Nanamom's thoughts Blog

Several weeks ago I dropped my name into a fishbowl at a bagel place for some stupid drawing or other. I must not have realized what the company was that had put it there. They called yesterday it seems I won the "grand prize" This consists of a total make over and 15 dollars in product from a local home party makeup consultant. When she told me I started laughing. I don't wear makeup. My DH considers it a waste of money (I'm old, can't change what that looks like I guess) I told her I don't wear the stuff and she said that's OK I don't really sell the make up I sell the skin care line. So today at 10 AM I am going to spend $15 of someone else's money on a moisturizer. My skin is super dry, too much astringent when I was a teen I guess. I am looking forward to seeing just how much makeup she doesn't wear when she gets here! After all why go into that line if you didn't have some experience with it?

I have spent today unpacking boxes. I had 3 stacks of boxes waiting for my DH when he came home. He carries the empties to the garage for recycling or saving. During his men's Bible study I unpacked another 2 stacks upstairs in the library. My back hates me right now and I have really had it for the day. My DS2 was very helpful in the morning when I was working and played happily most of the time I did the last two. But I really wasn't up to his running full tilt around after we were done. My DH took pity on me and is reaidng bedtime stories while I veg out in front of the computer for a few minutes. I was really on a roll but I misjudged th esize of a table and ended up with one a foot too long so I can either block a foot of a doorway (it's an arched double doorway) or block a ft of window at the other part of the L. I haven't decided what to do yet. My brain is fried right now so I will wait until another day for the big decision. Anyway I don't plan on being quite so industrious tomorrow but I may get a couple more done.

At the old house I was grateful to have an electric bill around 80.00. We just got the one for this house and I am tickled pink!! It was under 40!!!!!

The cat sat on my lap and I reached out and pulled over a skinny piece of paper to play (torture) her with. She happily grabbed at it with teeth and claws until the large german sheperd that lives here came over and proceeded to do the same thing (teeth not claws) It was a riot. Both of them different species doing the exact same thing. The really bad thing is the dog was better at it than the cat. The cat was smart enough tho to realize if she caught it and then let go I would make it do that wonderful thing again (move) The dog just hung on until I pried his jaws apart and removed it by force. So my question I swas th edog acting like a cat or was the cat acting like a dog? As I type this both are playing under the feet of the blanket my DH is wrapped in. I wonder how he gets any reading done with them doing that!

Part of my no 2 financial goal is done. WE increased our 401K percentage by 2.5 % this year. One small step.....

My SIL and DD gave me an idea on what to do for this challenge. I am going to spend $20.00 on materials for cards. I have lots of stamps and inks and notions. I need to buy the card stock. I have an order in for that which totals $15.68. My dealer charges a couple dollars for the use of her brads, inks etc. I am going to pay myself for the use of that stuff as well. Then I am going to make as many as I can from the materials and try to sell them on ebay. If I can I may try to sell some at a craft fair in the area as well. When the weather warms up that is. The money I will pour back into the "business" and see what happens. I will log it here. I want to see what I can make from the original 20. So far I have:

Seed Money: 20.00
Card Stock: -15.68
Supplies: - 2.00

Total left: 2.32

That should cover ebay fees.

I am being stalked on a daily basis. I never know what corner to be wary of or when the shadows are hiding a lurking form ready to reach out and grab me. My kitten (the one I am allergic to) has discovered the safest place to hide from the dog is under my skirt. I wear skirts all the time, no pants or jeans in my closet. When I wear them ankle length that is fine but when it is only calf length I have a problem. I also have blood dripping down my legs alot! She tends to try to climb into my lap and she is still pretty littel and I am pretty tall. Result is her claws into my skin. She is sweet. She really is, but at night she sleeps as close to my head as I will let her. Her preference is on my head but I have limits. She tends to wait until I am asleep to make her move of course. Then if I don't move her to a better place to sleep (in my opinion) she takes pieces of my hair in her mouth and pulls until I am tempted to see if she really will land on her feet! She has discovered that on weekends nothing she does will get me up out of bed at the time she prefers (before 6 AM) so she goes to my DH room and plays outside his door until she wakes him up. That of course has the desired effect (at least hers) She tries the same trick at night to get me to go upstairs in the hopes I will go to bed so she can curl up on or near my head and ....

