For sure, if you're moving that soon, then use the HELOC. Literally, we had ZERO fees/costs for a 200k HELOC. Don't tell the bank you are going to sell that soon, though, or they might not want your HELOC business (as THEY generally cover all those OOP expenses like the appraisal, etc . . . in anticipation of making plenty of $$ Off the loan over the next many years . . .)

HELOC fees and costs should be extremely low. When we opened a HELOC on our house, there were 0 fees at all. The bank even paid for the appraisal . . . rates are very low. Similar experience with my mom's HELOC (who had no regular mortgage at all). The only downside is that the HELOC has a variable rate and generally floats frequently. If you plan to pay it off within 3-5 years, or if the total loan amount is small enough for you that you have the option to pay it off easily if the rates go crazy (like cash out an investment account if needed, etc) then I wouldn't sweat it and I'd go with the HELOC. BUT, if this debt is going to be around for decades . . . then I much prefer a fixed rate, specifically during these low rate times, and would do the higher cost ordinary mortgage instead.

We went several places -- did a self-guided tour of sorts with a rented car . . . We stayed in the La Fortuna area to do the high adventure and hot springs stuff there We stayed at Hotel: Hotel El Silencio del Campo in La Fortuna. We loved it. We got 2 little houses/rooms, one for us and one for our kids. Even though you could fit 4 (maybe could have squeezed 5 since my kids are younger) folks in one . . . dh and I wanted the private space. That worked out great. We did white water rafting, "canyoneering" (rappelling down water falls and in canyons), a wildlife viewing river "float" (in a raft, but slow and easy) to photograph wildlife at dusk, hanging bridges through the jungle, etc, etc. etc. The hotel we stayed at had natural hot springs on site, so pretty much we soaked in hot springs "pools" in the evening as our after-dinner chill out after a day of intense high adventure. In the beach area, we went to Playa Santa Teresa and rented a VRBO on the beach. That was very nice. Definitely hire surfing guides for surf lessons!! Very awesome surfing in that area. There's also a great water fall you can take a day hike to and cliff jump, etc . . . Pretty much, CR is an adventure paradise. We took the kids there in May as my "stepping it up" family vacation . . . as the kids are getting older and I'd like them to KEEP wanting to travel with us, lol. I just mainly used Trip Advisor to find ideas. The forums for CR are good, and then used reviews of hotels, etc. . . We flew into San Jose and stayed one night in San Jose right before flying home, since we were coming from Santa Teresa If you decide to go . . . definitely PM me for more specific ideas. If your people like adventure and nature, CR is ABSOLUTELY the perfect place to go. It is incredibly tourist-friendly. Everyone loves the tourists and Americans. Prices are reasonable. No shady characters . . . Food is great. Awesome tours/guides/etc . . . Really, really amazing. It's $$ but not as bad as you think. Flights were very reasonable for us from the east coast. Like $550 or so from Pittsburgh, and just one connection and not a long travel time. Cheaper than going to Montana which was our initial thought (love MT) . . . Hotels were quite reasonable. (We traveled in May 2016).

Costa Rica ROCKS and is perfect. In every way. :)

I'd have either ignored it (bully for them!) & turned on some very loud movie or music or worn headsets. . . or, if it really bothered me for some reason or I had someone with me that made me particularly uncomfortable hearing that at any level, I'd have called the desk and asked for a new room because the neighbors were noisy. Life's both messy and noisy. TeA is natural and fun and sometimes noisy. Who knows the circumstances . . . could be a reunion of folks separated for military service, or folks just ABOUT to be separated, or one partner is about to have surgery that might compromise TeA brewing, etc. Or just some random lucky couple having a great time and too distracted or momentarily self-absorbed to STFU. In any event, the last thing I'd want to do is disrupt their pleasure. Life's hard, why make it harder? Really, IMHO, it's the fault of the hotel for having such thin walls. TeA is an expected menu option at a hotel; walls should be thick enough to insulate against noise short of ear-piercing screaming (in which case, really, folks, get a VRBO on acreage!) I hate noisy hotels. The things that bother me are usually just doors opening/closing or normal conversations in the hall . . . I recently had to go out and buy a HEPA room filter for the white noise just to survive the remaining 2 nights of a 3 night stay at a conference . . . I won't stay there again. So, I wouldn't fault the couple or want to embarrass them if at all avoidable.

