Day Care

Do you realize how much day care cost? I have 2 kids and I spend $260.00 per week for them to be in daycare. This is like having a second mortgage because I spend more money on daycare than I do on my mortgage for my house. I really don't know why daycare is so expensive because if you have an infant, you have to supply all of the food, all of the formula and all of the diapers. Yes, they do watch them all day while you are working but sometimes it is better to stay home with the kids instead of working because half of your paycheck goes to daycare. My daughter is older and does not take as much to take care of her except to provide food. Of course they play with her throughout the day but all of the other kids are there as well so they play amongst each other. The other that I do not understand with daycare is that they do not offer part time so if your child only goes one day, you have to pay the same amount as if they went for 5 days. Maybe one day the price will go down but I really doubt it because even being in a recession and people not having jobs or working less, the price of daycare is the same.

Botox Injections for the Bladder

Did you know that Botox is used to treat overactive bladder? Well they had studies that Botox if injected into the bladder wall would relax the muscles and improve your symptoms. No one can believe this because they just think of Botox being injected into face for wrinkles. Well, I can tell you that this really does work. I had 20 injections at the same time injected into my bladder wall for what doctor's consider urinary incontinence or overactive bladder. It only took a week to see improvements from the injections and the results can last for up to 6-8 months. If you know anyone that has this condition, it can really drag you down and makes you want to stay in your house. I was diagnosed with overactive bladder when I was 13 but had symptoms my entire life and it really made me want to stay away from everyone. It even made me not go to college right out of high school because I was made fun of so much during my school years that I did not want to continue my education. Once I moved out on my own and started working for a living, I finally was able to tell some of my colleagues my condition and I was amazed that they understood me and they did not make fun of me. This really made me start changing my attitude about my life and I realized that there are alot more people that has worst conditions than mine. Well I meant my husband and he also was very supportive of my situation and made me feel good to the point that I can talk about it to anyone without getting emotional. I am now 33 years old and I just found a doctor this year that was doing another experiment with botox the bladder and he asked me to participate. Amazingly it has only been 3 weeks ago and I am already 70 percent better than I was prior to the injections. If you know anyone, I would definitely recommend that they try it but it is very costly because the insurance does not pay for it.

Son in ICU

It is very difficult to know anyone that has to be in Intensive Care but how about your son at only 3 weeks old? My husband and I had to deal with this. Exactly to the day of my son being 3 weeks old, he came down with a fever and this too was the day that my mom was coming to see him for the first time. I needed to call the local hospital because the tylenol and advil said not ti give to a baby under 6 weeks old. When I spoke to the nurse at the hospital, she advised me that I needed to take him to the Children's hospital because with him so little they would need to admit him in order to find out why he had a fever. At midnight, we drove 35 minutes to the children's hospital in downtown Atlanta where they administered Tylenol, did a spinal tap, did blood work and a urine test. This was extremely difficult for me because the nurse's had to poke my sons veins 8 times before they could get his IV started. They told us right up front that they would keep him overnight to monitor him. The next day, he broke out in a rash and the fever was not breaking and of course no one knew what was wrong with him. They started him on antibiotics and they ended up transporting him to Egleston that evening in Intensiv Care. We didn't realize how sick he really was but he stayed in the hospital for 10 nights in which 3 of them was in Intensive Care. All of the tests came back normal and they only thing that came out of this is they advised it was some kind of bacterial or viral infection. He had the fever for 5 straight days even though he was taken Tylenol on a regular basis. This was extremely hard on both my husband and I because we lived more than 50 miles away from the hospital and between the 2 of us, we spent the night with my son while the other one watched my daughter. I had to make 2-3 trips a day back and forth from the hospital because my daughter was in school and my husband had to work. Thank god since he has been home, he hasn't gotten sick like that again.

Why are kids bad?

Do you have children or know children that have attitude and don't listen? I believe that nowadays, the children watch too much television and around a lot of bad influences. It seems like the kids don't want to listen and they have a bad mouth on them and you want to know where they got it from, which you can only think it is from school or tv. They have so many programs on tv now that are kids programs but shouldn't really be for them. As for their attitude and bad mouth, they tend to say stuff that is never said at home and then you want to know how they learned it. For instance, my daughter has a really bad attitude which I really can't pinpoint how she got this attitude except possibly by watching tv or at school. At home, she does not here any cursing or attitudes that would cause her to have a bad attitude. I believe that more kids should be disciplined to make the society better. I discipline my daughter by not letting her watch cartoons or just sending her to her room but this doesn't always help because she will sit there for 30 minutes and when she is off of time out, 30 minutes letter she is back to where she was earlier. My daughter in the last year has gotten better but it has been a long road with her because she acts up when she gets jealous of her brother.

