Frugal week

Stopped at Walgreens and got Hubby vitamins on sale with a coupon and picked up the pic Daughter4's daughter sent me of her in uniform (ROTC, she's 15(turns 16 in July) in her 2nd year of college that she wanted my Daddy to have for his 91 st birthday this week .Told me today she wanted to follow in her Uncle's (Son2)footsteps. I didn't want to tell her she already blowed way past him as he definitely was not in college at 15. 

Stopped at Krogers and got fuel and facial tissues as we were out completely and it counted for my 5th trip (6 trips this month and get $10 digital coupon) Tomorrow I will get bottled water for 209 and milk

April grocery budget is at $208.14 so should be under the budget of $250 with buying the milk and water tomorrow.

Opened the house and turned off furnace on warm days. Opened the  house at 209 to WARM the house as the house is so well insulated that it doesn't allow the heat of the day to warm it up that much either... good and bad on that.

Changed our big meal to lunch and went to eating either leftovers or appetizers/soups for dinner. Hubby was starting to pick back up the weight he had lost and that simple change he had started losing again.We are working hard on 209 and here during the day and pretty come to a stand still at dinner time.

Hubby watched some shows using my Amazon prime.

I have drove Hubby nuts with "is it on sale? Can we wait until it's on sale? Is that the best price we can find?" mode of everything.

I cleared an area at 209 to plant some plants even though I will have to carry water to them if it doesn't rain. I got a lot of plants including herbs for 50% off as with it pushing May most won't care to plant cool weather crops now. 

I mended a pair of jeans for Hubby, a top for Daughter2 and fixed a dress that was given to me.

We used gasbuddy to find the cheapest gas. Used Speedway fuel points that Hubby cashed in for gas and Kroger points that I got with groceries.

We have taken our drinks and a couple times our lunches to 209. If we eat out while there(mostly to get inside some where WARM) we either get the special at the local store or go to the Chinese restuarant during lunch hour which on the cheap side (can't eat at McD's at that price)

Blessed Be

209 update..pics included

Okay... the tractor ordered came in . Hubby already mowed here with it just to make sure it ran decent before hauling it over to 209

We got this used 500 gal tank for diesel fuel for the tractor for less than an used 200 tank was running.

We got this tower for Hubby's Ham Radio antennia and for the tv antennia for less than 1/10th of the going price.

Today Son2 went to Home Depot and bought our flooring for the 2 baths, laundry room and the 2 loft rooms he has claimed when he comes and spends the night.
It is Anderson, Rigid Core Vinyl plank flooring Sterling oak.It has rubber backing so it can be in wet areas also with out adding a extra liner under it.

It worked well for him and us as he needed us to bring our trailer down as he bought a riding lawn mower and wanted advice on a trimmer. We dropped off a small load of odds and ends to Daughter4 since we were in her area.

Hubby said when he went over Saturday that he got all of the temporary fence we had for the dogs down and had a decent start on the section we will be making for the dogs for when we are not at home all day so they aren't cooped up in the house. They will have a nice section of the barn and fenced in area so they aren't out rooming around. Our neighbor is going to have his kids and himself make friends with the dogs so if needed, they could take care of them is something happened.

We got 3 doors put on (not the storm doors yet) Both front doors which we now call kitchen door and front door along with back door is put on.

One of the pleasures of where we moving to is watching the neighbors horses when they are grazing in the field next to us.

 We also watched the truck deliver feed as the neighbor took his wagons down to the road as it's hard for the feed truck to turn around up at the barn. Hubby would have just backed it up the lane so it must have been someone not comfortable with backing up long lanes.

We met with the head contractor to firm up bathrooms as he wanted to upgrade the wheelchair shower since that area is bigger now that it is gutted than what he thought.ALSO he changed the cabinets in the kitchen (again, some more HA HA HA)When he sat down with the onsite head contractor they figured out that I could have a L shape with base cabinets (I am not getting any upper cabinets at all) I had picked out different styles but stayed with Maple coloring. It' looks on the brown side but when we had it in 209 it picked up a red tint to it.

This was my favorite pick. They were talking of making double sided cabinets vs single side and a longer section. I made the limit at 8 ft. in length as lon as I get my dishwasher, sink and 6 ft of work counter I am fine.

