Finding time for Me
So things have been there usual up and down... Sometimes it feels like you can never get ahead as to no matter how hard you work, no matter how hard you try to always do the right thing, there is something that always pops up and punches you back down on your ass.
My preschool is going well. I have room for one more on Wednesdays and Thursdays only but that's not too big of a deal as one of my part timers my be taking at least one of those days. I think we have finally found the perfect mesh of kids & parents. I recently had to talk with one mom about how I didn't think her daughter was quite ready for preschool yet. I think I need to update my ad because I don't think its clear enough that I am providing preschool but instead of a half day/few hour schedule, its for full childcare type hours and that's not just childcare, its preschool. I know when I was working out of the home, it was a huge relief that my mother-in-law was able to take my daughter to her half day preschool for us since I couldn't being at the office. And I think that is something they can really use down here for the parents who would like their child to be in an actual preschool environment but are not capable of taking their child for a few hours in the middle of the work day to a preschool. But as I was saying, I was dreading this talk with this mom as there are a lot of parents who just seem to put their children on pedestals and think that they can figure out how to write their names, do worksheets, count and color within the lines or use scissors even though their child cannot say a complete sentence yet and still eats color crayons. But thankfully this mom was not like that. I think she was on the same page that her daughter just wasn't quite ready for preschool, maybe in a year or two, but not right now. So that turned out to be a sigh of relief that she understood it just wasn't a good fit right now. And I actually already filled the spot! So its a good group now and things are going smoother with it- Its just makes for long days (12 hours) 5 day a week and with Jayden here every other weekend, I am literally going 12 days straight with some one else's kid(s) here at a time before I get one weekend with just me and my kids...
So I was audited a little while ago for my 2006 state income taxes. That was the last year that I filed my own taxes as the next year I had a dependent to claim and didn't want to screw anything up. Well, I put the wrong adjusted amount in the wrong box apparently and actually ended up owing what i had received as a refund. No big deal as I agreed with what they said I owed, especially after I went back and recalculated my taxes that year, and it was all due to a simple human error on my part. Well I called numerous times about setting up payments because I just couldn't afford to pay it all in one lump sum, but every time I called my account was under review in one department and I had to wait for it to move to another to set up the payments, so in the mean time I was just making payments every month (with interest). Well, today I received a text alert from my bank saying that my account was at zero balance so I immediately jumped online and it was showing a hold on the balance of my account (which is why it looked as though I had a zero balance) and so I called and the bank told me that it was because the State Dept of Revenue had put a levy on my account for the balance I owed them plus my bank was now charging me a fee for them to process the levy which was almost twice as much as what I still owed to the state! So I called the bank first because all it said online was that there was a hold but I couldn't tell why and thats when I found out about the levy and I flipped because they were charging me this additional fee too and I wasn't even informed that they were even going to put a levy on there- I told them that by them charging me a fee without atleast giving me some sort of notice before hand was no difference than someone taking money out of my account without my permission which is the same as theft. They wouldn't budge so I call the Dept of Revenue and at this point I was in tears. I had called numerous times about setting up and doing payments because I couldn't afford the lump sum and was doing the payments with interest every month and then they put this levy on there causing another fee that was almost double of what I still owed- I felt defeated and beaten because I had done as I was supposed to. I stayed in contact, I made the payments, it wasn't like I denied owing anything, I knew I had screwed up and made an error in my calculations and had no issue that I owed, I just couldn't pay it in one lump sum and now I have a hold put on my bank account and funds being taken out of there totalling almost 3 times the balance due. My husband just kept whispering to calm down as I sat on hold for the rep who was helping me to look into it. I was so upset, I cried, I wanted to punch someone who worked for the bank, angry because I was doing everything right and I was still getting pounded down. Then I got in touch with my angel, Sonya! She pulled up my history and was able to see all the calls I had made to set up payments and how I had been doing payments every 2 weeks-a month to pay off my balance due and she was honest with me and said that she had no idea why they put the levy on my account and even though the dept of rev couldn't not dissolve the fee the bank charge me for the levy, that she was going to send in an erroneous letter to the bank saying that the dept of rev screwed up and put the levy on there by mistake and request that they refund me the fee. Now I just have to call the bank tomorrow and follow up and see if they will refund me the fee. If they refuse I will be leaving them and I promise I will tell everyone I know not to do business with them and why. I don't know how I am going to handle it if they refuse though. The whole ordeal just put a huge damper on my mood though....
