A-Z, 'Cause it's Me

Click on the pic'

Unclaimed Money

Virginia's State Bird

It is no secret that I do not like the Commonwealth of Virginia. Having lived here since I was 5 years old, with 4 years in Washington, DC for College, I have seen Virginia do some screwy things; to me, to my husband, to my children, to the taxpayers...name a group and somewhere in Virginia the Commonwealth is trying to screw them. The weather, the history and her beauty are the only things in her favor.

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A few months ago [October 2008] I found a site for "Unclaimed Money". Y'all know these sites - you type in a little information and they search the data base to see if you have money sitting at the state's Treasury in your name [or if you have minor children, their names.]

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I was surprised to see that my son and my older daughter did have money. I filled out the appropriate forms and sent it off to the bowels of the Virginia Unclaimed Money Office. I received an email at the beginning of February - Virginia is expeditious, isnt' she?

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Each of the kids have bonds that were left to them by their paternal Grandfather. A small sum, but it is theirs. The lady I spoke with [B.B.] emailed me the forms and told me when I filled them out to mail them in. 8-10 weeks processing. Fine, whatever.

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A week later B.B. sends me another email stating she has found my name in the database and I am entitled to half of the funds and to please call her. I call. Leave a message. She calls back 10 days later.

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I ask her exactly what/where is this money from. Turns out Dominion Power failed to return our security deposit on a townhome my first husband and I owned in 1990, which we sold in 1993. Okay? The total deposit was $163.00 - woohoo - $13.00 in interest for 19 years of sitting in their bank account. I digress.

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Because here is where it became REALLY weird, but remember - this is Virginia.

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B.B. said I was entitled to 1/2 of the deposit [$81.50] and my first husband is entitled to the other.

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My first husband is deceased. [that doesn't get any easier to type] B.B. knows this because we had this discussion when we were talking about my children and their money earlier in the month.

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I ask B.B. if it is okay if I send her his Virginia Issued Death Certificate to verify, y'know, he is not A.L.I.V.E. anymore? And then I can receive the entire deposit, right? We made it together, he isn't here anymore, so it would make sense that the deposit come to me - or at least half to me and half to the kids.

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Well, yes, but NO.

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B.B. tells me that they won't accept his Death Certificate issued by Virginia. They want his newspaper obituary instead.

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HUH? I explain there wasn't one. [and there wasn't - not everyone has an obituary, right? He didn't. That is another post, but he didn't have one.]

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I begin to argue that point that Virginia issued the Death Certificate and I even have our Virginia issued marriage license, but B.B. stands firm and says I have one other option....[at this point I was thinking what? Dig him up?]

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My option, she explains, is his Funeral Program. Again, HUH? A funeral program? Something anyone can just generate, at home, on their computer and color printer? Has this woman/the state LOST their minds? I am sure I could lay my hands on a copy, but it isn't just sitting around, convenient as are his D.C. and our marriage license.

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At this point I was pretty much in tears, not for a piddly $81.50 - but I do not like dealing with Sr. being gone and this is just on the other side of ridiculous.

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I told her to forget it - I was fed up with the bureacracy and crap Virginia puts out everyday to her citizens and $163.00 isn't worth the hassle of dealing with this. I told her to donate the money [well MY half, at least] to the orphans.

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Her response? "Only if you fill out these three forms and send me his obituary/Funeral program."

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Click.

Watercolors

[actual size 3 1/2 inches x 2 1/2 inches]

Pooldad gave me a lovely set of watercolors for Christmas - very nice! Unfortuntely I think the man assumes I have more talent than I actually do [which isn't a lot to begin with :D].

I bravely signed up for a watercolor swap and this was one of my submissions. With the exception of the barn leaning a bit [okay, a lot] I thought it was a decent representation of a farm. Right? What do I know? I live in the suburbs.

Anyway - I am on pins and needles today because the Cricut is coming! THE CRICUT is COMING! It is on the FedEx truck as I type and it is guaranteed to be here by 3 pm, but I know from our lovely neighbors who receive shipments everyday [he is in the import/export business] that FedEx comes to our street everyday at 11 am!

Y'all may never see me again.

