Comment

Comment by Mary, Proud Mom of Nick on August 26, 2009 at 9:49am

Put my sailor on a plane this morning...waaaaaaaaaaaa

Comment by CrackerjackMom on August 23, 2009 at 7:18pm

Glad he has made it Hawaii, it is always good to get that call.

Comment by Gloria P. on August 23, 2009 at 6:48pm

Well he made it safe and sound it sure was great to get that call. He arrived about half hour early. Said he took pictures from the plane. His barracks are not bad. He did sound tired. Thanks everyone for the support.

Comment by Gloria P. on August 22, 2009 at 11:47am

He's on his way. Hard to let go couldn't stop crying. His dad held up pretty good. Miss him so much already. I'll feel better once he lands in Hawaii.

Comment by Gloria P. on August 21, 2009 at 9:47pm

My baby boy is packing his things and getting ready for his flight tommorow morning. It hasn't hit me yet but I know once he passes those gates I'm not sure how I'll feel. We are surpose to get rain so I hope his flight is not delayed. Once he lands I'll feel much better. Boy I'm going to miss him so much.

Comment by Mary, Proud Mom of Nick on August 20, 2009 at 8:50pm

Rene - how difficult for your friend's family and friends.

Bea...wow, 9.25%! When we left there I believe Contra Costa was at 7% - twenty years later our county is only six percent and they give us a $10,000 homestead exemption. Well...they used to! We just lost that exemption due to so many people being out of work now and the taxes not coming in like they used to. And I recently hired one of those out of work contractors from the tile and floor store, nice family man and he did some beautiful tile work for me at such a great price...I almost felt guilty or was mad that I didn't do it years ago!

Comment by BunkerQB on August 20, 2009 at 6:14pm

CA sales tax is now 8.25% in general, more like 9.25% in Santa Clara or Marin County. Property taxes are 1% of the purchase price. Proposition 13 passed in 1998 rolling some of the property taxes back to the 1978 level with a limit of 2% increase per year; otherwise, a lot seniors would be taxed out of their homes. But we are inundated with fundraisers left and right. You can't even have a nice relaxing game of golf without somebody approaching you and say "My daughter's school is doing this..", "My favorite charity is doing that ..." and the mailers and phone calls. Like all property values, mine have gone down in the last couple of years but my property taxes have gone UP. THE Assessor for Santa Clara County belongs to our club. He has the audacity to smile while he is playing. I have this huge urge to bury his golf ball whenever I see him on the course. My husband will not allow me to play in the same foursome with this man. The economy has been really depressing. We had to remodel a little house in Palo Alto earlier this year, people at Home Depot would follow me around offering to push my cart, get my stuff, get my free quotes. I felt so bad that so many really decent and hardworking people were out of work. Our younger son (he just left for Univ of OK) spent a transitional year in Los Angeles. I wanted him to be thrifty, so I told him we were out of money. The very next Saturday, he went to Home Depot and held up a sign - "Hard working student. Speaks English. Has SUV for hauling." He got hired in half an hour by a contractor picking up some kitchen cabinets and was paid $40 for 2 hours of work. The next Saturday he returned to the same Home Depot and 25 to 30 out of work contractors showed up with similar signs. Of course, he was elbowed out of any potential work. It was so funny and we were so sorry for him, that we had to confessed that we'll be OK.

Comment by Mary, Proud Mom of Nick on August 20, 2009 at 3:46pm

Bea...our last years with the Navy, we were stationed with Mare Island not far from SF and we loved it but even back in the early 90s, traffic was horrific, taxes were hitting 6 and 7% depending on the county that you shopped in and real estate was almost untouchable. We decided that we did not want to work all of our lives to pay for a house that is 10 times the price that it should be so we moved to the south and love it...okay we do miss the wineries but that it about all~!

Comment by BunkerQB on August 20, 2009 at 1:45pm

Mary,
Laments from CA. We were paying $4 a gallon for gas, we are still paying gazillion for housing and we just have crappy roads to show for it. Furthermore, we can't balance the budget and our schools from kindergarten to universities have all gone down the tube.
My younger son just left for Univ of OK. Even with out-of-state tuition, the cost of sending him there is just marginally more expensive than UCs. He think we should sell everything and move to OK where you can buy a real nice house for $350K. I would do if we can change the weather pattern. Hubby would say, "Go ahead. I'll wait right here for you."

Comment by Mary, Proud Mom of Nick on August 20, 2009 at 12:46pm

Georganna, I'm a Navy wife of the 80s and you are right on about the communications of today. How much nicer it is for the families now but I'm sure there are days that if feels like forever since they have heard from their loved ones.

Cassie...I'm paying $4 for a gallon of milk in Atlanta and have NO palm trees to show for it!

Kirsten, glad that Lee made it safely. Did he report directly to his ship or take a day or two first? It appears our son plan is to go directly to his ship next week. He has 12.5 hours of flight time and I suggested that he takes at least a day before checking in but his sponsor from the ship is picking him up so he feels like he will just go check in. Hope they don't put him right in cranking duty!

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 25
• 26
• 27
• 28
• 29
• …
• 36
• Next ›
• Page