From Talking to Stalking in Five Easy Calls

Ok.  Here's the deal.  Remember that therapist that I was seeing.  Well, she called.  Then she called again.  Then she called another time.  Then she called this past Friday.  Then she called this morning.  She is just not getting the hint.  Actually, its not just a hint.  Its what is obvious.  I am not calling her back therefore I am not interested in seeing her any more.  End of story.  Stop calling.  At this point what she is doing constitutes harassment and if she calls me again I will categorize her as a stalker.  I am glad that I didn't stay with her as a therapist and establish any type of relationship beyond the initial few meetings.  If she thinks I owe her after just those few meetings, I'd hate to see what she feels about her actual patients.  I owe her nothing.  She keeps saying she wants to know what my plans are.  My plans are not to call her back and to get on with my life.  I have a new therapist and I am happy with her so far and even if I was thinking of coming back to you, your relentless calling would have stifled that idea.  Can you say creepy?  That's what I am living through at the moment.  She is going out of town tomorrow so I may call her answering service and leave a nice blunt message with them that she cannot misinterpret.  But then again, I don't feel I owe her anything.  I don't have to explain my plans or intentions to her.  I am not coming to see her anymore.  What else is there to understand?  Whatever.  We are on our way in a few minutes to go to the back to discuss student loans and parent loans for that matter.  I'm not looking forward to this but it has to be done if we are going to finance our daughter's education.  Actually, if I take the money that the stalker ex-therapist wanted me to spend seeing her weekly and put that money toward my daughter's education, I may get it paid off sooner than I thought.  Here's hoping.  Everyone wish me luck and send me a dollar :)  lol

Mouse Versus Master's

I got my hair cut last night and now you can really see the blue . . . I mean green, I guess.  Apparently when you put aqua blue over blond you get green.  Go figure.  I guess I learned that in elementary school.  Yellow and blue make green.  Just never thought of it in relation to hair before.  Anyway, I'm sitting on my couch typing this blog post watching a reality tattoo show.  I'm on my new laptop.  I am excited but I'm also thinking this may not be the best thing for me.  I may never leave my couch now.  I'm also having a love/hate relationship with the program that is on.  I love tattoos.  I want more tattoos.  But a couple years ago I had a doc tell me that I should never, ever get another one. He said with all of my allergies it wouldn't be a good idea and could very well make my immune system go crazy.  I had to ask one more time, so I checked with my current doc and he said the same thing.  Boooooo!  No more tatts for me :(  So I will relish my one and covet the sleeves and body artwork of others.  I am also at the moment trying to figure out a way to get to Orlando for cheap.  Since Hubby is headed that way for work, I figured if we just tack a vacation onto the beginning of it (its our daughter's spring break), it saves us the airfare for one person since his company will pick up his tab.  We have the money.  That's not really the problem.  The problem lies in that money should really go toward our daughter's education.  Especially considering that at one of the universities she was considering, our bill would be $17000 after any and all aid including her loans!  Yikes!  Sucks to be working middle class.  You get squat when it comes to higher education. It has kind of put me in the mindset of "we'll never get that much so why try?"  I have one more idea as to how to get her education funded but I'm not letting that feline out of the sack until it is over and done with and either successful or not.  So I will crunch numbers and search Kayak.com and weigh out the benefits of Mickey Mouse versus her Master's.  There really isn't much more to report from my couch.  Hey, now that I can compute from my favorite rear rest, I think maybe I'll write that novel that's in my head.  Once upon a time . . . there was this girl who never left her couch . . . except to go to Orlando :)

12 for 12

My thoughts have been rather scattered lately.  My ADD is in overdrive and with the holiday fast approaching, this is not a good thing.  So today I've decided I'd give you a taste of what goes on in my head.  In honor of 12/12, here are 12 things that have been on my mind.

12.  Why is my house so hot in the daytime?  I'm talking like Jamaica hot.  If we turn the heat down then we are too cold later in the day.  It could just be me but I'm too young to be getting hot flashes.

11.  How did we get so much Christmas stuff?  It seems like Hubby just keeps bringing more and more of it up from the basement.  I have no idea how we have accumulated so much . . . well . . . Christmas crap.  Its festive and I love it.  Its just that there isn't room in our tiny townhouse for it all.

