07/October/2015, Day 280. Wednesday.
After driving into Grump's workplace two evenings in a row, Grump and Sweetie were tired today. But the WONDERFUL news is that the stupid computer process that Grump has been fighting with for the past three days appears to have finally run successfully this evening. Hooray!!
For some reason Dodong was very whiney and clutchy today. Sweetie had an important call in the evening, so Grump had to take Dodong out for a quick walk so he would stop fussing whilst Sweetie was on the phone.
Speaking of dreaded phone calls, don't panic yet, but it appears that The King may have returned. Actually I think his return would be a good thing, particularly for his kid, IF he gets off his butt and gets a job. But you can only hope for so much, I suppose.
Hey .... we're all tired now, so I think I'm gonna call it a night. Goodnight all!
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 279
06/October/2015, Day 279. Tuesday.
What can I say about this day?
A few good things: Sweetie got excited about "DIY" decorations for the house, and made a very nice runner for the dining room table. Grump and Dodong went for a long walk after work.
And then ...... Grump got called into work, AGAIN! GRR!! He and Sweetie drove all the way to his workplace, and Grump futzed around for an hour or so until it became obvious that he wasn't going to be able to fix the problem, so they came home.
But this left Sweetie and Grump very stressed for the rest of the night, and neither of them slept well.
Oh well. At least we aren't getting the floods they had back in Columbia, SC!
What can I say about this day?
A few good things: Sweetie got excited about "DIY" decorations for the house, and made a very nice runner for the dining room table. Grump and Dodong went for a long walk after work.
And then ...... Grump got called into work, AGAIN! GRR!! He and Sweetie drove all the way to his workplace, and Grump futzed around for an hour or so until it became obvious that he wasn't going to be able to fix the problem, so they came home.
But this left Sweetie and Grump very stressed for the rest of the night, and neither of them slept well.
Oh well. At least we aren't getting the floods they had back in Columbia, SC!
Monday, October 5, 2015
A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 278
05/October/2015, Day 278. Monday.
It's 10:30 pm, and Sweetie and Grump just got back from spending a few hours at Grump's mini-cube at his job. The temporary job he was asked to run tonight failed, so he went in to work to check it out. Sweetie accompanied him.
On a more exciting topic, Kuya had his first day at his new school today, and he loves it! We could tell that after just a month at the old school his self-esteem was suffering, so we are lucky we could find him another school to attend. Hopefully the good news regarding his new school will continue.
Now that Kuya is back in school, Sweetie can concentrate on reading to Dodong, and helping him with his first words. Poor Dodong has kinda suffered for lack of attention when Kuya is around, and Kuya is such a source of wild energy. We need to get Dodong's development back on track, and now with time to devote solely to him Sweetie can focus on that.
Kuya had his piano lesson today, and he sung "This is Halloween" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" for the teacher, who amazingly knew it!
Goodnight all!
It's 10:30 pm, and Sweetie and Grump just got back from spending a few hours at Grump's mini-cube at his job. The temporary job he was asked to run tonight failed, so he went in to work to check it out. Sweetie accompanied him.
On a more exciting topic, Kuya had his first day at his new school today, and he loves it! We could tell that after just a month at the old school his self-esteem was suffering, so we are lucky we could find him another school to attend. Hopefully the good news regarding his new school will continue.
Now that Kuya is back in school, Sweetie can concentrate on reading to Dodong, and helping him with his first words. Poor Dodong has kinda suffered for lack of attention when Kuya is around, and Kuya is such a source of wild energy. We need to get Dodong's development back on track, and now with time to devote solely to him Sweetie can focus on that.
Kuya had his piano lesson today, and he sung "This is Halloween" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" for the teacher, who amazingly knew it!
Goodnight all!
Sunday, October 4, 2015
A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 277
04/October/2015, Day 277. Sunday.
It was another pissy day. First off, it rained most of the day. Here in central Georgia the rain was mostly irritating, but South Carolina got pounded! Several streets in Columbia near where our condo is located were flooded, including the place where they just put the new Whole Foods. Phooey!
In the early afternoon Grump called Grandma and Grandpa to tell them the bad news: while we were able to enroll Kuya in a new school, we only got back about $5,000 from the nearly $9,000 we paid for tuition at his old school. This is despite the fact that he was there for only about a month. The turkeys are charging us for June, July, and August too!!
