Learnings in frustration

Yet another wonderful post by Nate allowing us all to meander down the dismal path that has become my education/career.
For those who need a recap...
I spent the greater part of the 2000's in that wonderful prison I like to call school. I love learning, I just deplore school, but I digress.... anyway... Here is why I attended school.
I have been running a trucking business that keeps our family alive. I hate the trucking business. Dont get me wrong, its nice to set your hours, be your own boss, blah blah blah.... here is the other side. When you own your own business you are last to get paid, and in trucking that always means underpaid. Trucks run 24/7 which means you are never ever not at work. 1 am calls telling you a truck has broke down are always a special treat.
Continuing, trucking doesnt attract the most intelligent of folks either, and my contracts are with the post office, which seems to be some modern day ambrosia for morons, dingbats, screwups, suckups, and every other detestable scum that never learned to use their brain so they went to the ole government to secure their future at wages they dont deserve for labor they dont provide. I grew tired of this daily rigmarole and wanted to have a better life for me an my family. So, in 2001 decided to try and get my business degree.
In 2007 I finally achieved my goal. I graduated with a degree in business management from the University of Phoenix (the only school I could attend with my schedule), severely in debt from student loans but believing I had finally secured my future......WRONG!!!!!!
Turns out a business degree is worthless without some sort of specialization. How do I know this you might say? Years of interviews with company big wigs who were kind enough, and at the same time complete a@#holes, told me my degree was worthless without more education. What to do, what to do?
Computers my mind said, you love networking (from a brief spell with an IT company that my bro in law was kind enough to arrange...long story), why not get some certifications in something you enjoy, get entry level work somewhere, and earn your way up with your degree and certifications together. Sounds awesome on paper, eh? NOPE!!
I spent another 8 months, and a considerable amount of cash, getting Network+ and CCNA certified. Here is the gist of a conversation I had today with Adecco, a temp placement firm known internationally. This person will now be referred to as dingbat, or db for short.
Me: Im looking to try and find job placement. I have a business degree and a few computer certifications that I have recently earned.
DB: Do you have any experience with either?
Me: Yes I have a trucking company which I have operated since I was 18, and I have a little experience with Novell, a major computer company.
DB: Well, since you dont have any experience we cant help you. Recent certifications are really worthless. Companies want employees with experience, so come back when you get some.
Me: Do you not see the catch 22 here? You want experience, and certifications, but are unwilling to let anyone with certifications try to gain experience. How are you supposed to get "years" of experience.....?
Dingbat didnt have an answer, he just shuffled me off with some remark about leaving my resume with their hr team.
So, a summary is in order I think.
Bachelors degree cost $30,000...yup UOP is a financial blackhole from which there is no return
2 computer Certifications cost $5000
Total value to the rest of the world $0
Having to still drive a mind numbing truck for the rest of your life....priceless

I really hate this world and am going to grab a Dr Pepper and a lawn chair and watch the fireworks with elations of ecstasy and tears of joy in my eyes when it finally goes down in flames.
Have a nice day

scared to absolute death!!

ok, so i don't know if you can see just how scary these roads are by this picture, but i, who have barely ever driven on a curvy road in my life, was scared to death!! i drove my kids to school like any normal day, then found out that the family wanted me to pull them out, and have them join us for the day of fun and adventure. so i rushed home to put on tennis shoes and pack lunch, and went to the school to grab the kids (where they had been for an hour). they were so excited, and when colby heard that we had to get off on the idaho exit, he thought we were taking a plane to idaho. it was very cute. but no, just driving. i didn't realize what my lovely father in law had in store for me. he told me there would be some windy roads and maybe it would be a turn off of a dirt road for a while. a few weeks ago, we took a camping trip, where we detoured for a few miles of off roading on a dirt road. this is what i envisioned. I WAS WAY OFF!!! basically, i was on the freeway a little past where i know it, then off into lala land for a long time, then the paving drops off, and it is dirt road for what seems like hours. the dirt road i don't mind so much. it is the winding switchbacks up and down mountains and the teeny road hugging the side of the cliff. there were times when a car was coming the opposite direction, and you have to pull over to let them pass!! that is just plain scary!! after an eternity of driving, and perspiring through inches of my shirt, we made it the roosevelt lake dam. we got out, and john reminisced about the mail route, and where he used to drive. when i saw him, i slapped his arm back and forth for what he put me through!! sandy knew my fear though, and gave him a good talking to during the drive, which made me feel better. i complained a lot, but it was a gorgeous drive. i just felt very unprepared, and more than a little ticked at john for not telling me what i was in for!!




here is a picture of the kids standing in front of the ancient cliff dwelling. isn't it cool? i hiked up there, was too winded to stand in the picture! i am way pathetic, i know!! thank goodness the drive home was much faster and on a paved road, much less scary!!

