First, just a small and easy thing to do.  It’s not much but it’ll add up.  When you go to the bank drive through, reuse the envelope they send the money in.  That’s one less envelope that’ll be put in the trash.  I have several envelopes from my Credit Union in my purse that I keep on hand just in case I need to stop and withdraw money or cash a check.

Now, the tip this week won’t save you money but it’ll get your tax return faster.

File your tax return online.  It’s similar to e-filing, and depending on how much you make, you can even be able to find a place to file them for free.  Go to the IRS website at http://irs.gov and click on the link on the lower left side that says “Free File”

You get any return faster, and you save the paper that would have gone toward printing your return and sending it off.

My laptop has been OOC (out of commission) for several weeks now.  I think it was just before Christmas when the heat sink & fan died.  I bought one off eBay, but the frelling seller sent me something other than I ordered and I can no longer get a response from him… when I got my laptop open, I saw that what I needed matched the picture on the listing, but what I got didn’t match the picture, which seriously annoys me.

I was going to leave a link to a website that I thought was funny, but it’s not pulling up… well, if you wanna see it, check out http://www.chromecow.com/2009/01/20/us-democracy-server-patch-day/ I found it funny, but it leans toward the left, so if you’re a Republican you may not like it as much.

Speaking of which, I’m getting frelling frustrated (say that 10 times fast) with the intensity from both sides of the democracy debate.  I mean seriously.  No matter what you think or how badly you think Bush did in the last 8 years, there’s no reason for childish namecalling.  And I’m getting sick of seeing people say that Obama is going to ruin the country.  Get over it and grow up.  Stop believing the lies you spew are true.  Both sides need to grow up.  Regardless of who you voted for, we need to be behind our president now so that our country can start recovering.

Speaking of which, I was worried something was going to happen at the inaugeration, and I’m glad to know that I was wrong.  To repeat and expand on the twitter I sent after the swearing in ceremony at 11 am CST, Good luck, President Obama 🙂

Movie night tonight, I have another environmental & money tip for tomorrow.

Last night when doing some research on Web 2.0 for an article, I decided to join twitter.  Apparently, I joined about 4 hours after my son joined because he was one of the first to be put on the list of people I’m following.  So far, I have 9 people I’m following outta curiousity, including FlyLady, Woot and a couple of people whose blogs I read, Wil Wheaton, DaMomma and GeekMommy.  Following some links from one of Wil Wheaton’s replies, I also added Levar Burton and Brent Spiner (What can I say, I’m a geek, and a Trekkie, though I’m not much of the fan club type, I thought it’d be interesting).

I will say, reading some of Brent Spiner’s entries, I’ve caught myself giggling a couple of times.  Now, some of what he’s said have been tired jokes, and I’ve just rolled my eyes, but other times I was surprised… Including when he said he likes iCarly… a tween comedy on Nickelodeon.

Now, I’m not sure I’ll stay on Twitter, my son and one other friend are the only ones I know on there, but it’ll be an interesting experiment for this weekend.

Ok, so I got too busy this week to post the green suggestions like I said I was going to.  Right now I’m trying to share a computer with my 17 year old… not fun at all 😛  However, when I was looking for an environmental tip to post tonight, I found one that will save you money as well as helping the environment.

When you make your trips to the store, buy everything you are going to need for the week.

It’ll help the environment,

1. You won’t be using the gas to drive there again, not to mention the gas from driving around the parking lot looking for a spot.
2. Your refrigerator and freezer are more energy efficient when they are operating when mostly full.

it’ll help your cash flow:

1. It’s easier to resist the impulse items if you only see them once instead multiple times from each trip
2. You’ll save money on electricity with your fridge and freezer operating more efficiently.

This song is on a serious subject, but I find it funny.  Let me know what you think.  I found it on the Natural News website at http://www.naturalnews.com/I_Want_My_Bailout_Money.html

I Want My Bailout Money by Michael Adams – The Health Ranger

I’ll put it in a player tomorrow.  Hubby has already started watching In the Name of the King.

