I get asked a lot about how much iPhone services are for us - and usually I can't answer. I don't get a paper bill, and I almost never look at my bill online. But I was perusing my bill for the first time in ages, and I decided to put it out there for the curious. Keep in mind, we got our iPhones when the phones were expensive and the AT&T charges were cheaper than they are now. Now the phones are cheap, and AT&T has gone up on their monthly charges.
my phone + phone services $60
data plan for my phone (I think it includes only 200 texts) $20
Cass's phone added on $10
Cass's data plan + 1500 texts $30
So the total for 2 old iPhones is $120 per month. Add on the taxes and fees, and it's closer to $130 a month. And of course, last month it was $147 because *someone* added on a charge for Horoscope Alerts. I just got off the phone getting that taken off. FYI, charges like that can be added without any sort of password or confirmation. You have to call AT&T and get them to add the block feature, which will require a PIN to make such ridiculous purchases.
Best I can tell, when I have to renew my contract in December and pay the new prices, here's what it will be (family plan prices).
2 lines phone + phone services (700 minutes w/ rollover) $70
my data plan (no texts included) $30
Cass's phone added $10
Cass's data plan $30
200 texts $5 or 1500 texts $15
Our bill will be from $145-155 per month, plus taxes and fees - for 2 iPhones on the Family Talk plan. That will give us 700 minutes per month (w/rollover), unlimited data usage, and 200 or 1500 text to share per month. Each additional line (kids) will be $10 per month, plus $30 per month for data, and whatever text charge we pick. But we're not looking to add lines any time soon!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Braces break
We went to see a new orthodontist after we got moved. He decided that Cameron's got 4 premolars that aren't ready to come out, and they probably won't come out for at least a year or more - so he suggested that we take off her brackets and let her have a break for a while.
Today was the day. She had molds done last week for making the retainer, and today she got the rest of the stuff on her top teeth off. She's supposed to wear a retainer after school/at night until those 4 premolars are gone. She's still got a lingual arch on the bottom teeth to hold the space down there.
Before
During
After
Today was the day. She had molds done last week for making the retainer, and today she got the rest of the stuff on her top teeth off. She's supposed to wear a retainer after school/at night until those 4 premolars are gone. She's still got a lingual arch on the bottom teeth to hold the space down there.
Before
During
AfterThursday, October 8, 2009
Kid update
I've had to go to the school for parent-teacher conferences recently, so I thought I'd update. I get so wrapped up in the day-to-day stress with the kids, that I forget to step back and see what terrific kids they really are.
Luke is having the BEST year! He loves his teacher, and she loves him. He's in the highest level reading group in his class and comes home with a sticker for good behavior every day. That's right, every single day since school started. I took him to the pediatrician for a checkup yesterday, and he got a chicken pox shot and flu mist vaccination. He didn't even flinch for the shot (and I took him for a chocolate milkshake afterwards!). He's on the small side - 3rd percentile for both weight and height. But he's been consistently on the small side, so it's nothing to worry about. He eats well, sleeps well, and behaves well. Last year was very hard on us, so I'm very pleased at how things are going now.
I met with Logan's teachers today, and they couldn't say enough good stuff about her. They say that she's eager, always raises her hand first, loves to contribute - and that they'd never have known that she was new to the school, she fits in so well. She's got a friend Michelle who lives on our circle. They're not in the same class, but they see each other at lunch and recess.
Cameron is doing well in middle school, I guess. She doesn't say much about it other than everything's OK. Her grades are good - all As so far. She's taking Intro to Theater as her elective. She's also in Advanced Math and Advanced Language Arts.
We're in a townhouse rental until the end of next summer. If our house in TX has sold, we will be able to look at buying a house. If not, I don't know what we'll do. The kids are likely to be reassigned to different schools next year anyway. From what I can gather, NC is bad about reassigning every 2 years or so as it is. But they had a school board election this week that may change the direction of the way they do things. Right now, they go by a diversity policy that involves busing kids from all over to balance out the percentage of kids receiving free&reduced (F&R) lunch - so you don't necessarily go to the closest school. With the new school board, they are likely to change over to the neighborhood school system (which is what they had in TX). It's far more complicated than it should be - but I'm pretty sure that the kids will be reassigned even if we stay in the same place. That might open us up to look in a wider area if we are house hunting by then.
Luke is having the BEST year! He loves his teacher, and she loves him. He's in the highest level reading group in his class and comes home with a sticker for good behavior every day. That's right, every single day since school started. I took him to the pediatrician for a checkup yesterday, and he got a chicken pox shot and flu mist vaccination. He didn't even flinch for the shot (and I took him for a chocolate milkshake afterwards!). He's on the small side - 3rd percentile for both weight and height. But he's been consistently on the small side, so it's nothing to worry about. He eats well, sleeps well, and behaves well. Last year was very hard on us, so I'm very pleased at how things are going now.
