It is Official I Am Old!!

I am slipping in my old age.  I have shared before about wagers I have made with the hubbs and my kids.   I normally do not wager unless I know I am going to win. 
My kids are the worst, in the mornings, trying to get ready and clothes and bags packed for school.  They wait until it is time to go out the door to scramble to find PE clothes and get the book bags packed.  After telling Big T to get his things together three times I was at my end.  He said, I am ready.  I could see his gym clothes and his gym bag in the chair not packed.  He said again, I am ready.  This is where my age has caught up to me and I slipped.  He said he was ready and I said he was not.  He said, I bet you I am.  So we bet and I lost.  Ughhh I detest smarty pants kids.  I did forget he has two sets of gym clothes and two gym bags.  He was indeed ready to go to school.  So I have to pay up.  I was completely over confident in this one.  I blame it on my age creeping in.  I will not admit that my son got the best of me.  

Sorry for the Break. . .

I have not had time to post these last several weeks and I do regret it.  I have been all over the place, between the kiddos and their schedule and my own.  Whewww! 
My public speaking  class has really been a challenge but, one I  am very happy to embrace.  This class has really thrown me out of my comfort zone.  I have learned that public speaking will not kill you, as I have long believed.  I have met some great young adults in this class.   My first speech was my hardest because it was all about me.   You would think I could talk all day about me.  I guess typing about me is much easier than actually being in front of a group and talking.  My last two speeches were on aspects of Dave Ramsey and I knocked them both out of the park.  Very proud of those two grades. 
The Constitutional Law class has been a big challenge too.  I will be glad when this semester is over.  I am going to try and get back in my groove with my posts, I beg for your patience as I try and adjust. 

I am going to brag just a bit on my very smart and handsome boys.  They both had straight A's this grading period.   I am
a very proud mom.  You may think it is no big deal to get straight A's but, when you throw in that they were both playing football and had practice every day it is an accomplishment.  
Stay tuned, lots of things to come. . .

Kids and Cars ? ? ?

Sprat enjoyed his birthday week.  Between football games and practice, school, and life in general poor Sprat did not get an official celebration.  We celebrated with the family at the lake over the weekend and we had cake and ice cream at our house the other day.  No, he did not get a new car for his sweet sixteen.  He will not have his license for a couple months yet because he has not put in his driving time like he should have.  I am not sure if he is afraid or if he just does not care about driving.  Most of the kids he hangs out with will not get their licenses till next year and that may be part of it.
I did not get a new car when I turned sixteen, I did get to drive my moms' old car and I was pretty thrilled with that.  Some of the kids I went to school with got new cars; they got Camero, Jaguar, and even a Porche.  I drove my daddy's truck to school right after I got my license because I could not drive a straight drive.  Once I learned how to drive a straight drive I got my moms' car.   I was thrilled just to have a car to drive.  I drove moms car till I graduated college and went to work.  Once I was settled in my new job and my new apartment I started saving my money so that I could buy my first car and moms car went back to them.  I think this is how things are going to go with my kids.  They can drive what we have, and when they have a job of their own they can buy their first car.

Preparation for the Big 16. . .

Cross another crazy week off the charts.  Whewww!  Gave my speech, got a little emotional at the end, no big  shocker there.  Oh, and I was a little long winded, hmmm, go figure. 
Got rearended  on my  way to school by a girl with no license.   Ughh.  No damge  to either car thank goodness.   I hope this was her wake up call. 
Getting ready for my baby to turn 16.  (Big tears here).   He has a few more months of permit driving before he actually will get his license.   When I asked him about a party or get together with his buddies all he said was, "I am not a girl."  I told him that boys turn 16 too and that he could just get together with his friends.  My hubby suggested that he should take Sprat and his friends to Hooters.  Thank goodness he was only joking.   I have been looking at some college football games he could go to and so far he has not been impressed.  We may have to put off the celebration until after his football season.  
Going to be another crazy week so hang on to your hats.

Personal Finance? ? ?

