Massive bull. No one knows what the hell they’re talking about. The specific things I’m trying to deduct are not listed as yes or no in the rules. So it comes to *someone* making the decision. I think I have no choice but to appeal the latest decision, then attempt to argue the deductions then. My caseworker and his supervisor are jerks. I swear they think I have extra income I’m not reporting. They just comment that “food is expensive.†Gee, thanks. Not helpful. I called the state and was told very quickly that yes the kids’ activities can be medical deductions. Then she read the notes from the supervisor. “Oh, I thought for sure, but you’ll have to talk to your caseworker.†$15 a week in food stamps is almost not worth the looks gotten from pulling out the stupid card, especially when I’ll be paying over $500 cash.

We “only†have up to 30mbps bundled with phone and it’s about $75. I can’t imagine you’re going to have too many options for the speed you need, which means minimal $$ shopping.

Since LIHEAP doesn’t count as an income, I technically pay heat. I have combined electric and gas heat though, so I absolutely pay heat. I pay utilities except sewer and water. So I need to find out why there’s not a deduction beyond the standard $160. That’s supposed to just be a flat deduction regardless of anything else.

And the biggest pain is that increases in income (meaning my jackass ex may have caught up one month in child support) becomes relevant 2 months later when of course my income is down more than usual. I wish I could report child support for a 6 month period and then it wouldn’t be as dramatic of a change. But of course if I do that, I’m penalized for failing to report, even though at the end of the year it’s ether even or low.

Using the standard $160 household deduction, I see where the number comes from. But what about utilities? I still do t know how much my rent will be and that change takes place in January. I found something quoting 30% of adjusted, or 10% gross, or $350.10 max. But I can’t find my county, so those numbers may be meaningless. There’s a $480 annual deduction per dependent, but also a $400 disabled deduction. Does that mean my deduction is $960 for dependents and $800 because the dependents are disabled? Or “just†$960? Or $960 for dependents and $400 for a disability in the household?

If an activity is being used as a medical deduction, do I have to have receipts to cover the entire 6 month period? Or should I be able to submit dr’s note plus cost of thing? For ds, drums and swimming (and eventually martial arts) are all medically ordered. Seriously. Lol. Neuromuscular doc has it in records that she wants him doing these things, and even listed why they’re more beneficial than continuous PT. But I pay cash for everything. Ive never gotten receipts for drums. I’ve also not yet forced it as a medical deduction because there have been weeks we’ve skipped due to money. We have 3 sources of assistance, but they’re not all computer linked. So I have to report to A, which changes, so then B and C will change, again causing changes to A. I wish I could have a meeting with all 3 sources, hash out 2018 and be done for the year. In January of 2019 dd turns 18, but will not yet have graduated from school. So I don’t know what will happen. But NOTHING will be changing in 2018. Until this month, the changes were all so small that sources A and B didn’t care about C and only C would move around a little. Back in January and February of 2017 I had an extra kid officially here. Our food only increased 1 month instead of the 2 he was here. I’m debating on asking to review that period just because the new worker has generally been sour. Though the new worker did push me to have ds case reviewed revealing serious underpayment (but that money can’t go towards daily living expenses). I agree it’s a massive waste of the workers’ time. Our stuff should be very simple, yet they act like it’s such a pain to fix things.

I think I found it. This is going to be fun to read through. Lol The deduction part is the hardest. We have some things that are not standard medical deductions, but are dr ordered, therefore some should be deducted. I may ask to sit down with a supervisor about this. All that’s happened is types of assistance have shifted hands, which isn’t the way it works. If the shifting left is ahead at least a little, I wouldn’t care. But now when I sit down with someone, changes won’t happen for like 2 months, so we’re screwed again. I may ask for a more formal review to stop the change, then we wouldn’t have to wait that time if the decision is in our favor.

Their manual is genius! My evening plan is to track it down. :)

Does anyone work as a case manager for a county assistance office? What about finding a more straightforward calculator? I think our case was seriously messed up, but if I don’t find the right deductions or calculators, I have to trust them. That hasn’t been a positive experience given what we just went though with my son.

