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Post by beaglemom on Oct 12, 2017 18:27:17 GMT
hugs and love!
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 11, 2017 23:37:09 GMT
I should probably check, but I don't think our bank charges us. I just call or email asking for more checks and a couple days later a box arrives. ***Just checked and no charge for our checks through our bank.***
I use them for:
Kids school stuff
paying the babysitter
paying the housekeeper
property taxes
paying the contractor (we are having some work done on our house)
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 10, 2017 4:39:59 GMT
My mom and I went to our local flea market. It's a pretty nice one. We went just to wander. I was good until the very end. Early on I got 12 strawberry buttons for $1 that I got for some dresses I'm working on for my daughter. Then $5 for a teacup to match another one that I have. I was sort of looking for American Girl dolls for my 6-year-old. Previous flea markets multiple people have had them. This time there was only one. She wanted $60 or more per doll, she was selling them for her sister that wasn't there. So I went back at the end and offered $100 for two - Kirsten and Felicity - both retired and hard to find - she said yes. I'll have to take them into the local American Girl store to get their hair fixed, but they are both hard to find so I'm happy with the purchase!
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 9, 2017 5:24:25 GMT
Is it possible to make it without the pecans? I would love to make this to donate for our school's garden bake sale fundraiser. But it has to be nut free. I think I'm also going to try making a batch with gluten-free cup-4-cup flour and see how it goes (they have requested gluten free items too).
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 3, 2017 3:53:52 GMT
We were able to get the financing to continue with gestational surrogacy. Our journey to become parents isn't over! Super happy dancing for you!! Sending lots of baby wishes your way!! |
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 2, 2017 19:42:12 GMT
oh yes! I have my lavender one that my parents bought me for my 21st birthday. Dh bought me a commercial one for my 32nd birthday. Love them!
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 2, 2017 14:19:56 GMT
Two of my roommates from college were at the concert. Thankfully one of them just posted that they are okay.
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 1, 2017 23:07:36 GMT
Back at the beginning of June I picked up a check that was mailed to my inlaws for dh. I knew I put it somewhere very smart. It was a very large check and I couldn't for the life of me figure out where I put it. I was cleaning up some stuff today and found it! So relieved. We hadn't put a stop payment on it yet, because I knew it was somewhere, just wasn't sure where!
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 1, 2017 21:16:23 GMT
That looks perfect! I would love to do that. Maybe next year I'll host and do it!
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 30, 2017 19:03:13 GMT
I have an adjustable one. I love it. I haven't used it for a ton of stuff. But it has been great and it is so nice that I can adjust as I gain or lose weight. I bought one at Joanns. I waited till they weren't on sale, but I had either a 50 or 60% off full price item coupon and then bought it. It has been so nice for figuring out hem lengths, pinning on details (I did a steampunk skirt with pickups that I would never have been able to do without it).
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 30, 2017 4:19:12 GMT
Our daughter has been asking for a baby sister ever since she could verbalize it and understood what that means. She has two younger brothers. We have been prepping her for the possibility that if we had another baby it might be a boy. Dh told her that if we had another boy he would get her a girl puppy. Well on Sunday we announced to the kids that they are getting a baby sister. Dd was delighted. Ds (4) turns to dh and says "does this mean I get a boy puppy?"
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 30, 2017 4:06:20 GMT
I'm glad that you were able to raise close to what you raised last year. I'm sorry the participation was so low. Good luck with the other fundraising goals!
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 26, 2017 3:30:30 GMT
I would stalk craigslist. In our area we have tons of machines, not that specific one, but 12 Pfaff machines and tons of others.
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 23, 2017 4:39:12 GMT
I've never done it, but it seems to always get pretty good reviews on the disneyland planning groups on facebook.
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 19, 2017 17:48:41 GMT
Our photos are a fundraiser for the PTA. We have a professional photographer that comes in and takes all the pictures Preschool-8th grade over three days. They have used him the three years we've been there and as far as I know longer than that. The photos are taken outside with a neutral plants background. He takes at least 4 pictures per child. You get the proofs and then you can order the package you want. They are a little pricey, but like I said it is a huge fundraiser for the PTA, so I'm okay spending it. And the photos are beautiful!
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 19, 2017 4:11:34 GMT
It's going to depend on the realtor and what's going on with you when and if you sign a contract with your buyers' agent. Sometimes I have people sign a contract early on and sometimes I have them sign when I write the offer (I never write an offer without a contract because of the laws in my state. It's the most protection for my clients at that stage.) Yes, you can work with both and say "first to find the right house gets the sale" but only if you are open and honest with both. It will make it a little more complicated because you'll need to keep them both updated on what you've looked at so you are wasting time and effort on repeat houses. But like I said, please, please, tell them what you are doing. I would be very upfront with both of them. I really like the people that are selling our house, but I know they don't have the ins that the other realtor has in the market. We need to sell our house first. It will go on the market in March and then once it sells we can get serious about buying something else. |
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 19, 2017 3:55:55 GMT
Is it standard to sign an agreement with someone helping you buy a home? With our current home, we found the home on our own and just asked mil's friend to help with the facilitation. As far as I remember we never signed a contract with her.
