All those in the US...

[OverRated]

... here is a lovely new thread. With an uninspired but easy to find title. And an old list.

Please update as needed.

1. Mamama - Chicago, DS 2
2. Twirl - MD - married, DD 3 and DS 1
3. Califrau - Milpitas, CA - married, ds1 (7), ds2 (4). sahm
4. Greatgooglymoogly - NY State - married, DS1 (3), DS2 (17 mths)
5. Alipiggie - Erie, CO - 2 DS's aged 5 and 4
6. Tinpot - North Carolina
7. dooneygirl - Oregon City, OR A married SAHM. DS 4 , DD 2
8. Earlybird - TN, DD (6)
9. SofiaAmes - LA
10. LATyke - Redondo Beach, CA
11. NannyK - Boston, MA
12. Marls001 - Bentonville, AR
13. Hellish - Ottawa, Canada
14. Sunchowder - Florida - DD Girlscout age poss 14ish, SDS um late teens.
15. SittingBull - near San Francisco, CA - married,two children, 1 DS 3 years, 1 DD 18 months
16. ChiTownLady - Chicago
17. MKG - New Jersey -ds1 22 months,ds2 3 weeks
18. Yesthereare4ofthem - NY State
19. Albert, Brazil - married to Brasilian, DS(7)
20. Texan Dallas, TX, married to a Scot, DD (7), DS (5)
21. Tiggyhop - Houston. DS (4) DS (3) and DD (20 months)
22. Bananapudding - Texas. married, DD 6
23. jabberwocky - TN married, ds1 3.10, ds2 6 months
24. Brooklynmom - NYC. DD, 14 months old...
25. Vixie78 - Houston Texas
26. TwinMommyToBe - Boston
27. Barefeete - British Virgin Islands
28. Dodgykeeper - Dayton, Ohio 29)Syd - Manhattan Beach, LA
29. Weewilliewinkie ? VA
30. Chocchipcooke - Ohio
31. Mummimamma - PA. Married, DS, soon to be 5, DD 1 (15 months)
32. Shouldalistenedtomymum - Canada - Hamilton, Toronto,
33. Anorak - Bermuda, DD 15 and DS 7

East Coast
NannyK - Boston
Twinmommytobe - Boston
Greatgooglymoogly - NY State
Yesthereare4ofthem - NY State
Brooklynmom - NYC
MKG - New Jersey
Mummimamma - PA
Twirl - MD

The South
Earlybird - Soon to be in TN
jabberwocky - TN
Sunchowder - Florida
Marls001 - Bentonville, AR
Tinpot ? NC

Midwest
Mamama ? Chicago
ChiTownLady - Chicago
Dodgykeeper - Dayton, OH
Chocchipcookie - Ohio

Rockies & Southwest
Alipiggie - Erie, CO

Northwest
dooneygirl - Oregon City, OR

California
SittingBull - nr San Francisco
Califrau ? Milpitas
Syd - Manhattan Beach, LA
SofiaAmes - LA
LATyke - Redondo Beach

Texas
Texan - Dallas
Tiggyhop ? Houston
Vixie78 - Houston
BananaPudding

Canada
Hellish ? Ottawa
Shouldlistenedtomymum - Hamilton

BVI Barefeete Bermuda Anorak Brazil
Albert, Brazil

Sunshine State! Checking in for 2 seconds!

Yes my daarling! All is well, just running two businesses at the same time so have tried to swear off Mumnet. But I think of you all the time--it is hard to stay away. Drop an email and tell me your news. XO, sunny Still wear your apron!

I'll put my 2 cents in on the Fed rate cut. It sucks eggs all over the place for us. We're in a house that we've been in for slightly over a year, and are moving anywhere between 1-3 years, so it doesn't really help us with our mortgage, since at this point refinancing would cost more than what the monthly payment would save. Our retirement funds and kids' college funds are all thousands less than where they were last year, and news on stocks have been so bad, that we haven't looked at all at our portfolio for a week to see where they are now.

I am really mad at the mortgage industry, because I think it should have been a given that if you're loaning larger amounts of money to people than they can afford (to people from all levels of the economic spectrum) that it is pretty obvious there's going to be a downfall somewhere in the future, but everyone just chose to stick their head in the sand. It is frustrating, because we've always taken way less than what we qualified for, because we don't want to be stressed about having to make a payment that would be a stretch to make.

I guess the one good thing about the whole mess is DH is in more of a mood to spend money and has done a nice job of updating both of our wardrobes, because he figures he might as wells spend it than lose it.

Dooneygirl I agree - bad, greedy mortgage advisors wanting commission and not caring a damn about their clients is at the root of this. We went to a so-called good advisor three years ago - she tried to sell us a fixed rate for two years then onto an adjustable rate. With the rates so low then there was no way that was good advice.

