mom-from-missouri's Journal

Today I found 2 consignment stores-they are 2 doors down from each other. They wernt open yet, but tomorrow when I go to town I will make it a point to go after 10 a.m. to check them out. One is kids stuff, and the other womens. As I unpack from the move, I have been putting outgrown clothes in boxes. Hopefully I can get some winter stuff sorted out to take in and get some cash back from. I also have at least 2 booster seats to sell that were only used a couple of times. And, somewhere should be some outgrown winter coats.

I picked about 1/3 of the apples in the orchard this morning. I found out I can just drive the truck in, stand in the bed, and reach the entire top of the tree, then just put the apples in the bed and drive the truck up to the kitchen door. Very little climbing and lifting! I plan on making applesauce later tonight- I have the A/C off now, and if I wait till it cools down alittle tonight, I won't have to worry about the kitchen heating up.
I have a job now--I do the aftercare at the girls school. Its from 3:30-5:30 every school day. I am out no gas, as I have to pick up the girls from school anyway (no bus), and it pays almost half of their tution, and I am only gone from the farm 2 hours a day. Pretty good deal if you ask me-plus, I don't have to pay for my girls to be in there with me, I can see to it their homework is done, and have daily contact with their teachers!

Finished painting DD bedroom. Hot passion pink. Needed sunglasses to do it. Have most of her furniture in & set up, but hubby is going to have to help me-accidently put the top bunk on backwards, just need to take it off and flip it, but can't do it myself-too heavy. I called to have someone paint it-they wanted $325-$375. I spent almost $30 on paint, rollers, tape and such. So, I saved around $300. Next daughter wants her room painted hot purple with butterflies...
Decorating is easy. Passion pink wanted hers in horses--easy. Put the saddle rack and saddle in the corner, hung up some blown up photos of the horses, some reins, and recovered her toybox in demim and that fake leather stuff (on clearence, and the demim I had for years and years) I still need to hang the mini blinds (gift from the mother n law) and make her curtains-also out of the denim and fake leather stuff, and her room is finished.
Still have about 200 boxes to unpack in the basement. I think about 1/2 of it will go on ebay. I already sold some stuff on there.

Well, the bf and I finally set a date. I now have 2.5 months to sell my house, sell what I don't need, and move what I am going to keep. The kids items are what I am starting with. All the outside toys that they have outgrown I have sold, except for 2. So far the girls have raised $145 from those items. (I am letting them keep what money we get from toys that were theirs.) That money will go to new outside toys when we get moved to the farmhouse. They are wanting a trampolene, basketball goal and wooden swingset/climber. Their old swingset we will have to sell with the house, as it is too hard to move, and the legs are set in concrete. Their playhouse will be the hardest to move. I quickly went thru their closets once, and removed 4 trashbags of clothes they had outgrown, and sold them for $50. I need to go thru their closets again. I know there are probably another 4 or more trashbags full. They get clothes from older cousins, and are the last of the 'girl line'-so no one left for them to pass them down to. Most of what I have sold so far, I have listed on our local ISP website, under the classified ad section.
I was going to take a load of stuff I plan to keep to his house today, but he called and said not to come up. They are getting about 8 inches of snow. We were afraid I would get snowed in. I have been on vacation all week, and it just would not go over at work if I called in the first day back. (Where I work, they fire people for that).I had thought I would take up my canning supplies, and jars, fist tank, and my sewing stuff. His basement has never been finished (new house) and I am cleaning it, and setting up one area at a time as I take stuff there. First, is the basement bathroom. I need to mud, tape, sand and paint it. Then I have a small antique table I plan to move into it. That will free up some space in my bedroom. Next, There is an area in his basement that I plan to lay stake on. One side I will put my deepfreeze, gas cooking stove and extra refrigerator on, and put in some shelves. this will be my canning and pantry area. Those shelves will be about 14 feet long (sturdy boards and concrete blocks)That will be my pantry area, and hold extra food, canned food, bathroom supplies and holiday decorations. Across from it, I plan on putting some cabinets I have (like bottom kitchen cabinets with a counter top on them) that house all my sewing supplies. The main part of the basement we will put a TV, my diningroom set (for holiday dinner overflows) and my couch, which opens up to a full sized bed, and bookcases, and antique pot bellied stove. He has an antique bar, which came out of a railroad car, and plans to set it up there also (even though we don't drink-but its beautiful wood and can be used for snacks and soda). That will give us an extra family/dining/craft area, and with the sofa bed, and private full bath down there, can double as a guest area. PLUS, since he lives in the middle of no where (really does) and is further north, the electric often goes out. The basement would keep us warmer, and would be more comfy if we have to hide out there during one of the many tornados that we tend to have here.
Hopefully tonight yet, I can go thru the twins dressers and closets one more time and clear out some more clothes. I have been doing laundry all day since church, and pulling out all the size 6 and 6x as I go along. I am not sure if I will sell these on the internet too, or wait for a garage sale. I have 2 weeks off in April, that I could have a sale in. My last day to work will be the end of May or first of June, so I have to use all my vacation days by then, or I lose them.
After that, I get to become a stay at home farm wife/mom. Big garden, chickens, going to add more cows, some pigs, ducks, geese, turkeys, sheep--all of it.