Head contractor is now on the onsite head contractor (it can get confusing at times) about not having the electric down, and the plumbing done as he wants to get the painting down before he does the floors and the floors done before he put in cabinets and wants to be done by end of MAY.

Said he wanted to get things on site and Hubby pointed at me and I rattled off what was ON SITE.. I missed buying one light (did that today) and having the last of the paneling for the lofts picked up (waiting for sale or rebate) and the paint chips to him ;he uses Sherwin Williams and they told him for me to take what I wanted into the local one here and they would help me match it so if they can't match it exactly I can chose which way I want to go. I know the colors and shades so that's on the to do list tomorrow.FLooring is on trailer to go over tomorrow with tractor. Hubby is working on area for the dogs again with hope of getting that off the list this week.

Our Amish neighbor stopped over as his wife wanted to know if we were keeping the strawberries or plowing them under( they would have dug them up for themselves)... definitely not plowing them under. He offered to have his girls and wife to take care of them (red clover is thick through them ) and harvest them for us if we would split the harvest 50/50... works for me and since it was his brother that planted them he was willing to share with his brother also.If I can I will also be taking my strawberry plants from here and will be sharing those plants with the neighbor and brother. Very connected community even with part of us being Englishers.Very helpful and the Widow (as they refer to her and she is Englisher like us) told our neighbor she had closed our mailbox a couple times as it was opening back up when the mail lady would pull out. We replaced the mailbox.I left her a thank you note as we seem to be passing each other on the road a lot.

Blessed Be

planning frugal,relearning old habits.

Son2 sent this to me as he was eating it in a motel restuarant ... wanted to know what it cost to fix it at home. I ball parked the apple kale slaw at $1.50 and the eggs benedict around $2. Asked why... they were charging $12.99. with a coffee.I told him they were really charging him for the glass plate he was eating on... He wasn't the one paying for it and he thinks he might try to make it at home for dinner as that was when he was eating it there.

Baby is a 7 cubic ft chest deep freezer

Newbie is 17 cubic ft chest deep freezer

Monty is 27 cubic ft chest deep freezer (Montgomery Ward)

That's so you know what freezer I am talking about.

I cleaned out the second frig freezer and can say it doesn't do me any good to cook and put in freezer if I don't put it in vacuum bags.Things that got shoved on bottom and in back were freezer burnt pretty bad. It's the "odds and ends freezer". So when I transferred what was left to the new frig freezer. I limited it to meat that was going to be ate in next 2 weeks (unless I want beef and that's in Monty). I have my nuts and seeds, cheese and butter now in the freezer of the 2nd frig. Was given 18 lbs of assorted cheeses and 30 lbs of butter from a friend that we have helped  with food off and on.

Cleaned more of  Baby. This one shows what I was eating until I ended up in hospital 3 times in 1 yrs and then not much has been eaten out of it . Tossed all the( 32 bags) corn that was frozen in 4 cup servings (we had 3 in the house at that time) that was now freezer burnt.This coming fall it will be put in 1 cup servings and vacuumed bags.Tossed out ham fat, chicken fat, and some bags that I couldn't read the date or the writing of what it was.Found smoked sausage, the last of the peas and peas and carrots. That should have been put in Newbie(my fruit/veggie/ dessert freezer) Smoked sausage went in the kitchen frig freezer.

I cleared the north strawberry sq foot , saving the straw (in a box Son2 gave me) for 209 gardens/compost. This week is to be in the high 50s-low 60s and nothing in the lows to freeze the plants.

I stayed out of the grocery stores, I stayed out of Menards etc stores. I did shop online at Walmart as our printer died and I have no more ink for it anyways. Microwave is barely workingis making a grinding noise and now taking 2 min to heat up coffee and the toaster just went on the blink and is burning everything... got what we needed and on sale with ship to store so no shipping costs and to all be picked up together.

I car pooled with my girlfriend to go to her soon to be daughter-in-law's bridal shower. Had a great time and good food while learning some of the young lady's past.

We ate dinner at my girlfriend's as she was suppose to have family from out of state stay with them after the shower but they got sick and didn't come at all so they had extra food. They are remodeling their house and was showing me the bathroom they got finished... the flooring was EXACTLY what I have been hunting for.BETTER yet, their bathroom is close to the shade that will be in our wheelchair bathroom so I could see how well the wall color and the flooring went together. ALSO Son2 offered to buy it for us so he can use his discount as a gift for our new home.