I was amazed that an old lady like me could move as fast as I did this morning when my DS2 looked at me in church and said"I need to throw up in the potty" He was in my arms because I knew he was a bit under the weather from catching a cold from our GK while in GA but didn't expect this. I ran for the foyer bathroom and someone was in it. I turned 90 degrees and ran for the crying room bathroom which thankfully was empty. I even had time to think as I ran what an awesome 3 year old he is to tell me. He didn't "frow up" but gagged a bit. I poked my head out of the room and found our pastor's eyes glued to the door he went and found DH and we went home. DS2 ate lunch and has been sleeping ever since. Unfortunately that means he will be up late but he needs the rest right now and I can probably stand to be up a bit tonight with him.
Our grandkids are awesome and we didn't get nearly enough time to hold, hug and spoil as I would have liked but at least we got to do a couple fun things with them.

My DH has been looking up lots of "caches" along our travels and we all went along for the ride on Saturday. We pulled into a tiny park and a police car was just leaving. He flagged us down and when we pulled up to his window told us the park was closed for the season. I was amazed to hear my law abiding DH say "Can I go in anyway?" from the look on the policemans face I was not the only one surprised. He quietly explained that he wanted to look up a cache. After a short explaination of what the heck we were talking about I guess he decided we were harmless cause he let us go look. About 15 minutes later DH came back up the hill covered in mud with a happy grin. Seems there was this women who didn't like her husbands watch so she attached a travel bug ot it and put it in a cache in PA and asked that it be removed to another far away place. We are taking it to WI.
A travel bug is a dog tag that you put in a cache and someone picks it and moves it to another one. Some of them have specific requests or destinations in mind. We picked up one in WI that wanted to get to NC Cool, we could do that. Along the way it wanted pictures of diabetics having fun. We took a picture of two nieces that are juvenile diabetics making ice cream with a ball. Another wanted to be pictured with fire stations. We took a picture of it with a grocery store shopping cart shaped like a fire truck and standing beside th estate fire memorial in WI. It is a clifford toy attached to the bug. We are going to a Fire Hall tomorrow. The other one is a pirate who wants to get to Spain. We are taking it to the East Coast area which is th ebest we can do. We've decided to get a couple of our own. Maybe I should get one and have people taking its picture with ways to save money!!! I could attach a penny to it!

Does that sound backwards to anyone? I was visiting with my DD and SIL and asked what I could do for the $20 challenge. They came up with something that I am going to try. I am going to see if I can make my hobby into a bit of cash. So I will get some raw materials and get started, but first I am going to enjoy more time as Nana.

I am taking the challenge this year. I have to decide what to do but I am doing it! The trip East comes first, and then we are off. I'll keep a running total with all ups and downs on this blog in a 20 category. So far I am checking out where to buy lots to resell.

We still have the 2005 van (and the payment) but we have gotton rid of the car. A former co worker was in big trouble transportation wise and I mentioned we were going to get rid of the car and would do it now if someone wanted to pay off the balance. She jumped at the chance and our car is now at her house. I have to finish the payments (she gave me the money for that) and transfer title so am retaining the insurance on it until that is done but the car is as far as we are concerned sold. That money (from what we were paying) is going to go straight into savings, some for vacation, some for EF, and some for paying off the house faster.

For Christmas this year I gave DH a GPS unit. He had expressed an interest in going geocaching and was drooling over the units. I found one that was an acceptable price that seemed to have all the bells and whistles one could desire and the ability to be updated. Little did I know how consuming a hobby this can be. He took our loaner son out while he was here and they walked around the neighborhood finding secret hiding places. We first had to go get little "things" to replace whatever little thing he took out of the cache. He came home elated that he had found a "bug" This bug wanted to go west and we are going east so he returned it to a cache in the local area slightly west of where he found it. Today we took loaner son to the capitol to catch a bus and lo an dbehold he had found online 4 location of a cache. We came home with 3 different bugs that we are going to take to the east and hopefully deposit in a cache somewhere there. He is hoping to take the pirate one that wants to get to Spain to NC and have one of our GS help him deposit it in a local park. One of them needs its picture taken with local fire trucks and originated in PA three or 4 years ago so it will either be left here in one or taken to another state along the way. We also had to order 4 bugs of our own to start on their way. One is going to be a homeschooling bug. It really is a cute idea but I don't think I have that much time! Some people give coordinates of three or more places and the cache is in the center of them. Beats video games though!

Now seems to be the time to write goals, both real concrete ones and wish ones.

Concrete Ones: Financial

1. EF is currently way way low. By the end of 2007 I plan to have it up to one month's take home.

2. Increase the 401K percentage by 2.5 percent in January and in July as we did this year.

3. Increase our Tithe by a percent in August as usual.

4. Pay off the medical bills from January 2006 (that will take alot.) Right now we pay 50 a month on 4 bills. At this rate if I add what I was paying to the next payment I will accomplish this.