Grandma and Grandpa were upset and mad, of course, (who wouldn't be?), but Grandma quickly realized what Grump realized last week, that the old school prorates the tuition across each month. Grandpa, however, was unrelenting. He wants Grump to call the school, (again!), and explain exactly WHY we pulled Kuya out, and that based on that reason we should receive more of a refund. This is much like walking into a forest and yelling at the trees for dropping their leaves, but to make Grandpa happy Grump will make a go of it.
There was even more aggravation attached to this call as Grump and Grandpa had to discuss how to get the trust and will documents signed, but we'll just skip over that topic for now and let that sleeping monster alone!
By evening Sweetie was feeling sorry for Grump because of all the aggravation he had to go through, (he was on the phone with Grandpa for over an hour!), so she offered to treat all of us to dinner. Yes, this is in direct violation of our signed financial agreement, but Grump was so frustrated from having to deal with Grandpa that he agreed. So off we went .....
We had dinner at a local place called Tropical Flava located in Macon. Now if you research this restaurant you'll find it getting four or five stars consistently. Look a little closer, and you'll see these reviews are for their other location south of Macon, on the way to Warner Robins.
Let's start with the good points of our dinner first. Lola's red snapper was yummy, yummy, yummy. And the taste of Grump's chicken curry was superb. Add in the friendliness of the guys who run the place, and you have the makings of a fine meal.
But ...... alas!, there were some problems. The chicken they serve was "machete chopped" into unrecognizable chunks of meat and bone. This isn't necessarily a complaint, as Sweetie and Lola prefer their chicken prepared that way, but Grump, being unapologetically American, prefers his chicken to be served in pieces that he can recognize. The real problem was Sweetie's jerk tofu, which just tasted like tofu cooked in barbeque sauce. Yuck!
Tropical Flava isn't cheap either, so having one meal out of three be a loser is bad news.
Oh well. The day is over now, so we can sleep off all these aggravations and disappointments.
Goodnight all.
It was another pissy day. First off, it rained most of the day. Here in central Georgia the rain was mostly irritating, but South Carolina got pounded! Several streets in Columbia near where our condo is located were flooded, including the place where they just put the new Whole Foods. Phooey!
In the early afternoon Grump called Grandma and Grandpa to tell them the bad news: while we were able to enroll Kuya in a new school, we only got back about $5,000 from the nearly $9,000 we paid for tuition at his old school. This is despite the fact that he was there for only about a month. The turkeys are charging us for June, July, and August too!!
Grandma and Grandpa were upset and mad, of course, (who wouldn't be?), but Grandma quickly realized what Grump realized last week, that the old school prorates the tuition across each month. Grandpa, however, was unrelenting. He wants Grump to call the school, (again!), and explain exactly WHY we pulled Kuya out, and that based on that reason we should receive more of a refund. This is much like walking into a forest and yelling at the trees for dropping their leaves, but to make Grandpa happy Grump will make a go of it.
There was even more aggravation attached to this call as Grump and Grandpa had to discuss how to get the trust and will documents signed, but we'll just skip over that topic for now and let that sleeping monster alone!
By evening Sweetie was feeling sorry for Grump because of all the aggravation he had to go through, (he was on the phone with Grandpa for over an hour!), so she offered to treat all of us to dinner. Yes, this is in direct violation of our signed financial agreement, but Grump was so frustrated from having to deal with Grandpa that he agreed. So off we went .....
We had dinner at a local place called Tropical Flava located in Macon. Now if you research this restaurant you'll find it getting four or five stars consistently. Look a little closer, and you'll see these reviews are for their other location south of Macon, on the way to Warner Robins.
Let's start with the good points of our dinner first. Lola's red snapper was yummy, yummy, yummy. And the taste of Grump's chicken curry was superb. Add in the friendliness of the guys who run the place, and you have the makings of a fine meal.
But ...... alas!, there were some problems. The chicken they serve was "machete chopped" into unrecognizable chunks of meat and bone. This isn't necessarily a complaint, as Sweetie and Lola prefer their chicken prepared that way, but Grump, being unapologetically American, prefers his chicken to be served in pieces that he can recognize. The real problem was Sweetie's jerk tofu, which just tasted like tofu cooked in barbeque sauce. Yuck!
