Owner: iowahippiechicks talking ... love and marriage URL:http://iowahippiechick.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:58:57 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: I've been married to Craig for over 27 years. He was meant for me and I for him. Don't let me fool you though ... it hasn't always been easy. Yet I couldn't imagine this journey with anyone else but him. Love & marriage - two things definitely worth talki Site statistics:Click here
2:30 AM ... 2008-03-31 05:00:00 As I came around the corner to pull into my driveway - I noticed the oldest son's vehicle parked there. Well it's 2:30 am and he's not usually over at this time of the night. As I got out of my car, he approached the garage with visible tears in his eyes. He and his girlfriend of six years had just broke up... He was heartbroken! It was sort of an awkward and sad break up - no dramatic thing to pinpoint or blame as the cause. They cared for each other deeply, it's just that the relationship wasn't working for them anymore. (And hadn't been for quite sometime). It's difficult to see my son or his girlfriend hurting and I'm sad for them. But I give them a lot of credit for having the courage to do what they did - because it's real easy to settle in life!I think it's easy to settle w
If You Want To Sell Your Books... 2008-03-28 05:00:00 I'm feeling totally energized by springtime & have been channeling that energy into knocking out many of the items on my seasonal to do list. Of course cleaning and de-cluttering are always at the top of the spring list...I have a large stack of books & DVD'S that are taking up valuable space and collecting dust.(Most of my books are not particularly collectible or valuable - yet I definitely won't mind earning some money by selling them).It's time to let them go and I'm ready to sell them...There are some particular online ways I like to do this:Ebay is my favorite way for selling children's books. I have sold a significant number of them through Ebay over the last couple of years and am always amazed at the amount I earn.Barnes and Noble is where I like to sell my adult fiction Read more:Books
The Power of Our Thoughts... 2008-03-25 06:45:00 In the 27 years hubby and I have been married - we have only had the flu bug less than five times. Thankfully, this most recent time seems to be coming to an end & yesterday we attempted to get back to our normal routine. The oldest son came over again last night ... he always brings a smile to my face. It feels so nice when we are all together. I think that in itself made me feel 100% better! Kind of a mind over matter thing - which is so important in all aspects of our lives...One of the things that attracted hubby and I to each other when we were kids - was our mutual athletic training. He was into power weightlifting & I was into karate. We were both successful at our sports - due to our focus and thinking. We both knew that we had to have our thoughts in alignment with
Dehydrated And A Bit Delirious... 2008-03-23 17:00:00 It has probably been the worst spring break for my family that I can remember.The incident earlier in the week - where we thought the youngest son had food poisoning - turned out to be the flu.Which soon spread to the rest of us.NOT A FUN WEEK...We didn't even attempt a large family dinner - but the oldest son was brave, willing to face our germs & came over today for a few hours.It was nice to see him as always!!!It's a new day tomorrow - I hope you all had a peaceful and joyful day with your friends and families...God Bless -
University Lockdowns & Possible Violence... 2008-03-20 21:15:00 There has been an influx of "possible threats of violence" at two of our state universities, and today a public high school. All within the last two weeks. I'll give you the basic details of each first:The first was at the University
of Northern Iowa which resulted in a two hour campus lock down. It started with a female resident of the dorms receiving a personally threatening text message from an ex-boyfriend. She reported it to her R.A. and it escalated from there. During the lock down, there were officers from two local police departments & the highway patrol. The young man was eventually located in Des Moines (two hours away) arrested and charged with harassment.The second incident occurred at Iowa State University where it was reported that somebody, saw somebody with a we Read more:Possible
, Violence
This Week So Far... 2008-03-19 23:30:00 It's been kind of a rough start to the week...Monday night I had a class to get to by 7pm.I was running a bit late - and opened up a can of Campbells chunky clam chowder for the youngest son to eat for dinner. He ate it and hung out with the hubby until I returned. Not much time passed and the youngest son was sick - very sick. He vomited for most of the evening until 5am the next morning. We almost took him to the hospital emergency room - it was that bad. He's 20 yrs old though and it's a tough call on what do you do? He really didn't want to go. He seemed to be handling it as well as be expected and was trying to take in water to keep from becoming dehydrated. The conclusion we came to was food poisoning - a bad clam or something with the chowder. Oh my he was so sick. He is
Good Reading At Everything Finance... 2008-03-18 11:30:00 Please check out the Carnival of Everything
Finance #15...There is a huge amount of good reading - on everything to do with finance.It is going to keep me busy for awhile!