Head contractor needs to meet with us to go over some details as a few things got changed (again, some more what ever LOL, got to keep the humor there) and it worked out that we all are free on the same day and NO one had to change anything to meet at the house and we were going to be there anyways working on putting the new doors on and the gardens.

Our French doors are in so we have to pick them up and take them to 209 along with the cook stove that came in and hadn't been taken over yet.

We found an used 500 gal fuel tank, didn't really need that big but the smaller ones were running higher. We need one for the fuel for the tractor as I don't want to cart 50 gal of fuel in my car or have several sitting around the barn for when we need it. Not driving the tractor to town to get fuel LOL.

I am relearning to turn the water off when brushing my teeth, while soaping my hands, saving the water from washing produce etc.... Even though I won't be paying for water and sewage, I do pay for the electric.I don't know how good our well is as there is several other Englisher houses in that area that would be using the same underground water supply. The river is 2 miles from us (we are not in flood zone and are up on a knoll) so we should have good supply.

I organized my seeds by planting time. cold that frost does not affect, cool that frost does affect and summer. Checked what I was low on as I am hoping to plant a fall garden and will need to start seed for that garden as I know that noone in that area sells plants for fall planting.

We checked out the produce auction Friday... not many plants yet and we could tell there price was going to be high as there was more people than plants. So we will check back on Tuesday to see if it's any better. Left empty handed.

This coming weekend is our local community garage sale. I have a list... winter curtains.... small side tables for beds...maybe wood or something I can turn into closets or storage for basement or barn. Railing for the basement outside ramp and the front porches.

Blessed Be

Staying a float/overwhelmed ????

Or as my insurance agent said ... tired, we was making him tired.


April 19 2018.. there is snow on the ground. Not a lot but with freezing temps I am hoping the rhubarb and strawberries survive it.... reminds me of Spring of 2011 our first year here.It was late May before we could plant anything and then it got so hot most of it fried before it made. I try not to worry, does not change a thing.. we have plenty in the pantry even with holes but I know the next 3 yrs are going to be really tight.

I told Hubby that I was going to get some of my 12 inch flower pots and plant lettuce, scallions and spinch. Maybe some little finger carrots. I can plant them here and easily enough take the pots to 209

We finally found a car I liked, could sit in and get out of without help and could afford. 2014 Jeep Compass Latitude 18645 miles( less than 5000 miles a year). Appraised at $16500 and we got it for $14000. We had set back $20000 for a car for me. SO the extra will go for new tires this winter, tires fine for now but not for winter and a go over by our mechanic in a couple weeks and cover the insurance( I increased the deductible) until I get rid of the Ford which will be next month as my son is in need of borrowing a car while his is in the shop for a week. He paid for the tags for the Ford as I transferred my speciality plates to the Jeep and the cost of the ins, still was cheaper for him than renting a car..The lady was selling it for her mom that is no longer driving.She is in her 80s.

 We are still looking for a truck for Hubby. He is looking at starting a welding service for the Amish (they mentioned the one that was doing it retired and they needed someone that had a portable welder). Hubby's brother in law does this type of work and is willing to sit down and talk it over. We just have to mesh with when we can meet.

Hubby called to check on when the French patio doors would be in... they were suppose to be in 2-3 weeks ...They are in.. We will be picking them up next week as the contractor said he would have full crew in all of next week and could help unload them.

Hubby called about the tractor that is to be in 3 wks..It will be in Monday but the company will "test"  everything before letting us pick it up... so sometime next week.

I have breathing issues with the cleaner we have to use here...we have a lot of rust from the pipes even after having a whole  house filter to filter that from the well. Daughter4 whose has a child with sever allergies and asthma gave me her list of cleaners. I couldn't find any of them around here but found them on line and got them on sale with a discount coupon and free shipping...and ebates.I also got a microfiber mop (can be used wet or dry) for our wood floors and extra cloths. SO thanks to those that let me know microfiber mop works for hard wood.