Today was my day off. I spent the day doing some deep cleaning and decluttering. Then I listed a ton of stuff on our local classified website and several things have already been sold-not bad for the first day. Made about $80 just today, and still have another $120 listed.

I posted my house for sale on 3 different websites on Saturday and Sunday. This is only Monday, and I already have 2 responses. This may move faster than I thought it would. Plan is sell my house by the end of school, get married and move. Then I get to become a stay at home mom-farm wife. I'm excited, its what I have always wanted to do and who I have wanted to do it with. I have already started going thru the house, planning on going thru 1 room at a time-cleaning and packing. Right now I am planning on just packing stuff to sell. As friends have garage sales, I can put stuff in them, until I have my own.

Well, I thought I had done real good all year long by throwing all receipts & tax related items into a box labeled taxes. I did my taxes myself using "Turbo Tax" and was very pleased with the results. I mailed them off on Moday. Now that I am cleaning up the office area, I find 3 more receipts, medical, that I should have claimed. So, I just finished redoing my taxes (which was easy, since the forms are saved on my computer and I only had to update them). It is giving me back another $160 between state and federal, so it was worth the time I took to redo them. I just remailed my ammended taxes....I am now down to 1 small file left to file away and a clean desk and drawers!!

Today is my day off, and I am spending it cleaning and reorganizing my office. My file doors were so full that I had papers to be filed that were in laundry baskets, because they wont fit in the file drawers. So, I have gone thru the files, burned some stuff and given some to my hamisters (they shred it and I don't have to pay for a paper shredder--how frugal is that??). When everything is done, it should fit in the file drawers. I also set up a large (biggest I could find) 3 ring notebook binder for each member of the family. Each one of us has an ING account, savings account at 2 different credit unions, and a mutual fund account. I also have a couple more-retirement and IRA accounts. Each person now has their own notebook, and they are divided into sections. When we get those monthly statements, I use my 3 hole puncher to put in holes, and then put them in the persons book, behind the tab for that account, with the oldest in the back. My girls seem to have more money than I thought they did. All their baby money and most of their birthday money has gone into their credit union savings accounts. It is starting to add up now. Ideally, I would like them to use one account for college, and have the other for when they get their first home. Just getting all those files for 4+ accounts per person out of the file drawer freed up a lot of room. Some of the older stuff that I don't need, but don't want to get rid of, I will box and move to the attic. So far, I have found 4 savings bonds, coupons for a free bag of chips, and some change on my desk and in the bottom of drawers.

