The unexpected death of a child can be unbearable at times and affects many people causing sadness, pain, and shock. This affect never goes away as it is always constant in your life. It is 4am on Sunday morning our daughter called the house crying and upset because she misses her brother. It has been over two years since we lost Dustin, yet the intense pain fills all of our hearts daily. There are many people in this world that face that same pain. For us as parents the thought that something could have prevented the death of any child makes something in the pit of our stomach just turn, yet it also lights a fire in your heart to change the world.

That is why organizations like KIDS AND CARS are so important to get the word out about prevention. Founded by Janette E. Fennell the mission of KIDS AND CARS is to assure no child dies or is injured in a non-traffic, motor vehicle related event. At the KIDS AND CARS website you can find mass amounts of information about the prevention of losing a child to the many dangers of a non-traffic, motor vehicle accident. We believe that this information should be printed and given to every licensed driver every time they visit their local Motor Vehicle Office. People especially parents need to beware of the dangers your automobile can pose to your child that is why we must get the word out about KIDS AND CARS. We have raised four children and ourselves never realized that power window strangulation and vehicles put in motion causes the death of many children every year.

The fast growing trend of SUVs and larger vehicles with larger blind spots is contributing to the amount of children being hurt or killed by a motor vehicle. As some of you may know our son was killed by an SUV as are so many other children. People must realize these vehicles are deadly weapons, the SUV that ran over our son was large enough to drag him and his bike underneath it and he was 15 years old. A child that is less than 3 feet tall has no chance at even being seen if they are close enough to an SUV making them most dangerous in your own driveway. KIDS AND CARS has a very informative section on different technology aftermarket options to address the blind zone behind a motor vehicle. They have also teamed up with Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and The Consumer’s Union to work with members of Congress to pass bi-partisan legislation that will establish basic safety regulations. KIDS AND CARS provide links to different ways you can help participate in this effort. It is absolutely ridiculous that automakers have not volunteered to make vehicles safer around children, they should visit the KIDS AND CARS website and read the heartbreaking stories of parents that have lost children due to their poorly made cars, that would make them think twice!

The greatest impact KIDS AND CARS had on us were the 45 individual stories that parents have written as a tribute to their child, telling each of their experiences. We have yet to read through all of them as it brings so many painful memories and so much anger that these senseless accidents can be avoided. If you are a parent you must read about these families that have endured so much, and we ask you to support KIDS AND CARS in helping get this important legislation passed. Write your local Congress , donate a little something to KIDS AND CARS, and most important pass the word of their website to anyone who will listen. If just one death of a child is avoided by doing this it makes it all worth it.

It is utterly amazing how life can just throw things at you that you never expected. I had planned for Monday morning to do a passionate article about a fantastic organization called Kids and Cars where their mission is to assure NO child dies or is injured in non-traffic, motor vehicle related event. As you can see that did not happen, but I will doing the article this weekend, because it means a lot to us to spread their message.

I took on some freelance work at the end of last week and although it isn’t much I let greed get the best of me and worked on that as much as possible. You see this was the first “real” paying job that I obtained online and could do from my office at home, something I have been trying to do for years. I was sure I could effectively manage my time between Boiled Over and my “paying” job. Well, that didn’t happen, on Monday afternoon I received a call from a recruiter looking for a technician to do a one time job on Tuesday night. The pay was good, the hours were at night, and the job was only 10 minutes from my house, after reviewing the “installation guide” this company wanted me to follow, I took the offer. To make a long story short, I was suppose to get home around 1:30 am (Wednesday morning), I did not get home until 4:30 am. By then Chad was awake for work and the kids had to get up in less than 2 hours, no sleep for me until 8:30 am. UGGHH, it’s only Wednesday. Oh yeah, the kids were on the Parent Teacher Conference schedule, so only a half day at school and I had to conferences to attend during the week. (one being on Wednesday) I knew I could not look at the computer again until Thursday, and I was 10 hours behind on my “paying” job.

