Pets

Pets are a funny thing, some people get very attached to their pets and buy them clothes and expensive food. Others keep them outside and barely give them any human contact. Some families never have any pets at all, and yet others are hoarders of pets collecting every living thing they can. And the sad bunch is the group that really want pets, but are allergic to them.

Pets enrich our lives everyday. It could be talking to your goldfish while feeding it in the morning, petting the purring cat on your lap, throwing a ball for your dog, or playing with the hamster outside his cage. I think it is kind of weird that God made some animals so right to be domesticated pets. Do you ever wonder when he was creating the animals, he said "I will make dogs to be man's best friend". Sure they help us hunt and protect our homes, but don't you think it is kind of weird how they were created to help humans?

Pets are also very medical. They help people overcome depression, nerves, and help us to heal. And they never ask for anything in return except food and clean water. We are constantly leaving them, and when we return they are not angry with us for being gone all day, they greet us with wagging tails.

I grew up with pets. We always had a small dog in our home growing up. We also had our array of fish, gerbils, lizards and a hamster. My husband and I even had our two cats the year before we even got married, and got our first dog when we had our first "real" house with a back yard. Our first dog Dot passed away last year, mostly from old age. A month after she passed we adopted Bailey the black lab who was already 7 years old. And we still had Lucy the Collie/chow chow mix that we adopted when she was a puppy 12 years ago. Last month Bailey needed to go in for an emergency surgery for a large mass tumor right below her hip. It seemed to be doing better until a few days ago. And unfortunately we had to put her down this evening as there was nothing more the vet could do to help her.

So that is my thought process for this weekend. Pets touch our lives in so many ways. We only had Bailey for a year, but the house seems so incredible quiet without her. It makes you wonder why we put ourselves through this. We know their life expentcy is like 15 years tops, so why do we put ourselves through this pain? Because they become part of our family instantly. I am the one who talked my husband into getting Bailey. He really didn't want another dog so soon after losing Dot. But on the way home from the vet tonight, he said to me "Can we please get a small dog next time?"

How Far Do You Go to Protect Your Kids?

I know I personally would die for my kids, that is just the way Mothers are. But how far do you go when your kids are being bullied on the bus to school?

Here is the situation. My oldest son is being tormented by a (very manly) girl on the school bus to and from school. In September they were holding interviews for the two bus patrol positions. Three kids signed up for the job. My son, one of his best friends and this girl. The two boys got the job, and she started on her rampage. Now remember they are all on the same bus, so she lives in our development also. She and her little brother had spent almost every night in our backyard with all the other neighborhood kids playing football and other sports. Everything was fine until the whole bus patrol thing came up.

When the boys got their vests the trouble started. She would run to the vice principal, who is in charge of the patrols, and say that he wasn't doing his job and she should get it. It went so far as her mother coming in to complain about him. Now I do know my son isn't perfect, but he is a rule follower. If you are standing on the bus, he will give you a warning. And I think he was turning her in at least once a week for violations. My advice to him at that time was to have the other boy write her up for awhile to take the pressure off of him. It worked for awhile.

Now this week she has most of the older kids singing a rhyme about him. He has a name that is very easily rhymed with, and that does not help at all. He is a very emotional child and has been since he was a toddler. But I can't handle him coming home from school crying every night anymore. He wants to quit being a bus patrol so she will stop. Personally I feel that that would be like accepting defeat, and I don't think that it is a good option. This is why I need some advice from my readers, who are mostly Mom's too.

Do I go to the Mother of the girl to ask her daughter to stop? I do not know her parents at all, so there is no connection there that would make it easier. Or will this make it worse in the long run?

Do I go to the Vice Principal and ask him to talk to her? Or will this make it worse?

Do I let him fight his own battles and hope it works out in the end? Or will it just get worse for him?

I want him to be able to handle his own situations without stepping in to solve his problems all the time, but this has been going on since October.I don't want him to become afraid to go to school, or become depressed. I want to help him, but want to do it in the best way possible without hurting him in the long run. I know that things will be different next year on the middle school bus. He will have his best friend and older sister on the bus to watch his back for him. But I need the rest of this school year to go better. Have you guys come across this with your children? What did you do that worked or didn't work? What about the bullies in your childhood, do you still remember them? I don't want this to be a bad memory of his childhood. I just want my kids to be able to go to school without being teased so that they can get a good education and make a success of themselves in the future. I know he will survive through this, but want to be able to teach him how to handle himself with bullies. She is in the same grade as him, and will be in school with him for the next 7 years. That is why I am turning to my fellow bloggers for advice. Please comment if you have any suggestions, and maybe we can nip this bully in the bud together!

Some Free Stuff for You

Here are a few freebies to get you through the week.

