Debt Dumpers - 2019

The NBC layover is my absolute favorite. Quite literally makes me tear up as much as walking under the RR entrance. DH's job is secure but two more people quit this week. And while we still have plans to go in November, we aren't making hard and fast plans. My airline is still cancelable. Will I lose points? Sure. But we aren't even buying the two-day tickets until the day before.

I hope you guys are able to go and experience the Christmas magic! (If I remember correctly you'll be there during the Christmas season.) While I do love the Halloween decorations, they don't take my breath away like Christmas does.
 
Hi guys, how are you all? Life has been busy and I have not been on as much but think about you all, isn't that crazy? My dryer issue turned out to be the fuse that had blown again. He said it shouldn't happen again, but I've heard that before, so I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Between the repair and the vent cleaning, we could have bought a new one and if it blows again, I'll need to find out why. I asked and he said there was a kink in the hose that connected the dryer to the wall for the vent and unkinked it, but I am not holding out hope that it's fixed forever. We'll see. Now the thing is - because there's always something - I think I have malware or a virus on my home computer. It's a mac and DH and I both have our own login. His is fine, mine was getting popups that we think we deleted but now my email and web browsers are not working. Always something to keep track of and hopefully this won't be expensive. Computer and internet issues frustrate me to no end, as my family will tell you. I am not happy and let them all know when something is not working, lol.

Other than that, life is good. DS18 came with us to DS16's sporting event last weekend, so it was good to see him (after only two weeks but a long two weeks when you haven't seen your kid!) and hear how college is going. Spent only a couple hours - he wanted to get back to campus for the football game - but I was happy. He likes some of his classes, thinks the others are boring, has discovered which cafeteria is better and has joined a running club.
School is in full swing for DS16 and I *think* we have finally finished the endless Amazon ordering it seemed we were doing for yet more supplies that he didn't know he needed until classes had started.
 
Took the collected coins from what I had at the end of July and saved through August and the first part of this month to the credit union on Monday and ended up with $17.73 to put in the savings account towards a trip.
Now that the payments I have made have cleared the bank and we have done most of our bimonthly grocery shopping and just need to replace smaller items we run out of like milk and bread I need to do some quick calculations to see if I can pull off paying 2/3 of my mortgage now and then 2/3 again on the 20th and the 4th of next month to be finally paying not in the grace period or if for now it would be better to pay half this week and keep doing that until it is finally where we can pay the whole thing on or before it is due which would put it at April. Looking at things I am leaning towards the half especially since while for now DH is getting 10 plus hour shifts that could go down and I would rather stock up on a few things that we are going to be needing soon.
We have the added expense of our annual 4-H dues coming up for the new year that we don't normally have to pay. We are switching clubs due to how my oldest has been treated by several members in our current club this year and all her friends having left for various reasons. It is to the point that she wants to quit all together so we are switching to a small club that her best friend is in but since they don't do any membership fee fundraisers for the next year we will need to pay $55 for me and my girls when we haven't had to pay more than 15 in past years (the first year each of the girls was in at a lower level membership and my first year as a leader) because we have participated in the fundraiser to cover our dues.
 


The driveway repair saga continues......... Started getting quotes in April, chose one for $2700 and change. Wasn't sure if it was repair or resurface, though, so DH had the guy come out a few days ago to go over what would be happening since it would be repaired next month. Now he said end of September since Oct. starts rainy season (yah, he didn't know that in April?). So we were like, ok, no problem. We have most of it saved so we'll pull the rest out of savings and repay that. On this meeting, we asked if he would also be sealing the porch area (not raised, but next to the driveway so it would look strange with the color difference), he said no problem. Might add 1 or 2 hundred to the cost - we were fine with that. He re-measures the driveway while here while explaining what we can expect and lets us know he'll send the new quote with the porch sealing. DH called me from work yesterday: got the email, new quote is $5700, but he won't charge us tax??!!!! WTH?! I told him he needed to find out why the quote more than doubled only 2 weeks from the job being done. The guy said he was "repairing spots in all the squares now". In April he said he would only be doing 3 squares since the teeny holes in the others were miniscule and not necessary. DH said he will have to talk to the guy in person now, and if he holds firm on this we will not be able to get the driveway repaired before winter. DH thinks he may have raised it because he met me and probably thinks I work as well - and that we have way more money than he thought. I don't really know, but if he holds firm we will be finding someone else to do the job and will have to wait until spring - and hope the driveway doesn't get too much worse. I blame this guy if it does. Phooey.
 
