Living Successfully......Who Does That?

The other day I saw this reality show about this couple who were in financial trouble and were seeing a finance counselor. The counselor was explaining that the couple in the show were living "paycheck-to-paycheck". He went on to state that in order for a person to be considered "living successfully", they must be able to save a third of their paycheck comfortably. They must do this on a regular basis. A third?! Really?!

I thought we were living successfully because we have electricity, water and have not had anything repossessed....yet. I guess I was wrong. I don't see how anyone does. For example, if a person made a $1000 a month, he is supposed to put $333.33 a month away in savings in order to be considered successful. He just puts it away cause he doesn't need it. What? I guarantee that person lives with his mom and spends the other $666.66 on Wii games and pizza.

I don't know about you, but I got bills. Who doesn't?  We pay the bills and are responsible about them but stuff happens and sometimes it can get tight. Just last week our garage door spring snapped and the door was stuck in the down position. My husband thinks it had something to do with the kids hanging off the door while it was trying to open the other day. The bill was over $200! Kids are expensive.

It seems like every time we save a little bit, something happens. You might be wondering about our retirement savings. Never fear! We have a plan! Have you seen that new reality show "BBQ Pitmasters"? It is my new favorite show and it is all about these people traveling across the country competing in barbeque contests.

 

I LOVE barbeque! I am especially crazy about ribs. I could eat ribs all day!

Around our house we don't use no skimpy napkins when we eat our BBQ, we use whole towels. If you don't get it all over you while you are eating it, you are eating it wrong. So anyway, I have been paying close attention to the heating times, dry rubs, cookers used, and general methods of cooking ribs on the show. When the time comes to retire, we are going to sell our house and travel the country cooking BBQ! I would consider that living successfully. 





First Day of School

I have seen a lot of posts on Facebook with people worried about their kids and missing them on their first day of school. There are even a few people crying right along with their kids. That used to be me once but not anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids but I was so glad to drop them off at school last week.

-One reason is that I work Sunday nights and staying up all day on Mondays to watch my kids gets old quite quickly. Yes, this picture is of me.

-The second reason is that my house is a wreck. My kids are the messiest people on the face of the earth. Sometimes I will walk into a room and think "What happened in here?!" or "I don't even know what that is hanging from the ceiling fan." Picture of my house.

- The third reason I am glad they are back at school is that I am awful at teaching them anything. I bought this 1st grade workbook for Macey at the beginning of summer. I counted out the 200 pages and divided that by 8 weeks. I had a plan to cover so many pages a day and by the end of summer we were going to ready for 1st grade!!! Well, don't judge me but we completed about a third of the book before I gave up. At one point, during my "teaching" her that vowels had long and short sounds, I was poking at the cute cartoon drawings on the worksheet of April the Ape and Anna the Alligator with such force that my finger almost went through April the Ape's head. I had explained the different vowel sounds at least 20 different ways and had resorted to semi-screaming as if my child were deaf not just confused. I decided that I needed to stop before I shattered her love of learning in one summer. I am glad my Macey is back in school because I know someone at that wonderful establishment has the magic words to help her understand (without the need for cartoon animal beheading).

-The last and final reason I am glad they are back in school is that I LOVE their school, it has the best teachers and therapists! Chase has been there since the age of 3 with Autism therapy and I am nearly brought to tears every time I think of all the help and love he has received. Macey is doing very well there too. I know they are in good hands.

So don't judge me the next time you see me racing out of the school parking lot. I got my reasons.

Jury Duty

When a citizen of the United States registers to vote, they are automatically placed into a lottery of sorts. Your name can be drawn at any time, once a year for jury duty. My name has been drawn three times. The first time, I had a scheduled vacation so I got out of it. The second time I went, swore in and watched the video, only to be told an hour later that the case had been dismissed. I really feel they could have told me that in the parking lot before I walked into the court house. The last time was recently, and the case was not dismissed. Not only was it not dismissed but I was picked as one of the 12 jurors.

This picture is not an actual picture of the jury I was on, just thought I would add a picture for those of you who like pictures in your stories. I will not tell you any names or the nature of the case but I will tell you a little about my experience. First of all, the process of jury selection is a little stressful. Lawyers stand up there and stare at you and your peers with a clip-board in hand. They shake their heads and make faces. You feel like you are the one on trial. The thoughts that ran through my mind were "Maybe I should have worn something a little nicer than jeans.", "Is he frowning at me?", and "Is the fact that I am reading Harry Potter while waiting make me look immature?"

Then they made you raise your right hand and swear to abide by the rules of Mississippi, be fair and generally take the whole thing seriously. I raised my left hand at first and quickly switched to my right. That made me look real good. :s

The lawyer made me stand up because they read under my occupation status that I was a nurse and started grilling me about my experience in certain areas of nursing....in front of 100 potential jurors. The lawyer phrased questions to me in legal terms, at one point I had no clue what he had asked and had to get him ask the question again. I felt like I was being interrogated and my voice was shaking because frankly I was a little scared.

Then the judge asked if  anyone had any reasons why they couldn't serve and half the room stood up. I couldn't think of a good reason, I didn't have to work and I had family to watch my kids. Then they called my number and I was picked. I won't lie, I felt like I had won something. Pretty cool to get picked out of a group of people.

The whole experience was very interesting and slightly boring. For example, to be qualified as an expert witness in a trial, all of the person's credentials have to be explained and that can get old quite quickly. Their was a large sum of money involved so there were about seven expert witnesses. Both lawyers put A LOT of work into the trial and by the end I was very sure how I felt.  

Jurors are not allowed to discuss the case until the end so I was worried about how the other jurors felt. I was scared I was the only one who felt the way I did and what if it came down to my vote. Nine out of twelve jurors have to agree for a verdict to be given. What if I was the one who held the whole process up?

In the end we all agreed on the same decision. It was crazy because we all agreed within 5 minutes on the same verdict. I mentioned that maybe we should sit there for a minutes to give the appearance of contemplating ALL the evidence but no one seemed inclined to do that. We had already been there 4 days contemplating all the evidence. The verdict was given and it was over. I enjoyed it and wouldn't mind doing it again. I also am going to get a check for $30 a day. Not quite as much as I usually make but better than nothing. I met some great people too.  

So the next time you get that jury duty summons, go on up there and try it! You might like it.