5. Pay off the IRS bill we weren't expecting. (will come mostly from the tax return)

6. Save for the next trip east so it is paid for beforehand.

7. Continue college fund for DS2

Concrete Health

1. Find a source for non hormone induced dairy products, and a local source for eggs.

2. Continue to only have one can of soda a week and several bottles of water a day

3. Continue Vegie diet, increasing methods of food preparation to give variety to meals

4. Use more whole grains and healthy foods, less sugar

5. Lose weight, about 40 #

6. Radically limit our eating out unless on a road trip and even then pack food.

7. Walk somewhere every week increasing to 3 times a week.

Concrete Personal:

1. Start studying for ordination with Wesleyan church

2. Continue meeting with Pastor of church and improving understanding and insight

3. Be more open and friendlier with those I love as well as those I am developing a rapore with.

4. Lose weight (40 # or so)Figured it was worth repeating!!

5. Get the house unpacked and straightened out.

6. Read less fiction and more Theology books.

7. Become more organized and efficient.

Concrete Parenting:

1. Have more kids

2. Help DS2 learn to share better and be polite.

3. Continue playgroup and find other opportunities for him to practice the above skills

4. Have a more organized plan with more variety in his school work

5. Instill a love for nature and God's creation in our children.

6. Teach them good nutrician habits and exercise.

7. Teach them good money management skills.

Concrete goals House:

1. Make all curtains for the house

2. Paint the downstairs rooms

3. Decorate walls upstairs

4. Redo the roof on the garage and fix the doors

5. Make the yard and driveway less of a swamp.

6. Put up a backyard play set.

7. Fence the backyard so the dog can run free.

Now for the wish list!!!

1. Become more active in the church.

2. Get my Veggie Tales business off the ground and going on a supervisor level.

3. Make everything fresh or from scratch

4. Sew something for each person on my Christmas list.

5. Finish my thesis and last course and get my Masters of Divinity.

6. Go on a family missions trip.

7. Keep the house neat and clean.

The title really says it all, I am cold (heat down to 62 right now which is 2 up from usual) tired, DS2 getting up way to early due to disrupted routine and tired fo feeling that way! in other words I am whining! To top it off I still have boxes and I haven't unpacked any of them today. I have to go to the old house and finish cleaning it so we can get out deposit back. Did I mention I was tired?

Our LS surprised us intensely. He got married in Las Vegas this month! I think this girl is good for him, he has stopped telling us how unhealthy we eat and started asking for cheese and crackers. He's becoming Americanized! He's still slim and healthy but has given up the protien bars are better than real food attitude. Of course he was horrified when he found out we are Vegetarians but has gallently tried each pseudo meat dish I have presented him with. I in turn has kindly granted him one meat meal a day (yesterday I bought him KFC) We just don't let him eat it around DS2!! Brian i sa bit evangelistic in his no meat routine, he tells people that is is killing animals and he doesn't want to do that. I have to work on that before we go see grandchildren or my kids will kill me!!!!

This morning my day started very early! My DS2 was up before the birds asking to get in our bed. This is rather unusaul but it has been busy lately and his routine is obliderated. Our loaner son i sstaying here for a few days and is sleeping in his room so he is on a mattress on our floor. I let him come in and he proceeded to cry and beg me to get up and cuddle him. I finally got him to explain that he dreamed he'd "fallen down the stairs and broken his body" Since then he has happily gone up and down them a few times but boy it was early!!! Maybe that means an early nap? Of course not nor Mom since by then LS will be awake but I can dream!

I got a present on Christmas Eve that was totally unexpected. Our "loaner son" called and said he wanted to spend vacation with us. He got on a bus very early the next morning and arrived in the next town (2 hour drive) around 7 PM. It was wonderful to see him after a year and a half. Our DS2 was overjoyed to see his "big brother" again. My DIL called and had all the kids yell Merry Christmas to us which was wonderful and we called our DD that afternoon and got to talk to 2 of the GKs. We'll go see them shortly after the new year. I can hardly wait. I love where we live and am delighted that we've found a nice church family but oh I miss my kids and grandkids. However, this is where the Lord provided a job so here we must stay.