We had pork butt roast, then sandwiches. Then we had sloppy joes on top of Ramen noodles . Last night was the 2 chicken breasts I had froze with a leftover baked potato split between us and broccoli along with strawberries with plain Greek yogurt and choc syrup for the sweet. Today is leftover shredded pork butt, cheesey potatoes and an apple kale slaw . I have a graham cracker pie crust and strawberry glaze in the butler's pantry. Condensed milk in the pantry and cream cheese and strawberries in the frig so I decided to make a no bake cheesecake with strawberries and strawberry glaze on top.

Tomorrow we will be going to the Scioto Valley produce auction (AKA Amish auction) so we will have soup and sandwiches when we get home. I need to finish that "to Buy" list.

I need to update my seeds list. I am trying to make over 90% be heirloom to cut back on what seeds I buy.

Blessed Be

Groceries for the week

My girlfriend (who is in the middle of remodeling their home and we crack jokes about being at Menards,Home Depot and Lowes and ordering on line) sent me a text that Krogers had strawberries on sale 99¢/lb as she knows I just pitch the ads. So when Hubby went to pick up the doors we ordered that came in at Mendards, we swung by Krogers for me to pick up a few things.

On the list, apples, kale and red cabbage (son2 had a apple kale slaw he said was to die for and he doesn't like kale at all) and strawberries....bananas.With a check on meat marked down...

What I got was:
strawberries 99¢/lb... 4 lbs
potatoes 10 Lbs 3.99
yellow onions 3lbs 1.99
kale bunch 69¢
bananas 6 a little on the green side 92¢
apples 3 lb 3.99
red cabbage 1.87 lb for 1.10
frozen boneless skinless chicken breast 3 lb 6.99
fresh boneless skinless chicken breast 4.77 lb 8.49
pork butt 17.9 lbs for 99¢/ lb for $16.83
spending a total of $48.64 and saved $38.38

at the local store I got
milk
5 -6pks of coke for $10
3lbs of ground beef
and 4 center cut pork chops..
Spent a total there of $48.64 but tossed my reciept before I inputted the info in price book

We had hamburgers for supper and this morning I shoved half of the pork butt in oven and the other half in the freezer along with the porkchops. I finished cooking the last of the hamburger and made it sloppy joes which fed us lunch for today (pork butt will be dinner). Hubby and I came up with using the rest of the sloppy joe as sloppy joes, hamburger pie, coney sauce,tacos(burritos, enchilida, nachos) sauce on Ramen noodles )or any pasta) over rice etc... I have to let it cool down so I can package it for the freezer. We will have the pork butt as roast tonight, over grits with gravy with slaw tomorrow . Then into the freezer with thoughts of pulled pork, BBQ pork, mock Brunswick stew, in tortilla wraps and with kraut and mashed potatoes.

What did you buy this week?
Blessed be

Budgeting to stay frugal

I am acknowledging the dip in stock market, the lay off of 26% of GM employes in OH plant and an one day a week no pay no penalty until after shut down in July at Honda Engine plant in Anna OH triggered some fears of 2008 where we lost 2 houses we own... so it "fight those fears" I sat down and worked on a new budget and checked the pantry and nonfood . I had to estimate what the utilities will be and did it on the high side of what we were told was the average.

Starting May 1st we will be making a mortgage payment and paying rent. I did orginally plan for this scenario for 6 months. Since I don't want to fly by the seat of my pants or have to take another draw from our retirement account (probably will for a car and truck). I spent yesterday, pretty much all day reworking the budget, checking on some ways to lower or keep things with in budget. Researching cleaning products like a microfiber mop with reusable head etc for my wood floors.

These are my favorite places to glean thoughts :

http://www.theprudenthomemaker.com/ (everything and anything)

https://www.frugalwoods.com/ ( moving to country and costs)

https://oldworldgardenfarms.com/ (house thoughts and gardening)

And I read this book. I do NOT get any thing at except knowledge from posting this book. I do read Kevin Williams Blog   http://www.amish365.com/ (way of life as I am moving in the middle of many Amish)

This is the book I  read he wrote.

https://www.amazon.com/Amish-Cook-CookBook-Classic/dp/1449909442

As our lifestyle will change a lot with the move.

