Blah blah blah

Not much to really blog about today. Been on the phone most the morning, chatting with friends, making appointments, paying bills, trying to get information. Have yet to get that important phone call I assumed I would get today. Even though I am sick of talking on the phone today, I would like to get things hashed out and move onward.

I think my washing machine is on its last leg. It is about 18 years old and sounds like a cow dying when in cycle. Think it is about time to put ol' Bessie out to appliance heaven but Mark hopes we can get another 6 months out of her. I hope so, or I will be over to the laundromat with my clothes and 4 kid. :(

Is there a difference

between daycare and babysitting?
I started to watch a few children in my home, in the hopes of getting licensed and starting an in home daycare. And to pick up a few extra quid!

Anyway, I watch an infant from 6am-11pm Saturday and Sunday. When I first agreed to watch said infant(I will name J), I didn't realize that it would be on the weekends and that it was that insane amount of hours in one day. But, I was committed and getting $100 a week for it.

Thursday, I talked to the mum and told her she needed to give me an extra $25 a week. I was going to have to pay another mother to bring my son to his swim lessons every week so I didn't have to load up 5 kids to do it and that extra cash would take care of that. She said it was fine...until she showed up Saturday morning. She went through a big speel on how she was broke, was living in a shelter with her baby, the father wasn't helping, etc. I felt bad for her, naturally, bought the sob story.
She then proceeds to tell me that she quit her job! She is starting a new job though so she still needs me to watch J. I ask why, if she didn't have to work today, she was dropping him off so early. She said she needed to pack up her things at the shelter as she was applying for Section 8 housing and she needs to be out of the shelter quick if she gets it.
She paid me in advance for the weekend so nothing I can say about it so I shrug my shoulders and she says that because of this, I will only have Jacob til 4 at the latest. Great, I thought, I can have a peaceful dinner with the kids, maybe bring them out.
She calls at 3:30 to let me know that she is gonna go out with friends and she swears she will be back by the usual time. I am not happy about this, but since she paid me in advance, how can I say no? I do tell her that her son has been very upset all day, nothing I can do will calm him down and he has gone through 3 outfits so she needed to drop more by.
When she finally gets there, she sees how upset he is, but I guess it doesn't bother her. So off she goes for the night. Well that night also happened to be the night we had a good snowstorm AND my furnace broke. I rang her at 9pm, phone went straight to voicemail, big shock there, to let her know what had happened and that it was rather cold in my house. She needed to come get her child cause I was contemplating going to a friends or my mum's house to stay warm.
She calls me back at 10:45pm to let me know that she just got the message and had too much to drink so she needs to sober up before she can drive to get Jacob! I am fuming at this point. The baby won't stop crying and I am beat!
Long story shorter, I wait until 11:30pm. She is still not there, so I lock the door, turn off the lights and go lay down. The phone rings about 12:30, its her, saying she is outside. I let her in, she starts apologizing. I am not in the mood for arguing and am too tired to discuss that night so I tell her we will discuss it another time. I also tell her to not even think about dropping J off at 6:30 the next day. I need some sleep and she won't be going to work, so there is no need.

When she comes back this weekend, I will need to say something to her, I just don't know what. My mum suggested telling her that I am a daycare, not a babysitter. I will watch her child while she goes to work, not partying. I am unsure what exactly to say, but I know I want it to stick and not be open for discussion or debate.
Thanks to anyone who read this, it felt good to type it out and get it off my mind.

All for money

I am so sick of being poor! So sick of barely making ends meet, or coming up short any given month. So, I had the bright idea to start a semi, at home daycare to earn some extra cash.
As is stands now, I will be pulling in $150 a week by watching 2 children in after school care and one 8 week old boy. I watch the little one all weekend, for 17 hours a day! Am I crazy or what?
I feel so bad for the mother, having to work those hours and not be able to see her son at all, pretty much, on those days.

I hope everything works out well. I could sure use the extra money to put towards bills.

Oh yes! (well maybe)

Two posts from me in one day? Awesome!

