What's in your passport?

My husband's passport shows several trips to Japan. He was sent there for work for up to five weeks each time. That was a miserable time for us.

What does mine show? Nada. I don't have a passport because: 1) we have no money to travel, and 2) I am afraid to fly. When I was a child, we could come and go to Canada without one but I understand now that a passport is required. The U.S. won't let you back in without one. Makes sense to me after 9/11.

So what's in your passport? Does yours show far off places with beaches, culture, and history?

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Don't Buy Palm - BUYER BEWARE

We bought two brand new Palm smartphones on our cell plan, one for me and one for my husband around March of this year. I have the Treo and my husband has the Centro. They have been problems for months.

Let's take my husband's Treo...

Last month, it stopped working entirely. It was stuck on the Palm logo page and that was all it would do. Couldn't phone anybody, couldn't text, couldn't get into the schedule - nothing! I went through with Sprint and Palm all the soft and hard resets that you have to try first. It didn't work.

Then they want you to do one of two things:

1. They will send you another phone out with a $300 hold on one of your credit cards (it would've been our bank card which means they'd hold $300 of our checking account money) until they receive the broken phone back; or
2. Send your phone in, they promise to fix it within 5-7 days of receiving it and will send it back to you.

We went with option #2 because who the heck has an extra $300 to give a company to hold onto for who the heck knows how long when you are supporting six kids? We sent them the phone according to their instructions and waited. And waited. And waited.

I called them because it'd been longer than the 5-7 days they'd claimed. They apologized and said they'd take care of it within 24-48 hours and send the phone back to us. We finally got the phone back to find that they didn't fix the one we had sent them. They sent us a refurbished phone back. We bought a brand new phone from them a few months ago and they send us back somebody else's repaired phone? Hm.

So, it should be all good now right? WRONG! The dang phone they sent us didn't work. We could barely hear who was talking...seems the ear piece was bad. So they sent us a bad phone after waiting weeks for them to fix the phone to begin with! Nice.

*sigh*

So I call them back and they'll fix the phone. They think they are being considerate in agreeing to waive the $25 fee to fix this phone. Huh? They sent us a broken phone so why the heck should I pay them to to fix it or be grateful to them for waiving that fee?

THEN....wait for this...

They want us to send that phone back into them and wait weeks to have this one fixed or replaced. Again? Do they not realize that we bought a new phone from them just a few months ago, that we'd waited weeks already for them to fix it, longer than they said it would take, and they sent us back a bad phone? I tell them that isn't agreeable, for us to be inconvenienced for their mistake.

They tell me that they will send us another phone but will have to hold $300 of our money until we get the phone from them and then send ours back to them. What? This is THEIR mistake remember? I am livid at this point and ask to talk to a supervisor.

I get the supervisor who won't budge so they send me to corporate. They won't budge either. Why should I let them hold $300 of my own money for THEIR mistake? I basically tell them where they can put their Palm phones. They keep their patronizing tone on the phone with me while I hear some man laughing his backside off in the background at Palm. GREAT customer service!

I will NEVER buy a Palm phone from them again. Never. It'll be a cold day and pigs will fly before that happens. They have horrible customer service - sending us a bad phone and then refusing to fix it without totally inconveniencing us. What kind of customer service is that?

BUYER BEWARE! Their customer service was terrible to deal with and their products break down. After this happened, I went online and it seems like this "freezing up" like my husband's phone did is a big problem with the Palm phones. You'd think they'd have a better customer service response than the one they had with me.

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New Use for Nursing Mothers

PETA wants Ben & Jerry's (ice cream) to use human breast milk for their ice cream rather than cow's milk. How many people would buy ice cream made from milk that came from a woman's breast? I wouldn't. I know when I was nursing and my husband got a taste of it (use your imagination), he didn't care for the taste.

I know the conflict there is with dairy products and that we are the only species who drinks milk from another species in general. I also know that when I cut out all dairy from my diet for just four days, the improvement in my asthma was HUGE. Astounding difference!

Going back to this idea...who would give all this milk? Would women go to work and hook themselves up to pumps and be milked for however long they could? I nursed for a couple of years and pumping was the least favorite part of it. Plus breast milk changes according to needs. How do you monitor and get the same consistent milk for the ice cream, assuming it could even be made into ice cream?

