No Go on the Demo

I mentioned a while back that I had been asked to do a toy demo at our local Wal-Mart this Saturday. The pay was OK; - $40 for 4 hours of work. It wasn't until just yesterday that I found out the details. There is no demonstration of toys involved.

The job consists of "...intercepting children as they enter the store and leading them in a parade line back to the toy department for a photo opportunity...".

Um...no.

I can only imagine how many ways this could go wrong.

I am not a "kid-perky" person to begin with, and I don't deal with conflict well. I don't want to deal with parents who are angry about having their kid(s) hijacked and led to the toy department the minute they enter the store. I don't want to deal with parents who are disappointed when their free "photo opportunity" is less than studio quality. I don't want to be responsible when someone's child leads half of the parade to the candy aisle instead of the toy department.

I don't care how nice a few extra dollars would be right now; I've politely unscheduled myself for this gig.

**********

Good news is that Shane's boss says there is work waiting for him now. Bad news is that there's still about 5" of snow on the ground that has to melt first. If he's lucky, he might be able to get a week's worth of work in before that "major snow storm at the end of February" that everyone's predicting.

**********

If I'm not around for a few days, think nothing of it, especially if your name is SonyaAnn. I have a lot of errands to run this week, a doctor appointment, an early release day from school and some Valentine cookies to bake. Looks like my dance card is full until Saturday.

A Little More Good News

There may be light at the end of this tunnel after all. I just used the "Where's My Refund?" application at www.irs.gov and our refund is scheduled to direct deposit into our account on February 2!

Also, there is talk that Shane may be back to work next week or the week after. It's just talk at this point, while some of the higher-ups check out a job site to see if it's workable yet. It's likely that even if he does get a little work in, Shane could be laid off again before the work becomes steady again in late spring, but at least it's a start.

I'll keep you posted. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Well, Since You Asked...

I knew someone would read yesterday's post and stir up trouble by asking what *I* do with my spare time.

Thanks a lot Lisa...the answer is "not a darn thing because I get Shane to do it all for me!"



Seriously, my daily routines have changed a little since he's been home. It's actually more difficult for me to find time to write blog posts and read other blogs. I'm still getting those things done, but not at my usual leisurely pace, because Shane wants time on the computer, too. (We only have one computer).

When I haven't been competing for computer time, I've been spring cleaning the house (3-1/2 rooms down, 2-1/2 to go), listing items for sale on eBay, preparing our tax returns, cooking our dinners and breakfasts, reading for fun and knowledge, and working on this afghan (I finally made it to the point I'm joining all the medallions together).

I've been planning menus, watch-dogging our spending, submitting applications for part-time jobs, organizing my craft supplies and playing lots of games (this game we got for Christmas is our favorite).

Also, I've taken more afternoon naps than usual. This happened especially during the coldest days of winter break when Kat was also home with us. We simply didn't keep to much of a schedule...we ate when we were hungry, we slept when we were tired, regardless of what the clock said. I told Shane that aside from the fact that Kat was home with us, it was a little preview of what our lives might be like when he retires. We're looking forward to it.

Monday Update

Kat finally made it back to school today, having been off since December 22. I think even she had had her fill of winter vacation.

This means things are a little closer to being back to normal.

I messed up this morning and sent Shane to the pharmacy to get our prescriptions without giving him the instant rebate card for the medication he takes. I didn't even think of it, because it's in my wallet and I'm usually the one who picks up our prescriptions. So we ended up with a co-pay of $20 when we could have got it for free. I have to go back out in a while, so I'm going to stop by the drug store and see if they will go ahead and process the rebate after the fact. The worst the can do is say no. ***Edited to add: I took the receipt and the instant rebate card back to the pharmacy (Walgreens) and they were happy to go ahead and process the rebate and refund $20 back to our debit card.***

I looked into cell phone plans over the weekend. I mentioned before that we have a very basic plan with T-Mobile. We have two phones with 750 shared minutes, free nights and weekends and no minutes used when talking to others who use a T-Mobile plan. We don't have text messages, photo messages or anything of that sort. This plan costs us $74 a month including all the taxes and fees.

Our cell phone needs are simple:

• Miscellaneous calls because we don't have a land-line phone. We don't make many personal calls at all during the week, but we need at least one cell phone for calls to and from doctors, school, etc.
  
