Nanamom's thoughts Blog

I have found some amazing facts lately. Rabbits can be impregnated on the day they give birth. I discovered this because when I went to feed the rabbits today I found myself flashing back to a month ago when I had first found baby rabbits in a nest. We gave them away last weekend (only 2 had survived). I had removed the male the day I saw her give birth. It was less than an hour I swear!!! Apparently she gave birth last night to 7 more babies. I removed "Dad" again. This time I am sure the nightmare is over. We had Dad fixed a couple weeks ago and had an appointment to have her fixed next week. The vet is going to laugh at me sooooooooo hard. Anyone need a baby bunny? They should be ready in late June!

We did really well at the garage sale this last Saturday. We found a wagon sans handle for free that we can jury rig a handle for the kids to enjoy. We bought 2 doors for $5 each and now there is a door on my bedroom and will soon be one on our upstairs bathroom. i have had those doors measured and looked at by professionals. They are a special size (read that old house) and cost a mint. All DH had to do was saw off a small pice at the bottom of each door. At the same place I bought jeans for DS2 2 pr for 75 cents and a dresser for him for $5.00. By now th ecar was pretty full but that didn't stop us. I got a set of pictorial history books of the US for 3.00 that DS2 loves, and the kids bought a couple toys for themselves with allowances. DH got some toy cars for geocaching (10 or so for $1) that are in great shape. I got a copy of a frames Biblical ABC for DD2 for $1.00. DS2 has one that his aunt gave him that cost her quite a bit more.
All in all a great day of finds. To top it off we made one more stop where I found the item of my dreams. A working spinning wheel for $75.00. I got it for $60.00. It is something I have always wanted and sells for quite a bit more. Now to learn to spin!

This Saturday is the annual community garage sale and I can hardly wait. I feel like I've been having a chronic case of cabin fever for weeks. I am planning to be very careful tho since I would really like to pay off everything we owe with the exception of the house and car. The thought of paying them off right now is overwhelming. I hope to pay off the credit bill and then we'll see about the car. I have been pretty good this month about putting money on the bill from Florida. It will be finished next month without a problem. Then we will owe 2 cards. Plus the one I use for incidental purchases. Wish I had a paypal card to use for that since I have money in my account.

We are a Karate family. In order to practice we have been considering a piece of equipment that costs around 200. We keep putting it off because of the price. Today we found one at a garage sale for only 20 dollars. We are thrilled! We got a couple other cool deals too, but didn't over spend. Two weeks to the community wide one we love. I hope to pick up a bike for DD2 there. I got a check for some ebay stuff and promptly sent the money to the credit card. I am being good! I knew the check was coming so I didn't worry about spending a few extra hundred when we were there. My plan is to pay it off this month or at latest next month. Our next trip East is just to pick up kids and bring them home. When we return them we will be taking the "scenic route" and that will cost a little more but not too much. We will be able to pay cash. So by the end of summer we will have only the "big " credit card bill. As soon as it is paid I plan on paying more on the car. I am a bit worried since they are talking about making the employees take vacation every month (like a week) till the end of the year and that means without pay for us. It will cut our income by 25% after August when we run out of vacation and may mean we have to cancel out trip East. The good news is that if they cut the practice out then we will have learned to live on less.

I am trying to do cash only to get in the habit and then cut the amount we spend. My DH has a good job but we have lots of bills. I want to pay off the credit cards and then go to the car. The emergency fund needs a boost too. So discouraging. Wish we could move closer to the kids in the East. Ah well time will tell. We got bad news today. No bonus. We were hoping to pay down the major credit card bill with that. So we will pay off the small ones first and then get to the others. At least our last trip East was planned enough so that we didn't get any further in debt. I need to start writing down what (or how much) I spend and how I conserve funds and save so that I can encourage myself. Maybe I'll start a blog!

We are heading out for a vacation. I have been saving so that we won't have to use the credit card or at least if we do for hotels and stuff we have the money to repay it right away. We are headed to GA to see family (eldest son and family) and then to Epcot. We will also see my sister there. We are going to NC to see our eldest daughter and her family and hope to see a couple people that I talk to online all the time. This will count as our visit to Florida and Georgia as the 50 states so we will be 3 down and 47 to go!! Later this summer we are going to go to Michigan and see a bit of Wisconsin. In the fall we will hit Ohio on our way East again.