Sunday I got to have a "me" day. I don't know how long its been since I have truly gotten to have a full on "me" day last. The kids let me sleep in a little bit. My husband had to work so it was just me and the kids. We got up and had cereal with weekend cartoons and afterwards we went upstairs and I turned on spiderman in my room for Mikey to watch while Lily played in her jumper and Paxston hung out with me while I dyed my hair. It was supposed to come out an auburn red color but ended up more of a light brown so I am going to redo it but it was a nice change. And then I cut my bangs and finished cleaning up just in time for my husband to get home so I could go shopping for some new clothes with my mom. I am in between sizes from the baby weight so that I don't have anything that fits right anymore to the point that its making me very depressed and self conscience. So we went to the mall and I found a couple of pairs of jeans. Isn't it amazing how sizing can be so different between brands? One pair is size 9 the other size 5 and the 5's are loose on me...Oh well... Afterwards my mom treated me and we went and had mani-pedi's done. That was so wonderful. The last time I remember I got to have a manicure was for my wedding over 2 years ago. I SO want one of those chairs they have with the massage and the foot spa- blissful! When we were done we went over to Native New Yorker and had a late lunch/early dinner, followed by a couple of stops to target and petco. I picked up Taco Bell on my way home for Mike and the kids and came home and just relaxed with them. Such a real treat of a day!
My husband just got back Thursday from spending 2 weeks in Colorado. They wanted him to stay, as in us move there but that's not really an option for us right now with our lives. So instead they are going to have him come back out again for at least another 2 weeks. Yay! (sarcasm) I love the extra income, but hate everything else about him being gone. Its hard keeping up with everything on my own and my insomnia always kicks in really bad when he is gone. We are just waiting to see what day they are wanting him to fly out again... I think I will host another mom's night in when he goes as it would be nice for some adult conversation since he won't be here. I am worried about how it may affect my son's birthday as to whether he will be here or not. He said that worse case scenario he will take his few days off that he gets while he is gone to fly back for Mikey's birthday and then head back.
So we have my son's birthday coming up. I can't believe my little man is going to be 4! He says he wants to have a Mario Bros. party. So I figured I can bake a cake and shape it as the mushroom Mario gets to grow big (the red mushroom with white spots). And he says he wants a pinata so I think I am going to make one that is shaped like the gold box that Mario jumps up and hits for coins and I can fill it with the chocolate coins in the gold wrappers so it would be just like in the game when the box is hit by the kids trying to break it open. He just loves Mario so much. I think he did have a small influence on Mike's early Christmas present to himself.
Today Mike had his present dropped off. He found a guy online selling a Nintendo VS. unit. That is one of those stand up old school arcade games, and the Nintendo VS. allows you to change out the game cartridges so you can play multiple different games on the one machine. It even has the slots for quarters (but its set up so you don't have to pay to play). Cool thing is that it is blue so it matches with our family room decor. Its right against the wall next to our bookshelf & tortoise tank. Mike and Mikey have been playing it since it was dropped off earlier this evening. They are so cute together playing it.
My preschool is going well. I have room for one more on Wednesdays and Thursdays only but that's not too big of a deal as one of my part timers my be taking at least one of those days. I think we have finally found the perfect mesh of kids & parents. I recently had to talk with one mom about how I didn't think her daughter was quite ready for preschool yet. I think I need to update my ad because I don't think its clear enough that I am providing preschool but instead of a half day/few hour schedule, its for full childcare type hours and that's not just childcare, its preschool. I know when I was working out of the home, it was a huge relief that my mother-in-law was able to take my daughter to her half day preschool for us since I couldn't being at the office. And I think that is something they can really use down here for the parents who would like their child to be in an actual preschool environment but are not capable of taking their child for a few hours in the middle of the work day to a preschool. But as I was saying, I was dreading this talk with this mom as there are a lot of parents who just seem to put their children on pedestals and think that they can figure out how to write their names, do worksheets, count and color within the lines or use scissors even though their child cannot say a complete sentence yet and still eats color crayons. But thankfully this mom was not like that. I think she was on the same page that her daughter just wasn't quite ready for preschool, maybe in a year or two, but not right now. So that turned out to be a sigh of relief that she understood it just wasn't a good fit right now. And I actually already filled the spot! So its a good group now and things are going smoother with it- Its just makes for long days (12 hours) 5 day a week and with Jayden here every other weekend, I am literally going 12 days straight with some one else's kid(s) here at a time before I get one weekend with just me and my kids...