  
• Calls to our parents each weekend. My parents are a couple of hours away. Shane's mom and step-dad are hundreds of miles away. All have health issues of some sort. Since we can't easily visit them, making these weekly calls is important to all of us.
  
  
• Calls to each other. When Shane is working we touch base at least once each day, usually to ask the other if there is anything we need to take care of or pick-up for the other while we're already out of the house. While this isn't a strict necessity, it often saves time and money for us.

The plan we already have is ideal. In fact, we could probably get by with fewer minutes as long as we still had free weekends and free calls to each other.

I've been searching for something less expensive, but I'm not coming up with much. The best I've been able to find is Wal-Mart's Straight Talk plan which offers 1000 phone minutes (plus some texting options we wouldn't use), for 30 days, for $30. But that's just for one phone, and doesn't include the monthly fees or taxes. There may also be line activation fees to consider. So yes, it could save us a little money if we decided to use just one phone until Shane is back at work for the time being. However, if we went with two phones, it doesn't look as if it would save us anything at all. We'd have a lot more minutes, but that doesn't help us -- we don't use the minutes we have as it is.

I'm not saying we absolutely won't drop to just one shared cell phone, but I'm not ready to make that decision just yet. But at least we know that option is there if we need it.

Do any of you know of any plans that are less expensive than that? The prepaid options I've looked at don't seem like the answer because of the calls we want to make to our parents. All the other economy plans I've found are very similar to the Straight Talk plan, and most require line activation fees that eat up months' worth of any savings that might be had. But I may have overlooked something. If you know of anything, please let me know.

Working With Our Credit Union

Shane spent some time on the phone with the credit union that services the loan on our van. Because I'd been paying extra on our van payments, they were able to apply those extra amounts to our next payment, due 1/25. We only had to come up with and additional $24 to make the payment. That helped a lot.

Our next payment is due on 2/25. I have most of that payment already earmarked, so if we can hang on to that money, we won't have to worry much about that one, either.

That gives us time for Shane's unemployment to get here (it comes via debit card instead of check these days and can take a few weeks for the card to arrive). It also gives us more time to work out our plan of attack if the weather hasn't improved enough by then for Shane to be back at work.

The loan officer said that if things haven't improved for us by then, to call her back and she would try to find out if there is anything else she can do to help us. There may not be anything else she can do, but at least she is willing to consider it since we gave her an honest explanation of our situation early on.

A Slow Start To 2010

As most of you probably know, Shane works in construction. He gets paid quite well when he works, but not at all when he doesn't. He gets no sick leave, no paid vacation time, and no personal days. Unfortunately, he hasn't been working very much the last few weeks.

The economy, of course, plays a roll. The construction trades usually feel the worst of a down economy a few months after everyone else does, which means the hard times are just now hitting many of the builders. Add to that the rain we had in November and early December, the snow that's been on the ground since Christmas Eve, and the holiday days off (two at Thanksgiving, two at Christmas, on on New Year's Day) and we're finding ourselves with very little money coming in.

One of the positives of being a frugal family to begin with is that when we need to cut back, we don't experience a big lifestyle change. We're used to living simply and spending little in comparison to "the average American family". On the other hand, when we need to cut back, there is very little left to cut back on because we're already there.

This is where Shane and I are finding ourselves right now. He hasn't been laid off from his job. As it is now, he's getting a day of work here and one there as the weather allows. This works out well for the company, because they can keep all their good employees on the payroll. When they lay off employees, they run the risk of losing them to other companies who may have work available. This situation is bad for the employees, though. Because of the slow work and days missed because of weather, they are fortunate to get a day or two of work a week. They'd actually be better off financially if they were laid off and drawing unemployment.

The good news is that there is work on the books. For one reason or another (weather, architectural changes, etc.) these jobs haven't started up, but they WILL be happening. The only question is when they will start up. The projection is that work will break loose by the end of February, but of course, there are no guarantees. It could be a little sooner or a little later.

To be completely honest with you, it's going to be rough making it through the next two to three months. Shane may have to take a voluntary layoff (his company is assuring anyone who does will not have their unemployment contested). That would at least guarantee us some income, although not nearly what we need.

