@ekendall09 I figured that was the case, haha. That's pretty much the reason I'm staying put at my job for now (even though I borderline hate it)... being already almost 5 months pregnant and potentially losing maternity leave would be a bad situation! And omg yeah I totally feel for those parents having babies the rest of this year - I would be pissed!! Hopefully they can figure out at least something to help make up for it if they can't offer the full package until Jan 1.
Ok this is random and superficial/materialistic but I need advice/affirmation lol! There is a gorgeous winter white coat at Banana Republic that I have been lusting after--they are currently having a big sale plus I have rewards bucks from my store credit card, meaning if I bought it today I would pay $100 instead of $300 and I'd get free shipping--practically giving it away lol! Of course the problem is I wouldn't get much use out of it this winter (I guess I could leave it open/unbuttoned but that sort of defeats the purpose of a coat) but would of course have it for next winter and many after. Worth it?! Likelihood that I will be able to fit in it post preg?! Posting link below for reference! Thanks for your help ladies
There will be plenty of coats to lust over next year, and plenty of sales to take advantage of. Save your money for nice winter maternity clothes you can wear right now
Today is the day that we have our gender ultrasound! Yes we are being *extra* with this baby, and having a gender reveal party.
This is Baby was such a surprise and a blessing that we wanted to make it extra special. It’s the tiebreaker for my family (I have one boy and one girl) and it’s the tie breaker for my parent’s grandbabies!
My brother, sister, and I have provided them with FOUR BOYS and FOUR GIRLS. So this is the last grandbaby for them.
So theve called this baby “TB” as a nickname. For tiebreaker!
@JJMNO1616 Congrats! I can't wait to pay mine off (though it will be a long while before that happens!) Do you guys with student loans play Givling at all?
@JJMNO1616 It's an app that they are trying to use crowdfunding and money raised from advertisers to pay off people's student loans. You basically just have to watch an ad and play a trivia game (takes less than 5 min a day) and you earn points. Then with the points, you earn entries into the random drawing. They have paid off like 8 loans so far at around $50k a piece (I think the first loan was $100k, and then they set the limit at $50k). The progress was slow at first, but picking up now. They just paid off a loan yesterday and it's so exciting! I figure hey, why not if it gives me a chance to get money for my loan!
@JJMNO1616 Congrats! I can't wait to pay mine off (though it will be a long while before that happens!) Do you guys with student loans play Givling at all?
That sounds really cool! Where so you get the invite code?
You can use mine (I think I get some queue points for it) then you will have a code you can use if you refer other people and it should give you queue points too. SP204790
I have been playing for about two years and progress has really picked up this year! I follow them on FB and it's so cool to see everyone come together to finish paying off a loan!
My bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding came in today, doesn't fit. I took it to a seamstress, they are going to have to add fabric. And the worst part is, it doesn't fit in the boobs, these suckers are only going to get bigger. FX they add enough fabric, I need this dress to fit.
That's amazing @ekendall09 !! My husband gets 12 weeks paid paternity leave. I get... FMLA. Our STD is rigged so you only can use it after you've been out 6 weeks. Regular deliveries get nothing, c-sections get 60% for 2 weeks. I will be using all of my sick time and not taking off any days so that I'll have 9 and a half weeks paid thru sick time and PTO and 2 and a half weeks unpaid
@JJMNO1616 There was a dad at DS's old daycare that would let his son sit on his lap and "drive". At least it was only in the neighborhood, but still, I would not do that.
@JJMNO1616 I was just watching the Mad Men episode where the grandfather lets the like 8 year old girl steer while he presses the gas and thinking about how bad an idea that was
@bchalm that's probably the best case scenario - should be plenty of time for the alterations to get done but not so much that you might be in a way different size. A little extra boob room never hurts, I know that far too well lately! Lol
Omg I am SO ANNOYED. Apologies in advance for this Dear Diary post:
We needed our back porch replaced before winter hits. It's not exactly a porch though, more like a landing with an overhang. So it's small and the job is easy: tear out rotting wood, replace with new wood.
The guy who lives next to my parents is a carpenter, and a lifelong friend of our family. He and his wife came to our wedding. He's retired but does carpentry jobs on the side. My dad is ALWAYS telling us to hire him for odd jobs, so we hired him for this one.
You guys, it's been a DISASTER and it's so fucking awkward. He's charging us by the hour and has taken foreverrrrr. He started on Monday afternoon and he's done basically nothing: put in a new post, nail in a couple boards. My husband has been trying to get him to commit to a timeframe so we'll kinda know how much this will all cost, and he refuses to say. Finally today DH told him he'd done enough and we'll take it from here -- he basically kicked him out.
The porch is half done (and that's being GENEROUS) and he charged us $700 for it. He totally hosed us. DH is pissed, I'm pissed, and now we have to hire someone else to finish it. And the dude is a family friend so we still have to be nice to him and not drag my parents into the middle of it.
Bottom line: never hire a friend for anything. So so dumb on our part.
@kmalls That's crazy.... did you sign a contract because tbh I wouldn't pay that. I don't care if he is a family friend or not. He obviously doesn't have a problem taking advantage of you so I would give him what you think is fair.
@JJMNO1616 nope no contract. Just a handshake on his hourly rate ($40/hr). And that doesn't even include materials, which we bought on our own -- so that's another $275 of lumber on top of what he charged us.
@JJMNO1616 nope no contract. Just a handshake on his hourly rate ($40/hr). And that doesn't even include materials, which we bought on our own -- so that's another $275 of lumber on top of what he charged us.