[PS - I have to add for all you crockpot owners out there - You MUST, MUST, MUST make this recipe over at Mare's blog. It is a vegetarian chili which even the most carnivorous of men [Pooldad] LOVE! It is the easiest recipe I have ever made and it is so goooooooooood and it freezes great! Please, if you can open a can and stir a pot you will be thanking Mare for years to come.]

YAY! New Toy!

I have been hoping, praying, wanting, salivating....okay, you get the idea - over this lil' puppy. It is a Cricut machine. It cuts paper! It makes designs! It makes alphabets! With the right cartridges [for example] I can make Disney or farm animals [y'all just wait!] or beach scenes. It will make my cards, scrapbooking and ATCs look fabulous, with a push of a button. It will also be great for all the school projects the kidlets have.

I have been following the infomercials late at night - but the large one [it cuts up to 12"x 12"] is $399.00. Way out of our budget. Then I discovered they sold a smaller version [it cuts up to 5 1/2" x 11 1/2 "] for $199.00. I don't need anything that is 1 foot by 1 foot, so the smaller one is great, but at $199.00 it is still too much for a woman that owns a pair of scissors [or six, but who's counting?]

I waited. Actually, I forgot all about it. Then Pooldad - who I didn't even realize knew that I wanted one of these - called me last week and said he had found one for $149.00 on sale. Hmmmm...we were getting warmer, but I told him I didn't need it, I would just like to have it. I put the thought aside. Again. No biggie.

Today I went to the Joann's website because they are having a fabulous sale on all the craft supplies I like to keep stocked - and if you sign up for an account [not a credit card, just a web account] you can receive shipping for $2.95 on your full order [today only] Bonus!

Imagine my surprise when the first sale addy I saw was for the Cricut I want and their sale price is $99.99! Wooohooooo!!!

I cannot wait! We are going to have so much fun. :)

And now I can stop watching the infomercials.

Memories....

I was searching through some things [mountain o' boxes actually] and came across these two pics. I post them because they are two of my favorites of the girls when they were younger.

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The first is of our youngest on the occasion of her first Easter. She is 7 1/2 months old.

This is her older sister in first grade. She is 6 years old.

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I love digging around in all our stuff. We haven't unpacked a lot of it because we thought we would've purchased a home by now and I don't like putting a gazillion holes in the wall in a rental. I do love where we live now, but I hope we find a new home soon so I can gaze at these pics and others like them all day in a home we own.

Road Trip Pics

We had the best time! The driving part didn't seem long at all, the hotel was just great and the college was lovely. The oldest seemed to really like it, especially the full tour treatment she was given [It wasn't planned and such a big surprise!] and she loved the library. It was a nice addition to her site seeing pleasure that the lacrosse team was playing on campus and we had both a college hockey team and a wrestling team staying at our hotel. She may have turned the corner into "boy crazy" this weekend. There were cute guys at every turn. Them and her 6'3 father dogging her every step.

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I had to do something to occupy myself while the family ate lunch, right?

It was too cold to leave Spootie in the car alone so I volunteered to keep her company and the car running for the heater. Of course we opened the window for the photo-op [and Spot could growl at the passers-by.]

True fact: VA is the number one state in the US for number of personalized license plates.

We saw our share, but this one was our favorite.

JST UNME
We were all awake at 5 am, so sleep came around mile 200, at least for the youngest.

It was a crystal clear day.

The military spent the morning on excercises decorating the skies.

It was neat to watch.

The view, even in the stark winter, was spectacular the whole trip.

Many, many mountains. The homes built into the mountains were the most intense.

We saw hundreds of farms.

There were herds of cows, bunches of horses and even a few goats.
I can imagine how lovely this drive will be in the spring and fall.

All in all an incredibly successful, albeit short, trip.

What a Great Day

It has been a long day - very exciting and informative.

And may I add - The beds are comfy.

Spootie and Squiqqles think so too.

PS - cheapest hotel I have ever stayed at with free WIFI [in your room!] and breakfast!

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Goodnight and sweet dreams.

Okay, okay....

