reandsmom77

Ok, I have a major flaw and that is that I tend to be "too nice." My ex, like many others, lost his job last year and I quit getting payments as of the end of January.

He told me he was going to mail in payments and even asked for the address. Since he was current as of the end of last year, he got to claim our daughter on his taxes. I thought, for sure, he'd send a good size payment to catch some of this up, but he never did. Instead, my daughter told me all about the trip(s) to Kings Island they went on while she was there for the weekend.

Around the first of April, he told me he'd just started a new job. / When I hadn't gotten anything as of June, I asked him about it again. He told me he'd been catching up other bills and would have a w/h order started that month. / In August, I asked him about it again and he told me he'd have it done on his next check.

Finally, in October, he told me that changed employers and would turn it in that week. Finally, I got a payment a few days later. In November, I got the same amount. Only one payment for each month, more than the weekly amount, but less than the monthly amount; but, still better than nothing.

Now, I'm not sure what's going on. I haven't gotten a payment since November and he will not respond when I email him asking him about it. Needless to say, I'm tired of being ignored and lied to.

I've been trying to think about our daughter and I don't want her to have to see him go to jail. If he loses his license, that would end up causing problems with her visitation since he lives a few hours away. I just don't know how to handle this anymore.

My daughter is 10 years old and last Friday, after school, they yelled at her continously in the hallway until she was crying uncontrollably. The issue was over six assignments that she had told the after school daycare worker she'd finished and then hid in her locker. On top of this they gave her three conduct cuts - two for three unfinished assignments and one for lying to the daycare employee. I agree that she was wrong and deserved to take responsibility for those actions, but this was described to me by someone who witnessed part of it as being "too harsh."

Furthermore, they did this right in front of the gym where they even managed to shock and scare the other after school daycare kids. My daughter was abused at a very young age (by a daycare employee) - which is what prompts the crying. So, not only was this humiliating, but it just brought about those feelings again.

1) I don't feel yelling a child (especially elementary school age) is ever an appropriate action by a school.

2) I feel that the discussion should've taken place in the principal's office or the class room where there would've been less risk of other's overhearing.

3) I would've liked to have been informed of the meeting and given the opportunity to be present.

In my opinion they didn't solve anything that day. My daughter just tuned them out. If anything, they ended up losing her respect (and ours) that day.

I also found out that night, when I read the conduct cuts (in addition to the unfinished homework) that she's failing her time tests for subtraction, multiplication and division, and has no reading points for this nine weeks. The ONLY things I've been told that she (in early Nov) was doing MUCH better and (2 wks ago) that she needed to work on her multiplication facts. I find it irresponsible on their part not to inform me of this before now. After all, I can't work to correct a problem I'm not aware of. I've always encouraged her teachers to call me when there's a problem - including this one.

2007 Ford Focus SE purchase in June 2008.

1) Has always averaged 17-18 mpg (city). Ford garage admits this is poor, but cannot find the problem. This has been checked 3-4 times and they've never been able to figure out why.

2) Has a rougher than normal idle - my nine yr old asks me why the mirrors are shaking. This has been checked, but they've claimed they can't get it to "duplicate."

3) My husband says he can smell faint gas fumes. On a few occassions, they've gotten pretty strong. The worst it ever was we had to turn off the heat (the fan) and roll down the windows because the smell was burning our eyes and we couldn't breath. They've checked, at least twice, for gas leaks, but haven't found any.

I'm tired of this game. The garage says they can't find the problem but says something's wrong. Ford Motors says without them knowing what's wrong they won't approve further tests or repairs. Oh, but they're sorry about our mileage problem and believe us that something's wrong.

What's the point in having a warranty if they won't stand behind it? Do we have a chance at having this declared a lemon and having Ford replace it or buy it back?

Ok, I found two Prius' that I've been looking at - 1) 2001 with 136,000 for $5,900 (does have an extended warranty option, which would be purchased). 2) 2004 Prius with 111,000 for $10,824.

My first though is why are the prices of these two cars so low....is it the economy and lack of sales? (not to mention with gas being down, I'm sure people are looking less at the Prius than they were when gas was $4/gal). Are these just good buys or is something wrong with them?