Meanwhile, it seems we have three choices in making up the shortage: make more money by working, make money by selling things we own, and cutting back on our expenses.

Here's our plan of attack, so far:

- We've gone over our budget and reduced it to an "emergency" state. We've cut back on everything that we feel, at this time, can be cut. Of course, there may be even more that we can reduce, but in this first cut, we've lowered total expenses by almost 40%. It won't be easy, but we really have no choice.

- We've reduced our already modest grocery budget from $240/month to $160, remembering it's only a temporary reduction. Our pantries and freezer are well-stocked right now, so that's a huge asset for us. Meat will be used for flavoring rather than the main dish, and we'll eat a lot more pasta, rice and breads in our meals. Shane usually buys a 30-pack of beer each week to the tune of $75/month. He suggested we eliminate that entirely, which is fine with me.

- We have suspended our Netflix account for 90 days. At that time we can either reactivate it or cancel it entirely. We'll save $15/month while it's suspended.

- We have cable and Internet packaged together. We looked into either dropping both, or more reasonably, dropping just the cable since we can use the Internet for selling items on eBay or craigslist. Unfortunately, we are under contract and would have to pay $250 in termination fees if we cancel either service. By dropping just cable, it would take us about seven months to see the savings. By dropping both cable and Internet, it would still take almost three months to see a savings. At this time, we've opted to keep both services.

- We have a cell phone family plan with only basic phone service (no texting, no IMs, no photos, etc.). The only lesser package our provider offers is $10 cheaper a month, but if we switch to it, we'd have to pay a $35 activation fee for each of our two phone lines. Therefore it would be seven months before we'd see the savings. For today we're staying with the plan we have. However, we aren't under a contract with our provider, so next week we're going to start looking into something different, perhaps a prepaid plan of some sort. Since we do not have a land line phone, we really need to have at least one cell phone in operation. If we find something less expensive, I'll post about it separately.

- We are currently looking into changing our auto and homeowners' insurance, as I'm certain we can find something cheaper. Shane has one outstanding speeding ticket on his driving record, and we were planning to wait until it drops off in February. However, we think we will go ahead and try to find cheaper premiums next week. Again, I'll write a separate post to tell you how we do.

- Kat's been wanting to take her lunch to school, so now looks like the time to start letting her. We can probably save 50% over hot lunch on the days she takes it. Looking over our school menu, it looks like she'll want to carry her lunch at least 3 out of 5 days most weeks.

- We've suspended all meals out and will be considering every purchase we make very carefully.

- I'm looking for some kind of job. I have one application submitted and will be submitting more. I have been out of the corporate workforce for about 10 years, so it's likely I'll have to go into retail or maybe school food service, but that's fine.

- If he's laid-off, Shane will check with other construction companies to see if they are hiring, but that's not a likely scenario. He might try to find some small side job, but if he draws unemployment, he'll be very limited on how much he can make at a different job without it actually causing us to lose income.

- We'll contiue to items on craigslist and eBay. We do a little of this anyway, but now is the time to get aggressive with it.

- We'll be talking first to our credit union to see if there is any help they can give us regarding the van payment, and then to our mortgage company. If nothing else, these entities will have been told upfront that we may be experiencing some financial difficulties. I believe financial institutions are always more willing to work with someone who is upfront and honest from the beginning.

- As one of our last resorts, we'll put some living expenses on our credit card. We have just one card, with a low $2500 limit, so that really won't get us far. We'll be will try our best to avoid it.

- As another last resort scenario, we'll try to sell our van for enough to pay off the loan. Although we'd miss it very much, this could be a possibility for us. We aren't upside down in the loan because I've added a little extra to the payment most months. The van is only 4 years old, in very good condition, with lower than average miles. It's definitely worth more than we still owe on it.

- We'll be hoping that Shane's W-2 is sent out early. We anticipate a refund -- maybe one large enough to pay off our van. If not that large, it will definitely be enough to ease our financial burden in other ways. Meanwhile, I will be gathering all the necessary documents so that I can prepare and file the return as soon as the W-2 arrives.

- We'll be hoping for mild weather so that ground can be broken as soon as possible and the guys can all get back to work. Soon enough, it will be overtime season again and Shane will be wishing for a little time off.