Tropical Flava isn't cheap either, so having one meal out of three be a loser is bad news.
Oh well. The day is over now, so we can sleep off all these aggravations and disappointments.
Goodnight all.
A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 276
03/October/2015, Day 276. Saturday.
We're already bending our recent spending agreement. While some of this "bending" is justifiable, (beneficial, even), some of it is questionable.
The "Good Bending":
Sweetie and Lola went to lunch at the wonderful Taki restaurant, (Lola's favorite place to get a bite to eat), while Grump stayed home and watched the kids. This was a much needed break for Lola, who since she has been here with us has basically been an unpaid nanny. Sweetie appreciated the lunch too, as Taki is also one of her favorite restaurants.
Amazingly Kuya and Dodong were extremely well behaved the whole time Sweetie and Lola were gone. Kuya stayed in the bedroom and watched YouTube videos on the iPad, (he's into "The Nightmare Before Christmas" at the moment), while Dodong entertained Grump in the living room.
Later in the day, once Sweetie and Lola got back from their lunch, Kuya joined Dodong and they both entertained Grump.
The "Bad Bending":
A few months ago Sweetie decided that she just had to have a big red letter to mount on our front door. (No, it is NOT a "Scarlet A", okay!) We had requested this ridiculous thing back in August, and finally today we had to pay for the order, (don't ask!). This was $40.00 that went on to one of our credit cards. AAARRGHH!! Grump is very NOT happy with this, and has told Sweetie that this $40 will come out of her spending money for next week. We'll see if he really sticks to that or not.
So much for bending our budget rules.
We did get all the shopping for Kuya's new school completed, including buying him some boots. (What kind of school requires boots?) Despite not getting as large a refund from his old school as we had hoped, the tuition for his new school is paid off, so baring any unforeseen expenses we should be done with school costs for the year. (Ha, ha, ha ......)
Hopefully now we can maybe start to SAVE a little money, because our emergency funds are now down to bare-bones level.
On the plus side of our budget, Clickworker was fairly weak last month, but we still managed to earn a litte bit there. Grump's job was pretty rough last week, but we're hoping he can keep "sucking it up" for a few more years until we can establish another source of income. Maybe now that Dodong is weaned Sweetie can get a job, even if it is just part-time?
And despite all this complaining, this family is still very, very blessed. We all have good health, a nice home, and live in a safe area. Thank you God for your love and protection!
Goodnight all.
 |
| Dodong's Determination |
 |
| Hi Dad! |
 |
| Not even Grump can sleep now! |
The "Bad Bending":
A few months ago Sweetie decided that she just had to have a big red letter to mount on our front door. (No, it is NOT a "Scarlet A", okay!) We had requested this ridiculous thing back in August, and finally today we had to pay for the order, (don't ask!). This was $40.00 that went on to one of our credit cards. AAARRGHH!! Grump is very NOT happy with this, and has told Sweetie that this $40 will come out of her spending money for next week. We'll see if he really sticks to that or not.
So much for bending our budget rules.
We did get all the shopping for Kuya's new school completed, including buying him some boots. (What kind of school requires boots?) Despite not getting as large a refund from his old school as we had hoped, the tuition for his new school is paid off, so baring any unforeseen expenses we should be done with school costs for the year. (Ha, ha, ha ......)
Hopefully now we can maybe start to SAVE a little money, because our emergency funds are now down to bare-bones level.
On the plus side of our budget, Clickworker was fairly weak last month, but we still managed to earn a litte bit there. Grump's job was pretty rough last week, but we're hoping he can keep "sucking it up" for a few more years until we can establish another source of income. Maybe now that Dodong is weaned Sweetie can get a job, even if it is just part-time?
And despite all this complaining, this family is still very, very blessed. We all have good health, a nice home, and live in a safe area. Thank you God for your love and protection!
Goodnight all.
Friday, October 2, 2015
A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 275
02/October/2015, Day 275. Friday.
Oh man ...... what a day today was! And I don't necessarily mean that in a good sense.
Existence is a gift, so I suppose every day that we experience is, in some way, a "good" day. But certainly some days are better than others, and so, some days must be worse. Today fell into the later category.