before easter skirts

thursday my friend marie and i decided it would be a way cheaper and more fun idea to sew our own skirts for our girls this year, and make them match!! we love the cute matching dresses some kids get to wear, but being so many sizes apart, it is hard to find them for rebekah and rachel. i jumped all over this idea. friday i met her at the fabric store, where she immediately found what she was looking for. i took a little more time, but eventually found something i liked too. we started working on our projects after school, and after a few hours, she was done with one skirt, and i was done with my sister's curtains. (did i mention that my sister asked me to do curtains for her condo at the same time?) then i got to start on my skirts. so at the end of the night, she was done with both of her girls main sewing, and i had one thing done. ruffling is NO FUN!!! saturday morning things went much more smoothly, and when marie came over with her finished skirts, she could show me what to do next, and i finished a skirt too! the next one was much easier, and soon we were both done. my sister liked the curtains i had made so much, she ended up going and picking out fabric for another window, and coming over to join in the sewing party! she hasn't sewn in many years, so marie taught her patiently how to pin and sew and she did the whole thing herself. marie made her skirt our of 3 panels of the same material as the girls, but i wanted something more adventurous. i cut out a pattern and tried to put together a skirt that sandy, nathan's mom, gave me the pattern for. it was much more advanced that anything i have ever attempted, and was way over my head. thankfully, right at the point when i was ready to throw in the towel, she came through the door. she said i had been on her mind all day, and she came to see if i needed help. she finished the skirt for me, much faster and easier than i could have dreamed of!! it looks wonderful, and i couldn't thank her enough!! so we went to church today all matching, in our easter skirts that we can't wear next week because of general conference.

what do you think of these?

here is the finished product!! you can probably scroll through older posts and see us sitting around the old ugly kitchen table. well, i got sick of it, but didn't know what to do. my good friend marie suggested i sand down and paint the table, which took longer than i thought it would to dry! we were out of a table, and sitting on the floor for a few days. we worked it out though, and now we have this masterpiece to use!! it isn't quite perfect, but for a first project, i am quite proud of myself! what do you think?

the pinewood derby

colby's neon orange car

so anyone that knows our family, knows that rebekah has long gorgeous curly hair. so what happened? apparently as you get older, and your hair starts out curly, it gets straighter. at least this is the case with my darling daughter. so, instead of sporting the straggly, almost curly, but not quite, look; i cut it off, and now it is smooth and straight!! who would have thought? and it naturally flips out in the cutest little hairdo. i love it. and she does too. and here's the real kicker.....NATHAN does too!! i thought he would hate it, and hate me for having the nerve to do it (i did it while he was asleep!!), but he came up to me, and exclaimed how gorgeous she looked, and why did we wait so long to do this? i was shocked and speechless!! and proud!! i did this, and nathan liked it! wow!! not to toot my own horn, but wow!!!

then there's rachel, who is just as mischevious and adorable as ever!!

here's the whole crew, all snug like a bug in a rug!! i love them all laying in our bed like this! :)

renting fun

rebekah at rachel at the walmart playroom. with caleb in the background.

ok, this post is backwards. the pictures are at the top. sorry. we went to the snow over civil rights day, and had a blast with friends. we were the only family with actual snow clothes, so everyone else was freezing. we didn't stay too long, but had a good day anyway. it was nice to be out of the heat for a day!! the boys loved sledding though. they would have stayed out there all day!!

christmas eve jammies. they were so dang cute this year!!

so i was not informed on all the joys of renting before i decided to do this. there are crappy appliances, flooring, and cabinets. you don't get to choose the kind of stuff you want, or if it matches your own stuff. but i have learned that there are some up sides to renting as well. there is a landlord that you can call with your honey do list!! when something breaks, instead of adding it to the million things your hubby has to do, you call a number, and a guy comes to look at it! for free! since we have moved in, we have had 2 ceiling fans go out and get replaced, the water softener under the sink spewing water, so that was taken out. we had the back fence blow over and break in a storm, the dishwasher not work, and the stove knobs were crappy. last night the garage door died. when the landlord came over to look at it, he found the the motor had gone out completely. so just in the last few weeks, he has fixed the fence and stove, had the dishwasher cleaned, and now the garage door. all i can say is......I DON"T HAVE TO PAY FOR IT!!!!!!! that is the upside i have found to renting. on to pictures

Was I wrong to respond?

Hey all its Nate. As you know we recently lost our home and were forced to move. Towards the end we payed a company a lot of money to assist us with the lender in renegotiating our loan. This loan mod company promised us a 50% reduction in our payment and a loan remodification to current value. Naturally we signed the papers and they took our limited cash and ran. We constantly called to find out what was going on...nothing was usually the response. We eventually received a modification that would have RAISED our payments, naturally we declined, and this angered our rep to no end. In the end, this same rep came to our home, told us his company had done all they could for us, yelled at my wife when she reminded him of his promises (I wasnt there or he wouldnt have a face anymore), then pulled out the papers which we signed which ended up having none of the guarantees he had promised us. He basically took our money and ran. Today I received this email.

---

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:20:00 -0800
Subject: Choice Loan Consulting Info
From: freedomteamjason@gmail.com

I am contacting you about your loan modification with Choice Loan Consulting. Here is what is going on. Please respond and let me know what you want to do. If you would like to be contacted by phone please email the best phone number and times to call and I will contact you as soon as possible.