Read more:Reading
The In-Laws, Real Estate, & Happiness 2008-03-17 23:00:00 I've realized it's been quite some time, since I've updated on the whole in-law conundrum. Hubby's mom & dad are officially divorced - after fifty years of marriage. It still seems so bizarre to me that a divorce would occur after so much time in a marriage. I held out hope for so long that they would reconcile - but now know it's not going to happen.It took them quite some time to figure out a fair division of their assets. Which included quite a bit of real estate. (They had multiple single family rental properties, a mobile home park, a couple of properties in Arizona, and their family home). The big struggle was over the mobile home park - because of the significant amount of monthly income it produces. Hubby's mom received the mobile home park and the family home. Hubby's d Read more:Estate
, Real Estate
Financial Tips From A 20-yr. Old... 2008-03-14 14:00:00 Meet "The Youngest Son" ... who I get most of my blog photo's from - this is his digital self portrait.After asking him if he would be willing to allow me to introduce him - I took it a step further and asked him if he had any financial words of wisdom.Here's what my 20-year old son had to say:Me: What are your top three tips for young people trying to do well with their money?The Youngest Son:Don't buy useless crap you don't need.Keep track of your money & save/invest most of it.Repeat 1 & 2.Not bad advice if I do say so myself.This kid is so ahead of the 8-ball when it comes to personal finance.He drives his friends nuts, because he just isn't motivated to consume and spend. Last weekend they all went to the pool hall and The Youngest Son was so irritated - because it started Read more:Financial
Do You Remember The Floods Of 1993? 2008-03-12 14:30:00 Spring is finally upon us, and I'm so grateful, because this winter has been particularly difficult. I'm so happy that the snowdrifts outside are steadily shrinking - but all that moisture has to go somewhere, doesn't it? I remember where it all went in the spring of 1993...It went everywhere it wasn't suppose to be. And my old neighborhood was one of the communities hit hard by those spring floods. It was horrible! Everyone had anywhere from 1-3 feet of water in their first floor. Luckily for hubby and I, our house was set up on a bit of a hill - a hill that let our first floor barely escape damage. The water came quickly up our alley, then surrounded our house, eventually filling our basement. It literally was one inch from coming over the basement steps into our first floor. It was v Read more:Remember
, Floods
I'm Breaking My Vow... 2008-03-12 10:30:00 I'm breaking my vow to never participate in a meme again. I guess what really matters is that I learned the difference between a spam meme & a fun meme. Catherinel tagged me with an "8-random things about me" meme - so here goes:I'm horrible at sleeping and the only way for me to remotely get some sleep - is to use ear plugs.I'm drawn to people that don't fit in - they are usually so interesting!I'm a history geek - especially studying religions of the world & their histories.I get males way more than females - even though I'm female, they still confuse me.I don't like pizza - which annoys my husband and sons, who could eat it daily.My pet peeve is - when your actually physically present in a conversation with somebody & they will ignore you to answer and chatter away on the Read more:Breaking
Life Purpose ... 2008-03-10 22:00:00 I really hope my posts aren’t coming off preachy - because that is not my intent. I’m just a middle-aged wife and mom trying to figure herself and her life out.Writing these posts are kind of like therapy - and best of all it’s free.I think when you hit your forties you start to realize your time on earth is finite, and you aren't gonna live forever - so it's time to get real busy!Brip Blap (who is so inspiring) has been writing about how to find your life purpose. His posts have been so helpful, because that’s exactly what I’m trying to do.I believe for those first 26 years of adult life, my purpose was:Growing and teaching my son’s to be creative, giving, and productive members of society.Building and enriching my relationship with my hubby.Working in early childhood educat Read more:Purpose
My 6-Word Financial Autobiography 2008-03-10 18:30:00 I was late to the party - but it seems everyone has been busy with Madame X's invite to come up with their 6-word financial autobiography. I actually found this party, via the Smart Spending Blog on MSN money. Silly late bloomer that I am, came up with, "Took until I learned to give."But let me back up a bit...One of the reason's I started this blog - was for me to sort out my life. To figure out some of the lessons I've learned and what has given meaning to my life so far. The second reason, was to maybe help somebody else through this sorting, because you just never know what may help somebody... These last few years have been kind of exhausting, and I think it's kind of important to reflect a bit, now that the dust has settled. Looking back even further has given me an a-ha, or lik Read more:Financial
Martha Stewart - Oh My! 2008-03-06 13:00:00 My heart sank a little when I saw MarthaStewart
