Wednesday Hodgepodge

Do you manage your own money or do you have a financial planner who helps in some way? Do those kinds of conversations stress you out? A lot or a little?

We do not have a financial planner. Rick is our planner. Or, I plan and he finds a way to put it into our budget. I hate talking about money. There is never enough and I always feel like I am not handling my part as good as I should. I try not to worry about it and remind myself that it's just money. I am frugal and do my best.

The second week of October is Pet Peeve Week. Off the top of your head share TWO of your current pet peeves.

My number one pet peeve is my pillows being knocked off my couch onto the floor. Between dogs and kids I bet I pick up those pillows 50 times a day. My second is when homeschooling moms use bad grammar in their blog posts.

What is one thing you would like to learn right now, this very week if you could?

I would like to learn what the Court's order says in my child support case. I saw on the online docket sheet yesterday afternoon that the Family Court Commissioner has issued his Recommendations and Findings and it has been presented to the Family Court Judge for approval. Now I just have to wait for the signed Judgment and the snail mail system to get it to my attorney.

How concerned are you about the recent health related news concerning Ebola? How about Enterovirus D68?

To be honest, I am very concerned. I think we are in some big trouble as a country because of the exposure issue. There is honestly no telling how many hundreds, if not thousands, of people have been exposed to Ebola by the negligence of just one person. The only way to prevent the spreading of this disease is for people who have been exposed to quarantine themselves from any exposure to any other person. Armed guards should not have to be posted outside someone's home to keep them from voluntarily exposing themselves to others. The same is true of the Enterovirus D68, but on a less serious scale. The Enterovirus is, in fact, a virus that can only be spread by exposure to others. Don't send your kids to school when they are sick. Don't go to work if you are sick. Absolutely do not go onto an airplane if you have been exposed, and for the love of God do not enter a country where there has been no exposure and be the one to expose it. If just one other person starts to show signs of Ebola, I think it is going to get completely out of control.

Garfield, Nemo, or Tigger -- your favorite orange cartoon character?

Definitely Garfield. I hate Mondays! But, I love lasagna!

I'm going to see Gone Girl with my neighborhood book club this week. So often books made into film are disappointing. What's a book turned film you thought was well done, in that the casting was 'like you pictured' when you read the book, and the film plot remained mostly true to the book plot?

I can think of a couple. First, from a long time ago, The Pelican Brief starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. I didn't really picture Denzel, but the entire time I was reading it I had Julia Roberts in my mind as the lead character. I thought the movie was very well done. Recently, I think that The Help was a great adaptation of the book. The movie would have had to have been about 6 hours long to develop the entire racial storyline going on at the time, but what was depicted in the movie was very accurate to the book. One last one .. I thought Water for Elephants was also very well done.

What is the one story your family always tells about you?

Oh gosh. When I was a senior in high school my family took a family vacation to Virginia where I was born. In fact, it was the only family vacation we ever took. There were numerous comedies of error on that trip, many stories about all of us, but the one about me had to do with our day trip to Washington, D.C. I had a new outfit. I can see it now. It was a red turtleneck with a gold cardigan sweater with a medallion-like patch on the left breast. I wore it with tight-rolled jeans and slouch socks and my brand new tan suede boots. (And my bangs were a perfect 4 inches high.) We were in D.C. the week of Christmas. Yes, in Washington, D.C., in the middle of winter. And I wouldn't wear a coat. Because my coat did not match my outfit. We walked about 962 miles that day in my brand new boots. And did I mention I didn't have a coat? I finally whined enough that my mom let me have her gloves. But still no coat. And my boots were killing my feet, most specifically my right heel. I ended up pulling my achilles tendon and bruising my heel and it took well over a year before I could walk normally again. Oh, the 80's.

Insert your own random thought here.

Dawson's shattered screen on his iPhone has been replaced (from his senior picture debacle). We used a service called iCracked. I highly recommend them for your cell phone screen issues. Now, the tech did mess up the phone at first try and we thought Dawson's phone might be ruined. But iCracked has a guarantee. So if his phone would have been inoperable, they would have given him a new phone. The tech we used was very nice and drove the 30 miles to our house last night to fix Dawson's phone. He even gave him a $10 discount off the originally quoted price for the screen repair (yes, he paid for the repairs himself). If there is not a contract tech in your area you can mail in your phone to them for repair. I was impressed with their customer service, even if there was a bit of a hassle. All's well that ends well. And I have a happy teenager again. Isn't that what it's really all about?