearing what kind of support that might be.

Training for a new job

Yesterday and today I have been in training for a different kind of a job where I work. This training is how to process an appeal request. An appeal comes in when someone does not agree with a decision on their benefits. So the last two days we have learned how to investigate a case action. I think I will like the job. Tomorrow I will learn the part of the job that I will be doing the most. Putting hearing packets together.

I am excited about seeing my great nephews this weekend at a cheerleader contest in Fort Wayne. I know they will be AWESOME!

I am excited that the Colts are in the Superbowl. I can't believe how expensive the tickets are. Not that I would go. But just hearing a sky box is $3500. To rich for my blood. So I will watch on tv.

Sports day

This afternoon I am watching lots of sports. Colts play at 3:00, IU basketball plays at 6. But today is not the only day I will watch sports. Starting Thurs. is the X-treme games. There are certain things I like to watch in X games and some I do not. I like to watch snowboarding, I love to watch downhill snowboard racing. In the summer X games I like to watch motorcycle high jump.

Then in February starts the Winter Olympics. I love watching the Olympics. My favorite in winter is tobogganing (always root for Jamaica and US), ice skating and speed skating.

I went to Burlington Coat Factory yesterday and got a new winter coat. I wore it today at church and found someone had the same coat. Only hers did not have the inside coat piece to make hers a winter jacket. And when I put the jacket on this morning I found out it was the same green that was in my Vera Bradley purse. I didn't see that before.

I gave my poodle dog a bath today. He is pretty good when it comes to bathing. At least he does not try to jump out of the tub. He just stands there.

Great day today

I had a great day today. It started out by going to a brunch with my mother at her church. Great funny speaker. Laughed so hard. Then to the grocery store. Then shopping and got a new winter coat. Then bowling and then out to eat at a new Mexican restaurant in Huntington. Yum Yum.

I bowled a 127, 109 and 134. I was very pleased with that.

Strange things I have done

I have nothing to write tonight so I will list a few strange things that I have done in my life:

1. Went parasailing and after getting up in the air the boat motor died and I went floating down into the ocean.

2. During a J-term at college I was surrounded by cross dressers in jail and asked the guard if they mix men with women. (My class was just visiting by the way I was not in jail)

3. At the county fair, on my 2nd date with this guy just out of high school I asked him what the different was between a cow and a bull and then changed it to steer and a bull.

4. Stayed in a hotel with a hot tub in my room without a swimsuit. So I went out and bought an excercise suit because the stores did not have swimsuits for sale and went in the hot tub with that on.

What crazy things have you done?

Dinner with friends.

Ate dinner tonight with 3 of my favorite people. Had a wonderful time. Lots of laughs. And great to catch up with everyone. Had chips and salsa and a taco. That's enough for me. I just like the chips and salsa. I could easily fill up on that.

My niece had a procedure done today and it sounds pretty hopeful for her. Pretty excited for her.

Going to watch the rest of the IU basketball game.

My job is changing

I found out today that I will no longer be working Constituent Care. I have been moved to hearing and appeals. I will still be in the same office just working in a different department and with a different boss. I do not mind working in hearings and appeals. It is very close to the same thing I am doing now. What I do mind is that now I will have a boss in the building that I work in. So now I cannot get away with a lot of things I could get away with before. There may be a lot of pressure on me if she doesn't like my work. Where my former boss was very lax. I really liked that. But I am trying to keep an open mind.

My dad forgot to take his medicine last night before he went to bed. So today his blood pressure went up to 222 over 122. He had a nose bleed. Luckily it stopped. Right now is it down to 191 over 96 so it is coming down.

Tomorrow I am meeting 3 friends for dinner. Am pretty excited about that. We are eating at Carlos O'Kelly's. That's Mexican for those that don't know.

I have been thinking a lot about retirement preparation lately. The market has been doing a lot better so I think I may start moving things around again in my retirement savings at work. I would like to retire at 55 but still not sure I am going to be able to pull it off. I'd like to have $100000 saved up but the problem is that most of it is going to be in work accounts that I can't get at until 62 without paying a penalty. I don't want to lose a lot that I have earned. So I have got to start being a little more aggressive elsewhere.

Did you know I was a "cougar"?

