If you read this before 2 pm eastern, could you spare a couple of quick positive thoughts/prayers for Jerry. He has a meeting at 2, that could determine a lot of things in our lives.
Thanks
Our life as an Air Force Family *Retired*, in words and photos.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
More fishing at the Great Outdoors Show
DJ told me that I didn't show all of his fish that he caught on Sunday. So here you go.
Reeling in a big one, with the help of a volunteer.
DJ's first fish.
Just emailed our hardship package off
Well, I just emailed our hardship package off to the mortgage company.
I had looked for help on their website for over a year for this type of program and couldn't ever find it. Then once I found it I couldn't ever get the form to send. I ended up sending them a long convoluted email about the link to send not working from any computer, and got a response back with a different way to do it.
A different way that took me about a week to get all of the information gathered. Almost makes you wonder if making it that hard to do, makes more people not fill out the package. Maybe thats the point.
It will be interesting to see if they accept or reject it.
The way our luck is running they will reject it.
I am not even sure what we want or expect them to do, other than tell us that if we short sale the house we have to come up with the difference (which is what we were told about 6 months ago when we asked about it based on the advise of an agent). The difference that right now would probably run to about $70,000, based on what houses around ours have sold for recently. We definately don't have that!
It would be nice if the mortgage company had a program in place where they matched people in the same situations up to see if they could trade homes. I am sure that our mortgage company has people here in middle Georgia in the same boat as we are. But I know thats a pipe dream.
I really wish the military/government would get with the program and come up with help for military members that are in our situation. I know that there are lots of others out there, just based on the google searches that hit on my blog. What I don't get is why nothing is being done to help all of us. Its not like we volunteered to move away from our home. Its not like we made the market crash. And its not like we want to sell our home, its that we have to sell our home, or else live in a cardboard box.
I had looked for help on their website for over a year for this type of program and couldn't ever find it. Then once I found it I couldn't ever get the form to send. I ended up sending them a long convoluted email about the link to send not working from any computer, and got a response back with a different way to do it.
A different way that took me about a week to get all of the information gathered. Almost makes you wonder if making it that hard to do, makes more people not fill out the package. Maybe thats the point.
It will be interesting to see if they accept or reject it.
The way our luck is running they will reject it.
I am not even sure what we want or expect them to do, other than tell us that if we short sale the house we have to come up with the difference (which is what we were told about 6 months ago when we asked about it based on the advise of an agent). The difference that right now would probably run to about $70,000, based on what houses around ours have sold for recently. We definately don't have that!
It would be nice if the mortgage company had a program in place where they matched people in the same situations up to see if they could trade homes. I am sure that our mortgage company has people here in middle Georgia in the same boat as we are. But I know thats a pipe dream.
I really wish the military/government would get with the program and come up with help for military members that are in our situation. I know that there are lots of others out there, just based on the google searches that hit on my blog. What I don't get is why nothing is being done to help all of us. Its not like we volunteered to move away from our home. Its not like we made the market crash. And its not like we want to sell our home, its that we have to sell our home, or else live in a cardboard box.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Fishing at the Great Outdoors Show
We went to the GWF Great Outdoors Show yesterday at the Georgia National Fair Grounds. They have a fully stocked lake, that they allowed the kids to go fishing in. DJ had a great time, of course he was the only of of the three that caught any fish. ;)
The rest of us had a good time, because it was fairly cheap, and we got to see more ideas of places to see and go at all of the booths.
The rest of us had a good time, because it was fairly cheap, and we got to see more ideas of places to see and go at all of the booths.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Pictures Natalie took out at school
Just some pictures that Natalie took the other day when the kids were waiting on me to finish up for the day at school.
Friday, February 13, 2009
What do you get when you mix...
Valentines day
A 5 year old birthday girl
Princess Belle
Balloon Animals
13 other 4 and 5 year olds
The last day before a 10 day break
and lots and lots of candy?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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.
.
A DJ that is in no way shape or form ready to wind down for the night.
We were not "allowed" to have Valentine's day party's at school, but we were allowed to let the kids exchange cards. DJ's class was extra blessed today because it was I's birthday. I's mom arranged to have Princess Belle come to visit the class. (I wish I would have known and had my camera!) Princess Belle brought candy, told stories (DJ says she's the sincess from far far away land), and made all of the kids balloon animals. To say that they were excited, is an understatement. Then you add in the fact that most of the cards the kids brought had candy attached, and that they all knew that they don't have school next week, and it was a recipe for exhaustion for poor Mrs. H. LOL she looked ready to go straight to bed at the bus ramp! LOL
My own class had a pretty good day. I forgot how special little people can make Valentines day! I got earrings, a red velvet cake (that I can't eat, I am slightly allergic to peacans and the frosting has them in there), two mugs with candy, lots of hugs, and lots of cards. We made a class "freedom quilt" that we showed off this afternoon. We are reading The Patchwork Path this month as our read aloud, and I thought it would be a good readers response project. They did a great job with their quilt squares. Our principal loved it, as did anyone else that happened to see it. I want to laminate it, but it wont fit in the laminator. I will take the camera and get a picture of it, either next week when we are off (I want to go in one day and tear apart my room without any distractions,) or when school goes back.
