Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers,it will be thurs night before I know anything,I have to stop food and water at 7:00 pm wed.night and have her at the vet at 7:30 thurs morn,I will let you all know when I know.Please keep the positive thoughts and prayers going for Tootie. Hugs to you all,and Thank you. Bonnie

Hi toile! In what state do you live? $60 has not been the going rate since the late 60's! I don't know how to post the various links but just type "eteinne" in the search box at the bottom of the page. There are 2 on which I have posted. 1 is "How much do you pay for house cleaning?" and the second is "How do you tell an existing client you want to raise the rate?" Read them and I think U won't have a moments hesitation about the increase in your price. If you do a good job they will pay! I have just re-read those posts and there is 1 family I have been working 4, 20 years. I thought that it was 17 years. That's a long time for a cleaning person. The 1 son just turned 21 so this just dawned on me. He was just born when I started there. None of these kids have ever known another cleaning person with the exception of my self. I just told the kids that if anyone was cleaning at this place things would have to change. The 2 boys leave all of the $ around all over the place. There was $4,000, in Mike's bedroom! On the floor, on the dresser, in the garbage, etc. I counted it all out and placed rubber bands around the various bills and put them into a "Zip Lock" bag. Mike has yet to go to the bank! I just don't get this at all?! Steve

Sounds good to me, Stef. I hope you know how to post pictures...if not, you have nine weeks to learn. :-) Susan

I think you may just need to lighten up about some things. I am not married and have dated the same man for 12 years. Given you are a strong christian, I assume you may question my decision. I get questions all the time why I am not married. I don't get offended. I know that too many marriage means the world to them or how things should happen. If someone gets too pushy I change the subject, make a joke, or walk away. For people calling you a dog mom, well in a way you are their mom. I don't mind when people call me the mom to my pets, but I don't call myself a cat or dog mom. However, I would kind of agree that you should only get cards from people you know and they should guage when a card is needed. However, is it just the person does that for everyone they know and may feel guilty if they don't do it for you? Either way, it is just easier to take the road that the other person won't understand you or your believes and to let it go. Why argue about something so silly like being a doggy mommy? Also, if this is the same person offending you again and again, have you told them you are getting offended? That you really do want a relationship (friendship, etc.) with them, but this topic just needs to be dropped? For your comment about not giving up a kid like you would a dog. Either way it is a hard choice for most people, likely an unbearable one when it comes to a child. However, a person should give up a child as well if they cannot meet the childs needs. It is a horrible decision for anyone to make, but it sometimes is the right choice. I know many families that have adopted beautiful children whose biological parents were unable to take care of them and they have much better live because of the hard choice their biological parent(s) made. For the Santa issue. I hope you understand that many are not religious, but may respect your values none the less. I am not a very religious person, but I am very respectful of others and those who are strong believers. Therefore, to handle Santa without being offensive to non-religious people, just say that you feel Christmas is a religious only holiday and you do not celebrate Santa. Leave it at that much information, no need to go further. The response you put down, I think many who celebrate Santa would find it offensive and not everyone is completely political correct. Most people do not mean to offend you and if you state you only celebrate chrismas as a religious only holidy without santa, many will feel embarassed they asked you that question without you or them saying anything else. You may also need to teach your kids how to deal with Santa unless you plan to home school. There are some resources online available for that as I know since I found a number of links for one of my friends. Same with if you decide to not trick or treat and celebrate halloween. I have different friends who are very religious who choose not to celebrate halloween. I really do appreciate the ones who say we choose not to celebrate for religious reasons and leave it at that. Short and sweet. Others go into a long explanation as to why halloween is bad or evil. The problem in providing a long explanation is that it almost always makes something into a debate that should not be debated. I cannot argue with someone who says that for religious reasons they choose not to celebrate. Simple. Done.