The driveway repair saga continues......... Started getting quotes in April, chose one for $2700 and change. Wasn't sure if it was repair or resurface, though, so DH had the guy come out a few days ago to go over what would be happening since it would be repaired next month. Now he said end of September since Oct. starts rainy season (yah, he didn't know that in April?). So we were like, ok, no problem. We have most of it saved so we'll pull the rest out of savings and repay that. On this meeting, we asked if he would also be sealing the porch area (not raised, but next to the driveway so it would look strange with the color difference), he said no problem. Might add 1 or 2 hundred to the cost - we were fine with that. He re-measures the driveway while here while explaining what we can expect and lets us know he'll send the new quote with the porch sealing. DH called me from work yesterday: got the email, new quote is $5700, but he won't charge us tax??!!!! WTH?! I told him he needed to find out why the quote more than doubled only 2 weeks from the job being done. The guy said he was "repairing spots in all the squares now". In April he said he would only be doing 3 squares since the teeny holes in the others were miniscule and not necessary. DH said he will have to talk to the guy in person now, and if he holds firm on this we will not be able to get the driveway repaired before winter. DH thinks he may have raised it because he met me and probably thinks I work as well - and that we have way more money than he thought. I don't really know, but if he holds firm we will be finding someone else to do the job and will have to wait until spring - and hope the driveway doesn't get too much worse. I blame this guy if it does. Phooey.


you may want to hold off anyway. if i remember right your driveway like mine is concrete. ours was in bad shape such that we needed to do an entire removal of old concrete w/ a new one put in. thing was-we had a short downpour before the concrete had totaly cured resulting in it chipping and cracking over the subsequent winter (de-icer from the highways dripping on it/we no longer were using directly on it). fortunately the contractor stood behind it and did it at no cost to us. if it's a squeeker with the weather i would wait till next spring after the thaw.

btw-when we totaly redid ours, including getting a pitch to it w/piping so it would melt and drain off to an adjacent flower garden at a lower elevation we paid around $7000. this was for the equivalent to a 4 car garage (we have a three car but the walkways on both sides equated to another car sized slot). you might want to price out replacement vs. repair.
 
DD has been sick since Sunday. Not eating anything solid, low-grade fever, dual-ear infections, terrible cough, and general fussiness. Last night her fever spiked to 105.2, she was lethargic and her breathing was much more labored. We called our pediatrician's on-call nurse and they advised us to take her to the ER. It was so busy and we had to wait over an hour just to have her seen and then wait a bit more before a room was available. But I love our university's pediatric hospital. They take such good care. They gave her Tylenol and Motrin to bring down the fever as well as Zofran to help with nausea. They also took a chest X-ray to rule out pneumonia, which was thankfully negative. They changed her ear drops and gave us a prescription for Zofran. While we were there, her fever broke and she seemed much more alert, playing with toys that the child life services team brought for her. We didn't get home until 2am though. It has been a rough week as DH and I have both had to take time away from work to care for her. I have an important call this morning, so DH will be home until my call finishes and then he will head out while I take the rest of the day as family care leave.

It is times like this that I am glad we have good jobs with good benefits. The ER visit will be a $100 co-pay and we both have 2 weeks of paid sick/family care leave annually, so financially, something like this isn't too hard on us. But man, I am tried today.
 


