Tucks review and wisdom teeth

I haven't been able to do a lot the past several days. Mainly because sharing a computer with an 18 year old is hard. With Jeff needing to complete necessary applications to get his college courses all set and submit needed documents it has taken him some time to do. So, I have waited patiently for my turn.

It also has been hard because the past couple of days I have been sick. Apparently my wisdom teeth have decided to break through at my age. Don't ask me why at 38 years they decided to come through but they have. Apparently, the lower wisdom tooth has cracked one of my lower molars and it has created an abscess. Which has put me into a constant state of radiating pain. Since I do not have health insurance I have been keeping a constant regime of Ibuprofen and Tylenol. It is the best I can do for now, and it has also allowed me to be able to deal with the pain and still get some things done. Unfortunately, for me, the infection has now done a number on my body. Like any antibiotic would do to your system after a long period of time. I have contracted an UTI (urinary tract infection) and have had the most uncomfortable bout of loose bowels, which have irritated any hemorrhoids that have been dormant. Good thing about that is that I was given a sample of Tucks medicated pads to try on behalf of Mom Central and believe me they couldn't have come at a better time. I know TMI, but seriously, it has been a blessing because it works so well. I mean instantaneous relief. It can't get much better than that in my opinion. It is hard enough dealing with one pain than to have to deal with any other subsequent ailment.

Computer for dummies

I have a Dell Inspirion 530. I bought it back in March of 2008. I needed a better computer for school and since the one I had was just about obsolete, I figured it was time to for a new one.

It is heartbreaking that the Internal Hard Drive died a little over a year of getting my new computer. What hurts the most is that everything I had worked so hard on can never be restored. I have lost everything. I would rather do a slimming pills review than have to redo all my hard work. I will recreate most of my documents and implement my spreadsheets for my business but It will take time to finish it all.

Chris worked patiently to try and see if he could retrieve any of my information using his external hard drive and his laptop. He learned how to extract my hard drive and plug it into his external hard drive from his friend, Phil. We also learned how easy it will be to upgrade my computer by adding more ram and a video card. I can't thank Phil enough for his help. It was quite comical to see Chris trying to show Phil the inside of my computer via Chris' laptop camera. Phil schooled Chris on what everything was. I even learned that computers really aren't that complicated.

Will You Be There

I know a lot of people have blogged about Michael Jackson and his untimely death. I wanted to do something different than to rehash what a shock it was.

The very first song that I remember singing and dancing to was "Rock with You". I knew about and heard his earlier songs from the Jackson 5 but that was before my time and I truly did not connect with that era.

I do remember taking a dance class as part of some curriculum in the seventh grade and we learned a routine to PYT which has brought back fond memories for me. I believe it was my first boy/girl dance and I was excited and embarrassed all at once. My sister received Thriller as a Christmas present but it quickly became the family album. MTV played that video over and over and in reality it should of died quickly but I never got tired of watching it. I thought it was the coolest video and song and it mainly because it featured my favorite thriller/suspense actor of all time... Vincent Price.

I liked just about every Michael Jackson song/video that came out after Thriller but the one that I will never tire of hearing is the theme song from Free Willy... Will You Be There.

Enjoy

It just keeps getting better

Friday night my hard drive gave up the ghost. I am currently working off my son's laptop. Another hard drive is on order ( thanks to my family) so I will have to get used to using Jeff's computer. And I am grateful to Jeff for letting me.

He paid for his computer with his own money and has been working extremely hard the past few weeks. He has already been accepted to the State College of Florida (formerly known as Manatee Community College) He will begin his classes in August. He has been working more hours and will always go in for someone else. His boss calls him first with any more hours available and he always accepts them.

Last week he paid for groceries so that we could have enough for rent. He offered or rather insisted because Chris and I would never ask him.