Kelsey on the other hand had a rotten day. It all boils down to an adult acting like a rude child, and Kelsey acting like a typical teen. She was very upset when she first got to my room this afternoon. But once I found out what the deal was, and talked with another adult involved in the situation to find out that really Kelsey didn't do anything wrong, so I am just as mad as she is, she is fine. She knows that I am going to handle it. I actually wrote out a really long email in regards to it, but I have sent it off to my mom, my best friend from college, and her husband, my brother, my sister in law, and a good friend of mine from work, to have them polish it up. Because I know that I can't wear all three of my "hats" in the letter (mom, teacher, concerned community member.) And thats what I did. :shrug:
Natalie is off staying the night for the last time with little K. Little K's family has hit hard times, and have lost their home, so they are moving back to Florida to be with family. We will miss them.
To say that I am ready for a week off is an understatement. It is coming at a really good time. This next week I plan on cleaning out more closests, dressers, etc to purge more stuff. We have found a house that we are going to try and lease closer to school, but it is smaller, and less storage than what we have here (and trust me there is not much storage here!) But less is better and all of that jazz. ;)
Valentines day
A 5 year old birthday girl
Princess Belle
Balloon Animals
13 other 4 and 5 year olds
The last day before a 10 day break
and lots and lots of candy?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A DJ that is in no way shape or form ready to wind down for the night.
We were not "allowed" to have Valentine's day party's at school, but we were allowed to let the kids exchange cards. DJ's class was extra blessed today because it was I's birthday. I's mom arranged to have Princess Belle come to visit the class. (I wish I would have known and had my camera!) Princess Belle brought candy, told stories (DJ says she's the sincess from far far away land), and made all of the kids balloon animals. To say that they were excited, is an understatement. Then you add in the fact that most of the cards the kids brought had candy attached, and that they all knew that they don't have school next week, and it was a recipe for exhaustion for poor Mrs. H. LOL she looked ready to go straight to bed at the bus ramp! LOL
My own class had a pretty good day. I forgot how special little people can make Valentines day! I got earrings, a red velvet cake (that I can't eat, I am slightly allergic to peacans and the frosting has them in there), two mugs with candy, lots of hugs, and lots of cards. We made a class "freedom quilt" that we showed off this afternoon. We are reading The Patchwork Path this month as our read aloud, and I thought it would be a good readers response project. They did a great job with their quilt squares. Our principal loved it, as did anyone else that happened to see it. I want to laminate it, but it wont fit in the laminator. I will take the camera and get a picture of it, either next week when we are off (I want to go in one day and tear apart my room without any distractions,) or when school goes back.
Kelsey on the other hand had a rotten day. It all boils down to an adult acting like a rude child, and Kelsey acting like a typical teen. She was very upset when she first got to my room this afternoon. But once I found out what the deal was, and talked with another adult involved in the situation to find out that really Kelsey didn't do anything wrong, so I am just as mad as she is, she is fine. She knows that I am going to handle it. I actually wrote out a really long email in regards to it, but I have sent it off to my mom, my best friend from college, and her husband, my brother, my sister in law, and a good friend of mine from work, to have them polish it up. Because I know that I can't wear all three of my "hats" in the letter (mom, teacher, concerned community member.) And thats what I did. :shrug:
Natalie is off staying the night for the last time with little K. Little K's family has hit hard times, and have lost their home, so they are moving back to Florida to be with family. We will miss them.
To say that I am ready for a week off is an understatement. It is coming at a really good time. This next week I plan on cleaning out more closests, dressers, etc to purge more stuff. We have found a house that we are going to try and lease closer to school, but it is smaller, and less storage than what we have here (and trust me there is not much storage here!) But less is better and all of that jazz. ;)
Thursday, February 12, 2009
DJ's paint picture.
DJ painted me a picture tonight:
The story of DJ's paint picture.
Its about a river floated fast and a dot boat floated in the river. There is a man carrying the boat to the coloring river, then he got past the river he came to a forest, after he came through the forest he came to a sneaky wood forest. Its a spooky forest. There are wolves, bats, snakes, owls, bad dogs, bird and lions in the forest.
Natalie
Least anyone think that Natalie has been forgotten lately. :)
She just doesn't like having her picture taken as much as the other two.
She just doesn't like having her picture taken as much as the other two.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Military Families affected by the housing crisis we need to make more noise!
Did you see this, about the very nicely dressed homeless woman who stood up at the town hall meeting with President Obama? She has had offers of homes to live in and his personal promise to help.
Which is great.
For her, and her family.
But I have to agree with all of the other bloggers out there (trust me just look at the link CNN quotes them better than I ever could!) who ask, how she managed to get to the rally, in the first place to perfectly ask that question.
