Deployment Freebies

We went this morning (Gunner had a 4 day weekend--I am loving them being off on Tuesday now instead of Friday!) to get Junior's daycare arranged at the center. While there I showed his deployment orders and they told me about all the free things we get starting now.

Junior gets a 20% discount on his full time daycare bill and this will carry over to the girls too when they need to go to the summer camp because I have class all summer. That saves me about $600 this summer! WOOHOO!

Each of the kids gets 16 free hours of daycare a month. They have Friday and Saturday getaways. This also applies for the girls for after school care, so I can use it when Abs starts her biofeedback and I was stressing about what to do with Em during that time.

Each child gets to play 2 sports a year for free. (It cost us $66+ to register the girls for soccer.)

They also get 4 free Skies Unlimited classes (up to 8 weeks long) for free.

Re-enrolling the kids will be free, so that's a $40 savings.

10 free hours of daycare per child during R&R.

There are also several emergency provisions in place, which I will hopefully never have to move and I do have my mom as a backup as well.

The lady who got me setup with all this stuff was great, but when I asked who was footing the bill for this, she said eventually it will come back to bite us. I'm sure it will as that is a huge source of revenue that is now being depleted. Apparently it is not the same at every installation, but since Fort Hood is the largest they are able to do this. I can't imagine that I will be using everything as I like to hang out with my children, but it is nice to know the options are there in case an emergency arises.

Daycare III

The daycare dilemna is over. Finally.

I called the FCC office this morning...again. They told me that someone just came in and was going through her USDA training and lived in my neighborhood, was brand new and had an infant slot and would take Junior. The FCC provider would call me as soon as she got home. I was relieved.

It can't be that easy can it? Nope. She came home and called me to tell me that she got home and there was a voicemail that said someone wanted that spot and so if they didn't follow through she would call me back and let me know. I wouldn't want that spot if she couldn't keep her word. So I called the FCC office again to tell them the girl flaked and I needed more choices. They gave me a few more, I left a few messages and heard nothing all day.

I called back to central registration and they told me about the CD homes. So I called one and she said I had to get a referral from the waiting list lady. So I called the WL lady for about the 20th time this week. Left a message. She never calls back as usual. So I called back and explained the situation. She agreed that it was absolutely ridiculous so she found Junior a spot at the center. So he starts on Wednesday and I feel relieved.

We still have paperwork to do on Tuesday as well as the orientation.

I won't post on my daycare woes anymore, I promise. I'm sure I'll have new issues next week, lol.

And darn spellcheck still isn't working so no idea how many mistakes are in here.

Daycare Part II

So the FCC provider just called me to tell me that her infant slots were full and she can't take Junior. Apparently she thought she could have two in addition to her one, but she can only have two total. Now I am back to square one.

I swanee. About ready to say screw it all and drop them off with my Mom every day. LOL Just kidding mom!

Some People

There is a for sale list here in Killeen and some of the things people want or are looking for just never cease to amaze me. Here's a posting from today:

I need a baby sitter for a 3 yr old from 7 am - 4:30 pm. every day of
the week. diapers and wipes provided. and some one to pick up a 6 yr
old from school. the clarks one in com 2. At 3:15 and keep him till
4:30. I am only able to pay $200 a month. Please Let me KNow.

So for 9.5 hours a day, five days a week and then 1.5 hours a day 5 days a week for the older child you want to pay $200 a month? Can't imagine that anyone that does daycare and provides rates like those is going to be very reliable. Not to mention why not go through the daycare on post or through a FCC provider or something. How do you know what you are getting? Random advertising on a for sale list is how you are going to find someone to leave your precious children with?

It's beyond me. At least this person can spell better than a lot of then. I hate to read "I have the following items for selled".