:grouphug: :grouphug: Awww, Scarlett, you do matter. It's just that your boys are at a horrible, no good, awful stage of development. They can't see past their own noses. Only they matter to themselves. It's not evil, it's just the toddler=teen stage of development. You are the mom/giver, and they see you as impervious. I totally get what you are feeling. TOTALLY. This is a universal mom thing, IMHO. Get your affirmation and caring from your dh and other peers, and look forward to a day when you can squoosh grand babies and give them noisy toys and lots of sugar and let them stay up late to watch Disney movies . . . That's what keeps me going, lol. Just a couple more years, and these grumpy spoiled teens will be out of our hair and thankful for Mom cooking, Mom laundry service, etc when they come home to visit. And, we'll be thankful for their smelly clothes on the bathroom floor . . . really, it'll happen.

I'd be surprised that my teen son found anything in the foot-deep detritus that passes for his floor. I celebrate when we can see the floor in the kids' rooms, and if they sorted things out well enough to identify anything that didn't belong in that room, I'd be shocked and awed. I might just throw a party. I'd be likely to give the kid a high 5 and congratulate him on the progress. Meanwhile, I'd use a stick or maybe tongs to move said jeans to the washer without coming into contact with them, get them clean, and then ask household members to claim the next time all were gathered (so likely around the dinner table) . . . My kids are slobs. It drives me bonkers. I try not to take it personally, but it is hard, as they do know their messes drive me mad. Small ways I've had small successes recently with my teens: 1) Every so often, I just say NO MORE, and I say the kid can't leave the house until the room is clean. It generally takes a few days for this to result in a clean room, and then not more than a few days for the clean room to become repulsive again, so it's definitely only a partial win. 2) An actual, real success is that for the last year or so, we've had a wonderful habit of the entire family working together to clean the kitchen/dining/family area every night after dinner. LOVE. I think it works because the entire family is there together, so we're able to set a good example while also engaging . . . and I can coach a bit . . . This makes me HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY. 3) Other actual successes are that my kids are generally compliant/nice enough to me (lately) that when I ask them to do a specific chore/task at a specific time (immediately, not in the future sometime, forget that), they will do it pretty well. As in "Child, please unload the dishwasher once you are done with breakfast." or "Child, please take out the garbage right now." or "Child, please clean your bathroom before going out with your friends." They don't do perfect work, but they do some work, and they do it with a generally helpful attitude, so I'm just so happy about that, as it is one million times better than the surliness I have sometimes faced in response to such requests/instructions. Scarlett, you have my sympathy living with two (smelly, messy) teen boys. :) I think you need to celebrate the small victories and try to ignore the rest. Trust me. You'll live through this, and in just a couple years, those boys will be up and out and you'll be glad you didn't spend too much more time fighting the tide that is Reality. (Reality = teens are slobs and all the training you try to do is likely for naught; they'll get tidier when they grow up . . . or not . . .)

Sounds to me like tachycardia --- when your heart races --- and that physical event can cause, of course, you to feel anxious, etc, as your heart is beating too fast to get blood distributed properly. I'd go into the DR and tell him about what's happening. If possible, take your pulse when this next occurs, to see what exactly your heart rate is. I wouldn't write it off as a panic attack until/unless you eliminate physical causes.

Rubbing alcohol works great, especially for tough stains. We have huge white boards at work that often have stuff written on them for a year or longer. Rubbing alcohol has always worked, and those huge boards have been in heavy, daily use for about a decade, including Sharpie marks (that also are able to be cleaned off with rubbing alcohol, I believe, although I haven't been the one cleaning them.) Nail polish remover is my go to for really really tough stains. Windex or 409 or similar usually works in a pinch.

DD20 is double majoring in computer science (within the College of Engineering) and math. Computer science is her passion for a career, but she also LOVES math and was taking a lot of extra math classes for fun, and once she realized she had enough spare room in her course plan to get a 2nd major in math, she added that. DS17 is planning right now on either Chemical or Mechanical Engineering, or possible Comp Sci, and also keeping the pre-med door open for now. I'm guessing he'll not want to work for all the As he'd need for being pre-med, and that he'll likely setting into of the engineering or Comp Sci majors without continuing pre-med, because I just don't see him being willing to work for As in (nearly) every class . . . DD14 is still an unwritten book for college plans. She's talking pre-med or pre-vet, and I can see her excelling at anything she wants to do.

