ER Visit

There is only one good thing about having a child present with symptoms of bacterial meningitis - you get seen VERY quickly. The meds from this afternoon didn't kick in, we couldn't reduce the fever with Motrin and Trinks had back and neck pain. We called the dr and we were told to take her to the hospital. So at 9 we were at the ER. While we waited in a room, Trinks looked better and better. She still just has strep. She's much better now, but we're keeping her home one more day. I need some rest!

STREP!

For the third time since August, Trinks has strep. At least we have a valid reason for hanging out and playing Wii.

Drama

Well it's been a heck of a month. I haven't been home much because of work. I used to work until 10PM during tax season. This year I just worked 6 days a week and left work on time most nights. I'm still exhausted!!!

Last week Trinks woke up and walked into my room. She looked like I had smacked her around and had a lovely lace rash all over her body. I diagnosed her with Fifths disease and made her stay home with hubby. It really is a great disease to have - no itching, mild cold symptoms, feeling fantastic. So back to school she went the next day. No dr appointment, nothing. Then it snowed and schools were closed yesterday. I went to print last night, so I couldn't take off. Hubby stayed home last week so he couldn't really take off. So we brought Trinks to work with us and sort of split the day. As we were sitting in Bugaboo eating our slightly over done steaks, Trinks pretty much fell apart in front of our eyes. She had a fever, chills and was achey. So I am home today!! We'll figure out this drama in the next hour after we see the dr.

S is having a blast in FL. He's missing this nasty weather and I am jealous. But they have sharks in the ocean where he is. I think I'd still take the warm weather!

PNC is a bunch of cheap bastards

I am getting the handle on online banking. I am pretty good at navigating the absurd level of security - and I appreciate the protection. I love when banks "verify" transfers before you can move money. I usually end up with about $.20in my account. So I set up a transfer from PNC to another account. What did PNC do? They posted two transactions and then TOOK BACK THE MONEY!!! Oh well. Things are tough for banks. One of these days I am going to make good on my threat (now in its 10th year) to leave PNC.

I went a little nuts....

It's been a typical January, which is my worst month for work. And January follows December, a month that I just plain hate, so I am getting a little nuts. I should have just jumped on my parents' roof rack and gone to FL for 10 days. Nope not me. I piled Trinks and hubby in the car, went to Toys R Us and bought Mario Kart, two more controllers (we now have four), an extra wheel, and Wii Play. My excuse is I had a gift card. Ok - it only covered a little bit of it, but I had a little fun.

Of course I got home and realized I need the recharger for the new controllers. CRAP!

My parents are crazy

My boy is ready for vacation. Switching classes and starting kung fu has been tough on the lad. My parents are DRIVING to FL with the Divine Miss Em and S. This is the last January vacation for these lucky four year olds! Next year is real school. Since they are cousins, not siblings, it's pretty peaceful for my parents. My mom is armed with three (?) DVD players. I spoke with my dad when they were in NC and only one was functioning. I guess that explains why they have so many.



Dad looks good - depsite wanting to leave NJ at 3 AM and settling for 7. Left to him, it would be a straight shot drive. I remember when my sister and I were little and my parents drove us all over the country in a VW bus. Every February, we would head down to the Keys. One year, they were crazy enough to drive across the country. I think I was 2 1/2 and my sister was just a year older. Yup - this craziness is nothing new for my parents. At least their current car (a 2000 Honda Odyssey, which I suggested they buy since they torture cars) has AC and a radio - the old VW had neither. The Odyssey would have an iPod attachment if I could just get away and install it, as well as add the rest of their cds to the iPod.

So Bon Voyage to this crew! Can't wait to hear about the adventures.

Inauguration Day

I am appalled that public schools are not watching the Inauguration. Trinks' class studied the damn election, so why the fuck can't they watch the fruits of the election??? So now I have to interrupt my day - told my boss in Novemeber I was doing this - and pick Trinks up, watch the inauguration, return her to school and go back to work. And it's not just DE schools that suck. Ivy is doing the same thing in PA and my mom knows people in NJ who are just keeping their kids home the whole day. Love that idea, but it is tax season, compensation day (no expectations there), kung fu and dance night.