You wouldn't catch me hooking my breasts up to pumps in the name of ice cream!

Here's the article.

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Don't Choose Pain

One thing that I don't miss about the corporate world is the sore feet from wearing those shoes that looked great but were just so uncomfortable I couldn't wait to kick them off under my desk. I would think it odd if I saw a man sitting at his desk without his shoes on but nobody ever blinked when us women did it. We had no choice. Who would choose pain for eight plus hours a day?

Now you don't have to choose pain or bare feet under your desk. If you buy Beautifeel shoes, you can have style and comfort in one.

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Technology Advances

My computer-addicted heart is all aflutter. There is an electronic system out that I just learned about called digital signage.

A digital signage player is like a media player but it also delivers web-based content. It is for all those live broadcasts and RSS feeds you enjoy.

If you are the corporate type, you can have a digital signage system in the break room, etc. for your employees. It is remotely controlled so what is on screen is changeable from wherever you are at. It also saves trees - why hand out flyers and such to your employees when you can have a centrally located digital signage system in place?

They are also great for school campuses or out on the manufacturing floor. This is a great way to upgrade your business in your customer's eyes.

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Thyroid Woes

For the last couple of weeks, I have been losing a lot more hair than what a person normally loses. I know what this means and I'm not happy about it. It means that I have to get some blood tests to check my thyroid hormone levels again.

My skin is also acting up - very dry around the eyes and acne around my nose and chin. I had rubbed the skin around my eyes raw after my daughter's horse died a month ago and they haven't healed yet. I use lotion and vaseline but still no change. The lotion isn't helping the acne around my nose, that's for sure.

I sure wish they had a cure for an underactive thyroid so all these problems would just go away. It's an up and down roller coaster and I really want off the thyroid ride.

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Great PC Speakers

I received these great speakers for our computer from The Speaker Company. We hooked them up to our desktop computer because my husband uses this computer for recording his music. The speakers look and sound good. They are going to be great for my husband's recording needs as well as just listening to music and videos on our computer.

Here are pictures of what our set looks like:

The Speaker Company sells speakers for bookshelves, home theater, floor standing, satellites, in-ceiling, in-wall, outdoor, PC, and sub woofers. Our family loves music and these just make it that much nicer to listen to what we love.

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Stepdaughter Surprises Me - WOW!

Hubby received a little package in the mail the other day that had taffy in it for him from my stepdaughter. SHOCK the you know what out of me! The kids barely talk to him, never write and he's having to leave messages, etc. to just try to get hold of them. So, when this showed up, I was pleasantly surprised. I am glad that my stepdaughter not only remembered that her dad loves this taffy, but that she would buy it to send to him. It was very sweet of her to do this.

Could've done without the ex including a medical bill for us to pay in my stepdaughter's gift to her dad but what are you gonna do (no, I am not saying we could do without having to pay it since dh always pays his share of support for his children on time all the time but meant that including it with a gift was a bit crude).

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Can't Stand Child Support Enforcement Agency

For over 12 years, the Michigan Friend of Court county office that we have had to deal with for my stepchildren's child support has been nothing but difficult. My husband has always paid his child support on time, along with all their stupid fees they charge to handle the child support (because the kickbacks they get from the Federal government for every dollar they collect isn't enough). We had a few problems:

1. If you are a dad, you are automatically assumed to be a deadbeat before they even look at your record showing otherwise. You could hear the sneer in their voices when they spoke to you. The only time we didn't was when one of our caseworkers was a man. That was the only time my husband was shown a little respect for being a loving, responsible father.
2. Another problem we had every year was with their record keeping on the child support they received and their false accusations of support arrearages. It was so atrocious for years that we would spend months (every.single.year) trying to prove to them where they made a mistake in record keeping and were accusing my husband of being in arrears falsely. At one point, it took me over a year to prove to them that their accountant screwed up, not us. Eventually, dh's ex would agree that he wasn't behind but only after months (or a year) of tying ourselves into pretzels with all the canceled checks, employer garnishment records, and their own accounting records (yes, we had to point out to them where in their own records THEY screwed up and it would take months for them to finally fix the records).

