Grades Are Important

Beth used to be a good student. She got good grades, and then came 8th grade. Suddenly she was barely passing some of her classes. Did my smart daughter suddenly become dumb? Did the schoolwork between 7th and 8th grade suddenly get harder? Her teachers all believed she could do much better, but she didn't seem to want to put forth any effort. Having friends and being popular seemed to be more important than doing her schoolwork. Every time we offered to help her, she made it clear that she did not want our help. Now I'm thinking that we probably should have done more. We kept trying to come up with the right incentive to get her to work harder, like the need for good grades so she could drive. That didn't work. Maybe we should have found her an innovative tutor who could have helped her, someone who could have made learning fun and engaging, something.

She's got two more years of high school. Maybe it's not too late. If only she could get excited about something besides hanging out with her friends. What about the rest of her life? We just can't convince her that what she does now will affect what she can do for the rest of her life.

Cell Phone Changes

You know how I was frustrated a while back because Beth was always running off with my cell phone and 'playing' with it? Now that phone is pretty much hers. Technically, the phone now belongs to both of the kids, but you know Beth has claimed it as her own. Still, if Cory needs a phone for any reason, that is the one he's going to take - unless, of course, Beth is out driving somewhere. I really don't want her driving without the phone - just in case something would happen.

Since Beth had done something to my cell phone, so that it was all chewed up and scratched up, we decided she would continue using that one, and I got a new one. I also got a new number because there aren't that many people who even know my cell phone number, but Beth's friends are always calling my old number. Somehow she forgot to mention that it was my phone and not hers. Anyway, I have a brand-new, unscratched phone, and a brand-new number all for me, and already today, I got a wrong number call. Oh well, at least it wasn't a call for one of Beth's friends.

I'm still not going to be happy if Beth is on the phone all the time. There's really no need. If calls at all hours of the night start showing up on the statement, no matter that they don't cost anything, she will not be taking the phone in her room at night. The first morning after she claimed it? She slept with the phone on the pillow next to her. Me thinks she's a little attached.

My Kids Call Me Cheap

Yes, they do - especially my daughter, and especially when she wants something or thinks she needs something, and I say NO. I'm good at saying no when it comes to money. I grew up poor, and it's still hard for me to spend money on anything we don't really need. Believe me, I can usually come up with a reason why we don't need something, too, and be able to figure out how we can live without it.

While Beth calls me cheap sometimes, she also seems to have a good understanding of the importance of handling money wisely. She is especially adamant about never wanting a credit card. Though it seems you need credit cards for certain things in today's society, and she'll probably end up having at least one, I hope she continues in her determination never to go into debt. We have started giving her money each month for her needs - clothing and health & beauty items - instead of just buying her what she needs. We opened a checking account for her, and she has a debit card to use. She really didn't want that to start with because, in her mind, it was too much like a credit card. When we explained that she only has that certain amount of money, and she can't spend any more than that, she felt better about it. She's been doing really well keeping track of the money in her account, though she does get her balance down pretty low by the time two weeks is up. (I deposit money into her account every two weeks.) Yes, cash would be better, but the checking account makes it easier for me. I don't always have cash on hand.

Once her balance gets low, if she wants something else before the next deposit, she has to do without a particular item of clothing that she wants because she doesn't have enough money to pay for it. So far she hasn't had to go naked or not been able to brush her teeth or wash her hair for lack of toothpaste or shampoo, and hopefully this is helping her learn some budget planning. She knows how much money she has and how long that money has to last, and has to make the appropriate decisions about what is important and what isn't. I think it's really important for her to learn this now while she's young so she doesn't get herself into financial trouble later on.

Cory's old enough for an account now, and I think it's about time for him to start handling his own expenses, too.

In Honor of Cory's 15th Birthday

I uploaded some pictures of my wonderful son and created a slideshow from them. I'm new to PhotoBucket so this is my first try. I was hoping to use more of the pictures in the slideshow, but they limit it. Ideally I would find pictures from each year of the boy's life and put a slideshow together with all of them so we can see how he's grown and changed, but that would mean I had to scan in some old pictures, and I would need to be able to use more pictures for my slideshow. Let's just say that he used to be much smaller! He's still the wonderful, loving, fun son he's always been. Now he's just taller than me. I'm really proud to know him!

2 Things

1. I hope I didn't treat my mom this badly. I seriously don't remember, but I don't even remember it being an option. Why is it an option here? How do I get her to be nice?
2. At least one kid loves me.
   

Paintball, Anyone?

The kids are getting older. We used to do all kinds of fun things together, but now they don't like the same old things. I think it's time for a new activity, and I'm thinking, "What about paintball?" I've seen it on television, and it looks like fun. You get to play with guns and shoot people, after all, and it's legal. I think we'll have to start someplace where we can try it for a while to see how much we like it. After that, it's time to get all our own equipment, right? First, we'd need some Spider paintball guns. The Spyder VS3 looks pretty deadly. It shoots up to 30BPS. Or we could start with the Spyder Pilot and get a whole package that includes a mask, battery, and spare parts kit to name a few of the things included in the box. I'm not really sure how to pick the best Spyder paintball guns, but I do believe the idea of buying a complete kit sounds like a good way to start.

