***Lion Cub Mommies-Back In Action!***

[cleckner04]

This is the site I keep watching because it does constant updates and has a countdown. Funnily enough, it's a UK site.

https://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/08/government-shutdown-2011-live-updates

 

[Shiv]

That's CRAZY, people won't get paid because the government can't come to a decision! I take it that it is people from opposing parties arguing? Seriously it is just mental!

Good old Guardian though, my friend works for them!

 

[cleckner04]

I'm not sure if it's opposing parties or not. I think the senate is made up of mostly Republicans right now. I'm really dumb about politics though. I don't really understand it all. I get that they have to write out a budget before being able to pay us but I don't get why all of a sudden this is happening. It happened back in 1995 too apparently but the pay was just shut down for 5 days. So hopefully it won't be shut down long for us if it does shut down.

That's awesome you know someone who works for the Guardian place. It was just a random link I saw because it has the countdown going.

 

[Shiv]

The Guardian is a newspaper here, probably the most reputable one.

You would think that the government know they have to set a budget so they might think about it before the day it is due! it's like a school kid leaving their homework to the last minute!

 

[cleckner04]

Well I've known about this possibility for over a month now so I guess they've just been fighting a long time about it and have gotten to their deadline. I think they extended the deadline twice too.

 

[Mary Jo]

eeeek, Cleck that sounds like an awful situation. I think if it was over here, people would be going on strike! I hope they figure something out asap, it's insane. they must realise there are going to be people who can't pay their bills.

 

[cleckner04]

I know I really hope companies take this into consideration when military families are missing payments for things. It's the first time I've been happy DH totaled my car before he left because I don't have a car payment to worry about now. And I had been saving for a new car so I have that savings to fall back on if necessary.

And I wish the military could go on strike! But DH is stuck floating in the ocean somewhere so not much he can do.

 

[jelr]

Aww Cleck I'm so sorry I wasn't on to give you a big hug the other day. I'm sorry you were feeling so crap and I really hope you do feel better now.

I think I know how you feel though as I do feel a little like that at the moment myself - it does feel like everyone I know or see is pregnant and every time I hear of somebody else or see somebody else I end up in tears - girls for the rest of you please dont take that the wrong way because half of those tears are of joy for all of you because i know how much it means to you and how good that feeling is but also I have tears because I'm not pregnant and I dont want any of you feeling that you can't talk about these things now or not saying stuff because Its my problem what upsets me and nobody elses and I love hearing about everyones journey - one of my bf is also pregnant at the moment and phones me when she is not sure of something and I love giving her advice if I can so I don't want you all picking that up wrong.

Emotions are a horrible thing cleck and AF sure is a bitch and doesn't help and I honestly think things are always more noticable when it is something you really want. as you all know we weren't planning ttc until August and I'm sure half of my fb was pregnant then and there were millions of pregnant women around but It didn't bother me where as now that is all I see if pregnancy and even this week it seems to be on the tv everywere - I dont know if any of you watch greys anatomy but I cried for hours after watching it this week as one of the main characters had an accident and was pregnant and the baby had to be delivered at 23 weeks and the way I cried you would swear it was my baby lol

I really hope that you get pregnant as soon as Corey comes back - and you know my 3 pregnancies were all after losing weight so with all you have lost I bet you are super fertile.

Sorry I forgot that terms are different in different countries - I'm not sure if some of the terms are the same so I will explain but you may already know some of it.