Sprat is taking personal finance this semester in school.  He brought home a list of questions for his dad and I on our experience with money.  I honestly believe I could teach a young adult personal finance class.   I think I have made all the mistakes out there with money.  I am very proud to say I learned from my mistakes and did not make the same one twice.  
One of the questions asked, if I could share one important lesson about money what would it be?   With out a doubt it would be, never sign up for a credit card.  I signed up for my first card as a freshman in college.   I was working partime and had a $2, 500 credit limit with a 29% interest rate.  What was I thinking?  That is the point, I was not thinking.   I was too young to know better and my parents had never warned me of the evils of credit cards.  I do not think they ever imagined a company would give me credit.
I think I have shared this before, when talking about credit cards,  about all of the offers the hubbs and I received in a month.   I had over $352, 000 and my hubby had over $450, 000 in credit card offers.  This would have been in 1998 when the credit card companies sent out these types of offers every day.  We did not have that kind of money nor did we need that kind of credit for anything. 
You can live without credit cards but it takes patience, planning, and delayed gratification.  These are three things the kids of today are not being taught.  They are the now generation.  They want it now and do not care how they get it.  My kids are guilty of this too, so please do not think I am pointing fingers.   This has been an ongoing lesson for both of my boys.  We talk daily about saving for that all important pair of shoes they absolutely must have or the game that they cannot live without.  If it is over and above what they NEED for school then they pay for it themselves.  Both the boys have bought their own shoes with their own money (birthday or commission) if it was something that was a want and not a need.  Yes, I am that mom.

First Speech Next Week. . .

A getting to know you speech, my first assignment.  Not sure I want anyone to know me.  Do we really want people to know us?   Yes, I post a lot of things here but I see this as more of an online journal.  Sometimes I vent, sometimes I want to share something new that I have learned, and sometimes I just write whatever is on my mind.
Back to the speech; I have to talk about an item from my past, present and future.  This is a hard one.  It is 2-3 minutes in length, if you go over or under you get points deducted.  I can get long winded so I am worried about the over 3 minutes issue.  I have had a real time trying to decide what items I will use to represent my past, present and future.  I think my kids represent my present and my husband represents my future but I am not sure about my past.  I think I am more complicated than a 3 minute speech.

Making Wagers. . .

My husband and I  have always made bets with each other on various topics.  Before we had our kids and when we were both working we would make sizable (several hundred $) wagers with each other.  
One day we were out of town and I thought I saw one of my students from my Sunday school class.  I pointed him out and of course the hubbs immediately dismissed  that it was him.  I was pretty sure it was him, so I bet my hubby a new designer pocketbook if I was right and he could get a new rod and reel of equal value to my pocketbook  if he was right. 
We happened to be at a basketball tournament when all of this happened so I had to wait till the game was over to go and see my student.  Long story short, it was my student and the hubbs was not happy. 
I usually won these bets with my hubby and yes they were silly bets but we have so much fun picking  with and teasing each other.   Sometimes we bet on who knows what.  We got into an argument about where the mini Coopers were built and who made them.  You can imagine the salesman's surprise when we pulled into the dealership to get the facts to resolve our bet.  You guessed it, I won and this time I got a mani/pedi. 
I am sharing all of these crazy stories so that I can share the latest between Sprat and I.   He was being hard headed, as teenagers do and refused to take any notebooks or pens or pencils to school on his first day.  I insisted that he would need to write things down and he needed to take a notebook and a pencil.  Naturally, being the loving mom I am, I packed a notebook, pens, and pencils in his bookbag without him knowing.  He was still insistent that he would not be writing anything down on the first day.  I do not know where they get this attitude?  Heeheehee.   He proceeded to bet me he would not be writing anything down.  He has the know it all attitude but he forgets that I DO KNOW IT ALL.  You moms know what I am talking about.  He bet me $100 that he would not write anything down.  Well, you know I could not resist this one.  I took his bet and when he came home from school last night he pulled out all of his papers that would need signing and low and behold he had written several things in his agenda and on his papers.  I did not take my child's money,  this little mishap will be worth way more than $100 later on down the road.  This little gem will stay in my mom arsenal of "do you remember when?" 
Here is to all the moms and dads fighting the good fight day and night, hang in there and know that your kids will thank you later on down the road.  It took me twenty-two years to learn and realize my parents were always right.   Love and hugs to you all.