WE have been in the new house for 6 days and I am still not unpacked. OK OK I can see some of you are laughing your heads off at that statement, as would I be if it weren't me making it. One of the boxes we moved had never been unpacked in the old house ( 3 years there) But this is different (no I don't know how but it is!) The first 24 hours I had DS2's room done, DH and I done (clothes in boxes, don't own a dresser), th eplayroom done an dth eliving room done (boxes in corner by stairs to go somewhere else. So I only have the dining room , kitchen and library plus a couple cupboards and curtains to make. 4 days later I still have to finish the kitchen (lots is done now) dining room (again some done) and the library (one bookcase done) WE won't discuss the cupboards or curtains. I am frustrated. DH is making progress in finishing moving everything out of the old house and I realize that is part of my problem, I no sooner get a pile of boxes finished than he goes and puts more in the same spot. DS2 being up all night vomiting didn't help. The problem has altered, now he's got a GI problem. Not sure which is worse but he thinks vomiting is yucky with a capitol Y, and he doesn't have to clean up after himself. This is not a good time of year to move, I still can't find the Christmas cards, they'll be very late. They are or were ready to go until the move. I thought I marked that box! I did find almost all of the Christmas stuff. I can't find DS1's present but have until th e5th of January to locate it. Hopefully we will have a nice neat house by then. I am also frustrated by our finances. WE will be ahead but not for awhile. Buying this place and having to replace the van in the same 4 days almost depleted our EF since we had to do a bit of fixing up but it increased our net worth since we have home equity now. The car has one more payment after the scheduled one and then we can sell it so we are hoping to be ahead after we pay for our trip East to see grandkids. It will be shorter than usual this time which we both hate but at least we'll get to see them for a bit. Only 24 to 30 hours at each house though.

My little one just told me it is yucky to throw up. He's right. It's also yucky to clean up after said experience! Hopefully this is the last time tonight (2 episodes both quite well.... yucky) anyway I love to cuddle him but wish it was for a different reason!

DH stayed home today to help pack. i have lots more to do and a little one sleeping so I am afraid to do it. Actually I have 2 sleeping, DH and DS2. Oh Well, guess it'll get done. Thank God we aren't going far, whatever doesn't get packed can be done next week, and I can clean this place then also.

I feel like I've been packing for months!! Actually I have been packing for 2 months! I am planning on finishing on Friday (tomorrow) and the big move is on Saturday. I have been budgetting what we can fix now and what has to wait. So far paint is waiting even though it is relatively cheap. We had to fix windows (so far almost 200) and plumbing (500) and get curtain material (150) I have to see how much more the windows will cost for screens and labor but then can rebudget and save for rugs and paint to make it look better. WE are being careful to not use credit cards to get done NOW. WE'd rather wait and do it a bit at a time. For the trip East we plan on making a list of what we need and prioritizing it so we know how much to save each month. I figure my kitchen makeover will be in a few years since I plan to do the whole thing from floor to cabinets to appliances all over.

I keep trying to think potential. I have a clean OK I have a dirty slate to work with. First I clean the house, then I clean it again. Then I get busy making it our house. Unfortunately all I can see right now is the dirt and all I can think about is how on earth I will get everything done. My pressure is soaring. My boxes are still unpacked and I am drowning in things to do.

We are now homeowners (again for me 1st times for DH. We hit a small snag when doing paperwork but it all worked out in the end. Now all I have to do is clean it (yuck) and paint and do windows in several rooms and sew curtains and buy/install rugs and make a bannister and decorate and get dressers (rental had built ins) and replace 2 toilets and replace the shower mechanism and fence the yard and... and... Does it ever stop? We will be doing a little at a time since we are now broke! I can't believe we bought a van on Friday and a house on Monday. This has been an interesting week an dI refuse to add to the forum on "what did you spend today" today!!!!

You may find out! Yesterday I was concerned about the fact that my oven doesn't work any more. Today we had a 9 AM appointment to do a walk through at the house we are buying. On the way I noticed that the car is running a bit rough. I took it to th edealers because no one else had time to look at it today and I had a 3 hour drive to make tomorrow. It seems that my engine needs to be replaced. A new one is almost 4000.00!!! I dont' know anyone who rebuilds engines. I called my husband at work and told him I needed him to come over so we could figure out what to do. We decided on three choices. Thake the thing home and park it and drive the car which would need 4 new tires and a brake job in order to have us use it full time. (we pay it off in 2 months and were planning on selling or donating it since the new house is within a mile of work.) That choice would mean we rented a car anytime we took a long trip East to see kids since the car has 107,000 miles on it. Choice 2 is trade it in and buy another van since we need the space. Choice 3 is use a credit card to have th ecar repaired. Neither of us liked choice 3, choice 1 concerned us since we would still have to pay payments and insurance on the van as it sat in th edriveway and we weren't sure when we would be able to have it fixed. So we decided to explore choice 2. We talked to the dealer where we bought it and he offered us 4000 dollars as a trade in. We owe 9500. That didnt' work for either of us especially since we couldn't finance the difference along with the price of the van we were looking at. At another dealer they offered us 7500 for the van after finding out the extent of its problems. They also told us what happened, seems there is a gasket that rots and lets fluid into places it shoudn't be which then destroys some sort of rod an dbearing or something like that. We agreed on a van and then saw the price. My DH said if they'd drop the price 4000 we'd buy it. They cringed and offered (40 minutes later) 1500 off and DH said yes. Hours later I was wondering what was taking so long and getting very nervous since I had 11 people coming over for dinner in a couple hours. They finally told us that the financing problems were because the company didn't want to finance the car for that amount with the extra from the last loan. I was releived since I was afraid our credit had gotton messed up somehow. Anyway they had to give us a 11500 trade in allowance, 2000 more than we owed!!!Our payments will be higher but not as high as we thought. God is so good. Not only that I got home in time to have company although I admit we had pizza instead of the dinner I had planned. They had fun and the kids made "gingerbread houses" out of graham crackers after dinner. my 3 year old was in the car dealers from 1130 am to 444 Pm. He was more patient abou tth ewhole thing than I was! Of course he wasn't too concerned about the company coming!!! All in all an interesting day but I guess we are ahead slightly. At least we didn't have to rent a car for out trip tomorrow.