I started a DBA company last year (not much income <$100). The company has it's own EIN. Will this need a seperate tax return or will go on my personal tax return? Since there wasn't much income, I just left it all in the business checking account and didn't pay myself anything. I'm not quite sure how this works, will I end up owing much of anything?

City mileage averaging 17-18 mpg. I have this car in the shop 2-3 times and they can never find a problem with it. I wrote someone at Ford Motor Company since this problem still isn't fixed and the factory bumper to bumper has expired. They've arranged to have this checked again Thursday.

The car has a rough idle. While this is a "normal" characteristic of Fords due to cheap motor mounts, I still say this is worse than it should be - Sometimes, I feel like I have massage seats!

On a few occassions, we've also smelled gas fumes for several blocks. The smell got stronger and stronger until our noses and eyes started burning and we had to turn the heat off and roll the windows down and then it stopped and went away. Ford's explanation for this was that we must of have gotten the fumes on our clothes (we filled up the day before) or it was another car (which no one was around us at the time since it was later in the evening).

Has anyone else had this problem with their car? What was the problem? Anyone have any ideas??

Please list:

- What kind of car you have

- # of Cylinders

- Size of engine (if you know - for example 2.0 L)

- What state you live in

- If your mileage is based on city, highway, or a combination of both

(if both, what % is city / highway)

My husband and I are looking to buy a bigger a home and we're either thinking of having an 1800 sq. ft. total electric (two story) built or going with a modular home around 1900 sq. ft. home.

How many watts would we need to power the entire house?

I'm starting a home based business and I've already found a commerical software that will allow me to photo collages and dvd slideshows. But, I'd like to find a calendar software (rather than making them in Excel every year) and also some fonts, clip arts, and borders for cards and invitations that I can use commerically. Does anyone know where I can shop for these? I've not have much luck using Google or Yahoo search engines.

Last year, she started leaving homework at school. Luckily, the teacher still gave her grades for it when she'd turn it in. All summer, I've told her we're not doing that this year. School isn't something that gets easier and eventually teachers wouldn't allow her to turn it in late.

Well, third grade and that's here already. Papers are coming home incomplete with "F's." I've gotten notes from her teacher saying that she's not completing assignments. In fact, she found at least three stuffed in her desk.

I've put her in summer school in hopes of helping her, encourage her to bring her homework home, even when it's finished, so we can see what areas she needs help, ask her to do it in afterschool daycare where they too can help her and she'll have more time when she gets home - NOTHING seems to work.

I told her last night that she's grounded for two weeks - no TV, etc. Nothing but school work. That's it. I just feel like this glass is half empty. We've also tried telling her we'd buy a toy, etc. She's asked about making an allowance so we've made it conditioned on her homework - bad grades, incomplete assignments - no allowance. So far, she's not made anything.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Anyone else have any ideas on how to improve this situation? I'd hate to see her fail the third grade plus they take the ISTEP this year which the teacher is concerned that she may not finish it.

My husband and I are talking about having a total electric (as energy efficient as we can afford) home built - 1807 sq. ft. with two bedrooms and a bath upstairs (finished attic space). We'd like to get an idea of what our summer and winter bills will run.

Last month, my electric bill was $165 ($40 higher than 2007), the month before than was $28 higher. The month, I get my bill and (IKES) it's $232!!! $90 higher than last year's bill.

I called the electric company and unfortunately the meter numbers are correct (except for the fact that it's gone up 360 since it was read on the 3rd!!! They said to shut everything done and check one room at a time to see what area is causing the meter to jump because something was pulling power. Any ideas???? As of right now, they said were paying over $6.00/day - which is $2 more than last month.

My husband thinks it might be the deep freeze - it's an older upright and the thermostat doesn't work right on it.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas?

Last month, my electric bill was $165 ($40 higher than 2007), the month before than was $28 higher. The month, I get my bill and (IKES) it's $232!!! $90 higher than last year's bill.

I called the electric company and unfortunately the meter numbers are correct (except for the fact that it's gone up 360 since it was read on the 3rd!!! They said to shut everything done and check one room at a time to see what area is causing the meter to jump because something was pulling power. Any ideas???? As of right now, they said were paying over $6.00/day - which is $2 more than last month.