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 19, 2017 0:53:42 GMT
I don't remember how dh found the realtor he used when buying the first place we bought. When we bought this house we used a friend on my mil, never, ever again.
This time around it is a little trickier. We have picked who we want to sell our house for us. But in the area we want to move to (10-15 minutes away), there is a different realtor I want to build a relationship with because their office sells a lot of houses without them ever going on the market. The people we are working with to sell our house work for a different real estate company that sells some houses in the area, but not nearly as many as the main company. Can we have both working for us and just buy from whoever brings us the house we end up with? Or is that unethical?
The market is super small and the price range is ginormous (ie. $40 million - 1.9 million). It is a very sought after school district and we love the community. So I want to maximize our options for finding something. But I want to make sure that I am not doing something "against the rules."
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 14, 2017 15:25:30 GMT
In the last 15 years, I have used a credit or debit card to pay for my gas every single time. I have never worried about someone accusing me of not paying for gas. That has never and will never cross my mind again after this thread. The only time I have ever kept the receipts was in high school my parents would reimburse me for all but one tank a month of gas. So I kept the receipts so I would get paid back.
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 13, 2017 19:05:08 GMT
I hear you!!! Normally I don't have much to deal with on the day to day. But there is a fire just off the road that I take 99% of the time to get from my house to anywhere. So the road is closed. There are two other ways to get down the mountain, on a good day one adds 10 minutes the other 20. I took the 10 minute one this morning to take the kids to school. Two different sections have lights set up due to road repair and are one-way traffic - one way at a time. Annoying, but fine whatever. An hour later when I was heading back home there was another new block set up for one-way controls and another one in process of being set up. 15 minutes after I got home I got a call from my daughter's school that I had to run back down. Normally it takes 20 minutes. With the two new controls took me almost 40 minutes.
Fingers crossed the fire is contained asap and life can get back to normal!
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 6, 2017 19:45:35 GMT
I'm understand your hesitation. I used a housecleaner that I should have let go far sooner than I eventually did because 1) I am also a softie and 2) the bottom line was that despite the quality of her work, she was honest and trustworthy and that was my number 1 priority when employing someone in my home. But I live in the Bay Area. I pay $130 a week for 2 ladies to clean my house~4500 square feet. I have no plans to let these two go, they are wonderful, but the 2 best ways to find a new housecleaner would be to put your feelers out via Facebook and see if local friends have recommendations. And/or if you use Next Door, request recommendations from members of your community. I went on Nextdoor to check for recommendations about an hour ago. She had responded 12 hours ago to someone else's request for recommendations! I am going to schedule estimates with a couple companies in the next week or so and in the mean time the cousin will keep doing my floors. |
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 6, 2017 18:41:38 GMT
Go to Thumbtack and get some quotes. You will find something much better for you. What you've got now sounds crazy! Just checked and the price range is $190-$305 a week. |
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 6, 2017 18:09:21 GMT
They do charge hourly when they do more than the regular weekly stuff.
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 6, 2017 17:39:18 GMT
I am confused. Are they charging a flat rate or a rate per hour? We were being charged $225 a week. When she went to that she gave me the option of doing that or paying $25 an hour/per person and her telling me the hours at the end of the day for payment the next week or just a flat $225. I went with the $225 because I didn't want to have to deal with it. She is now asking for $265 a week. Which in theory works out to $30 an hour since a number of hours isn't changing. To answer a few questions. We live in the "Bay Area" but slightly rural. So it was nice having someone close by that could do it and wasn't having to drive up to us. I know I could ask on our local email group for recommendations and get someone else. It was mostly not wanting to have to deal with it. I agree that they have been taking advantage...I'm a softie. The cousin babysat my youngest this morning and we talked some more about it. And she agrees that it isn't right and she is totally okay with me telling the main lady that we don't need them anymore. She (the cousin/babysitter) said she would be happy to continue doing my floors and changing my sheets (I'm 12 weeks pregnant and our Cal King bed is a pain in the rear to change the sheets on). And I am more than happy to pay her to do it. Working on drafting the email! |
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 6, 2017 4:56:46 GMT
Our cleaning ladies (two cousins - late 50s/early 60s) started in August 2014. When they first started it was going to be just one of them and she quoted me "$22.00 an hour or the flat rate is $120.00 which at 5 hours works out to $24.00 an hour." Even before she started she decided it was better if her cousin helped her, because she has a bad back and we have a pretty big house, but said she would still charge the same rate.