I am over my corned beef disappointment. Sort of. Oh and the sandwich on the menu - NOT a rueben. Just a corned beef sandwich, so no points there. heehee

As I said - I am over it. Because! I found a hotel for $70.03 for the night, for four of us, that accepts Spootie the Dootie and serves continental breakfast with hot waffles! And it has a 4.5 out of 5 customer rating...2.5 star hotels.com rating. Weehaw! And it is one mile from the first college we are visiting. Double weehaw! [Sorry...I just love a bargain.]

Another bonus? I mapped the route and it is only 3 hours 25 minutes from us! Pooldad thought is was a lil' over 4 hours and I thought it was over 5. We were going by estimates from the last time we had driven this route - oh, so many years ago, when we lived farther from I-81. Guess what? YEP! We live a heck of a lot closer now.

We will eat breakfast before we leave, have lunch from some $menu somewhere [we have our own waters/soda - so it always cost $9.xx for 4 sandwiches/4 fries], packed snacks in the afternoon, a nice dinner out, free breakfast on Sunday and including gas? We could be home Sunday noonish for under $150.00. This is my kind of road trip.

At least I will have good trip stories to blog about, instead of the "Life from my chair" I have been posting about.

[Like the pic'? Hotel bathroom :) ]

One Would Assume, but....

We are taking a lil' roadtrip this weekend. While researching hotels to stay at on Saturday I discovered a link to a restaurant in the area we are visiting named "Corned Beef & Co." To say my heart skipped a beat ...well, my "Yippppeee!" woke up the dog.

I am a HUGE fan of corned beef, especially corned beef and cabbage, with boiled potatoes and carrots. It is my go-to birthday menu [if we can even find corned beef in September-how can corned beef be "out of season" like, ever?] but can you imagine? A restaurant devoted to CORNED BEEF? I figured the Skippyfamily could just drop me off - go on their appointments [College shopping for our daughter] and I would just sit and savor [several] servings of my most favorite meal in existence. Oh! And perhaps we could go back for breakfast on Sunday - and Pooldad could have corned beef hash. Yeah baby!

With my hotel search forgotten - I concentrated on locating a menu to read [& drool] over their scrumptious descriptions of the most wonderful of meals.

Humph. Found the menu. Lunch & Dinner - okay, no breakfast, but I can still hang for lunch & dinner, right? No. no. and. no.

Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I discovered:

They have a FOUR page menu - and on this FOUR page menu there is ONE listing for corned beef...and it is a sandwich. Did I mention it is a FOUR page menu? They named themselves "Corned Beef & Company" and they offer one lousy sandwich - which I can get anywhere [or make myself, better] and I could find nary a hint of a slice of roast, a potato or a carrot. [They serve wood oven pizzas...woooooo [snark] pasta and steaks with lame-o sandwiches I can get anywhere.

What a tease. And a stupid name.

McGaheysville...Y'Know if anyone cares.....

Is less than two hours from where we live. I received the coolest news today and I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED.

But that is all I am going to say about that. Well, except Pooldad is already putting in for a day [or two] off....WEEEEEEHAAAAAA!

Best news I have received since...yep! since the child support was suspended. THAT is how neat this news is. :)

Stuffed Shells

I don't know how appetizing this picture is, but that is a whoooole lotta cheesy, saucy goodness going on. This is what we had as our "red" entree on Valentine's Day. If they weren't so expensive to make [Hello!? Have you priced ricotta & mozarella cheese recently?] We would eat this every week. They are that good.

I am not posting the recipe and the following conversation with Pooldad will illustrate why it isn't necessary.

First this: Since walking is sometimes painful for me Pooldad has done all of the grocery shopping for the last 12 months. That is not an over statement and he deserves credit. He is exceptional at it and I love/appreciate his effort everytime he brings home food for the family. But every once in a while he hits a snag.

For example:

Pooldad returns home from the grocery store stocked with bags full of the ingredients for our Valentine's Day dinner. I meet him in the foyer and he immediately pulls a box out of one of the bags:

Pooldad: "Honey, these are the shells for dinner. I don't know ... are they big enough?"
Skippy: [Taking the box and looking it over] "Well, I don't know Pooldad, did the picture on the front of the box [points to delicious representation of a stuffed shell prominently displayed, in color, on the box] give you a hint?"
Pooldad: "............."
Skippy: [Turning box over and handing it back to him] "Or maybe the recipe on the back should clue you in?"
Pooldad: "I will give you a running start." Laughing, he snatches the box back and makes to bean his loving and adoring wife.