I at one time had several "investment" accounts. Seems they were more like a round file!! I had several loans on prosper. Out of the 6 I had 2 are paid, one is paying, one defaulted, and two are in collections. I guess I pick poorly. The kicker is the ones who defaulted were the ones with great credit ratings. I had a sharebuilder account for the last 4 years. I lost alot of money there as well. I am reduced to a Ing checking (and college funds and an EF) and an Emmigrant savings. Ah well, live and learn I guess. I also have a thriving Kiva account with several loans that I keep reinvesting. i make another Kiva loan every month.

I am proud of my 5 year old. He told me today that I am spoiling him. We went to the store and I bought each of them a $5.00 surprise (without being asked of course). I also got them shoes (10 each) and him a coat for next winter for 7.00. Shoes and a coat seem a bit of a necessity so don't think that would count as spoiling. I was proud that they asked if they had enough money in their accounts for the things and when I said no never said another word about them. They didn't even know we were stopping for milkshakes on the way home when he told me I was really spoiling him. That made me feel good. He wasn't complaining and never does, when he doesn't get to buy stuff. He just says he will save his allowance. His sister (age 4)is picking up on that and learning to ask less. I felt a bit spoiled myslef cause they stood quietly and let me pick out a new purse and wallet (the old one was falling apart) without complaining or even squirming.

What a nice surprise to wake up to! Our IRS refund came in. Promptly put 4K on the credit card bill. I hope to get all credit cards paid off by the end of the year. I got a bill for a card in my name for the yearly fee and I am tempted to cancel it rather than pay it. I haven't used it in years. Have it as an emergency. If something happened to DH I need credit in my name till everything is cleared. I do have another one but both are low balance cards. I'll talk it over with DH when he has more time. For now I am excited that the one card has a balance I can pay off this year if I am careful.

Hurray!! I looked at the bank balance and the tax money is there!! The state tax money anyway. The majority of the money goes to credit card. We promised the kids we'd get them a game for the Wii when the tax check came in. DS2 want Tales of Desperaux and DD2 wants the Build a Bear game. Not sure what that one is but it should at least build hand eye coordination. Can't wait for Federal so I can knock the credit card down to size!

