1
I saw the FRG performance of Alice in Wonderland, Jr. last night. I really enjoyed it and my girls did wonderfully! I went alone last night so that I could figure out where to sit and which video camera to use to do the “official” video taping of the show for the theater. I’ll go to tonight’s performance as well (with Chief and TheBoy) to mostly just enjoy the show and then I’ll go on Saturday and Sunday to tape those performances as well. After that we will be editing the different tapings to make one good show and GuitarGirl will also make a “bloopers reel”. She’ll be teaching me how to use iMovie… finally! Once it is all edited, we’ll give a “final cut” to the theater. I hope it turns out! This is a first for me.
2.
It seems that the air conditioner in the truck is finally fixed! There were metal shavings in the orifice tube. Something all of the mechanics involved should have known to check for right in the beginning. Oh well, it’s fixed now and that makes me happy!
3
We are Chief is moving our things back out of the storage unit. Chief really wanted to not pay the rent, so he’s been cleaning out the attic space and making it usable for those things in storage. We thought we’d keep it one more month, but then the guy at the storage place lost his mind. You see, we got a late notice a couple of days ago. Except that our contract clearly states that our payment are due on the 19th of each month. It’s just now the 14! Chief went in to pay the bill and to point out the mistake and the guy yelled at him. “I don’t appreciate you accusing me of trying to rip you off!” Needless to say, Chief did no such thing. He just asked to get the late fee we don’t owe taken off. Chief reminded him that the did not say anything like that and asked again about the late fee. The man offered to “waive” the late fee… ummm no. He was going to waive the late fee, take our money and then expect another payment on the 6th of September. Chief told him that the plan he proposed was unacceptable because our months are from the 19th to the 19th. The guy was irate and wouldn’t budge… even though Chief showed him the contract. Weird. Why not just fix it in the computer? Suffice it to say that our unit will be empty before the 19th of this month. We’ve paid through then but will pay no more. Chief will be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and reporting it to the powers that be on Fort Hood (they look out for stuff like this to protect soldiers.)
I guess I’ll be complaining about the garage again for a while. *sigh*
UPDATE: The crazy guy called me today and said, “The boss-lady came in and looked at everything and it’s all fixed now, so you don’t owe until the 19th. Oh, and Mrs. M, I’m sorry about the *trouble*.” I wanted to call him on that, but figured, well, that might be the closest thing to a proper apology for abominable behavior that we’d get, so I just said, “Okay.” (yeah, i should have been more generous. and yes. he said “boss-lady”.)
And we’re still moving out before the 19th.
4
Since I reported successfully completing MissCreativity’s lesson plans for the whole year and getting all of her things printed and so on for the whole year, I’ve accomplished exactly nothing on the rest of the work I have to do for MissKaboom and GuitarGirl.
5
I bought the eBook, Simplifying Your Domestic Church. I need to simplify a lot more around here. I’ll let you know what I think.
6
We’re already experiencing “pay issues” due to the job move. The old company says they may have paid Chief double one pay period way back in when he was new with the company. Apparently they did that for some folks. We are certain that was not the case with us. Chief has checked his records and the records online. He notified payroll and the woman replied with, “You were hired before that mistake happened, so you must be responsible for that money.” Ummm, no. The company put it out that SOME people received it. We can’t find evidence of it. We want you to actually look in the file and see which group he’s in and make sure that our final pay does not get messed up. She simply looked at his hiring date. Ugh.
And it turns out the gov. will not pay Chief for an entire month. He’ll only get two weeks pay then, mind you. And that, my friends, is why we have savings! I just hate reversing things. Instead of putting things in, we’ll be taking stuff out. Oh well. It’ll smooth out again.
7
I don’t have any plans for how to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption tomorrow. I guess I’d better get on that.
Head over to Jen’s for more Quick Takes
Become What You Are 
The show was wonderful. Your girls were fantastic!
Thanks, KC. I thought I might write a more detailed post, with pics, just about the musical, but I just don’t feel like it yet. Maybe tomorrow. My kids were really excited to see your family there as well as the P. family.
Ian and I will be at the Sunday afternoon show. We bought our tickets a couple of days ago and Ian is super excited and so am I. 🙂
I’m excited, too! See you there (I’ll be working, but it’s all good!) I’ll bring your things (color me embarrassed.)
Also, if Ian is easily scared, well, GuitarGirl is pretty mean-sounding and, I think, a little scary (she is the Queen of Hearts, after all). please tell him she’s a really nice girl! 😀
Oh, the feast, yes, tomorrow….
Dawn, I think I love you. 😛
At least, you have it to take out. So many people don’t, through not fault of their own. Still, it must be frustrating. I hope that the company will be able to figure things out. So few support folks these days are willing to help. I wonder why this change.
Don’t misunderstand me. I am grateful to have money in savings to cover our expenses until regular paychecks begin again. I am also grateful that my husband is employed. It is frustrating anyway.
We have been the family with no savings. We’ve been the family with no retirement plan aside from Army retirement. We’ve been the family who have been so broke we barely made it each month. And then we made some decisions to change that and we sacrificed a lot for many, many years to make those changes.
Because we got such a late start, our retirement funds will be scanty at retirement. We’re relying a lot on savings in the future, so moving backward is a blow. (Quite frankly, by the standards of many, many others, our savings are still modest.) We are not saving for a vacation (though at some point we may take one) we are saving so that in our golden years we can still put food on the table. And we are subject to the same everyday issues as others… our cars will break down (see the a/c chronicles) and eventually the washer and dryer will have to be replaced. We are still feeding and clothing 4 kids and have to pay the electric like everyone else. We do know, however, that we are very blessed. We have everything we need today and even some of what we want.
We are not unsympathetic to those who have less. As a matter of fact, we are diligent to do our part to serve the poor with our finances. We tithe and give alms to support not only the Church and her work, but also those who serve the poor best. We have helped individuals in addition to all of that when they faced their own financial crises. We will continue to do so when these things come to our attention.
So yes, we know it could be worse. We’ve lived worse and this is still going to have an impact on us.