I normally fuss to Minnie about my kids next door, but she is bound to be getting tired of me, and I feel the need to get this off my chest this morning and get it out of my system for a while.


Some of you know that my stepdaughter and her family live next door to us. They are both young, 30 yr olds, determined to milk the system. Son in law does have bad back problems, to the point that they have implanted a nerve stimulator to help with the pain, and his only surgical option is rods in his back. Daughter has "headaches", and doesn't seem to handle stress well. She was recently approved for SSD due to her headaches and PTSD. I have a hard time, I admit, with this. I work with several women who have bad migraines and work anyway, as it is the only way their families get to eat and have a house. And she was in the military, but she never saw active duty or even went overseas, so I have a problem with the ptsd diagnosis. She couldn't handle the stress of delivering babies.

Anyway, they are sitting at home today because they dont have enough gas to get them to church, less than a minute down the road. She never asked me for gas money, or if she could borrow her dad's truck to get them there, but I still have a slight guilty feeling. I know that a lot of it is that they just don't budget their money. You can tell when she gets her check, because they take off and are gone all day. Then within a week they are broke again.
She gets WIC for the grandson. and they get foodstamps, and she qualifies for commodities distributions, If I were on a limited budget, dependent on foodstamps, wic, and commodities distributions to feed my family, I wouldn't always be making and buying sweets with my food dollars. I would be buying up staples like beans and rice, flour, bags of macaroni, whichever fruit was the cheapest at the store,etc. Instead, she actually buys the individual mac/cheese cups, individual servings packs of cookies and chips and candy. And bottled water!! Our water is just fine here, after all DH is the waterman. He fussed at her for buying a case of 4oz waters. Her rationale was so GS could take them out in the yard when he plays. What is wrong with a plastic cup? Or doing like my brat does, and filling the water bottle that came with her bike?
And the last time she got commodities, she was given 2 big bags of quick cooking oats. She gave me one, saying she didn't need 2. And promply turned the entire 10 lb bag into no bake oatmeal cookies. The entire bag!!!! And came over and got back the bag she had given me and did the same with them.

Oh, and the topper- DH and the oldest DD are gone to play in the State softball tournament this weekend. I couldn't go because I am still on call from since February. So I was outside feeding the dog, chickens, and goats. She walked over to visit for a few minutes. And asked if I thought her dad would mind if when she gets her lump sum SS check , she fences in our back yard and puts a horse in it. This from a girl that isn't having her daughter for her summer visit, because she didn't feel she had the money to care for her if there was an accident! I had actually offered half the money for a plane ticket ( yes Minnie I know it would have been enabling her, but I was thinking of the fact that the granddaughter hasn't seen her mother since Christmas). When I called her over to let her know I would be able to help her, she turned the money down, saying that even if she got her, she couldn't afford to take her to the doctor if she got sick, and had already called her ex and her daughter and told them that. She really thinks this child will be able to understand why she doesn't get to see her mom this summer!!!
OK, got it off my chest now. I will be ok for a while. And I am not as harsh as I might seem. I would never sit back and let my grandson actually suffer, but I believe at least some of their problems would be alleviated if the parents would just GROW UP.