NOPE would NOT pay that... I think you should get some estimates from other contractors and see what they would charge for the work. Then you can pay him what you think is reasonable based on what he did. I think that is more then fair.
@kmalls wait, so he spent 17.5 hours and that's all the work he got done? I'm sure your H had a conversation with him about it but I'd love to know what his rationalization is for taking that many hours to do it. Did he give you an estimate of time frame before he started? I'd be livid, which I'm sorry I know doesn't help you!!!
@frenchiekinplusone 17 hours of work, then some "miscellaneous" charges. He did not give us a timeframe before he started, other than "this should only take a couple days." But then he farted around spending HOURS rigging up a frame so he could pour concrete and fix our bottom step (it was chipping) -- which we never asked him to do. Then we come to find out he used a bag of sand-based Quickcrete that he found in our shed, which DH says has been in there for easily 20 years. Needless to say the step has already fallen apart.
The tough part is that DH is a civil engineer and oversees giant construction projects every day. His job is to manage shit like this. He knows how things are supposed to work and he knew right from the start that this project was going to be a disaster, but neither of us wanted to offend either the carpenter or my dad, who vouched for him. Live and learn, I guess?
@JJMNO1616 girl, I know. It's so awful. $700 isn't chump change to us, so it really blows.
I know you probably feel obligated to pay it but I really do think he is taking advantage of you guys. There is absolutely nothing he can do legally to come after you for the money. I know it's probably more about the family relationships but if he is putting you and your H in this situation then that's also on him.
@kmalls Can you have a conversation with the guy to try to talk him down on his charges? I'd start with reminding him of the work you actually asked him to do and remind him of his time frame he originally told you (couple of days). Then I'd tell him that repairing the bottom step wasn't something you discussed prior, and that his use of the super old quickcrete (did he ask to use it?) has made the step a bigger problem now. I'd say these are the things we asked/discussed having you do and give him a list, then say these are the things on the list that appear to be done. Tell him you know that his time is valuable, but you didn't ask him to work on the step and don't think you should pay for the time he spent on it. Maybe you guys could come to a reasonable compromise?
And if he holds his ground, I'd be honest and tell him that you feel like you're being taken advantage of, which is surprising given how highly your dad spoke of him. Let him know how disappointed you are, hopefully that will reach him.
Ugh @kmalls, that is SUCH a tough position to be in; that's a lot of money to pay to keep the peace but with a family friend it's certainly tempting to just pay him and be done with it. And you were just trying to do this guy a favor - one of my law school professors said all time "no good deed goes unpunished" and it's certainly crappy in this case.
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@lindsye yeah, we're just going to pay him and move on. In a way I feel like it's our fault for not committing him to a price for the entire project ahead of time, but I also never thought things would go in this direction. It's just a shitty situation.
Re: Weekly Randoms- 10/30
Married: 10/3/15
TTC: May 2017
BFP: 7/20/17
EDD: 3/29/18
https://http//bananarepublic.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=1091938&pcid=99915&vid=1&pid=877607002
Dont buy it.
There will be plenty of coats to lust over next year, and plenty of sales to take advantage of. Save your money for nice winter maternity clothes you can wear right now
This is Baby was such a surprise and a blessing that we wanted to make it extra special. It’s the tiebreaker for my family (I have one boy and one girl) and it’s the tie breaker for my parent’s grandbabies!
My brother, sister, and I have provided them with FOUR BOYS and FOUR GIRLS. So this is the last grandbaby for them.
So theve called this baby “TB” as a nickname. For tiebreaker!
Yay congrats on paying off a student loan @JJMNO1616
I have been playing for about two years and progress has really picked up this year! I follow them on FB and it's so cool to see everyone come together to finish paying off a loan!
Married: 10/3/15
TTC: May 2017
BFP: 7/20/17
EDD: 3/29/18
Married: 10/3/15
TTC: May 2017
BFP: 7/20/17
EDD: 3/29/18
We needed our back porch replaced before winter hits. It's not exactly a porch though, more like a landing with an overhang. So it's small and the job is easy: tear out rotting wood, replace with new wood.
The guy who lives next to my parents is a carpenter, and a lifelong friend of our family. He and his wife came to our wedding. He's retired but does carpentry jobs on the side. My dad is ALWAYS telling us to hire him for odd jobs, so we hired him for this one.
You guys, it's been a DISASTER and it's so fucking awkward. He's charging us by the hour and has taken foreverrrrr. He started on Monday afternoon and he's done basically nothing: put in a new post, nail in a couple boards. My husband has been trying to get him to commit to a timeframe so we'll kinda know how much this will all cost, and he refuses to say. Finally today DH told him he'd done enough and we'll take it from here -- he basically kicked him out.
The porch is half done (and that's being GENEROUS) and he charged us $700 for it. He totally hosed us. DH is pissed, I'm pissed, and now we have to hire someone else to finish it. And the dude is a family friend so we still have to be nice to him and not drag my parents into the middle of it.
Bottom line: never hire a friend for anything. So so dumb on our part.
Married: 10/3/15
TTC: May 2017
BFP: 7/20/17
EDD: 3/29/18
The tough part is that DH is a civil engineer and oversees giant construction projects every day. His job is to manage shit like this. He knows how things are supposed to work and he knew right from the start that this project was going to be a disaster, but neither of us wanted to offend either the carpenter or my dad, who vouched for him. Live and learn, I guess?