Little Miss is back in school again & I am back to work. I sold some stock that carried us thru the months I was not working. Now I get to buy it back up again-(its an option at work), but the good part is, when I sold it back in Dec, it was worth a lot more than it is now. I will start my option to buy more in March. It also helped by cashing in some of my free gift cards I had from mypoints. I had several for walmart, which I used for gas (and saved 3 cents a gallon at the pump also by using them). If anyone wants info on my points, just let me know & I will send you an invite. Basically I read ads they send me and get points for it-then the points I can convert to gift cards from major companies, such as JCPenney, Red Lobster, Target, Walmart...
I have been pretty tight with the cash since we have been back but I think we will make it. Had a cold snap, which didnt help the heat bill any, but it only lasted a few days, and I burned wood some too. Since I keep the pantry and deep freeze stocked, the only groceries we will need to buy for probably the next month will be milk and eggs.

Am finally back, been gone with a sick little one. I have missed work, without pay, so I am really going to have to be frugal now. Today, I called and dropped the caller ID, the extra dish receiver, and dropped the extra channels on the dish-I am back to having just the local channels for $5 a month. I tried a TV antenna before, and they just don't work at my location. I would drop it all together, but the oldest often needs to watch the news for school homework, and I also like the extra channels as we are going to be in tornado season again here in a few weeks. I am debating if I want to drop the DSL back to basic internet or not. Before I did some work for a work at home company that required DSL. If I can get back on with them, I will keep it. If not, I will drop it. Since I do work for the phone company I do get a discount on it. But, what I did today will save me $37 a month. Not a lot, but thats a weeks worth of gas for me. I have been trying to think of what else I can cut out, but I think I am pretty much at bare bones now. The last few months completely ate up my savings again, so I will have to built that back up again.

ING called and left a message today while I was at work. They said the refinance stuff is almost done, and I should be getting paperwork one day next week to sign. That will save me about $257 a month. Yee ha! I am paying over 9% insterst now, and will be locked in with ING at almost 5%.

Spent no money today. I think so far this month I have only run the clothes dryer 3 times, and I have not used the commerical car wash in probably 2 months. (I've washed it by hand with the bucket--about 10 gallons each time, plus a little more from the hose to rinse it off). I will have to buy gas tomorrow, as DD #2 has a dr appt in the city--about 147 miles round trip. Got a bunch of odd jobs done around the house over the weekend, that my friend helped me with. This probably saved me about $250 for not having to pay a handyman.

Weird. I made an entry yesterday, but its not here today. Spent nothing today, but will have to later tonight. Somehow one of our elves, "not me" and "I don't know" dumped the last 2 rolls of toilet paper in the wet tub-so, will be going on a TP run.

I also have a male friend, who is coming up tonight to do some "honey-do's" for me. I may need to buy some materials or tools for that. We kind of trade off work. When he goes and gets hay, he has to have a flasher, so I do that for him and help him with gardening and yard work. For some of you....a flasher is not that kind of flasher. Its the truck behind the oversized hay trailer & tractor with the flashing lights on...gee, get your minds out of the gutters...

Got some m-m's out of the machine at work. I've been bad-2nd day in a row. Other than that, no money spent. Tomorrow though, I will need to get gas (its down to $2.56 a gallon now), and renew the twins girl scouts for this year, at $25 per girl. Its also their turn to take snacks to scouts, and I need to buy some cereal, as somebody snuck into it and spilled a bunch of it (one of those short people that live in my house named "not me" and "i don't know".) But, after that, should be no more money spent till Thursday when a couple of bills come out of my checking account.
If the weather holds, next week I have workmen coming to tear down my sunroom, and rebuild it. A storm damaged it, it leaks badily now, and is starting to get rot. The first snow will take in the roof, and since 3 of the walls are glass, best fix it now, so those walls are not broken. I think it will take around $2000 to do all that, and I also have a list of other jobs for them as well. I have 3 doors I want replaced--just the doors, not the frames. 2 years ago I replaced the windows with energy eff ones. But did not do the doors. So, now I want the doors done. If it is anything like the windows, they will pay for themselves the first winter, exp 2 of them on the north and west sides.