The driveway repair saga continues......... Started getting quotes in April, chose one for $2700 and change. Wasn't sure if it was repair or resurface, though, so DH had the guy come out a few days ago to go over what would be happening since it would be repaired next month. Now he said end of September since Oct. starts rainy season (yah, he didn't know that in April?). So we were like, ok, no problem. We have most of it saved so we'll pull the rest out of savings and repay that. On this meeting, we asked if he would also be sealing the porch area (not raised, but next to the driveway so it would look strange with the color difference), he said no problem. Might add 1 or 2 hundred to the cost - we were fine with that. He re-measures the driveway while here while explaining what we can expect and lets us know he'll send the new quote with the porch sealing. DH called me from work yesterday: got the email, new quote is $5700, but he won't charge us tax??!!!! WTH?! I told him he needed to find out why the quote more than doubled only 2 weeks from the job being done. The guy said he was "repairing spots in all the squares now". In April he said he would only be doing 3 squares since the teeny holes in the others were miniscule and not necessary. DH said he will have to talk to the guy in person now, and if he holds firm on this we will not be able to get the driveway repaired before winter. DH thinks he may have raised it because he met me and probably thinks I work as well - and that we have way more money than he thought. I don't really know, but if he holds firm we will be finding someone else to do the job and will have to wait until spring - and hope the driveway doesn't get too much worse. I blame this guy if it does. Phooey.

I would find someone else, just on principles. That is a ridiculous price increase and it’s better to discover now that he’s an a hole than to have it halfway done and be stuck with whatever else he wants to change. That is crazy.
 
you may want to hold off anyway.
Thanks for all the great info.! I think we may end up holding off after all - our driveway sounds about the same size as yours and is concrete. What season did you have yours done? We live on the desert side of Wa., so not as rainy as the rest of the state. But, we do get a fair amount in fall and some in spring. Now trying to figure out the best time and then save more money until then.
I would find someone else, just on principles. That is a ridiculous price increase and it’s better to discover now that he’s an a hole than to have it halfway done and be stuck with whatever else he wants to change. That is crazy.
I agree! DH still wants to talk to him in person to see what his explanation is, but I don't trust him now. We found him through a site called Buildzoom that is supposed to stand behind the contractors they send your way. If this turns out to be a bust I'm going to have to let them know "how it went" with this concrete guy.
 
Thanks for all the great info.! I think we may end up holding off after all - our driveway sounds about the same size as yours and is concrete. What season did you have yours done? We live on the desert side of Wa., so not as rainy as the rest of the state. But, we do get a fair amount in fall and some in spring. Now trying to figure out the best time and then save more money until then.

I agree! DH still wants to talk to him in person to see what his explanation is, but I don't trust him now. We found him through a site called Buildzoom that is supposed to stand behind the contractors they send your way. If this turns out to be a bust I'm going to have to let them know "how it went" with this concrete guy.


we are on the eastern side of the state so we get no where near the rain the west side gets but we've gotten snow as late early may so we did ours around the early part of june so everything was thawed out and non saturated with runoff.

i'm not familiar with buildzoom but take those sites with a grain of salt-one of our tried and true service providers mentioned on a recent service visit that angie's list was sold out to some big company and now companies can pay a fee to be listed and get referrals.
 
DD has been sick since Sunday. Not eating anything solid, low-grade fever, dual-ear infections, terrible cough, and general fussiness. Last night her fever spiked to 105.2, she was lethargic and her breathing was much more labored. We called our pediatrician's on-call nurse and they advised us to take her to the ER. It was so busy and we had to wait over an hour just to have her seen and then wait a bit more before a room was available. But I love our university's pediatric hospital. They take such good care. They gave her Tylenol and Motrin to bring down the fever as well as Zofran to help with nausea. They also took a chest X-ray to rule out pneumonia, which was thankfully negative. They changed her ear drops and gave us a prescription for Zofran. While we were there, her fever broke and she seemed much more alert, playing with toys that the child life services team brought for her. We didn't get home until 2am though. It has been a rough week as DH and I have both had to take time away from work to care for her. I have an important call this morning, so DH will be home until my call finishes and then he will head out while I take the rest of the day as family care leave.