It’s now Friday morning, where did the week go? It has been crazy for me, yet I am considering doing the same next week, minus the parent teacher conferences. 🙂 The recruiter offered me another install for next Thursday, I can work as many hours as I want in my “paying” job and we could use the extra money. I can’t believe that I am actually bringing in a real paycheck without working for a crappy corporate company.

Yet, a huge sadness fills my heart, the sadness of missing Boiled Over and all our blogging friends we have met. My new goal is to find a way to manage all of this life change without going insane. I am going to start by writing the article about Kids and Cars for Monday morning.

Women Runs Into House Trouble Over Water Bill –

A story in our local news this weekend tells of a single mother trying to buy a HUD approved home. Jennifer found her dream home in Mt. Morris, MI, but she is unable to have the inspection done for the closing. The reason being is the previous owner left a $431 water bill, and the city will not turn on the water for the inspection. HUD has offered to pay the bill for Jennifer, but not before the closing and the poor women can’t get the inspection to do the closing.

I was infuriated when I read this, a similar incident happen to us when we bought our home. The previous owner left an unpaid water bill of $200 and the Township said it was our responsibility to pay it! We refused, we argued the point until we were blue in the face. The end result, the Township added it to our house taxes at the end of the year, we had to pay it! Something needs to be done about this, why should the new homeowner be responsible for a previous owner’s delinquency!

Deal Moves Senate Foreclosure Relief Ahead

Sounds like the Senate may be looking out for American homeowners….NOT! This week the Senate entered negotiations for a foreclosure relief bill, but from the little details provided, it seems the relief will be “Bailing Out Lenders” and not helping existing homeowners. The overall bill wants to provide $4 Million to communities to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed homes. It is also suppose to provide protection to borrowers from sub prime lending. This bill has not been passed yet, but it also includes a $7,000 tax credit for people buying new homes or foreclosed properties. The White House thinks this bill will not help homeowners it will only help the lenders.

One time in 8 years that I actually agree with The White House…OH I can’t believe I said that! This bill offers NO relief for homeowners that are in financial hardship, only to new homeowners that want to buy foreclosed homes! Are you kidding me, Americans can’t not afford their current home, it goes into foreclosure, lenders won’t lend to you, and your suppose to be able to buy someone else’s home that got screwed buy the economy. With 8000 homes a day being foreclosed on, the Senate should be looking at helping EXSISTING homeowners from loosing their homes.

On February 26th – 3,650 UAW members went on strike against the company American Axle after renegotiation of their contract failed. These UAW workers are still on strike and continue to hold their ground not allowing American Axle to Bully its employees. The strike has strained GM to the point they cut or entirely stop production in 30 plants. The audacity of American Axle appalls us and many other American workers by only agreeing to a new contract if wages and benefits are cut by 50%! Considering that most of their current union employees have been with them for over 15 years this is a huge blow to an experienced and highly skilled workforce.

American Axle is the leading manufacturer of drive train axles producing over 15,000 a day globally. Yes, I said globally, they currently have 11 plants outside the U.S. and only 6 in the U.S. Straight from the horses mouth, Mr. Dick Dauch the CEO of American Axle stated in The Detroit Free Press that if the strike did not end

“We have the flexibility to source all of our business to other locations around the world, and we have the right to do so.”

How can a company called “American” Axle threaten to take all of their business outside America? That is just wrong! Mr. Dauch whines about not being able to compete in a market where companies like Delphi have been able to cut wages in half. For one, Delphi was in bankruptcy trying to hang onto their company, and for two Delphi has had to hire back some of their “old” workforce at the “old” wage because they are having issues with their new lower wage “unskilled” workforce.

American Axle had a gross profit of $278 Million in 2007 according to the annual report for investors on their website. Ok, $278 Million sounds a far cry from bankruptcy and if Mr. Dauch is so concerned why not give up some of his $1.47 Million salary or his $7.7 Million in stock options? On top of all that American Axle has illegally terminated disability payments and health care for injured workers, as well as compensation, including health care for laid off workers.