Just a few notes tonight while I’m trying to wind down.  I haven’t been posting much, but that’s partially the joy and pain of having a newborn around.  I’ve also been swamped between writing assignments for the company I write for and going back to work.  And my laptop has been down for the count, because my fan died.  Tonight the writing assignments were emotionally draining because I was rewriting articles about child abuse.  It tore my heart out to read what the morons that are supposed to protect these kids did to them instead.

For the sour grapes, I’ve read in several places that Obama was staying in the Hays-Adams hotel because the Blair House where the president-elect usually stays has been booked solid.  Uhh, yea, Bush knew that the president-elect was going to need to stay there, yet he books the place anyway?  Can we say sour grapes?  Don’t like the transition?  You’re the one who messed up a number of domestic issues and brought the Republican ratings down so low, Bush.  I don’t care if you’re Christian or not, you needed to have better advisors around you if you didn’t want your approval rating to drop through the floor and if you weren’t smart enough to know what to do yourself.  Figure it out.  Now the Republican party is in shambles because no one can figure out who should be the head of the RNC.  Bah, with all the fighting, they should just disband and create 2 parties.  One of ultra conservatives, the other of the middle of the line people that want to pick up the undecided vote.

Wow, maybe my attitude is a bit of sour grapes tonight too.  But, my chamomile tea is done, so I should head to bed and try to get a bit of sleep before the baby wakes up for more food.  Otherwise, I might end up on a rant about men in general tonight.  It’s been a long day.  What I have to say would do better to not be said in such a public place.

Tomorrow night is movie night.  I told my oldest that we could get some popcorn and watch Dark Knight then For the Kingdom, or whatever the movie is that’s based on Dungeon Siege.  Once my laptop is fixed, I might need to play a few hours of that too to get out some of my frustration with life in general lately.

Next week, I think I’ll start talking a bit about things to help the environment, just because I’m odd that way.  Peace out.

Just a few random things tonight.  The day after Christmas…

I meant to post a Merry Christmas yesterday, but I was trying to finish a writing assignment a bit early.  Since I couldn’t find any information online, I was getting frustrated. 

I have a new article posted at Associated Content.  You can click here (opens in a new window) or the link at the right that says “My Associated Content.”

My son finally made it to Vermont, it took him almost 48 hours to make the trip.  At that rate, it would have been faster for me to drive him there, by 48 hours, I would have been almost home again.

I know there are a lot of people out there that couldn’t afford Christmas.  With the economic problems this country is having, I’m sure there are a lot more people having problems than I realize.  One of the regular blogs that I read had an interesting story about Christmas and Santa Claus, and I wanted to share this with anyone who reads my blog.  Checkout DaMomma’s blog post at http://damomma.com/2008/12/22/repost-how-i-came-to-believe-in-santa (opens in a new window).  Just be prepared to tear up a bit.  I know it made me cry.

One final thought.  Anyone who knows me, may or may not know that my son and I stayed in a homeless shelter for a month in 2003.  I had just left my boyfriend/roomate of 4 years and moved to Kansas City and was having trouble finding a job.  Lately, with all the economic problems, that homeless shelter has been on my mind.  They do a lot of good in the Kansas City area, and help more than just the homeless families that stay there.  They have a family shelter and a men’s shelter.  Visit their website at http://cumission.org for more information. 

Wishing everyone peace and prosperity this new year,
Shar

Or maybe not.  So this morning, I sent my 17 year old son for his annual visit to his dad’s in Vermont.  He had 2 layovers, but since he was leaving out of Oklahoma City, it made sense.  Yea, ok. 

First, the plane sat at the gate after they boarded everyone.  I couldn’t find anyone at the terminal to ask, so I called United.  The plane had mechanical difficulties and was supposed to leave 45 minutes late.  Well, it left even later.   Ok, fine, so they’d have to make sure he made his connecting flight, but he’d be okay.

He texts me as I’m driving home, the plane had landed, but didn’t the gate was in use, so they just sat on the runway for another hour.  So that’s 4 hours or thereabouts he was in the plane.  When he finally got off, he didn’t get to his next flight within the 9 minutes he had.  So all United’s fault, right? 

