:rofl: Again, I repeat, Zeff, you crack me up. You're choice of words is priceless.

I don't have the energy to respond to most of the posts today. Work has been really stressful and I have more I still need to do but I'll probably wait until Brian goes to bed or at least closer to bed. I did find out I have to work 6 hours on Saturday but I was able to choose the early hours at least.

Today was one of those stressful days when I really wanted chocolate. I didn't have any in the house and caved when I went to Curriculum night at the school. I just occured to me that I could have made SF pudding. Oh, well, at least I have a wonderful south beach dinner of leftovers that I took from the freezer that is heating in the microwave so I won't be tempted to eat junk.

Still no word from Robert. I suppose if I don't hear tomorrow I should try calling his friends to find out what hospital he was transferred. For Brian's sake anyway.

That's it?

Man...the median income in America is only about 50k. How on earth do they do it?

--

Barb - :hug: I hope everything stops being so stressful for the two of you soon. You are being such a great mom to Brian taking him to the hospital all the time, especially given how Robert is treating you.

probably not....retail pays WAY less than 50k.

Hey everyone. I finally got my electricity back yesterday and the internet connection finally came back up today. Woohoo.

Zeff-how's your little world after the hurricane? Did you get much damage? We got alot of damage. I was out of electricity for 12 days with no generator until the last 3. It totally sucked!!!!

oy... is right...

so glad i was off being told we were approved to adopt this guy
http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/dis...petid=11774998

we want the one in the back that's standing....

i'm so excited!

tk - welcome back....so glad to hear from you !!!! Glad to hear that you weathered the storm :)

Tk - Welcome back!

Nessa - awwwww :) We will, of course, need more pictures ;) It's my vicarious dog fix.

Zeffryn - aren't community college stipends great - grrrrrr

It's been a long day and I'm going to fall down now. Have a good night all :)

TK! Good to hear from you, dear! I was starting to get a little worried but figured you were just out of power. We're fine, no damage from Ike, never lost power. What was damaged?

:hug: SO glad you're back!

Nessa, he's freakin' cute. When do you get him?

Cyndi, his stipend comes from the actual university....it is pittance. The big catch 22? You are unable to get another job while on the stipend. Thankfully, because this is his last semester they approved his picking up a few classes at the local community college. His dissertation adviser told him that he should just take out a huge loan and live on that while he was finishing school....awesome, thanks for the advice. He can graduate AND pay off a huge loan. Whoohoo! The income this semester is higher than it has been since we've been married....I'm like a kid in a candy store. We'll finally be able to replace the money that we used from our savings and actually save more *crosses fingers*. I did learn some great lessons in frugality though over these past few years.

bad news. the owners while saying we could adopt one are balking at us taking boone and not scout... well I told them I can't take two....

so now they will call me back tomorrow to discuss it further. I'm mad.

two newfies? Wow. I feel for your house.

on the other hand...they are soooooooooooo cute.

oh newfs are couch potatoes... but we are in a townhouse and brian said NO to two more dogs...

Jelly, that sucks. I hope you can find a job. Have you considered going back into college?

Barb, hope you hear from Robert soon for Brian's sake.

YAY I LOST ANOTHER 2 LBS. Gotta change my ticker. :D That makes 7lbs for phase 1 even with a cheat. Tomorrow I'll have some blueberries.

Jelly - I'll say it again....you can qualify for financial aid....just because you live with your parents doesn't mean that you can't. At 23 in Connecticut you are legally emancipated from your parents which means that you can apply for and qualify for financial aid.

There are also a bazillion different grant and scholarship programs available.

Jelly it's always worth a try. If you are interested in it, I'd definitely fill out the FAFSA and see what you can do.

I know if I don't get in some more education, I'm going to go absolutely stark raving mad.

Brian and I just got done watching ER. It's hard to believe that I have watched almost every episode and this is the 15th year. It was heartbreaking seeing one of the major characters die. I won't give the name in case anyone taped it. I've never let Brian watch it before but he really seemed to enjoy it.

Now to get him to bed.

Honestly if we made that much a year we'd pretty much have it made. Then again, we really don't know their situation, what with the financial crisis in America. So many people have taken out loans with really high interest and mortage loans and etc... even if they've got careers such as doctors and lawyers... their financial situation could be dire.. It's a reality nowadays, unfortunately.

zeff-our whole fence was damaged. no other damage to the house. there was really bad damage in our area though. signs, stop lights, and businesses were damaged. took some pretty good pictures of some of the damage too. i posted them on my myspace if anyone wants to see. pm me for my email address to find me.

We're all going through the same financial crisis that her family is.

and the doctors and lawyers that are living well beyond their means have things to show for it - huge mansion houses, bentleys, latin pool boys...


Think of it this way - my family makes a FIFTH of what her family makes. A FIFTH. We make almost half of the federal poverty limit. We don't live on government assistance and we have no debt. It IS possible to live on a low income, but one has to be smart about where their money goes. If I wanted to live the life fantastic, we would be into debt up to our eyeballs....thankfully, I told my DH I could wait a few years before he bought me that 20 carat diamond ring. ;)

20k in debt is nothing. Really.
Connecticut didn't happen to switch over to Yen without telling anybody...did they?

