Show me the money

I am having a heck of a morning. Yesterday, I received a letter from the VA about my payment for the GIBILL for going back to school. It seems instead of asking me for an account to direct deposit the money into, they deposited it into an account I had 7 years ago, which I no longer have now. They told me this was done on the 19th. I called the bank and they told me that the VA did try to deposit the money on the 19th, but it was rejected the same day. Now I am on the phone with the VA again to find out where my money is. And of course wait time is approximately 25-30 minutes which usually turns into 45 minutes to an hour. I just don't understand businesses sometimes. If they deposited it and rejected it the same day, they should know. I have had this happen in the past where they tell me one thing, I follow up on it, have to call the business back and their like "oh, I see it now". Just do it right the first time. It's not like it's a thousand dollars or anything, only a couple of hundred dollars, but still, it is money that I need to pay bills. We'll see where this goes when they get back on the phone....in 30 minutes.

My daughter is having some little Thanksgiving party today at school, so I will probably work half day and go to it. We leave tomorrow after I get off work to head to the Father-In-Law's place for Turkey Day. Plan on coming back on Friday as I still have school work to do. This is my last week for this class. Next class will be in Jan. and I will be starting my English classes. I just recently took an English Proficiency Exam. I didn't do as well as I had expected. I was kind of nervous about it, so I googled it to see what it might include. I found a practice one through google, took it and scored 100%. I was like, wow, this is great. Went in to my school to take it, feeling confident, and it was nothing like what I just did. I scored 35/45 which is equivalent to 77.77%. I could take it again as they said we have two attempts. However, it did take me nearly 2 a/2 hours to take the test. Well, I was taking it at work, while I was working at the same time and it took awhile everytime I answered a question to upload the next one. The test didn't count towards my grade, so I was happy about that as well. I still have an A in this class. I think I am at a 96.5% right now.

Well, I am still on hold and feel like wrapping this up. Another week and a half until I head out to Germany.

18 Nov

Well, it is another hump day. It seems everyday this week has been long days. I had my root canal on Monday. It had been 5 years since my last root canal and I had forgotten how long it takes. I spent over two hours getting it done. They gave me the strongest medication they could to numb me and I still felt it. At least it is all over now. That was the last dental appointment that the military pays for, so now I can set up appointments with my regular dentist and start going through my insurance. This is actually the first time I have had dental insurance in years, so I can finally get some things done as long as I can afford the copays.

Next week is Thanksgiving and I will be going to the Father In Law's. I just replaced my tire this morning on my car and will be taking my other vehicle in for oil change and battery replacement. It seems like everytime I have a little bit of extra money, something happens and I need to pay for something, taking away all my extra money and sometimes additional. At least I am actually bringing in money now and can afford to pay bills though.

Friday, the kids bring home progress reports. The cool thing about this school district is they give us a website to go to and username and password for each kid that we can check on their grades as long as the teachers keep them current. My oldest son has all A's and B's for this quarter, but still needs to bring them higher to bring his semester grades up due to what he got for 1st Quarter. My younger son has a few grades below a B and still needs to bring his up. We'll just have to see on Friday when I get their up-to-date progress reports.

Only 2 1/2 weeks until I go to Germany. I am looking forward to it even if it is going to be cold as hell and possibly snow. I love going to Germany to sight see and stuff. I hate going to the same place twice, but I haven't had to worry about that yet. This is my third trip to Germany and third different location. I especially like going in December because of the Christmas Markets they have in the towns. It is nothing like here in the states. There, the townspeople all set up little booths in the middle of the streets to sell stuff and congregate with one another.

Well, I am almost finished with my second college course. I still have an A right now with 2 weeks left. I will start my next class in January. Everything with school seems to be doing fine and is pretty simple as long as all the deadlines are met. I am still waiting for another college to transfer my credits over and then I will know how much longer I have to go. I was originally told I would only need to do about a year and a half to get my Bachelor's Degree after all my credits were transferred, but I want to see them transferred to make sure. We'll see.

I hope this week picks up and goes faster. I think it is the medication from the root canal that is making me tired and makes the time go slower. But I need them for the pain. Until next time.

Monday blues

I had my daughter's fifth birthday this past weekend at Schnepf Farms. It cost me a lot less than what I had figured, but that is also because I had a lot less people show up than expected. Oh, well, she still had fun.