10.  Why is it that every time some little bitty thing goes wrong at our house in the next town over that we are renting out . . . anyway, why do they call property management every time?  Instead of checking the fuses, they just call and say that the indoor garage opener isn't working.  Fine.  Check the fuse and if that's not it then DEAL.  You still have two garage door openers and the keypad on the garage.  Its a one car garage.  Do you really need that many ways to access it?  I swear when I agreed to give these very young boys a chance, I should have realized they were spoiled rotten.  If you asked me right now if I would renew their lease in 2012, the answer would be NO!

9.  I think we may be a mite-free home.  They seem to be gone.  Fingers crossed.  Knock on wood.

8.  I am getting very restless at my job.  I don't know why.  Its not hard.  Its just annoying.  I can't imagine having the commitment of a career and working full-time, but I feel like I want more.  I really should get into this writing a book thing that I keep thinking about.  What harm would it do?  Maybe after the holidays.

7.  My daughter is going to college.  My daughter is going to college.  My daughter is going to college.  Maybe if I say it enough times, I will be ok with it.  She has gotten into the College Down the Street.  She even made it into their honors program.  I know that she will get into others and I am not looking forward to having to help her make this decision.  Choices like which Christmas gift to buy are hard for her because of her OCD.  I can't begin to imagine the drama this decision is going to come with.

6.  Am I blogging just for my own mental health or does reading my blog actually keep people informed on my life and maybe even help them with their problems?  (If nothing else by showing them that we all have problems.)  This blog has quite a few followers but I haven't gotten a new one in quite some time and my other blog http://www.myliteraryopinions.blogspot.com/ only has 5 followers.  It gets more hits than that but only 5 followers is kind of a bummer.  I wonder if I should keep them going?

5.  What am I going to mail my Grandmother's Christmas gift to her in.  I have it wrapped and ready to go in a shirt box.  A typical shirt box.  I wanted to send it Priority Mail so I got one of their mailing boxes.  The one referred to as a shirt box.  The only problem is their shirtbox is about 3/4 of an inch shorter than my shirt box.  Come on people.  A shirt box should be a shirt box.  When will the world get its act together and have uniform standard sizes?

4.  What else can I get my daughter for Christmas?  I have some gifts and some ideas but need more.  If you come up with any, you can comment on this blog.  I just won't post your comment so she doesn't see it.  What would you want if you were a 17 1/2 year old girl?

3.  How come if according to the movie "Fred Claus" when Santa becomes a saint, he and his whole family stop aging and freeze at the age they are at but then in the movie "The Santa Clause 3" he and his wife have a baby how could that happen according to the rules of Santa from "Fred Claus"?  Hubby says they are just movies but I am thinking this is an important thing to kids and what would I say if a random child should ask me?  I think Hollywood should get it together on their Santa lore.

2.  Where am I gonna find the money in our budget to pay for our trip to Hometown between Christmas and New Year's?  I really shouldn't be worrying about this because Hubby took over the budgetting for the year so technically I am giving myself one more month off before I start doing it again but I can't help but worry.  The hotel is like $160 per night.  We are looking at two or three nights.  We don't have that kind of a chunk of change just sitting around.  Besides, if we did I would have already spent it on Christmas.

1.  Is my Grandma ok?  Last week she broke her leg and had to get a rod put in place of the bones between her knee and ankle.  Its times like this when its really hard to live 5 hours away.  I know that my being there wouldn't really do anything except maybe make her smile but I just wish I was.  Calling on the phone just isn't the same.  I miss my Gram.

There you go.  A roller coaster ride through my mind this Christmas season.  I will make my best effort to have my next posting be a more cohesive thought process.  I promise.