Anyway, anyone know anything about the Nationwide Tax Relief agency?
As many of you know, Mark and I recently went through an audit, we had a bum accountant and now the IRS is claiming we owe them mucho dinero. I saw the above agency on a tv ad, along with "real life" people who claim they have been helped through them.

Long story short, I contacted them, via phone, they said their fee was $2800 and pretty much that I needed to wire them that money immediately for them to help and to keep my place. The man said they were extremly busy and he had already, 187 clients. If I didn't sign up and send them the money right away, I would lose my place.

Mark and I need to get this whole IRS issue situated. It is weighly heavily on every aspect of our lives and lets face it, I can't afford $40k. I don't even have my own home, something that we have been working towards and might never have now because of this. Very depressing to say the least.
Anyone know how I can go about checking this company out or had any expierence through them? The man on the phone said he was almost certain he could shave $20k off our supposed debt.

Quicksand

Sinking feeling

going under

feeling weighted

heavy shoulders

unnecessary burden

clawing upwards

sinking deeper

desperate measures

ARGH!

See the toy picture I added? They are called Littlest Pet Shops and they are the crave sweeping the nation! My daughter is on a personal hunt to own every stinking one!

Her Christmas list to Santa is filled with LPS wants. She has over 100 of the colorful little guys already. Its hard to keep track of what she does have and what she doesn't. I do have a small list of ones we haven't acquired yet. Rare or Hot ones like the one in the picture that sell out as soon as they go in stock. It is so frustrating to not be able to find the one thing(s) my kid wants for the holidays.

Tonight, I thought all that changed! I got an email from a friend stating that she found most of the rare LPS sets and sent me a link. I was so excited, I couldn't contain myself or wait til after dinner, which I usually do, to get online. I immediately brought my laptop in my room and sat down to order up a boatload of these things for my girl and my niece.

I click on the link and sure enough, there they all are. But at 6x the price! These little pets go for roughly $4.44 at local stores and on this website, they were up to $26.99 a piece! A mum of four, on a budget, can't afford that!

I think it is unfair that companies can do this. These toys aren't retired, they are still producing them. It is just their way of making more money off us consumers!

Well, it was on sale!

Thats what my husband says to me everytime I come home with something from the store that wasn't on the list. That comment use to instantly get my back up but lately I think, so what? Isn't that what I am suppose to be doing? Getting things on sale? Having a large family means cutting corners, clipping coupons, and saving the pennies, wherever you can!

I like to think ahead. Check out the sales flyers, buy in bulk when it is worth it and use coupons to save extra moolah when I can. Poor hubby doesn't think that far ahead I guess. He doesn't understand why I would waste money this week to buy 2 containers of laundry detergent, so I can get 1 free, when I will only use 1/3 of it all this week. I try to tell him that detergent is one of those things in our house that we will always use and it is worth it to spend a little more money this week, to get the free jug.

What does this all lead into you may ask? Black Friday!
M(hubby) has no idea why I would get up super early in the morning, stand in the cold, and wait in lines, hours long, all in the name of shopping. He has no idea how much money I save every year doing our holiday shopping by partaking in this little tradition. Maybe I should get a sitter and drag his butt out with me this year?
Tell me I am not the only one labeled crazy enough to partake in some Black Friday fun?

Did ya forget we ain't rich?

When I ask my kids what they want Santa to bring them for Christmas this year, why do I get a mile long list? Not only that, why is every single item on my kids lists, not under the $100 mark?
Money is of no object to them. They have no concept of finances. They believe for years, thanks to their father, that there was a money tree out back of the house that I went and plucked whenever I wanted some cash. ( I joked to hubby that this year things have been so rough that its only giving out change, not bills)
Don't get me wrong, I don't think our children should have to worry about money. I am glad that they don't have to wonder if we are going to have electricity, food, etc. But it makes me wonder if I am doing a huge disservice to them by not making them aware of the value of a dollar. Or, maybe I am overthinking it and they are asking for big, expensive gifts from Santa because, its Santa?
Heres hoping this Santa Claus doesn't go in the poor house this season.