Shipping Containers

On Friday I read an article about converting shippint containers into liveable homes. Yes, I am thinking again... lol. I have spent a lot of my weekend reading up on this. Turns out they can make really cute homes, and are very cheap. they can be converted in a matter of weeks and require more labor than money. I just need to find some vacant land for cheap and then let my imagination take off. Containers run less than $1000 each. Since this is a "green" idea, wonder if there are grants for this. I would love to figure out how to do a spec home and let this be a launching pad for a green construction and get hubby back on fire construction wise. He is really good at it, but his heart is elsewhere. I think the constant losing of money and the haggling at the end is really getting to him. If he could come up with a great idea (well, I already have) the difficulty is in making it work. Fortunately, with imagination and space saving ideas (and hubby knows how to build custom and wall-to-wall units) these can be very practical and affordable. I read where one guy created his home for less than $50,000. Being married to a contractor, it could possibly be done cheaper. Now, how to find financing... I hope there is a grant type idea out there because walking into a bank and asking for a loan for a shipping container home may cause the banker to break out in hysterical laughing. If I could figure out how to get a spec home done, hubby and his on again/off again partner could have ideas to pitch in areas that need to be rebuilt. I could see lots of work in the future if this is doable.

Goodness!

My hubby left for work at 8:00 this morhing and din't return until almost 7:30 in the evening. On the plus side, he did make a deposit. After he settled in we crunched numbers - and we were devastated. He deposited $1600, which, in a normal world would be great. Um, we need to cover $950 for this month's rent, $1560 in past due truck payments (that was post dated earlier in the month, storage, cell phones, and car insurance. As you can tell, we are already in the negative. As an accounting person my first reaction is HUH??? I actually saw tears in his eyes. He has worked every day for two weeks, now has nitro pills for his heart, and is running at a negative cash flow. He says that no matter what he does, he can't seem to bring in money. Turns out he hasn't paid his guys for two weeks and he had bought some tools a while back and needs to repay the company whose account they were charged on. Am I frazzled??? Just a bit. Oh wait... it gets better....
My second to last semester starts on Monday, a whopping 3 days away. I haven't been able to get one single book. Turns out we need my financial aid (as well as his) to pay our bills, and it hasn't come in. I will spend about $800 in books, but will make about $4000 for the semester. Oh, unless I can't get my books and will have to drop my classes. When we were talking budget, I said, oh and we need books and the response is "books are the last things on my mind." Um, checks were cut for 1/2 our financial aid and I don't have one book in house, or even ordered. I have checked the syllabus and I am going to be so screwed unless I have books in hand, and assignments completed by Wednesday. He already has not only his, but my, financial aid pre-spent. I am concerned that money that is supposed to be "extra" is no a requirement in our budget. I received an extra financial aid check in the summer and it had been spent within 5 days because he was short on a job. Out of all of my financial aid payments, I haven't spent more than $50 on myself. It has all been spent on his short0falls. And the irony is, it wasn't for the lack of trying. Hubby now has 2 full time guys he now has to support at $100 a day each plus lunch. Lunch gets expensive, because fast food isn't cheap. He spent the entire day yesterday fighting with a door. That means he not only didn't make money, he actually lost $200. He has had an ongoing job... his original bill he lost money because "I"ll make it up on this one... I had to throw in stuff to get this part...." Yeah, so far he hasn't made a dime and is now bleeding money. He ran a total of 16 errands today... which means he didn't make anything.... oh, and he had his employee with him.. So not only is he bleeding gas, not making money, he also gets to pay his employee $100. While his eyes were waterin, mine weren't so dry either... why... cause I see no break from this in our future. He says he is at his breaking point and can't do this much longer and I am at my wits end. We have all debts because as much as he works we are falling more and more behind. It is the 27th and we need to use this money to pay this month's rent and gee... in 4 days we start again. He has nitro pills and my ulcer is inflamed.... I need a serious influx of cash quickly.... what bank can I hit up???

