I'm back

I have been sick for the last several days, some kind of upper respiratory thing. I've barely been able to get out of bed.

Things have been quiet at home these past few days, I guess the kids must have put thier bickering on hold while I was ill. My oldest daughter is now finding out about how difficult apartment living can be with a room mate who is not quite mature enough, despite being a full year older than my daughter. My daughter was visiting some friends and while she was out the room mate had a boy over, 16 maybe 17 years old, and things got loud enough that the police were called. No one bothered to tell my daughter about it, she is the person who signed the lease. I mentioned it to her because I thought she knew about it. Our city has rather strict rules about thier noise ordinance as well as rules about landlords whose tenants have frequent complaints made against them for any reason, except domestic violence. I know I should just mind my own business, I just don't want my daughter to lose this place and have to find another with a bad reference on her.

Today I am supposed to take my 18 year old to the bank to get her settlement from the car accident of 1998. It will be more than $50,000. I am really worried that her boyfriend and his family will take advantage of her. I am going to try to talk her into telling them she got half of what she really gets and putting the other half away in a certificate of deposit. This family is greedy. The boyfriends mom charges her husband for anything she does for him (which, in my opinion, isn't much) and on top of that, he hands over most of his money to her anyway. She doesn't work, has never worked, is on SSI, but she can go to bingo everynight! I can't even do that! Not even one night, sitting so long kills me, trying to pay attention to the caller is near impossible, and by the time bingo is over, I am so tired I can hardly drive home. I wish I had her disability rather than my own. The 10 year old twins get SSI, for what? For being "difficult"! She complains because they get up at 6 am, but she puts them to bed (with prescribed sleep medication) at 7 pm! She still bathes them herself (creepy), and does not let any one discipline them, not even her husband (their step dad since they were babies)! She even goes so far as to let them break her own rules if he tries to enforce them (except the bed time). And I think I mentioned in an earlier post that my daughters boyfriend also is on SSI for being a "difficult" child. He's 21 now and should be forced off SSI and made to work for a living! They have been chomping at the bit for this money, even took her to the bank soon after she turned 18. Thank God the account is in my name!!! The bank wouldn't even tell them how much the account was!

My youngest turns 6 on April 1. I have no clue what to get her. We need a new swing set, but since my grand kids would also use it, I don't think it would make a good gift. She has said she wants this and that, but I can't get her everything and choosing a few things is difficult. I guess I round up what she has said she wants and play "eenie meenie mienie moe" until I get to the budgeted amount. And her Dad can do the same with whats left!

My 15 year old wants a Limo to pick her up from school on her 16th birthday. She also wants a car. I think both are a bit out of my budget. She should work for her car, I think. My parents got me my first car, which I had to get A's in school for, but I can barely get this child to go to school. Maybe if I saved and got her a car, I could make it dependent upon her staying in school. My gut says let her work for it, though. A summer job might help her decide to stay in school so she can get a better job.

 I certainly decided to return to school because of the jobs I worked without a diploma. Had I worked befor quitting school, I may not have quit school in the first place! I liked most of the jobs I had, it was the pay that was discouraging. Even though minimum wage is much higher now, so are the other things, like rent and utilities and gasoline. I remember rent being around $500 (3 bedroom), utilities about $100 and gas was less than a dollar a gallon. Now rent is $770 for a place that needs a lot of work that the landlord won't do, utilities run about $200 to $300 (because of the work the landlord won't do) and gas is now at $2.90 a gallon. My first car cost my parents $350 and was road worthy for that price. My oldest had paid $500 for a car she was able to drive a month before the heater core went, a repair that would have cost more than the car. I could have fixed it for the cost of the $50 part if it weren't for the fibro and the arthritis.