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Archive for April, 2006

It has to get better!!

April 27th, 2006 at 02:36 pm

Today I mean. It all started at 12:38 AM when I finally went to bed, I wasn't tired but was sure I would be a bit later (like when my toddler woke up.) I was RIGHT!! What I didn't know was that he would awaken at 5:30 AM and shortly afterward throw up all over me. Like I said today HAS to get better.

Looking Up

April 27th, 2006 at 02:29 pm

Not very far admittedly but every little bit helps. DH got a bonus. We put half away for our trip in the fall and I am starting an ING account in his name with part. I'll use one of our invites so we get extra money. Then when the time limit is over we can use the money for something else (like part of a car payment) In addition he got a raise. We are raising the percentage that goes into our 401 K with part of it, raising our tithe as usual (we add a percent every August) and using the rest (about 1@ percent)to pay the incredible heating bills etc we are getting! I am so thankful we were able to pay off the CC debt because the heating bills would have made even minimum payments tough. They tell me spring does happen here and even summer for a day or two but not until most places are sweltering. Oh well I'd just complain about the AC bill if we lived in a warmer place.

There is no place like home

April 26th, 2006 at 03:14 pm

10 days on the road with a 2 year old, who can beat it? Actually he is a good traveler. We saw family, All my kids and grandkids in the same place at the same time!! Plus I got to show them off to my sisters (some of them) and brother. We saw 2 zoos, a cool children's museum, and had fun renewing old acquaintances. I discovered my old college friends got old (I didn't!) It was observed that I have the oldest children of all of us college buddies, as well as the youngest children and I have the only grandchildren. Shopping was fun too. On the way home we found a great sale at a store I thought I wold never be able to afford. I got a purse (mine was literally falling apart at the seams) for 10 morked down from 50. Our dog (16 years old) travels with us so we were glad the weather was coolish. Not bad to us northern folks although my southern bird grandkids were cold. When we got home we discovered the house was 55 degrees, and that was because the furnace was running. (please don't write and tell me it is 80 degrees in your yard!) DH had a job interview on the way home that if the Lord provides that position will bring us a whole day closer to the grandkids. All in all a very productive tiring 10 days. And when we got home and got the mail we discovered DH had been paid a bonus, not sure yet why but glad to have it!

10 more!

April 14th, 2006 at 02:37 pm

I was telling one of the Mom's who brings her DS to playgroup about my "car deals" and she said she was going to go after the Lowes card. She also said she got a 10 dollar card to Tractor Supply in the mail and didn't shop there. She gave it to me and we got a 50 # bag of bird seed for free. DS2 can't wait to feed the birds. We picked up stuff for the road at Aldi's which cost but not as much as stopping for food would. I sold two books at half in the last two days. I thought I was done selling books since I hadn't sold any in a couple weeks. I have to put my stuff in vacation mode before I leave.

Did something right (I think)

April 13th, 2006 at 01:38 pm

We had to go into the next town (about 25 minutes by car)to get tennis shoes for DS2 last night so I took the ads I had gotton for car deals with us. We visited two dealerships and as a "special promotion" received two gift cards for $5.00 each. One from Lowes (going to my son in law in case supplies for his project run over) and one for Walmart (using that one for adhesive for DS2 scrapbook). We were honest and upfront with the guys, we aren't in the market but the potential (we are trying to adopt a sibling group) is there for us to need a bigger vehicle). We also found tennis shoes and sandals on sale for DS2. The cost of gas is far outweighed by the gift cards especially since we needed to go anyway. Today is DH last day of work until we get back from our trip on the 24th. I like scheduling around holidays! I also filled out a form (courtesy of my points) for a $20 gift card to Lowes (also going to son in law) becasue I signed up for some thing I can cancel and not owe on. All in all not a bad day, especially for my son in law!!!!

