Month: April 2012 (Page 1 of 2)

Tomorrow is May 1 and we have our budget prepared and ready to start tomorrow. When I finished, I said, “Okay. So where does the money for the envelopes come from if we don’t get paid until Friday?” I guess you are supposed to start on a payday and not the first of the month. Oh, well. We have enough of everything to last until Friday. Plus, we started with some money left over from last month (and charges, too, of course.) But we are going to try to just not spend anything until Friday. I bought groceries today, and the cars have gas. We can’t pay bills until Friday, either.

For those of you who care (Nathan and Amy?), we signed up for the online program ($89.99/year). That way we are not using my program or Dad’s program, but rather someone else’s, so neither of us can feel slighted that it isn’t “our” program. And it did have a lot more detail and seems like it will be easy to keep track on. But when we were all done, I realized I hadn’t budgeted the $89.99 to pay for the program in 7 days when our trial is up. Ahhh…. I can see why he says it will take a while to get it right! But at least we are starting the month with enough excess to cover that cost.

It’s fun, though. I got really pumped listening to the c.d.’s on the way home. The first thing we did was eliminate Dad’s retirement deduction until we get the credit cards paid. He has been having them take out 13% every paycheck, so it does make a difference in the take-home pay and it will only be for a little while. And what is already in there will keep growing because of interest. Tomorrow I have to find a bank to put our emergency fund in. I’ve got the checklist made to call and compare rates and minimum balances and such. We are going to use our tax return for the emergency fund.

So, yeah, things are going well on the money-makeover. Dad is a little tense about it, but I’m just excited. I was yelling “cheetah!!” at the credit card offers as I threw them in the garbage today!

If any of you don’t know what I’m rambling on about, you have to talk to Nathan about getting the Dave Ramsey materials and get on your way to becoming debt-free! Let’s all do it as a family!

We leave tomorrow right after work, so basically everything has to be packed tonight. I’ve got all my stuff packed and Dad is on his way to having all his tools and so forth packed in the car. We are not bringing Sherlock (hope Audrey, Isaac, and Ethan aren’t too disappointed). That will leave more room in the car for tools, etc., plus free us up for more important activities.

I went to the doctor again about my hives and she ran a lot of blood tests and the only thing that is off so far is that my strep antibodies are high, so she has put me on an antibiotic for that. She thinks it is hanging around from the ear infection. I also got a prescription for prednisone, but I’m going to hold off taking that until I see if the antibiotic works. But at least I have it for the trip if the hives get as bad again as they were yesterday and this morning. Tonight they aren’t too bad, which is a welcome relief.

So, anyway, if you have anything you want us to know, you’ll have to call, because I don’t know when we will be checking the websites.

Tonight is the concert that is the last one of this really long mid-spring series of events. It is the Roselawn K-2-4 concert and it is going to be great! The music is a little tricky, but there will actually be 3 of us – me, Mr. Dutmer, and the new middle school band director adding whatever he feels each piece needs. So it isn’t up to just me to play it all, which is always fun. The program is about being good to the earth, with a lot about being good to each other thrown in for good measure, done in a variety of styles to bring in a cross-cultural feel, as well.

So, once that is done, it is one day to get ends tied up, everything packed, and be ready to head off on vacation the minute we both get home from work Thursday. We are really getting excited to be on vacation, even if it is going to be a whirlwind!

I bought these shoes a while back because the salesgirl said they were one of the more popular styles and I got a pair for half price with the purchase of another pair. But I only wore them once and they killed my ankles. As you can see, they are rather high. But if you have strong ankles and wear a size 10, you are welcome to them. Let me know if any of you are interested. The picture looks a little gray, but they are actually a very nice beige.

Remember going to the dump with Daddy on Saturdays. It was one of the favorite activities of our preschool and gradeschool aged children, as I recall. And it gave Mom much needed time to clean up the house without tripping over children!

It is much easier to go to the dump now, because it is only two blocks away and actually isn’t a dump so much as a drop off station for the dump. Wednesday afternoon and Saturday mornings are the only times it is open. After cleaning the garage on Sunday there was a lot of stuff to go over, plus my recycling barrel was overflowing. So I got all that taken over and everything feels so much cleaner and neater. I’ve also moved three carloads of stuff to the new house. I basically cleaned out the freezer room except for the freezer. Ah, progress….

First, here are all the hens – see there are six again.

Here is how big the hostas are already!

And our daffodils…

I’ve got many seeds started – pumpkin, squash, marigolds, 4 ‘ clocks and many others.

The kitchen sink is in and will probably be operational by tonight.

My huge heap of food only looks like a little on the pantry shelves.

Can’t wait to start using my new fridge. But I won’t pay for two running at the same time, so for now it is sitting there doing nothing.

And, finally, our relaxing place in the dining room to be.

Happy Easter everyone. I was up at 5:05 and out the door by 5:40. Church at 6:30. There are a lot of people who get up and dressed for that sunrise service. Breakfast is being served until the second service at 9:30. I came home to get Dad and go back with him for breakfast, but he doesn’t seem to be up yet. He was at The Garage pretty late last night, though. Oh, he just came in – he was outside enjoying the morning trimming grape vines and doing chores.  Once he gets cleaned up, well be off to church again.

Our lost chicken came home. I looked out and saw there was one outside the pen and four inside, so at first I thought another has escaped. But when I went out, I found that the other one was inside laying an egg, so that was all six. It was quite a project getting her back inside, because she wouldn’t go in the door of the chicken house. It must have been too dark, compared to outside, because she kept running past it like it wasn’t even there. I finally cornered her and coaxed her in, but she was actually trying to fly over the fence, and not go in the door. We still have to catch her again and clip her wings, so she doesn’t fly out again, but we’d better let her rest a while first! Anyway, I’m happy that she is back. I have no idea where she was all day, because I never caught a glimpse of her when I was looking for her. Must have been hiding really well.

I knew I needed to try shopping at Aldi’s again. I’d had a couple bad experiences because I didn’t know the rules. But Dad and I scoped it out the other day and I ventured in by myself today. I got cash at the bank, brought along my bags and had a quarter for the cart, so I was set. Mostly I loaded up on canned goods, because quality isn’t such an issued with canned beans and soups. I have them all piled up on the counter and am trying to think of where to put them all. I have a total of 48 cans/jars. Won’t exactly fit in my cupboards. I think I’m just going to take most of them over to the new pantry, because there is more space just sitting there than I have here. And we bought the kitchen sink today, so once that is in, there is no reason we can’t start doing all of our eating over there.  Then I can also use my cool new fridge and my dishwasher! I think we might start staying over there, even though it isn’t finished, just not move much stuff over until we are done making all Bthat dust. The proverbial end is in sight and I am getting so impatient to have it done!

On of our hens literally flew the coop yesterday. Dad clipped the wings on the rest of them, but that one is no where to be found. So we are down to 5, unless she shows up today. Makes me sad not knowing where she is – they’ve gotten to be almost like pets.

Buds are starting to come out on a lot of things and colder weather is expected next week. Could be disastrous. I think we might throw sheets over the apple trees to see if we can keep the blossoms this year  – if the blossoms are out, that is. Last time we looked there were just a few leaves. But things like lilacs have a lot of leaves and some bushes are fully in bloom. Crazy!

Yes, it is Thursday, but seems like Friday, since I’m off tomorrow. Very churchy evenings, as I had choir practice last night, Maundy Thursday services tonight and Good Friday services tomorrow. But that’s okay. I enjoy church and have a good book to listen to as I drive to and from. Nothing else very exciting. My hives came back. I’m not sure what set them off, but I have lots again. Grrrrr