What I am saying here is that we, the families of our service members need to be more proactive, we need to take a page out of Ms. Hughes book, we need to go to President Obama and tell him how this economic crisis and mortgage crisis is crippling the military family.
I know that we all have written letters. We have written letters to every congressmen, senator, candidate out there and even the President himself. I am just not thinking that we are being heard. We get scripted letters back in the mail (if we are lucky), or ignored all together. We get told that military members are their "priority", but yet housing for military is conveniently left out of the stimulus packages.
I know that we can and will write more letters.
But I think we need to take more action.
We need to organize a group of people to go meet with the President and the Defense Secretary Gates to tell them our stories. We need to march on Washington. We need to pull together and help each other out in this time of crisis. We need them to hear about how hard it is to be a military family as it is, let alone going bankrupt because NO ONE CARES THAT YOU ARE LOSING YOUR HOME, because the military once again said jump and you asked how high, only to realize that your dream, your home now can not be sold.
I am realistic enough to know that if you are in the same situation that we are in right now, with a house in one state sitting empty, paying an outrageous mortgage that you can't get out of, while living to rent a substandard house in another state at another assignment, you can't afford to march on Washington. Because goodness knows I can't afford to go to Atlanta for the day, let alone to Washington to be heard.
But there has to be something more that we can do to make our voices heard, louder than what we are now.
Because President Obama is making promises to help people, but obviously has forgotten all of us, the families of the members of the military who defend our country to the death.
Speak out! Let our voices be heard. Come up with some ideas and let me hear them. Our numbers are high, to high based on how many google hits I have had lately on this topic, so we should be able to do this!
Which is great.
For her, and her family.
But I have to agree with all of the other bloggers out there (trust me just look at the link CNN quotes them better than I ever could!) who ask, how she managed to get to the rally, in the first place to perfectly ask that question.
What I am saying here is that we, the families of our service members need to be more proactive, we need to take a page out of Ms. Hughes book, we need to go to President Obama and tell him how this economic crisis and mortgage crisis is crippling the military family.
I know that we all have written letters. We have written letters to every congressmen, senator, candidate out there and even the President himself. I am just not thinking that we are being heard. We get scripted letters back in the mail (if we are lucky), or ignored all together. We get told that military members are their "priority", but yet housing for military is conveniently left out of the stimulus packages.
I know that we can and will write more letters.
But I think we need to take more action.
We need to organize a group of people to go meet with the President and the Defense Secretary Gates to tell them our stories. We need to march on Washington. We need to pull together and help each other out in this time of crisis. We need them to hear about how hard it is to be a military family as it is, let alone going bankrupt because NO ONE CARES THAT YOU ARE LOSING YOUR HOME, because the military once again said jump and you asked how high, only to realize that your dream, your home now can not be sold.
I am realistic enough to know that if you are in the same situation that we are in right now, with a house in one state sitting empty, paying an outrageous mortgage that you can't get out of, while living to rent a substandard house in another state at another assignment, you can't afford to march on Washington. Because goodness knows I can't afford to go to Atlanta for the day, let alone to Washington to be heard.
But there has to be something more that we can do to make our voices heard, louder than what we are now.
Because President Obama is making promises to help people, but obviously has forgotten all of us, the families of the members of the military who defend our country to the death.
Speak out! Let our voices be heard. Come up with some ideas and let me hear them. Our numbers are high, to high based on how many google hits I have had lately on this topic, so we should be able to do this!
What 80's song are you?
| You Are "Like a Virgin" |
 You are practically a virgin (or born again virgin) when it comes to the 80s, and all things 80s are very interesting to you. You would sign your heart out to every Madonna hit and memorize every line in the Breakfast Club. You'd have the biggest record collection, roller skate like a champ, and would be a dead ringer for Molly Ringwald or Kirk Cameron! |
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Kelsey being silly
Kelsey had her friend here that week before everything, and they had fun with the camera. I am just now getting around to uploading the pictures. I think they did a pretty good job taking the pictures. :)
Monday, February 09, 2009
Blah blah blah
He keeps talking and all I hear is blah blah blah.
I have yet to hear I real solution to the economic crisis!
I have yet to hear I real solution to the economic crisis!
Hiking at High Falls
We had such a great day on Saturday! I decided that we needed to get out of the house and go somewhere, cheap/free for the day. It could have been less expensive (we ate lunch on the way), but we had a great time. We started off the day at Dauset Trails and then came home via High Falls. It was a beautiful almost spring day, and the area was just wonderful. I really wish we lived closer, because we could go hiking there every weekend if it was. 
Jerry, Kelsey, and Natalie took the upper trail on the way back up, DJ and I took the bottom trail. Through those trees is the rest of them.
The dam above the falls
DJ being a ham.
Jerry, Kelsey, and Natalie took the upper trail on the way back up, DJ and I took the bottom trail. Through those trees is the rest of them.
The dam above the falls
DJ being a ham.
Lower portion of the falls
DJ's first glimpse of the falls.
HAM
DJ's first glimpse of the falls.
HAM
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