Went to our little town today. Most of the few business we have here are owned by the same family--2 gas stations, grocery store, hardware store, newspaper, resturant and real estate office. He and his kids and their spouses manage them all with help from non related high school kids. I noticed a sign up the the 2 gas stations, grocery and hardware stores, as well as the resturant. They will be open regular hours on Thanksgiving. At the one gas station where I stopped, the help was complaiing-all the "family" members are off, only the non related high school help has to work. The do not get over time or holiday pay. One said if it were a school day he normally didn't come in until 4 p.m., but was scheduled 7-4 because it was not a school day.

Then I went to the next town over to get some things our town doesn't have. The grocery store there is open 6am-12pm tomorrow, along with most other businesses. Even Sonic had a sign up they were open regular hours.

I go to the grocery store there fairly often to fill in for what Aldi doesn't have. I said something to the owner/manager. He said he had so many people complain to him, he will not be open Christmas as a result. I also said something to the Sonic manager (had a craving for a route 44 cherry limade and he was the one working the drive thru). He said it was a corp office decision and stupid. He said last year they didn't even clear enough to pay the help.

The walmart in the city that we go to when we have to is open regular hours on all holidays.

All for the sake of the almighty dollar.

This has nothing to do with saving money, but possibly saving some lives and sanity.

A friend of mines grandchildren were kidnapped in June of this year. There have been amber alerts out, a just a couple of sitings in the beginning, but the trail has grown cold.

It will be aired on TV on Thanksgiving Day o the Maury Povich Missing Childrens show. Please watch it if you can. The 3 little girls are Grayson, Canon and Sawyer Brown. They were taken by a noncustodial parent and their spouse.

I am not sure if this link will work, but you can try

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011643&l=19b7c&id=1221346619

That is to my facebook album that has the kids pictures in it. I set that album to "public" so hopefully it will work.

I work with these kids grandpa at church camp every summer. He and his wife are worred sick. The man involved is dangerous and it is believed he has a gun with him.

I subbed again today. Upper math for the most part.
1st hour (wich was acutally called 5th block and was really 42 minutes long...) was a math class for the kids that the school considered to be drop out risks, or as one student put it, the future nobodys in life. I had 7 students in the class, all were very well behaved. They used a very good math book called "Life Skills Match". The book covers everything from how to balance a checkbook, paychecks and various taxes, how to double, trip or half a recipe, how to figure square footage to paint or carpet a room, loans, interest types, credit cards, mortgages...basically math for everyday living.

The 2nd class and 3rd class were also very well behaved, but were algebra/trig and calc students.

The 4th class was supposed to be the "school brains". This was an advance class that they are also getting dual college credit for. In this class wre the kids of several "upper class families and old money families". They were the rudest, foul mouthed senior brats I have ever seen or heard. One guy kept trying to unhook all the girls bras, and using "the word"--yeah, the BIG BAD word. (he ended up in the office). Then we had chair throwing, belching and farting contests/sex stories..... This was the class that had the guys with the letterman jackets, the cheerleaders... The ones that you would expect to go further in life because if nothing else they have more opportunities that they can afford.

In my opinion, the first class may go further in life.

Oh--the one that I sent to the office?? I was told there will be no punishment because he is starting in tonights basketball game...

I hear the teachers and administrations at various schools where I sub complain about these kids, yet they have the power to stop some of this--bench that kid a game or two an I think his attitude may change.....

I got called to sub tomorrow for High School math. This particular district pays $80 a day and it is a 9 mile drive. It is the same district, but different school from what I had last Wednesday. So, on Dec 15 I will have a $160 check (minus taxes) to pick up in time for Christmas, or filling the propane tank.

I also made $20 for an article I wrote for thriftyfun.com, so that is coming my way also.

We finally turned the furnace on last week, but it goes to 59 at night and 63 during the day. We are also buring wood in the fireplace and that helps as we spend a good amount of time in that room or the rooms surrounding it.

I paid the electric bill today while I was in the town that the coop is in (took the girls to the library a few blocks from there). The bill for both meters was $185. That is about as low as it gets-that is for both the house and the barn, with no heat or air on.