The drama continues. Not so much for us though. One of the grandparents/guardians (of kids so far not mentioned) works at the Y and has a different relationship with the kids. It’s possible that 10yo’s mom pushed the 13yo granddaughter. Not that it makes it ok, but 10yo’s mom thought 13yo granddaughter and 15yo grandson belonged to the mom of the 14 and 11yo brothers; the 14yo being the one who may have pushed the 13yo girl who punched him breaking his glasses. Grandparent has been talking to all the kids, and knows mine quite well. She has talked to him, but he’s a terrible witness. Lol. And she’s seen how he might be off playing basketball with 1 kid while the bulk of an incident starts, and he’ll jump in to break up the physical. I have it in a text that the 10yo “only has a keychain knife,†so basically it doesn’t matter if he threatened someone. My son has been on and off obsessed with pocket knives and little knives. He knows that if he even THINKS about one of his knives while in a mood, they’re gone. I don’t care how small it is, a knife is a knife especially when a child is using it as a threatened weapon! So it looks like police involvement may begin at least over 10yo’s mom touching 13yo. The grandparent is also starting a yoga/anger management class specifically for this group of kids. The group is huge. But it’s really only a few kids that can’t be around each other. After talking to a bunch of adults who are around the group and subgroups, it looks like my son may always be on the perimeter because he blends with each subgroup just fine. His presence may be what keeps bringing the subgroups together. So it is him! Lol. He doesn’t take sides. While he’s not allowed near the kid he hurt, they still say hi without issue. He despises the 10yo, but would still defend him (and get his butt kicked by me for it!). The boy and girl who got physical with each other will still both hang out with my son. And all of them are scared of me in a respecing an adult kind of way. All except my own kid. Who is a butt at home. Lol. Last night I was at the Y with him, and he said something dumb and tried to run. One of the 15yos caught him, carried him back, and made him apologize. Everyone was laughing, including my son, who was threatened (in a funny way) by all the bigger kids and girls to be nice to me.

Can you pull up an image and just type it into Word? If it’s for a car I see a bunch. Otherwise the general ones seem to be attached to something (account, Twitter, etc).

I have to do a small traditional, which I hate, because we don’t even like turkey all that much. So my turkey gets boobs. If I didn’t have to go traditional, we’d probably have a junk food fest.

I pulled back ds’s curfew. For the most part he’d only been going out when adults would be around. Still too much drama! Thankfully he wasn’t involved in anything, but he always seems to be skating the edges. The 13 and 10yo brothers in my first post have not been around. Mine leaves if they show up. Trouble maker 10yo’s mom seems to think her kid isn’t to blame for anything because he’s 10. That’s all I hear; oh he pulled a knife? He’s only 10. Lighter and hairspray? He’s 10, someone else should have stopped him. 12yo girl punched 14yo boy who may have pushed her down. Her younger siblings knowingly watch porn, at 8 and 11. The adults are all nuts. None are capable of talking and working things out. So, I think we’re going swimming today. Or something. Anything away from this crap. Mine did a trial martial arts class. He likes it. But it’s really late for us. Class starts at 7:00-7:15. He’s usually showering by then and getting ready for bed. I do t know if he’ll join. But I am looking for other stuff. And now I don’t care about behavior fall out; he’s not allowed off the property without supervision.

Thanks! I ended up sitting my extra kid with my creative 16yo. She used cardboard, tape, plastic wrap, and paint. For the eruption, we cut a hole in the bottom (they did the volcano together without me, and forgot about the insides. Lol) and put a graduated cylinder in it. I packed her a baggie of baking soda and a little bottle of vinegar with some red paint. I hope the written piece was the more important part! It doesn’t really look bad at all. But it’s obvious there wasn’t much effort. She is in 6th grade, and got high honor roll for the first quarter. I have no idea how! She puts little to no effort in her work.

Before I google, I thought I’d post. My oldest extra kid has to make a volcano. Of course due tomorrow (honestly not her fault; parents lack executive functioning skills and will not buy supplies until crunch time. Sometimes even a day to a week late). It has to erupt, or she wants it to, I forget. I have baking soda and vinegar. I can get food dye. What is the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way to make an erupting volcano model? I don’t know how big it sound be, but I would imagine not too big or she’s not going to be able to get it to school on the bus.

