Boy, I've been thinking about this stuff recently myself. I just turned 50 this yr, and my husband will be 52 in January. We don't really make much money, but it's enough to get by with and still afford the multitudes of roses that I don't really need, plus his tinkering around with cars and stuff. I work in retail, so don't earn alot, but I get such a great discount that it's worth staying, plus the hours are easy. I'm just not feeling that well physically any more. The floors at work are concrete and I have all sorts of foot, back and hip pains, plus increasingly worse varicose veins. But at my age, what am I going to find that pays more than minimum wage? My poor husband is uneducated, altho not totally illiterate, and has dyslexia (which contributed to his lack of education). He managed to handle 10 yrs in the Navy, but was "let go" back at the end of the 80's when they started cutting back on the military and weeded out those who were not the "cream of the crop." We had the two boys and came home to be close to family. He had a hard time getting a decent job. But he ended up becoming a garbage man. Not the best job in the world, that's for sure, but it pays decently and we have medical, dental, optical, 401k. He's been doing that for going on 18 yrs now, and is sooo sick of it, he actually makes himself ill nearly every morning before leaving for work. He hates the job so much he coughs himself to the point of often throwing up. I lie in bed hearing him and want to cry. I feel horrible that he hates it so much. I just want to find a way to let him be able to quit. But we have a mortgage and a few bills too many for either of us to be able to quit working for at least 10-15 yrs. I know he's not going to be able to do this that many more yrs. He's in a deep depression. He comes home and does nothing but lie on the couch and watch tv and sleep. He even quit drinking beer because he feels so lousy. I recently made a decision tho. I told him if he can stick it out about 6 more yrs, I think he will be able to quit. His parents both died in the last 4-5 yrs, and his 4 sisters and he decided to sell the family home next summer. The house is practically a tear-down, but it's on a beautiful canyon-view lot, that's worth more than the house. So I figure once they sell the property, we'll get a decent chunk. Then, my dad passed away in Feb at 93, and my mom just turned 89. She's in somewhat ill health, and I know she won't be around forever. I know it's awful to think about losing her, but we all know it's an inevitability. If she doesn't end up with some catastophic illness that wipes out their money, I will stand to inherit a pretty good amount. Then, we can pay off the house. If this happens within the next couple of yrs, I told him if he can handle working about 4-5 yrs beyond that, we'll save up his income and then he can quit early and we can live on what we've saved up until he's eligible to collect his 401k and then SS. So, that's our tentative plan. But things change. As for winning the lottery... you can't win if you don't play. I keep telling our younger son, who has OCD, to try and come up with the winning numbers so we can all live happily ever after. He just laffs.

wow. sniff. You know Bill, I lost my mother about nine years ago now, and it was the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I remember when she was lying in the hospital bed, undergoing chemo that was a total waste of time, but we had to try, and family and friends always filled that room. They were laughing, and joking, and singing, and reminiscing. And I was PISSED. I was FURIOUS. How can these people be so happy when my mother is laying there dying!! I hated them. My own mother was having a wonderful time, and I couldn't understand because all I wanted to do was throw myself on her chest and just bawl my head off (jeez, I'm bawling as I write this). I just didn't get it. I even didn't speak to my mother's sister for a long time because she made some joke, at my mother's expense, that my mother found very funny, but I didn't. Anyway, fast forward to a few years later, and DUH, I got it. Luckily for me, I never DID throw myself on my mother and bawl (until after she was gone and before they took her away). I never let anyone know how angry I was, except my then fiance, who understood. He tried to make me understand of course, but I just couldn't. I was too wrapped up in ME and my pain. But I see it now. And it warms my heart to know that my mother's last days were made so happy and carefree, and just darnright SILLY. That she laughed so hard she cried with that stupid IV in her. That she didn't let the fact that she knew she was dying ruin her last three months (as I let it ruin mine). It's wonderful that some people recognize this before it's too late and do celebrate the life before it's gone. I learned this lesson the hard way. I'm so happy you were able to enjoy your mother's last days. I hope others will listen to this message, it is a beautiful one. Death is just a part of life, we need to get past our selfish reaction to it (justified and understandable though it may be) and remember the person who's dying and celebrate the time we had with them, before they're gone. Ivette

well, to fix it all would be $450--which is what the stupid thing cost new. So we're not spending the $180 to fix the decorative handle (It apparently has the electronics fused into it; you can't just buy a pretty plastic case). I wish I could have spoken to someone to find out what the projected fix would be; I'd have said "screw it" and bought a new dishwasher. Honestly, w/ the stuff that's gone wrong on this DW, I could have bought a new one all over again. And of course, if we want to put our place on the market, the cracked handle is going to be really obvious and we'll probably want to go buy a really cheap DW and put it in just so nobody decides "oh, their kitchen looks worn, we need to redo it." Honestly, I'm so discouraged. It feels like every single component we put in this kitchen 4 years ago is dinged up. (Certainly every SINGLE appiance is!) Why did I spend $30k? Oh, so my kitchen would look OK for resale--not that I wanted to get a lot of money, but that I didn't want someone to say, "oh, don't buy that place, you have to redo the kitchen!" And of course, part of these are things I could have fixed for cheaper if I'd only moved faster.

This level of tackiness makes me cringe. If they can't afford more paid ground workers, they might try putting out a call for volunteers, or apprentices who would work for less pay and the experience, or even for the joy of it. There may be apartment dwellers nearby who would like to get their hands in the dirt. High schoolers. A program developed for middle schoolers who are at loose ends after school. A local corrections center program. Residents of a retirement complex. Almost anyone can pull weeds. It sounds like they're spending way too much time hand watering. The initial cost for a drip irrigation system with a timer would be a good investment. It might even be donated if the need is made known. A more creative and resourceful head grounds keeper might be the solution.