- We'll be enjoying his time off the best we can and making the most of it. We actually have a few small projects (like painting our bedroom) that we've been putting off because we've not had time, although we've had the supplies on hand. Those things will get done now.

- Most of all, we'll be looking at this as an obstacle, but not an impossibility. Not much good can come from having a negative attitude, but experience has shown us that a lot of good can come from what at first seems to be a negative situation.

I Need A Tardy Slip

When bloggy friend SonyaAnn at A Mom, Money and More, asked me to write something, I thought to myself that it hadn't been that long since my last post. Yeah, right...I was wrong. I had no idea it had been ten days!

I'm not sure you could handle me telling you all the fun and exciting things I've done in the last week and a half, so I'll just give you today's highlights:

• I realized that not only do I need to renew the tags on our van this month, I also need to renew my driver's license. So, after getting the van inspected and gathering all the necessary insurance cards, tax receipts, birth certificates, and proof of residency, I walked into the DMV, then I walked right back out. I didn't have the patience for waiting that long for two hunks of tin and plastic photograph.
  
  
• Which was a shame, because my hair looked pretty good today.
  
  
• Speaking of which, as of early this morning, my hair is now all one length. I've never had it all one length before. I'm mildly thrilled.
  
  
• I tried my first Caribou Coffee, a Caramel Hi-Rise-Something-Or-Other. It was pretty darn good for an overpriced cup of coffee.
  
  
• Who do you know besides me who can cut herself on a pair of sunglasses? I have these little rimless clip-on shades for my prescription glasses and I had them in my coat pocket while I was inside the Caribou place. I slipped my hand into my pocket and sliced the back of my index finger open across the middle knuckle. It would NOT. STOP. BLEEDING. I finally had to beg a Band-aid from the Caribou guy. Maybe these freak accidents happen a lot there, because I had the bandage on my finger quicker than I had the coffee cup in my hand.

I guess that's my grand finale; I'd have to lie, or at least embellish, to top that stunt. Now go on over and visit SonyaAnn if you haven't already. She tells better stories than I do.

I Like The Word "Indolence." It Makes My Laziness Seem Classy.

When Kat came home yesterday from visiting her mom, she asked what we had done while she was gone.

I told her that Pepaw (Shane) had spent most of the day cleaning the carpets.

That's when Kat looked at me, up close and serious, said, "And you must have been lazy all day."



Title quote by Bern Williams.

Fall Has Fallen

Brrr! Fall has definitely arrived here. I'm not ready to have the furnace or our Edenpure heaters on full-time yet, but I started shivering the minute I got out of bed this morning and was more than willing to run the furnace for a couple of cycles; just long enough to get the chill out of the house. You know, it was probably just my internal thermostat going haywire again. It was 67° in here when I got up. Not really that cold, especially since I didn't have any problem yesterday morning when it was 68° in the house when I got up.

**********

Today was picture day at school. One of the last things we do in the morning is get Kat dressed for school; this is so if she spills breakfast, it goes on her PJs and not her school clothes. With less than ten minutes left in our morning, Kat came to me and said she was ready to get dressed! What?! She wasn't dressed yet? How had I forgotten to set her clothing out? I rushed her to her room and pulled out the clothes we'd decided she would wear for her pictures and found out the top was too small! Grr! It was my fault for not making her try it on at the store. Luckily, the Plan B top was clean, so I put that on her, brushed her hair and made it to school with about 2 minutes to spare. This wasn't one of my better demonstrations of preparedness. We'll see how the pictures turn out in a few weeks.

**********

Today is kitchen cleaning day. I've grown tired of the Tupperware and Cool-Whip containers falling on me when I open the cabinet doors. The thrill is gone.

**********

To my Pay It Forward ladies: Watch your mail next week. :)

**********

My parents may come to visit tomorrow morning, or they may not. They are at that age when all plans depend on how well they feel when they get up. I guess I'm still fairly young; only half of my plans depend on how I feel when I get up.