Danny Deckchair

Danny Deckchair is probably the best movie I have seen in years. I discovered this Australian movie during previews of one of the British movies I rented a while ago. It finally came up in queue, and I was reluctant to watch it. I had forgotten what grabbed my attention during the trailer.

Hubby decided to watch this with me and actually enjoyed it. It's a nice low, tech movie about a man who is going nowhere in life, one day decided to tie balloons to his deckchair. The fun begins when he is accidentally launched without his scissors. His plan to get down involved cutting the balloons down one at a time to ensure a smooth landing. Somehow he ended up far away in a town where he could actually be someone.

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting

I took my first Kung Fu class. The boy who had to be pried off my lap and carried onto the floor had such a great time, I signed him up. It's twice a week for 1/2 hour. I think it's just what he needs. I don't believe he would have gone out alone, but it was parent/child week, so I was right there with him. He punched and kicked me (through a mat), did a wheelbarrow race, did situps - crunch, stand up, sit back down, and push ups with giving me high 5s in between. Wow!

E-A-G-L-E-S

Great news - they won. I was out filling my car at Wawa. Hubby pretended to be all depressed and told me the Giants won 24-23. I was very sympathetic until he told me he was kidding. I was NOT amused.

But, I did my part to bring about the win. I found this guy in the garage and planted him on the porch. The kids adore it.

Eagles

Fly Eagles Fly - don't choke like you usually do!!!!! And thanks for calling LRNs. I think you should wait until the end of the game to celebrate.

The kids and I built Bitty Baby's crib and watched Tarzan. In a little bit, we will go out and fill my car up with gas. Exciting? No. Better than waiting to see if the Eagles lose? YES!!!

Suze Orman

So Nothing Knew beat me to posting Suze's free book offer. This book covers items that are specific to 2009. Since I am a tax geek and routinely read IRS publications for fun, I am all over this. Before this Recession started, 2010 was going to be the most interesting year since JGTRRA (Jobs and Growth Tax Relief reconciliation Act of 2003). The highlight of 2009 (in my world) is that the elderly do not have to take their Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). In any other year, failure to remove this amount from a retirement account would cause an excess accumulation penalty of 50%. Since 2008 was a really crappy year for investments, this is the time for everyone to recover. Still, the people who actually have to live on these accounts are completely screwed, because they will continue to draw down on the reduced balances. But, as Suze routinely points out, they had no business investing in the stock market to begin with. If they truly needed the money, they should have put it into a less risky vehicle.

Go to Oprah.com and you can download a copy of her latest book FREE, until 1/15/09. I downloaded it to my new external hard drive last night, but I was too tired and cranky to post about it. One of the books I got out of the library is her book The Laws of Money. I'm looking forward to reading both these books.

So please keep in mind that this is random ramblings of a tax geek, and not the opinion of my anonymous BFC (Big Financial Company).

Oh God yes!

I was feeling the effects of not getting books out of the library today. So, I ran to the grocery store and got out in record time so I could browse the library shelves before I had to return to work. I left with six books. Three were good old fashioned trash books - random cheesy cop thrillers. Then I picked up three finance books. My goal is to read as many finance books as possible this year. They will all have one useful thing. So I am in book heaven and having a hard time picking a book. I started The Millionaire next door earlier this week (borrowed from my dad years ago), but I think I will turn that over in favor of a trash book. I need to erase today from my brain.

Waiting and waiting and waiting

Here I sit, waiting to find the perfect refinance offer. Got hubby on board with getting rid of the darn mortgage asap. And with rates incredibly low, it seems like the right time to eliminate this thing. We plan to keep paying what we currently pay, so a reduced payment will help us kick it out faster.

It never would have occurred to me to refinance again if it hadn't been for a post at Get Rich Slowly. Nope - too lazy to even link to it. He planted the seed and now I am doing the legwork. The rates I have been fining have been fantastic, however the closing costs are criminal! I trust my patience will be rewarded with a reasonable offer.

But in the mean time, I should enjoy listening to Big and Rich and reading The Millionaire next door.

I surrender

BOTH KIDS BEAT ME IN BOXING TRAINING!!!! And not by just a little - I got 4, they got 15!!!