We went elsewhere and locked into a 30 year at 6%, thank God. I have been thinking about refinancing but wondered about the fees - how bad are they?

I wouldn't check your stocks! They will bounce back. It is a good time to buy though?

Depends on what you read. DH has been looking at Forbes and something else, and it seems like they think things will get worse before they get better. I personally think the same thing, but I am no expert, that is for sure. I just like to read financial news.

We're going to have a pretty good chunk(nowhere anything close to an oh-my-god chunk, though) to do something with (MIL died last year, and we completed the 2 college funds but had some left over, and we get lots back on taxes, and DH will get his bonus, which is a significant percentage of his total earnings) and we're going to put it into a short-term CD, and then put it toward our house when we move. Our situation is kind of unique, because we know due to DH's job we will for sure be moving in the next few years, and we've sometimes lived off only 1/2 his income, and have taken a lot less than what we are approved for a mortgage, and since the kids will be older, we want a bigger, nicer house than what we have now (DH gets a raise with his new job, too) and we want to make sure we put enough down on the house to not have to pay mortgage insurance on it.

I'm impressed with your interest rate, that's for sure. Most people from other countries we know that buy houses are hovering somewhere near the double-digit percent interest. Our last house we bought for $136K in 2003 and when we sold, we sold to an engineer making much better money than DH, but that was all they could afford due to their interest rate. (They were expats from India who had been in the States for a few years.)

I think it helped that my DH is American with good credit.

I am sure stocks will be volatile this year but in terms of retirement I'm not worried.

I am very anti-snacking but that didn't stop me buying unethical shares in McD's - they're not going out of business in Ohio that's for sure.

Aaah, didn't realize he was American. Explains everything. See what happens when I assume?

DH isn't worried about retirement, it just kinda hurts that we've been living much more frugally than the average person, I think, and we finally get in a really good position and then this happens. I think he's put more into the emerging markets part of our portfolio, and that hasn't done so badly. The only thing that gets me is we've got a lot of stock tied up in his company, which is great because we get it at such a discount, and some for free, but even though they are really stable, I hate having so much in one place, seeing what happened to Enron and all.

DH says he should buy stock in Mattel or Macy's. He believes our family supports them well enough their stock should be doing great.

I have it easy with my 2 and snacking. They think everything baked in papers inside a muffin tin is a cupcake, and don't seem to notice that the ones they get in the middle of the day have lots of carrots and zucchini in them.

Argh, this University of Phoenix advery is driving me nuts.

The mortgage stuff sounds worrying. I am so glad mine in the UK is sorted out for now and that I don't have one to worry about over here.

Is anyone else scared about how cold it is getting? They're predicting minus 20c on Saturday

I like sneaky baking

And MacD's aren't all bad really. I volunteer for our local Ronald MacDonald House. The charity's headquarters are here so we know the 'real' Ronald MacDonald - the one in all the adds. He creeps me out a bit. DS says I work at Donald's House .

It snowed on and off here for most of the day. Of course, it didn't stick after about noon, and the snow actually melted the frost off of the grass and other plants. That's my cold story for the day here. It never gets much more interesting than that.

Oh, yes, and I would like to send a shout out to DH, who, since I woke up last night with a terrible cold, has taken care of dinner (I made about 80% of it, but he got home later than usual), dishes, and the kids since he's been home.

(You may now all return to normal MN programming)

Cold medicine is fun.

It's quite chilly here but I don't think we're going to get any snow.

I'm quite interested in the Fed right now as we are putting our house on the market next month and I really don't want it to a)sit empty or b) sell for a lot less than it should. We have spent 6 years restoring it and it's a lovely old thing

What a nice little hobbit you have

What a good memory YOU have.

Good luck selling the house. Hope you're feeling better today, too.

lol @ remembering the hobbit

occasionally a few brain cells kick in for a brief shining moment!

Feeling much better, thanks. How about you?

Thanks for the advice on snacks. I had a trial run at dd dancing class. I decided to combine American love of coloured food with my need to feed my children real food. I made carrot muffins and put green food colouring in them and pink cream cheese topping. They looked a bit scary but all the kids loved them. I feel my favourite muffin recipie has been soiled but they ate carrots and raisins and never complained about the bottles of water that came with them. I still dont see why people cant just feed their own children. That way they can give them what they think is right and when they need fed.
Lol at the comment about Shrek cat eyes! My own are quite good at that one.

DK, the current 'Parents' magazine has a good article on how to behave in 'Mommyland' and the 'manners' column talks about kindergarten valentines cards.

I agree about the feeding thing btw. I have to do snacks for DS's tennis - twenty teens! He takes ahuge cooler with biscuits and crsips.

I think it's the American 'team' thing. There's a lot of pressure I find at High School to support the team, people get really, really into it. Here they slag of the referees non-stop, yellnig at them, it's awful.

Wow. Being a team mom is serious business, isn't it?

Mum

I've been over here too long.