I set the budget... basic bills first that included paying the health ins along with copay and deductible. Then savings 10%( Hubby retirement trip with Son1 and best friend and 6 mos expenses) and reinvestment 10 % since we have retired early and don't want to run out of money, maintenance for house and vehicles , pet care . Then the "extras" memberships that we use a lot aka Amazon prime,Sam's etc, bday $ for the kids and grandkids, Christmas (gift cards this yr)  and then the gardens,groceries and non food. Yeah groceries and garden  got put behind the extras because we have a full pantry/non food and it's more of restock and restart the gardens(I have a lot of seeds especially since I ordered more heirloom this year) with acknowledgement we can always pull from the Christmas if needed.

I have wrote the budget in a spiral notebook that I will track expenses daily  just to keep on top of fuel costs and items bought for 209 which is STILL under budget.We are hoping to have enough left to set up the gardens like we want.

I need to change how I am "running" the kitchen (still, again, some more). More from scratch, less junk food, planned snacks. SOUP on the table more often, Casseroles and stir fries are common but I can do better.

A major thing we noticed was we need to decide how we are going to garden. The Amish does in ground only, there is an area plowed and ready to disk when we get the tractor in(Amish neighbor offered to prep it for us). There is an area where they had the greenhouse(which they took) that can be converted to garden easily enough. We could just plant everything in dirt this year, spend the summer hoeing( something we both hate) and decide what to do later.

We need to grow more ( and more heirloom) but keep in mind that the produce auction is only 6 miles from us and according to the Amish neighbor I will have several Amish families in the area selling their overflow along with eggs,noodles, etc.

Blessed Be

Saving money...for your child

16 yrs so far of being an Army mom for a child that was looking to be a minister when 9-11 happened.Son2 works both sides... military and civilian and was a class  for the civilian side.So I got to babysit my 4 legged grandkids and thought Mini vacation.

Black one is Cuddles and he does like to cuddle with you and blankets. Gray one is Bailey, she is timid for a bit when I am first around and then likes to play with my hair.

Son2 saved over $500 not having to hire a petsitter. I also cleaned his glass stove top that he had burnt noodles on and couldn't get off, cleaned the oven and his kitchen sink he was having troubles getting clean (baking soda works wonders). Replaced his halogen lights with LED(on sale and 11% rebate at Menards).Measured his sink so he can get a replacement(he wants a 2 bowl instead of one).Fixed 3 dining room chairs and removed several empty boxes to my car so I can take them home. He has to pay extra to have them picked up in trash and they don't have recycling in this area and I can use them for packing or break them down to take to our recycling for free. I also started stripping his china cupboard (was my mother's) but realized the stain was different stains, some looked like paint and the shelf I did get stripped doesn't match the door I got stripped.Hubby will be picking it up later this month and bringing it home for me to work on there.It's going to be time consuming. ... and I went home to get some REST LOL.


Hubby got to stay home with our 4 legged kids. He said bedtime was the same even though I wasn't there , they went to bed on their own  at 8 p.m.

Wilbur brown,  Charlotte white, Rascal black. Rascal some times gets up and sleeps on the pillow beside me but pretty much has always preferred the floor since he can see out the door .

AND then Hubby had to deal with this

My first thought when he sent it was "what is he taking a picture of and that's 1/4th of a mile from us"
Well the white spot is Charlotte and Rascal was with her but he blended in with the dirt .... Hubby had to call them 4 times (which is unusual as it's usually just once and they will come for him, I'm the call 4 times and threaten to get Daddy). He let them out the back door and saw them hauling butt to the front of the house so went to look out the front bedroom window and saw this.... probably a flock of birds was in front of the house. THEN the landlord's son took the skidloader down the road and Charlotte took off after him barking... she isn't much of a barker let alone doesn't usually chase anything that is that far from the house. Needless to say the rest of the day Hubby had her on a leash which meant he had to go out with her every single time. She didn't take off again when the next day he let her out without the leash. He said he didn't want to put the shock collar on her because he isn't familar with it. He has pretty much taken them every where he went while I was gone.I just laughed because he complains about taking them when I put them in the truck when we go. Gets warm this summer they won't get to go much anyways. Hot truck and pets don't go together.

Neither of us bought any groceries except me picking up milk on the way home. Hubby ate from the pantry and a sandwich from Windy's when he was out at lunch time over at 209 and didn't think to stop at the local store that serves lunch specials ...we got this one Monday and I got mac and cheese, he got potato salad as sides and then we split them between us,$4.99.. we ended up having a whole sandwich left between us for dinner that night.

