Stuck in the Seatbelt

Well, things are looking up here again...although if I had the chance this morning I would have one less daycare child! Monster's Mom's tax appointment is tomorrow and this morning I gave her the year end statement for last year...bear in mind that the December of the year before she came to me and asked me if I would work with her on payments. I agreed and thought it would be a short time kind of thing, but ohhh SIX MONTHS LATER at the end of MAY I FINALLY got paid in full! At it's highest at the beginning of April the woman owed me $346.78! Well, she flips through the pages and she finds the total for the year....$3,144.51. A week or two after telling me how thanful she was for not having to take Monster to the daycare center that she works at because it is too expensive this woman looks at me and looks at Monster and says Monster, Mommy pays WAAAYYY TOO MUCH FOR YOU!!!!! I wanted to tell her that she could take her to the center from now on and then tell me how she paid WAAAAYYYY too much when she gets her year end statement next year, but I bit my tongue. I have been told that my rates are too cheap and that I need to raise them...one of the leaders of the playgroup we go to gave me the number of the homedaycare advocate, I guess that's what you would call her, so I can find out the general average for hourly rates here in town and will most likely be raising my rates soon....it just hasn't been done yet as I changed my hours so that I was done at 5pm instead of just sitting here waiting for Monster's Mom to come and pick her up whenever she was ready to....I thought that one big policy change at a time should be made so I didn't shock the parents too much. What are my rates you ask? $1.75 an hour for the first child and $1.00 an hour for the second. This includes lunch and snack as well as the occasional breakfast and runs to school in the morning, after school in the afternoon, playgroup on Tuesdays, and a regular playday on Thursday with some friends. Last year on my taxes...I broke even exactly. Has me thinking this is ALOT of work to break even......
Anyway. End of rant there. Hate to do it, but it's my blog and I can cry if I wanna!
The first knitting night went well on Monday. K2 couldn't make it so it was just J and I, but we had a good visit. I really hadn't talked much with her since she left for Texas three months ago! Last night piano went well, I am actually looking forward to practicing when I get done posting here. It helps having a good teacher!
A group of 24 of us(12 married couples) went to see a comedian at a right to life fundraiser on Friday night and then out to eat at the Maccaroni Grill afterwards. It was GREAT!! The comedian was Paul Aldrich, he was hilarious!!!! We bought one of his cds there and he autographed it and when we got home we ordered the rest of his cds online. We hope to buy the dvds soon too, but the cds were first as we could listen to them on the go and it made more sense since we aren't home alot to watch the dvds. One of my favorite bits was the nursery rhymes set to different famous bands's songs....oh and there was the dyslexic love song....soooo funny!
Well, time for the girls to color and craft away....have a great day!