The Sewing Mom

It’s been 2 weeks today since my husband left on his business trip to the Orient.  I think he’s visited 7 cities on countless plane rides, car rides, and cabs.  He visited 12 different manufacturing plants and met so many people he lost track.  He hasn’t been able to get on his computer email except for a few times so has had to rely heavily on his Blackberry.  Thank goodness he has his Blackberry!  Email is really the only way we’ve been able to stay in touch over the last two weeks.

 He did call us once last week and it was great.  Amazingly, my daughter and I went out to eat dinner tonight and I was thinking about him because I knew he was back in Hong Kong getting ready to start his trip back home.  I had my daughter text message him while we were waiting for our food.  I left my phone laying on the table and amazingly, he called.  It’s a good thing it was laying in front of me because it was so loud in the restaurant that I would’ve never heard it ring otherwise. 

He had just cleared security at Hong Kong’s airport when he got our text msg., so he called us to let us know he was all checked in.  His flight out of Hong Kong should be leaving in about a 1/2 hour and he will be en route for another 17 hours before we see him at the Dallas airport tomorrow.  I’m glad he’s on his way, it’s been a long two weeks!

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We have friends who I believe are hurting from poor financial decisions which have resulted in them now having bad credit and they need to find a way to repair the damage. I know they have had a tough time with divorce and job loss, but still, poor decisions have been made along the way too.

One of the biggest mistakes I believe they made was taking out an interest only mortgage loan on their condo. Interest only means only one thing, no equity. So now that they are trying to sell it and the market has slowed, they are ending up owing more than it is worth. This is not good in any situation.

They would definitely benefit from a resource that could help them get back on their feet and repair their credit. Perhaps they could even refinance with a more conventional home loan so they could start building some equity even in a slumping market. I’m sure that some credit counseling wouldn’t hurt either.

Whatever they do, I hope they’ve learned and don’t let it happen to them again.

Technorati Tags: bad credit, credit counseling

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Shew!  My little puppy Plinko came in this afternoon after spending some time outside and she was limping!  She was holding her back leg completely off the ground and not walking on it at all.  She wasn’t whining though so I figured at least it wasn’t broken!  I just had no idea what was wrong.

So, I sat on the floor with her and tried to look at her foot.  Now, this isn’t as easy as it sounds because when ever you sit with her, she just wants to bite on you and play.  Luckily one of her chew bones was laying there so I kept putting it in her mouth to keep her busy while I tried to check out her foot and leg. 

I started my massaging her leg from the hip down so I could feel for any lumps or tender spots.  In between biting me and the bone, I didn’t find anything.  I moved slowly down towards her foot and the closer I got to her foot the more she started biting on me instead of the bone.  When I reached her toes she started biting me and her toes.  This was my sign that the problem was something to do with her toes.   This is also when I’m thankful she has short hair, it makes it easier to see if there is a problem, not having to look through all the hair.

I was able to separate her toes and found what was either a very small thorn or a dead fire ant.  With as many fire ants that are around right now I’d guess that’s what it was.  Once I removed it from between her toes and I continued to massage her foot and toes and she lessened the amount she was biting on me and after a few minutes was up and walking on her foot as if nothing had happened.  I was so thankful as I didn’t want to have to call the vet, that would’ve been expensive I’m sure!

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I was at my daughter’s elementary school this morning to give my presentation and the only electronic device I needed was a T.V. and a dvd player, electronics that I do know how to use! I was told it would all be ready for me, but when I got there it wasn’t in the room. So, I had to go in search of the equipment. I went straight to the tech. person at the school and she told me to utilize the “media cart” in order to play my dvd. This required plugging the cart into an electrical outlet as well as plugging the onboard computer into a computer outlet (sorry for the lack of tech. terms!).

Anyway, my daughter and a teacher were helping me get it up and running thank goodness, and in the mean time, the school janitor showed up with a cart holding a T.V. and dvd player! We opted to continue on with the computer set up because it would show up on a larger pull down screen so it would be easier for the 75 students to see. So, we continued waiting for it to load. This seemed to take forever.