Since the state took it over from the county, we have only had one problem like that happen so it is better. Instead of every year of being falsely accused of arrearages and threatened with income tax garnishment, it's only happened once in the last few years. The ex would get her money faster if we paid her direct but that would mean trusting my husband to pay her directly instead of the Friend of Court but she won't do that. He was trustworthy enough to be primary caregiver for the kids while he was with her but after he left her, he's not trustworthy enough since HE dumped HER I guess. Who dumps who makes the difference in how you can parent I guess. Not. She'd rather he pay weekly fees for the county to process her child support and also lose a part of her child support on the additional fees they just tacked on this year (at least she has to pay some of them now!).

So now what is my problem? My problem is the Friend of Court county office can't just mess up the support records of my husband for his two children but now they are affecting my own child's entrance to get into a preschool program so she can get her speech needs met there. A week ago, our county agency faxed them a request to verify the child support my husband pays for my stepkids. All they have to do is fax them back a sheet of paper that verifies that he pays x amount of dollars weekly/monthly. Did they do it? Of course not! This information is holding up my three-year-old's application. If the class fills up, which is likely since it is highly sought after in our community, she won't be able to get in.

It's not enough that they made our lives hell for years. Now their incompetence has to affect my child's speech intervention needs as well.

I sent the Friend of Court an email today requesting they submit this information ASAP. Hopefully they do it soon.

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Brilliant Weblog Award

I received an awesome award for this blog today! Lisa at The Independent Mom, somebody I've known for several years, gave me the "Brilliant Weblog" award because she thinks my blog is great! Lisa has several great blogs you should check out.

I was also given this award by Diane at Travel Snippets and More. I met Diane through Lisa's forum. Everything you want to know about traveling (and some fantastic photos too), you can learn from Diane.

I get it twice! Yeah for me!!!

I am to pass the award along to other blogs that I feel are great reading. So I am giving this award to two bloggers I met doing what we like to do - blog. Here they are:

Rants~And~Rambles

Mamma Dawg

The above blogs are definitely worth reading! Check them out!

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Meme Time - It's All About Me!

Witchy Mama has tagged me to do this meme!

I must reveal six unspectacular quirks about myself and challenge other bloggers to do the same.

The rules are:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules.
3. Tell six unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag six bloggers by linking.
5. Leave a comment for each blogger.

Here's my list!

1. I don't eat any meat with a bone in it (Get your mind outta the gutter! My husband is very happy in that area thank you very much.). I am serious...chicken, steak, pork - if it has a bone, don't bring it into my house. Boneless only please!
2. I believe in ghosts/spirits of loved ones gone (human or pet) that I've known plus your average "ghost hanging around the house that you don't know" ghost. I've seen them.
3. I am neurotic when it comes to safety - suffocatingly so.
4. I LOVE to rock out with my kids. I can actually handle listening to their music and enjoy it (as long as they don't put country on...yak). Watch this old bat dance! lol While I still love my 80's and 90's music I grew up on, I also enjoy the pop and R&B (and some hip hop) my kids listen to. This mom isn't out of it yet!
5. I can swear like a sailor and usually have to monitor my mouth in public so something doesn't slip out that shouldn't (especially at the kids' school).
6. I can be nasty mean when it comes to anybody hurting my family (husband and kids). I'm generally quiet but being very emotional, I turn into a Lioness when the threat of hurt/harm to my family exists. Nobody messes with my family!

I am tagging:

Mamma Dawg

Jessica Michele

(I know there are supposed to be six but since I never do what I'm told, lol...)

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We Never Get Vacations

We never get "real" vacations. You know, the kinds that cost thousands and involve an airplane, luggage, warm weather, sandy beaches, drinks with umbrellas, etc. THOSE kinds of vacations. We have never been able to afford anything like that before. A lot of people take annual Vegas vacations or annual trips to white beaches.

However, one of the perks of my new job that I am studying to take my state test for are vacations. If you meet their minimums, they company sends you (and a guest) to exotic places around the world as a company trip. My husband and I will have that honeymoon we were never able to have after we married because we were fighting his ex in court instead.

A couple more weeks of studying and I hope to take my test. I hope I can pass it the first time (most people don't) and get going on a new career.

