Frugal choices for this week to come

Yes to come....

We figured out we have almost 9 loads with our trailer to move us by Thursday Friday the latest. Hubby figured up  what it would cost with fuel and wear and tear on the truck. He then called and priced rental moving trucks . Enterprise (once again) was the best deal especially adding AARP and ENTERPRISE as we have a membership (have since 1998). 26 ft box truck, 400 miles free, Tuesday to Saturday was $100 LESS than what is was going to cost us for our own trailer.AND it should be only 1 trip except for dishes, glass canning jars and frozen/refrigerated food. Those I am transporting in my car.

I am hoping tomorrow or Wed to go see my Dad as he fell going to the bathroom and busted his face and glasses. The Nursing home called my brother immediately after taking care of Dad and they aren't sure if he had his slippers on his feet or was in socks because his slippers were under his wheelchair where he fell. Heart breaking to hear about and my brother did take a picture and send it to me... Brother told Dad he was sending me the picture and Dad told him I better bring him pictures of the house being done... so part of his memory is still working. Not much but some.

We decide to not try to fix meals at night. I cooked a ham in the crock pot and sliced it up and put in the frig so we can have sandwiches at night time or for breakfast. We buy our lunch at the local store that has a special lunch daily for $4.99 to $7.99. Wednesday is meatloaf and Thursday is beef and noodles. Those are big enough to split between us so it won't be as much. Today was suppose to be country fried steak and mashed potatoes for $4.99. She was sold out at 12:30 so gave us Swiss steak with mashed potatoes for the same price. Hubby bought 2 since there wasn't enough to split... AKA he was hungry as he didn't eat breakfast before leaving this morning.

Got to go pack the car and wrap up the evening.

Blessed Be

SHE (209) IS DONE

or at least the main floor is done.

A good cleaning left to do in the mudroom , east loft and west loft.
Contractor already hired to redo south and north loft (our schedule conflicted with his or it would have already been done).

New furniture is in.

I've ordered slider shelves for a couple of the cabinets that will hold pots and pans.

Loads left to move...

1 of furniture. (plus one to take mantle to daughter 1)

2 of pantry(including freezer and frig)

2 of household (pots, pans, dishes, holiday stuff etc)

1 in farrowing house

Hubby said 3 in garage with all his tools and tables etc but I think only 2.

and then cleaning here.

Plan is to be OUT of here completely by the 30th/31st except for cleaning part.

I doubt if we pack, load and unload and Reload 2 times a day... but we will see.

View from front room door way through dining area unto kitchen, you can even see the lime green laundry room

what is now sitting between the stove and the cabinets so MAYBE we won't be stupid and sit a hot pan down on my onyx counter tops.

I'm not going to put up my knife magnetic strips or the paper towel holder etc until I see how I actually use the set up of this kitchen. We have decided to try to be zero waste so I need to now work on how to set that up when our recycling is only once a month at the township hall. The Amish family next door offered to help do that as they are zero waste.

This is my new china hutch. I'm still thinking of how to put what dishes in it. The every day dishes will probably go in caddy that is sitting on the end of the counter right now.

I've ordered sliders for a couple of cabinets for the pots and pans since I put the Hoosier where  I was going to hang my pegboard. The corner cabinet I already decided for small appliances. The rest is kind of wait and see.

Oh yeah... 20 yrs later, we got new furniture ...

The was my Mother's rocker she had when she died. It won't be sitting here for long as I want a "game/puzzle table to sit here so it will most likely move to dining area or even the bedroom. Either place where I can sit and read.

moving this week

It might be a hard shove as Hubby is not home from fishing trip until Saturday night but he asked for the plan of attack to be written up so we can post it on the wall to stay focus to be moved by the 30th with cleaning on the 31st.

He is changing the barn around to reflect, woodworking/weld shop area, furniture restore area. 2 car garage area, tractor area, and dog kennel area.
THEN he is finishing the fence and gates .

I have to finish cleaning...I haven't touched the east and west lofts yet so that's on the list for today. AFTER they deliver the furniture.

Ins agent is coming in Monday (which is why the barn needs changed around 1st) and needs a some what set up to make sure we are covered correctly.I already got an estimate of what it would cost us to replace the barn as we are using it that he definitely under estimated.

SO here's what I have

I went out to the barn and got Mother's rocker that I was using to sit in out there.Cleaned her up , needs a repair but usable as is and put her in the corner when I will probably sit a table for us to do puzzles and games during the winter. Painters teased me about sitting watching them work since I was actually eating my lunch.