When we applied for assistance and Chris spoke to the caseworker, she had asked for everyone in the households pay stubs. Chris made it known to the caseworker that Jeff would absolutely not be responsible to contribute monetarily because he needed his money for school, his phone and gas for his scooter. She agreed. We have not heard as of yet whether or not we will receive assistance. Hopefully that will come in Monday's mail.

I am trying not to get stressed but I think that I may need to invest in some kind of wrinkle cream because I am going to be aging a lot faster because stress always finds a way into my life.
I am trying to look at this with a more "it is what it is" attitude but I am not sure how long I can pull that off. I am a worrier by nature. That is one aspect about me that drives Chris bonkers. I have been doing better and I am always trying to catch my thoughts before I make them verbal. This has not been easy but nothing is ever really easy.

We had a great time yesterday. Although, Jeff worked later than anticipated because another co-worker went home ill, we waited for him to get home before we had our cook out and sat in front of our TV (which is a rarity) and enjoyed our movies. We did get to see some fireworks. A neighbor on the next street over actually set off some mortars and we had a spectacular view. That is until the cops showed up:)

No Fireworks for us

Chris and I had a long discussion about what to do for the fourth of July. We have decided to stay home. Not because we want to mind you, but because we simply can not afford to waste gas for entertainment purposes. So unfortunately for us we will just have to rely on our outdoor pillows and blankets to keep us comfortable while trying to see some of the neighbors fireworks displays from our deck. Something that we haven't done in ages. We have also declared a movie marathon night.

I feel less that a stellar mom to Katie right now because she knows that we were planning on hitting the beach scene for an entire day and night. It may not be something that many folks would want to do but Katie was looking forward to it, and for that I feel terrible. I do not even have enough money to buy for sparklers for her and I really hope that maybe she will forget about our tradition but I know deep inside my heart that she won't. She won't complain, she won't get upset, she won't even pout, because she knows that something is different. We have tried to explain to her that because daddy is not working that the money we used to have is not there. Her solution to "helping out the family" is to have a lemonade stand when we have our yard sale a week from tomorrow. She is so determined to do her part in helping the family through this very traumatic and sobering time. I just wish we weren't in this situation.

For Dawg

For Dawg

It all comes down to Faith....

My cleaning business has dwindled to just a few cleanings a week. Actually that was to be expected since most of the snowbirds have gone home for the summer.

What we weren't expecting was that my husband, Chris, to be laid off. His last day of employment was on Tuesday. The company itself is still open but barely surviving. Chris' dad and his business partner are the only two left to try and keep the company afloat. Between the two of them, there is just enough business to last out the year and they are hoping that something happens before then to bring back the two employees.

Chris has already filed for unemployment and his first claim date will be at the end of the month. We don't know how much he will be receiving for another week at least. We did go apply for assistance and that could take anywhere from 7-30 days to just find out whether or not we qualify for food stamps and possibly medical for the kids. He did get an email stating that he should receive a phone call within 15 days for an interview. We will plan on going to our local Salvation Army to see if we can get rent assistance since Chris' last paycheck went to pay our Utilities and car insurance with about half left over.

There would have been a time when I would have thought this was the end of the world but I am at peace. Yes, it is going to be a life altering. We are going to have to change the way we do things but that in itself is not a bad thing. We have been pretty spoiled and this is just going to make us appreciate what we do have a whole lot more. While Chris is not going to immediately go out and look for a job, no sense in looking through the classifieds there is barely a page of job openings, he has already made several network connections that have put him at the top of the list so when something does become available, even if it is just part time, he will be given first choice.

We have talked repeatedly about this situation happening before and so now that he will have some free time he will be helping me market myself. He was given a gift for sales. He could sell snow to the Eskimos and so he will be selling me and my cleaning business to most of the condo associations where people can still afford the luxury of someone else cleaning their homes.

Chris and I look at our situation with a positive outlook. One door closes and many more will open because we do have faith that there is One that will carry us through this storm and our trust in Him will bless us tenfold. I am not saying that it is going to be a cake walk but we will get through this with a much stronger faith and a greater love for one another.