I met with Logan's teachers today, and they couldn't say enough good stuff about her. They say that she's eager, always raises her hand first, loves to contribute - and that they'd never have known that she was new to the school, she fits in so well. She's got a friend Michelle who lives on our circle. They're not in the same class, but they see each other at lunch and recess.
Cameron is doing well in middle school, I guess. She doesn't say much about it other than everything's OK. Her grades are good - all As so far. She's taking Intro to Theater as her elective. She's also in Advanced Math and Advanced Language Arts.
We're in a townhouse rental until the end of next summer. If our house in TX has sold, we will be able to look at buying a house. If not, I don't know what we'll do. The kids are likely to be reassigned to different schools next year anyway. From what I can gather, NC is bad about reassigning every 2 years or so as it is. But they had a school board election this week that may change the direction of the way they do things. Right now, they go by a diversity policy that involves busing kids from all over to balance out the percentage of kids receiving free&reduced (F&R) lunch - so you don't necessarily go to the closest school. With the new school board, they are likely to change over to the neighborhood school system (which is what they had in TX). It's far more complicated than it should be - but I'm pretty sure that the kids will be reassigned even if we stay in the same place. That might open us up to look in a wider area if we are house hunting by then.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Death by ear infection
So last year, Luke had this best friend named Elliott. They were quite a pair and had many school adventures together. Elliott was a big fan of Star Wars, so naturally Luke became a big fan of Star Wars. Not that he had to have much encouragement - we joke that Luke is named after Luke Skywalker.
Well, Elliott (to Luke) is the authority on everything. :) It's really cute - if Elliot said it, then it is so. So Elliott tells Luke that in the Star Wars saga.... Luke Skywalker died from an ear infection.
There is no convincing Luke otherwise. Elliott said it, it is so.
So today I'm taking Luke to the pediatrician. He's had a respiratory virus this week, and he's gotten an ear infection as a result. We're driving down the road, and I'm explaining to Luke how you get an ear infection and how the medicine will help get rid of it.
Luke says, "Good. I don't want to die like Luke Skywalker did."
.
Well, Elliott (to Luke) is the authority on everything. :) It's really cute - if Elliot said it, then it is so. So Elliott tells Luke that in the Star Wars saga.... Luke Skywalker died from an ear infection.
There is no convincing Luke otherwise. Elliott said it, it is so.
So today I'm taking Luke to the pediatrician. He's had a respiratory virus this week, and he's gotten an ear infection as a result. We're driving down the road, and I'm explaining to Luke how you get an ear infection and how the medicine will help get rid of it.
Luke says, "Good. I don't want to die like Luke Skywalker did."
.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Long time no post
I've gotten to where I don't post much. Not that I don't have anything to say - but most of it would be one big complaint. Nobody wants to read that, so I ascribe to 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.'
Here are some photos instead:
This was Luke's 7th birthday celebration. We had movers booked to be in our house on his actual birthday, so we celebrated a few days before. He is obsessed with Star Wars, so this is Mace Windu's lightsaber. It's purple - which is the best apparently.
First day of school here in North Carolina. We were actually still staying in the apartment that morning. We took Cameron to her school first (starts at 7:30am), then went to meet the moving truck at our townhouse. Luke and Logan's school starts at 9:00am.
Logan is obsessed with neon.
Cameron is getting her braces off next week. She's got a few baby teeth left to lose, and they're not coming out for a while - so the new ortho is going to give her a break. She gets a retainer to wear.
I think Luke has caught the H1N1 flu. No formal diagnosis, but he's got classic symptoms.
Here are some photos instead:
This was Luke's 7th birthday celebration. We had movers booked to be in our house on his actual birthday, so we celebrated a few days before. He is obsessed with Star Wars, so this is Mace Windu's lightsaber. It's purple - which is the best apparently.
First day of school here in North Carolina. We were actually still staying in the apartment that morning. We took Cameron to her school first (starts at 7:30am), then went to meet the moving truck at our townhouse. Luke and Logan's school starts at 9:00am.Logan is obsessed with neon.
Cameron is getting her braces off next week. She's got a few baby teeth left to lose, and they're not coming out for a while - so the new ortho is going to give her a break. She gets a retainer to wear.
I think Luke has caught the H1N1 flu. No formal diagnosis, but he's got classic symptoms.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
4750 ---> 2500
As in - square feet.
How do you fit the stuff from a 4750 sq. ft. house into a 2500 sq. ft. house? Very carefully, I have learned. It's not the furniture, it's the stuff.
While I've been unpacking, I've adopted the rule - if I haven't seen it in the past year, it goes in the trash. If you've ever moved, you know that you empty the wardrobe boxes first. They're easy to empty, then you're left with a big container to use for trash. Usually the trash is just the paper that they use to wrap all the stuff. BUT we have filled up over 20 wardrobe boxes with trash from our house.
Last week, I had to call for a special garbage pickup. the garbage men spent an hour and a half outside our house emptying each container and sorting for trash and recycling. This week, I'm guessing we'll have to call for special pickup again. We've got at least 10 boxes of trash this time. And I'm still not done.