Angels Don't Just Grow on Trees

While in Hometown for the holiday weekend, we were out shopping.  Yes, it was on Black Friday but surprisingly it wasn't to get any of the Black Friday deals which all actually happened on Thursday night anyway.  So, we go to Wally World and I was thrilled to see that they had an angel tree in the front of the store.  An angel tree, for those that don't know, is a Christmas tree decorated with slips of paper.  Each slip of paper has the name, age and gender of a child in need on it.  You are supposed to pick a slip off of the tree and buy an age and gender appropriate toy for that child.  There are usually collection boxes around the tree.  I love doing the angel tree and it is something they don't really seem to do here in Suburbia.  I love helping those in need especially at Christmas time.  But I also make an attempt to handle my philanthropical giving on my own and not rely on charities, especially when it comes to one group - military families.  Don't get me wrong,  I'm not unpatriotic.  I appreciate all that our service men and women do for me and our country.  I just have a problem because at one point I was part of a needy military family. I even had to do Christmas by myself while my spouse was deployed.  Nobody, I repeat NOBODY, from any charity ever asked if we needed help.  Nobody offered us food or toys for our child.  Nobody even checked to make sure that I was okay handling the holiday alone as a single parent.  Holidays were hard.  Being away from family was difficult.  We managed to scrape by and our child always had presents to open on Christmas morning and there was always a holiday meal to feast on but it was usually the work of creative financial planning and going without other things that made it possible.  Could we have sought out charities and begged for a hand-out?  Yes, but there is this thing called pride that seems to get in the way.  I'm not saying people should not give to charities that benefit the military families.  This is just my personal experience.  What I am saying is to make sure that ANY charity you are giving to is actually doing what you think and they claim they are doing.  Or better yet don't rely on some corporation, even if it is non-profit, to do the work for you.  If you know a family in need, offer them help directly.  Invite them to your holiday meal.  Share your home with them to provide some company.  Take them a bag of food or some toys for their kids.  It may feel ackward and they may claim not to need it but I can guarantee you they will be thankful even if it isn't directly to your face.  If everyone just took care of their friends and neighbors like family, we wouldn't need all these hundreds of charities funneling money in a million different directions and people wouldn't get overlooked and slip through the cracks.  Show your appreciation directly to our military men and women.  Include them in your Christmas card list.  Check on their families while they are deployed.  You may make a world of difference in a person's life but rely on yourself to do it - not some middleman.

Can I Pay You in Bodily Organs?

Holy Hell ! ! !  I just did the handy-dandy financial estimation calculator for a university my daughter wants to attend next year!  What the hell ! ! !  I understand what the EFC is but when I saw it I couldn't believe my eyes!  Our EFC (estimated family contribution) is $15,000!  Yeah you read that right - FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS ! ! !  Now I know college costs a lot of money but there is a school up the road where she can go for approximately $10,000 total!  Problem is they don't have what she wants to be when she grows up!  We probably should have saved more for her future but I didn't know we were supposed to be saving nearly $100 a month since the day she was BORN!  Hell, back then we only MADE $100 a month.  We were po' folk to say the least.  We have worked hard to get ourselves out of debt, gather an emergency fund and get Hubby a job that pays well.  Great!  We did all that.  The problem now is I feel like we are being punished for it.  On the questionaire it asks for how much we have in our savings and checking.  Ok.  I answered truthfully.  The thing is even with my truthful answer, our checking and savings combined does not equal what they are expecting us to contribute for ONE year.  That's right.  That $15,000 is just for one year.  And as for my hubby having a good job, you better hope you're on unemployment when your kids apply because here was our breakdown:  Federal Gift Aid - ZERO, State Gift Aid - ZERO, Institutional Gift Aid - ZERO.  I'm seeing a trend here.  The problem is even if we do give them everything we have and then some for her freshman year, then we will have a big fat ZERO.  How does this happen?  Are we really supposed to be homeless so that our daughter can attend college?  And as for scholarships?  She isn't athlete, musically inclined, or anything else that might get her a scholarship.  She is an average, middle-class, white kid which means she gets no help at all.  Nothing.  Anybody wanna buy a kidney?