Seems like all my posts and such have been made from the library lately. Their computer is so much faster than our dial up at home. Right now the kids are taking a science class. They are doing various experments. I think the topic was matter and minerals or something like that.

Yesterday we took dear hubbys car into the shop to repair the damage that a deers hubby did to it. Around $2500 worth. Insurance will cover it, and most of the rental car. We wanted an upgrade, so we are paying $2 a day on a rental. The one the insurance approved won't even hold the entire family. However, since the damaged car would, I think we can argue that with the insurance adjustor and win. If we had a 5 seater in the shop, they should pay for a 5 seater rental. The shop thinks it should take a week to 10 days to get the car repaired.

Meanwhile, its warmer today, so the house is nice and toasty. I didn't even need to light a fire in the fireplace. DH finally got the furnace downstairs fixed, but we haven't needed it since he fixed it, except for 12 hours or so. As a result we should have a low electric bill next month.

Last hour the class (6th grade) I had was so loud. This one (HS kids) is so quiet you can hear a pin drop. I am just sitting in here while their teacher is at lunch for 30 minutes. I wish I could keep this class.....

It is for a little town a few miles down the road (the one where the girl disappeared from on an earlier blog of mine-if you missed all that, there was an Amber alert for over a week and it turned out she and her BF had run away and are back now). It is for next Wed and the cool part is it is for a day where they have an early out. So, I teach 1/2 day, but get paid for a whole day. It is for 6th grade communication arts.

This is the first sub call I have had this school year--usually they don't start until this time of the year when people start getting colds and flu.

DH will be working nights that day, but it is his first day back after his off days, so childcare is not an issue--he usually naps in front of the TV on his first day on night shift. I will leave the girls their school work and he will check it between naps. $$$ for Christmas.

starting today...At 3 we have a library art class. Its a 30 minute drive to get there, but in the same town as girl scouts, which is at 7. So, we will stay at the library for a couple of hours after the class, then hit mcdonalds $1 menu then go to girl scouts and should be back home by 10. Friday we have homeschool coop and a visitation for a good friend of mine who died suddenly Monday morning. Saturday is the funeral and then a dinner, followed by my nephews birthday party that evening...Then, Sunday is church, a meeting, and then the 4H holiday dinner prepared by the kids. It all hits at once, and my biggest expense is going to be the gasoline.
Last night DH found some for $1.79 at a Quick Trip in Independence, so he tanked up.

As many of you know, we homeschool. Our state requires that we school 1000 hrs per school year (year is defined by the parents, and we pick July 1 thru June 30 as our school year, and we school year around 7 days a week). 600 of those hours have to be in key subjects, such as math, science, history.....

Anyway to make a long story short, this year for us started July 1, and we hit our 1000th hour today. So, legally we are done, but we will continue on.

For those of you who think we are mean parents making them school 24 hours a day sitting at a desk, that is not the case. It is a matter of what I count and how I count it. For example, I count piano lessons and practice as music, grocery store and shopping trips are included in hours for home-ec (the kids help with the shopping and making the lists). Yesterday the kids went with us to vote an we counted that as history/social studies. Working with my husband on the tractor or lawn mower motor, or changing the oil counts as vo-tech (small engines).

Their TV counts--we like to watch daily "How do they make that" and various shows on the weather channel/history and discovery/tlc channels. I get emails that give the show lineups and plan some of our book reading according to the shows. This works real well to have a video or show supplement what we just learned in the books.

Then we also have the "extras" that don't always get counted such as 4H, Girl Scouts, Bible Bowl, Horse Bowl, horsemanship, and trips to the library.

Next week one of my 10 year olds is starting an internship at my cousins clinic. He is a vet. She picked vet science in 4H, and is going to spend 1 day every 2 weeks with him (through May-weather permitting)in his clinic to learn the ends and outs of running a small business, small animal care, billing procedures, maintaining animal records and such. She wants to be a vet when she is older. My 12 year old is getting ready to do a similar activity at a library in her Grandmas town (we have no library in our county).

We also belong to a homeschool ccop where the kids take classes on Fridays. For this year, they have 3 classes and their winter program left. Then the ooop breaks until Feb next year. Those hours also count as they take creditable classes such as band, spanish, french, business math, Dave Ramsey for kids, weather watchers, art, photography and more.