2009 is coming to a close

2009 has been an interesting year. Not a whole lot of things have been surprising because we knew the the end of 2008 that there might be some big changes for both us and Jim's job. We did not know exactly what those changes were going to be...but we expected change.

In January last year I had Nova sure surgery. I had been having problems prior to the surgery and my doctor thought this was the best option for me. I think that it was. I knew when I had it done that it was the best solution. It was not an invasive surgery and could be done in a few short minuets really. The worst part was being put to sleep and waking up from that. Well, if you don't count how early we had to be up because I had to be the first surgery due to a latex allergy.

This was a year of many decisions that we had to make. 1st being a look at our budget and what we needed to do to cut some corners. How could we make our expenses smaller with out drastic changes. Jim had already taken 1 pay cut and another or being laid off was in the works. So we looked things over and decided that it might be time to move, as we were already late with our mortgage and getting those calls everyday that you dread. We started looking around. Jim suggested a mobile home park that is in our school district. At first it looked like it would be a hard change. Mobile home parks here have such a stigma...but we thought we could over come this. We got the list of homes that were available in the mobile home park. We were surprised at some of the prices. $25,000 all the way down to $1000. We looked at most of the homes on the list. We found one for $1000 that we liked. It need new pipes, as they had froze over the winter. Needed some flooring and of course all the wall needed painted. We needed to replace a toilet in the master bath, to have a working bathroom. The kitchen and main bath needed work. As long as the master bath was in working order and we had 1 bath it would work out. The main bath could be done over time...the kitchen is workable till we can get everything we need. The master bath will need work once we are doing with the rest. There was work to be done before we could move in. We had to paint every wall in the whole home. Then there was flooring to be laid. We laid floor in all the rooms but the bathrooms and the kitchen, knowing that eventually we would have to work in those rooms. Carpeting in 2 rooms and 2 rooms of laminate flooring. For $1000 this mobile home was not in as bad of shape as some of the others that we looked at. Fixing up the mobile home was a slow process. We had to live in our old house a few months after putting down the down payment, so that we could fix the mobile home.

In February Jim company laid off some and told others that they were going to have to take a 20% pay cut. For us at least Jim had a job...but 20% wow. When you start looking at your bills and start thinking about taking a pay cut...you wonder how you are going to survive and how are you going to make it. We started looking at all our options. We were already moving because soon our house would be in foreclosure. Where do you go from there...what can you cut. Where would we get the extra money that we needed. You ask yourself so many questions, that right now you can't seem to answer. So off we went to take to a lawyer that could give us advice. His law firm did financial counseling as well as bankruptcy. I know bankruptcy is hard to swallow and you never want to have to file. After looking at everything the lawyer told us it would be impossible to keep trying to pay everything...so he suggested bankruptcy...especially with the house soon to be in foreclosure. We decided that was the best option for us. We weren't going to file on a few things. Medical bills that we have incurred due to my surgery...we felt we still needed those doctors and it would not be fair to them to file against them.

March we spent getting the mobile home ready to move into and trying to figure out how we were going to pay the lawyer. We painted many weekends. Laid flooring. My older brother came and helped Jim to the flooring and the piping underneath the mobile home. I tried helping Jim with the piping but crawling up underneath the mobile home...yuck. Bugs and dirt falling on you...not my cup of tea at all. LOL

April, spring break. This is the time that I had to get things settle in our new home, so this was when I wanted to move. Seemed like the best time. We checked in to renting a truck. Could not believe how expensive it was to rent a truck. Jim had a contact at Ryder and he got a pretty good price to rent a truck! So we moved and started getting settled in during spring break. I had to drive Kyle back and forth to school for the rest of the school year. So I would take him in the morning...then pick him up bring him home and then go back to work! What fun all of that was.

May brought some bad news. Jim's company would be laying off more people. The 20% pay cut did not help then come out of the down turn that like most companies they seem to be in. Jim was one to get laid off. This we had already prepared for...or at least some. We had to make some decisions on our bankruptcy. We talked to the lawyer again and decided to file against some of the things we were going to keep...like medical bills that we had been paying. I called the clinic business office. The lady in the office was very helpful and gave me some resource to follow up with. With Jim being laid off, we would lose the medical insurance for Jim and Kyle. This would not help with our finances as this was coming automatically out of Jim's check before. Cobra kicks in when you leave or lose a job...but at first we thought it was going to be $1200 a month and there was no way that we were going to be able to afford that. Jim has monthly medicine that he has to have as they prevent seizures and are blood thinners that he has to be on for the rest of his life. After being approved for unemployment...we found out we qualified for Obama's plan for the unemployed and the insurance would be much cheaper. We would only have to pay 30%. Which still made it a little bit of a hardship...but not to bad. Now we are nearing the end of Obama's plan and not sure what we are going to be doing about insurance. Jim applies for all the jobs he can every week and he has only had 2 call backs. He goes for an interview on Monday...hopefully this will pan out.