 I took food with me as Son2 does a lot of nurtrisystem and low fat stuff.... I did get Chinese from the local restaurant as take out, the lady set up the order as a lunch order combo to give me a price break as I ordered extra crab ragoon and fried dumplings(AKA potstickers) to go with the chicken broccoli(brown sauce) with white rice and eggdrop soup. I did this the day before I went home so I could take the left overs home, add rice and eggrolls and have enough to feed us again.

We have been going over to see Daddy on Monday mornings,  then 209 after lunch...This coming Monday it will be 209 first to go over the changes with the electric, then lunch and then Daddy and possible Hubby's parents before we go back home. No the dogs won't be going with us. I will try to have enough packed to fill the truck so we aren't"wasting" a trip and not taking anything with. Each load that goes now is 1 load that we won't be taking later.

Blessed Be

April 10th update 209

We have power to the breaker boxes in house and barn

Including one live outlet at the breaker box. That is really for the guys that will be installing the furnace and AC next week in the basement and there is one in the barn also for those that are needing to cut something they can plug in instead of running a generator and charging the gas to us...cheaper for the electric bill.

Monday we meet with the head electrician as there are some things we wanted that isn't going to be possible but he has suggestions to deal with it. Since I had a friend build their own home I know even when you build it yourself there will be things that don't work as you thought they would.

Our one contractor replaced a door handle that he had to hack off because they locked the keys inside and thought that was the only set of keys(we have a set also but we are an hour away) and he was glad to tell us that you can NOT kick our doors in because he tried at every door. We thought it was funny because they gave us a lock box for the keys to be on the handle and it was on the handle without any keys. Glad to know you can't kick our doors in. You can't get the windows unlocked either as he tried those. He used to be in law enforcement.Offered to recheck house for security when we go to move in . He was limping a bit the next day with a sore foot but he didn't break his foot.

We picked up the last lights for the bathrooms.  Hubby found 2 doors online at Menards he really liked for the barn doors for the bathrooms so we ordered those also  ...11% rebate at Menards is back on.

Pretty much what is left on the to buy list or pay off list in set for May.

I did order new pots and pans for the gas stove as I have the same set as Son2 had that warped on his ex girlfriend's gas stove. The pans were on sale with free shipping. I even ordered a wok, something I used to use on my gas grill 20 some years ago but had a kid (none would admit to who did it) ruin it  by hitting something with it and put a hole in the bottom. They come in at the end of the week.

Blessed Be

209 update

The entire roof is now under new felt(replaces tar paper and can be used without shingles for 2 yrs without leaks)  Shingles ordered are to be delivered Monday, but we won't have them put on until the metal chimney's are out and all the stink pipes etc are in.

The backer board is up, meter,disconnect box for house and disconnect box for barn installed... they forgot to install security light on pole and had to come back to do that.Power from road is now on to this pole

The back yard is a series of trenches for electric lines to be buried... regretfully it started raining right after these were dug, then we had 4 inches of snow and then over 5 inches of rain. They are hoping they are down enough to start working again on installing the electric lines the 5th.

This is the pump house, when they checked the pump had been totally removed (we figured on a new pump anyways) but so had the electric because at the time it was put it they didn't bury wires. SO we had an option, either dig a new well and put everything in the basement or dig another trench and run wires and move the bladder and whole house water filter to the pump AND add a small propane heater to keep it from freezing when it's cold...We chose redoing the pump house as we know that is the lower of those 2 bills.

We still continue to buy stuff for the house. The big list was completed and under budget about $13,000. SO we decided to go ahead and get new exterior doors, storm doors, new clothesline and more fencing. We still waiting for sales and or rebates from Menards.

Some days I get "bored" because this more hands off than I am used to and then overwhelmed with the paperwork I am having to keep up with and contacting our ins guy and rehab loan guy to keep things on track.

If the weather would straighten up and give us a couple good dry decent temps with light breeze , things would be great...right now we are looking at  3 decent days to dry out and then starting another  5 day of rain/snow.

Blessed Be

April to buy ...groceries/nonfood

Milk

Celery

Onions (maybe)

Potatoes (maybe)

Mushrooms

Bell Peppers (maybe)

Carrots (maybe)

Yogurt.(maybe)

Salad lettuce or spinach or mix.

