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HRAAB

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Posts posted by HRAAB

  1. We found it very easy to hire employees without a "full compensation plan" (that is to say, we pay very well by the hour or as piece work, but no benefits).  

     

    Again, we could easily purchase health insurance and work in paid time off - but then we couldn't pay as much as we do per hour (which, for unskilled labor, is, to be honest, an insane amount).  

     

    I didn't do the calculations before hiring someone because I figure my employees can A. decide if they'd prefer a job with sick leave and health insurance for $12.50 an hour vs ours for more like $30/hr and B. if they do decide on us, they can manage their own money.  We buy our own health insurance and save $ so that we can cover if we have to shut the business down for a few days if we are both ill or have some other emergency.  I give my employees the benefit of their own agency.  I am not their mother.

    If someone would pay me $30 an hour with no benefits for unskilled labor, I would jump at it.  Where I'm at (currently looking for work), it's much more likely to find jobs from $9.50 to $12.00 an hour with no benefits.  And then you have the companies that pay between $9.50 to $12.00 an hour that offer health insurance (so can't qualify for ACA) but it is NOT affordable.  It's a damn mess.

    • Like 3
  2. Not something I would ever do, and not common in my extended family, but it's their wedding, their money.  But I also wouldn't likely attend, especially if it was out of town and no babysitters.  If in town, I might try to make it to the ceremony but not the reception.  Now that my kids are older, I would attend.  Honestly, I can't recall ever attending a wedding without children.  

  3. I cook almost every night, but I don't bake except birthdays and holidays.  We keep dark chocolate stocked, and the kids will generally have a bit after dinner.

     

     

     

    Don't tell me dark chocolate counts as dessert.  That is medicinal.  I keep mine in the drawer of my nightstand.  Fortunately my twins don't like dark chocolate.

    • Like 6
  4. That's rather hard to answer.  It depends.  For instance, right now I have several boxes of peaches I'm trying to use: fresh peach pie, peach crisp, peach cobbler, peach ice cream, peaches and cream, peach milkshakes.  During the rest of the year I will have some type of dessert around like a crisp (using up the frozen fruit), gingerbread, cookies.  I don't serve it, but it's there for whoever wants some.  The twins and I have tea time on Tues. and Thurs. and usually have some type sweet thing.  That's the only time I eat desserts unless it's a special occasion.  Both my dh and one of the twins has a sweet tooth.  I find if I have something sweet around occasionally, they don't over indulge.

  5. I just can't get around to thinking of Rose as a first name.  We have two Roses (dd and gdd), but Rose is a middle name.  Maybe Rose Margaret or Rose Olivia.  I feel like the middle name needs more than one syllable with Rose.  My first choice would be Rose Elizabeth, but I guess that's out.

     

    I have a Rachael Rose

    My granddaughter is Evelyn Rose

     

    Rose Evelyn.... hmmm...

  6. The only time we would do that is when we are on vacation.  At home, no.  However, during the summer there is usually ice cream in the freezer.  Buying individual ice creams for everyone is expensive.  It's so much cheaper to buy ice and toppings and have it more than once at home.

    • Like 2
  7. I can't imagine it had anything to do with reheating the sauce.  Sauce was hot when put into jars, lids were hot, and it was processed.  Seems like it should seal.  Maybe it was just a fluke. 

     

    I do remember one time that I did have several jars - of something - that didn't seal, and I ended up blaming the lids.  They were all from the same box.  Everything else sealed just fine like normal; just this one batch had several that didn't.  It is sure frustrating to do all that work and not have it seal.  If you put it in the fridge when you realized it didn't seal, could you use it in some cooking?

  8. Update on this:  I heated my sauce for like 30  minutes (low rolling boil) just to be sure, then sealed my jars.  They all  sealed just fine...but then just today I found 3 that had unsealed.  Do you think this could have been caused by my situation I mentioned above?  Or just a fluky thing? 

     

    Did you process them in a hot water bath?

     

    I rarely have a jar that doesn't seal.  When that has happened, I find that the jar rim is nicked or something.  