I found out tonight that I am considered a "cougar". According to the Yahoo webpage article on the Royal Carribian ships that are stopping in Haiti that they are also planning a "cougar cruise" for older single women. I guess I never thought of myself as a cougar before. Can't say that I have a lot of snaral or scratch left in me. I just got a great laugh out of that.

I totally understand why people are up in the air about Royal Carribien porting at a cove off of Haiti when all the distruction is going on. I would feel horrible if I were crusing and we stopped there. They can tell me all they want that my money is needed in Haiti to help them recover, but getting off of a luxurious cruise ship is not the way to help. And I can tell you I would be sick to my stomach the rest of the trip home.

I was considering my next cruise to be on Royal Carribien but I am not sure now. Maybe as time goes by I will forget.

I just heard on the news that 90 Haiti children were flown to PA from an orphanage that were in the process of adoption. Their adopting parents were called and told to come to PA and pick them up. They set up a makeshift court in the hospital and granted adoptions on the spot. Why is it that I am always a day late. They did say there are about 900 Hatian kids that are spoken for by people in the US.

My Mother's doctor visit

I took my mother to a follow-up doctors appointment today.  It was with her diabetic doctor.  He is very nice and I think he is helping.  He assured her today that she is not doing anything wrong but her body within her is not functioning correctly.  She is not producing much insuln.  He decreased the number of units she takes of the long acting and increased the number of units of the short acting.  He said her blood work looked really good.  Her liver is good, her kidney's are good and her electralights are good.  But her vit D is low.  He at least is trying to allow her to eat what she wants to eat and just counteract that by taking more insulin.  That made her happy. 

Then we went to eat at Crackel Barrel.  There is nothing like Crackel Barrel's sweet ice tea.  If I had to choose between McDonald's sweet tea and Crackel Barrel's I would have to say Crackel Barrel hands down.  I ordered my favorite meal:  mac and cheese and green beans.  For those of you that don't know me, I don't like eating meat.  I am not apposed to it, it is just not my favorite.  I do eat it so I cannot call me a vegatarian so I call myself "like a vegatarian." 

Then this afternoon I started working on my taxes.  I have an Ebay business and I have all my income and expenses in an envelope but I have not put those on paper.  So today I started that.  I am also like a procrastanator.  I completed up to April.  Yahoo.

Tonight I have sign class.  It has been since the beginning of Dec. since we have met.  I have forgotten alot.  Then back to work tomorrow.  3 day weekends go way to fast.

My random thoughts

Lots of thoughts going through my head today. Not sure why. And of course no answers. So I decided to share them with you.

Last night I opened the closet to get a band aid and noticed we have 3 boxes of band aids. I thought that was not right for me to have 3 boxes of band aids and Haiti to have none. It was not a good feeling.

I have another thought running through my head. Although I have not thought it all the way through, it is just a pondering thought. I hate leftovers. I only want to enjoy something 1 time. I do not want to enjoy it the next day. But I also hate throwing food away. Then I started thinking about those people who are trying to cut back to survive financially. And I got the idea of passing left overs on to other people. Now I know because of health reasons the Health Dept. would look down on this. But if it happened on a small scale maybe just between 5 families maybe it would work. If people took their left overs and put them in containers and gave them to another family, that is like getting a meal, not leftovers. And if I got food from someone else I don't think I would think of it as left overs because I did not enjoy it the day before. And I think it would cut down on grocery bills for everyone. OK am I crazy?

My weekend

I am excited about my weekend. I have a 3 day weekend thanks to Martin Luther King or should I say his parents for having him.

To day I went grocery shopping and was only $2 over my budget. That is very good. Considering my calculator went off in the middle of grocery shopping because I took too long looking at labels and I had to guess how much was on it before it went off.

My mom is looking for some snack items that she can eat that are Carbohydrates free. That is very hard to find. I spent a long time at the store today looking for snack items. I did find a beef stick that was a honey ham stick. I bought one for her to try to see if she liked it. It was 2 carbs. I bought her a salmon pack (like tuna) that she can put on crackers but crackers are a high carb. I bought her some olives that are zero. I bought her pork rinds that are zero. She takes after her father who was diabetic and couldn't stay out of the food. The sad thing is that one day I will be just like her. So far I have had the same things as she has had so I am taking more after her than my dad. People will not believe me in 20 years when I am 190 lbs.