Had to have popcorn. Was craving it like crazy, so I bowed down before the mighty vending machine. Could have gotten 4 of them for that price at Aldi's. Did have some at my desk, but ate the last of it and forgot to bring in more....

I finally got the quick claim deed from my ex, and refinanced the house today. I went with refinancing it thru ING. Very very simple process, at 1.5% lower interest than the bank, and the closing costs were only $1162-the bank wanted $3572 to close. It will bring my payments down to about 1/3 of what I am paying now, but, I can pay extra principal (to equal what I am currently paying now) and have it paid off in about 7 years. I can't believe the savings in the interest. My current mortage was over 9%. I spent only $25 today, on gas. Stayed out of the vending machines all day at work. I will have to go to the store tomorrow--need to get a bug bomb-found some critters in the house that I don't want...

I spent no money today! Yee Ha. Yesterday, I spent $38 on lunch items. If I did my figuring right, I have enough stuff for school lunchs for 5 weeks with that shopping trip. That also included buying 3 containers which will actually fit in the girls lunch boxes-they are round TV dinner type rubbermaid containers. The lids on them are tight. I refused to use non-disposable lunch containers, except for zip lock baggies, which my girls bring back home, and I wash and reuse and reuse. I also reuse their juice bottles over and over. When we run out--after awhile they do seem to disappear, or the dishwasher melts them if they fall thru, I buy them store bought juice again, just to get the bottles. Seems silly, but it is cheaper than buying just the juice containers. I make their juice up (or milk) the night before, then freeze. Then, the frozen bottle acts like an icepack for their lunch. Also bought the Sunday paper yesterday--lots of good coupons in there that I can use at Dollar General, and about get my items for free, since their prices are so low.

Today was a no spend day. Actually, I guess I even saved some money. I hand washed the truck in the driveway (cheapest car wash in town is $6 now) and trimmed the girls bangs myself--3 X $4, so guess I came out $18 ahead for today.
Tomorrow I will have to have the kids in afterschool care, for a total of $15, but I guess it isn't that bad, as tomorrow is 8 hours of overtime (mandatory, due to Katrina). This is my 2nd day of mandatory overtime this week, in addition I also worked Sunday (scheduled) at time and a half, plus the holiday. So, my pay for this week is about an extra $700 before taxes. This week and next week will be on the same check, and next week I will have a day off to take daughter #2 to the dr, so it will help even it back down some.

Got money in the mail today. One was a postcard telling me my walgreens card had been credited with $14 from rebates (basically, since they were on sale, had rebates & i had coupons, I made money on the items for the rebates), and also got a rebate for $7 from propane gas I got for the BBQ grill.
My parents (who live in the country) have a creek that runs thru their property with lots of big rocks. I think I am going to get a bunch of those rocks out of the creek, and make a fire pit in the yard. We can use it to cook out over this summer and fall. My plan is to dig a circle (about 3 foot accross), layer some sand or gravel, and circle the circle with the big rocks. Then, just put in the wood and roast the marshmellows. Cheap fun!!

Went to the local consignment store. No snow boots and no socks. Will hit payless for the socks later today. Did get the list of what she is accepting at the consignment store, and will get some things that the kids have outgrown ready to take in. Last year I did it steadly for awhile, and averaged $12 a week, and much easier than a garage sale!