I did not plan to match the paint(which is the color of Hubby's truck) to this chair. This chair has floated through the family after I went and got it out of state. A friend was closing plants down (the heart breaking part of his job) and the company he works for told him to give the stuff away or to toss in dumpster. He gave everything away even when it meant he took it to the thrift shops to keep things out of the dumpster. This is a chair that came out of the 1st plant he closed where I took 2 loads and brought it back to OH for several families.Needs a couple little repairs but usable. My furniture repair area is going to over flow LOL.

Our head painter was waiting for drywall to dry so he could repaint a wall that he caught that was messed up, you could see it when the west sunlight hit the wall as you walked in ...not acceptable to this perfectionist in his job.  He went around and gave another coat to all the window sills as they are the ones that take the hardest hit of wear according to him especially if you have children or pets... which is the same thing to him also. He did touch up where they installed the counter also. Put a door back on after adjusting the hinges.

Our 2nd painter finished his section and was waiting on the head painter asked if he could fix both bathroom doors (he realized if you stood the the side you could see in especially coming out of the laundry room down the hall ) and installed the hook and eye locks on the doors and then since head painter was still waiting on drywall , he chose to hang ALL my curtain rods, sweep down all the walls and then the floor  and empty the trash cans in the barn, porches and house while I was cleaning the wheelchair bathroom and shoving pots and pans in the cabinets.

This company don't believe in sitting around and doing nothing, if they can't do what they are there for (like waiting for drywall or paint to dry) they find something to do that helps the owner with permission.

One of them will be back today to finish the wall as the drywall still was damp when we all left.

The negative side of this move...

These 3 don't understand. Wilbur (boxer) has moved several times so I think/feel we are triggering him as the last move he didn't go with my daughter or her kids, he came to us.This week was hardest with Hubby on the fishing trip and not coming home at all and I am working longer hours at 209 carrying both our loads. 

My first 2 hrs of my day is attention and play time with these 3. THEN I get ready for work and I take them for a ride around the block(4 miles). Charlotte goes in the cage (that goes away when we move as they will stay in kennel in barn so they can go outside when they want) and the doors to bathroom and bedroom get shut. If Charlotte can't lay on the bed then no one lays on the bed .

I try to be back in 9 hrs (basing it on if I was working for a company). I do have a couple friends  that will come let dogs out if I have to go longer than that. We do the same for them. Which is why we decided to build the kennel so the dogs could go in and out when we are gone and yet keep the house secure as we couldn't put a dog door in... we would have to take the bottom half completely.

My 1st hour home is focused on getting them outside, playing with them and giving tons of attention. Then we all sit on the couch and watch the news (that is usually Hubby) while I eat dinner. Then back outside to play and just be outside for another hour. Then I get things around for the next day. We take a ride again. Then get around for bed with one more time of being outside. When we come in , it's off to bed, a little later than usually but I want to get the outside time in as much as possible with being with them.

The positive of being outside with them and playing....I've lost another size in clothes and gained some muscle.

Off to work  I go.... no whistling... I can't whistle... breaks my heart a little because both parents and brother whistled. Daddy told me Grandma couldn't whistle either.

what was done yesterday at 209

Barn gutters are on. Hubby has a down spout to put on (it's there but Hubby forgot to get the piece to add it to the other pipe.)

counter top is installed. Sink is installed. Plumber notified so he can come back and hook up faucet and dishwasher.

This is the basement door. The door handle had been sticking and we were leaving it open a bit...well, it got bumped shut while moving things down the hall and it decided to latch and break...so the painter that had finished his work and was waiting on the other painter decided to work on it thinking he could fix it... he ended up handing me the handle and told me to replace it and the one on the bedroom door and laundry room door because they are starting to do the same thing... they are original to the house and the springs in them are wearing out... at least this door won't lock shut on me.

Back to work.

209 update ...short short short...

or maybe not.

First I had another bout with my Crohn's but I was sitting in the doctor office waiting for a following up so he gave me a shot to help with the cramping and told me it was just doing it's job and it would cramp some so he gave me meds to take daily for another week... yeah really the ilium was starting to die when I was in. and since I've had this happen before (penicillin shut my system down) I know it hurts horribly to start back up. With in 30 min I felt okay....I'm okay with okay LOL

Head contractor found out I was in hospital and put all his crew on alert to do what ever they could to help me....so when ever one was waiting for something they wiped down walls and ceilings...