Breath Right Sample

Cream of Wheat

SOS Night Fever

Taco Bell Fresco Taco

Poise Sample Kit

Uni-Ball Pen

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Journal

Einstein Bros Bagel

1/2 Gallon of Chocolate Milk

Purex 3-in-1 Laundry Sheet

Halo Cat Food

Post-its Durable Tabs

3 Atkins Bars & Starter Kit

Aveda Products

Depends Sample

Paying Kids for Weekly Chores

How come getting kids to do simple chores for cash is so hard? Do your kids do chores for money? What tricks have you used that work, and which ones really didn't work?

We are trying something new at our house this week. I have to admit I stole the idea from the Duggar's book (that my husband got me for Christmas). Now you can say whatever you want about the Duggar's, but seriously, they must be doing something right. They have 19 kids and they are all well behaved and their house seems to run much smoother than mine. So I am going to try a few of their suggestions in their book and see if they will work for my family.

What we are trying is having the kids do their chores, but instead of paying them cash every week, we put it into a "Mom & Dad Checking Account". I had extra checking registries and gave each child one of their own to keep track of their cash. I showed them how to enter it into the registry with the money that I already owed them for chores and babysitting. I printed out blank check and deposit slips from here so that they can make deposits from birthday money and such. And they can then write me a check if they want to buy something.

I am hoping that this accomplishes a few different goals. One, the learn how to balance a checkbook. Two, they learn to save up their money before buying something. Three, they will know where their money is at all times and not losing it in the laundry or in their bedrooms. And finally, I don't need to always have cash on hand to dole out to them every Friday (our payday).

I am also thinking that I will make them their own personal cash cards out of old Target gift cards. That way they will need to remember pin numbers and not lose their cards if they want to withdraw money.

So far the first week of implementing the new bank, the kids are faster to do their chores and babysitting when I need them to. They happily run to the drawer where their registries are and add the amount into the balance. My five year old told me about five times today how much money he has in his account now. He even offered to buy at McDonald's because he would still have enough money left over to buy the things that he wants.

I am just hoping that they continue to do their chores!

Hello?

With the coming of the new year, I have been thinking about how much I do miss this web site. I noticed that I still have 47 followers even though I have not posted in over eight months. I am thinking this might be the time to make my comeback, but on a smaller scale.

I think I started this site for the right reasons, to help others who are having financial issues like my family was. But then I think I got greedy and tried to figure out ways to make money doing it. And I think that was my fall. Tis better to give than to receive, right? I have learned my lesson, and have changed my ways.

I will not be posting everyday, but will try to post every weekend. I am hoping my loyal followers will have some good tips for me like you always do. If you write a blog and would like to be a guest poster during the week, let me know.

So, what have I been doing for the last 8 months. Well.....I am still working at the same full-time job I had got while writing. It is still going great, and we are busier than ever. That is a good thing to have a little job security. My husband did start up his used car dealership back in May. And last month was their best month so far! It is just my husband and his father running the dealership and a friend of his and his son rent the attached repair shop in the back. They seem to be busier than they have ever been. Working a full-time job and your husband in the first year of a new business can be quite challenging. He is working at least 11 hours a day, six days a week. We are lucky enough that he is home to get the kids on the bus in the morning, and I am home by the time they get off in the afternoon.

Which bring me to the kids. They are all doing great. A honor roll for my oldest her first year in middle school. The boys are in elementary school and doing great grades too. I am still driving them to all their different activities, and with the foot of snow we had over the Christmas break, even that has been challenging lately.

Financially our family is doing a little better. We are still frugal, or as my friend at work called me today, cheap. But we keep saying that as soon as the economy bounces back, we will now know how to live and we will flourish because of it. I am just waiting for that day now......any time now......please.....

The good and the bad....

The good:

Remember back a few weeks ago I told you that my family was working on some real big changes and I had to wait to tell you about it? Well, we opened our own used car lot! It has been in the works for about a year now. Looking for the right spot, clearing everything with the state and city, getting the money. We officially open on May 1st. I have been there cleaning and scrubbing every surface in the building. The guys that were there for the past year didn't know what a vacuum cleaner even looked like! We are headed back up this morning for a full day of painting walls.

The Bad:

I am going to have to take a break from this web site for awhile. With the new business needing all my spare time right now, I will run myself ragged if I don't take a short break. I will be back, and I will be posting pictures of the new place when it is presentable. I know you all understand, this is our chance to get back to where we were before the housing market went in to the toilet.

So...if you happen to be looking for a good used car, and honest salesmen, in a family friendly car dealership......

Rotter Auto Sales
132 19th Street
Forest Lake, MN 55025

RotterAuto.com (coming soon)

I'll be back in a little bit......................