Andrea Bocelli sings Elmo to sleep

I love Andrea Bocelli's voice!
Here's the original song with Sarah Brightman:

Feist sings 1,2,3,4

Muppets make me feel better right now...

The King and I

Gone With the Wind

When it Rains... it Pours!!!

If that's the case... we have a flood at our house. My husband has worked for a local company for 7 or 8 years now. My husband gets hired as contract labor. He typically has 2 projects a month with them and works for other clients the rest of the time. They have always paid the work invoices within 2 or 3 weeks after submitting. Well... about 1 1/2 years ago - probably 2 years ago now they started getting flaky on making payments. First payments were pushed to the max of 30 days. Then they got pushed to 2 months... then 4-6 months.... Recently my husband has had to hold projects for "randsom" (payments for work he has already finished and turned in).

We now have 3 outstanding invoices (enough to live on for 2 months).... ALL are more than 30 days past due. We have been living on NOTHING for months. Credit card is now maxed - I haven't used a credit card in about 8 years (trying to get it paid off). All checking accounts (family and business) are either near $0 or are a negative amount (small overdraft protection loan).

Husband went in to this company Friday and asked if he could get paid. Their response was "You have between a 0% and 0% chance of getting paid right now". (Oh JOY!!!) To add insult to all this.... we got conned into "loaning" the company nearly a grand when my husband drove their dumb hummer out to California to "show it off" to government officials. They did not give us a credit card to buy gas and they made us use our own money to pay for their trip (including hotel rooms). We thought they were giving us their money for this trip... not part of a payment for one of our outstanding invoices.

Here we sit with ALL of our bills nearing 2 months late - nearing shut-off status. Mortage late (again)... Lawsuit on a medical bill (again)... collections calling for payments (also medical bills). FYI - we can't afford medical/dental insurance.

Yesterday I got a call from my husband "Come get me. The Van is overheating." He was able to get to a repair shop - racked up a repair bill (don't know how to get that one paid)... They let him leave with the promise of getting paid the next day. As he was leaving it over heated again within a couple of miles. We drove it back to the shop and parked it in their lot. We'll deal with that headache later. Our truck is out of commission... not registered and in dire need of a very expensive break job.

Even if we got paid what is owed to us... it's all GONE (and then some).

I feel so defeated.

I wish we had a reset button and I could start this "game" all over again. I sit here and wonder why we are being "punished". If my husband has his health he can get an amazing amount of work done in a day. When he's not feeling well he can't work at all. He barely worked a day or two in 2 consecutive months at the end of the year last year. Neither of us want me to go get a job while we have such young children. When they're in school I can get a job and either sleep during the day while they're in school and work nights or work while they're in school. Who knows what we'll do. I've been looking for work I can do from home.... No luck yet.

We know many people are praying for us... so far, I don't think anyone is answering the "phone".

We want to earn our $. Not looking for loans. We HAVE earned a lot of money that we may never see. Life is very frustrating right now. My husband is working for about a week at a job he does every year. They do pay but it's not enough to live on. He will be looking for a "real job" and not contract work soon. Only problem is his health. He never knows when he will be ok to work and when he can't work. Most employers like their employees to actually do something when they come to work. It's been about 9 years since he had a "regular job". His health has been going progressively downhill. He gets paid FAR more per hour than I could ever earn due to his knowledge and experience.

My husband's health is a whole other post.... it's so unpredictable. We're soooo tired of being the "needy family"... barely making it month to month (or not making ends meet). On top of my husband's health we have to deal with this dang economy. We believe the economy slowing down is the entire reason we're not getting paid for the work he's done.

This is what has been going through my mind lately... the reason why I haven't posted much here. I have not had anything positive to say. Being sick and broke doesn't make for much of an interesting post. I hope things will look up soon. If you've read this far... bless you. I appreciate your concern and attention. Keep saying prayers for my husband's health to stabalize so he can work.

Pogo

One of my favorite places to goof off online is Pogo.com. LOTS of games from traditional card games to old stand-by's like Battleship, Boggle and Scrabble. They also have chess, checkers, jigsaw puzzles, Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly just to name a few.

You can sign up for a free account and play a good portion of the games at no cost... you can also sign up for a paid account and play all the games available for a single fee (per year).

I have 3 free membership trials for anyone who wants to have access to the entire site for a limited time (5 days). Of course they will try to upsell you on purchasing a membership when the trial is over. You don't have to do that. Just getting the word out that I do have the passes if anyone wants them. First come first served. I just need your e-mail and the pass is yours.

Sick

I'm wheezy,
And sneezy,
And feeling kind of queasy.
My head feels like an overstuffed balloon.



I'm tired,
Perspired,
And feel like I’ve expired.
But I wish Instead:
To get well soon!



(I'm not a poet... I altered one by Denise Rodgers)

Household Projects

Today was a typical Saturday... clean, repair etc. A couple of months ago I bought 2 new faucets. I got half way through installing the first one and noticed a leak within the faucet... me being me, that was not good enough. I tend to refuse to take things at face value. I don't quit until I feel I have exhausted all my resources.

After tearing it apart a few times and seeing how the thing works.. also comparing the one with the leak with the other new one that was still in a sealed box I noticed a missing rubber washer. The leaky one was an opened box unit I purchased since they were the last 2 available.

I returned to the scene of the crime... I asked an employee in the plumbing section if they had a replacement part. He told me they don't sell that size washer - it had to be acquired from the manufacturer... he then proceded to pop open his box cutter and open the last box of this faucet and remove its rubber washer and hand it to me with a smile. I thanked him a million times.

I hope no one else ends up with a washerless faucet.

The first bathroom in need of repair has finally been fixed and I have been able to remove all the tools (pipe sized pliers, bucket, faucet packaging etc.). It is no longer a tool storage room.... It is now back to just a bathroom. When I enter I find a peaceful place to "visit".

One project down... one more to go.

This is for Doctor Who fans!!

An amazingly fast and funny skit by David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

Embedding has been disabled so you will have to click on the link and view it on facebook directly. You won't be disappointed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHAJ4VFStUE&feature=PlayList&p=02S10GTJgXE