MUL... I don't plan on giving up kitty! (btw, how does Kitty sound? after Kitty Wells?) or Annie in honor of gramma and little orphan Annie!? ;)

I will go back to my soap I was using, see if that helps.

Your story of the mice reminded me of my Gideon that passed away. :(

I think BF makes around a lot less than $20,000 a year, even with the computer tech stuff he does as a side business. Idon't really want to say how much though. It'd probably be an embarrassing sum! We manage, but we often have to buy things secondhand and it's hard to scrape up cash whenever we're in a pinch. We IN ALL HONESTY haven't managed to save a dime in the 3 years we've been together. When I started thinking that this is enough, I have to have a better future for my son, and started talking to my friends about it, BF happened to have been talking to his coworkers about it. We both discovered that both of us wanted to go back to college and get decent degrees for our son's (and his daughter's) future. So, it won't be instantaneous... but we're working towards it.

Everyone seems to be suffering from the economic crisis.

Jelly, what sort of jobs do your parents have to make so much? We'd be very secure if we had that much, although like I said, I don't know your situation and you said your parents are in quite a lot of debt.

I grew up in a middle class home and lived a comfortable life and then went on to an upper class home when my grandparents took custody of me. And I was used to the wealthy life. When I got out on my own, rebelled, quit college and came back to this town, I sacrificed it all. And now I'm living in a class I've never lived in before... the lower class... and I'll never judge anyone else for such a thing ever again, now that I know how hard it is.

But, you can't just sit at the bottom and complain about it. Anyone has the power to change their situation. When that thought finally got through our heads, we made the decision to do what we've gotta do. My grandma will watch my son and in 2008, we're going to start classes. I already know we'll both be eligible for financial aid.

I'm excited about it.

Long Island, NY is crazy expensive and that's why we moved to NC. Now, that doesn't seem to matter because everything is crazy expensive!

Good for you, Mel.

I checked salary.com for some information regarding cost of living in Connecticut. Compared to Lafayette, LA - the cost of living had an 11.6% increase....BUT, employers typically pay 21.2% more. Kind of evens out, eh?

Also, my favorite way to pay back debt is to never incur it in the first place. What I meant by 20k in debt not being anything is compared to a lot of people...it really isn't.

Sure, I really don't understand what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck :rolleyes: Because I'm "rich", right?

I hear ya, Jelly. I just made $20 by selling two movies we have to this guy who bags groceries at the Piggly Wiggly... no, not bootleg or anything illegal.

I'm so tempted to go out and buy say, a hair highlighting kit or some new mascara or eyeliner (out of liquid black, have been using liquid purple) or whatever, but I know I've got to save it for things we need. We'll definitely need it. Bf's paycheck was terrible this week after they were rained out a lot last week, and this week they were rained out today and most likely tomorrow. He does as much extra work on the side since he's got his computer tech license and he makes up the difference, but it still leaves us constantly having to call the electric company and put the bill off another week and things like that. The only reason why we have internet is because it is an extremely cheap service around here and we paid a few months in advance for a $20 bill!

Jelly, EVERYONE here KNOWS more so than you do what it means to live paycheck to paycheck! Especially those of us who are unemployed. Not to mention those of us on one income family's that make 20K.... You are NOT the only one to know what thats like. And I have a grown child and know just how costly they are! Again, NOT a unique situation! A few poster's here have grown children.

Ah, I stand corrected. I was discussing this conversation with the BF and he said actually he makes about $22K. Still, we live paycheck to paycheck and still can't save a dime, no matter how many times we have literally put money aside to attempt to do so.

But like I said, and like I was telling BF, we can complain and we do, we do. Definitely, we do. But, we have the power to change things, and we will. It may not be tomorrow. But eventually it will happen. :)

I've had enough, Night all!

Zeff, you'll have to update me tomorrow how Calvin did today on training! ;)

BTW, kitty is on my computer desk, playing with the bmini blind strings, and puppy is on floor crying, cause she can't reach kitty! poor Jade! LOL

Jelly, I saw your edited post about changing the subject. I hope you don't feel I'm attacking you in any way. I have no doubt that you have bills like the rest of us and have a lot to pay off. I can't even imagine having to pay new car payments and mortage and stuff like that. We'd go broke! So I understand that you guys are also in the financial crisis situation. I'm just discussing is all. I realize that although we all have different situations and different incomes, we all have struggles. There is probably not an American out there who isn't feeling the burn.

And cats are so expensive! It seems these cats go through many bags a week. Cat bills count. :p

Tomorrow I've got to spend my $20 on new sponges, vinegar to clean with, spray bottles and rubbing alcohol (I have discovered that cheapo rubbing alcohol makes a great contact roach killer and we still have not rid ourselves of this horrible problem) and a mop. Oh, laundry detergent too.

We buy this big bag of stuff from Napa, an auto parts store, called Hi-Dri. It's made of Georgia clay. You can also get it from Walmart. It is fairly efficient and BF prefers to buy it because it's pretty cheap for a really big bag (around $7). It's usually used for oil spills and vomit in schools. Hehe.

Jelly, we've been nice to you, but you just keep slapping us in the face! How much do you intend for us to take and not question?

Jelly, that really is not cool, you say things and then erase them. You think that makes you look better, like the next reader thinking it's all one sided (the side questioning what you say) and looking like total jerks? It shows your hiding things! NOT COOL.