Broccoli

Cauliflower.

Asparagus.

Eggs

Apples

Avocado(maybe)

Lots of maybes due to not knowing where we will be each day... like today which we thought we would be home in the afternoon and then last night had one of the contractors ask us to go over to 209 and check on things as his crew wasn't in there yesterday or today. AND with the rain they want to make sure the roof isn't leaking again AND if the power got turned on yesterday to the pole at the house.

I bought dog dentalstix on line at Chewy.com, got free shipping and $15 off my order PLUS the dentalstix was on sale. I won't have to think about it for a couple months now. AND that is all I have found of non food that needed bought.

Every day.... choices

It's Sunday, what is usually my day of rest ...but since I know I am going to spend a day mid week with my dad and in laws I thought I would do a little prep work.

I was sick this morning so Hubby had cold cereal for bfast.

We had a bowl of soup and crackers for lunch and 2 cookies for 2 pm tea snack time.

Hubby went to a meeting and texted me that one of the guys gave him a gift card for a take out restaurant that he wasn't going to use so Hubby is bringing dinner home for free.

We opened the doors , turned off the heater and let the house air out. Charlotte loved running in and out which pretty much helped us to choose a dog door for 209. The husky in her definitely comes out.

I decluttered 4 boxes that was sitting in our bedroom tossing about half of what was there.

I baked 3 pounds of chicken breasts for wraps and chicken salad for this week.

I put 1lb of beef cubes in water to  roast while the chicken breasts baked so make beef and broth for noodles for this week.

I watered the tomato plants I have under the  grow light in the front room along with all the house plants.

I started packing for our move this summer. We can store things in the barn as it locks up tight. I packed 6 boxes and we made some choices of wheither to keep all the curtains even though we should have extra or get rid of them now. We decided to pack them and decide later as we also have  Daughter4 moving this summer also and she might need curtains. I put these packed labeled boxes in a room that is empty (except needing the curtains flipped out to sheers that was hanging when we moved in 8 yrs ago) and I am down to the closet in another room to be gone through and packed....one down , 17 to go LOL Doing one room a week.

Contractor decided to use a barn door on the one bathroom as a regular door would cause a problem if I was in a wheelchair and coming out of the bedroom when someone came out of the bath...we looked at the other bathroom door and if the contractor says it will work we will be putting a barn door on it also... I found the railing for 50% off and Hubby decided to make the doors himself. He found the wood that matched what we were looking at and it will costs less than $200 total for each door where if we bought it  at the store it would be over $1000 for each door and that didn't include the railing or recess handles.

My son sent me pictures and measurements of his bathtub and what his shower head was, I really really like his tub and shower. I passed that info along to our contractor as I already had bought the shower head and he said he had just installed the same tub for his parents so he knew right where to go get it. Now I don't have to start checking out tubs , saving gas money and time for me.

Monday
I started fluffing the pillows and bedding as soon as I let Rascal and Charlotte out at 5:15 am. It will help with the allergies flaring which means less OTC meds being bought.

I filled out the 2 Menards rebate forms, made copies of them and then have them ready to go out in mail.

I did the Kroger's survey for the 50 fuel points.I am "short" $22 of having another 10¢/ gal off and that's only because they were out of Wendy's gift cards.  We have found if we use gift cards for eating out we stay in budget. Actually we spend less as I have found 3 gift cards we haven't used. We did get another Bob Evans hoping that Daddy will get well enough to go out with us. Brother said he seems to be getting better physically...not so much mentally.

Uploaded Kroger's receipt to Receipt Hog.

Used leftover biscuits for egg sandwich for bfast.

We had a late lunch early dinner as Hubby was gone all morning and then had to turn around and leave for a refresher class as a weather spotter. Both of us had fruit later in the evening as a snack.

Tuesday

We had bagels for bfast

We had to take a check to our IRA guy that Hubby's old employer sent , we took the shortest way to and from . Coming back the Ford's ABS light came on so Hubby called our mechanic and it will go in Wed night to be looked at first thing Thurs. morning..He allows us to make payments if we can't pay in full and he doesn't require it to be paid off to have your car back. Few and far between on mechanics that way.