AS of today (8/22/2018) There is touch up on 4 spots, a coat of poly on one section of floor that was redone and another coat of paint on one of the mudroom walls.  ALL that is to be done Thursday (tomorrow). Would have been done today BUT

COUNTER TOP IS COMING IN TODAY (right where the floor is being redone) at 12:15... yes, really, that is the time they gave us...weird.

Barn gutters are coming in either today or tomorrow (depends on weather)

Screening for house gutters that got missed is Monday or Tuesday.

Final appraisal is Thursday at 1 pm

Friday the new furniture will be in at 1-2 (they are coming from an hour away).

Hubby is fishing in the gulf... HA HA...if I knew it would have kicked up the finish mode I would have moved his trip up.

I couldn't find my brand new dust mop so decided to clean the stove

I am so glad they didn't test the oven when they tested the burners and Hubby remembered the contractor that helped him move it in put it in there because he thought I would be using it the next day but they were going to put it in the laundry room when they got it in the house.

So I cleaned the regular bathroom

So now when I walk down the hall I see this... still need goop be gone to get the paint splatters off the tub and the floor.

But except for installing towel hooks and the curtains this room is DONE.

At least I can soak in the soaker's tub and crawl onto the lounge for a nap LOL

well geeze... 209...

Okay, We go over to 209 this morning.... I was told Thursday morning the bedroom and hall would be finished Friday. Kitchen, staircase in kitchen to lofts  and dining room would be finished today and the mudroom and front room would be stained TODAY.....

SIGH... did not happen at all...

Bedroom and hall will be finished today (Monday) 8/13

Staircase MIGHT be stained depending on time of finishing the bedroom and hall.

Tuesday 8/14

stair case either stained or steelwooled and 1st coat of poly.

kitchen and dining room steelwooled and cleaned and then 2nd coat of poly.

Front room and mudroom cleared of tools and paper removed from floor.Floor will be checked to make sure it's ready for stain.

Wednesday 8/15

staircase steelwooled and1st or 2nd coat of poly

Kitchen and dining room steelwooled and 3rd coat of poly

Any thing needing touched up so mudroom and front room can be stained will be done so.

Front room will be stained maybe.

I have GI follow up early afternoon and will swing by after appt to pick up boxes from Son 2 's garage on way home.

Thursday 8/16

staircase steelwooled and 2nd or 3rd coat of poly

front room 1st or 2nd coat of stain (2 coats due to being oak instead of maple like the rest of the floors)

mudroom 1st coat of stain

we are cleared to move stuff in to bedroom, laundry room and bathroom that is connected to hall. I have taken the 2 shelves that was suppose to go in the wheelchair bathroom and put them in the laundry room as the finish was not brushed nickle like the bathroom. I needed 2 shelves over the washer and dryer anyways..

 I will clean bedroom, bathroom, laundry room and hall.

Clothes washer, dryer, and black frig will be moved to 209 . Frig will be set up in barn until we can walk of kitchen floor. I hope to have at least 1 deep freezer that can go over to 209 also.

Friday 8/17

staircase steelwooled and 3rd coat of poly if not finished.
We can walk on it the next day as what he is using on the steps dries a lot faster than what is on the floors.

Front room 2nd coat of stain or 1 coat of poly.

mudroom 1st coat of poly

AC in lofts will be turned on due to contractor coming in next day.

Saturday 8/18

contractor coming in to finish lofts. Thinks it will take 40 hrs (20 hrs each as his son is coming to help) so it's going to take 2-3 days.

Kitchen and dining room cleared to walk on.

I will clean kitchen and dining room.

Son 2 is coming up to move furniture we can do without either to house or barn. Hubby and I walked through the house here and put notes on the furniture to be moved so who ever is looking at it knows it goes and I can focus on making sure it's ready to go.

Peg board to 209.. First 85 % of these pots and pans will go to daughter 3 who is literally down to her last pot (thanks to her teens walking away while cooking on high) . I am going to clean, lightly sand, primer and paint yellow to match walls in kitchen with it at 209 since that is were all 6 sets of my saw horses are. DUH

Sunday 8/19 

We are going to lunch with friends and Son 2 at Hong Kong. and Hubby will be shopping for the last of the odds and ends he needs for his fishing trip that is on Tuesday.

I will finish clearing Monty deep freezer if he's not done.

Monday 8/20

I will finish cleaning kitchen and dining room.

