Prom Frenzy!

It's is fast approaching prom season and our 11th grade daughter is probably not going to her junior prom.  It is painful for me because I know how important it was for me to go to the prom.  I actually had to ask someone from another school, in order to make sure that I would attend. 

I do not press her on the issue, so as to not draw attention to it.  She says that it does not bother her, and I hope that is true.  I do not like to think of my kids worrying or in pain for any reason.  She is a dark horse that does not show her feeling too easily so I don't push.  Just hope that she is not silently sad.

This morning I saw a news piece on prom dresses.  It was about how some mothers are spending in excess of $3000.00 for their daughter for the prom.  I hope this is not true for the average girl.  That seems excessive to me for a 15-18 year old.  My daughter is very frugal but again, I wish I could buy her the world.
I have to keep reminding myself that I came from a very frugal family and turned out fine.

For now, I have to wait and see about the prom.  I try not to ask too often, but I do know that when I do ask, she doesn't flat out say "no".  So I haven't given up yet.  I hope that she is happy either way. 

My junior prom ended up to me just OK.  My date was a really self absorbed Italian boy who spent most of the evening looking at himself in the mirror.  He didn't open the car door for me, so I stood  outside of the car until he swung it open from the drivers seat.  Real class.  I honestly couldn't wait to get home by the end of the night, which ending up to be early, thank goodness.  Eleven, I think.  I can actually remember feeling embarrassed that I was home so early.  Felt like I had failed having a great prom after such a big build up. 

Oh well, c'est-la-vie...
Squeezing my daughter, cause I love her so much.
Peace and love.  Until tomorrow...

Too Volatile!

Well, I have decided that being in the financial situation that we are in, it is not advantageous to "play" the stock market.  I don't think that it would be wise to risk any losses at this point.

The stocks that I have been watching have been very unpredictable.  In fact, I had put in a order to buy some 5000 shares of a $2 stock and canceled it because something told me that it was wrong.  That was two weeks ago and now that same stock is trading at 76 cents. Whew!  Disaster averted!

So I will continue to watch.  It seems as though I have been watching them for a long time.  Maybe it would be wise to just buy one that is pretty stable and hold it.

Stay tuned.
Peace and love fellow squeezers.  Until tomorrow...

Changing Exercise Routines Hurts

Good morning to all my fellow Squeezers!  Yesterday, I decided that I needed to "switch up" my exercise routine to something different.  Apparently, my treadmill and weight routine is not working.

I decided to "on demand" a routine from television.  I found one that was entitled, "Lose 10 Pounds Fast".  I completed the 20 minute routine, which was difficult in some parts, because I am not good at lunges, but I didn't feel like I got a really good workout in the end.

Well, let me tell you...today I am quite sore.  I am very surprised, because I used lighter weights that I had been using previously, and my legs are killing me.  My chest muscles are actually sore to touch.  I guess using different muscles is good. 

There were several routines in the same series, so today I will try a different one.  Hopefully this will make the difference.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Squeezing the pounds away.
Peace and love.  Until tomorrow...

Tax Day is OK

Today is tax day.  The last day that the government says you can file, without a penalty.  You can, of course, file an extension, which means that you're not really filing yet, just letting the IRS know that you will file sometime in the future.  I'm not sure how long you can extend, or how many extensions you can file.

I file our taxes early, because I know that I will be getting a refund.  If I knew that I was going to pay MORE taxes, why would I file before the deadline?  I wouldn't.  In fact, my question today is this.  What would happen if no one filed?  What would happen if no one paid their taxes?  Why do we allow government to dictate what taxes we pay?  When did this country change from a democracy to a something else? 

I am aware that the country cannot run without taxes.  I understand this fully.  But if most people in this country saw some of the things that we as taxpayers were funding, they would be appalled.  Ridiculous special interest funding which politicians use for advancing their political careers.  It just makes me sick.

What would happen?  There is nothing that the government could do if we didn't pay taxes.  Wouldn't they be forced to fix government spending?  They would only spend money for the most pertinent items needed.  Isn't that what we want them to do?  REDUCE SPENDING!  Seems pretty elementary to me.  No one should be able to "ear mark" any spending for any special interests. 

Well, I know that this would never happen.  There are too many people that just don't care, aren't aware of the problem or just have so much money that they feel it doesn't affect them. 

It's too bad, because I think that it would be a great solution.  Forcing the government to do what the people want.  Hmmmmm, what a clever, novel thought!

Squeezing my wallet tighter.
Peace and love. Until tomorrow...

Plumbing Stinks

Last night we had the worst storm.  The wind tore one of our shutters right in half and off the house and it's missing.  Also, we got 2 to 3 inches of rain in a short time and water was coming in our basement.

We smelled something bad earlier in the evening, but didn't think much of it until the morning.  It was coming from the basement.  We think that the water table is so high that the septic drainage fields may be saturated and the water was coming up through the basement drain in the floor. 

While investigating our septic setup, we found that our pump was bad, the electrical box was corroded and needed replace and that the water was not being pumped to the drainage fields at all.

So we headed to our local home improvement store, and $350.00 later, we think we have mostly solved the problem.  Stinky as it was, I am glad that we were able to finish.  Our septic company owner told us that if we would have had it done professionally, it would have cost over $1600.00.  So glad we did it ourselves.

Squeezing our wallet closed!
Peace and love.  Until tomorrow...