So, no recipe. Just use the one on the box and I can guarantee you will not be disappointed. My picture is gnarly, but trust me, they are so good. We had plenty of leftovers for dinner the next night, so I guess they aren't all that expensive, but it does total about $15-$18 for just the cheese.

Today the youngest is making "Apple Pan Dowdy" for extra credit in her history class. It is recipe she found in "The President's Cookbook" and was evidently quite popular way back in the day. The only problem I am having with the recipe is at one point it says to "dowdy" the crust.

Anyone know how to dowdy something?

When Life Gets In the Way of Your Dreams

A blog I have been reading [and lurking at until recently] is called RV Vagabonds. It is written by a lovely lady named Linda and chronicles their retirement and life on the road in their RV.

It has always been Pooldad and mine's dream, when we retire, to purchase an RV and travel the country, seeing the sites, meeting new people and just spending 24/7 together. Linda and Denny are [were] living that dream and their blog is a great read with fabulous pics.

Now, for the meaning of my title. It began over at their blog because they had to interrupt their retirement to return home to their native Ohio to care for Linda's ailing mother. It is a story I can completely relate to, not because our dreams have been interrupted, but because the story of Linda's mom is a carbon copy of my mom and all the trials, frustrations and well, just time expended to take care of her. It has interrupted our lives, but the situation for Linda and Denny has been a complete interruption of their dreams. Don't misunderstand me - We take care of my mom - gladly [as Linda and Denny do], but it can be trying to care for someone who refuses to help themself and with the knowledge that I have siblings [without minor children considerations as we have] that refuse to lift a finger to assist and live within 10 miles of my mom, while we live 400 miles from her.

Okay, enough of that. Please tho' - read RV Vagabonds I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy it.

Onto a second example of life interrupting.....and this is just sad. The links to this are courtesy of Linda and when I read the story I was in tears. Since I so enjoy the farm blogs I read I thought this may be of interest.

You can read the full story of Bob at Wagonteamster.com, but the nutshell version is Bob, wagon teamster, decided to take an adventure. He wanted to see the United States his way. So, with his children in college and nothing holding him back he sold all his possessions and embarked on a tour of the U.S. - via horse drawn RV. Yep! With the assistance of 4 beautiful Percheron horses and a homemade trailer Bob set off from his home in New Hampshire and has spent the past 5 1/2 months meandering [at 3 mph!] through several states.

Sadly tragedy struck in Mississippi on February 10th. The article is here.

I don't know what Bob will be doing now, but I pray for his full recovery and that of his remaining horses.

I think it is a worthy life where people can put aside what they know and leave their comfort zone to find a life that makes their dreams come true.

I hope in a few years we have that kind of courage.

I Spy A Dachshund

DO YOU?

There is the pattern on the sofa, the crocheted afghan, an NFL football throw and a lap quilt.

They work nicely to blend with the colors in my puppy, she is stealth doggie!

You can pick her out by her pink collar.

Dad's gift for Valentine's Day [yeah, we don't celebrate, but a pink color for the dog?

I think Pooldad made a liar out of me this year.

~

Anyway, Spottie had a long day. Her buddy Doohicky [the spastic min-pin] came to visit for the afternoon.

Yes, we are dog sitting again. :)

eta: yes, I can spell collar. No my dog is obviously not pink in color, heee. It was late. I was hopped up on Strawberry pie and whipped topping. What can I say?

This is Us Not Celebrating

If I had known how easy this was to make I wouldn't have been hitting up my [now defunct] local Pie Shop for the past 20 years.

So, so, so easy.

Homemade Stawberry Pie

Homemade whipped cream

Valentine's Day on a plate

Oh, and remember I said we don't buy gifts or cards for eachother?
Well I was blessed with a
"Lucky Friday the 13th bouquet"
He's a goof, but I love him.
[prize to whomever can guess what I used as a vase]
And a balloon for our foyer so the girls can see when they arrive home.

