This is a happy post to honor all Mothers and Single Fathers (we’ll call them mathers 🙂 ). An intriguing headline this morning on Fox news reads: She’s Worth Every Penny it’s wonderful story about mothers (stay at home and working) that says if “paid” an actual salary we would make $117,000 a year! The tough part was the hours….

Salary.com did an accurate study of the amount of hours an average mother puts in. A whopping 94.5 hours a week! That equals 13.5 hours a day, which in my house the hours are a few more than that. Anyway…it’s pretty fair. So I sat down to figure out how much that would be an hour…..

Broke down into hourly rates – (union pay rules…..every mom runs her own union) 🙂

• $17.50 an hour for 40.5 regular hours (which are put in by Wednesday) = $ 708.75
• $ 26.25 an hour for 40.5 overtime hours (Thursday – Saturday) = $ 1063.13
• $ 35.00 an hours for 13.5 double time hours (Sunday) = $ 472.50
• Grand Total of $ 2244.38 a week or $ 116,707.76

Close enough for me. I am impressed that they gave mothers that much credit although we deserve a lot more. Remember that does not include those on call hours in the middle of the night when the kids wake up sick or have a nightmare. There are no true benefits per say, but the smile at the breakfast table in the morning makes it all worth it.

The forced on the job training prepares the average mom for all the positions listed below:
These are just to name a few….

• Housekeeper/Maintenance Personnel
• Cook
• Psychologist
• Teacher
• Accountant
• Manager

As Mothers Day approaches remember to give your mom the credit she deserves. She has worked hard through the years not for money, but for the satisfaction that you were happy, healthy and responsible.

To all Mothers and Mathers out there Happy Mothers Day!

This post is for all the Child Care Providers out there mainly our sister who has a very difficult time with one mother.

Every parent that works knows that child care costs are just a part of life. Our sister has been going to school full time from home and was laid off from her job in the fall. She decided to try to open a Child Care business in her home so that she could continue going to school and spend more time with our darling niece.

She has had a difficult time with a mother that brings her precious little girl and school age son to her house for child care. This woman for whatever reason is not paying our sister, she even had help from the state in the beginning. This woman actually had the audacity to cash one of the child care checks the state sent her for our sister and keep the money! Yes, she cashed the check, failed to tell our sister and kept the money! The next week she failed to pay again. When our sister said that she must pay every week, the woman complained that the price was too high, but continued to bring the kids. Last week after writing a check for her child care costs, she called our sister and told her not to deposit the check because it was no good. Then on Monday morning her check from the previous week was returned to the bank unpaid.

Now that the money she owes for child care is piling up, I suggested to our sister to put her foot down. I understand that this woman has bills to pay, but so does our sister who is now working literally for free. A document was typed up stating the exact amounts that were owed and also stated that this woman must pay in cash from that point forward. She freaked, this woman was actually upset and asked our sister how she could do this to her.

Are you kidding me? Our sister cares for these children like they are her own and she has even bought them clothes to keep at her house, since the mother never brings any. After receiving the document and throwing a fit the woman never brought the kids back, telling our sister she found someone to watch them for free. I would have to say she has had free child care for over a month since she has paid with bad checks. She promises to pay when she gets her stimulus check….but we’ll see.

I understand that everyone is having a difficult time financially, especially in the area where we live, but paying for child care is just a part of life if you need to work.

Remember that person that is caring for your children during the day has bills to pay too.

The big buzz this week is the economy, everyone is talking about the stimulus checks arriving “early” (4 days), the feds cutting rates, and the huge increase in gas prices.

Its all talk, the normal American family is struggling more this week than last and I am sure it will continue to get worse. The news of the stimulus arriving early has Americans anxious to get some extra money in their pockets probably to just pay their bills. On Monday Boiled Over had a large amount of traffic from people searching when they would get their check.

Gas is now at $3.75 a gallon and groceries went up again this week. We feel like we are working only to eat and put gas in the car to get to work. “Working for Nothing”

I found this from an article on Ajc.com

McCain and Democratic hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton have said they favor suspending the federal excise tax on gasoline through the summer driving season.

Clinton’s Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, has said suspending the tax – 18.4 cents per gallon – would save consumers barely enough to buy half a tank of gas, belittling the idea as a band-aid approach to the larger issue of energy security.

This may only be a band-aid approach, but every little bit counts at this point. We all know that something must be done about our dependence on oil, but realistically it will take many years to enact any energy plan. We need help NOW, TODAY! If all you have is a band-aid, as long as its free I’ll take it!

As the American people take two steps back a day, the politicians are playing the blame game and getting nothing done.

A headline this week that about made me fall out of my chair:

Bush Calls on Congress to Help the American People

Yeah ok weren’t you the jerk that got us in this mess in the first place? Eight years of his administration running this country and people are loosing their homes, can’t pay for a tank of gas and now there’s talk of a possible food crisis……oh boy we’re in for the long haul.