  9. My grandfather was 21 years older than my grandmother.  A childhood friend of dh's married a woman 16 years older.  A young woman I know very well, 19 years old, is seeing a man who is 31.  I used to have a more negative reaction about big age differences,  but the older I get, the less it bothers me.  Both my older girls married men who are 6 years older.  That's not much, but neither one of them ever seemed remotely interested in dating anyone their age.  Dh is 2 years older than me.

     

    In the end it isn't my business.  But...I do think it would feel really weird right now if dh were say, 20 or 25 years older than me.  That would make him 75 to 80.  I could be looking at a lot of years as a widow.

    • Like 1
  10. Well, my view is skewed.  I LOVED family vacations.  Each year after Christmas my family would start planning the family vacation.  My sister and I were always included.  I have wonderful memories plus many scrapbooks.  Dh never had a vacation other than a 3 night camping trip when I met him so he was excited to to see some of the country.  We have always included our children in the planning.  I mean, it's a FAMILY vacation.  Family is what we are. Sometimes we have to nix something due to finances or time constraints, but we all get a say.  In fact, we're more apt to plan around our children's wants than our own, but they usually line up.  All our children have loved our trips.  We had a blast on our road trip this summer.  I can see how it wouldn't be that way for everyone, though.

    • Like 2
  11. Who are these teenagers who balk at going on vacation.  A miserable time on a European vacation.  Do teens not understand the purpose of 911?  

     

    My teenage dds just spent 2+ weeks on a road trip with their parents.  Guess what?  It's been the highlight of their year, and they are planning the next one.  My older, married dd was mad that she couldn't go with us.  Are my teens really that unusual?

    • Like 3
  12. Our bill for July was $85. for 802 KW hours.  2400 sq. ft. house.  I don't turn the a/c on until after 4PM and usually turn it off by 11PM.  There are times we run it earlier in the day and all night, like when it hits 100+ for a week.  The weather has cooled; right now it's a beautiful 84 outside and no a/c.  I have a gas water heater and hang the laundry on the line.  The highest bill we've had over the last 3 years was $120.

  13. The scary thing is, I know a lot of seemingly normal, educated people who believe conspiracy stuff.  One very sweet, smart homeschooling mom I know was explaining to me how the government was going to be assigning career paths to each child at birth soon, and that her children were probably the last generation in the U.S. who would be able to choose their own.  Another older gentleman I know, another smart, educated man (he is a doctor) was telling me how Obama is not actually a citizen and is in fact part of ISIS, and how could our country have been so blind to not realize this and elect him?

     

    That could be dh's doctor.  Five minutes dealing with the medical issue.  Thirty minutes ranting about government conspiracies.  Smart, well educated man.  Makes me wonder about my sanity.

     

    I've always known there are crazy, phobic people out there.  I just never knew any personally, or that I was aware of, before.  

    • Like 2
  14. Previous employer cancelled dental policy back in January and didn't notify us (we are on it through COBRA).  Just found out.  No one knows where our money is; we have been making our monthly premiums all years.

     

    Same company - can't get in touch with anyone to sign separation papers so we can roll over the 401K.

     

    Went to the shed to get canning jars, and my foot went through the floor.

     

    Dd lost her German book and is having a panic attack.

     

    The landline isn't working, and my cell phone battery won't stay charged.

     

    At least I have coffee.

  15. If you don't know for a fact that person you are throwing a surprise party for would truly like having a surprise party, please do them the favor of at least asking their spouse or someone close to them if it would be okay.  Or, just ask the person if it would be okay if you hosted a party in their honor.  If a you're giving a party for someone and it's really because that person is important and special, I would think the last thing you would want to do is make that person feel uncomfortable and anxious.  'You' isn't any specific person in this thread.

     

    I've noticed over my life the people who throw surprise parties are the ones who would love to have a surprise party thrown for them.  What is one person's idea of the most perfect celebration could be another person's worst time ever.

    • Like 1
  16. I'm ready for the personal chef.  I wouldn't care what recipes he/she used as long as I didn't have to think about a meal nor cook it.  Coming up with what to cook is worse than the actual cooking.  Which I used to love.  

     

    If it were up to me, I would have a few staples on hand, and that would be it.  If someone is bored with yogurt and blueberries for breakfast, too bad.

    • Like 2
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