So I was audited a little while ago for my 2006 state income taxes. That was the last year that I filed my own taxes as the next year I had a dependent to claim and didn't want to screw anything up. Well, I put the wrong adjusted amount in the wrong box apparently and actually ended up owing what i had received as a refund. No big deal as I agreed with what they said I owed, especially after I went back and recalculated my taxes that year, and it was all due to a simple human error on my part. Well I called numerous times about setting up payments because I just couldn't afford to pay it all in one lump sum, but every time I called my account was under review in one department and I had to wait for it to move to another to set up the payments, so in the mean time I was just making payments every month (with interest). Well, today I received a text alert from my bank saying that my account was at zero balance so I immediately jumped online and it was showing a hold on the balance of my account (which is why it looked as though I had a zero balance) and so I called and the bank told me that it was because the State Dept of Revenue had put a levy on my account for the balance I owed them plus my bank was now charging me a fee for them to process the levy which was almost twice as much as what I still owed to the state! So I called the bank first because all it said online was that there was a hold but I couldn't tell why and thats when I found out about the levy and I flipped because they were charging me this additional fee too and I wasn't even informed that they were even going to put a levy on there- I told them that by them charging me a fee without atleast giving me some sort of notice before hand was no difference than someone taking money out of my account without my permission which is the same as theft. They wouldn't budge so I call the Dept of Revenue and at this point I was in tears. I had called numerous times about setting up and doing payments because I couldn't afford the lump sum and was doing the payments with interest every month and then they put this levy on there causing another fee that was almost double of what I still owed- I felt defeated and beaten because I had done as I was supposed to. I stayed in contact, I made the payments, it wasn't like I denied owing anything, I knew I had screwed up and made an error in my calculations and had no issue that I owed, I just couldn't pay it in one lump sum and now I have a hold put on my bank account and funds being taken out of there totalling almost 3 times the balance due. My husband just kept whispering to calm down as I sat on hold for the rep who was helping me to look into it. I was so upset, I cried, I wanted to punch someone who worked for the bank, angry because I was doing everything right and I was still getting pounded down. Then I got in touch with my angel, Sonya! She pulled up my history and was able to see all the calls I had made to set up payments and how I had been doing payments every 2 weeks-a month to pay off my balance due and she was honest with me and said that she had no idea why they put the levy on my account and even though the dept of rev couldn't not dissolve the fee the bank charge me for the levy, that she was going to send in an erroneous letter to the bank saying that the dept of rev screwed up and put the levy on there by mistake and request that they refund me the fee. Now I just have to call the bank tomorrow and follow up and see if they will refund me the fee. If they refuse I will be leaving them and I promise I will tell everyone I know not to do business with them and why. I don't know how I am going to handle it if they refuse though. The whole ordeal just put a huge damper on my mood though....
Sunday I got to have a "me" day. I don't know how long its been since I have truly gotten to have a full on "me" day last. The kids let me sleep in a little bit. My husband had to work so it was just me and the kids. We got up and had cereal with weekend cartoons and afterwards we went upstairs and I turned on spiderman in my room for Mikey to watch while Lily played in her jumper and Paxston hung out with me while I dyed my hair. It was supposed to come out an auburn red color but ended up more of a light brown so I am going to redo it but it was a nice change. And then I cut my bangs and finished cleaning up just in time for my husband to get home so I could go shopping for some new clothes with my mom. I am in between sizes from the baby weight so that I don't have anything that fits right anymore to the point that its making me very depressed and self conscience. So we went to the mall and I found a couple of pairs of jeans. Isn't it amazing how sizing can be so different between brands? One pair is size 9 the other size 5 and the 5's are loose on me...Oh well... Afterwards my mom treated me and we went and had mani-pedi's done. That was so wonderful. The last time I remember I got to have a manicure was for my wedding over 2 years ago. I SO want one of those chairs they have with the massage and the foot spa- blissful! When we were done we went over to Native New Yorker and had a late lunch/early dinner, followed by a couple of stops to target and petco. I picked up Taco Bell on my way home for Mike and the kids and came home and just relaxed with them. Such a real treat of a day!
My husband just got back Thursday from spending 2 weeks in Colorado. They wanted him to stay, as in us move there but that's not really an option for us right now with our lives. So instead they are going to have him come back out again for at least another 2 weeks. Yay! (sarcasm) I love the extra income, but hate everything else about him being gone. Its hard keeping up with everything on my own and my insomnia always kicks in really bad when he is gone. We are just waiting to see what day they are wanting him to fly out again... I think I will host another mom's night in when he goes as it would be nice for some adult conversation since he won't be here. I am worried about how it may affect my son's birthday as to whether he will be here or not. He said that worse case scenario he will take his few days off that he gets while he is gone to fly back for Mikey's birthday and then head back.
So we have my son's birthday coming up. I can't believe my little man is going to be 4! He says he wants to have a Mario Bros. party. So I figured I can bake a cake and shape it as the mushroom Mario gets to grow big (the red mushroom with white spots). And he says he wants a pinata so I think I am going to make one that is shaped like the gold box that Mario jumps up and hits for coins and I can fill it with the chocolate coins in the gold wrappers so it would be just like in the game when the box is hit by the kids trying to break it open. He just loves Mario so much. I think he did have a small influence on Mike's early Christmas present to himself.
Today Mike had his present dropped off. He found a guy online selling a Nintendo VS. unit. That is one of those stand up old school arcade games, and the Nintendo VS. allows you to change out the game cartridges so you can play multiple different games on the one machine. It even has the slots for quarters (but its set up so you don't have to pay to play). Cool thing is that it is blue so it matches with our family room decor. Its right against the wall next to our bookshelf & tortoise tank. Mike and Mikey have been playing it since it was dropped off earlier this evening. They are so cute together playing it.
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