We had homemade and canned beef veggie soup with tortialla chips for lunch

Chicken fajhatis for dinner using the chicken I cooked  on Sunday. The rest will make chicken salad.

It's been a rainy and windy day to stay inside once we got back home.

Wednesday
Hubby got up and immediately went to get his blood work done.

We had bagels and cream cheese when he got home.

We priced the exterior doors along with storm doors which included the debate of one or two doggie doors.

We went over the "to buy" list for 209, changed the style of fencing to keep the dogs in the yard to the cheapest we could find with the thought of changing to what we decide on later. We hope to reuse some of what is there but move it to suit the dogs as it was put up to contain goats.I decided to make wood shutters and then decided to make these to cover the bottom half of the window. I think I found them on pinterest and followed them to here http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Pallet-Wood-Vertical-Blinds/

I will use the "left over wood from the barn doors Hubby is making for the bathrooms.

We had wraps for lunch and beef (cooked on Sunday) noodle over mashed potatoes with salad.

Thursday.
We had bagels for bfast

I had yogurt and fruit for lunch and Hubby had beef noodles (no potatoes)

We finalized what we still had on the to buy list for 209, and made a withdraw from the retirement fund.I ended up with the shakes , it was about half of what we thought we would end up pulling but still.

We ordered the compact tractor that came with a front bucket and back hoe and Hubby ordered a mower to attach also . Since it was a cash purchase we got a discount of 25%.

That cushions the fact our mechanic let me know I have only a couple more months left of driving my Ford Explorer. I have ran the wheels off more than once I mean ACTUALLY ran the wheels off. I've had it 15 yrs and would just LOVE to have it another 15 yrs.It's just not worth the thousands it would take to keep it going. SO that is a big look for on my to do list.

We went over to check on 209, good thing we did as the roof was leaking at the chimney, not bad at all and no damage done because we caught it. We did what we could to protect things and let the contractor know who was sending someone ASAP. Hubby thinks the chimney cap got knocked loose some when they were roofing and the rain today came in at the right angle to cause the leak. Better NOW than later AFTER the ceiling and floors was done.

Topped off gas at a little gas station that was 30¢ cheaper than everywhere else.

We had left over beef noodles over mashed potatoes, cottage cheese (Hubby topped with Apple butter)applesauce, pickled beets (for me only) and biscuits for dinner.

We called it an early night with the constant rain and cold wind blowing even the dogs called it an early night.

Friday
 We went back over to 209 and checked on things (Contractor had already let us know they took care of issue of leak) And showed Son2 the house as he meet us there. He walked through, made a few suggestions and then stood on the kitchen porch and put his finger to his mouth for me to be silent...I couldn't figure out what he was trying to hear and then he looked at me and said... I need a chair so I can sit here and listen to the birds. He walked in to the dining area and we asked him what he thought,,, his words were "I am committing both of you to Shady Pines (Golden Girls reference but there is one in Florda for real) I asked him why, his response was "I want this house".

We all met up with friends at Hong Kong... no coupons but Son2 hasn't seen friends in a couple months and won't again until summer so we sucked that up.

We got gas at Krogers using my fuel points.

Saturday

We went over to see Daddy...doing better physically, even taking himself to go look outside at the front door (they have a seating area for people to set and look outside) He is eating good and starting to flirt with the ladies...that is definitely normal. He knew who I was, asked about where we were at on the house, talked about the Reds opening game with Hubby. IS eating good and starting to make friends.

Then we went to see Hubby's parents. His Mom is having trouble walking up and down stairs, know she's going to have to have both knees replaced but she has to lose weight...and that's hard when you can't hardly walk to begin with and do not swim. His Dad is still having trouble with breathing but is at least able to get up and move around some. He is back to going to church. They had been over to see the house and was talking about coming over to visit and help with stuff.

We stopped by 209 on way home since we drive within a mile of it coming home. Measured the clothesline... Hubby and Son2 said it was 50 ft, I said it wasn't. It's is .... 46 ft...with only 3 lines. I use a 50 ft with 4 lines. We won't talk about it needing to be moved.

EASTER

We had a quiet day, ate chicken salad and broccoli salad for dinner. A close family friend died last Thursday and her viewing is Monday with funeral Tuesday. She was the 3rd death for us this year.

Blessed Be