Basically over here if you are working and your employer lets you go you are either sacked - which means you are not doing your job right or have done something wrong or you are made redundant and if this is the case it is if there is no work or company is in trouble - if you are there over 2 years you are entitled to redundancy pay and it is 2 weeks pay per year of service and a bonus week so DH is in his job 10.5 years so he should get 22 weeks pay. Also if you leave a job or your employer makes you redundant you must either give notice or they must give you notice and if this notice is not given to you, the employer must pay it - again it depends how long you are there - With DH he should get 6 weeks pay for his time. His boss has basically said that he is making him redundant but wont sign the forms and wants all his staff to sign an RP9 which is when you request redundancy if you have been on layoff like DH has for the last 5 weeks but if DH does this he is signing away his 6 weeks notice as he is requesting the redundancy - where as he is not and would go back to work if there was a job there but his boss says there is not. So basically his boss has made millions from his workers over the last few years and has either spent it or has it hidden away as he is saying that he can't afford to pay even the redundancy to any of them and has passed it to the state to pay (which they will if a company is in trouble and is why our country is in trouble) He still gets to live in his million euro house but the state has to fork out for the redundancy for all of his employees. So if DH doesn't sign this form and give away his notice he doesn't get the actual redundancy form signed so as such like you said Cleck he is being forced to quit.

We have gotten advice and because we know there is no work for DH - we have sent his boss a letter and another form called an RP77 which basically tells his boss that as he has said there will be no job - his boss should be filling in the reduncancy form without DH signing away his notice and he has 14 days to do this or dh will be bringing him to an employment rights tribunal (court) for both the redundancy and the notice. We didn't think that we would be able to do this as it will hold up all the payments as the court thing will probably take about a year and we thought DH would have to stay out of work for this long and it wouldn't have been worth it but he can actually go ahead and work somewhere else - so we are going to go ahead and fight him - I know it might sound petty as he will be getting 22 weeks pay but he is entitled to another 6 weeks which is worth €4000 and is a lot of money and it will have to be our back up as you all know Ireland is broke and is going to europe and the international bank for a bail out and nobody's job is safe and I am paid by the goverment and as dh will be in a totally new job (if he even gets one) that has no guarantee if may have to be the money we have to live on and wont last too long if either of us end up out of work perminantly as our mortgage and food alone is €400 a week that is without the internet, tv licence, heating, electricity, refuse collection, phones, car insurance and petrol and really it is the principal of the thing - DH and me have fought so much over the years about how much he has given the company - he worked from 7 in the morning until 6 every evening and sometimes weekend with no extra pay - he was even forced to go back early after Natasha was born and has only ever been out 2 sick days so he deserves to get what is owed.

Anyway ha ha that was meant to be an explanation and turned into a long winded rant lol

Spidey: I think you are right to take the relaxed approach too - when I conceived on the baby before Natasha and eventually on Natasha it was when I was meant to start clomid ( I was actually waiting on AF to start but she never came) and I'm convinced it was party because in my head I was thinking it will happen next month with the tablets and stopped being stressed about it and last time there was definitely no stress as it was just a happy (now sad I know but happy at the time) accident.

Shiv: I also always thought that you ovulated in the middle lol - I swear you girls have taught me so much - my idea of ttc was having sex every couple of days instead of twice a week which usually landed on the weekend - I only ever used OPK's once and though I wasn't ovulating as I never got a positive and then was convinced when I got pregnant with the first baby that they were dodgy tests on the internet and now I realise there is a whole lot more to it as I only ever peed on them in the morning which now I know you shouldnt - I also never knew anything about lutual phase or B6 or even half the tests you girls in the UK and US get as we dont get half of them here. I know I'm not super intelligent or anything but I dont think I'm thick but here is so much I didn't know about al this suff until I came on here and I know most people I know dont either - a lot of things I mention people are like what are you taking about (for instance my friend was worried as she hasn't felt movement by 20 weeks and I siad her placenta was probably anterior and she nor any one else in the room had a clue what I was talking about - the only reason I knew myself was partly from here and when I was pregnant I bought loads of books and read everything I could)

MJ: How are you feeling - Has it sunk in yet?

Cleck: by the way that is really shit about the military pay - I can remember seeing you had something about that on fb ages ago - how the hell can the goverment take that long to argue this stuff out and that it has to come to this - People in power so annoy me at the moment. Your DH and all those other soldiers are defending their countries and you and all the other families have a lot to content with with your partners being away and this is how you get repaid - that is so so wrong.

