Sarah

My husband is a pilot and we'll be moving to Florida in the summer. He'll be working at MacDill and we're both under 30 with a toddler. I'm aware of the realtor spin, but I want to get some feedback from locals who aren't trying to sell me a house. We'd like to buy there, but considering the market we want to buy in an area that has potential to gain value over the next five years. (We're thinking south Tampa -but really what areas are considered South Tampa). Commute to MacDill is a concern so any comments about that are appreciated. Any specific areas to stay away from? Any areas that we should check out? I get the feeling that Brandon is a family kind of area, but all of the houses I look at seem a little cookie cutter? We're open to a the idea of a townhouse close to shopping or the water. Honestly, any suggestions would be great.

We moved to our current residence nearly 6 months ago and when our cable was installed, there was a problem with the line buried on our side of the street so they used the active cable from the green box on the other side of the street to our green box. We only have cable for internet, but this is a very nice residential neighborhood. This cable is strung all the way across the street and besides looking awful is a potential safety hazard for our little boy, the three year old that lives next door and the two children who live across the street from where the line is strung.

Since the line has been that way, both my husband and I have called them over 20 times to see what the deal is. We've documented the date/time and name of the customer service rep that we've spoken with. With each time we've been fed the company line of "We'll have someone out there and it taken care of within 10-13 business days." Here we are though, in the very same situation that we have been since April. They are aware of the safety hazard that this poses.

Granted, yes we could perhaps file a Better Business Bureau complaint, but it seems as if this is a little bigger than that. So again, what legal action can be taken?

Our squadron was reactivated and is considered new - the 53rd Airlift Squadron "Blackjacks". The spouse group had its first meeting this evening and talked about the usual, fundraising, events, playgroups....my question is...what do other spouse groups around the country do? What are things that you'd get rid of? What would you keep? What would you like to see?

Btw...also need a catchy name for the program within our group that brings ready-made dinners to families with new babies. Its just a nice thing to do for busy new moms and dads. We kept calling it meals on wheels at the meeting for lack of a better name -needs help.

Instead of Bunko would bowling on base be better?

Honestly, I'm interested in the things that other groups do/offer to members. Granted a lot of our people come from sister squadrons around Little Rock AFB, we're kind of used to the same old, same old....I'm truly curious about other suggestions to make our group start out with a lot to offer.

How old was your baby when you started? My husband deploys at the end of April, my son will be 7 months old. He's captivated by other children, and just started to develop mild separation anxiety (normal) . I'm thinking of putting him in mother's day out for a couple of hours one day a week at a local church that a lot of my friends have children. Any thoughts?

When a car merges into traffic and then skips 3 lanes over to the left.... do you think "well no freakin' wonder"?

I never knew anything about my biological father, my mom's family didn't keep up with that kind of stuff. Maybe German? What do you guys think?

http://360.yahoo.com/my_profile-M9hJqEYyeqpaeP4RSR...

I've been on Yahoo Answers for a long time and I got my first violation email today. I so wish I knew who it was. Has this happened to anyone else?

I know all about BMIs, but I just want to hear people's personal opinions.

We have a Cuisinart grind and brew machine at home. It is really nice and sits on the counter. I looked at the bank account online and saw that my husband has gone to Starbucks 4 out of 5 days this week on his way to work. Granted it is like $4.85 per trip and he'll probably go on the weekend too. Over the course of a year, that comes to over $1200. Coupled with going out to lunch on average of 3 days a week at around $7 and a $20 a week tobacco habit. It's about $3,300. In a 365 day period it is close to $10 a day that he is spending.

Granted he's the bread winner and makes most of our money, it still makes me angry because there is so much else we could be doing with $3,300. I'm not a wife that shops all of the time and I maybe get to go out to lunch with my friends twice a month. I know he has to eat, and the chewing habit isn't something that is going away anytime soon. (I've flushed brand new cans of Copenhagen down the toilet). What can we do to trim this down?

What is up with the retarded singing in between commercials?

Isn't it all the same stuff?

To describe other things...like when you go to McDonald's and order a shake and the McDonald's people say, "I'm sorry, our shake machine is broken." Do you think "gay."? Or when your power bill comes at the end of the month and it is way more than you expected, "-so gay". When you and your friend had an argument and make up later..."Sorry that I was being gay the other day..."?

He never eats more than one of the mini-boxes at a time. Ever since he was a kitten and I threw one on the floor one day, he has goes ballistic when he sees the little red boxes that we eat as snacks. The vet says that she doesn't know of any studies about this? Anyone else have animals with strange preferences?

Pottery Barn stuff for me! Yay!

Out of the shell egg whites, not out of the carton. I'm thinking of just drinking two egg whites in the morning from now on instead of going the Cinnamon Toast Crunch route.

Before you don't take trips to the store, stop going out to eat, seeing movies and only go to where you have to like work and to get groceries?

When does it end?

http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/Wrybred/

Comments? Critiques? Feel free to be truthful