It is times like this that I am glad we have good jobs with good benefits. The ER visit will be a $100 co-pay and we both have 2 weeks of paid sick/family care leave annually, so financially, something like this isn't too hard on us. But man, I am tried today.
Hang in there! It's hard with those ear infections. That is a scary fever! Those benefits sound great, and helpful that you and DH can somewhat rotate who stays home.

I love the change in weather, but somewhat hate thinking about upcoming flu season and all that. My youngest it seems gets hit with whatever is around every time something pops up. He caught a cold from school within two days of going back, ugh. Now it still lingering with him although for him it's somewhat hard to tell what is cold vs what is allergies now, because of the seasonal allergies seem to be in force right now and will probably be rough for him the rest of the month and into October.
 
Pediatrician’s office called and asked me to bring DD in since she still has a bad cough. They were concerned that she might have pneumonia even though her chest X-ray on Wednesday was clear. They listened and felt that she might, so they said she had to take antibiotics. DD doesn’t do well with oral medication at all. If you try to give her anything, she resists it and then throws up as a reflex. So the nurse gave her a shot instead. DD didn’t love it, but it was over quickly and hopefully this will help. If she isn’t doing much better tomorrow then we will have to go to urgent care for a second shot. But DD did eat more for dinner than most of the previous days, so that made me happy. Unfortunately, DH is now complaining that he is not feeling well. The never ending story of my life.
 
Pediatrician’s office called and asked me to bring DD in since she still has a bad cough. They were concerned that she might have pneumonia even though her chest X-ray on Wednesday was clear. They listened and felt that she might, so they said she had to take antibiotics. DD doesn’t do well with oral medication at all. If you try to give her anything, she resists it and then throws up as a reflex. So the nurse gave her a shot instead. DD didn’t love it, but it was over quickly and hopefully this will help. If she isn’t doing much better tomorrow then we will have to go to urgent care for a second shot. But DD did eat more for dinner than most of the previous days, so that made me happy. Unfortunately, DH is now complaining that he is not feeling well. The never ending story of my life.

Aww. It's so hard when little ones are sick. When ours were little, someone was always getting something. I had missed so much time from work I was written up and suspended more than once. Dh and I would bicker over whose turn it was to stay home.
Our ped used to recommend, besides giving Tylenol & ibuprofen, to lower a fever quickly, put them in a "slightly cooler than typical" bath. Works the same way as swimming in the summer to cool off. It lowers a fever amazingly fast, like 2 mins.

Hope everyone is feeling better soon.
:goodvibes
 
Aww. It's so hard when little ones are sick. When ours were little, someone was always getting something. I had missed so much time from work I was written up and suspended more than once. Dh and I would bicker over whose turn it was to stay home.
Our ped used to recommend, besides giving Tylenol & ibuprofen, to lower a fever quickly, put them in a "slightly cooler than typical" bath. Works the same way as swimming in the summer to cool off. It lowers a fever amazingly fast, like 2 mins.

Hope everyone is feeling better soon.
:goodvibes

Thanks. Yes, the work thing is hard. DH and I both have a lot going on at work right now, so we definitely had to alternate turns watching DD. DH has been in such a bad mood the past few days and I know that it is because he is stressed out, but sometimes it is hard to not let his mood affect mine. Just need to keep swimming.

On another note, I listed up a bunch of DD's old cold-weather clothing on Facebook marketplace. I listed them in lots of like items for $2-$3 per piece of clothing. Made $16 today and have a few pickups scheduled tomorrow plus several inquiries on items. If I can sell everything, then I would have enough money to cover the things that I bought DD earlier this month. Fingers crossed.
 