Blogger only allowed me these five pics, so I will have to post dinner some other time.

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It was so yummy. We made stuffed shells and Sink salad [with Catalina dressing - hi Marni!] instead. We all ate way too much and I suspect we will all sleep until noon tomorrow.

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I hope everyone had a lovely day and you felt loved and appreciated.

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Hugs and Happy Valentine's Day.

The Time Has Come for a Decision....

This is a pic' of where we live now. It is taken from our front steps and looks up the street. To give you an idea of the size/style of our home it is similar to the townhome on the left of the pic', right next to the one with the turret and car parked in the driveway. Living in this townhome is comprable to living in a single family home, without a front yard. We have a backyard [fenced] a deck, with parkland, trails and playgrounds with swimming pools/tennis courts surrounding us. The number of swimming pools we have access to is embarrassing, so I won't list the number, but suffice it to say we use one. The whole neighborhood is also surrounded by a members only golf course. [Obviously, we don't belong! $$$] Our home is a 3 bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, 2 car garage townhome with 2400 sq. feet.

I do love our home - it is a nice place to live, with great neighbors and conveniences just a short drive away.

The downfalls? It is a huge home. More than we need. It is expensive to heat/cool. I hate dealing with the gas company [jerks]. But the biggest suck, besides not owning it? The rent payment. It is $1,800 a month. Now I know a lot of you will find this a bargain [Hi! Yvo! for those of you who don't know Yvo lives in NY - my cousin lives next to the UN building in NY and pays $2900 for a 400 sq. ft. efficiency] for 2,400 sq. feet, and for our area it is a steal [the house is assessed at 500K] and our landlords are fabulous, but the rent is killing us savings wise. I want to save more money, but with that payment and the high utility costs every month it isn't possible.

Here is the decision part - we found a townhome in another neighborhood that we can purchase - and our monthly payments will be $1,000 per month [P.I.T.I.] It is two stories, instead of three, no garage and would be so much cheaper to heat and cool [and easier to clean!]. There are pools, playgrounds, walking trails and a lake. Although it is a bank foreclosure the floors, windows, doors and siding are new. The best part? Same school district for the SkippyKids - something we insist on. So, a lot of their friends live in and around this neighborhood and they are in their same schools -big bonus!

Where is the decision? Why haven't we jumped at this you ask? Well, the neighborhood is sketchy. It is an older neighborhood [established in 1984], but in recent years it has become a mecca for a huge rental market and now it has a large number of foreclosures listed because of the ARMs made to people that couldn't afford them. They were selling for $350,000 two years ago and people are fleeing left and right due to the banks foreclosing. Additionally [and much more important] it is not considered as "safe" as our current neighborhood. That is what scares me the most.

I don't forsake people that rent [heck, we are!] but it is a different neighborhood, where the renters aren't keeping up their properties and the homes that are being foreclosed upon are falling into disrepair. The homes that are occupied sometimes house two and three families at a time [this is a violation in our county, but not enforced] and there really isn't the space for that many people in these small homes.

It is as tho' I need a crystal ball to see into the future. We could have this home paid off by the time Pooldad retires [in 10 years] and we would have instant equity upon purchase. We would save about $1,100 a month in rent/utilities and have more money towards retirement and the kids college tuitions.

Why is the neighborhood holding me back so much? I would like to think I am not overly protective/scaredy cat/snob and I honestly don't think I am, but it just feels at this point in our lives we should, at least, be making a lateral move [to a similar neighborhood, not a comprable house size] or moving up [to our farm dream - not until the girls are in college - 6 years :(], but instead we are considering a leap down. I don't need, nor want a larger home - I just want something to call our own and save money, but I want my family safe and secure while doing it.

I also realize that a house is just that. A house. What matters is the home that we make and I like to think we are pretty good at that...but if we are unhappy with the world outside the door in this neighborhood will it be worth the home we have made on the inside?

What say Ye' tadpoles?

What Are You Doing?

[ATC by SkippyMom]

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So what are everyone's plans for Valentine's Day?