We just had to deal with this! We don't set curfews for our young adult kid(s), but we did have to make it clear that not having a curfew was dependent upon being able to come into the house so stealthily that no one else was woken up by their arrival . . . This came up when my two dds were out contra dancing, and came in to the house like a herd of elephants at 5:30AM (yes, you read that right), waking up every other person in the house . . . When they woke up that afternoon, we told them that not having a curfew was dependent upon not waking us up . . . The rest of the week (it's an old time dance week that runs for 5 nights btw Xmas and NYE, every year . . .), they managed to enter the house without waking anyone up. I think we're all in agreement now that a curfew will be imposed if a late-entry to the house wakes anyone else up . . . One thing that makes me OK with not having a curfew is that all my kids are OK with keeping Find My Friends enabled on their iphones. So, if I wake up at 3AM and worry, I can quickly touch my phone and see that they are exactly where I hope/expect (a friend's, the event they were at, whatever . . . but not on a random road . . . where they could be in a ditch, lol.)

I did one for my oldest, and it was very fun. She has a lot of connections in many non-overlapping circles in our community (and beyond in our family), so it was nice to have one event that I could invite all those folks to join to celebrate her accomplishments . . . My 2nd kid is graduating this May, and I'm not sure if he'll let me have a party or not . . . He thinks parents are embarrassing, so I'm not sure he wants to invite his friends to an event we are hosting . . . So, not sure what we'll do . . . I hope he lets us throw a party.

Thanks!! I've already*got* pretty much all the stuff . . . it's mostly the lesson planning that I'd like to get a short cut for, lol. Maybe I'm just getting lazy. . . 17 years of homeschooling and I think I'm sick of lesson planning. I used to love the organizing/planning . . . now I just wanna' get to the meat of the matter, lol.

Thank you!! I've bookmarked this! Looks like lots of good ideas to investigate.

Looks very cool! I've saved it to my Amazon cart! Thanks!!

LOL, this IS the exact book I used several years ago. It's very cool, but it's a LOT of work getting it all organized and time-planning is a real crap shoot. I may end up doing it again (and I already have many hundreds of dollars into the needed equipment) . . .

:svengo: Do you live in CA? LOL LOL, I live in WV. Your examples of un-fireable offenses seem rather bizarre!!! Are you talking about not being able to fire w/o being vulnerable to a successful unemployment claim?? I know that varies a lot state-to-state. Or do you mean that you actually can NOT fire for those offenses w/o you/the company being liable for wrongful termination or some similar offense? That would really, really stink. Whoa. Tell me what state you are in, and maybe I can google you up some more hopeful guidance. Maybe you just need some better written guidelines/handbook . . . and some "written warnings" . . . I know that in any place I've heard of in the US, you can fire for any offense you like (so long as it's not a protected class or you have some contract in place), but the liability for unemployment will vary a lot place to place . . . BUT, paying higher UE rates is WAY worth getting rid of a toxic employee! Let them have UE if that's what you have to do -- but, goodness, don't keep them on staff!! If you are correct that you truly can't fire for those sorts of offenses, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes!! Can you move your business? In our position, we would HAVE to fire anyone for either of those offenses, as we hold DEA-controlled drugs/licenses, so we'd be in deep-doo-doo with the Feds if we didn't prevent substance abusers from being in our employ / having access to controlled drugs. We have a duty to protect the controlled drugs, and not having drug abusers on staff is part of that duty. We can fire anyone for any reason at any time, EXCEPT for the obvious discrimination issues (i.e., we can't fire someone for being in a protected class). Now, if I fire someone because of something super petty such as I don't like the color of shoes they wear to work, I'm gonna' get pinged for unemployment . . . but if I fire them for reasonable "cause" (which any of your examples would be, given I've documented my employment guidelines/handbook, given warning, etc) . . . then I won't even get pinged because they'd never get UE approved once I submit my rationale for the termination. NOTE: I *could* even get away with something petty like firing someone for the wrong color shoes, so long as I'd given written warnings about requiring the "right" color shoes . . . But, if I never warned them, and then I fired them . . . I would get pinged for UE if they filed for it.

YES!! And for girls!!