We left around noon for Mall of America and waymarked our way across Wisconsin and into Minnesota. We went there for dinner after checking into the hotel. We stayed at a Ramada because they had an indoor pool and a couple fun packages. We took one package for one night that was called Shop til you Drop. It included a Mall of America booklet of coupons that sells for 9.95 and two free breakfast entrees. The other package we did for the second night has the booklet, 2 entrees, and two free tickets to the aquarium. We bought two more for only ten dollars each. DH took the Monday off so we ended up staying an extra night. That first night we went to the Mall for dinner. We ate at a place called Tucci Benucci's and used our coupon for a free dessert. The kids had baked spaghetti (as did DH but his had no tomato) and ravioli. I shared theirs. For dessert I had a couple bites of their chocolate pie. Was more bitter than I liked but DH liked it a couple days later. It was a hard fudge consistency so we saved it. He had a apple dessert that was great (he shared). The kids had ice cream. Back at the hotel we had to practically threaten the kids with going home to get them to go to sleep. They go to bed so nicely here and so horribly away. Guess it is better that way than reversed though! The next morning bright and early DH left us to go waymarking. The kids and I went to breakfast (mostly free) and then looked at the pool and some of the statuary around the hotel. It was mostly Native American art or art depicting Native Americans. Really nice. When nine oclock came along we got on the hotel van to ride to the Mall of America. DH left me the boosters so they could ride safely. DD2 pointed out that i wasn't in a seatbelt on the way over of course! At the Mall we rented lockers to store said boosters in until it was time to use them again and then we went exploring. I had made a board with pictures on it of things for them to look for in the mall. I promised a prize if they found all the stuff. They had fun with that and gave me a chance to look around. It was volunteer day there so there was even more stuff to look at. About eleven they were tired and so was I so I rented a double stroller and off we went again. By then we had done a little shopping so I stowed the stuff in the lockers and had hands free again. We explored the Nickolodean playland (didn't do any rides yet), Lego store and stopped to play for a bit, Build a Bear and Build a Doll, (made plans to come back there) and lots of other places. They said they weren't hungry but i was so I stopped at the food court and grabbed some lunch. They decided they were hurngry (no surprise there) and we all ate. After lunch it was time to let them spend the money they had been saving, and find out what was on another floor. DS2 bought a lego set and we explored some more. I called DH several times (usually when one or the other kids misbehaved) just to make sure he was having fun! Around 2 we had to take a cookie break and listen to a Christian group that was singing. They were part of Volunteer day. We walked past a shop with an amazing sign up. Seems they had Wii's in stock! I called DH who said to get it. I bought a Wii and a Wii fit and asked them to hold them till DH got back. Around 4 we got in line at Build A Bear. I was sooooooooooo disgusted with myslef for not letting her just do it the first time we were there since they had just opened and there was no line. I had told her we'd come back and that she needed to think about what she wanted in case she changed her mind (she didn't) So we waited in line to pick up a pink monkey and watch someone shove fluff into it for around 40 minutes. WE then waite din line another 15 minutes to pay for it. I had a coupon and she had been saving so it was pretty painless to pay. DH got back around 5 and we made plans to have dinner there. First of all we had to go on a few rides, well they did not us grown ups. They gave us a pass so I could hold her on the rides (brace on a leg doesn't make ride workers feel real secure) and we got free all day ride passes cause we'd bought the Wii. in fact we got 3 of em!. After an hour of rides I was way too tired! We ate at a place called Kokomo's with a free appitizer and free dessert coupon. Again I shared. We got key lime pie for dessert. We crawled back to the room planning to put two sleepy kids in quick. the best laid plans and all that. DD screamed and cried till finally I managed to quiet her and rock her to sleep. DS went to sleep sooner but not happily. The next morning we went to breakfast (mostly free) again. They managed to mess up DD2's order as well as DH's so we told them to forget it. It had already taken way too long to get the wrong food. DS2 shared with DD2 and I shared with DH. We had the last two coupons so paid very little. Off to the Mall we went again. This time we were headed to the Aquarium. We went thru the "tunnel" and watched the sharks and rays swim over us. It was cool and I hope i got some good video footage of it. We paid extra for a behind the scenes tour and it was awesome. WE got to look down into the tanks. We also saw where they prepare food and were shown some fo the food that the sharks eat. We did a bit more shopping and then realized it was five o clock! WE went back to the hotel and ordered pizza. I took my 4 year old down to "help" pick it up and found out I had to go into the bar to get it so returned her to her Dad and went back down. The desk clerk laughed at me for not taking her into a place that served alcohol. Pizza and a movie for dinner and then bed. i rocked an unhappy little boy to sleep (he wanted time to build his lego set) while a good little girl put herself to sleep with her new pink monkey (she hadn't been allowed to play with it all day because of how poorly she behaved the night before) Day three we woke up stiff and sore (again) and spent a relaxing time in the room for a bit. Then we went swimming. I chickened out and headed for the hot tub. Actually I hobbled to it. Everyone joined me there shortly although the kids could only put their feet in. DD requested that she be allowed back in the "cool pool" and DH pulled himself to his feet muttering "I love my children, I love my children" He hobbled over to the pool and stood waiting in the cold water for her. She walked halfway over and said I want Mommy and came back to me. He stood in the pool shivering and incredulously said you mean I did this for nothing!!!??? Both kids decided to take pity on Daddy and get in for a few more minutes. It was really funny. WE went back to the room for breakfast (cold pizza and poptarts) Start them early on that college fare! Finally we built his lego set and gve him an hour or so to play while DH mapped out our route home. We decided to stop at the birthdplace of Laura Ignalls Wilder so the route he'd originally planned wouldn't work. He found lots of new waymarks to do so was pretty happy with the new plans. We checked our around 1130 and went on the way. WE visited the house and then picked up some literature about the area. I saw an Eagle Education center in it and we decided to stop. It was the best part of the trip. WE saw 4 live Eagles. One Golden and the rest Bald. WE watched two of them eat a dead rat and got our picture taken with one. It was really cool. Then we ate at an old four mill converted to a pizza, chocolate, coffee place. I shared with the kids again. It was a great trip. DD slept almost all the way home after that. When we got home I carried her in and set her down. I sent her to the potty and then to take off her shoes and brace. She fell asleep again taking them off. I am giving them a day off school tomorrow. We are all too tired. I am dropping off as I type. I think the only thing keeping me awake is the pain in my ankles and feet! The bottom of my heel is one big blister and there are multiple others on the foot! My ankles are so swollen I can't put my shoes on. Oh well they'll recover. Maybe the Wii fit will help with that!

