January

January is over! It went by quickly and although I am not one to wish time away, in Michigan that is what you have to do with January.

My son is in playoffs for hockey. His team has done well this year and we are hoping to make it to the state tournament. He did not do to well in school this past semester. He missed 14 days due to illness and I think that is what set him behind. He seems to have the right mind set for this new semester.

My oldest daughter is busy with her boyfriend and playing with her club soccer team. There have been college scouts at her practices and games and hopefully if she stays focused on her school and her game she can get some help with college. To me she has not been focused enough on her future. I know it is hard for teenagers to see past next week. Our family has invested a lot of time and money into her soccer and she definitely has the talent but advancing to play in college has to be her motivation.

My second oldest is in training for high school soccer. She is in the high school band and they are going to Florida in February. Unfortunately she is not going and I am sad about that. She also has a boyfriend. They seem to have a nice relationship. They only see each other occasionally and go to a movie or out for coffee. They don't have to spend every minute together which is good because friends and other activities are important.

My husband and I are still hanging on at our jobs. I hope things improve soon with the economy. I am seeing more houses become empty in our subdivision and frankly, it is quite scary.

Tomorrow is super bowl Sunday. Looking forward to the commercials!

The Bailout

I have to tell you that living in Michigan is not fun right now. The whole country has been watching to see if the Big 3 is going to get their bailout. The executives of these companies have been made to look so foolish. There was even a spoof on Saturday Night Live where they were portrayed to look stupid. I must have missed the spoof on the banking industry. I have been very torn over this issue. Having lived in the Detroit area virtually my whole life where if you have a job within the auto industry you can make a decent living, it is impossible to imagine them gone. I know people that have worked and currently work for the Big 3. Many of them have been making a lot of money over the years and have never been afraid to tell me how much they get away with. They are afraid now. I also know many that have worked very hard and have not taken advantage of their employers. My job is directly related to the automotive industry and our sales have decreased by 40%. If that doesn't pick up soon my company will have to make cuts. The average time in service where I work is 10 years. None of the people there will get $75,000 buyouts or $25,000 car vouchers to leave. We will just get unemployment for a year amounting to horrible credit ratings and lost homes. All the Big 3 is asking for is a loan. If they are not given the money the money will have to be given to the people of this area to survive so either way the money will have to come. The ironic thing is that the money was easily handed over to the banking management when in that case it should have been given to the people that were in trouble in their homes. Had they done that people could have made their mortgage payments and the banks ultimately would have gotten their money. Now the banks got their money and the people are still in trouble. What the hell were they thinking? This year my family has gone through some tough times. My husband was off work due to an injury where his disability pay was less than half of what he normally brought home. Then when he went back to work he was permanently laid off without any type of severance package. Fortunately he was able to find a new job albeit at 18% less than he was making before. Also a result of our circumstances I have changed my status from part time to full time. Thank God I was able to do that. It is still a fact that if either of us lose our jobs now when we are so close to getting things back to "normal" then you can put a fork in us!

Am I that Desperate?

I went to the grocery store last night and on the way out there was a lottery machine. After hearing on the news of a guy that won $100,000 on a scratch off ticket, I thought 'Why not?' and put a $20 bill in the machine. I chose a $1 ticket and waited for my change....and waited, .......and waited. Then I noticed in small print where I inserted the $20, that the machine does not give change and also a little message that stated 'do not bet more than you can afford'. I was so ticked because typically I don't buy lottery tickets and anything is more than I can afford. I proceeded to choose $20 worth of tickets so I could hurry out of there before someone I knew saw me. Once I got home, my husband and I scratched all the tickets. To our surprise we won exactly $20.00. What a relief to get my money back. I think I'll go buy another ticket!

October, Already?!!!

Things have been pretty interesting since July. My husband returned to work only to be permanently laid off at the end of July. We went on a little camping vacation up north right after that and slept in a tent. That was not very relaxing at all. My husband applied for unemployment and did not get a check for 5 weeks. He was so ticked since he has been working since he was 14 years old, served his country, and never collected before.

Next at the end of August, even though we were broke, we took a trip to Chicago for our oldest daughter's soccer tournament. The whole family went which was actually a good time. My two younger kids and I took a trip into the city on the Metra train to see the sights. We had a nice time walking the streets of Chicago. We stayed 3 nights at the Sheraton in Schaumburg, a very nice suburb.

Because my husband was not working I was able to transfer my status at work from part-time to full-time. Not only did this increase my salary by nearly 50%, they also allowed me to get full benefits effective the date of my status transfer. They also gave me one week vacation this year and 3 full weeks next year. They allowed me to keep my time in service at 11 years even though seven of them were part time. They have been a wonderful employer. They did this because of my situation not necessarily because they needed another full time employee. This is an automotive supplier in the Detroit area and we all know how the economy is. Thank God For them! Anyway, my husband found a new job, too. His new job is only 4 miles from home as opposed to his old one that was 48 miles one way! The gas savings alone is about $4,000 a year, not to mention the time he was wasting making that drive. The pay is not as much as his previous job but you take the good with the bad. And as I said at least he was only off work for about 5 weeks. That is a miracle in this area of the country. Thank God!

My daughter Chelsea has a boyfriend that she has had for about 3 months. We thought it was just a summer thing because he goes to a different school and lives about 15 min away. But they are still seeing each other. I cannot believe that she will be 17 years old in December. Wow! She is busy with soccer. My daughter, Amanda is busy with soccer and marching band. My son started his hockey season and was on his school football team for a couple of weeks. He got a throat infection, followed by the flu and missed 6 days of school and 2 weeks of football so he decided to give the football up. No complaints from me on that!

Happy Birthday!

Should, Would, Could.......

Ten years ago:
I should have kept my weight under control

Five things on today’s “to do” list:
Get ready for work
book club meeting
pick up kids
meeting at township hall
walk

Things I’d do if I was a billionaire:
Pay off all my debt
Help my family and friends out
Make sure all my kids complete college
Give to charity
Buy a winter home in Florida and a summer home in northern Michigan.


Three bad habits:
Procrastinate
Try to accomplish too much
Complain too much

Five places I’ve lived:
Old Bridge NJ
Detroit, MI
Taylor, MI
Yokosuka, Japan
Hayashi, Japan


Five jobs I’ve had:
Can a Gift
Umpire
Bank Teller
Sales Clerk
Sales Manager

Long 2 Months

My husband is still down with his ankle injury. He will have the cast removed in about a week and ten days after that he goes back for surgery to have the screws removed. (ouch) Then ten days after that he can begin to start putting weight on it. What a long haul this has been. His disability pay sucks and I have twice as much to do. Hopefully it will all heal up well and he will be back to work in a few weeks. After that, I am taking a vacation! None of the blogs that I read are being updated. I never update mine but that's no excuse for anyone else! This computer has taken over my workout time so now my focus is going to shift. I will give this morning routine a break and start walking instead. That's where I'm off to now......