I wish I had some great Thanksgiving stories.  However, we normally end up going to somebody elses house for Thanksgiving, so I dont’ have to cook.  Ever.  Honestly, it is nice.  However, this year my parents are coming here for Thanksgiving, so I have to cook my own dinner (with some help from my mom I hope!  Though she won’t be coming up till Thanksgiving day itself, so I may not have as much help as I’d like! They are coming here so I have some company doing some Black Friday shopping (though my mom is refusing to go stand outside at Best Buy at 3 am.  Yes, I am that dedicated.  LOL)

I have a feeling this Thanksgiving I will have a ton of material to post about regarding my experience.  I don’t think Bill and I have ever made a real turkey by ourselves.  That is why its nice to know that Butterball has a Turkey Talk-Line.  You can call 1-800-BUTTERBALL  and talk to their meal preparation experts (writing that phone number down myself), or you can visit Butterball.com for Web chats with a few bloggers – Chris Jordan (Notes from the Trenches), Susan Wagner (Friday Playdate), and Roxanna (Miguelina) on November 11, 18 and 25 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. CST.  They will answer all your turkey related questions. Now, if any of you have any advice for me, I’ll gladly take it.  We just won’t tell anyone. 

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Butterball.

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I have been slowly but surely catching up this week.  I am finally able to read in my paper about the flooding that occurred while I was gone to Izeafest.  It is pretty scary.  My own backyard had water deep enough that it went to almost my knees.  All I can say is that I am so glad we paid a waterproofing company to come in and fix my basement.  I know our old sump pump never would have been able to keep up either.  For three days straight, we listened to it go off every 30 seconds.  However, a lot of people were not as lucky as us.  I know in Chicago, Evergreen Park, and several other suburbs they have had to look into a water restoration company. These companies come in help you with the water cleanup and mold removal.  I know too well how stressful it can be when you watching your basement fill with water (two years ago we had it happen here).  I know we were watching here this last weekend.  We would have lost a lot if my basement leaked and that what companies like that are here for.

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Do you know what your Bills IQ is?

That is my score.  Bill and I have worked on our credit and debt ratios, so I know that is why we scored so well.  I had to laugh — the areas that we need to work on we already know.  We really need to start college funds for the kids.  Even though we know, we should do that, we just haven’t yet (which reminds me that we should call the bank).  We also need to keep more money in our savings for emergencies.  Those are our two biggest things we need to work on.

This quiz is something we should all take. It definitely gets you thinking about your financial situation and what you should be doing to make your financial situation better.  I even wrote a haiku (well, I think that it is a haiku) for you all to help remind you to check your Bills IQ:

Learn to save money

And be happy and wiser

At bills IQ’s site!

If you know you are financially secure, I think everyone is happier — you, your kids, and your spouse.  There always isn’t an underlying tension, because you are worried about how you are going to pay the next bill.  The best thing we ever did was pay off all of our credit cards and never carry a balance again.  It has allowed us to only carry debt with our cars and our mortgage.  That is it!  We still argue, but at least its not about money!

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This video angers me. If you know somebody with autism, it will anger you too!

I cannot believe that he equates loudmouth kids to those who have autism. My cousin is a special education teacher too. They don’t give the answers to anybody. Obviously, he has never dealt with children with disabilities before be it a learning disorder or autism. Heaven forbid, they need an extra hand. I guess if you’re not normal according to what the textbooks say, society should just throw you away or you’re destined for only getting an education online so no one has to deal with you.

I understand that the prevalence of these disorders are going up. Could it be that we have better intervention techniques now so that we can catch these kids early and get them the help they need?

Let me know your thoughts on this!

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