The UAW workers face much criticism when it comes to their salaries for manufacturing jobs. For a better understanding, in an excellent article on Dollars & Sense Sue Helper, who is an economist and was an expert witness in the Dana and Delphi bankruptcy proceedings this summer, has this to say:

“People who don’t work in manufacturing may think of manufacturing work as pushing a button every 20 seconds on some machine. You push the same button every 20 seconds for 20 years and it never changes, so there is not much discretion or skill required. A number of things follow from that picture of manufacturing work. One, maybe people who do it should not get paid very much. And two, why should we try to keep these jobs—who cares if China does them instead?
I think that picture does not have to be true, and in fact is not true in much of U.S. manufacturing today, especially in the auto industry. And there are a number of policies that could incorporate workers’ knowledge and skill into the production process further. All of the automakers have adopted in some form or another the Toyota “just-in-time” production system: assembly plants keep little or no inventory of parts on hand, and the lead time to make parts is very small. That means that if a line gets shut down, say, at a supplier, then that’s going to shut down the line at an assembly plant, and can cost that assembly plant up to thousands of dollars in lost profits for every minute the line is not working. That’s a lot of pressure on a worker. On top of that, the quality requirements are quite high. In part because of this problem with the line possibly being shut down, just-in-time increases the stress and the skill requirements for workers.”

Sue sums it up perfectly and we definatley agree with her. Ask your self this….Would you want an unskilled worker making the parts for your car? Would you take more pride in your work if you made $28 or $14 an hour?

The latest blow from American Axle was over the weekend when they placed employment ads to replace the striking workers. The ad said

“Employment offered to applicants responding to this advertisement will be to fill anticipated attrition replacement openings after negotiations or in place of employees involved in this strike.”

I’d have to say this company is pretty cocky to think that someone in Michigan would cross a picket line and take a striking workers job. IT WON’T HAPPEN!

The UAW Local 235 retaliated on Monday morning when regular laid off workers were to report back to work. They walked 60 of those workers to the entrance of the plant, the workers checked in for work and then…declared that they were on strike! GOOD FOR THEM, United We Stand!

Those 60 workers traded a $360 unemployment check for a $200 strike pay check. Would you do that for your fellow co-workers?

Today being April Fools we thought we might change the pace a little here at Boiled Over…just for today.  🙂

My husband Chad is a total prankster, he is always trying to make someone laugh. April Fools Day about 12 years ago Chad decided to pull a little “prank” on me. He was outside in the carport so called working on the van, and I was upstairs. I heard him yelling for me, and hearing the worry in his voice made me run quickly downstairs. As I hit the bottom of the stairs Chad is holding his finger with “bloody” gauze wrapped around it saying he thinks he cut of his finger. This is nothing knew for Chad as he is accident prone too.  I panic and start asking a ton of questions as I look across the kitchen floor and see drops of “blood” trickling from the outside door. The shear panic on my face must have been quite hilarious from his point of view. I darted through the house trying to get the kids ready and take him to the ER to fix his “cut off” finger. Chad could not keep it going any longer and he blurted out “April Fools”! Yeah, I felt like a fool although I was more relieved than laughing. I was so amazed that he was able to pull it off so well, using food coloring as blood worked great, but he was scrubbing the kitchen floor for a while and I was plotting my revenge for next year……

The Revenge:

I really wanted to get Chad good the following year, but it is hard to pull the wool over his eyes, so this would take some strategical planning on my part. Towards the middle of March the next year a pregnant friend and I came up with a master plan, I started planting the seeds saying I was late for my “monthly enemy”. Chad and I have four children that were very young at this point, all under 7 years old. As the days progressed I talked about how worried I was and that our youngest was only 1 ½ , I just wasn’t ready for another baby. The great day came, April Fools Day, and we were all meeting at a family member’s house. Before my pregnant friend arrived I had her take a pregnancy test and slip it to me behind Chad’s back. I pulled him aside and showed him, I thought he was going to fall over backwards. Then it BACKFIRED, my mouth hung open and tears came to my eyes as Chad says “another baby won’t be so bad, I’m kind of excited” ….On No What Did I Do? I felt terrible, but I immediately explained my elaborate prank to him and as he laughed and said that’s a relief….we both agreed….

NO More April Fools Pranks….At least not on each other….hehehehehe