I have follow up doctor in late afternoon.

Waterline to frig, power and plumbing to dishwasher to be installed and dryer vent put in.

I will clean peg board, lightly sand (re-clean) and primer.

front room steelwooled, 1st or 2nd coat of poly.

mudroom steelwooled 2nd coat of poly

Will take Hubby to son 2 to spend night as son 2 is taking Hubby to the airport the next morning as he lives 20 mins from airport and the flight is at 6 am.

Tuesday 8/21

Front room steelwooled , 2nd or 3rd coat of poly

mudroom steelwooled 3rd coat of poly (walk on day 8/24)

I will put 1st coat of paint on peg board, might get a 2nd coat if paint dries well..

Wednesday 8/22

I will constantly check my cell phone for updates of Hubby leaving airport, his flights and arrival when he get to Florida. His buddy is going to take pics for me also when he meets up with him.

I will finish peg board if that's not done.

Front room steelwooled and 3rd coat of poly if not done  (walk on date 8/25)

Kitchen counter gets installed at 12:15 pm.... They will also install the faucet.

I will bring a load from the kitchen to put away.


Thursday 8/23 

I will bring another load from the kitchen.

I will clean the cabinets, install shelf paper and put everything away that I can.

I'll pit stop at the trash company to start service the following week. We already set the trash service to stop here 8/31 the last day of the billing cycle here the company we have here.

I will check my phone for updates of fish being caught LOL.

Friday 8/24

I will clean mudroom and load in what goes in that area that I can deal with by myself.

I will clean east and west lofts(I doubt if the south and north will be completely finished at this point if they are I will clean them also)

I will hang curtains in rooms that I can walk on.

Saturday 8/25

I will go get Hubby and spend the day listening to him about his trip. He might want to swing by 209 depending on how he feels. I am leaving the day open for what he wants.

Sunday 8/26

We will go to 209 and check what is left on the list. I can see Hubby mowing.

I will clean front room

Monday 8/27

Another load to 209, and put away.

Hubby will work on finishing the fence for the dogs.

New Furniture is delivered which is most of the front room furniture.

Peg board hung so I can put pots and pans on it.

Curtains in any rooms still needing that.

Tuesday 8/28

internet and home phone service will be installed. ( last utility )

Fencing should be finished this day


Later than what we wanted and definitely later than the contractor wanted

We plan to load trailer and take a load every 3 days instead of every other day since I am on the icky side still.

I hope the house stuff ,including the pig barn and farrowing house cleared we use for storage is over to 209 by the 18th leaving just Hubby's tools etc in the garage and his motorcycle (which we could take sooner) to be moved at this point.

but we all know...the best laid plans...kind of like wanting to take pictures this morning and not being able to get to any room that was done enough to take a picture LOL.

Blessed Be

frugal while in the hospital... finishing up 209

Yep, I'm in the hospital with my Crohn's....Hubby decided against going after daughter 4 who was going to help finish packing up the pantry and moving it and cleaning the east and west lofts on Saturday because he wasn't sure he wouldn't have to turn around and come back to the hospital because me.

 I got a dozen pictures of boxes of food asking where to put it from him instead. She knew exactly where to put it and made us both laugh when I shared them with her that he hadn't realized how I organized the pantry.

We were giving the estimate of what my hospital bill will be after insurance with the offer of 5% off if we prepaid now (up to 10 days after release) and if it was more than the estimate they would still take 5% off the balance since we did prepay and if they over charged us they would send out the refund with in a week of the insurance paying.I seriously doubt if we are over paying with the meds I am getting.

Doctor making the hospital calls for my GI has decided along with my GI and the hospital doctor that my meds need changed to stop this cycle of being in here this time of year. So he checked to make sure what he was wanting to give me had no blue dye since I have a sever allergy to blue dye (not natural kind ) AND that my insurance would cover the costs because he thinks stress is my biggest trigger... I am also to be on anti anxiety meds until things settle down and I can get in to a good routine and stabilize my diet. PLUS he checked to make sure the meds were generic so they would be cheaper.

I brought my own diapers... saving the charge of those items which is double what I spent on the diapers. I brought my own toothpaste. But forgot the tooth brush...oh well. I brought my own soap, so there is no charge for that either.