They are done and sent!! I am so relieved! We are getting half the big credit card bill back! It will go straight on it as soon as it come in, which should be in 2 to 3 weeks. I was expecting the one amount but the state also owes us over a thousand. Our finances will be much better by April. I am saving for the trip I am taking then so it will be paid for too. The best part was paying for the tax work right there instead of charging it. The worst part was how much they charge. I need to think about taking a tax course and doing taxes at night or something! We couldn't even itemize and our bill was over 200 and that was with a coupon.

At least at our house it is. Today we do our taxes. We have a 6 PM appointment to have them done. Then we have to decide how much we will need to have withheld over the course of this year. I will miss having the adoption deduction!

On another note I have been reading a book about a woman with 18 children and one DIL. She and her husband use no credit. I want to reach that point. No not the 18 children although if they were all as nice as hers I'd have to consider it! The no credit state. I have sold a lot of stuff on ebay (actually I had it sold for me, seems to go better that way) and I still have more to go. I want to strip us to the bear bones and see where we are then. If I could figure out a way of making money on online I would but so far no go. So back to saving everything I can. Seems hopeless sometimes to think of getting out of owing on a car and on a house. Guess I should be content if I can get that far. One step at a time. For now I want to get to the point where we only owe one credit card and the car and house. Then we'll work on reducing the credit card debt while still visiting the grandkids East.

Tax time is Thursday for us. WE should get back everything we gave them plus a bit for child credit.

Unfortunately it wont cover our credit card bills. Ah well at least the bills arent getting any bigger.

will wipe out about a third of it
which is better than nothing. I will cut us down to no cards since I now have an ing account that has a debit card I can use for online purchases! and never use the card again unless there is an emergency!

We made it through the month without adding t the credit card debt. If I had to buy online I used the card with a low balance that we pay off every month. We are trying to find out if we have to get naturalization papers for our daughter before we can file for a social security card for her or not. Would be nice to be able to claim her this year! Actually it is imperative that we do. I do not want to owe money to the IRS. Have to pay property taxes too.

One of the items sold for twice what I paid for it!! I like that.

We had good news. DIL doesn't have a tumor after all so I don't have to fly down to take care of her. i am glad she is all right but I would have loved seeing all my kids and grandkids.

I am selling some stuff on ebay. Actually a friend is doing it for me cause I may have to drive south at any given day to help with my DIL's household while she undergoes treatment. Today I went through the playroom and rearranged quite a bit of stuff. I have a large pile of things to sell. Not sure if I will do it or give them to her to sell. She takes 20% but then I don't have to worry about being here when they close. Some of it isn't worth ebaying so I will save it for this summer's garage sale. What this has done is make some room in the playroom for the kids desks. They don't use them for schoolwork which is why I bought them so they may as well go to the playroom. Then I can have some space in the dining room. I need to find some bookshelf space somewhere. The books are outgrowing their area. I put some toys up in DS2's room cause he is old enough to trust up there most of the time. I am paring down the number of toys around here. My toys too. I am giving up stamping and going to sell off most of my stock. Probably ebay that too.
The money is going to go for credit card payments. I plan on eliminating them form our use this year. I will still need to occasionally use one online but that one gets paid in full every month.

It is only the beginning of January and already his check is almost gone. It is amazing to me how fast his paycheck can disapear. I am well aware however that a thousand of it is going to credit card bills. I need to pare them down fast. My goal is to pay off all but the Am Ex right away and then sock money onto it but not use it for the rest of the year. I will be putting the tax refund on it as well. It will probably take me till April to pay off the other. There really is only one that carries a balance but there is another that I use when I buy online. I am going to stop using it too. Now if I can keep DH from buying anything!

