A Paone Thing

At 6:45 a.m. This is going to be exciting! Pray it goes well with the little guys.

Wow, we’re getting up there in age. I love having a sister who’s only a year younger than I. Gives me company for any “age” misery. Nyahah. I hope you have a great new year. Jude’s waking up, so I have to cut this short, but I love you and am treating you to a cyber “margarita” right now. Thanks for coming out here this year and sharing our 2009 Yosemite experience with us. It was really special. We miss you guys. Have a fun birthday though and a wonderful new year ahead.

Love you

A happy late father’s day to mine and Justin’s dad, Jeff and Ken. Sorry, guys! Just ask Jude. I worked on a whole posts yesterday and hit the post button as we ran out the door to Dona Lupe’s winery for a pizza. Okay, so Jude’s not talking yet, but if he could…

Ah, well, happy fathers day to you both. We wish we could show you our appreciation in person for all the years of faithful hard work raising your little angels. We love you, guys and pray you had a good day and that our siblings who live closer to home treated you to a breakfast in bed and other father’s day goodies.

And, Justin, thanks for being such a wonderful dad to our little ones. They aren’t real bloggers yet, so on their behalf, I want to send you their father’s day wishes. Aren’t you having fun being a dad?  I probably should enlighten  you that they MAY have you wrapped around their little fingers. Ah, they’re only little once. We’re going to miss this, you know. Here’s to another wonderful year of parenthood! We love you.

I have had a hard time getting back on the blogging band wagon since coming back from vacation. I think it’s due to 1) dreaming of water falls a little too much, 2) playing catch up with all my work and starting to go back into work part time and 3) I sort of forgot my computer at my grandparents and just got it back Wednesday. Phew. Close call.

Those things combined have made it difficult, but I do have a post coming about our adventures, lessons learned, fun events and… of course, a gazillion photos (due to there being not one, but 4 photo maniacs). Heh.

We had fun though and had not too many incidents. I will post in the new few days though. Tonight, I have to corral two wild little munchkins into bed and get one wild larger MUNCHKIN to help me with the corraling.

I know I’m sneaking this under the wire, but hey, I just got back today from my trek to Yosemite and Grandma and Grandpas.  I hope you have a wonderful new year and I will write you once I retrieve my computer (which I forgot at Grandma and Grandpas) Oh, well… I love you and was missing you looking at all those old pictures. Come visit us? Love you and have a blast for your special day (or I should say, I hope you HAD a blast for your special day seeing as it’s near midnight).

After a nice long bath this morning, Violet takes a look at her wrinkled hands and freaks. I try to reassure her that it’s normal and will go away soon. But she bursts into tears with “I’m not a princess anymore. I have wrinkled hands! Princesses don’t have wrinkled hands. I can’t be be a princess anymore” We felt like cracking up laughing, but it was so sad how heart broken she was. Thankfully, she found that a little lotion will at least make your hands smell nice. Heh.

We’ve started making monthly trips to take materials, aid, food, etc. to the Kumeyaay indigenous Indians in Baja California. I found this poster as I was browsing their site and it made me chuckle. I had no idea that Geronimo is part of that tribe, but I hear its a very large tribe that spans parts of the US and Mexico. Justin’s a great-great grandson of Geronimo’s, by the way.  — Notice the resemblance?  I’m also thinking maybe that where Jude get his strong willed/determined side and this blood curdling yelp he lets out every 5 minutes

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I feel like a little kid again. I kept waking up all night thinking… is it time to get up yet?

We’re ready to pull out. We’re packed, loaded… well, a few last little things, but we’re ready for Yosemite! I TOTALLY did NOT over pack, Justin! Please pray Jude is a little angel on the trip…nyahaha.  Violet is just as excited as I am. All day yesterday, whenever someone would comment on her impending departure, she would start jumping up and down, squealing. Then, they’d comment on her other little friends also going and she’d start the jumping and squealing all over again. Of course, one of her friends thought he’d try and get a rise out of her by telling her over and over again that she WASN’T going to Yosemite. This tactic usually results in her bursting into tears, but this time she just smiled and said, “I AM going. I have my camping chair!” I don’t know where that logic comes in, but I was proud of her.

All that to say, asta la vista, baby! Yosemite, here we come!

A friend of mine recently asked if I knew of any solutions for his 50+ year old brother’s student loan. I did some googling as I figured for sure there must be some sort of statute of limitations (time limit for a debt to be collectible). There is a statute of limitations on most other forms of debt, bankruptcy, etc. Even the IRS has a 10 year statute of limitations for collecting back taxes where if they haven’t gotten you to pay your debt within those 10 years, you’re off the hook, free and clear. What I found about student loans is disturbing and I wanted to let all my college age friends and family know what I found in case you’re considering going for one of those  “easy to get” student loans to pay for college.

Basically, federal student loan debt is one that you cannot get out of unless you can prove your situation has no possible way of improving, you are disabilitated, etc. Apparently, there was a big uproar back in the early 90’s. The hype (or maybe it wasn’t hype) was that students were taking out billions of dollars in student loans, getting them discharged and then going on to make big bucks without any thought to repayment. So… President Bush and Congress kindly stepped in and changed the law making it virtually impossible for anyone to discharge federal student loans. They even went so far as to make it retroactive back to 1965.

Studentlawslave.org explains it in more detail, but basically, stay away from federal student loans unless you are sure you’ll be able to pay them off right away or will make enough when you get out of school to pay them off asap. Non-federal loans or private student loans have a 5-10 year Statute of Limitations, but you’ll want to check what kind of loan it is.

An article in MSN Money entitled 3 ways to Avoid the Student Loan Trap talks about a divorcee in her 40s who ran up a 50K debt while in college. She now owes over $100K due to interest. The collection agencies worked out a payment plan where they pull a quarter of her paycheck every month until she’s 75 years old to repay the loan. She was wishing she’d just put in on her credit card which would have allowed her to declare bankruptcy if she became unable to repay the debt as at least that would only follow her for 7-10 years.

I was relating this to a relative recently and they told me their story. They now wonder what they were thinking taking out a student loan which has now gone up to $150,000 (including interest) to get a job that pays $45K a year. Their payments go till they’re 105 years old and their paycheck gets docked 20% each month to pay for the debt.

Here are 3 steps/tips on this topic of student loans.  (courtesy of Liz Pulliam Weston with MSN Money)

If you’re thinking of borrowing money for school, or already have, keep in mind the following:

• Don’t take on too much debt. Most students would be smart to limit their total borrowing to no more than two-thirds of the annual salary they expect to make in their first year after college. If you’re at or near that limit and haven’t finished your schooling, consider transferring to a cheaper college or taking a year off to work and pay down your loans.

• Lock in low rates now. Student-loan rates will jump significantly July 1, and Congress is considering abolishing fixed-rate consolidation loans in the future.

• Talk to your lenders if there’s a chance you may default. As you’ve just read, ignoring student loans won’t make them go away, and your options for dealing with the debt may wither the longer you fail to pay.

I know no one goes into these things thinking they may not be able to pay, but especially in today’s economic climate,  it’s at least nice to know what you’re signing away and not have it hit you by surprise when you do hit hardship sometime down the road. Those student loans are easy to get, but you may end up a slave to them for the rest of your life if you’re not careful.

I’m so excited! Mike and Amy (no, they don’t have a blog yet,) had their baby yesterday, May 15th. Little Conner William Vitali is finally here. I hear he’s another little chunker being a week late and all. Congrats, Mike and Amy and little Conner. We’re waiting for pictures (and plan to come by and be yet more pesky visitors wanting to see the first born son). We love you!