The exact response was something along the lines of, "you need to come in person and show ID for us to add your email." I'm not in town so I said I could come the next time I was in town, but then she said nevermind it's too late in the year to edit it. Their literal last day of school is this week, depending on who has what exams to take I guess. Last time I spoke to ds he said he thought his birthday was his final day. Then she said it could be added at registration for next year and I thought but what if xh already registered him and I was left off? The secretary said that the info was on their facebook but I went to the facebook and saw NOTHING about this incident. I read about it elsewhere on social media. She also said it was on their website... but from what I can tell, if it's there, it's behind a parent portal so I'd need to get a log in. Edit: I just looked online and last official school day is Wed. That's great because the amusement park probably won't fill up til AFTER we go.

My dad's a/c has been broken a while and he's back in town and has the new unit arriving this week. Supposedly it will be installed on Tuesday. I'm driving there tonight (I will just suck it up one night) so I can see ds on his birthday and go to the amusement park tomorrow for a few hours. I set aside money for our day passes (that's the most bang for your buck and if it's not crowded we can ride some rides a few times). I missed Mother's Day weekend & another because of the a/c issue but I'll get makeup weekends. Staying at my gf's house was not a practical solution at the time. Long story. My attorney is aware of the a/c situation and everything is documented. I am still waiting to hear back from apartment complexes (both income restricted and not) for availability. I really should move soon because the kids get out for summer any day now and what a mess doing week on/week off visitation without my own place. I'm not going to petition for a half a summer back to back weeks to myself either because then that's half a summer dd doesn't see her stepbro and I won't hear the end of it. The tax place sent me back my service fee so I will deposit that and send to the IRS. I paid down my cc balance this week and have two babysitting jobs lined up (Wed night in a church nursery and then Sun morning in a different church nursery). These particular jobs are done through the other nanny app that takes out taxes so I don't have to fool with that. And the hourly rate is good. A crazy thing happened at ds' school (safety concern) and I tried to add myself to the school email list. They said my email was not on file and it was too late in the school year to add it so just have dad add it when he registers ds for next school year. I reached out to xh and he said that he did give both our emails and he doesn't know why they are saying neither are on file. He did in fact receive an email from the school about the incident. I, however, found out via social media. We will try to get this all sorted out for next school year. Regardless, my take away was "really? This thing happened at school and while we were talking about the next visit with the kids you didn't think to say, 'hey, did you get that school email about the thing?'" Ugh. I have one job lead that says apply in person. I'll do that tomorrow. The metal company would only tell me, "we will keep your application on file for 30 days."

I mean yes, you can charge the shipping fee to the customer, but then you have to figure out if that would deter the sale, would you need to do flat rate, estimate shipping, or charge shipping once the exact fee is known. For me those are all just more headaches to deal with. But maybe I just get discouraged easily.

Here you do not need access to a commercial kitchen for the cottage license. But you would need someone to come into your kitchen to approve it. As a renter, this would be a problem I would think. I would probably try to start local (selling via Facebook groups rather than generic marketplace listings). That way I wouldn't have to deal with postage. Because I feel like once you add shipping costs you're really not profiting. I can double check, but at least at the maker space at the college campus by my home, you would not allowed to use the things for commercial purposes. It was really for personal use type stuff. Make a shirt? Use the laser printer? Use the 3D printer? It's for your own shirt, your own custom coaster, your own custom cookie cutter etc. I think the public library facility is like that as well.

I have an AA and a BA. I have no desire to go back to school. I thought about going to a short-term program to become a hygienist but they are exposed to lots of chemicals in the building (it’s a whole thing I’d have to send you down the rabbit hole. Not just chemicals from new jobs. Off gassing from mouths with fillings etc) and recently my hygienist told me she had chronic pain from leaning over her patients all day and she’s slowly trying to leave the field. I can live off less than 50k if I get a smaller place (I’m in a 3BD and will need to pay $200 more a month to get a 2BD by the kids). I currently make under 40k. So I’d be willing to settle for something closer to 40k but that would mean less money to go toward building retirement, savings, college funds etc. I don’t know if I’d be responsible for college stuff for the kids… but surely I’d want to contribute somehow. Depending where I worked my monthly fuel consumption may or may not be better than now (now I stay home most days but when I do go out I usually easily spend 1/4-half a tank of gas). I’m just hoping to get a desk job paying ~32-45k and drop down to PT at the magazine. I don’t even know if that’s realistic. I really can’t handle the idea of school right now. If I’m in class when am I working and will I burn out and go into debt. it’s a whole new worse level of stress imo.

Yes I’ve tried festivals but I can’t justify the vendor booth fee. I only did it at my kids’ school fest because it was $25 for the booth. I might have broken even but not really because of money I spent on supplies. Barely anyone spent money at the booths. I sold like one cloth Christmas bag, a few cookies and cupcakes. It was largely a waste of time. You need a cottage license to legitimately sell baked goods. I think that would apply to dog treats as well. So I gave up on selling food. Plus landlords don’t always authorize use of their property. My current one says you can’t run a business here. He knew about the annual fall fest and didn’t care. In a bigger city I might have luck with marketplace but here it’s awful. The gas isn’t worth the drop off. No one will come to me on the boonies, either. I want to make yard signs but I’m worried the cost of the wood (even cheap stuff like plywood) would make it not profitable. If you don’t pay yourself for your labor then you aren’t making any profit. And I’m not willing to charge $3.50 for a baked good. I bought a cookie that expensive recently to support a new local business but that’s a rip off to me.