Sure, there are some potential benefits to being an IC, especially if you are paid a premium that helps make up for your lost benefits. If you are tax-savvy enough to manage these things and in a high enough tax bracket for them to matter, then, sure there are some benefits to being an IC. LEGALLY, it is NOT an optional thing to be an IC or a W-2 employee, however. There are specific rules that make you ONE or the OTHER . . . choosing to self-select your preferred category puts you at risk of tax/legal problems . . . in particular, on the side of the EMPLOYER, as that's who legally controls this decision. We've been employees, and we're now employers. IME, we have a lot more power as employers than we did as employees. I'm not saying that employees have no power nor any responsibilities, but I definitely respect the fact that the balance of power is tipped in my favor as the one with the firing authority and the check signing authority . . . Yes, I have heavy responsibilities, but I also have a lot of power. Your situation may differ, but IME, I definitely believe that the balance of power favors the employer, and so I take that seriously and respect the outsized power I have in that role, which means I am especially diligent about considerately considering the impacts of my/management actions on the employees. ps. If you really feel like your employees have more power than you do . . . Then I suggest doing some management training/courses/reading a book or two . . . You shouldn't feel that way! Even though managing human beings is a miserable aspect of most management jobs (at least it sure is to me), it is critical, and being confident and authoritative is critical to success and ease of management . . . I totally get that employees can make you miserable, lol, but really, you shouldn't feel that you aren't in control!

I don't know how I escaped this disaster, but I am very, very grateful I did! For some reason, my son never peed in the wrong places, despite standing. . . Boys. Are. Gross.

Wow, that's really, really scummy of someone to challenge their paypal payment to her. I think she should name them and shame them here, for sure. So sad and twisted to go after her. This should be a warning to all those who think of organizing or participating in this sort of thing in the future, though. On a million levels, this entire group buy idea was a bad idea. I imagine everyone will think seven times before participating in something like this in the future. Hindsight is 20/20, as always. :( Personally, I had nothing to do with Landry, the group buy, or anything like that, but I am disgusted that Allison, who volunteered to help here on WTM, would get harmed out of all this beyond her obviously loss to Landry directly. I'll contribute a cash/paypal donation to her directly to help offset her loss(es) just as my own WTM Board contribution. This board should be a safe place. This board IS special because it feels like a community . . . If Allison ends up with more losses (or if this one is substantial enough to hurt her), please let me know, and let's start a little fundraising campaign of our own to make her whole. Poor thing. No good deed goes unpunished. Gimme' a paypal addy and I'll send a little bit her way. Sad.

My understanding is that if you are a 1099 worker, you must pay "both sides" of the SS/Medicare taxes and of course income taxes. All pretty straightforward at tax time . . . We've had some 1099 income over the years and handled it easily enough with TurboTax and/or basic CPA help. BUT, if they were paid 1099 and SHOULD HAVE BEEN regular W-2 employee, then, I *think* they'd actually be off the hook for the employer side of things . . . AFTER the IRS reclassifies them based on an audit, etc. Essentially, the employer is totally responsible for fixing/making right the employer error. So, the teachers just have to deal appropriately with whatever tax forms they get. . . and open any future letters from the IRS, etc, but the teachers themselves should NOT face any negative gov't actions based on the employer misclassifying them. Essentially, the employees are the victims in the misclassification, and they are treated as such. If they end up being reclassified, they might even get a refund of some sort some how some day. NOTE: I'm not a CPA, not an attorney, and have never actually had to deal with the IRS personally other than sending in forms and checks, lol. I've just researched the 1099 vs w2 issue a good bit as it is relevant to our own business.

Google up "affinity fraud" if you want a sad education on how businesses use "affinity"/shared interests/shared values to con people. Utah is a hotbed of affinity fraud because of the LDS values of trusting in other LDS folks makes them sadly susceptible to this sort of thing. Personally, I think a $50 credit towards a $300-500 class is just a small marketing gimmick. I don't fault Veritas or any other company from wanting a piece of the Landry pie that is imploding, and they/anyone can't afford to eat the losses that Landry has created, and no one can afford to teach a $500 class for $75 . . . Frankly, I'd encourage people to take their religion out of their business decisions to as large an extent as possible. I mean, sure, choose ethical companies that treat people right, but don't trust blindly just because someone shares (or claims to share) your religion or values. I have a local friend who has suffered YEARS of serious financial difficulties all because he was scammed by a fellow church member, another Christian man. This friend hired this Christian contractor to build him a big horse arena, and the contractor did a horrible job, leaving him to have to re-pay to have the roof redone so it wouldn't fall down, and then the rest of the project was left incomplete. What was NOT incomplete was the big cash payments my friend had made and the HUGE mortgage he was left with. He could have (and should have) sued the contractor, or even just gotten hard with a lawyer letter . . . But "he's a good Christian man . . . and he'd lose his home . . . and he's older and close to retirement. . . " meanwhile, my friend barely scrapes by for years with this huge mortgage for a building that wasn't complete so can't provide the cash flow (boarding horses) to pay for it . . . he and his wife are childless, and probably can't afford to have a baby, and live in a crappy trailer and definitely have not one penny of emergency resources, etc . . . It just makes me mad as hell. They're really good people, and, to me, that Christian contractor USED their goodness to take advantage of them. Evil, IMHO. Anyway, I just couldn't get over how this very religious, very good man, this friend of mine, could come to believe that it was the Christian thing to do to let someone rip him and his family off so badly. Seems like a big huge scam to me. So, anyway, that's my 2c.