Of course for the last few weeks, for some reason, I check all 4 of my tires on my car to make sure they are good. See I got this car from my Mother In Law last year who told me all the tires were new. However, the tread looked good, but the sides looked cracked. It was all from tire rot because it sat and didn't get used much from the time she had replaced the tires. So over the course of the past year, I have had to replace three of the tires so far...until Saturday. When we were leaving my daughter's birthday party, I checked all 4 tires and they were good. As I neeared the street to start heading home, my sister pulls alongside to let me know I had a flat. Of course I couldn't afford it as I had just put my account into the negative just to pay my daughter's birthday party. So my Brother in Law and I drove to a gas station and got some fix-it-flat. Came back, filled it up, and it worked. Drove home and everything was fine. I even went to the gas station after that to put more air in the tire and it was fine. However, later that night, I cam out to check it and it was flat. So, yesterday morning, I put the spare on it and had noticed it had a hole in it on the inside of the tire. So, I am driving on a spare until later this week when I can get another tire. Oh, well, at least all 4 should not give me a problem for a while.

I go today to the dentist again for my last little appointment that the military is paying for. I get the privilege of having a root canal done today. After that, I will begin setting up appointments with my dentist under my dental insurance to begin getting other things done. I am just so happy that the military finally paid to get some of it done, as that will be a lot less that I have to pay for.

I will be heading up to the Father In Law's house for Thanksgiving next week. I love going up there as Thanksgiving dinner consists of no turkey and all steak. It is a great break from the city life as well as he lives in a small town and lives on 40 acres. I know it will be colder up there though. I think this week alone we will be in the mid 70's. Up there it is more like 50's. Well, that's all I got today.

Veteran's Day

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, and as a Veteran, I ask that everyone takes a moment of silence to for those that have sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Everyone has had a relative or known someone in the military at one point in their life. Whether you believe in the causes or the wars that they have fought in or not, they were there to give you the freedom to make your own decision. It is one day that they deserve. I mean after all, not only is just about every month deicated for what use to be minorities, but veterans only get a day.

I can sit here and preach about it all day. Even though there are some restaurants out there that are supporting the veterans, it is not worth it to me. It is not only the veteran that has sacrificed, it is the veterans family as well. Why give a free meal on a day for a veteran and not their family? Why offer a free meal on a day when over 200,000 veterans are deployed and can not take part? Why do we continue on our daily way with no thought of what they are doing for us?

Please, take a moment of silence for our military personnel and their families. Pray for their safe return and for their families. Thank you.

Blah

So I think I have finally reached that point in my life where I am like....BLAH. It is not mid-life crisis because I am not dying my hair or trying to look younger or buying sports cars (like I could afford it anyways). It is just everyday comes and goes and it is the same thing everyday. It is very similar to the movie GROUNDHOG DAY where I am doing the same thing over and over with different results. Maybe it is because I haven't drank in awhile.

I rented some movies earlier this week, but have only watched one so far. STAN HELSING is a movie from the producers of SCARY MOVIE. If you are not into stupid movies making fun of other movies, don't waste your time. I love parodies, but this one was extremely stupid. The last good one was DISASTER MOVIE. I also have ALIENS IN THE ATTIC, G.I.JOE, and two others to watch. Can't remember which ones right now. I should have them all watched by Saturday night.

My daughter will be turning 5 in 7 days. She is so spoiled. Her birthday alone is costing more than both of my boys birthday parties combined since birth. I will be leaving for Germany in Dec, so I can't wait for the change of daily pace. Nothing else to say right now.

Trick r Treat

Well, here are my munchkins before we went out. Of course the two older ones are Jason. One wanted to be Freddy but that movie freaks my wife out, so no one could be Freddy. My daughter is a little devil/angel, and yes, it does fit her. Kids made out good for Halloween. I go in tomorrow for a root canal, so we'll see when I post next. Until then.

Tomorrow is candy day

Today is my wife's birthday. She turns 33 today, so make sure you call and wish her Happy Birthday. Tonight we have a birthday party to go to and the kids are excited because they get to wear their costumes. Maybe I can get a picture of all 3 of them and post it here. Tomorrow is candy day, but with my 2nd child and I having recently had 4 teeth pulled each within the past couple of weeks, don't know what we'll be able to eat. I still can't eat chips or anything hard and crunchy. My teeth are still sensitive. So, I have actually dropped 5 lbs since having my teeth pulled last week.