I found it. The step column does not necessarily reflect years of experience according to the chart notes but looks to me like you’d start out at 00 and it would take time to move up. Yup, it pays peanuts. Looks like front office makes more.

Yes I looked at a chart once but I couldn’t find that particular job. I messaged a gf that used to work for the district to see if she had any idea on salary (before I realized the job closed). She used to be a teacher asst and it did not pay much.

Indeed salary estimate on the library job was 20-26k. I cannot put a roof over my head on that (I make more than that now and my rent will go up when I move) and doing side/gig work is very hard with my availability. Most employers will not cater to my sporadic weekend availability. It’s not even consistent. Holidays, spring break, summer etc throw it off. I probably need to land a job like the admin asst one. It’s Mon-Fri and pays more than I currently make.

Oh well the job/application closed. I saw when I went back to the site.

Glass door estimate says $27K - $39K. Job says 215 days a year.

It’s a less affluent school district than the ones my kids attend. Maybe I should just finish the application though (2nd job potentially would be part time work at my magazine).

I never finished the job application for a school librarian. It appeared I met the requirements for that particular one but I assume they pay peanuts. The only reason I’d consider it is having the same (or similar) days off as the kids. It’s in a neighboring school district. But I bet the pay is quite low and if need to work 2 jobs. Sigh.

I will follow up again this coming week with the admin. assist. job at metal place. After sore feet again this week, I am not going to pursue a tradesman job… but I do want to pursue woodworking as a hobby and see if I can sell things at some point (as a side hustle). I know that self employment is not ideal but I don’t want to give up, either. The tax place explained to me about filing similar things together… so the dog sitting & babysitting got lumped together. I would think making sewn items and other crafts/wooden things would be paired together. I’ll brainstorm small items I could make. Long term big picture pipe dream would be selling catios lol (enclosure for cats to safely enjoy outdoors). But the cost of wood/screening etc I know would possibly make it not profitable. However, supply and demand! Cat mamas might be willing to pay. Another idea — custom-made cat bowls that are long & wide so cats don’t bend their whiskers (that’s why they don’t like eating the remaining food at bottom!) Good news - the last babysitting gig I did was through a nanny app that took out taxes already so I don’t have to deal with that!

I’ve seen that one and it’s funny lol I joked as night went on my hair turned into Robert Smith’s (flat ironed before the show then with humidity and rain it got bigger).

Set list: https://www.altpress.com/the-cure-tour-setlist-may-10-2023/

Oh our responses overlapped 🙂

That’s the thing. This is obligation not desire. I butt heads with family and plan to spend less time with them or in more controlled circumstances. You may want to consider if meeting in public, for example, affects their behavior. I think it’s outdated thinking we must surround ourselves with people just because of DNA.

I think you need to decide if you’re confusing actually wanting to see this person vs feeling obligated to. So what if they are a close relative. Normalize avoiding toxicity. Gray rock is limiting interactions, being boring with responses so you are like a rock. Just a boring rock. Then people with certain personalities won’t want to feed off your responses etc. Also google “yellow rock.” It is basically a little less cold. I think you might be trying too hard just because of a blood/marriage tie. They suck to be around. Maybe just don’t.

I’m lost as to why the visits continue. Don’t even tell them you are coming to town. If confronted tell them an excuse (busy etc) or say that you don’t wish to spend time with someone that ____ (cite toxic behavior or such). Your spouse should try to support your decision not to spend time with B. If, for example, this is your spouse’s sister, just bow out of the visits if your spouse wants to see their sister. I don’t think you can exactly equate familial ties with trust. It’s either there or it isn’t, regardless of blood/marriage.

Kitty 😻 I came back to my house last night from being out of town and got all the kitty cuddles

I didn’t place this order but I placed other orders and I didn’t have a “line” to deal with. I did have an idea of price before ordering but then they add these extra fees and it jumps up. Robert Smith fought with Ticketmaster over their fees. Another reason we love him. There were seats as low as $20 for this venue for The Cure… in the nosebleeds… but after fees even those were probably like $40. This is the first concert I’ve attended where I sat at all/had a chair. I normally attend events where the whole floor is marked as general admission and you stand anywhere. But that standing killed me at the Ministry show. I was there from approx 6:30-11pm. At The Cure we chose to skip the opening act (I heard the sound was awful or the band was… or both. Band called Twilight Sad). The Cure went on around 8-8:15 pm? And played between 2.5-3 hours. I cannot STAND Seat Geek, don’t get me started. Do not ever purchase from them. I’m stuck with ticket credit on their site (long story) and when I saw banners with Seat Geek at the venue I got mad. No one should ever promote them. Bigger rip off than Ticketmaster. Another PSA: bring ear plugs. I don’t care where you are, it’s loud. I wore mine all night. But my ears are more sensitive than others…

Took today off and hung out with my friend in/around New Orleans.

That’s awesome! I know when tickets went on sale for this tour it was a huge scrabble to get them. I sent my gf money via vemno (she had the verified acct) a couple months ago and she actually upgraded us (spent more than I sent) and had to put tickets in cart at least twice before she was able to check out and hold onto some. I know after fees the tickets we had were close to $100 each. And her husband didn’t want to come back after taking the purse. He wasn’t a big Cure fan but was just coming along. I did not buy one of these drinks. But my friend is a sweetheart and insisted I get a souvenir. She bought me a cloth bag with the tour date.

Guy next to me did so I asked to take a pic 🙂