I have food at home that I can eat (soft diet) so no having to pit stop and grab something on way home. Since I can't cook at 209 I asked about the food I was eating for lunch there and it was okayed to eat also... well the egg roll was NOT cleared due to cabbage but if I make my own with bean sprouts and hamburger I can have egg rolls. I probably won't be making egg rolls or eating them for 2 weeks. In 2 weeks I can go back to my regular diet. WITH including 2 servings daily of  kefir or Greek style yogurt daily along with my vsl#3. I can have 1 - 20 oz soft drink per day, ginger soda/ginger ale being the number 1 preference but any others okay. I can still have up to 3 cups of coffee per day (I drink 2) and
up to  48 ounces of tea (hot or cold) PLUS water of course.. Smaller meals, more often or even just 6 snacks a day.

I have been ordered to get UP and MOVE more... as a chef I had a very active day at work and then more at home, now I sit more and my body is taking the blunt of the lack of movement. I am also going back to yoga as stress is a big issue.

I've wrote up a "if I can" plan to finish packing and moving this week AND had it okayed by all 3 doctors with acknowledgement I will get sore core muscles and I will be tired but I listed timed breaks with food since I habitually carry water with me while working.

As for 209... the last of the floors and odds and ends will be done by Friday. We have a person who is bring his son to finish the south and north lofts since I am down on Saturday. They think 40 hrs but more like 20 with the two of them... Already gave us the costs unless it takes longer.Hubby and I think we will give them a bonus as they are coming in last minute on the weekend to help us out after their day jobs through the week instead of having us on their regular list of jobs.

Counter tops come in on the 22nd. Barn roofing has been delivered to be installed and the screening for the gutters should be in this week also.

Just finish cleaning 209, packing up Staley, move everything and unpack it and then cleaning Staley... BEFORE Hubby leaves next week for deep sea fishing...

Pictures...lots of pictures will be coming.

Blessed Be everyone, stay healthy, take care of yourselves, give yourself ME time.

packing to move...trying to be frugal... stage of 209

West loft floor is done, East loft floor needs a 3rd coat.
Stairs to west/east lofts is done.

wheelchair bathroom is almost finished, covers for outlets and switches and the recessed door handle on the door to be done.

bedroom and hall are stained, Carpenter aka Finisher whether he likes it or not LOL... is thinking of staining the south and north loft stairs along with the kitchen and dining room and then poly that entire side of the house at the same time as the bedroom and hall. That would leave the mudroom and front room to stain and poly... that leaves the regular bath open as we can enter through basement or kitchen while the front room, mudroom is stained and poly.

Preparing the kitchen and dining room floors. Where the air compressor is sitting carpenter found a spot that was supposed to have been fixed by the other team and found they didn't even nail the piece down and it definitely wasn't how it was suppose to be either. Not smart to tick this guy off because he took a pic and sent it to the BOSS and the boss just put the other team on notice of one more screw up and they can look for other work and we got credited for the time the first team clocked as doing that area.

I been taking a break from painting the wood that goes on the front yard fence to keep dogs in....

and checking out our windmill

when I get home... I have been working on filling the pantry with these garden items.

 We did start on the pantry in the basement at 209 since we can't be upstairs on the floors as they prep,stain and poly...

These were suppose to hold over 500 lbs each shelf... after a couple hours of holding less than 200 lbs they started giving way in the middle. I am thankful I caught it before the boards broke, thankful is was metal cans and not canning jars. Since we bought them several months ago the place we bought them at can't do anything to help us and did tell me to let the company making them know and send pictures of what it did.

25 buckets of 20-25 lbs of staples in them. 20 cases of jarred food and what isn't showing is the 30 cloth grocery bags of steel can foods and plastic jarred items... 1/6th of the pantry is moved to 209. I cleared the root cellar today.

We have found by eating a decent size lunch that we can get away with eating a light snack for dinner.... We watch the specials at the little store around from us and know to go for a late lunch to the Chinese buffet.Have went to Arby's on Monday as the Chinese buffet is closed when the little store has a special I can't eat or neither of us wants.

Head contractor asked how we were feeling..happy excited etc... we went exhausted, frustrated and over whelmed... bad enough Hubby thought about hiring the rest to be packed, moved and unpacked and I was like ...then we can pay our one kid that is trying to find extra work so she can get a car instead of bumming rides due to her car catching fire(wiring) and being a total loss, ins didn't cover that.She's giving me 10 hrs on Saturday....possible 12 hrs.

Got to get around, laundry has to be done tonight as dryer goes to 209 tomorrow and I'll be down the drying rack and YEAH the clothes line as they just finished working on the road and are done crop dusting also.