AFM: AF arrived yesterday so as you can see from my post I'm full of rant and hormones lol - but am glad too as I presume that the day of the D&C would be cd1 so that means my cycle was exactly 28 days which I have never had a 28 day cycle in my life except when on the pill and I also have had major pressure pains since Natasha was born and was putting it down to them cutting me and I didn't have them this time so maybe the d&c sorted out something that was wrong and hopefully now that I'm back on low carb my cycles will stay right until we ttc.

Anyway I think I have said enough - DH just asked what the hell are you typing your fingers havent' stopped lol so I know this post is massive - my mind and hormones are on overdrive tonight and I have just has a glass of wine which probably has made me waffle all the more lol

 

[spidey]

The whole thing really sucks and it's awful to not get paid. So many people have no choice but to live paycheck to paycheck. I work for the federal gov't, but I get paid thru a 3rd party (as a contractor) and I have no idea what to expect Tuesday when I return to work. I heard that my contract company already got paid thru July, so I'm supposed to report to work. But I also heard that the building will be shut down! Most of the employees are federal employees so it'll be empty. They're shutting down work email too so I just had to give them my personal email so they can tell me what to do. It's pretty crazy and who knows if I'll be allowed to work next week or if I'll get paid. Even if they approve a budget this weekend, I already wasted 2 weeks worth of work because I had to put experiments on hold and I wasn't able to set up anything new this week. A federal employee needs to approve my timesheet and if no federal employees are legally allowed to work then my pay might go on hold for awhile. Blah!

So basically it's a bunch of anti-abortion politicians who want to stop abortions and to do so, they want to stop federal funding to planned parenthood. The normal way to ban abortions would be to change the laws, but they don't have enough support to do so. There is also some funding for the environment they want to block too, but I'm not certain the details on that.

Clecker- I am super duper impressed!!! That's an amazing amount of weight to lose in just 1 week. That website sounds awesome and I love how you need to eat more calories.

Jelr- We have an American version of one born every minute here and I've been watching it and sobbing the entire time. Thankfully DH is never around because he would think I was nuts! I hope your DH's boss stops being so silly and signs the papers necessary for your DH to get his fair benefits. Argh!! Congrats on the 28 day cycle though! Are you going to NTNP this month, or wait until August?

Nothing new with me. One of my nips is sore still, but the other feels fine. In a few days my nips will tell me if I'm pregnant

 

[Shiv]

Oh Spidey I hope you get paid, as a fellow scientist I understand justhow frustrating it is to waste weeks of work on experiments - grrrrrrrr, and all because of anti-abortion politicians! Are they idiots, if they just stop funding but don't change the law, people will stillhave abortions, you will just get crazy unquallified people doing it on the cheap endangering lives - IDIOTS!!!

Did they make their minds up yet?

Jelr - Jim's boss is also an IDIOT (my running theme for the day!), surely if he can't afford to pay the redundancy would the government not have to pay the notice as well? So surely it wouldn't cost him anymore anyway?

Cleck (or as I shall now refer to you Foxy Cleck ) I am still in awe of your weightloss, in a year or so's time I will be asking for the website youa er using!

As for us, well we have been doign some work in the front garden this morning as an estate agent is coming round to take pictures of the house on Monday. To be honest it still looks crap

When Sophia wakes up from her nap, we are going on a picnic to "celebrate" my birthday which is on Tuesday. DH has packed 2 bottles of champagne for everyone to drink which I can't so am not best pleased! "celebrating events when you are pregnant sucks, I am only going on this picnic because David kept nagging me Still it is sunny and as long as Sophia has a nice time that is what matters!

Oh yeah Cleck, I tried to get the old Lion cubs thread back and going again, and felt sure that you would have some input tomake, so am highly dissapointed to not have seen you in there

 

[spidey]

Yes Cleckner- get over to the Lion cubs thread!