's Book - The Martha Rules.I was killing time waiting to pick up my niece from her guitar lesson. This thirty minute time span, didn't seem worth the gasoline or effort to drive all the way home, to then just turn right back around to go pick her up.Well right up the street from the music shop was a Dollar Tree store.That is where I saw Martha's book - The Martha Rules.At The Dollar Tree on sale for a buck!Oh my - I felt a little pang in my heart for Martha...(It just seems like it would hurt, to see something you've created - end up for sale at The Dollar Tree).But this really is quite a good lesson, in perseverance.From what I can tell - she hasn't let this "not quite so successful venture" slow her down. She is still hard at it, doing
Today Was A Lovely Day... 2008-03-04 16:00:00 Hubby actually had a break, from the never ending process, of clearing our city streets of snow. There was real sunshine in our Iowa sky - we could just feel our skin soaking up the vitamin D - It was so good! When the youngest son was finished with his afternoon class, we all shared a meal together. (Something we haven't been able to do for quite some time).Then we had a visit from the oldest son... He was so excited to give us his news. He officially paid off his student loans - he is completely debt free! (He was so happy and proud of himself - it was awesome)!Today
was a lovely day!And for some good reading - check out:The 142nd Carnival of Personal Finance over at The BagladyThe 49th Carnival of Money Stories over at Piggybankblues
Read more:Lovely
Worries - What’s Yours? 2008-02-29 19:00:00 I come from a long line of family members that worry, and it tends to get worse as they age. When I was in my teens, twenties, and thirties - I thought they were all so silly. Now that I’m in my forties, I understand them a bit more; maybe I’m just a late bloomer in my genetic predisposition to worry? It seems like worry can pop up at the most unlikely times. I sometimes start to worry when things are going well - It’s like I’m waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under me. Isn’t that just silly? But then I just tell myself to knock it off - it’s good that things are going well!Another thing that has been on my mind, since becoming more involved online, is identity theft. This sort of ties in with my "everything is going well, so what if - worry scenario." This is Read more:Yours
Money, Indiscretions, and Art... 2008-02-28 13:00:00 Have you ever thought about what a money cost for your indiscretions (or sins- as my priest would call them) would be?What a fascinating concept! - I'm a bit scared to think about what my tab would be?Well, I found an artist/writer named Julie Hill, who used this thought to come up with an interesting art piece.It's called Sorry - and is a print tabulating the money owed for a laundry list of sins. It's a thought provoking piece...That's it - that's all - just thought it was an interesting little tidbit to mull over!
Read more:Money
Free Personal Finance Classes... 2008-02-28 11:00:00 Did you know that iVillage.com is offering personal finance classes?There free online courses available 24/7Some of them include:Investing for EveryoneMap Your Future: The Basics of Personal
Financial PlanningWinnebago Dreams: Planning for a Secure Retirement
Read more:Classes
My Financial Epiphany... 2008-02-27 12:00:00 Glblguy over at Gather Little By Little is inspiring bloggers to tell their financial epiphany stories - so here is mine:I'm almost 47 years old and have been married to my hubby, 27 of those years - we were high school sweethearts. That's almost three decades of evolving, growing, and learning. As you can probably imagine, there has been more than one financial epiphany in my story. So I'm going to focus on the most recent one - the one that happened approximately three years ago. Do you see that picture over there? That's how my life felt at that time. I felt chained to my existence - yet I could see the light of what I desired at the end of those chains. I knew I had to step up and get free of the chains that bind me...Hubby and I had ended up on a path - not of my choosing. Read more:Financial
Are You Prepared For An Unexpected Death? 2008-02-26 09:00:00 My family certainly wasn't eight years ago yesterday, when my mom suddenly passed away. She was only 58 years old and a pulmonary embolism took her life - gone in a blink of an eye. Devastating grief, was only complicated further, by my mom & dad's financial disorganization and her not having a will. Her sudden passing took my dad on quite a path of - putting the "personal" back in personal finances.Mom had been the one that totally took care of their finances. Even though mom was in charge of their household finances, she wasn't very good at it, and things were a mess. When she was suddenly gone - Dad had no idea of the who, what, when, or where of their money. It literally took us weeks to piece things together. In fact it took a credit pull, to actually know what credit card Read more:Unexpected
Think Before You Click... 2008-02-25 15:00:00 I'm the first to admit that I don't know a whole lot about blogging - and this past weekend I learned a valuable blogging lesson in regards to Memes - be very, very careful who you tag. Not everybody enjoys participating in them - and can become quite unhappy with you for tagging them. I've apologized to the blogger-friend I upset... but would like to apologize again - I'm sorry for the whole meme/tag thing!And my advice to fellow bloggers (especially new ones like me)- Think before you click!!!P.S.No More Memes For Me...And I'm curious - how do you handle Memes?
