Dad's School Pictures of His Kids

For the stepkids' elementary school years, we bought our own separate picture packages (separate because going in on pic packages together with bm and dividing things up was just too much cooperation for her to handle) so we would be able to have our own rather than depend on the BM to decide if dad warranted a wallet-size pic of his own kids. Now that they are older, the junior high and high schools don't work that way and bm sure isn't going to ask dh if he'd like any part of the kids' portrait packages to buy on her form (that would take too much cooperation, ya know?). Too many teachers, responsibilities, number of students, etc. that the personal relationship we used to have with the schools is now a bit impersonal. We get the interim report and report card and then a newsletter once in awhile (these are online so it's not a biggie) so getting a second picture package for each child is out it seems.

Anyhoo, I asked my stepdaughter the other day about getting a school picture of each of them. She said her mother was sending them out with christmas cards. She (stepdaughter) said she could try to get them earlier for us but that's not sd's responsibility so I just told her whatever her mom thinks is best and maybe sd could take a pic of her and her brother with her cell phone and text it to us, which she did right away.

What I was REALLY thinking is that this is their DAD, not an uncle or second cousin, which is how you send pictures out with christmas cards to other family relations, usually more distant ones. DAD! You don't hold school pictures for a couple months and send a wallet size pic of a man's children to him at Christmas! She's always treated the father of her children like he was nothing so I shouldn't be surprised.

4 Years, 6 Months, & 16 Days to go...

Read more...

Bad Celebrity Role Models for Kids

Well, there goes another one. I'm talking about positive celebrity role models for kids. My daughters are HUGE fans of the Cheetah Girls. They love the movies, the songs, the dances. I am sure when my 11 year old comes home from school today, she'll be talking about how one of them (Adrienne Bailon) had naked pictures hit the Internet. Supposedly, they were stolen from her laptop in an airport.

Um, if you are going to have naked pictures taken of yourself, shouldn't you make sure you keep that laptop in your own hands at all times out in public (or better yet, don't bring that thing out in public to begin with...it's not like she can't afford to keep her nekkid pics somewhere else) rather than leave it sit where somebody can allegedly steal it. I know I don't take my naked pictures out in public, lol.

Hmmm...stolen? I don't know about that. It seems like the girls who have naked pics stolen from them end up bigger stars. Look at Paris Hilton. She's useless but she's a huge celeb. because of the video.

Dumb things that people get famous for.

Here's the article.

Read more...

Should we cover it?

My husband's truck hasn't been used in a couple months. The muffler is hanging and we can't afford to fix it right now. After opening the hood and jumping my own car a few weeks ago, now my husband's hood latch won't close and he couldn't drive it like that either way (we did have the hood latch fixed last year which obviously wasn't fixed right). Seeing that his car is sitting and will likely be sitting for at least another month, should we use a car cover to protect it from the elements?

It's definitely not like my sporty Trans Am GTA I used to have where car covers would have been a great idea. It's a truck. Should we still cover it?

I'm not sure but if we don't come up with the money to fix it soon, we should probably at least clean out the garage and pull it in there I guess.

Read more...

Sad Over Outcome of Stepson

Last week I was in Wal-Mart and there was this little baby (under one years old) that looked like my stepson did when he was a baby (he's 13 now). It hit my heart hard to see this infant. It made me very sad that things turned out the way they did when they never had to. Seeing this baby so sweet and innocent, reminding me of my stepson, made me hurt for the way things should have been.

When my stepson was an infant, he was a very good baby. His behavior didn't change negatively until he started feeling pulled and saying words in his toddler/pre-k talk about "mommy crying at home without me" and stuff like that. When he was put in the middle of a negative campaign against his dad and dad's family, his personality changed. He became angry, hyper, obstinate and distant. That followed him thru his elementary years and affected his relationships with teachers, students, and his own self-esteem and then followed him into middle school year and shows up in the D grades he receives and negative comments from his teachers. This bright boy who it was determined was above grade level in several important subjects now getting D's.

It never had to be that way. He should have been allowed to have a relationship with both of his parents and families without the interference and emotional warfare he grew up in. Sad.

Read more...

Finance Considerations If You Pass Away

If you have children, I think it is very important that you have life insurance to cover things like your mortgage. That way, if something happens to the insured parent, the mortgage is covered and the remaining parent and child or children have one less financial worry. Term life insurance is a very good idea if you have a mortgage. I would encourage you to get term life insurance quotes to make sure your family is covered should something happen to you.

We have term insurance, employer provided insurance through my husband's employer, and a universal life policy. I think we're pretty well covered so our children aren't left with nothing and sent to a family member's doorstep with nothing to care for them should the unthinkable happen. It's the responsible parent who does what they can to protect their children's future as well as they can. I was really surprised to find out how inexpensive it is too.

Read more...