FWIW, I am an owner of two LLCs and an S-Corp. LLCs are crazy easy to set up, very cheap to set up, and offer very limited protection to the owners/members. We only use the LLCs to own commercial/investment real estate, and the S-Corp (a much more involved and expensive corporation to set up and manage) is used for our actual business that has employees/etc. My understanding from our attorneys and CPAs over the years is that LLCs (and even S-Corps) offer some limited protection of our personal assets, but these are very limited protections, not at all bullet proof. For *many*/most acts of business (especially for a new LLC), the owners are very exposed personally . . . Thus, we pay for excessive amounts of insurance ("umbrella" policies") to protect us personally against business errors/liabilities. Anyway, whether or not the LLC was established in 2014 or earlier or later . . . I would guess that the Landry family is likely exposed legally and financially. Given that their home is for auction in coming weeks, I imagine they are in deep personal financial trouble in any event. I personally wouldn't expect there to be any substantial deep pockets that could make whole those who've pre-purchased credits, etc. I would definitely work though your CC companies, etc, to dispute any/all payments . . . I've read that there are very long term (over a year) protections via VISA/MC, maybe even continuing for years if you've pre-purchased things . . . So, I'd just open disputes with any banks/ccs I'd used, and hope for some remedy that way if possible . . . (All those merchant fees and interest charges for VISA/MC pay for this protection . . . don't discount it!) It is certainly possible that the company and/or Landry family have some large insurance policy (like most responsible business owners) that might cover some of these losses, but I doubt it . . . This is such a sad situation.

Alrighty . . . I'm going back in . . . and teaching high school biology again next year! For my baby + a pal.. :) I've done this before (4 years ago, for my older 2 kids plus a tag along friend), using Miller & Levine Macaw edition, along with the Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments. . . When I did it last time, I was very happy with the M&L text (and the accompanying tests/etc from the publisher), and although we learned a lot using the IGtHBE, it was a LOT of work for me planning & managing the experiments, and the logistics of planning (i.e., knowing how long things would take) was a mess, with plenty of labs taking us 3+ hours. I'll use M&L Macaw again for the text/tests, so just need to figure out what I want to do for lab. I actually have 2 degrees (BS & MS) in biological sciences, and my husband has a whole thermometer of them, so we're well equipped to teach/explain/understand the materials . . . just looking for a lab course fairly well already set up that could correlate well with a biology text. I *can* make up all the labs again and DIY (which is largely what you do with the IGtHBE), but I'd really like some of the grunt work done for me -- in so far as sketching out the "recipe" for the experiments along with time estimates. I can do the explaining/interpreting/etc . . . as much as is needed. Since I like to include one non-family member in my science classes, having no idea if the lab can be done in 90 min vs 200 min is really a nuisance, so I'm hoping to find some materials that make it a little easier with everything more laid out. I own gobs of lab materials, a nice microscope, etc, and have full access to a vet hospital lab, too (having done this bio before and high school chem as well as AP chem and AP env. sci) . . . so I can re-use materials, and I don't mind buying more . . . I'm just hoping to find some sort of lab-in-a-box or at least lab-planned-out-well-in-a-book . . . Money isn't a big limitation. (I don't mind spending a few hundred bucks.) Two students, both working at advanced high school level (algebra, algebra 2, geometry complete, as well as high school chemistry & AP env sci for one student). Could probably handle AP, but I want these girls to get two years of biology, as they are both potential future doctors / pre-med students . .. SO, looking for honors high school level to normal high school level, or even AP level, so long as the labs aren't actually the same ones they'll end up doing in AP Bio in a couple more years. OK, anyone have any great ideas!??? Please??