June, July and August. While being cooler than normal summer months. These were just typical months. There was of course Catholic Heart Work camp in June, this helped get us through the summer months when my pay is cut because I don't work as many hours. I do work some hours doing a summer feeding program...every little bit helps. Our bankruptcy hearing was sometime in these months too. Kyle had beginning band camp to get ready for band in the 6th grade. There was a visit to Grissom to get ready for the school year. We did not go many places or do many things in there months. We did take a trip to the Shipshewana flee market and enjoy some time with family. August was also back to school month and Kyle started the 6th grade!

September, October and November. Not to much exciting happened during these month. Jim and my older brother did manage to work on our front bathroom some. We are hoping to finish it up in February. October was Halloween...Kyle was an army man. We went to my brother over Halloween weekend. The kids had a blast trick or treating. This year we let them go out with out the adults...just a cell phone. November was Thanksgiving. We went to my brothers for this and had a great time. Black Friday shopping of course was a super great time. We seem to enjoy that every year.

December. Where has the month of December gone. We had Basket ball games, band concerts. Of course Christmas and soon to be Kyle's 12th birthday! Christmas was good. We all got good gifts.

This was our year in a nutshell. Jim getting laid off, was actually really good for him. He enjoyed the summer off, he got to spend lots of time with Kyle. Which he had never been able to do before. He has enjoyed time in the fall by himself. He does most of the housework now that he is home. I have really liked having him home. Jim seems so much more relaxed. Our relationship has blossomed in the last few months. We have come a long was. Communication has been key. Just having the time to spend together, a few hours every day to spend together with out the interruption has brought us a little closer together too. I think we will need to remember to do that once Jim goes back to work.

We have maintained our budget this year and managed it pretty well since March. Which for us has really been impressive. We even managed to save money for Christmas and things that we needed. I think moving has done a lot of good for us. And even though it is not the best neighborhood it is what worked for us.

Looking forward to 2010!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is here again! If you have children that believe Santa comes tonight. Our son no longer believe that Santa delivers the gifts but he does believe in the spirit of Santa.

We usually stay home for Christmas, we believe that Kyle should be at home to play with his gifts. In past years I have made a whole traditional Christmas or a few years we have made something untraditional that did not take a ton of time to prepare. This year we decided to make the traditional meal with all the trimmings. Mainly because we had a whole turkey in our freezer and this seem like a good time to cook it. My Dad and step-Mom are coming here for Christmas dinner. It should be a fun time!

Merry Christmas!

Mom and her interesting family

Yesterday I found out some interesting news. I had an Uncle that had passed away about 6 months ago and we did not even hear about it. This was my Mom's sister's husband. When Mom died, her and her sister had not spoken in at least 9 years. So really it was not surprising that they did not look hard for my brothers and I to let us know that our Uncle had passed.

I find this very sad that we did not keep in contact with my Aunt and Uncle or my other Uncle since Mom died. But that is just not the way this side of the family is. They could all go years with out speaking and it not be a big deal. Growing up we really did not know much about Mom's family. There was Aunt Pam and Uncle Walt, Uncle David and Mary Jo, who were there occasionally. Uncle David lived with us for a while a few different times. Aunt Pam and Uncle Walt, when we were little they were always there. Mom and Dad spent many weekends playing cards or games with them. But when my parents divorced that changed. Aunt Pam and Uncle Walt, just were not there...weather it just be circumstance or what, I don't really know. Then as time went on that really changed Mom and Pam had a falling out and things were just never the same. I really don't know that much about that. Then there was a time right before Jim and I got married, many problems there that I don't think they were ever worked out. It just was a sad family thing. Both my Mom and my Aunt could hold a grudge for a long time and just not let it bother them. It would have ate at me forever.

Aunt Pam never came to Mom's funeral and after that we really never kept in contact with her. I think we all missed out...but it was really hard to understand. Also how do you make up for lost time. How do you fill in all those gaps?

Yesterday after finding out that my Uncle had possibly passed away. I was hard pressed to figure out some answers. There were a few ways I was going to get those answers. Call my Aunt directly, call my cousin, facebook my cousins son and have my cousin contact me. I decided to call my Aunt. I was a little apprehensive about this and really did not know what I was going to say. I just knew that I had to try to get the information that I needed. So I called. Actually the call went better than I expected. At first I think that she thought I wanted something, but once she figured out I just wanted to talk she opened right up.

So all of this to say you should not lose ties with your family because you might miss something important and then be sad.

November is here!

Hard to believe that November is here already. It seems like school has just started and went back to get my kitchen all set up! Now we have gone through all of September and October. Every year goes by so fast. It is going to be with a blink of an eye that Kyle is grown and heading off to college.