I have a Colts sweatshirt on. I went to Wal-Mart today and saw lots of Colts clothing on people. It is going to be a great game tonight.

Today's retirement party

We had a lady retire at work today. She is my age but has had many strokes in the last few years so she had to retire. She has not had much money most of her life. So the office went all out on her party. We rented a Limo to pick her up after work and it drove her to Red Lobster where she had dinner. It was Awesome. It was a huge limo. Fun to watch and made you feel really good.

I am not expecting anything like that for my retirement party. Cake and punch will be fine. And of course my former workers there to celebrate.

Hatti

I feel so sad about all the devastation in Hatti. My heart really goes out to them. They need so much help. And I feel so helpless.

I think my personally is that I care about people who are needy. And I feel torn because there are so many people that need help here in the States, and far away lands. I just feel so overwhelmed. Oh I know it is not my responsibility to help everyone, but this thing inside me wants to. Even though I financially can't. And there are just so many that need help.

There is a lady at work that just had a fire
There are people at my church who are out of a job
There are newly married couples that are struggling to make it

I think my whole personality was developed as a child when I saw all the Church people always giving to us (the pastor's family) They would give us food every Christmas and cash..... guess it just engraved in my personality how cool that was.

I have friends who do not understand how I can give my money away and not spend it on me. It's kinda hard to explain what's in your heart.

When something like this happens I just want to jump up and say OK, lets get started raising money. And my mind just runs and runs. How crazy is that. I never said I was normal!!!

So I will pray for God to give what is needed to those that are hurting.

My work

Well what a day today. My boss told me a few days ago that I was working too fast and processing more cases than the other workers and I needed to slow down. I slowed down today and she called me at 4:00 and said I was still working to fast. I said you're kidding, I spent half an hour looking at House Bill to terminate privatization. I went to the bathroom 2 more times than I normally do. I daydreamed a little. And still am working to fast. I am not sure what else I can do. But I told her I would try tomorrow to go slower.

We were originally told when you work for a private company they give bonuses for people who do good work. Well I have worked circles around all the people in my group for the last 2 years and still no bonus. But they have been very very good to me.

Found out today that my House representative voted against House bill 1003 which is a bill to do away with privatization of the welfare program. It was only in committee when he voted no. And he was outbid. So not it goes to the whole House. Fingers Crossed.

Oh NO Stop the BUBBLES!!!

Our timeshare had a hot tub. One day I decided the girls would love getting in and feeling the jets and taking a bubble bath. I had brought some really old bubble bath liquid with me. A little bigger than a travel size. I think it was about 5 years old. I put in one capfull as the water started going in but there were not very many bubbles. I thought maybe because it was so old it may have lost it's bubbleness so I put in another capfull. Still no bubbles. I repeated about 2 more times. The water finally made it past the jets so I turned on the jets. The kids hopped in and boy did they like it. Untill all of a sudden the tub was full of bubbles and starting to overflow. I had to shut the jets down or the whole bathroom would have been full. My sister-in-law Kathy was thinking we were all going to be consumed by bubbles and she would never find her grandchildren again. Well I guess the kids didn't mind. Here's their picture below.

I guess that is the last time they let their great aunt Dona start a bubble bath.

pictures from Florida

Florida Vacation

It was too late last night to write anything when I put the pictures on so I will tell you about my vacation to Florida.

I took my oldest brother and his family. There were 13 of us all together. We stayed in 2 timeshares. When I first made the reservation at the first one they did not have another room so it took me 3 months to find a second one. According to the addresses and Map quest they were about 25 minutes away from each other. We really did not like that idea but it was the best I could do.

We left Christmas afternoon, stayed in a motel in GA. that night and left early the next morning. We made it to the first timeshare at Midnight. We were all very tired. Got everyone checked into that one and headed to ours. I had given my nephew the address and he put it into his GPS. After 5 minutes of traveling he pulls into this timeshare. I said Cory, this can't be right it's suppose to be 25 minutes away. So I walked in expecting it not to be it..... and lo and behold it was. That was AWESOME.