We might be fully unpacked by Christmas.
How do you fit the stuff from a 4750 sq. ft. house into a 2500 sq. ft. house? Very carefully, I have learned. It's not the furniture, it's the stuff.
While I've been unpacking, I've adopted the rule - if I haven't seen it in the past year, it goes in the trash. If you've ever moved, you know that you empty the wardrobe boxes first. They're easy to empty, then you're left with a big container to use for trash. Usually the trash is just the paper that they use to wrap all the stuff. BUT we have filled up over 20 wardrobe boxes with trash from our house.
Last week, I had to call for a special garbage pickup. the garbage men spent an hour and a half outside our house emptying each container and sorting for trash and recycling. This week, I'm guessing we'll have to call for special pickup again. We've got at least 10 boxes of trash this time. And I'm still not done.
We might be fully unpacked by Christmas.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Dear Cafe du Monde,
My husband and I were recently in New Orleans for the SIGGRAPH computer conference held at the New Orleans Convention Center. During the early hours of August 7, we decided to end our night out with a stop at Cafe du Monde for coffee and beignets. Since we were out with several of my husband's friends and co-workers, we left at different times to meet up at the cafe at around 1am. First 2 members of the party arrived, then my husband and myself, then one more person in our party arrived. I hardly believe that it is unusual for additional parties to arrive when meeting up at the cafe.
The first 2 had already ordered when my husband and I arrived. The server brought out their order, and we placed ours. Since the server had gotten one of their coffees wrong, he gave it to my husband and went back to put in the rest of the order. In the mean time, the last person of our party arrived. The server brought out the rest of the order, which was incomplete as he forgot an order of beignets, and the third party placed his order. We had to place an additional order after that, because the server was irritated, quit listening to us, and didn't bring out the correct number of beignet orders.
When it came time to pay out, my husband paid for the entire table's food and coffee. The total came to $19 or so, and my husband tendered a $20 bill and a $1 bill. He told the server to keep the change (while intending to leave an additional tip on the table). The server yelled at him and threw the $1 bill down on the table, telling him he could keep his stinking tip. Then he gave us all a lecture about how rude we were for arriving and and ordering food at different times. Nobody had been rude to him, we were all just trying to order food and get him to serve it to us correctly.
My husband ordered an additional 3 iced coffees, and the server brought them out to him in a to-go bag, even though we hadn't asked for it to-go. When removing the coffees from the bag, one of them got spilled. That prompted another lecture from the server. He didn't try to rectify the fact that one of the coffees got spilled. He just told us that he took one off our bill - without asking if we'd like it replaced. We left him a nice tip of $20, even after the way he treated us.
We were not drunk, belligerent, or otherwise ugly to him. He was clearly irritated about something from the moment we arrived, and his behavior was terrible toward us. Our party included people from all over the world - England, Germany, Sweden. And they all got a taste of some pretty awful behavior by a server at Cafe du Monde. I'm sure it left quite a bad impression on them.
As for myself and my husband, we visit New Orleans quite a bit and Cafe du Monde is always on our list of places to visit. However after the last visit there, it will be a long time before I want to subject myself to that again.
Sincerely,
Cindy Everitt
The first 2 had already ordered when my husband and I arrived. The server brought out their order, and we placed ours. Since the server had gotten one of their coffees wrong, he gave it to my husband and went back to put in the rest of the order. In the mean time, the last person of our party arrived. The server brought out the rest of the order, which was incomplete as he forgot an order of beignets, and the third party placed his order. We had to place an additional order after that, because the server was irritated, quit listening to us, and didn't bring out the correct number of beignet orders.
When it came time to pay out, my husband paid for the entire table's food and coffee. The total came to $19 or so, and my husband tendered a $20 bill and a $1 bill. He told the server to keep the change (while intending to leave an additional tip on the table). The server yelled at him and threw the $1 bill down on the table, telling him he could keep his stinking tip. Then he gave us all a lecture about how rude we were for arriving and and ordering food at different times. Nobody had been rude to him, we were all just trying to order food and get him to serve it to us correctly.
My husband ordered an additional 3 iced coffees, and the server brought them out to him in a to-go bag, even though we hadn't asked for it to-go. When removing the coffees from the bag, one of them got spilled. That prompted another lecture from the server. He didn't try to rectify the fact that one of the coffees got spilled. He just told us that he took one off our bill - without asking if we'd like it replaced. We left him a nice tip of $20, even after the way he treated us.
We were not drunk, belligerent, or otherwise ugly to him. He was clearly irritated about something from the moment we arrived, and his behavior was terrible toward us. Our party included people from all over the world - England, Germany, Sweden. And they all got a taste of some pretty awful behavior by a server at Cafe du Monde. I'm sure it left quite a bad impression on them.
As for myself and my husband, we visit New Orleans quite a bit and Cafe du Monde is always on our list of places to visit. However after the last visit there, it will be a long time before I want to subject myself to that again.
Sincerely,
Cindy Everitt
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