I go in on Monday for a root canal. I am hoping it all goes well or maybe get some more pain killers. Classes are going ok and I just finished my first class on Monday with 100%. This second class isn't going so well as I just took a test yesterday and got an 80%. Oh, well, 4 more weeks to go. Plenty of time to bring up the grades.



Well, that is it for now. Sure has been getting cold lately. At least my electric bill will be lower for the next couple of months.

Ouch

It's been 5 days since I had my wisdom teeth removed an I have been feeling it these past couple of days. It almost feels like they removed the teeth, but left a root still there. Maybe that is why I have an appointment Monday for a root canal. I'm almost out of my pain medication so I hope it will be fixed Monday or at least give me more pain killers.

Just a few more days until Halloween. Not really doing anything too exciting. Have a Birthday party for a friend's daughter on Friday night. Saturday, we'll just take the kids around the neighborhood. I have drill the following weekend. I am so tired right now and I hope I can start catching up on sleep soon. I've been getting maybe 5-6 hours a night, but apparantly I need to start getting more as I am getting sleepy driving home and all day at work. Of course, it probably is the medication I have been taking as well.

Christmas is not that far off and I have been looking at what gifts I want to pick up as soon as I have money to do it. Of course I am also always dreaming I had money and looking at big screen tv's and stuff. I want to get a larger tv since all we have is a 28". I also need a new dvd player and everything I look at has different connections than our tv takes. Sometimes I hate when technology updates because you have to buy everything new. I am also hoping to save money or get a lot back during tax season so I can buy some computers. I am thinking of getting two desktops and a laptop all with windows 7. That way my kids will leave my laptop alone and there will be more than one computer for them to play on. I guess we'll just wait and see. Well, enough sleep typing now.

Another year

Yup, another year to go. Not to get to anything, but just to get to. Just celebrated the 4 birthdays yesterday, mine, my wife's, my son's, and my daughter's. I think they all liked what they had gotten. My wife got a coffee pot and a lot of gourmet coffee's. My son racked in the Bakugan gifts. My daughter, well with her, she loves whatever she gets. Me, I am just like a lot of people around my age these days. It just doesn't matter, take care of the kids.

Had three wisdom teeth and a molar extracted last friday. Doing better. Have another appointment next Monday for a root canal. My son goes in again in two weeks to get Spacers put in. I have my wife set to go in for exam, x-ray, cleaning. Now that I have insurance, I am trying to use it to keep us all healthy. Just applied for medical and food stamps again and I am waiting to see if we get approved. Personally I think we should, but we'll see.

Halloween coming up on Saturday. Not really excited about that. November around the corner and Thanksgiving on the way. We will be going up to the Father-in-Law's for Turkey Day this year. Good thing is it will be a cowboy thanksgiving. That means no turkey....steak and potatoes. Well, we'll see what this week has in store for us. Until next time.

Take the good with the bad

Well, last Friday it seemed I was getting nothing but good news. However, no following that comes the not so good. I am just finishing up with my first class in college and have found out that it has not been paid yet and there has been no response to get the next class paid for using the Tuition Assistance through the military. I found out today that as of 08 Oct, the office is closed until further notice due to contractual obligations. As I sit here and think "what contractual obligations", a few things come to mind. First, it is a new fiscal year, maybe they are just getting the budget organized. Second, well the Post 9-11 GI BILL is barely beginning to start getting to people since earlier this year. So I sit here and ponder how I am going to continue with school. I am still waiting for a response from my financial advisor as I do not want to do financial aid since I no longer have the student loan repayment program since I took this civilian job. The only thing I am waiting on is to see if I was approved for the Pell Grant which would pay for the next class and hopefully hold up until the Tuition Assistance starts back up again.

That and my car is acting up again. It is always something. Everytime I get ahead or caught up, something wants to come around and knock me down.

My middle child had 4 teeth pulled yesterday and is doing fine. No complaining at least. I have an appointment on friday for exams and x-rays. I am told I have three appointments at 3 different places. One for extractions (3 wisdom teeth and a molar), one for a root canal, and one for restoration. Well, the Army is paying for it, so I'll be there. After that, I can use my regular dental insurance to cover anything else.

So as you can see, I am a prime example of taking the good with the bad. So the next time something good happens to you, keep an eye out for what is around the corner.