Last night the politicians came to an agreement, so thats good. The silly thing about the planned parenthood funding, is that planned parenthood does so many good things for lower income families such as provide birth control and yearly exams. They actually work to prevent pregnancies. They use private donations to fund abortions since they aren't allowed to use federal money for that anyway. So the politicians think that by cutting federal money, planned parenthood will be so broke that they'll have to stop abortions too. These politicians have no idea what it's like to be poor and not afford health care, food or clothing. It pisses me off so much that I shouldn't even be talking about it.

Have fun on your picnic Shiv! I think a sip of champaign should be okay!

 

[Pippin]

I'm here lurking hope you are all ok. Haven't posted for a week or so, where is this time going sorry for being crap.

BIG hugs to you all.

 

[cleckner04]

I know I'm sexy ladies. And my vagina is only slightly large with my size 2 diva cup. <---Most random post ever.

I did see the post in lion cubs but I don't think posts in groups count anymore towards post count so I didn't respond. LMAO!!!!!! We do need to get it going again. We don't even really need this group here anymore because all the ones that had issues are pregnant again.

 

[Shiv]

I can't believe you are only here for the post count

 

[cleckner04]

No. I'm really here for spidey's nipples.

 

[spidey]

I'm only here because it makes me feel better about my super sized vagina! Knowing Shiv will need a size 3 before me

My nipples are telling me that I'm not pregnant. They are sooo smart so I believe them. DH is taking off work Wednesday just so I can have a shopping extravaganza He'll let Kira destroy the store as I buy shorts, tops, a dress (because I do not own one!) a bathing suit... and whatever else my heart desires! I might even buy shoes since I am seriously lacking in shoes. I am so not a woman when it comes to shoes because I own 4 pair total

 

[cleckner04]

All of my shoes are flip flops so don't feel too bad spidey. I have a flip flop in nearly every color of the rainbow. Where are you gonna shop at? Sounds fun! I've been having some fun walking stores with Emma recently. It so nice not having a husband there bitching about me taking so long.

I am very nearly finally fitting in my non-maternity pants! I put on a pair of capris and it buttons but is a tight button IYKWIM. But when I was first losing weight I tried to put those pants on and they weren't even close to buttoning. I can't believe I waited this long to try to lose the baby weight. With the c-section I could barely walk normally for the first few months though and than I just settled into a pattern of not caring. I'm so glad I'm making up for it!

 

[spidey]

I need to get a pair of flip flops! I was thinking of Kohls since I have a 30% off my whole purchase plus they do that $10 off every $50 spent deal. The dressing rooms are nice and they aren't nazi's about how many items you bring in with you. I have my own shopping style and I don't want rules to get in my way!

That is super cool how you almost fit in your pre-pregnancy pants. A shopping spree is in order for you too! For the next baby you'll know to get in shape faster so you can feel good about yourself. Maybe you'll have a VBAC and won't have any long lasting pain keeping you from being motivated. But then you'll really need a size 3 diva cup

I just ordered my Diva cup- I told DH and he was super grossed out by the whole thing

 

[cleckner04]

I have been holding off on telling DH about the diva cup. I have a feeling he'll be grossed out too. It sounds like a gross concept but now that I'm actually using it, it's really less gross than tampons. I'm wearing it right now.

You know I've actually went back and forth about trying for a VBAC because part of me wants my vagina to stay exactly the way it is.

I love Kohls! I just went last week actually and ended up buying Emma her first pair of Nikes. I bought them a size too big because they were $30 and I want her to be able to wear them for a long time at that price. I'll just put extra thick socks on her until she grows into them more.

I hate dressing room rules at some places. Only being able to try on 3 items at a time. That's ridiculous. I usually have arms loaded with stuff so I can get it over with in one go.

 

[Shiv]

I only come on here because you girls make me feel so good about my baggy vagina

I hate changing room rules, if am on a shopping spree then i willhave items that go together so I want them all in with me so I can check that this top goes with that skirt and those pants (I used the americanism just for you two! It would be tough if I tried to match every item of clothing to my knickers , what do you call knickers by the way?)

We took Sophia to the beach this morning and she HATES sand! I am not a fan either but I thought she would lik eit, she did last year!