The reply was harsh. There are no big concerns about housing. Just the regular stuff. She and/or the property manager do not sound like pleasant people.

https://www.ketoconnect.net/recipe/low-carb-pecan-pie/

I can’t imagine it’s a simple as the lighting. :( My cousin is an electrician! I could get that fixed in a weekend. I hope it’s $$ (rent might be lower than she’s asking, and I’m not allowed to pay water) as opposed to scary tenant stories. The landlord responsibilities sound scary on paper, but really once you’re beyond the initial inspection, it can’t be much work or my landlord would have kicked us out years ago. Once a year we have to sign a single paper and I’m inspected. If it’s scary tenant, I might have a chat with the property manager. I don’t think we’restereotyped at all. Our home is nice and we keep it clean. We have a 7 year history here, so no matter what my landlord were to complain about, she left us here for 7 years! Lol. The housing inspector will give us a personal reference. I was just looking through pictures in the ad and it’s really cute and clean and not stuffy and IT HAS CLOSETS!!! Lol

Oh boo! The landlord was reading some of the housing requirements and does not want to accept housing. :( I did ask what she didn’t like, just because I have no idea what the requirements are beyond the little I know. I guess I can google.

So there are 2 housing issues. Well, 5, but 3 are not a big deal. - outside I’ll need railings on 2 sets of steps. My father can do that easy. 1 of them I could do on my own. - the oddly placed bedroom is more of a sitting room and is a pass through for one of the bedrooms. That back bedroom can only be accessed by going through one of the other two bedrooms (pass though bedrooms are not allowed to be used as bedrooms). But it can be solved during inspections by just moving the bed out of the room. If the inspector is the regular guy, everything could stay as is. He cares about rules, but ignores little non-safety things if everything is functional. And he loves us. :) - the odd bedroom/sitting room does not have a permanent light fixture, but is an easy fix by just changing out the ceiling fan. - the living room also does not have a permanent light fixture. This one is a potential problem, but I’ve been googling to see if there’s a way to get a waiver. The rules have reasons behind them but the living room gets great natural light, and I don’t mind needing a lamp or something.

The mold is how I’ll be able to move whenever I want. The problem is that if I report it to housing, I’ll *have* to leave within 30 days, and until now I’d hadn’t seen anything even half as nice as what we have.

I’m not allowed to pay beyond what housing determines. They pay a share, and come January I’ll have a share.

It’s a local move, so no neighborhood changes. The yard is *much* smaller, but it’s a flat property. Our current property is very nice, but very sloped (the back of my second floor is ground level of that makes sense) making yard work very difficult. But it’s great for short sled rides! We’ve lived in this house for 7 years, so change feels weird. But I can’t call my landlady about problems, we have mold, 2 closets total in the entire house and no attic or Basement. I don’t know if this house we looked at will work out. We have housing assistance and my current rent amount is less than the landlord is asking, but we’re low drama, rent can increase yearly, and I can fix most little things.

I went to look at a house for rent and my kids love it. I’m not sure, but I don’t know why beyond change. The kitchen is at the back of the house. It’s very nice, but poorly designed. The stove is at the end of the cabinets next to a wall, and the fridge is in the closet/laundry room. To get to the washer and dryer, you have to squeeze next to the fridge in this closet. Does that sound deal breaking annoying? I’ll draw a little picture and try to post it later. The upside to this fridge-in-closet is that I can lock the door easily (following feeding clinic recommendations for my son). The bedrooms on the second floor feel a bit oddly placed as well. The big positives: normal height ceilings, wood stove and gas for heat, 2 great sized bedrooms (the 3rd is small), a basement for storage and maybe even drums, lots of natural light, and CLOSETS! Lots of closets! Only one room has carpet, the rest is tile or hardwood which is awesome for my dust allergic. The former tenants just moved out yesterday and the house is extremely acceptably clean. I didn’t smell or feel a hint of mold even in the basement.

A 504 plan. Gives accommodations to students with disabilities who do not need changes to the curriculum, but different ways to access it.