Call 1-800-CANT-TALK (Part 2)

Back in late September I was SHOCKED when our cell phone came in $200 higher than it should be. It did not take the work of a great detective to figure our WHO caused this increase in our bill.

The teen.

We yelled, we screamed, we took money out of his paycheck every week until MOST of it was paid off. I say most because when we were approaching Christmas, we felt guilty about taking extra money from him and wanted him to be able to buy things for people. After all, it was the first time ever that he expressed the desire to buy things for other people. At the time, when I was done screaming, Frank and I both explained to the boy the rules of the cell phone. We share 700 minutes between the three of us and really, that is plenty. Considering that the boy is homeschooled and therefore, HOME, there is a phone here that he can use. As a matter of fact, there are TWO phones in the house that he can use and they are both cordless. What could be easier, right?

So I'm sitting at the computer today checking e-mails when one pops up from our cell phone provider and guess what? We have a bill that is $200 higher than it should be!!! AGAIN!!! Being that the boy is feeling better (I would never have yelled this much if he were still bed-ridden), I screamed like a deranged lunatic. Seriously, I'm amazed that all of the neighborhood dogs were not circling the house because I had such a high pitch going there for a while. The boy remained eerily calm. "Yes, mom" and "I get it" were said with such a blase attitude that I almost THREW a phone at him! He knows that he has to pay this bill. He's getting a tax refund and guess where it's all going? That to me, is just plain stupid. That was money that was supposed to be put away for car insurance. Did I mention that he is getting a car next month? When my grandmother died, she left him her car! But now, he has no money for said car insurance because he talked it all away!!!

While researching the phone bill, I noticed that here we are four days in to our new billing cycle and he's already used 233 minutes of the 700!!! We're only four days in!! What in the world could he POSSIBLY have to talk about for that length of time?? No one knows!!! He's had mono, what could he possibly have to talk about - "Oh, I had a fever, but it's gone." Or "I was in bed for a few days and went through like, a thousand tissues." This is NOT riveting conversation and did not require 233 minutes.

So he'll pay off this bill. Again. We will have to lay out money that we don't have to cover it until he gets the money. Again. I'm ready to Super Glue his mouth shut. Again. I need to take deep cleansing breaths and remember that I love him.

Again.