only money spent today was on gas-glad i got it here locally and when i did, because i went to the city this afternoon, and it was about 20 cents a gallon higher. i have been pretty fugal this month. have only used the dryer once-(fell asleep and forgot to put the school uniforms on hangers before going to bed). i have packed the kids lunches every day for school, bought new uniforms off of ebay for as cheap as 99 cents a peice-as opposed to buying them new for $20. i will have to spend some money tomorrow-seems the twins suddenly outgrew their socks. I always buy shoes 1/2 or 1 size bigger when payless has their buy one pair, get the second pair for 1 cent or 1/2 off sale, so shoe wise they are fine (plus the have the 2 older girls shoes that are outgrown to go to also), but all of a sudden, socks don't fit.
I did bid, and win on a winter coat for one of the girls--from ebay. After paying the shipping, it came to just under $7. I still have to get daughter #2 to try on her winter coat from last year, to see if it will fit. I have learned, that this is the time of the year to get them-they are cheaper than in the winter. I am still hunting for 3 pairs of winter boots. I refuse to buy them at the shoe store, or walmart for $25 a pair, and then if it doesnt snow, they dont need them.

First day of school. After school I took the kids to get ice cream as a treat. Spent around $11. Not bad for 5 kids and me considering the amount of the servings. We only ate half, and the rest is back in our freezer. I think it will be a good year, school wise. My neice and nephew just changed to the same school my kids are at. We can do some car pooling, and save on childcare if we can work some opposite shifts. If I can get them all there, one of them can pick them up. My problem is after school care ends at 6pm, and I often work till 6pm, meaning by the time I can get to school, it is 6:15. But, we are working on it, and with grandma's help, I think we can get it all covered without having to pay too much childcare.
I think I am going to start going thru the house and listing things on ebay to do some decluttering. I know Jeffery has his chalange (never could spell that word) but I was thinking of asking how many people could declutter and make $100 on ebay.....

spent nothing today-well, a $16 bill came out of my checking account (auto deduct), but that was it. I have been keeping a container of powered drink mix at my desk. That keeps me out of the pop machine. went to walmart and walgreens last night. drove it-went there and back-its only 1.8 miles round trip, and i have to drive it--stupid. but, i cant cross 2 major highways on foot, esp with 3 small children. spent $45 at walmart last night, then recharged $25 on my walmart gift card so it will be ready to go the next time i am at the gas pump. i usually try to put $10-$25 on it each time i go into the store, so when i get gas i dont have to go in first to pay, then back out to pump. most of the money i spent on school uniform shirts (1 new one for each daughter) and underwear for the oldest. weird, growth thing-they fit last week, and don't this week. thats the nice thing about a school with uniforms. (we just changed uniforms to walmart's) $16 for a skort and $11 for the shirts. They can wear the same one every day-cheaper than buying tons of school clothes. grandma got each of the girls 1 skort and 1 jumper and a sweater for their birthdays, and i got them each 1 skort off of ebay (for about 99 cents each plus $3.95 shipping-they were brand new, still had the tags-so if they had not fit, i could have exchanged them at my local walmart for a correct size!), and a new shirt each. that should hold them for school clothes for the entire school year and well-till they outgrow them. also, we can resell outgrown uniforms to underclassmen, and buy from upper classmen--my friend just spent over $400 on her daughters school clothes (no uniforms)

Well, first I opened my ING account, with an invite from a savingadvice.com poster. She made $10 for referring me, and I got $25 for opening my account. Then I opened up an account for daughter #1. Since I referred daughter #1, I made $10 for inviting her, and she got $25 for opening an account. This week, after payday, I will open and account for daughter #2 and daughter #3. I also set it up so that I have $5 from my hometown banking account go into each of the ING accounts monthly. I split it out, so that mine comes out the 7th, the $5 for daughter $1 comes out the 14th, then I will do the 21 and 28th of the month for the other 2 daughters--that way it is $5 a week. (Basically, if I work 30 minutes of overtime a month, that will cover it all). It would be nice if I could get 1 referral a month--thats an extra $120 a year. Thats..........almost a tank of gas!!!!! We are just about 2 cents from paying $3 a gallon. And, I have a 48 gallon tank. Ugh. I stil live in town, so am looking into doing some more walking. In a bit I have to run errands, but have already planned my route. While i am in Walmart, I plan to recharge my Walmart card so I can get the 3 cents a gallon discount. Thats a $1.44 a tankful, or an extra 1/2 gallon of liquid gold free. I also always tip and drain the gas hose before I fill (to get what the last guy left in the hose, and after I fill up-to get what I paid for in full. I read somewhere that there can be an extra 1/4 to 1/2 cup of fuel in the hose at the gas pump. Tomorrow and Tuesday morning the girls will be at their dads, so I can walk to work. Its only 4 blocks, but, thats also 3 stop signs. I'd walk more often, but its uphill, and all my errands I run on my lunch hour are the opposite direction and too far to walk. Also, once school starts, I drive past work on my way back into town from their school.