Working at a school, I find that children are very interesting and even in middle school they do some of the darnedest things. There is one boy at my school that does not like to follow the portion sizes in the lunch line and every day he get upset with us that we have to throw something away. But we have to follow portions sizes as it is state law. Also kids do not do well with a lot of change, If there is something different, they want to know why. Especially when a cashier is missing...some kids go to the same cashier every day. This year is a very different year for what they are eating. It is hard to choose what is going to be the most popular item on the menu! We serve 3 entrees every day, plus a 3 in sub sandwich and PB&J. Sometimes what went last time will not be the same things that goes this time. My son goes to my school this year and he always seem to eat the item that I think that no one will eat. And usually he is in the minority, meaning he eats something that not a lot of kids eat. So it is hard to pick what is going to be popular for my own child choices. But my son was brought up at home to eat what we eat or at least try it. Kyle does pretty good with this and there are actually not to many things that he will not eat.

As fall lead in to winter. The leaves are turning such pretty colors. I love to see all the fall colors. It is starting to get cooler here and soon we will not have days where we can open our door to let in the fresh air. Probably soon rather than later. I will miss the fall days. They are saying that this winter will be a mild winter, which will be nice for a change of pace. I hate all the snow and ice. I know we choose to live here in Indiana...but it is hard to just up and move from family and a support system.

Christmas is just 55 days away. We are starting to get prepared. This year we have bought a few gifts here and there. It is a little easier to fit into the budget if you buy little things here and there rather than one big Christmas shopping trip. We of course will be shopping on Black Friday trying to get some good deals. I think we are going to be making a trip to the Outlet Malls in Michigan City in December too! We have not been in a few years and think that it would be a fun trip. The best outlets are Gurnee Mills Mall of course, but we probably will not be doing that trip this year.

Unlike most we do not have to many places that we have to be on Christmas. Really all we have is my family. Jim's parents are both gone now. We will probably do my family early this year. On Christmas day we will stay home and enjoy spending time with each other. Last year we make Turkey Pot pie with turkey that we had the weekend before. Not really sure what we are going to eat this year as it is a little bit early to be deciding on a menu.

Last week of October

October has actually shaped up to be a pretty good month! Started out bad, but all in all it has been a pretty good month!

We are doing pretty good. Jim is still not working, but we accept that pretty well. He has been looking for something, but really there is just not anything out there. But something will come along before unemployment runs out...that I am sure of. He has to apply for an extension next month, but I am sure that will be fine.

Kyle has had some problem with grades. He had all As and Bs at progress report time. But he went down hill in Language Arts as time went on. We learned that we need to watch his grades online and make sure that he is turning in all of his assignments. They list the assignments online the day that they are assigned. When they need to be turned in, with in a few days you find out if they turned them in.

Jim bought me an early Christmas present. I got a new Laptop. We were looking at getting me one for Christmas. Best Buy had a good price on a HP. We looked at it and it had all the things that I was looking for in a computer. We looked at it and decided to buy it. We had thought about waiting till Black Friday because we had heard that there were going to be some great deals then. But we saw thing one and we don't think that we were going to get a better deal. HP offed a free Window 7 update which we will get in a few weeks...but I can wait for that. I have played with it for a few days now and I love it. It runs so much better than my older Dell. The Dell never ran quite right, not really sure why. Personally I would never buy another Dell laptop.

Now we are looking forward to Black Friday. The shopping with family is so much fun!

October

October so far has been a blah month. I think I just let everything get to me at once and I just did not know how to take it. I think it will get better from here.

First off, I turned 35 at the end of September and 35 is a hard year for me. Then the anniversary of my Mom's Death. It has been 5 years and I have missed her so much over those years. I sometimes do not think it will ever get easier...maybe 20 years down the road when I can no longer remember the sound of her voice. Then my Dad's birthday...which it is not his fault but I just really was not in the mood to call him and say Happy Birthday...just not a great week. Everything seems to happen so close together in our lives.

Kyle is having problems with nose bleeds. 2 weeks ago he went to the nurse because he had been bleeding for 20 minuets. He bleed for 35 minuets. I called our doctor and made an appointment. We took him to the doctor and he thinks that he might be bleeding further back in the nose than where nose bleed usually happen. So Jim is taking him to an ENT on the 27th of October. Hopefully we will get some much needed answers then.

Jim is still among the unemployed but he is enjoying the time off. He has done many projects here at home. Going through some of the boxes that we have stored and purging. It is a nice feeling. Ebay has become his friend.

Missing Mom today

Today is the anniversary of my Mom's death. 5 years Mom has been gone. There are so many days that I want to pick up the phone and call here. We have gone through so much in the last year and it would be so nice to talk to her as we were changing or I was going through some health problems. I miss her so much. We had come so far at the end! I know that she is looking down on all of us and smiling.