The kids get new shoes every week it seems but I just realized that I need new shoes. I love Dansko brand shoes. They have some really pretty clogs that are really comfortable. I also love the value of them. They really last a long time. Well that is unless your daughter wears them out in a mud puddle that is. I was fit to be tied!!!
What next?
The other night I was washing clothes and smelled something burning. My kids asked me what I was burning, I was in the kitchen and no I don’t usually burn dinner so I couldn’t figure out where the smell was coming from. That is until opened the laundry room door.
Well when we opened the laundry room door to find it filled with smoke. Apparently when the washer spun, it didn’t spin because something got stuck with what ever it is that makes it spin. I let it cool off and turned it back on to the last spin and it worked. It sounded a bit funny but it still did what it was supposed to do. The problem is it keeps making that funny noise when it’s washing or spinning now.
I hate the thought of having to buy a new washing machine. I’ll go to Lowe’s Home Improvement Center when I do. I always find the best prices there.
Well I’m all signed up
I filled out all of the necessary paperwork and found out that there is a waiting list for radiology but they said I could take all of my electives, Englishes, and other classes until I finally can get into the actual radiology curriculum. A lot of the electives are offered online too. That’s wonderful. Even if I can’t get into it very soon, I could still take classes that I might be interested in anyway like Spanish so I could help more people by being able to speak Spanish.
Charlie, there must be a very special place in Heaven for people like you. I only wish I could thank you personally but I know the best way to do that is to honor what you have done for my kids and I by taking this opportunity and making something wonderful for my children and I.
I think I’m going to go to college
I have to admit I hate my job. I have to work nights sometimes and weekends almost all of the time. Holidays, well most of them too. That’s the worst part of working retail. My mother is a nurse and she has wanted me to go to college to be a nurse like her for as long as I can remember. She says that she’ll always be able to find a good paying job somewhere no matter what the economy does. She’s right too but I’m just not the nurse type. It takes a special person to be a nurse and I’m not that person at all.
I have decided to check into being a radiologist. I could do x-rays. They get paid good too. Charlie fixed it so that I could go to college and he would pay for it so tomorrow I’ll go by the local college and see what I have to do to get into that program. I’m also going to be checking online to see if I can do it online. That would be great if I could take it online. I think some of the courses are online at the local college anyway but we shall see.
Went to the lawyers today
I decided that I needed to go to see the lawyer today. The last thing I want to do is lose the money Charlie left us or blow it on stupid things. I need to know what is expected of me to keep the money coming in and not make bad decisions that would lose any of the money. I have never had much of anything so I have to be careful. In other words, I need financial advice. When the lawyer was reading the will, I was more or less in shock and most of what he said went in one ear and out the other. Well I had him to sit down and explain it to me again and make sure I fully understood.
From what I got out of what the lawyer said today, I get so much a month to take care of the kids and I. The kids each have a trust fund for college that they will get if they go to college to pay for college. If they don’t go to college, then they don’t get the money until they are 25 years old and then they get a monthly allowance more or less to help them get a start. When the kids are all moved out, I get to stay in the house but if I decide to move, then the house is sold and the money divided between the kids and I and it goes into our respective trust funds.
If something should happen that I would need a lump sum of money say for medical reasons, then there is a fund set up for that too and I can get the money through the lawyer with proof. Charlie thought of everything and made sure that none of us would ever want for anything again. The monthly allowance I get, I can spend it on myself and the kids or I could save some if I wanted. All of the household bills are taken care of so there’s no reason why I couldn’t save some of it for a rainy day.
Moving day
Well I have pinched myself a hundred times and nothing has changed so I must not be dreaming. Today we’re moving into Papa Charlies house. It’s a beautiful 4 bedroom brick home, not just a house. Each room is decorated beautifully and we are going to leave it just as Papa Charlie had it. The children are so excited that they will each have their own bedroom.
We have a chance at a new life now. We struggled so hard for so long that I’m not sure how to act right now. I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and it’s all going to just be a dream or someone is going to come in and say ‘There’s been a mistake, get out.’ I guess it will take me awhile to settle in and believe it’s all real.
I have paid off everything I owed with my monthly allowance because everything was paid up in full until the middle of next month and I’ll get my allowance the beginning of each month. Plus I still have my job and will keep it until I decide what I want to go to college for and start classes. Just because we have been given this wonderful gift, I’m not going to relax and blow it, that’s for sure. That would be almost like spitting in Charlies face and I’m not about to do that.
Haiti
Haiti is such a poor country with so much poverty that we Americans could not imagine. We think we have it bad, we live like kings compared to the people of Haiti. They suffer every day and then something as horrific as this happens.
“Three days after the concrete building suddenly collapsed during a children’s party, killing at least 94 students and adults and severely injuring 150 more, Capt. Michael Isetan of Fairfax County, Va., said the chance of more survivors was remote. He also said the death toll won’t likely go much higher. U.S., French and Haitian firefighters used sonar, cameras and dogs Monday in the search for victims at a collapsed Haitian school, but as the stench of death rose from the wreckage, they no longer expected to find anyone else alive.” was written on November 10th.
What an awful tragedy. They are not even sure just how many people were in the building when it collapsed, though the school is believed to have had about 500 students. Haitian officials said some had time to escape when it began to fall. Some students weren’t at the school during the collapse because La Promise was holding a party requiring a donation of about 50 cents that poorer families could not afford, said Deputy Steven Benoit, who represents the area in the Chamber of Deputies.
That was one time that being poor probably was a blessing to some of those people because at least their children are still alive. My heart breaks at the thought of all of those children being trapped and killed in a building that should have been the safest place for them to be and yet it turned into a living HELL for the whole community.
Happy Birthday Girlfriend
Today is my best friend in the worlds birthday. We have been best friends since 4th grade. That’s a long time. She’s not only one of the most caring people I know, but also a great mother. She has two daughters and the youngest was born just 4 weeks after my youngest. The coolest part of that is her daughter and my son are best friends too. Isn’t that just the sweetest thing? I think so.
I was trying to decide what to get her for her birthday and decided the best thing I can do is to get her a Visa gift card. That way, she can spend it how ever she wants. She can go have her hair done, buy some new clothes for herself or take her girls out on the town and enjoy the day together if she wants. I got her a nice card and mailed it so that she will get it this weekend and hopefully have a great weekend. She already had some plans for today so that’s why I waited.
HERE’S TO YOU GIRLFRIEND!!!!!
Thank God for ‘Tools for School’
I was having trouble getting my children all they needed for back to school between the necessary school uniforms and all the supplies. Luckily my children qualified for help from ‘Tools for School’ that a lot of local businesses and churches have collected to help out families in need.
It really does my heart good to know that these items are offered to families in need without degrading them in the process. I found out that if a child received discount or free lunch last year at school, the school contacts these families and offers them the supplies at no cost. I love this community for all the help they give families in need. I hope other states do the same. I just want to thank everyone personally that has donated to ‘Tools for School’.
Back to school shopping
It’s almost back to school time so that means new clothes, shoes, and school supplies out the wazoo. The kids are both excited and not really wanting to go back yet but I know better. They can’t wait to get back to school to see their friends and find out what everyone did for the summer. I just can’t wait for them to go back to school so I don’t have to find sitters anymore.