Clean Up

Trinks had no school on Friday, so I took the day off so we could shovel the crap out of the room tidy up her room. I have not tucked her into bed in at least a month because I couldn't get into the room. Every time I mentioned cleaning, she panicked and started to cry. I had to think of some fun way to accomplish this with her. In the past, I've worked in there alone.

So, I took a page from Pam Young from the Brat Factor. If it is not fun, it won't get done. Trinks and I set the timer for 15 minutes. When it went off, we moved to a different place in the room. Then we had challenges. She could challenge me to clean a part of my room while she cleaned hers. I needed to tidy my room too, so we both won. And of course, we took breaks. She had time to make butterflies and paint them, watch Kit Kittridge, and play Wii. While we still have more sorting to do, there is not much on the floor. The room looks great and she's not mad about having to clean her room.

The rest of the month will be spent sorting through some of the bins we created while sorting stuff. The Barbies have been warned that if even a shoe is left on the floor, they will all be melted on the front lawn. Yup - I completely hate Barbies. If Trinks gets one more purse or piece of jewelry, it must be accompanied by a 500 page essay on why the person hates me, or by an overnight visit to arrange said items. I have thrown out everything that ever came from a dollar store - I told Trinks it was made in China and is full of lead. We will continue to make cleaning fun - who knows? The rest of the house might get decluttered.

Winter sky

No goose may fly below the line.



Night sky - look to the right and see Venus. The bigger glowing object is the moon. I need a better lens, but it looked pretty cool.


Another cool shot - but it looked better in person.

Wii News

We are really enjoying the Wii. I thought I would like it and just let the kids play. I figured Wii Fit would be ok. I never counted on addiction! The kids have twice stayed up until 10 because we all just wanted to play one more game. Bowling seems to be our current favorite, mainly because we can all play. The training games are quite useful and I find myself actually able to hit a tennis ball and an occasional homerun. I think I am going to love boxing once I play more. I know my arms will look great if box a lot!

I am not ashamed to admit my Wii age. My Wii fitness (part of Wii Sport)age is 33 and my Wii Fit age is 40. Wii Fit relies on a lot of balance skills I don't seem to have mastered yet, but I keep working at it. My original age was 54! Wii Fitness is a lot easier to figure out, but I started out at 40 on that one! My favorites on Wii Fit are ski jump, tightrope, and soccer ball. It's impressive that I can jump on a tightrope without falling off. I'd never make it in real life!

We have played the Family game night, and the High School Musical 1 & 2 Singalong. Nothing Knew and hubby did a nice duet at NYE, and there wasn't that much alcohol involved. Hannah Montana's game is a little more involved, but I think Trinks will like it once we find a block of time to work on it with her. Poor S just wants to play with Mr. Potatohead and doesn't realize he is just the host of family game night.

Computer issues

Well, I have almost completely killed this computer. I have too much crap on it - kind of a theme in my life. I purchased an external hard drive - Seagate something or other. It's cool, but it came with no instructions and I am way too lazy to look it up on the Internet. By screwing around, I think I have freed up tons of memory. What does this mean? It means I will post pictures tomorrow. It is way to late to do that tonight.

Wii playing, trash talking four year old

My dear, darling son has picked up Wii playing rather quickly. When he pays attention, he is a darn good bowler. This weekend, he got a little bored, went up the stairs to the kitchen at Nothing Knew's house. When it was his turn, he stood at the top of the stairs and bowled from there. Rather creative. He has also taken to bowling from the couch, which really defeats the purpose of having a Wii.

But, the funniest thing happened this morning. I heard him tell Trinks he was going to kick her ass. For some reason, he is a natural trash talker. At the NYE party, he was talking trash to a three year old. Hubby and I don't talk trash, so I'm not sure where he picked this up. I think the harshest thing we've said is - I'll beat you like a rented mule. We are working on teaching appropriate sportsmanship. In the mean time, I will choke back my laugh and give S a stern lecture.

It's not cancer

So I finally got the results of my skin biopsies. I wasn't worried about the mole from my arm - the dr. didn't really want to remove it. It was the spot on my stomach that worried me. She seemed concerned. I called yesterday evening to get the automated results - benign moles. Phew! Next appointment - November 2009.