~

Pooldad and I don't celebrate it, as we figure that we have 364 other days in which to tell eachother how much we love one another and we do a lot of fun [and sometimes romantic] "couple stuff" that we don't really need a holiday to express it. We also don't like how it seems to force people to have a significant other/date or they feel bad if they don't.

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Cynical aren't we?

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I am kidding [about the cynicism - the rest is true!] but we do have a special night for the kids. For as long as I can remember we have had the infamous "Red Dinner" - which consists of Spaghetti with Marinara sauce, salad with lettuce, red bell peppers, tomatoes and Thousand Island Dressing [well, it is almost a red dressing], garlic bread [which isn't red] and for Dessert? The yummy-licious Strawberry Pie with real whipped cream. We have, in the past, dyed their milk red [and green on St. Patricks Day :D] but they don't pander to that anymore and won't let us [don't you hate when they grow up? sigh]. And strawberry milk? No, not with spaghetti, tyvm.

~

So does anyone else have a tradition or something they like to do on Valentine's Day? I would love to hear all about it.

~

and if anyone rats me out for spelling "dyed"as "died" before I could edit it...just remember, I know where you blog. heehee

Haircuts and Bananas

Everyone [but Momma] had their hair cut this weekend. Usually a yawn fest, but one was pretty dramatic so I thought I would put it up for posterity.

This is our oldest.

Before:

During:

12" of Love

After:
She remarked that she can't believe how light her head is now that it is all gone.
It is an adorable haircut and the first time she has had bangs since third grade!

And finally: I posted this because when I opened our mailbox today I had to laugh out loud [see the postage? $1.51 from Maine!] I was sent a plastic banana in the mail, naked. No box, nothing. I know some of the other swappers sent things like a jar of peanut butter and a pair of socks.

I sent a $1 fake silver tray. The guys at the post office loved it!

Just so you don't think I am cheap - we had to purchase something at the $1 store and try to get the post office to mail it. It wasn't supposed to be valuable in case it was "lost"/stolen, hence I am now the proud owner of a plastic banana.
Spot doesn't seem real thrilled with it tho'.

Our Friend Sue

For a little while in 2006 our family lived temporarily in an apartment as we waited for our current home. While living in the complex we met the sweetest older woman named Sue. She is a retiree who was also living in the apartments while her home was being repaired due to fire.

Sue and our youngest became fast friends. The youngest loved to help her, hang out with her, run errands with her, walk her dog, etc. By extension we all came to love and care about Sue. She is like an extra grandma to all of us.

Fast forward to the present. We have been in our home for about two years now - Sue has been back at her refurbished home almost as long. In the process of moving I had misplaced her house address and cellphone number. One day a few weeks ago the youngest stumbled upon it! YAY! We quickly called Sue. I was saddened by what she had to say.

I rang her up and it was pretty bad. The economy has hit Sue hard. Since she is retired and living on a fixed income she has to be very frugal [and she is!] In addition she has medical issues that require medication and doctors' visits. While speaking with her I could tell she didn't want to bother me with the details or tales of woe. I am, by nature, not nosey and would really like to have happy conversations as a rule, but I could really sense that things were tough. It was hard to get her to tell me exactly what was going on, but she finally told me the whole situation.

[At this point I need to add that Sue has three grown children. None of them live at home and all are in their late 20's and early 30's with gainful employment. The married, eldest has one child.]

It seems that although her Social Security/pension stays the same, the cost of food, medication and gas prices [this past year $4.50/gal~] have combined to seriously effect Sue's quality of life, as in, I discovered she didn't have any food in the house and was trying to figure which medications to "afford" until her next retirement check came. It was the 21st of the month and that check was 10 days away.

I asked where were the kids, why weren't they helping? Well, typical Sue, she is a protective Momma and it was the usual "Oh, they are so busy and with the holidays they really don't have anything to spare." Blah, blah, blah. Please don't misunderstand me, I do respect her love for her kids but I know this gang and they constantly take advantage of Sue and I could not believe they were blind to the fact that their mother didn't have anything to eat and couldn't afford her meds. I am sure if I was Sue I wouldn't want to bother my kids either, but they all live local - so, -what? They couldn't check in once and a while and get an update on their own Mother? Believe me, she is a good Mom - there aren't issues with family dynamics where they have a valid reason not to be in contact or help care for her. I find it strangely sad that after years of caring and nuturing her children they don't have the decency [maturity? common sense?] that maybe Sue needs help and shouldn't have to ask for it. [I was going to throw in the word "unselfishness" but I didn't think it was a word and I couldn't think of another to use.]