Same day, Same concerns

April 12th, 2006 at 07:08 pm

Today we went outside and looked for puddles to stomp in because Grandma sent him rubber rain boots that look like dinosaurs and a raincoat to match. Adorable but something I would never spend money on. Yesterday I finally got to go for a walk. I haven't been blogging or entering my days results in self becasue with everyone sick there have been NO results or walking. DH has an interviel on the 24th in Ohio. We are praying for direction. We would like to be closer to the kids and grandkids but don't want to get ahead of God. I spent way too long looking for someone on the internet today. I would like to locate a couple of college friends but this is too much like work. I'm going to go back to sewing during nap time instead fo the computer. I need to get more done. If the Lord tells us to move I will be super busy! (and super broke) The next challenge will be gettin gout of the lease!

Did I say 3 or 4?

April 11th, 2006 at 08:17 pm

We had a total fo 5 perscriptions to get filled when we left the Doctor's office (Thank God for health insurance). DH still isn't feeling well but DS2 has stopped coughing and I am feeling better. Neither of the last two have taken any of the medicine prescribed as yet. He gave it to me "in case we need it on our trip". it is a great spring day outside and when nap time is over (no I don't get to nap) we are going outside. We went to the library today and saw a 4 year old who only weighs 2 pounds more than my DS2 (age 2). I know that sounds strange but I am tired of hearing "he's so small" My DH has an interview while we are on the way home that if he accepts the job would put us within a day's drive of grandkids (as opposed to 2 days). It would kill our emergency fund to pay for the move but that can't be helped and we would pay it back quickly.

Being sick is expensive

April 10th, 2006 at 02:10 pm

The worst part of being sick is how much it ends up costing us. We don't pay anything fo rthe scripts the doctor has written Thank God, there are 4 to date and will be at least 3 or 4 more today. We are paying a mint for OTC stuff that only helps mask symptoms for a bit. We are on our 5th bottle of orange liquid and only because when I saw how much we were using I stopped taking it!! We have bought three different kinds of pills and at least two or three pediatric medicines since this started 2 weeks ago. The really bad part is I am not cooking as much as I should. I give in when DH wants to go get a pizza or go out. He is trying to save me work and I appreciate it but we are killing our budget this week.
I finally took three huge bags of clothes to the goodwill of stuff he won't wear and I don't need anymore since I never expect to be a "professional" again.

Still sick after all these days.

April 10th, 2006 at 01:59 pm

Today we take DS2 to the doctor. For the last two weeks we have been sniffing, sneezing and coughing in a progressively worse way. Last Monday I took DH to the Doctor this Monday it is DS2 Next Monday ... Wait NO we are leaving for Pittsburgh next Monday!! No illness allowed.
We did go to the Children's festival and saw everyone we know that has kids of an appropriate age. It was fun. DS2 made lots of cool junk and had a good time visiting the booths. I especially liked the home builders booth. They had a variety of wood projects available to be hammered together. Everything from a doll cradle to a bird feeder. DS2 mad me a bird feeder with some help form DH and it is outside. We also picked up some great ideas for when the older boys come to visit. The other great booth was athe music one. He got to try a violin, slide trombone, guitar, and several differnet drums. They had some cool stuff outside as well like a bulldozer to "try" and an airplane to sit in as well as a bucket truck to go up in (we didn't do that, he lost patience with the long long line) It was a cool day but he was up way past naptime. I was horrifyed to learn that he was one of the few saying please and thank you. Several booth people commented on his manners being the unusual. It was great to hear him being appreciated but awful to hear how rare that is.

Always something!

April 7th, 2006 at 07:47 pm

Tomorrow the local community is doing a free kids day (ages 2 to 10) at a local high school. Of course all the booth people hope that if they let my little one do some cool thing I will see the need for their product. I used to make a living in sales, I am very hard to sell to (unless you're a kid of course) so we are going to do cool things for free! 10 more days to the big trip (Pittsburgh) and I can hug my kids and grandkids. I can hardly wait.

sharebuilder came through

April 6th, 2006 at 08:13 pm

I went online today and discovered that my sharebuilder bonus has been credited to my account. That is a free $50.00. I have made two purchases of stock through them and after getting my email set up the account to use the 50 next Tuesday to purchase more of the same. The catch will be remembering to reset my account back to the smaller amount every month when this transaction goes through.