Crafty Pricing

I previously limited my blog postings to one per day, but all that is gonna change.  From this point on I am gonna blog when I feel like it and right now do I feel like it.  See, since I'm going to be the girl with all the necklaces and I can't go to Charming Charlie's every single day, I thought I would try to make myself some necklaces.  I managed to convince my husband to go to Michael's craft store.  I got sidetracked by the stickers for a moment (I only bought one pack) and headed to the bead section.  I felt a little lost at first but managed to find my way.  I chose a pendant and an already assembled cord for a necklace as well as some stretchy string and two lengths of beads for a bracelet.  The bead section was marked with signs all over it saying 2/$5 and the pendant was hanging from a hook with two other identical pendants that were marked $2.99 Clearance.  Great deals I thought.  When I went to the register, the pendant rang up as $5.99.  Ok.  I explain to the cashier that it was marked $2.99 Clearance.  She asked me to show her where.  I took her to the exact spot and showed her the price as well as the other identical pendants hanging there for $2.99 each.  She looked at it and said "No.  These are $5.99."  I asked why they were marked $2.99 and pointed out that they were not in the wrong place because there were two other ones right there.  "They're $5.99," she said.  Why did you make me show you where it says $2.99 if you're gonna argue with me?  I gave up and said "Fine" at which point she left the other two hanging right there next to what apparently was the wrong price and walked back up to the register.  I followed explaining that I would have to alter my purchase which she let me do.  Ok.  That left another pendant for $4, stretchy string for $2.49, stickers for $1.29, and the two lengths of beads at 2 for $5.  The grand total  - $23.51.  WHAT?!?!?  Turns out that even though the entire bead section is marked 2/$5, only certain beads are on sale.  I did the mental math as Hubby swiped his debit card through the machine and just when I questioned the price of the beads, the cashier handed me my receipt and told me it was too late - my transaction was complete.  Great.  I just bought two lengths of beads for $8 and $6.  I could have bought two already made necklaces at Charming Charlie's for that much.  Apparently, I am not supposed to be the girl who makes her own jewelry.  Instead, I am the girl who overpays for craft supplies.  Thanks Michael's.

Blessed Be the Tithe that Binds

We got a letter some time ago from the catholic church of which we are official registered non-attending members.  Basically, it said this:  Their campaign to increase their members' giving has been successful and their incoming finances are better than expected so please, give more.  Yup, that's right they have extra money and they still want even more.  I just don't get it.  Yesterday, we got two phone calls solicating money for police forces.  Two in one day!  One was for the local sheriff and the other for the state police.  I'm sorry but I thought that was what I paid taxes for but now you want to call my house asking for more?  Then there are the weekly calls we get from the vietnam veterans, the lupus foundation and many other organizations asking if we have anything to donate to their cause.  They of course take items as donation but don't they think calling every week is a bit obsessive.  Oh, and my favorite, the college that my husband attended calls about once a week to ask for "alumni support".  Are you kidding?  First off, he went to school on-line so he didn't really experience your campus which coincidentally could use many new, improved buildings and lots of other expensive crap.  Second, we had to pay the huge price tag for his education.  Why would we continue to fork over more cash?  Shortly after receiving our well worded begging from St. Down the Street's, we got yet another request in the mail.  This time from the regional catholic diocese asking for money for their fundraising campaign.  It seems to me that when it comes to these organizations the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing because both hands are open and asking for cash.  Working at a church, I type the hymn titles into the weekly bulletin for the parishoners.  I always chuckle when I type the hymn "Blessed Be The Tie that Binds".  I can't help but think to myself the more appropriate title would be "Blessed Be the Tithe that Binds".  Hee hee!

Lost and Found

Why is it that when you need something you can never find it?  Or maybe its everything you lost is something you need?  Because if it was lost and you didn't need it, would you even realize it was lost?  Either way, we had to make an emergency shopping trip today to get an orange shirt.  See, my daughter's senior pictures are tomorrow.  One of the outfits we had planned was black pants and an orange top (her school colors) to be worn in the picture with her color guard flag.  So of course, we couldn't find it.  We looked in the laundry room, the laundry itself, her closet, her floor (she is a teenager) and even my closet.  That orange shirt was not to be found.  I know when it will turn up.  About dinner time tomorrow.  After the photo session.  I have to admit, I am extremely nervous about this photo session.  More nervous than if I were the one getting my picture taken.  That's because I'm the one that has to pay for the pictures.  That part I am not looking forward to.  $60 for an 8x10.  And we need three 8x10's to begin with.  That's a lot in my book.  So I'm nervous that these pictures won't turn out perfect because if I'm gonna pay that much for pictures, they need to be perfect.  We are supposed to take about eight or nine outfits of which the photographer will pick the four best ones (for photographic purposes.)  They said no white, no pastels, no short sleeves.  That ruled out over half of her closet.  I have news for him, we are bringing clothes that are short sleeved and - gasp! - even some prints.  We had to go out and get some pieces to complete a few outfits and ended up spending over $100 easy - and that was before the pictures!  Then we had to think about jewelry and shoes and hair and make up and then she got sunburned last Thursday so we're hoping her nose isn't peeling tomorrow.  Jeez!  Oh well, I guess that's the price you pay for having a teenaged daughter!  Wouldn't trade her for the world though - unless of course you hold the secret to where all my missing things have gone.  Then we'll need to talk :)

Do You Want the Good News or the Bad News?