Sports Fan

I am a big sports fan. I love to watch all of them like baseball, basketball, football, and tennis. My favorite sport and team is Chicago Cubs in baseball. I have followed them since 1989 when my grandfather passed away and he used to follow them prior to his death. My family and I have been to Wrigley Field several times to see the cubs and actually I am in the process of traveling to all of the different stadiums. We have been to about 9 stadiums nationwide like San Francisco, Arizona, Tampa, Miami, Houston, Cincinnati, Chicago, Atlanta, and Colorado. I really enjoy baseball and I will plan my schedule around the cubs because I purchase the MLB Extra Innings every year so I get to see almost every single game of the cubs. When the cubs lose, I get very sad and if anyone follows baseball at all, you know that I am sad every year because they haven't won a world serious since 1908. I still believe in them and I know that 1 year they will win it all and hopefully I will be here to see it.

Unexpected Accident

Would you believe anyone that told you a security guard at the airport came down on the escalator with their bike and fell on top of you? Well, it happened to me last year. I was 5 months pregnant in March of last year and I was going to the airport to pick up my daughter and my husband that was flying in from Pennsylvania. I had to park on the upper level at Hartsfield and take the escalator down to the main level of the airport. The lady security guard which was probably in her 20's was nice and left me go in front of her but in reality she wasn't being nice. I got on the escalator and then she got on behind me but she decided to come down the escalator on her bike, well you know what happened next, she lost her balance and she fell to the bottom. I was half way down when I heard her scream and I expected the worse so I grabbed ahold of the sides of the escalator as tight as possible and her bike wheel landed on my lower part of my back but she missed me because I got off just in time before she landed at the bottom. Of course she hurt her leg so her supervisor was concerned about her but I mentioned that I was pregnant, she got a concerned look on her face because the supervisor knew that it was the security guards fault. They called the paramedics and the checked me out and took me to the hospital to make sure the baby was ok. After half of the night in the hospital, thinkfully everything was ok. When all this was over, the only thing that I cared about getting from the security company was for them to pay for my hospital bills since it was her faulty. Well, when I contacted them, they gave me such an attitude like if I was at fault and would not give me any information regarding their insurance or the accident unless I proved to them that I was who I said I was which meant that they wanted me to write up a letter and fax it to them which that really would not prove anything. I did not like how that reacted and answered to me so I ended up having an attorney take care of this situation and after 7 months, I finally got the money from their insurance company to pay for my medical bills.

Dealing with Depression

No one likes to deal with depression but when you are forced to deal with it, it is not easy. I am one of the unlucky ones, my mom has been in depression for the last 3-4 years and she cannot snap out of it. She has been to several doctors and all they do is give her medicine. I get calls all of the time from her crying for one thing or another. Some of the things that bother her are things that really does not affect her in anyway but she will cry for hours about it. As long as she has been in depression, the doctor's have even said that they are suprised that she hasn't thought about hurting herself, but the messed up thing about it is that she has thought about hurting herself. If is very stressful for me because I live here in Atlanta and she lives in Pennsylvania with my dad. I try to fly to Pennsylvania as much as I can but to her it is not enough and not only that but I have my own family and I want to do different thing with them instead of just flying there to see her. She things during this state of depression that everything should be surrounding her and she really dislikes the fact that both my brother and I do not live close to her meaning within 30 minutes to an hour. My brother lives in Annapolis, Maryland but a typical male like my dad as well does not understand why my mom is in depression so my mom only feels comfortable talking to me regarding this because they just start yelling at her which hurts her even more and makes her cry. Sometime, I even get mad at here for some of things that she says but I know her situation and I have been trying to read up on depression and learn more about her condition so I can try to relate and just listen to her. I understand that it is an illness but I feel that if she would go to the right doctor that maybe she could get cured. I try to cope with this as well because sometimes I feel that she brings me down right with her.