I will have to browse around the site at Ultimate Paintball to see what looks good. They say that the Spyder Pilot ACS is one of their top selling guns, so that may be the way to go. But then again, I may find something I like better. Either way, Ultimate Paintball offers the best prices - and FREE shipping - so, if I'm going to be buying paintball equipment, from guns to safety gear to air systems to paintball tubes and paintball gloves (Wow! I'm gonna need a lot of stuff!) - they're the place to buy.

This post was sponsored by Ultimate Paintball, but they've asked to have all links removed.  If you're interested in any of their paintball equipment, I'm sure you can find them with an Internet search.

Cory Left Me

When I got out of the shower, I found a note on my computer. Cory ran off to the library while I was in the shower. I had already told him he could go, but it was very thoughtful of him to leave me a note. Besides, we've been struggling to get his sister to understand the importance of always letting us know where she is and who she's with, so it's good to see that at least one of the kids gets it. Anyway, people are supposed to come into the library today and play games - from noon to 2pm. Since I hadn't gotten in the shower yet, and wouldn't be ready to go, (since I hate going anywhere all scuzzy if I don't have to) I told him he should go anyway. It would be fun to play some games, but who really has time? I have way too many things to do, and I'm not getting them done - so I guess it wouldn't actually hurt anything to go play. Yesterday we went to the beach and just left everything. Cory took back the stuff that was due today, so I don't even need to run to the library today. We usually do go on Fridays. We're usually there at least twice a week - more if they get something in that we just can't live without.

Call Us

I think I mentioned that Beth is gone for the week. She went "Up North" with a friend. Our cell phone plan does not extend that far north. If she took one of our phones, which, at this time, would be mine, she may not even get a signal. If she did get a signal, every minute she used would be roaming, and that can cost plenty of money. So, we didn't send a phone with her. There is a land line in the cabin, and she was supposed to call Tuesday night when they got up there so we would have the number - just in case we would need to get in touch with her. She didn't call, until 6pm today, Thursday. All right, maybe she forgot. Then again, maybe it was a long distance call and she felt funny using their phone. Here is where a good online phone card would have come in handy. By using the phone card, she could have known that she (well, we) would be paying for the phone call. She could dial the access number and PIN and the minutes would be charged to the account. The rates are good, too - as low as 1.8¢ per minute. Pingo will even give us $5 in calls just for signing up - that can be up to 4 hours of international calls, because even the international rates are good. Not that we need international calling, but you never know.

Using Pingo sounds really simple, and we wouldn't even have to send an actual card along with Beth. All she'd need is the toll-free access number (so it wouldn't cost anything to call from any phone) and the PIN. I think it is a good idea for next time. The thing is, with this kind of call access, she'd be calling the boyfriend instead of calling us!

For more free call credit, users can create their own Usermercial, too.

This post sponsored by Pingo

She's Gone

Beth ran off and left us. She's going 'Up North' with Kayla and her family to play on the lake and go 4-wheeling in the mud and stuff like that. She won't be back until Sunday sometime. It's probably good for Kayla's family that the kids get to take a friend. They probably get less of the whining about being bored and such. How they could actually get bored, I don't know. It sounds like there is plenty to do, but I don't know if they have Internet at that cabin 'Up North' - and you know how important the Internet is to teenagers. Look who's talking. The Internet is pretty important to me, too.

Having Beth gone ought to save us some $$$, though. She's been running all over the place. Now that she can drive, she thinks that she should be able to go places all the time. Last week she wanted to see a movie with a friend, and we charged them money for gas. But, she has been running over to pick up the boyfriend multiple times. He's staying with a friend right now, and I had her check to see how many miles it was last night - she had to see him since she's going to be gone all week - and she said it was 10 miles. So, figure 10 miles there and 10 miles back, twice, since she picks him up, brings him here, and then takes him home after. That's 40 miles total and uses about 2 gallons of gas - that's $6! That girl had better get a job quick! She did have an interview at Culver's last week, so she's waiting to hear from them. Also, she's supposed to work a couple of weeks at the pizza place in Palmyra while her friend Alli is gone on vacation, covering her job. She had to go in for a couple of hours on Sunday to get trained there.

Besides just paying for gas and stuff she wants and wants to do, it will be good for her to have a job. She just doesn't seem to have anything else going in her life. The only thing she seems to care about is 'hanging out' with her friends. Nothing else matters. Nothing else is worth putting any effort into. It's really frustrating. Hopefully the incentive of being paid will at least give her a reason to do something. Also, it will keep her busy so she doesn't have so much time to just do nothing and complain about how there's nothing to do around here. Though, when I offer her things to do, she doesn't want to do that.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Disclosure Policy

Disclosure Policy
This policy is valid from July 1, 2007 (and updated 12/01/09)


This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I do accept forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions, free samples in exchange for my opinion, or other forms of compensation.

This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. I believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog, but the opinion will always be mine. If I don't like something, I will let you know or simply not talk about it - and definitely not recommend it.

I am compensated, and willing to be compensated, to provide my opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though I may receive compensation for my posts or advertisements, I always give my honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog may contain content which might present a conflict of interest. This content may not always be identified. I mark all my paid posts, whether just a link or a full review, with the month and year, (01/09, 02/09, etc.) I started doing that because Google was penalizing bloggers for accepting paid posts and being up front about it. Since then, they have completely taken my PageRank anyway, so I suppose it doesn't really matter any more, but it also gives me a good way to keep track of all paid posts each month. If you have a question about whether or not I have been paid to write about something, please ASK.


To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org