You know how people always ask if you want he good news or the bad news first?  How about no news.  That would be good.  I would love to have no news at the moment.  See, the appliance repairman has come and gone, the car is at the garage, and in an hour the birds have to make the hour and a half trip to the avian vet.  My credit card is about ready to self-destruct!  I'm not sure how I'm going to pay for everything.  All I know is that I have until the Visa bill gets here to come up with a plan.  But for every bit of good news today has brought, there has been even worse bad news.  First, there was the clothes dryer:

Good News - It is no longer squeaking. 
Bad News - The guy said it is the motor and when that goes we will need to get a new dryer.

Then there was the auto mechanic:

Good News - The brakes on Hubby's car will be fixed for a reasonable price of $450. 
Bad News - It will still be very, VERY hot in his car since it would have been $1000 to fix the a/c whos-a-ma-whats-it and thing-a-ma-jig (new tires needed but not included in that price).

I'm not sure I want to hear the good news and the subsequent bad news from the vet!  I don't want to say "what else could possibly go wrong" because today, it will.  It's just one of those days.  But I will be here smiling, running my clothes dryer to death and braking Hubby's car every ten feet all while most likely force feeding the birds some sort of bird medication!  Why?  Because I can.  Oh, and so that you all don't feel left out:

Good News:  I blogged today.
Bad News:  It's a pretty boring blog where I just complain.

Right On Target

This is just a message for all you shoppers out there looking for those last minute Christmas prezzies.  Go to Target and then check your receipt.  It is apparently name your price time at Target.  At least it is at our Target.  We went the other night and bought two things.  When we got to the cashier with our items, he scanned the first one.  Ok fine.  He scanned the second one and it didn't come up in the system.  So he goes "Do you remember how much this costs?  Just take a guess."  Well, having the memory of an elephant and some morals worked against me this time and I answered with the correct price which he quickly typed in and charged me for the item.  Then he told us our total and it didn't sound quite right.  When I looked at the receipt on the way out, we had been charged ten dollars too much for item number one.  Before we even left the store we headed to customer service/returns and told the woman we had been overcharged by ten dollars for an item.  She said "Ok", hit a few buttons and ta-da ten dollars back in my pocket!  No questions.  No price check.  No problem.  I thought "Wow.  What a nice employee." as I left the store.  Then today we had to return something to the Target.  The people in front of us had the same problem.  They had been overcharged for something too.  Without even blinking an eye the employee (a different one than the one we had) refunded them their money.  Two theories on this - either A) Target is going with a "the customer is always right" motto for the holidays or B) Target knows that their items are scanning for the wrong prices and are trying to overcharge people without them noticing.  If they notice, good for them.  They get their money back.  If they don't, all the more money for Target.  Either way, the moral of the story is if you want to get a good Christmas deal, go to Target.  You may get to name your price.  But beware and check your receipt, or you may be out of luck!  Happy Shopping Everyone!

Bigger is Not Always Better

Holy Kroger Marketplace Batman!  Today was our third trip to the new, improved, gigantic Kroger Marketplace here in Suburbia.  Its so big that they had to pass out maps the first week it was open.  I'm really not kidding.  We used to have a very nice Kroger, but they decided to knock it down to build a Kroger Marketplace (which is PR for Kroger with furniture and a sushi bar).  They closed the old one and plowed it over taking their good old time.  We suffered without a grocery store for about a month making trips to the Super Wal-mart.  It was difficult but we perservered.  The whole time I wondered - how are they going to afford closing for a month?  Well, now I know.  They jacked up all of their prices to high heaven.  Things that used to cost $6 now cost $8.  That's quite a jump if you ask me.  Whereas we used to be able to make it out of there with a full cart for $120, now we leave about $150 poorer.  I have a theory that is why they closed for an entire month.  So you could forget what prices you used to pay for everything.  Its nice I guess.  They do have a section I have dubbed "Cheeses of the World" where you can sample till your hearts content, but that's not worth an extra $30 a trip for me.  Now if I could only find my way out of the store without my frozens thawing out.

Where's the Common Cents?