I always have but I now have another reason to believe. On Saturday my little screamer turned 4. I had been telling her that she needed to stop that screaming and tantrums if she wanted to be a big girl (lots of wonderful things happen around here at 4, you get a twin bed, you get an allowance, you don't have to ride in the front of the cart...) In fact she screamed so much we threatened to cancel her birthday party if she didn't stop. She didn't stop and it broke my heart but we had no party. We talked about it and explained we would still be going to lunch with playgroup but no crafts, no games and no party stuff. We did make favor bags for the kids. She understood. She had no party. We gave her presents as usual (3 just like Jesus got). She never screamed or threw a tantrum all day that day or today. She started to get upset at one point and I said remember you're 4 now and she controlled it. She has cried when unhappy or her way was thwarted but no tantrums. I am so relieved!!! I admit I don't expect we are done with them forever after all big brother age 5 has one from time to time but at least I have a respite. i don't think we will spend the day going form one to another either!

My resolutions,

1) To read my Bible more and set a better spiritual example for the kids.

2)To be more financially secure, including get out of credit card debt, not using credit cards, only paypal or debit cards, save for emergencies.

3) To lose the weight and develop better eating habits.

4) To traverse through at least 4 more belts in Karate.

We are home from our few days away. Did anyone miss us? Don't answer that ok? Anyway when I made the reservations and DH took the time off we were told we could swim till 9 the day we arrive (Sunday) and from 9 to 12 and 4 to 9 on Monday and till 3 Tuesday the day we check out. They also have a cool game room where I planned on letting the kids waste a couple bucks each. Well when we got there we were told they aren't open (waterpark) on Tuesday till 4. That pretty much blew that day for us and I called the manager and politely (even nicely) explained that that misinformation messed up our plans. i told him I doubted there was something that could be done but I wasn't happy. He offered to do something for us but wasn't sure what. I suggested dinner at their very nice restaurant if they could figure out what to feed us and my husband said if that was too hard then a free day pass for a later time. He gave us the dinner, 5 free day passes and each child got $4 dollars worth of tokens for the game room. I was amazed. I was also quite grateful. Needless to say we'll be back there every year we live here. Made for a fun trip that didn't cost as much as we thought it would.

Had to change back to my old number of minutes for another 20 bucks a month. Seems that I only get one free number to call if I go down to 500 minutes. In order to only use 500 minutes a month I need at least 6 free numbers so I upped to the 900 plan that gives me 10 mumbers free. Everyone I call is out of state. My DD uses the same service so she is free but my DIL doesn't and I actually talk to her more since my DD and I can IM on gmail. Ah well at least I don't have the extra 25 dollar charge for tethering anymore. That saves some.
WE are going away for the first couple days of Hanukkah. There is an indoor water park near us that the kids love. It is a log cabin "theme" and really fun for them. I am so looking forward to cuddling and playing with my two. Of course we are taking schoolwork so we don't get out of practice on that! Since I cancelled the tethering I won't be able to get online either although for what we are paying a night, they should give us wireless service but sometimes DH's computer won't work with that.

Sometimes you have to spend money to make money! My cell phone keeps going on the fritz so I changed phones. In the process I decided to down grade my account. I went from 900 minutes to 500 minutes (I rarely use more and now can be careful)and I cancelled the tether. If my DH needs it again we can add it for 30 a month so can't see spending that when we weren't using it. I probably dropped our bill by half.

Hubby's work not mine. He was told no raises in 2009 and very little bonus. Some folks won't get any. he makes good money and it is our own fault we are in debt but we were hoping for the bonus and raise to get us out of it. Oh well, we can conserve more I'm sure. I have been doing a bit of saving, not much with the holidays but a bit and I can do a bit more. I want an emergency fund that is healthy. Then I want to pay off debt. I am actually putting the same amount in the fund as I put on the credit card. The income tax return will help with the credit card pay off I'm sure and at least there will be some bonus.

I got to talk to my son this morning. He is home from Iraq. This second tour seemed to take forever to be done. I didn't realize how big a weight it was till he talked to me and the heavyness floated off. I am soooooooooooo hoping he gets a different job so he can be home for awhile. It is so hard on his kids and my DIL when he is gone that long. Should have heard the cheering around here when the kids found out the person on the other end of the phone was their big brother!!!! My DH was shouting at the computer and the kids were yelling. For once the noise didn't bother me. i seem to recall adding to it a bit!