Today the stove that I have been putting up with until we move did the unforgivable. It set off the CO alarm. For months we have been working around the problem that it heated up slowly and not to the temperature you wanted while permeating the house with the intense smell of gas but this is too much. Finally the realtor we rent form agreed with me that we need a new one and they'll work on it. in the meantime I am haivng a dinner party for 13 people tomorrow. NOw What? Anyone know how to cook lasagna in a westinghouse roaster?

Today DS2 and I went to the dollar store for a stocking to send to one of DH coworkers that is stationed in Kuwait. WE found some fun stuff to put in it and when he gets up from nap will get it ready to mail. I should be packing but am not sure where to start. DH is still sick and is watching a movie in bed on his laptop. Oh well if I pack something I need in th enext few weeks I will deal I guess I always do.

Yesterday I packed all kinds of stuff into Avon boxes a friend had given me. I feel like I haven't made a dent in the stuff around the house. This is tough. What can I pack and live without between now and two weeks from now? Wait, it isn't 2 anymore. we actually close on the 11th that's a week from Monday. We move on the 16th. Hopefully I'll be packed by then but if not we can keep at it the house is our responcibility until the end of the month unless they rent it earlier. Expenses related to this are over whelming right now especially when I consider our trip coming up in January. Oh well I guess we'll make it, we always do.

This is done by the seller I am told. I am also told that it is the only thing hanging between us and a closing. We have achieved mortgage. Is that an achievement? I keep telling myself that it is an investment. After the first house I bought cost 25,000 and I sold it for 29,000. The second was 35,000 and I sold it for 39,000 (OK not an improvement but different place and time) So if I buy this at 48,000 I should be able to sell it for more someday, or at least my kids will. I hope! At least I won't be paying a landlord anymore. I can do what we want to do in and out of the house, as long as we can afford it! Our payments will be lower even with the insurance and taxes going to escrow. So we save over $100.00 a month to put into repairs. If all works out according to plan we should have the closing costs covered by the seller, and get some money back to do windows. Our EF (small though it may be will be used if we need to to do that becuase we can't move in until it is done. We'll build it back up ASAP however. Right now the car is slated to be paid off in January at which point we can sell it or give it away. Either way that frees up several hundred between the insurance being cut in half and the car payment being gone. We will be down to one car payment and one mortgage. Our trip East for the holidays may take some credit but we can pay it back as soon as the bill comes in.

Tomorrow I am calling the mortgage company to see if there is anything we can do to get this going. I feel like I am spinning my wheels. I am not sure if I shold pack or not. If I start, where do I start, we need to live until closing and maybe until we find another place. The date on the contract is only 13 days away. Then we need to fix windows (assuming the money is still there to do that) and clean th eplace top to bottom. Not to mention check the plumbing. I also have to decide what if anything to put out for Christmas decorations here and what to not see for a year (I hate that idea, Thanksgiving was a bummer I'd hate to make Christmas that as well)
On another note we found a cool exercise thing. We bought a dance pad and hooked it up to the laptop. It was a valid expense since I can't sell what I haven't shown very well, and I got 50% off of it. We took it to the mall show I set up at on Saturday and had a blast. It plays Veggie Tale tunes (silly songs mostly) and you have to keep up with the directional arrows by stepping on them as they fall down the screen. It has 4 levels and believe me they get harder. The medium is just my speed. It also have an exercise mode that just keeps going and a sing along part as well. We had a blast! My DH is 6'5'' and was dancing at the mall having a great time. He is alot of fun to have around. We let the kids try it and they had a blast too. We decided we'd rather do this than walk on the tread mill!