2 dog!

April 5th, 2006 at 08:30 pm

As I glanced out the kitchen window I was startled to see visitors. I ran and picked up DS2 so he could see too. He looked and said, "1, 2 dog Mommy, open door and let dem in I pay wit dem. (Pretty good sentence for a 2 year old!) I tried to explain the strange dog rule but he thought I was crazy since he never met a dog he didn't bond with immediately and the smaller of the two (German Short hair mix) was jumping on our door wagging from nose to tail. The other was watching and wagging as well. He was bigger. I finally convinced him that this was our dog's house and she didn't want company. Meanwhile she was sound asleep in the bedroom (16 years old next week, she's almost always sound asleep) It was cute and we had to call DH and tell him all about it. I also carefully locked the screen so he wouldn't decide that they needed to meet her! He is so much fun! I have a feeling with his interest in animals this place will look like an ark soon . Won't be the first time I remember several bunnies, hamsters, gerbils, lizards, birds, turtles, fish, cats and this same dog the first time around.

April:

April 5th, 2006 at 08:20 pm

This month will have a challenge. We are going on vacation with all kids and grandkids. We hope to come home with the same CC balance we left with (60.00 because we needed an IPass for tolls and didn't want to open our bank account to them) I went through DH closet and discovered all but one pair of pants are too small. (He has gained some of what he lost over the last two years) Unfortunately I can't just say well no clothes till you lose it and I can't get that size at thrift stores or goodwill so we are going clothes shopping. I was going to do a major amount of baking before we leave but decided to save the money (and calories).My sharebuilder account was added to yesterday (first Tuesday of every month) which makes me feel good. I paid the bills online yesterday which is nice and isn't. On one hand it is more accurate but on the other still seems like play money because I am not filling out checks. Oh well. Our budget has been met for another two weeks. We have meat in the freezer from our last share pick up that we didn't eat due to lent and we will have a pick up while we are gone (Thank God for nice people who have freezers, I'd hate to miss that savings) So our grocery bill will be radically down for the rest of April, which is good since our travels take us to several major shopping districts that I am not normally near. No I'm not compulsive but there are several things we do without until we get to a "big" city (real city) and then we need to stock up or do Christmas shopping, depending on what is on sale.

April showers and May flowers

April 4th, 2006 at 10:57 pm

I think it will take until after May (at least of this year) to see some flowering in our budget. I am now paying medical bills and we just went to the doctor yesterday again. Of course that was the only doctor we had almost paid off. Someday I want to pay bills and not have any continuing charges for next month. Since we paid off the CC last month we of course have residual interest to pay off this month. On a positive note, our case study should be done in the next week or two, just waiting for recs to come back in the mail. Our plans for Pittsburgh are going well. It will cost a bit but we need a break and it will be awesome to see all the kids and grandkids at once. Not to mention the newest arrival. Now if we can just get everyone healthy. I have been thinking about the car and van payments and I really wnat to start adding to them. The money I am paying the doctors would have been nice but oh well, guess it would be more expensive if I hadn't let them work on me. (DH would be pricing child care and funerals)

Oh Good Grief You got me!!

April 3rd, 2006 at 01:46 am

I don't remember the last time I was fooled. I don't even remember the last time I was surprised! On Saturday morning (very early) I was online about to go to this site. My cell phone rang and as I talked to my caller the home page came up. I was startled to see the sold article and read the headline outloud. Caller was outraged as was I and went online to read the whole article while I went on to look up what the call was about. We talked and commented (none of which was complimentary to the site owners!) for a bit and then I had to leave. My DH and I,who as far as I know has never been on the site, and I ranted, I mean discussed. this turn of events in the car as well. A couple hours later I had another phone call from the same person. It seems that the next person to find out in our private chain had the presence of mind to check out the new "owners" Of the three of us who know each other and frequent the site only one checked things out all the way. I hate to admit it but the level headed one is male. As I said I don't remember the last time anyone fooled me like that. Thanks for the good laugh and boy are we relieved!