When my DH was a teen he lost almost all the hearing in his right ear. His left was so so. He was left with a constant ringing in his ears. That was decades ago. He tried a hearing aid but it didn't help. He was told it was nerve damage and untreatable. Well he is sick several times a year with a sinus problem that is apparently uncurable and not very treatable. Maybe i should say he is healthy a couple times a year. Anyway we finally got a referral to an ENT yesterday. I was holding a Simply Fun Party at the same time (which had been planned for 3 months) so couldn't go which made him unhappy but we couldn't make him suffer another week so we reviewed what the Dr needed to know and off he went. When he came home he said they had scheduled him for a CT scan to see exactly what was going on. Then he dropped a bomb............Seems the Dr thinks he can fix his ear. This Dr doesn't think it is nerve damage but fused bones. He says the ear drum is fine and sees no reason why he can't operate and solve the problem. Needless to say we are reeling from the news. DH just looked at the DR and siad that would be nice but I've lived with this for years, and while annoying it isn't a big deal anymore, can you fix the sinuses!! The Dr was a bit surprised but understood when DH told him how many days a year he is sick with it. WOW he could hear again!!!

On another note my son comes home from Iraq tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

i have 3 extras today. A friend has to take her youngest for all kinds of tests today so dropped off her 5,8,& 9 year old here. We had school for 5. My 3 year old wanted to show off but settled down. My 5 year old buckled down after a couple minutes and worked really hard cause the other 5 yr old is his best friend and he wanted playtime as soon as possible. I was amazed at the small amount of work they did in a school day. Maybe it is because they came here but 4 division problems seems pretty low to me. Oh well guess I am a slave driver!!
My DS2 read to me last night and it was wonderful!! He did an awesome job. He is sounding out so much less than he was. I taught him to sound it out in his head and that goes so much faster for him. I am a very proud Mom!

We had the first decent snowfall of the year last night. My first clue was waking up to the little voice of my 5 year old when he asked, "Mom is it winter?" I groggily said no go back to sleep and after a couple minutes it hit me why he must have asked. I checked and yep lots of white stuff out there.

I am having a Simply Fun party tomorrow afternoon during our normal playgroup time. I traded parties with her. I really hope this is worth her while. I don't have many people coming. Most people seem to hate these things but I honestly like them. I am in the minority I guess. Her Usborne Book party (my business) went well so I hope I can do as well for her.

I said yesterday that I was going to try to turn over a new leaf, both health wise and financial. So far so so! I have no motivation right now, for anything. Mornings are pretty good but afternoons aren't.

I have been keeping up with Sparkpeople but not here. Guess I figure my finances aren't great so what do I have to add. Of course neither do I really have anything to add on Sparkpeople (a weight loss site) since I am not losing weight. So I am making some resolutions. I intend to blog here everyday and on Sparkpeople (actually I don't blog there I comment on the loving your husbands forum). More importantly I intend to have something to blog about!!
As in I intend to do something about our financial and health challenges.
Right now we have very little savings other than retirement stuff. I have some I have been saving for when we can take a really nice trip but that is out of my allowance and investments so am not counting it. We save 15% for retirement every month from the gross so will not be changing that. We have started saving another 10% for an emergency fund but only last month. We need to put a great deal away so we can visit family every year and last year did it on credit too much. We had to go, our DIL was having some health crisises and our DS was in Iraq. This year we hope to head East in July, and November. It is a long way off and we are unhappy about that but it gives us time to save. I'm sure our DD and DIL won't like the long time till they see us but can't be helped. DH is in a time crunch at work too which if we do this right may lead to a move closer to the kids so we can go alot more often. It will cut the drive from 3 days to 1 long one. That of course cuts the costs.

No not everything just kind of shaking the house up and seeing where everything falls! I have moved several pieces of furniture in the dining room and now am onto the living room. Put the dog crate in the kitchen now. I put a large board on top and am using that to fold and sort laundry. I have lots more to do in there but am content if I make a visible difference every day.
I ordered rugs for the living room and dining room finally. I have been waiting till I found some I really like. I even got one for the bathroom. One is a second so it was like 40 % off and I had a 15% discount on all of them. It was more than I would have paid at a garage sale but I love the rugs. The site is rugheaven.com if anyone wants to check it out.