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Guess Watches & Teen Trends

When you are a teen, there is always a trend that all the teenagers just "have" to have. I can remember one of those items that was a must have was a Guess watch. Guess watches were the thing to have, and I never had one. I have found that these are still popular watches today.

We can't afford to outfit our kids in all the latest fashion trends, but I do try to provide a few items for my daughter who just entered junior high. I remember being a pre-teen/teen and not having any of the latest styles. You stick out like a sore thumb and are may be left feeling bad about how you look in your cheap clothing compared to friends and other classmates. I don't want her to feel that way. I don't want her to be materialistic , but I think a few items that we can afford can help her feel less embarrassment than I did as a kid.

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My Morning of Tears - Remembering 9/11

I haven't turned on the television yet today. I know it will make me cry so I just leave it off. The radio was hard enough this morning and sent me into tears.

My morning of tears...

Edited to Add to 9/11 Day: My kids came home from school today and were talking about the moment of silence that was observed by everybody at their school today. It affected them enough to turn off their fans in their rooms and observe their own moment of silence so they could pray for the lives lost during 9/11. We talked about it a little more, answering some of their questions from what they'd heard at school. I am glad my kids have compassion for others. It was a proud mommy moment.

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Stepfamily Information For You

If you are looking for stepfamily support/suggestions for particular step issues, check out "Stepfamily Help" in the sidebar to the right. There are non-custodial information, custodial information, dealing with schools, discipline, signs of stress in different aged children, and a lot more.

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Bridge to Nowhere

I keep hearing about the "Bridge to Nowhere" in the news so I looked it up. I found this article where you can read about it. It is a September 2007 news article from CNN. It indicates how McCain was stated as being against it and talks about Palin's role (initially for it but nixed it in the end when the money could've been better put to use elsewhere).

It is interesting that so much is being made of this in the media, and trying to direct that negatively toward Palin who nixed it and is on record as doing so, but I found some interesting information:

BARACK VOTED TO ALLOW IT!

Here is the information on the bill itself. Here is a print screen showing Barack Obama voted for it. (From what I can find, the "No" vote was to keep funding for the Bridge to Nowhere and voting "Yes" shifted the funding to Hurricane Katrina relief.) Hmmmm...funds for Katrina relief or funds to build a bridge to a place with only 50 residents. Hmmm...let me think about that. Duh!!!

So why exactly is this "Bridge to Nowhere" being portrayed in the media as a negative against Palin? It seems like the negativity should be bounced back to Barack Obama who voted for the bridge. Oh yeah, that's right...most of the media is biased instead of practicing objective journalism. I forgot. Silly me. Perhaps during one of CNN's biased reports, they should look at one of their own articles.

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Pregnancy Calculations

I have had four kids. I have morning sickness all day for eight out of nine months when I am pregnant. So 8 months times four kids equals 32 months of morning sickness. That was 32 months of throwing up and 24/7 nausea (that's not even including the pain of the pregnancies themselves since each child got progressively more painful to carry).

When I get sick, I don't get nursed or time off. I still have kids to make meals for and take care of. Those things don't get done by themselves.

So when my husband, who has a cold, tells me before going into work not to be surprised if he uses his last vacation day to come home early because he's sick, it is no big surprise that I have little sympathy for him (ok, I had none, absolutely no sympathy). People work all the time with colds. Unless he's feverish, um....stay at work! After 32 months of morning sickness (two of those pregnancies I worked full-time through and even went shopping after I went into labor because things weren't ready for the baby yet!) and moms never getting a day off even when they are sick, I'm going to fall over in sympathy over a simple cold? In addition, he gets to take cold medications to ease his symptoms. I can't do that when I get sick because they react adversely with my thyroid medication. I have gone the last seven years without cold symptom relief. I go through each cold and flu season with no medications at all to help ease my symptoms. So this is all why I find it really hard to feel sympathy for my husband wanting to waste his last vacation day for a cold.

I'm so cold-hearted, lol. Men are such babies when they get sick. *bring on the violins*

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Do You Discuss Politics?

Politics is a hot button issue to discuss. This, along with religion and abortion, are a few topics I don't debate with anybody other than my husband. I don't see the point of trying to convince people on why I feel a certain way just like I don't expect anybody else to try to justify to me why they would vote a certain way.