Everyon considers my family to be lucky when it comes to traveling. My husband and I are both in the travel industry so we get a lot of benefits when we travel. I work as a travel agent so we get discounted hotels and car rentals and my husband works for Delta so we get to fly all over the world for free. We take advantage of this and we travel about every other month some where. My husband is from Peru so we get to fly to Peru at least 2-3 times a year to visit family. I also been to Italy several times with my daughter because my brother is in the Navy and he was stationed in Naples for about 7 years so I traveled at least once a year if not twice a year. Working for Delta and flying free has it advantages but it also has some disadvantages. It is good in the way that we can fly free and pay minimal taxes but it is strictly standby so if the flight is full, we do not get to fly. It doesn't happen often but usually this is more likely to happen when we go to a city which only has 1 flight a day non-stop to Atlanta in which if we do not make it, we need to overnight in that city. When we fly to Peru, we never have trouble flying over but on the way back, Delta brings a lot of cargo back which limits the number of non revenue passengers that they will clear for the flight.We have been stuck a few times in different cities but it definitely helps us to be able to travel a lot with our 2 kids and to see the different cities. We try to be smart when we fly by checking the flights on a daily basis and trying a flight that looks the best even if it really isn't the flight that we want to take. My husband also gets buddy passes every year for our family and friends so they can fly for a reduced price. This is also standby but it still helps out our family that cannot afford to travel alot.

Stolen Luggage

Did you ever think that your suitcase could get stolen at Hartsfield airport? Yes it can and I am the first to let you know. I flew to Baltimore over the Memorial weekend to visit my brother and nephews. My trip was a lot of fun, I took my nephews to see the movie "Shrek" and to Six Flags. My children and I returned on Memorial day and when I arrived into Atlanta, my bag was no where to be found. I checked in the baggage office and they advised me that the bag was scanned in Atlanta on Monday but they were not able to locate my suitcase. My only concern was that I had brought back 2 half gallons of ice cream from Pennsylvania and I didn't want it to melt all over our clothes. The baggage service advised me that my bag was probably stolen because this is the time of the year that thieves walk around baggage claim and steals passengers bags trying to find valuable. Good thing I didn't have any valuables in my suitcase. We filed a lost baggage report and left the airport. On Wednesday, my husband gets a call from the Greyhound bus station in downtown Atlanta advising that my bag was at the station. We left the baggage office know and they arranged for the bag to be picked up from the bus station and deliver it to the airport. On Thursday, my husband needed to go and inspect the bag and to make sure everything was there. The only thing that was missing was the 2 half gallons of ice cream and we had a shirt in there that did not belong to us. All I can say is if you check bags during the peak season of traveling, be sure to go straight to baggage and get your bag before you do anything else.

It can be very difficult to receive a college degree while living at home and not have to work or even having a spouse that can support you enough so you do not have to work and can concentrate on studying and receiving your degree. Try to work, have 2 small kids and have to drive more than an hour in each direction to get to work. Well this is what I do on a daily basis, I work 45 miles south of the city and it takes me more than an hour in each direction to get to work and I have a 5 year old daughter and a 9 month old son. I work 5 days a week and go to school twice a week and when I am not in school or working, I am taking care of my children, studying, doing house work and doing homework. I decided last year while I was pregnant with my son to go back to school in order to get a college degree because I am a travel agent and this job will not be around soon because of the internet and I have no other experience in order to get a decent paying job. It is very hard to juggle everything because when I am home, my children wants all of my attention so I usually end up doing my studying and homework after 9pm in the evening after they are sleeping so I have no interruptions. I am determined to receive my college degree no matter how long it takes me to complete it.

Italy for vacation

One of the best places to visit is Italy. It is a great honeymoon location as well as a family vacation. Italy is known for its wine especially in the Tuscany region which is Florence and the surrounding areas. Delta has 1-2 nonstop flights a day to Rome depending on the season. In the high season which normally runs between May and September, Delta will offer 2 flights a day to Rome as well as nonstop flights to Milan and Venice. The trains are the best means of transportation within Italy and the most economical way. Italy has great sightseeing options like the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps in Rome to name a few and Florence has the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia Gallery which houses Michelangelo's David. You cannot forget the Last Supper in Milan as well as the Gondola ride in Venice. As far as shopping, Milan is known for the great shopping as well as Florence. Italy has great Italian food and the wine is one of the best. The honeymooners would really enjoy the Amalfi Coast because most of the hotels are overlooking the coast and it just makes it very romantic and they can even take a 30 minute ferry from Naples or Sorrento to Capri which is a small island off the coast of Naples. The hotels are pretty pricey depending on where you stay and what kind of hotel. They can range anywhere between $200.00-$1000.00 per night with the exchange rate. Italy is on the Euro which makes things more expensive for us but in the last couple of weeks, the dollar has gotten stronger. The best time of the year to go to Italy is May or September because the weather is good and you do not have all of the vacationers like you do in the summer months. The least expensive time to travel would be February or March but you can expect chilly and rainy weather.