In the mean time I went ahead and began the speaking part of my presentation while my daughter and the teacher continued working with the Audio Visual Equipment and AV Installations and I watched them as I spoke, wondering if it would work. Finally, as I reached the end of my speaking part, a different teacher who was in the back of the room speaks up and says oh, the dvd won’t play in that due to the school’s firewall. OH? She couldn’t have told us that sooner to alleviate the hassle of trying to get this to work?!

Okay, thank goodness I had a backup with the T.V. and dvd player. We plugged it in and popped in the dvd and sure enough, the movie began to play. Other than a few sound issues, it worked just fine and the students enjoyed viewing it. The presentation overall was a success.

It’s at times like these though that I wish I knew more about technology. If I’m going to continue to make presentations like the one today and the ones I made earlier this week to the PTA and last week to the school principal, it’s nice to know how things work. It’s also a nice feeling to know that the audio visual equipment at school has been professionally installed. It’s interesting too because although I don’t know much about it, my 11 year old daughter is using this equipment at school all the time and is becoming quite capable at using it.  I think I’ll be relying on her help a lot in the years to come!

Technorati Tags: audio visual equipment

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The other day I was cooking dinner and used the last of my cumin spice.  I was about to put the empty tin can into the recycling when it dawned on me that they don’t make those little tin cans anymore.  I think my empty spice can is an antique!  Makes me wonder how long I’ve had it in my cupboard and how old was that spice.

I was flipping through a magazine this morning and I fount and interesting ad from the spice company that had manufactured my cumin.  In the ad it shows a small tin can, identical to the one I’m now showcasing with my other antiques.  In the ad, it states a very interesting fact.  It says the with the exception of black pepper which they still sell in tin cans, spices in rectangular tins are at least 15 years old!  AACKK! 

I think it’s time for me to go through my spice rack and get rid of all those old spices and get fresher ones!  Makes me wonder how much better my dinners will taste if I’m using fresher spices!

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Okay, now that I have all of the Destination Imagination presentations out of the way, at least for now, I just have to get everything ready for the team tryouts scheduled for Monday & Thursday of next week. I have thoughts about what I’m going to have the kids do, but I need to formalize my plan and make sure I have all the supplies ready to go. The teacher that is assisting me gave me some great improv ideas that I plan to use and it should be a lot of fun.

After next weeks tryouts what I’d really like to do and what I’m really going to be ready for is a spa break. I’ve been thinking about this for a while and am looking into Spa Breaks that provide basically everything for a weekend or longer of pure pampering. I really like the idea of getting a massage while drinking wine or even champagne and strawberries, all in the privacy of my own apartment.

I am definitely going to need some time away from all the kids (mine and those that belong to other people) after next week, so I think it would be cool to stay in an apartment versus a hotel. It’s more luxurious with everything like home except I don’t have to clean it! I think it would be fun to have my husband along too and we could both be pampered together! He’s coming back from a hectic 2 week business trip to the Orient and I know he’s going to be in need of some major relaxation. In the middle of some much needed “alone” time, I would have the highly trained professionals come to the apartment. They bring with them everything they need to help us relax. I think a nice thorough massage is what we both need to help us feel rejuvenated!

I’m off to plan my spa break!

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I’m really pumped up right now!  Maybe I shouldn’t be drinking this cup of coffee, I’m jumping out of my skin all ready! 

I just got home from my daughter’s school where I gave a short presentation to 75 6th graders about “what is DI”.  Reminder, I don’t like speaking in front of people, but they were pretty well behaved and really enjoyed watching the dvd of my daughter’s team performance from last year!  At the beginning of the presentation I asked how many of them planned on trying out and less than 10 raised their hands.  After watching the video I asked how many planned to attend tryouts on Monday and about 40 raised their hands!  AWESOME!!

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