Work was BRUTAL!! Grump worked, and worked, and worked some more, and STILL his Team Lead wasn't satisfied. He would just LOVE to quit his job, but he is the only member of the family bringing in any income, and we can't even pay our bills as it is. Ugh!
So by the time he got home he was tired, burnt-out, and in a generally foul mood. The only person who even attempted to interact with him at all was Kuya, whose curiously over "The Nightmare Before Christmas" overrode his reluctance to attempt to converse with a miserable old man.
So Sweetie went to Bible Study by herself. It was supposed to be a light, entertaining evening; the ladies were going to practice dancing in preparation for Miss Lily's birthday party. Then they got the news: Miss M. has cancer.
DOUBLE UGH!!
This is horrible, awful, disgusting, and ridiculously unacceptable all in one. Miss M. is a great person, and one of Sweetie's best friends. How can she get cancer?
Miss M. will probably get blasted with chemo, which in our pathetic ignorance we attempt to use as a cure, hoping it doesn't kill the patient first. Cancer treatments is one of the many ways in which the human race is still wallowing in the Dark Ages, superstitiously believing in spirits and miracle cures. Maybe one day we'll wake up, and some enlightened soul will find the real clue to unraveling cancer, and chemotherapy will join bloodletting on the scrapheap of discredited medical practices.
Goodnight all.
Oh man ...... what a day today was! And I don't necessarily mean that in a good sense.
Existence is a gift, so I suppose every day that we experience is, in some way, a "good" day. But certainly some days are better than others, and so, some days must be worse. Today fell into the later category.
Work was BRUTAL!! Grump worked, and worked, and worked some more, and STILL his Team Lead wasn't satisfied. He would just LOVE to quit his job, but he is the only member of the family bringing in any income, and we can't even pay our bills as it is. Ugh!
So by the time he got home he was tired, burnt-out, and in a generally foul mood. The only person who even attempted to interact with him at all was Kuya, whose curiously over "The Nightmare Before Christmas" overrode his reluctance to attempt to converse with a miserable old man.
So Sweetie went to Bible Study by herself. It was supposed to be a light, entertaining evening; the ladies were going to practice dancing in preparation for Miss Lily's birthday party. Then they got the news: Miss M. has cancer.
DOUBLE UGH!!
This is horrible, awful, disgusting, and ridiculously unacceptable all in one. Miss M. is a great person, and one of Sweetie's best friends. How can she get cancer?
Miss M. will probably get blasted with chemo, which in our pathetic ignorance we attempt to use as a cure, hoping it doesn't kill the patient first. Cancer treatments is one of the many ways in which the human race is still wallowing in the Dark Ages, superstitiously believing in spirits and miracle cures. Maybe one day we'll wake up, and some enlightened soul will find the real clue to unraveling cancer, and chemotherapy will join bloodletting on the scrapheap of discredited medical practices.
Goodnight all.
Thursday, October 1, 2015
A Day in a Year in a Life / Day 274
01/October/2015, Day 274. Thursday.
A new month begins!! Soon this year will be over ..... are you a year closer to achieving your dreams?
We got the check from Kuya's old school today, and it was about $2,000.00 less than what we expected, (hoped!), we would get back. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised, as our experiences this year with that school were much less than stellar. But the nasty part of this is that we'll have to cough up another $500, on top of this money we just got back, just to pay the tuition at his new school. Is public school really that bad?
This weekend we'll go to buy school supplies, (again!), for Kuya. How we're gonna keep from going broke is beyond me.
I suppose the only good news is that Grump's job looks a little bit more secure, at least for the short term. Not sure what we would do if he became unemployed.
Blah ..... I HATE money troubles. Let's just call it a night and go to bed!
A new month begins!! Soon this year will be over ..... are you a year closer to achieving your dreams?
We got the check from Kuya's old school today, and it was about $2,000.00 less than what we expected, (hoped!), we would get back. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised, as our experiences this year with that school were much less than stellar. But the nasty part of this is that we'll have to cough up another $500, on top of this money we just got back, just to pay the tuition at his new school. Is public school really that bad?
This weekend we'll go to buy school supplies, (again!), for Kuya. How we're gonna keep from going broke is beyond me.
I suppose the only good news is that Grump's job looks a little bit more secure, at least for the short term. Not sure what we would do if he became unemployed.
Blah ..... I HATE money troubles. Let's just call it a night and go to bed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)