So, our Saturday plans are up in the air, but Sunday we have a firm date with our lawn. It's time to start winterizing. This will probably take a couple of weekends. We need to empty our "rain capture system" (I can't believe I haven't taken photos of that yet...maybe I will before we empty it), dig and store canna bulbs, till some compost into our empty garden beds, empty and store flower pots, straighten the storage shed a little, put summer tools in the shed and bring the snow shovels to the garage, put away hoses, save seeds from our annual flowers and who knows what else? We still have some food growing in the garden; we'll have to harvest all of that soon. I've already scraped frost off the van once, and have the feeling our first heavy frost is right around the corner.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Friday Thoughts

Do you ever have those days when you aren't feeling well, but can't really pinpoint what's wrong, either? I've been there the past two days. I'm not looking for sympathy...I'm just bringing it up because I hate those days. I don't feel sick enough to sit the day out, but if I try to be productive, I'm not. To me, days like these end up being such a waste of time.

We're supposed to go to a wedding reception this evening, but I don't see that happening, either. But I'm OK with it; the groom used to be our neighbor, but we haven't been close since he and his fiance moved away 18 months ago. Between not feeling well and not knowing even one other person on the guest list, we've decided to stay in this evening, and send their gift to them in the mail.

**********

Miranda, who just got back from an extended blog break, mentioned that she's been watching our debt total decrease over the months (see sidebar). We're now under the $7500 mark on our non-mortgage debt! Yay us!

I had really hoped to eliminate that debt in 2009, but it looks like it won't happen now. Here's some of what we did instead:

• I had dental work done, costing $3000 over our insurance benefit (ouch!)
  
• We had a couple of repairs done to Shane's truck that totaled about $700
• We bought a couple of 49cc motor scooters that totaled $1000
• We went camping five times and had a "vacation weekend" with my sister. After gas, incidental purchases, and a few meals out, I'm sure we spent at least $1000 on those six outings
• We had some legal fees totaling $2000 (I'm not able to say what those are about yet, but it's a good thing)

When the dental work came up, and I realized there was no way we'd make our goal this year, I was disappointed at first. But now I'm OK with it. We've still made progress. We paid our van debt down from $13,000 to $7,500. We took care of some medical , mechanical and legal issues that needed attention. We had a lot of fun on our weekend trips and with our scooters. Most importantly, we didn't take on any additional debt. Really, the only thing I could possibly feel badly about is buying the scooters, but we got such good deals on both of them that it's hard for me to even regret those purchases.

One thing that does bother me, though, is that our savings took a major hit. We'll be working hard to get built back up. The plan is to add to it as we can, then when tax time rolls around and we get our refund (I'm assuming this because we have never NOT had a refund*), we'll pay off the van if we can, or sock the refund away in our savings account until there is enough there to pay off the van. With the van payment out of the way, our savings can then be replenished quickly.

I guess the point of my update is that life happens and sometimes it gets in the way of our goals. But as long as we keep plugging away, our debt will disappear. The sooner the better, but if it's a little later, that's alright, too.




*I realize that the general rule of thumb is that we should adjust withholdings so that we come as close as possible to having neither a refund nor a balance due. That idea makes Shane nervous, and in fact, he has a little extra withheld from each check, resulting in sizable refunds each year. Yes, I admit that this is like giving the government an interest-free loan, but doing it this way has saved our butts more than once. The money we spent this year that I listed above? Almost all of that came from our tax refund last year, which we had socked away in our savings account. The refund kept us from having to take on more debt. Had it been withheld "correctly" and been distributed on-check over the course of the year, I doubt we would have had the discipline to put it into savings each week.

It's Your Decision To Make

Just minutes after I published my post yesterday, I read someone else's post about buying non-feedlot-raised meats and chicken, and buying locally. Whether it was the writer's intention or not, I felt as if she were passing judgment against those who buy food produced outside their local markets or foods that aren't organic.

Ideally, we would buy our food locally from farmers with humane and ecologically sound practices. Unfortunately, we either have trouble finding the locally-raised food (especially meat) or we have trouble affording it when we do find it. The meat we found at the Amish shop was the first affordable and readily available non-feedlot meat we'd been able to find this year. Unfortunately, buying a side of beef was out of our budget, and the shop was unwilling to sell it by the quarter. They would sell individual cuts, but those were MUCH more expensive than the $2.49 per pound sides they were selling.

My point is this: it's never a bad thing to buy locally grown or raised produce and meat. The food is likely of better quality and your money stays in your local economy. BUT...you have to do what you have to do. Sometimes you have to buy what's readily available and sometimes you have to stretch those dollars as far as they will possibly stretch.