Some people just love a debate though. Some people can debate with the best of them and then let it go. It doesn't affect relationships. That is how it should be for those who enjoy debating each other. Then you have other people who will allow it to affect relationships, perhaps with not that goal in mind, but with their constant rabid fascination with pushing their opinions on people who don't want to hear it. I don't see the point of that. Even if I agree with their political opinion, that constant spewing just gets on my last nerve and I have to end the conversation and avoid it in the future. I don't enjoy talking to people who think it is their life mission to convert me. Opinions are fine but don't get rabid about it.

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Cruising YouTube Today...

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Is this true? Barack Obama

I was watching a cable news station and they mentioned Barck's Obama failure to protect babies who were born alive with beating hearts during partial birth abortions. So, I thought I'd look this up because while I agree that women should have the choice no matter what my personal opinion is for myself whether for or against, if a baby survives the attempts to stop its life and is born alive, isn't it murder to do nothing and allow the baby to die. Here is what I found:

The procedure is frequently called “Live birth abortion” but it is not really an abortion at all:
“... doctors do not attempt to kill the baby in the uterus. The goal is simply to prematurely deliver a baby who dies during the birth process or soon afterward.”

Obama… “refused as an Illinois state senator to support legislation to protect babies who survived late-term abortions because he did not want to concede — as he explained in a cold-blooded speech on the Illinois Senate floor — that these babies, fully outside their mothers’ wombs, with their hearts beating and lungs heaving, were in fact “persons.”

“On the Illinois Senate floor, Obama was the only senator to speak against the baby-protecting bills.”

Obama fought it for three years as a Illinois state senator, even after it passed 98-0 in the US Senate as the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

Barack Obama fought it even after NARAL “…released a statement that said, “Consistent with our position last year, NARAL does not oppose passage of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.”

Is this the truth? If this baby who is born alive with a beating heart isn't a "person" with all the rights a human being should have, what is "it" then? Seems more like murder to me. I think it is called infanticide at this point.

Ummm...answer the dang question!

I am sorry - ok, no I am not - anybody who allows a child (and it IS a child with rights once he or she is out of the womb and still living) to be shelved to die is just nasty, immoral, unethical, and downright creepy.

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Where has the objective journalism gone?

What has happened to objective journalism? When I watch stations like ABC and CBS and their national news coverage in the morning, I am sorely disappointed in their brand of journalism. I want facts about each candidate, without slanting it one way or the other, so I can gather all the facts about each candidate and make a smart decision for myself on who to vote for. I was under the impression that news was meant to be fair and objective. I thought journalists had a code of ethics? All I see and hear is media bias. I'm tired of it. I want news, not personal opinions from the journalists on television or their bosses who slant it towards one political party over another.

For the full article on my opinion of ABC and CBS yesterday morning in its political coverage, click here.

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A Web Site for Stepkids

We bought a domain and made a web site for the stepkids who live 200 miles away last year. It has separate pages for holidays where we can give them holiday greetings and such so they know we are thinking about them. We created a private forum on the site where we could chat privately. We also made a guestbook so we could leave them messages.

Well, I think they've only looked at it once the whole time it's been on the Internet (I have a counter on it that tracks visits). Everytime we'd make a new page for a holiday and send them the link via email, they wouldn't look at it. They've never gone into the forum. Never. I would hazard a guess as to why - - because it is private and only THEY can get in...not their mother (unless she would use their id) who likes to stand over them and feed them what they can and can not do where it concerns us.

So I have decided that when the domain is ready to expire, I am going to let it. Obviously, any type of contact with them that their mother can't control is a big no-no so there is no point in wasting money on the domain and hosting space when they won't (can't) even look at it. Seeing as how their mother reads their emails first from us (and deletes them if she wishes too before they see them), I wouldn't be surprised if they don't know about it. Those emails could've been deleted before they ever saw them. Maybe when sd is texting me, I'll mention the web site and see. If they know about it and could care less, then there is no point in my wasting time (and money) creating web pages and updating sites for nothing.