Pediatrician’s office called and asked me to bring DD in since she still has a bad cough. They were concerned that she might have pneumonia even though her chest X-ray on Wednesday was clear. They listened and felt that she might, so they said she had to take antibiotics. DD doesn’t do well with oral medication at all. If you try to give her anything, she resists it and then throws up as a reflex. So the nurse gave her a shot instead. DD didn’t love it, but it was over quickly and hopefully this will help. If she isn’t doing much better tomorrow then we will have to go to urgent care for a second shot. But DD did eat more for dinner than most of the previous days, so that made me happy. Unfortunately, DH is now complaining that he is not feeling well. The never ending story of my life.
My boys are adults (college from home), still live with us, and the last few years they've been hit hard with illness!! We go to DW every December - and get flu shots. The last 3 years they have gotten horribly sick while in Orlando, and I've taken them to Centracare 3 years in a row! Serious colds and bronchitis, fever (always over 102), coughing, congestion. I always take a medicine cabinet with me when we travel (been travelling with the boys for years, we have a routine). Fortunately, we go for 3 weeks so we have time to stay in the room for a couple days while they recuperate. And Centracare is always packed with Disney resort guests (I decide the night before and go at the CRACK of dawn to avoid waits). Then when we get home, I swear they get sick again and lasts for a month. I do a lot of waiting on them as sick as they get (you never stop being a mum! DS24 found that quote of a teeny like 96 year old british woman taking care of her 68 year old son in the nursing home - I love it and say it all the time now). Special needs DS 27 just got done with antibiotics for strep and infections in both ears, but the infection isn't gone so he's going back to the Dr. on Monday. DS 24 has had an alarming amount of blood coming from somewhere it should'nt (was in ER 6hrs. a week ago), they ruled anything immediately life threatening, and we've seen a couple new docs this week. He has an appt. Mon. and Tues., then we get referred to a gastroenterologist - the docs have said he'll be having a colonoscopy (he and his bro had one before as a baseline because I'm adopted and have multiple digestive issues). It has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, trying not to think it could be anything serious. And we have good ins. and they are both still covered. They have been sick quite a bit in their lifetimes and it is always worrisome and stressful - esp. when we have to watch them suffer!! You hang in there! There will always be another illness, but the way she is cared for is what will stick out. Good excuse to love and coddle and snuggle!
 
Pediatrician’s office called and asked me to bring DD in since she still has a bad cough. They were concerned that she might have pneumonia even though her chest X-ray on Wednesday was clear. They listened and felt that she might, so they said she had to take antibiotics. DD doesn’t do well with oral medication at all. If you try to give her anything, she resists it and then throws up as a reflex. So the nurse gave her a shot instead. DD didn’t love it, but it was over quickly and hopefully this will help. If she isn’t doing much better tomorrow then we will have to go to urgent care for a second shot. But DD did eat more for dinner than most of the previous days, so that made me happy. Unfortunately, DH is now complaining that he is not feeling well. The never ending story of my life.
Hopefully that shot helped and she's doing better. My youngest has had pneumonia as a toddler, once at under 2 years old, and I remember he had shots then. Second time was just two plus years ago, no shots that time.
My boys are adults (college from home), still live with us, and the last few years they've been hit hard with illness!! We go to DW every December - and get flu shots. The last 3 years they have gotten horribly sick while in Orlando, and I've taken them to Centracare 3 years in a row! Serious colds and bronchitis, fever (always over 102), coughing, congestion. I always take a medicine cabinet with me when we travel (been travelling with the boys for years, we have a routine).
Yep, seems like even the young adults can get pretty susceptible to illnesses and sometimes they have some quite scary things out there, like when I hear about meningitis scare at the high school or college campus, yikes.

That is a something that gets me thinking, you know, being sick when out of town somewhere to the point of needing to seek medical care, that's got to add more stress too, unfamiliar with where to go get seen, will insurance give me a hassle, then being sick when not at home and away from familiar surroundings. I've caught things while traveling but not yet to a desperately sick condition, knock on wood!
 
aaack @dayvewc so glad you checked in! I've been thinking of you.

I had a rough week but made it through without emotionally spending. I did buy my DD a Harry Potter advent calendar. We just love them!! I won't see her until December 19th but she said it will be more fun to open a bunch of the little doors at one time.

I really don't have much to report- working and not spending money is rather dull!

I hope everybody has a great week!
 

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