My husband thinks it might be the deep freeze - it's an older upright and the thermostat doesn't work right on it.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas?

Bought a 2007 Ford Focus in June (08) with 31,000 miles. Since the day we took it home, we only averaged around 18 mpg. (I do primarily city driving which was the reason I chose the Focus). EPA was 27 - revised EPA is 23 but everyone says they always see high 20's.

The Ford lot here says they can't figure it out. They tested it at 17.8 mpg at 35 mph and agree that it should do better than that. They basically said they don't know why my car runs as good as it does because losing that much mileage, it shouldn't.

We recently took it back to the lot we purchased it from and the claim they did "nothing" to it - yet "it" tested at 26.9 mpg on their computer. When we got it back it did do a little better - 24 mpg, but dropped off after that (21.19, 20.27, 18.8).

Just curious if anyone has had this problem so we can try to pinpoint it.

Ok - long story short, my 07 Focus (31,800 miles) is only getting 18 mpg in the city. This has been confirmed by our Ford garage. They said that's POOR for that car, but so far haven't been able to figure out the problem and they've had it since Monday. If they can't find out why, then what?

I'm guessing I should call the dealership before Ford. I've been in the arguement with their service department since we bought the car in June. I'm thinking of asking them to let us use another Focus for a week and see if it does any better - if it does, we know it's the car; if it doesn't, then we'll just chaulk it up the area (my driving habits aren't that bad, I tend to baby my cars). I'd like to see them exchange the car if we find that the car's not getting the mileage we expected. Do you think they will?

What will Ford do if we call them? Anything?

I live in Indiana and purchased a 2007 Ford Focus from a car lot in Kentucky.

Since the day we bought the car, we've only been getting 18 mpg and we've already had part of the transmission rebuilt (luckily factorty warranty paid for that). Currently, the car is back in the shop having the fuel mileage checked which their test also revealed that it's only getting 18 mpg in the city, which, as I was told, is poor for that car. So, they're working on figuring out what the problem is because it's not giving off any codes.

When we got our title work at the end of last month, I realized that a fleet company had owned the car so I now suspect that we purchased a rental car. I thought I read some where that they have to disclose that, but now I can't find that and I want some sort of legal recourse if we continue having problems with this car.

Does any one know?

Ok, everyone keeps saying to replace the air filter due to the poor gas mileage we've gotten since we've bought the car in June.

My husband, who works on cars ("back yard mechanci") opened the black box and when he didn't see the air filter he closed it back up.

The gauge still reads that the filter is good. Is this unit still ok?

2007 Ford Focus, 31,000 miles

Primarily all of my driving is city, but EPA says this car should get 27 mpg in the city (23 - by revised EPA guidelines) and 35 highway.

I'm currently averaging 16-18!! OUCH! Someone suggested the air filter to us - but the gauge still reads that the filter is good. It's still under factory warranty, so we have an appointment to take it in next Monday. I just thought I'd see if anyone else has had this problem or knew what it could be.

There's also a rough idle from time to time.

She also watches my sister's kids and is constantly going back to her and telling her things that are none of her business. She nevers comes to us with concerns, she just draws her own conclusions (usually wrong) and calls my sister and tells her all about it.

Obviously, she doesn't seem to be comfortable talking to us (about us) and I'm definitely not comfortable with her lack of respect for our privacy.

Plus she's not licensed, charging $20/day, and I can't turn it in on my taxes. I found someone who will watch them our child, who is licensed, for $2/hour (based on our current schedule).

I'm just not a confrontational person (unless provoked) and I would like some advice on how to handle this.

I've never had it take this long to get my title work after a car purchase. I called the finance manager on Monday and he seemed unconcerned by it and just said to call him if we hadn't gotten it by the middle of next week. Well, Indiana only allows 30 days to have the plates transferred or the slap you with a $21 late title fee.

I sent the general manager a certified letter informing him of my concern regarding our title work not getting here yet and that they would be expected to reimburse us of the $21 late fee. Other than, we might still get the title work on time. Who knows?

Has anyone else been in this situation? I'm not exactly sure what to do if we don't get by next week.