Corporate Counsel

My son is an over achiever. He reminds me of me at his age. In the 7th grade were required to select a biography to read and do a book report. I did a book report on every person who was on the list. I like a challenge. My son has 6 classes and is supposed to spend one hour on each class per day. Is it me or has the public education system lowered their standards??? He finishes all six classes in about 2 hours or so. I listen to his discussions with his teachers and I'm like "really... this is what high school is..." He is taking Business and Consumer Math and she breaks down things to the most minute level. "If you work 40 hours at $8.50 an hour... how much will you make?" Really???? My son rolls his eyes and plays Cafe World while she rambles. (Yes, he is addicted too). He wants a challenge so I get to gear up to go up against his guidance counselor after this semester. He can technically be reclassified as a Junior, which will enable him to be eligible to attend community college concurrently with his high school classes. I am hoping this will keep him challenged! Please, let him be challenged!!! he wants to become a Corporate Counselor for Disney. That is his goal. Fortunately, I took one whopping class of Business Law and so I think the teacher will let him into her class in the spring. He wants to smoke the kids his age and be done with his Bachelor's before they graduate high school. Do I support him? This is difficult. His motivation may be negative (to show up kids his age or older) but at least negative motivation is some type of motivation. I can get him through community college without any funds out of pocket, but gee, looking at a university much less law school is extremely daunting. Prices are quite out of my range! Maybe MdDonald's isn't so bad after all, it's a job!

School

Why is public school so difficult for my family??? I have fought the public school system on my son's behalf for years. He is a definite overachiever that they don't know what to do with. My daughter is entirely opposite. I am having a difficult time just enrolling her. School starts on Monday, a whopping 4 1/2 days away;. Will she start then? Um.... NO!!! It took 6 weeks to get her medical exam scheduled. Her tb test is on Monday (the day school actually starts). The reading / medical exam is not until Wednesday. I went to the school and they are at 100% capacity as of now. They said things are still in a state of flux so "you never know." Oh yeah - hmmmm, let's not forget the lack of the proof of residency. This really hurts my brain! My son's issues are challenging, but those I can address. My daughter's is just a waiting game!

Semester Number Um.... I Forgot

Monday starts the next semester of school. Overall, I haven't been going to college for that long. I started in the spring of 2010, but I have taken so many summer/winter intersession courses that I've lost track. Monday brings 5 more classes with many more hours of studying. What makes this semester different is that I actually have 2 classes on campus. I need a whopping 3 Accounting classes to finish my degree and I am taking 2 this semester. The rest is all general ed stuff. Hopefully, if all goes well, this should wrap up in the Spring and I can work on my Bachelor's degree.

Dentist

Both kids went to the dentist yesterday. Yeah, no cavaties for either of them, which in my daughter's case I was shocked. Some people have a sweet tooth, well she has an entire mouth full of them. On the down side, my son needs braces. He is not happy. Now I need to schedule a consultation and figure out a way to pay for these things. Why do I keep getting expenses? I am waiting for a time when money just falls into my lap not just new expenses. Guess that won't happen because it is only the Nigerians who keep telling me about my $20 million ready to be picked up. Don't know why this country is so broke, when the Nigerians seem to have millions upon millions of dollars that they are just giving away...lol

Project

One of the reasons I need my hubby to go back to work is I want to work on my new idea. I have an idea buzzing around my head and need to be able to figure out how to make this work without him constantly looking over my shoulder. Give me some space and time to think and work out logistics. Constantly interrupting me, and complaining I am on the computer too much is not helping! I am working in an idea I wanted to do a long time ago. I think I am finally at a place where I can move forward with my idea. I just can't do it here, because it is too expensive. With property dropping elsewhere, this could be doable. I just need the space to be able to work on this.

Too Close

My hubby hasn't worked in about a week and a half. Last week he hadn't scheduled work, and when our original plans fell through he took the week off because he wasn't feeling well. That rolled into this week. Kids had a dentist appointment yesterday so he didn't work so I could have the car (or that was his reasoning). He was finally supposed to go back today!!! Or not... :( I heard him make arrangements, but when he called last night to confirm, the homeowner had scheduled an appointment instead. He gets to run a whopping 3 errands this afternoon, which is meeting that homeowner and looking at two other jobs. I really need him to go back to room, because this 12x12 room is way too small with 4 of us in it. I need more space... Even my son keeps asking when he is going to go out. He does have work scheduled for all of next week!! Except on Monday I want him to go to SoCal for a job test. He needs a regular job and he qualifies and so is scheduled to go and take a test. I want him to go, but am waiting to see if it is a family thing or not. It would be good to get out of the house; however, the kennel is full and we have no one to watch the dog. In addition, my son starts school on Monday, so this would be challenging.

Rio

Saw Rio last week and loved it. I don't know if it was the plot line or the birds themselves. It made me miss my babies, but it gave me an idea. Trying to make it work is the challenge. If I can do this not only will it solve my immediate problem, it will solve another problem out there and incorporate my love of birds. Need logistics, but I'm working on it. My brain is frantically working. I can make this happen! Haven't had something to sink my teeth into in a while, so this is great.