After work today I took the girls to Dairy Queen. It is the week of their anniversiry, so for 1 hour the prices were rolled back to the day the opened. We each got a large dipped cone for .29 each. They store is not advertising what hour of the day will have the rolled back prices (once a day for a week), but we got lucky. Was almost 100 today, and it felt good to have a cold treat.
Today was supposed to be my last day for 2 weeks, due to vacation. However, the caller ID looks like they are trying to call me into work. I did not check the machine yet to see if they left me a message. I might consider going in for 4 hours tomorrow afternoon (Sunday pay plus vacation pay....would be 3 times the hourly rate, so close to $75 for 4 hours work) but I am not interested in anything more than that. I need a break from that place.
One of my coworkers just got back from Vegas. She and her family were there a week, and lost over $15,000. She acts like it is no big deal. Her husband makes over $40 an hour, she makes close to $25 and hour, their kids are married and gone, and they can't make ends meet. 2 adults, and the have 4 vehicles between them, 2 boats and a house that is more like a castle. And, they live from paycheck to paycheck. She doesn't seem to think the gambling has anything to do with it. Every weekend they go the the casinos, and get a hotel room there. Sometimes she goes directly there from work on Friday nights, and comes directly back to the office on Monday mornings (wearing the same clothes)--without having been home--but, no her gambling is not an issue.....

Well, I ended up getting the shed AKA playhouse. I got the regular shed type-the no frills cheaper model, and we are making minor changes ourself to make it into a playhouse. The girls have already moved their kitchen set and babydoll stuff, as well as a bookcase out to it. They spent most of the day outside in it. It is 10X12. I am glad I got it. I think it will help the house to sell quicker, as it sure improved the look of the game room and their bedroom (decluttered). 2 people came and looked at the house today. One asked me if the playhouse came with the house. (it just got delivered today-and I told her so) I told her only if she wanted to pay full price for it, so we could get another one at the new location (where ever that may me). She said that sounded fair. It also really dresses up the yard and play area. They did not charge me a delivery or setup fee, and it ended up being about $300 cheaper than he orginally told me. Seems this was one they started for someone else who changed their mind. So, I did good.
Got another hospital bill and insurance statement today in the mail for daughter #2. The insurance is paying more than I thought they would towards her sickness. That leaves me with about a $500 bill as of now, with almost half of still pending with the insurance company. I have my nest egg built back up to almost what it was before I had to take off with her being sick (which, would have been more if I had not bought the playhouse-but, you know, they are only kids once-and since I almost lost one of them, I could care less about the price--they are all here and alive and healthy enough to play in it!!!). But, I have decided I am going to make that emergency next egg much larger this time.
Also, my paychecks have now gone up about $250 a month. My company is merging with another telecommunications company, so they have stopped our employee stock purchase plan until after the merger goes through. I have been very frugal lately-not buying much-only milk and eggs for groceries (still surviving off the pantry, for over a month now-does that tell you how much food was in it?? we aren't even half way through it yet). I have not turned on the A/C unless it is over 90, or the realtor calls to say they are going to show the house. Having seperate A/C-heat pumps for upstairs and downstairs helps too. Of the evening, I can turn it on upstairs to cool off the house, then turn it off and turn on the ceiling fans and open the windows. The bedrooms will stay about 75 all night-which is not bad.