Read more:Click
Lose Weight - Get Fit - Save Money… 2008-02-24 23:00:00 I know in the logical part of my mind, that the more overweight and unfit we are, almost always correlates to higher health care and health care related expenses. But why in my day-to-day life do I sometimes get lazy in that logic, and slide down that slippery slope of eating out & purchasing convenience grocery items?In January my hubby, our youngest son and I, ate out fourteen times - fourteen times! That is ridiculous for us. Normally the most we eat out is once a week - so that was way more than our average. Pitiful, pitiful, pitiful… and I know exactly how I justified it in my mind. My hubby had been working massive overtime and had an erratic work schedule - which seemed like a pretty good excuse to me at the time! But it wasn’t a good excuse and I really knew it. It w Read more:Money
, Weight
Iowahippiechick's 2nd Freebie Friday 2008-02-22 19:00:00 FREE SAMPLE of Brut Moisturizing After Shave Balm w/ aloe and shea butterFREE SAMPLE of DentaBurst Freshening teeth cleanersFree Book: The Secret of Happiness - By Billy Graham Free Birthday Song (Delivered via Email) -InstaSong Powered by eClipsFree Grocery Coupons - Via Coupons.comSave $5 @ Barnes and Noble -when you purchase select home and office productsFree Coloring Pages, Crafts, and Lessons - via Crayola.com
Read more:Friday
You Can’t Quit Poverty… 2008-02-20 20:00:00 That’s the line I heard the other night...From a television program called Two and ½ Men starring Charlie Sheen. Whose character was apparently used to a lifestyle that didn’t require keeping track of his nickels and dimes. In fact he was used to doing pretty much what he wanted - when he wanted. That was until this episode, when his cash flow dries up. Then while waiting for some residual checks to come in and correct the situation, his character’s younger brother Alan tries to help him cope with making due. In fact, they try shopping for groceries - using coupons. Charlie quickly gets frustrated with the process, and tells Alan, “I quit.” Alan looks him dead in the eye and says, “You can’t QUIT POVERTY!”You can’t quit poverty…Have you ever thought about poverty Read more:Poverty
What a Smart Woman... 2008-02-19 10:00:00 This video clip brought a smile to my face...It's kind of naughty - but, just too funny!
Read more:Smart
Young Heartbreak & Gamblers 2008-04-01 07:30:00 Talk about bad moods. Yesterday was one big one for me!Little or no sleep, all that cigarette smoke, and my oldest son's heartbreak... all led to a nagging headache that made me rather cranky.It is so hard to see my son hurting!He is an incredibly hopeful and optimistic young man.You just don't see him down - which makes this time even more difficult!Luckily, when he called last night to see if he had to report for jury duty this morning - he didn't have to report.I don't know if he could have handled that on the day she is moving out her stuff. And my dad - my dear old dad.He is so one of my favorite people on the planet!But his gambling drives me nuts...I am not a gambler - so I just don't understand the gambling mentality.How can people throw away their money like they do? I was flabb Read more:Heartbreak
, Gamblers
Wacky & Weird Sleep Week... 2008-04-05 04:00:00 I really have to work on getting back into a better sleep pattern - this week has been way off. Hubby's snoring woke me up again - even with my earplugs in! So I thought I'd take advantage of this time and get online. (In my house that's hard to do sometimes. We have three computers - but only one is connected to the internet & somebody seems to always be on... )We finished off our March budget in the black - Yippee! With property taxes & those couple of six month insurance bills due - it is always an expensive month for us. Setting aside that money in our irregular expenses savings account totally did the trick! Now I'm just waiting to hear back from the CPA to see what our income tax return is going to look like. Thankfully we were good & set aside money for that too.. Read more:Weird
, Sleep
Grow & Monetize Your Blog... 2008-04-04 16:30:00 I thought I would use this post to put up a collection of links I've bookmarked to grow & monetize my blog. (Hopefully someday I'll get through them all)!Check them out...Helpful Articles:"50 Tips For New Personal Finance Bloggers" over at cleverdude.com"Building Business and Blogs With Extreme Value" over at jonathanfields.com"How I Doubled My Blog Traffic in Two Months" over at 2createawebsite.com"How To Grow A New Blog Efficiently" over at blogthority.com"Ways To Monetize
Your Blog" over at thedigeratilife.com"75 Websites You Can Submit Your Blog To" over at bloggingtips.comAdvertising & Affiliate Options:"Smart Link Marketing" over at text-link-ads.com"BlogHer's Advertising Network" over at blogherads.com"Blog Advertising Network" over at smorty.com"Yahoo Publisher Network" o
Free Film Developing... 2008-04-06 23:00:00 Walgreen's has a pretty good freebie coming up this week...On Wednesday April 9th -You can get one roll of film or one disposable camera developed for free!!!
My CPA is a Rock Star... 2008-04-05 18:30:00 The phone rang this afternoon & it was Michael our very ethical - yet aggressive deduction finder CPA. He wanted to quiz me on some more possible deductions in regards to selling our last rental house. Then he gave me the wonderful news... we only have to pay a bit over $200 in federal income taxes and a bit over $2000 in state income taxes. I'm floating on cloud nine!!! We had allocated around 5K towards 2007 income taxes - so that is 50% less than we thought we were going to have to pay!!! Hubby and I already talked ... and the extra is going straight into a Roth IRA.THIS IS SO COOL - MICHAEL the CPA IS A TOTAL ROCK STAR!!!
Read more:Rock Star
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