We were gone Dec 16 - Jan 2, 2015 and came home to a bill for 40 + hours. They had asked if there were extra projects they could do while we were gone and they did a fantastic job - but I freaked a little bit when I came home to that. And at the same time she upped their rate to $25 an hour.
A year in, August 2015, she said it was taking them longer than before so it was going to be $225 a week.
December 2015/January 2016 came home from the holidays to a bill for 65 hours and horrible floors. They had tried some sort of treatment on our matte hardwood floors that turned them shiny and they looked horrible! But I didn't want to deal with paying them to try to fix it so I just paid the hours and let it go.
In March 2016 we moved from our bottom level up to our top level. Essentially closing off the bottom 2,500 sq ft. So they no longer had to do 3 bedrooms and a bathroom down there. I asked if the rate would change since they were doing a lot less. She told me no. I let it go because I had a newborn and in theory, they do a pretty good job, and it wasn't worth losing them over at the time.
In July we were away again for a couple weeks and she decided to try to "fix" the floors and I came home to another 40+ hour bill and the floors look better, but they aren't back to what they were before.
Since then the main lady's ability and health have been declining. Numerous hospitalizations - for sickness and back/pain issues. She works much slower and she has had her cousin take over more and more of the duties. She is down to just doing the kitchen and 2 bathrooms. One of the bathrooms the toilet gets used maybe once a day along with the sink, but the shower/bath never gets used - so doesn't take much. The other bathroom has a shower, toilet, and one sink.
So last week I come home to a note saying "hope back to school is going well and our rate is going up $40 a week." I know it takes them less than 4 hours a week. I have come home before after 2.5 hours and they are already gone. I am sure that sometimes it takes closer to 5 hours, but often it takes a lot less. Her cousin was here babysitting my youngest (she is wonderful, my kids love her, and she does a great job with them). And I read her the note, the look on her face told me that she was surprised. She said that her cousin had mentioned it and that she had told her that they were already probably charging me too much and that she didn't feel right upping the price.
I'm torn, we can afford it, but the principle of it annoys me. Yes, it is taking her longer, but that is because of her choices (being told by her doctor to take 8-12 weeks off after surgery and only taking 4 and then having to have the surgery again because she overdid it).
At this rate it would be cheaper for me to pay her cousin to do the 4 hours she does and then to babysit for 2 hours while I do the kitchen and bathrooms myself.
But I know that cleaning for me and for my mom (every other week) is her only real source of income and that things are tight.
My schedule has changed and I no longer have a set time that I am out of the house every week. So I need to get them to commit to a specific day and times (I used to be out of the house every M, W, F 8-3). We live 30 minutes from anything (they both live 10 minutes away). And I have a 17-month old that needs to nap.
Last bit - it's very possible that we are going to move within the next 4-6 months and will be putting our house on the market. Do I suck it up for the next 6 months and just plan to cut the ties when we move? Or do I end it now?
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 4, 2017 4:27:56 GMT
The day that someone finds out what sorority they have been matched with. |
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 4, 2017 4:26:02 GMT
I pledged in Texas where it was HUGE! I don't ever remember seeing any moms. We would find out early afternoon. Then there was a dinner that we all went to. And then all the new pledges went back to the house for a get to know you thing. While all that happened some of the older girls went to each pledges dorm rooms and put a "name" thingy on our doors. It was shaped like one of the sororities symbols, with the letters, and name on it. Super fun to come back to!
When we did initiation our bigs made us a basket and parents were asked to contribute at least a note to us, if not other stuff.
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 4, 2017 4:06:18 GMT
If you can find out what house something cute with the new letters on it would be awesome. Or each sorority has their own flower and colors that you could do flowers.
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 2, 2017 1:09:57 GMT
Can I hijack? Anyone got experience buying running shoes for different size feet? I need some but I hate trying to find shoes at the best of times, my feet are just fricking annoying lol. Nordstroms. Depending on the size difference. If you have at least a size different they (at least they have in the past) sold two different sizes. |
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 2, 2017 0:36:48 GMT
At around 2pm got up to 109F in my little area of Santa Cruz County. I think it was even hotter in the SC mountains. It's cooled down to 94F at almost 5pm. We live on the coast and aren't supposed to need A/C. ETA: I have to make cookies for a BBQ tomorrow and I'm afraid to turn on the oven. I may make up the dough tonight and bake them off in the morning. It was 110 in Redwood City at 3:30. At 92 and Skyline it was 93. We have one portable AC unit and it isn't making a dent. My Laundry room is usually the coolest room in the house and it is 80. The main level of the house is at least 10 degrees warmer and our upper level (where the bedrooms are) is even warmer. |
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