Choice was doing a great job, up until 6 months ago. They were doing their banking with M&I Bank, and M&I was also doing their credit card processing. Choice’s volume went up from 100 deals a month to 1,000 deals a month within a 3-4 month period. M&I got scared of the possibility of future charge backs, so they seized $700,000 from Choice’s savings account, and told them they would release the funds 6 months after the loan modifications were completed.Choice was not able to make payroll and almost all of the sales offices immediately quit turning in new files. Freedom Team Financial was the largest sales organization for Choice, and since they had hundreds of clients in the middle of their modifications, they chose to try to work together with Choice to try to save the company. But for the last 6 months, customer service has been horrible, and since Choice had 2,300 homes in the middle of the modification process, they just couldn’t afford enough staff to keep up. For the last 6 weeks, I and the rest of the negotiating staff have worked without pay to make sure no one lost their home. Finally, last week, Choice shut their doors and is filing for bankruptcy. Freedom Team Financial pulled all of our own files, to modify them for free. They also purchased all of Choice’s data and intellectual properties, and hired me and 10 other top processors and negotiators from Choice to try to clean up this mess. So, at this point, we are trying to help as many Choice clients as we can.

Remind me of these things if you could:

What was the latest status on your modification?
How much is your home worth?
How much do you owe?
Credit card debt?
Lender?
Interest rate?
Monthly payment?
Gross monthly income?

If you don’t want to keep your home there is a short sale option:
Many of our clients that have had their homes decrease in value as much as yours have had Freedom Team Financial negotiate a short sale agreement with their lender in order to get out from under so much debt. Most experts believe that home prices will continue to fall over the next 2 years or so because the foreclosure rate is still increasing. The advantage of short selling is that you avoid having a foreclosure on your credit. A foreclosure can make it impossible to buy a new home for anywhere from 4 to 7 years or more. If you short sale, FTF will negotiate with your lender and they will agree to sell your home for less than what you owe and with the new FHA guidelines you could have perfect credit again in 2 years or less. Would you like to get more information on this option?

OR

Freedom Team Financial is doing the negotiations on their own files for free but they also want to help as many of Choice’s other clients as well so they will be putting on an educational forum that covers the “frequently asked questions “ about loan modifications to try to help people finish their negotiations on their own. Most clients have had a lot of problems with attempting this on their own so FTF is taking on Choice clients for just $500 to finish the negotiation process. They are only taking files on that they are confident that they can finish so if you are interested in that, I will have to dig into your file and call your lender to find out the status and have our underwriting team look it over to decide if the will take it or not. Is that something that you are interested in?

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to call me...

-Jason Schumacher
-650.291.1106


Here is my response
Jason
Well this explains the ineptitude. We lost our home and were forced to move. The promises made to us by your company were fantastic and your negligence on our behalf criminal. Your rep, hiding behind legal jargon at the end, was ridiculously lost and completely incompetent, yelling at my wife and reducing her to tears because he could not keep his promises. We lost our dream house, we put our souls into that home and tried everything we could to keep it. I have no home for you to try and salvage, but if I did, what in the world would make me want to try anything with what is left of your shambled company? Your excuses below do not make up for the misery your company brought into our lives. Unless you plan on giving us our money back for all the "nothing" you did for us please dont send me emails like this again.
Nathan Gresko

Too nice? Too mean? What do you think? Should I have responded at all? I thought I was ready to move on..getting this email REALLY upset me. Opinions ya'll opinions.

way behind

ok, so i was appalled to realize that i haven't posted for over a month!! wow. i guess i've been busy!! well, here are the kids ready for church the week before christmas. the girls are wearing beautiful hand me downs.

then here is my oldest sister kirsten, who came down to visit for a few days in november.

here is my oldest niece, morgan with the twins on her lap. beautiful girl!!

rebekah pushing all the others. there is rachel, caleb, colby and james. the only ones missing here are james and tat's kids. the others are too old to ride this!!



rebekah pushing rachel in a swing at the park

and here is our picture with santa. surprise surpise, caleb didn't want to. anyone else not too shocked?? :)

then we have the 3 triplets, abby and sammy, and rachel, born 3 months later.



and tattie snuggling with abby on the couch

rachel loves smiling for the camera. say cheese sammy!!

and last but not least, andrew and caleb being silly in matching pjs. boys will definitely be boys!!

we had a wonderful christmas few weeks. nathan's brother, and his family came down on saturday before christmas. the only problem is that i woke up that morning with a really bad case of vertigo. it made the next few days pretty rotten for me. fortunately, the kids had cousins to play with and occupy them. they were lifesavers! then the other brother, and both sisters and their families made it down too, making a hectic and fun filled few days! my younger sister came down too, so we got to juggle both families. it was very fun!! now we are alone again, and the quiet is unusual. here's to having lots of visitors again soon!! our house may be small, but we still love having people crammed in it with us!!