So for a little humor and to put a smile on everyone’s face I am posting an email I received from a friend. I wish I knew who wrote it so I could give them the proper credit…Enjoy!

Dear Internal Revenue Service:

Enclosed you will find my 2008 tax return showing that I owe $3,407.00 in taxes.

Please note the attached article from the USA Today newspaper; dated 12 November, wherein you will see the Pentagon (Department of Defense) is paying $171.50 per hammer and NASA has paid $600.00 per toilet seat.

I am enclosing four (4) toilet seats (valued @ $2,400) and six (6) hammers valued @ $1,029), which I secured at Home Depot, bringing my total remittance to $3,429.00.

Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the “Presidential Election Fund,” as noted on my return.

You can do this inexpensively by sending them one 1.5″ Phillips Head screw (see aforementioned article from USA Today newspaper detailing how H.U.D. pays $22.00 each for 1.5″ Phillips Head Screws).

One screw is enclosed for your convenience.

It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year.

Sincerely,

A Satisfied Taxpayer

As I did my daily errands today I about ran into the car in front of me while checking the gas price. We all knew it was coming the news stations have been talking that $5 a gallon mark, but come on over 25 cents in one day! Are you kidding me? Yeah I was the idiot that did not get gas yesterday because I thought I could stretch it one more day and look what it got me. Yesterday $3.43 today $3.69 and that’s the cheap gas! Having a husband that commutes over a 100 miles a day makes my stomach turn every time that price rises.

So I wanted to vent about what everyone is venting about the damn price of gas. Yeah it’s the same gas the stations had in the tanks yesterday, but today we are just lining the pockets of the oil companies. Even my daughter called complaining saying it isn’t even worth driving 15 miles to her job to work 3 hours for minimum wage…..I have to say for once I see her point.

Then my sister sent me a ton of hilarious pictures in an email entitled gas humor. I am posting them just to give everyone a smile. Although every time you fill up remember that the oil companies made record breaking profits last quarter and we just keep getting more broke.

How far will we go to let the government interject into our lives? I thought America and its laws were based on FREEDOM. Daily it seems that those freedoms are violated by none other than our American Government. The foundation of our country and its laws are based on the morals and values of religion and the main base of individual freedom. I am assuming that our government officials forgot about the Revolutionary War. Since when is freedom of religion or freedom of speech only allowed when the government thinks its appropriate. Other American citizens have joined this prude way of thinking, we have become a country that is more concerned with image than individual rights.

A perfect example of these freedoms being violated is the Texas Polygamous Sect Story. Although I would not necessarily agree with the lifestyle of this religious group, they have rights too. Yes they have more than one wife and maybe have sex with underage children, but that is their religious belief. Who are we to judge what is right to believe in? We have underage pregnancy in this country on a daily basis, why is it frowned upon more when the man is 60 instead of 16. From what I have read these children are brought up in that society not knowing a lot of the “outside world”. That is their culture, what they are taught, why would you rip them from everything they know and are safe with because YOU THINK something they would be better off. Well I live in this “outside world” and I find it hard to believe that these children are going to be better off after all this is over. The government went into this ranch on a “unfounded allegation” with guns blazing, ripping children from their homes and flat out lying to the adults. Should we be proud of this?

The government now has these children held in a coliseum and only the ones under four have been allowed to see their mothers. The “Judge” has ordered DNA testing on over 400 children, claiming they need it to investigate the abuse allegations. Last time I checked DNA can only be used for proof of abuse if testing in a “rape” situation. The only thing the Government will prove is who are the parents of these children and if their mother is underage. In my opinion the Government has caused more harm to these children then their parents in any situation. We now have over 400 children that will be torn from their families and placed in the “outside world” because the Government thinks they know what is best for them.

I wanted to touch a little bit on the Freedom of Speech which is another dying freedom. I could use many examples in this, but the most talked about controversy this week was Bill Maher and The Pope. If you haven’t heard Bill Maher accused The Pope of being a Nazi this week on his show. Again I do not agree with what Bill Maher said, but isn’t it his right to say it. Every one is blasting him for it and I can understand that, but why should he apologize and why should there be talk about taking him off the air. It was his opinion, if you are offended DON’T LISTEN!

Kudos to a little church in Jonesville, S.C. for using their freedom of speech and sticking to it.
Pastor Roger Byrd said

he just wanted to make people think when he put up a sign reading “Obama, Osama — humm, are they brothers” in front of the Jonesville Church of God on Thursday.

This may be extreme, but you know it has been in the minds of many American people. I am not saying its right, but it is an issue that “everyone” in the media seems to be ignoring. The congregation of Pastor Byrd’s church voted unanimously Sunday to keep the sign up. Good for them to sticking to Freedom of Speech and Religion!