I guess I shouldn't be so hard on the kids, Sue isn't and they are her kids, but when her son brags about his new marble floors and his Mom can't afford blood pressure meds or a can of soup, I get cranky. Is that okay? Or maybe I am just mad at the economy and I am sad for people like Sue, who has worked her whole life and cannot afford basic needs on her pension and Social Security. It is wrong.

But I guess this is happening everywhere, right?

We did bring Sue groceries to last a few weeks [I have never seen anyone cry over a sweet potato] and I hooked her up with a service in our county that will help her better afford her meds [YAY! Loudoun County], but I still wonder.

How many other Sues are out there?

This'll Wake You Up...

Ever had a dream where you were startled out a deep sleep by what you were dreaming?

There is no analyzing the following dream that woke me up instantly the other morning.

In my dream I am sitting in my OB/GYN's office, perusing a magazine. I suppose I was waiting on my appointment?

The door to the office opens and I look up to see a lovely woman with impeccable make- up, stunning hair, beautifully dressed walking in.

In my dream I found myself thinking:

"Wow, I bet she has fallopian tubes that would knock your socks off."

Don't judge.

I have no idea.

Welcome to Our Hangover!

Yeah. About that.

Champagne is so yummy. It is especially yummy after a very sweet, long anticipated victory.

All I know today is that I am a very thankful stay at home Mom.

[heavy emphasis on the stay at home!]

Pooldad had to go to work. giggle

We Won! We Won! We Won!

WOOT! This would take too long to explain the legalities or the length of time it took us to have this rectified but here are a few salient facts:

• Pooldad has two children from his first marriage. We have not seen them in 11 years. Still, Pooldad is diligent in paying his child support. [Automatic payments every two weeks for 15 years]
• Pooldad's eldest child, his daughter, turned 18 in July 2007. <--note the year!
• Child support should have ceased to have been paid to the mother, for the daughter, in July 2007. [She graduated high school in June 2007]
• We have been paying child support for an adult since July 2007. 18 extra months.
• The overage has amounted to $14,516.00 we have overpaid since 2007.
• The Commonwealth of VA would not fix this, no matter how hard we tried, until today.
• Today a Loudon County judge handed Pooldad's ex-wife her head in a hand basket for lying and accepting $14,516.00 in overage payments. And LYING. [I know, I know I said lying twice. I would have to say it a bazillion times to make you understand how much she lies.]
• The judge also reduced Pooldad's child support obligation by $420.00 per month [he has a son that will turn 18 in September 2009.] We are obligated for his support until then.
• The ex wife was at the court hearing via phone conference. The best part? She almost was arrested VIA phone conference for CONTEMPT OF COURT. The judge informed her that if she "told one more egregious lie a NC deputy would be on her doorstep to arrest within minutes." heehee

I can't say I am enthralled with Department of Child Support Enforcement of VA, nor of the way this was all handled - we will not be receiving any of the overage back, nor will we be credited [in essence we basically paid for a 2 year Associate's Degree at a Community College for the child, but whatever!]

The ex was called on the carpet. We are able to recoup almost an extra $500 per month [in Pooldad's paycheck] and come September 2009? We never, ever have to deal with her again.

15 years is a long time for an ex to hold a grudge against a man that she walked out on [she is on her 5th husband [prospective] btw....her second husband since leaving Pooldad] She was SERVED royal in court today. And she deserved it.

I am ready for this all to be over. We love those kids, we have supported them in every way we know how- we miss them, but if not for the interference of the ex - well...divorce should never be this stupid.

Be happy today. It took almost two years and a boatload of frustration, but we won. Finally.

I Think They Mated

Found these today:

....and there is another bottle in our bathroom.

This is what happens when Mom is laid up for a period of time and the family graciously does the shopping and house cleaning. hee

Refill container anyone?