I could keep it so in the future they can never come back and say anything negative about us never contacting them or whatever (I also save every email, letter copy, etc. so there is proof if that time ever comes) even if they do lie to their grandparents about that. However, I find myself caring less and less the more this bull grows. Tolerance levels can only reach so high before it falls and scatters in the wind.

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Make It Seem Like His Idea

It seems like we are the last household in America without a plasma television. My husband has wanted one of these since seeing them for the first time in Japan over eight years ago (before hitting our shores). He was excited to tell me all about the flat screen televisions he saw on one of his many trips there and he's been trying to get one since.

Eventually I am going to have to give in to him (shhh...don't tell him but I wouldn't mind one of them myself). However, I have to make it seem like it is something only he really wants. The problem is it's not just the television you need. Our current television armoire doesn't really fit those types of televisions. I am sure we could make it work, but it wouldn't look the way it was supposed to and we'd be limiting ourselves on the size of the plasma television. We would definitely need to get a tv lift cabinet instead. There is just no other way in my wifely opinion.

You see, my husband doesn't know that the television he really, really wants is actually a whole living room set for me. When it is all his idea, I'll have my new living room set. See how that works?

No, I'm not tricky. I've been married almost 13 years. I know how this works by now.

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Uncertain Relationships with Stepchild

My relationship with my stepdaughter has me confused. When she was younger, we were very close. I was her second mother and she loved me regardless of what she was told outside our home that she shouldn't feel or do by others. Now that she is a teenager and has given in to the manipulations (can't blame a kid really for doing that...it was rough for them for a lot of years), our relationship runs hot and cold. Tonight, for instance, she's texting me pictures of the boy she likes in school, texts me a joke, and is just open and friendly. When she was here last, she was confiding things to me that she wasn't telling either one of her parents, most especially her mother. She trusted me to listen and not judge (and help if I can). At other times, she is distant or just entirely ignores communication attempts. Is it step related? Is it teenage angst? Maybe a little of both?

I am looking forward to the day she turns 18 (or thereabouts). I am hoping our relationship will level out once she is an adult, not totally reliant on her mother or worried so much about her that she puts the rest of us at a distance most of the time.

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We Are Living Little House

Laura Ingalls watch out! We're taking over hygiene without modern facilities and we're doing just fine. We still don't have our hot water tank. They called yesterday morning to ask if they could install it that morning (heck yeah, come on over!). We were surprised by how quick it was and looking forward to hot water again. The installers get here and guess what? WRONG HOT WATER TANK! *sigh*

It seems we are special. We can't just have a REGULAR hot water tank. Ours needs to have a power vent on top so carbon monoxide doesn't back up into the house due to the way it is vented. (Ohhhhh, so THAT is what that was on top of our current - 1974 - hot water tank model.) We are SO special that they have to special order it from Whirlpool. Didn't I say we were special? We are beyond special because it is going to cost us $400 more than our original quote now. Shouldn't I feel really special now?

So now we wait. We were told, as they are charging our credit card for even more credit card debt that we didn't need, that it will take a week for them to get it in stock from Whirlpool and then they can schedule the installation.

So, how are we staying clean? Well, it has been in the 90's here so I put the kids in their bathing suits, go outside with a bottle of shampoo, and hose them down. Everybody but our youngest loves it. For my husband and me, we boil water and dump it in the tub. Then we boil more water and dump it in the tub. After doing this a few times and then adding some cold to make it comfortable, we have a few inches of water to bathe in.

Hubby says we are Amish now. Somehow I think they have better facilities than we do right now.

Oh well, we are expecting warm temps for the next several days so the kids can get by just fine with the hose and a bottle of shampoo. I, for one, would prefer a FULL tub. *sigh*

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Chrome Google or Google Chrome?

Whichever it is, Google has launched a new way to browse thru your browser. It is the beta version for windows currently. If you have Mac or Linux, your version is coming soon.

One of the features I like about it is if you have several tabs open in the browser and one of them crashes, it isn't supposed to crash all of them. That happens too often in the browser I use now and it drives me crazy! If this browser is as good as the one I use now AND won't crash everything at once, I'm in. However, I am going to sit back and see how it goes before I download it myself. I don't want my laptop to be the public guinea pig for this just yet. I'll wait until I see if there are any kinks and how they get worked out first.

You can read more about it here.

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