I was dreading picking my daughter up from her first winterguard practice today.  Why?  Because today was the day they found out how much it costs.  Yes, we live in a pay-to-play school district.  I don't know what it is like in other areas of the country but school is expensive here in Suburbia.  Back when I was in school, you know, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, the worst thing was buying the required composition notebooks.  Now, at least in our area, you have to buy all of the supplies including classroom supplies like tissues and bleach wipes.  You also have school fees.  This is a bill they send you for the classes your child is in.  This year's school fees were $142 and we only have one child.  There was also the cost of the specialized supplies for mechanical drawing class which ran us $45.  And if your child wants to do an extra-curricular activity, look out.  Our daughter is in fall colorguard and we pay between $400 and $500 for the season.  Last year, winter guard was $20.  This year they have expanded the program so that it is $200.  Then there is the band trip to Florida which will run $900 at least.  And they do minimal fundraising.  Minimal.  Very minimal.  The Florida trip is optional but how do you tell your child that you can't afford it?  That's what we had to do.  If she were going. we would have a grand total of at least $1800 for the school year.  Wow.  No wonder dinosaurs are extinct.  They died of sticker shock.

Brother Can You Spare a Dime?

Yesterday, my mailbox was full.  Full of crap.  All I got were solicitations for donations to charity.  Now I guess this wouldn't make me quite so angry if they weren't charities I have already donated to!  Every year for lent as a family project, we save our change and donate it to a charity (last year's winner was Reading is Fundamental).  We also participate in other charities throughout the year (like Operation Christmas Child at Christmas time).  The problem is that once you donate to these organizations, they aren't happy with your one donation.  It seems like every week they send you something asking for more money.  If I had more money to give you, I would have included it in the check I sent you last week.  It makes me not want to give to them in the first place.  The donation I just made merely covers the cost of all the mailings they will send me in the future.  What is the point of me giving them my donation?  I might as well donate it directly to the postal service.  They are the ones that end up with the money anyway.  Or send the request in an e-mail (this is what the WSPA does).  It's cheaper, more eco-friendly and easier to ignore if I so choose.  And I wonder at what point a charity decides to bump you off their harassment list.  We donated to Heifer International (a GREAT organization) so many years ago that I can't remember when it was but we still get their solicitations in the mail.  I could call and ask to be removed from their mailing list I guess, but the point is I shouldn't have to.  Keep my name, but try only asking for more money like a year later.  News flash - You're more likely to get donation once a year than once a month at least from me.  Not all charities are like this.  There are some out there who graciously accept your donation and put your money to actual use and not more mailings (Donkeys of the Holy Land being one).  I guess I will just have to focus my giving locally and purchase items with my money.  I can then physically take these items to the charities.  We did that one year for the local animal shelter and they were so surprised with the gifts they were speechless.  I wish my donations could render some of these other charities speechless - or better yet stampless.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is - Literally

What is it with me and people?  I have got to wash the writing off my forehead that says "If you are strange and most likely obnoxious, come, sit by me, bring your friends."  Yesterday's adventure involved a Panera, soup, me and a webcam.  <insert eyeroll here>  But that's not really what I want to focus on today.  Today I want to share our Five Weeks to Financial Betterification plan.  Yesterday was Day 2 of the plan.  FAIL!  See, this plan requires us to 1) be more financially aware, 2) create a budget, 3) track our expenses and 4) cut back on our spending.  So far, the only thing I have done is become slightly more financially aware.  I am aware that money is flying out the window.  And what do I have to show for it . . . a big, fat butt.  We are literally eating away at our savings.  My family has gotten into the habit of eating out for dinner 6 out of 7 if not 7 out of 7 days a week.  Actually make that about 11 or 12 out of 7 days a week because sometimes we eat out twice in one day!  I don't enjoy the eating out because the entire time I am thinking of depleting our savings.  I even imagine myself actually eating the bills instead of the food on my plate.  The problem here is I don't really like to cook.  I have this aversion to raw meat that rivals my aversion to puke.  I can't do it.  I just can't do it.  So that leaves Doug to come home from work and roll up his sleeves.  Now, I'm not one for traditional gender roles but there is a tiny bit of Donna Reed inside me that doesn't condone this.  He worked hard all day.  He shouldn't have to cook dinner too.  So we eat out.  The deal I have made with myself is that if the Five Week plan doesn't pan out in five weeks, I will start looking for a second job in week six - something I do not want to do.  Maybe I should look at it that way.  Cook versus work.  Raw meat versus dealing with people.  And I don't deal well with people.  Just ask those at the table next to me at Panera :)