Also went out to eat tonight-first time in a long time we have done that. I get the school saver cards every year, so our meals were buy one get one free, and we went before 4pm when they raise the prices-so, the 4 of us ate for about $9. Not bad, since we had regular dinners (I even had shrimp). I took my own tea bag -ice water is free, tea is $1.49. The tea bag dissolved just fine in cold water.

I think I am about to shift gears, and spend some major bucks on my kids for their birthday. They have always wanted a playhouse, and I went to check them out today. They want about $3,000 for one. But. I can get a larger barn type shed for only $1200. I am seriously considering getting one. When they outgrow it as a playhouse, it will become a garden shed, or a building to put horse tack in.
Inside, the storage barn is the same as the fancy house, except the house has a loft (made of plywood and 2x4) which I can do myself. Since all the girls birthdays are within 3 weeks of each other, I think I will get it, and make it a joint gift for all of them. Then, we can move their kitchen set and some other inside toys out to it. I can insulate it and put up some paneling, and I even have a ceiling fan/light still in the box that I can put in it. I would also probably put in a couple of outlets and windows, and a strip of baseboard heating. I have most of that stuff now, in the storage barn leftover from my current home, so would not be out much more expense to finish it off . I also think I have a peice of carpet (indoor outdoor) that would fit in it.
They have outgrown their playfort, and little tykes house, climber and see-saw. That would give them a nice playhouse and swingset that should last them till they are teens. (A friend of mine did the storage shed playhouse route for her daughter when she was 5, and now the daughter is 16 and still uses it --updated of course, but has a TV and bunk in it for her 'private' time, as well as her own art and sewing studio.

I've been doing real good, staying on the right track with not spending. But, to keep me there, I am going to start keeping a notebook and writing every penny I spend in it, including bills. Then, every week or so, I can go back thru it and put necessary or unncecessary and see what I missed on saving. All I pay is mortgage, utilities and my childrens tution.--Sometimes a sitter. I make good money, but I would like to see more go into savings. My cards are paid in full, and I paid cash for my suburban and RV. I just need to cut out some of the extras for mroe savings. But, I still want to have some fun too-like eat out Tues at Country Kitchen (.99 meals). I am starting my book now, on my lunch hour.

Almost Thursday (30 minutes) and I have not spent anything all week. And, I remembered to take the trash out. I forgot to for the last 2 weeks, and thats a bummer because you pay for it if you use it or not. I started the day off right today, with a 1 hour full body massage. I think that was the last of my gift certificates from my birthday and Christmas. I had held off on using that one, because of the surgeries I had in Nov, Dec and Jan. I was afraid a massage would be painful until today. But, I must say, it felt wonderful. My oldest has been at camp all week, I picked her up today. Her sisters go tomorrow and come back on Friday (their age group is just an over-nighter). Got some housecleaning and organizing done. I cleaned out the pantry and under the sink. I found about 5 cans of carpet cleaner I didn't know I had, and several boxes of pancake mix. My goal is not to buy any grocieries except for milk and bread for the rest of the month. I am still trying to sell my house so we can move to the country, but no way do I want to move the pantry and kitchen cabinet contents. I figure this is a good time to eat thru the inventory and then I can go to aldies and restock up again. Plus, this will help to get out any cans or items that may be getting too old. I am having a taco fit, so may have to break down and go to taco bell tomorrow, but thats ok because it is .49 a taco on Thursdays. I only need 1 for my craving.

Looked at 2 more places today. Neither one was quite what I wanted. How hard can this be? My must haves are: basement, at least 1 fireplace-woodburning, dining room, 4 or more bedrooms, 2 or more bathrooms, and a garage. Must be on at least 5 acres or more. Found 2 decent ones, but no basement. This is tornado country-I must have a basement. Plus, with all the kids and their toys, I also want it for storage/play room. And, when it gets super hot out, or real cold, the basement is more comfortable to sleep in temperture wise to save on the heating and cooling....