The customer service line was long at the airport, so while he was waiting, he called his dad’s sister who works for a travel agency.  She rebooked him for another flight, and the ticket person kept saying tomorrow.  Only she had the dates mixed up and scheduled him to fly from O’Hare to Burlington, VT on the 23rd leaving at 8 pm.  My ex’s sister looked at the dates and was very upset.  Let’s not mention that you’re leaving a 17 year old in O’Hare for 2 days, but now you’re talking about him not getting there until sometime the morning of Christmas Eve. 

So, the earliest they could get him to Vermont was Christmas Eve, when it wasn’t our fault he didn’t make his frelling connection anyway.  I’m NOT a happy camper.

Instead, my ex’s sister booked him a flight through another airline (Jetblue) leaving tomorrow morning at 6 am.  Her husband has arranged for my son to stay at the USO club tonight.  None of us are very happy with United right now, so she is going to talk to them and get them to refund part of the plane fare we paid.  Since she works for a travel agency, she’s going to raise a fuss, or have one of her coworkers raise a fuss so we do get the refund.  That’ll go toward paying for the Jetblue flight. 

I’m still freaking because my son is in O’Hare without anyone around that knows him, but I know he’s safe and he’s 17, so he’s old enough to deal with this.  I even think that staying at the USO is going to be good for him since he has joined the marines.  They even gave him vouchers for food since I didn’t send enough money, expecting a total of 3 hours of layovers, not almost 24.  You can’t expect a teenage boy to go that long without food. 

So though I want to go into overprotective mommy mode, I’m trying to calm down and just let him be responsible for himself.

Ok, so I’ve been annoying my husband and son.  Since I’m not in the mood for Christmas, I’ve been trying to watch Christmas specials to find the Christmas spirit.  They would rather not watch all of the Santa Clause movies… I’m trying to figure out where I can watch the Rankin/Bass movies that we watched as kids… You know, the Rudolph and Frosty movies. 

Honestly, even though I’m trying to fnd the holiday spirit, it’s hard.  It might be because I miss my dad a lot more this year.  It might be because my grandma died this year.  It might be because I went to 2 funerals in 4 months.  It might be because I can’t see my family this year and I had my hopes up that I’d see them sometime this year, for my niece’s wedding if not for the holidays.  Or it might be all of these reasons. 

Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot to be thankful for.  I have a stable job, even if I don’t particularly care for what I do, the company is still doing well.  My husband has a stable job, since his employer makes things for the oil and natural gas industry, his job is not going to go away.  I have a mostly healthy husband and three healthy kids, one of whom has turned out far better than I would have expected when I was single and having so much trouble with him.  He’s on track to be a marine and though that scares me, I’m still proud of him.  I try to tell him at least once a week that I’m proud how he’s become more responsible.

I have several good friends, and though I met most of these friends through the Internet, I know I can talk to them about anything and they’ll listen and give me advice or a kick in the rear if I need it.  I also reconnected with a very dear friend this year, and I’m thankful for that too.  He knows me a hell of a lot better than I would have expected 10 years ago.

My sister and I have gotten very close since 2003, and that makes me happy.  I only wish we hadn’t lost so many years with the stupid sibling rivalry.  

I’ve also been making money writing.  Not a lot, but some.  It proves to me that I know how to write, so I need to do more to focus on that.  Granted, I know that I’m not going to be able to make a living out of writing books unless I get a really lucky break (like JK Rowling), but I can work at it. 

So, what are you thankful for?  There has to be some good in everyone’s life somewhere.  Another day above ground is a good day.  I know my kids are thankful I’m still around.  Even the snappish 17 year old trying to break away from mom.

FDA Draws Fire Over Chemicals in Baby Formula (Opens in a New Window)

This is just scary.  With the problems in China with infants hospitalized because of melamine in baby formula, the FDA said that there was no safe level of Melamine.  That is until they tested the formulas here in the US.  Now, they’re saying it’s safe under 1 ppm. 

 So, they’re allowing us to poison our most precious asset, our helpless, dependent infants.  That’s really comforting, isn’t it?  Sometimes I wonder what these people are thinking in saying that stuff is safe with no scientific evidence to support their statements?  I mean they’re doing the same with BPA in bottles… instead the manufacturers have removed BPA from the bottles on their own. 

It’s possible the backlash is going to get the formula manufacturers to pay more attention to their formula.  I would certainly hope so.