Did I happen to mention my nephew in law lost his ring on the way down. They hunted and hunted at the hotel but it could not be found. That is not a good start to a vacation. He had helped me pack my trunk before leaving and about 3 days into the trip, my great niece and I found the ring in my trunk. Woot Woot.

We all went to Silver Springs and saw lots of alligators and about 3 glass bottom boats. Great weather and lots of God's animals to see. Pictures below if I can figure it out.

Then of course Disney World. I did the tea cups cause I do spinning rides but not up and down rides. And saw lots of shows. Left the park to pick up my brother who needed to sleep in a little only to find out the park was closed due to maxing out on people there. They were turning everyone away. (They had warned me that could happen if I leave) When I got to the parking ticket booth I showed them my ticket from earlier that day and he said "you are the lucky one, go on in." Everyone else they were making turn around.

Loved the lazy river at our timeshare. And did I mention that the pool was heated? It wasn't heated at the other timeshare.

I have to tell you about my little great niece. I just loved watching you. Her mom does pinkie promises with her. I just loved it. So I tried it one morning. She wanted to go upstairs and I did not want her to wake her sister up so I said promise you will not wake your sister up. She smiled. I said pinkie promise? She came downstairs and stuck her pinkie out and we pinkie shook. Oh to be able to do that with adults.....

OK I will stop now. I could go on and on.

Disney Pictures of family

Getting by in this age

I talked with a women at church this morning whose husband is unemployed. And it made me start thinking again..... I love thinking about finance and how to survive in this world. I have heard several radio programs on finance these days and agree that all of us have got to develop home businesses in order to survive. In face one program I heard said you should have 2 or 3 small businesses. So when one of you lose a job you can fall back on the small business.

There are so many things that a person can do to start a small business. I'll only name a few
make jewelry
make scrapbook pages
make pinatas
make desserts
drive older people around
sell cups with items in them with themes like break, sports, work, snack,


I have often thought about getting several people to go in for a craft sale at the local park. The building rents for $300 for the day. If I had 30 people who would take a table at $20 and sell their craft items I would make $600 minus $300 for the building I would still make $300. And everyone else gets to keep what they make at their table minus the $20 cost of the table.

I just don't know how people are getting by these days without a home business.

What other ideas do you have for self employment businesses?

Sunday all is not well

Well this is day 5 and dad is still coughing and just doesn't feel well. He is not a good sick person. But then most men are not. Any ideas out there?

Going to church this morning. I am learning sign language, but classes are on hold right now until we can come up with a date to meet. It is a slow process to learn and remember for this old woman. But I like being able to go to church and sign a word here and there to the songs. It gives me a different form of worship that I can appreciate as a visual person.

Bowling tonight

Well I did not do as good as I wanted to do in bowling tonight. I just could not make those pins fall. I would hit the pocket but would leave 1 standing. We were on lanes 1 and 2. Maybe that is why things did not go my way. I bowled a 112, 126 and 103.

The only thing I hate is coming home smelling like smoke.

I need to buy some bowling shoes. I pay $1.25 a week for shoes at the alley. I should have bought them at the beginning of the season. Guess I will go on a hunt for some.

I think after taking 2 weeks off from bowling due to vacation, I need my niece "the massager" to come give me a treatment. I am getting old.....

DLynn's activities for the day

Here is my first blog. Thought I would just jump in and start. I am always the last one to do anything like this so here we go. I bet I have finally done something that my 30 something nieces have not done. I love it when I bet them at something new.

Today I went to Wal-Mart for groceries. I spent $80 some dollars and only came home with about 6 bags. That is crazy. I need to find another place to shop.

This afternoon I am working 3 hours of overtime. For those that do not know me, I work for the Welfare Dept. I used to be a state worker but the Governor privatized Indiana state welfare so now I work for the private company called ACS (Affiliated Computer Services). With the overtime money I am planning on a trip to Calf. to visit my nephew, his wife and their baby. I am hoping to go in March or April. I want to spend time with each of my nieces and nephews this year. That is my goal anyways.

Tonight I will go bowling. I am on a league and am enjoying it. I do not have a great average about 120's but I am getting better and better every week. And it is good exercise for someone who does not exercise. Mostly I think I am just intrigued with the bowling ball that I use that has 3 finger holes. I found it at the ally.