If you can afford to eat all organic, all local produce and meat, then buy all means, do so. If you can only afford a few organic or locally grown items each week, then buy those and enjoy them. And if you simply can't work organics into your budget, then don't worry about it and don't feel guilty about it. You can always start working them in later as your situation changes.

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to living frugally and/or living simply. Only you can decide what's right for you. I hope my posts never come across as condescending or as sermons. I hope instead their seen simply as suggestions or tips for those who do want to lead a simpler, more frugal lifestyle.

Two Years

Today's my second blogaversary! Yay me! I've been partying like crazy here today!

Ok. Not so much. I had planned on some kind of overview post, but things...the kiddo, vehicles, Facebook, life...have sucked up all my spare time this week. Only part of that was beyond my control, but here I am with no time for a decent post today.

But I have big posting plans for this weekend or next week. Really, I do. Just wait and see.

Tuesday Talk

I can't believe it's September already! We've had a mild summer here in the Kansas City area and there's already a hint of autumn in the air, so I decided it was time to change my template to something more fall-like. I hope it's not too drastic a change. BTW, the picture in the header is of one of our maple trees from last year. They're still green and lush right now.

**********

We've had a lot of ups and downs around here lately. My daughter and her husband adopted a dog a week ago Sunday, and the following day, my daughter fell while walking it and broke her leg. She spent most of Tuesday here with me while she figured out how to get around with as little pain as necessary.

On Friday I finally went in for all the dental work I needed done. It (mostly) went well. I wasn't as sedated as I'd been for previous appointments like this, so I remember a lot of what was happening, but didn't really care. That is until something happened with the root canal. To simplify things, the filling they put back into the tooth after the root has been removed somehow got into the inflamed tissue below the tooth. Sedated or not, THAT was painful and required more Novocaine and also a prescription for Vicodin to take later. I'm glad to say that it's resolved itself now and all that's left for me is to go back in three weeks to get my permanent crowns. That's not painful, so I won't need sedation for that appointment.

After spending a quiet weekend at home, Shane's truck broke down on the way home from work yesterday. We aren't sure what's wrong with it yet; the mechanic will have to try to work it into his schedule in the next day or two. Shane's work requires a lot of tools (two large tool boxes in the back of the truck). They're heavy and dirty, so he never wants to pet them in our our van and drive it for work. We are fortunate in that Shane's dad is retired and doesn't need his truck daily; we were able to borrow it for as long as we need it. But we definitely don't need the expense of a truck repair. Hopefully it won't be too costly, and unless it's a very serious problem, we should be able to pay for it without putting any of it on the credit card.

**********

I'm very much looking forward to camping this coming weekend. We all need the break. We're going to Crowder State Park near Trenton, MO. We've not camped there before and it's always fun when we explore a new park. The park is also near Jamesport, MO, which has a fairly large Amish population. This is exciting for me, because I love going to their bulk grocery and craft stores. We'll be spending a good part of Saturday doing just that.

This will probably be our last camping trip of the season. Every year we say we'd like to make a final trip later in the fall when the leaves have turned, but once again, it looks like that probably won't happen.

**********

Hope all of you have a good week!

One Thing After Another

I haven't been on my blog much this week because I've been a little preoccupied. I mentioned earlier that I have a dental work scheduled. It's scheduled for a week from tomorrow, the 21st.

Yesterday, I went to the doctor because I've been having some problems with indigestion and pain below my right shoulder blade. He said, "I'm going to call this a gall bladder problem until we prove otherwise" and sent me for an ultrasound this morning. I'm not in horrible pain or anything like that, but I am uncomfortable at times and the discomfort is becoming more frequent. I've already canceled my visit with my sister this weekend, just in case. I'd hate to be hours away from home and have things suddenly get a lot worse (which I know can happen with gall bladder issues).

A bigger dilemma is that I don't know what to do about my dental work. I think the gall bladder surgery, if that's indeed what's necessary, trumps the dental work. So I'll probably end up postponing my trip to the dentist. But by how long? I don't want the procedures done too closely together, making it more difficult to recover from them. On the other hand, I don't want to push out the dentist appointment so far that my tooth starts hurting again. I really can't make any kind of decision until I hear from my doctor, so I guess I'll just hurry up and wait for a while.

I'll keep you posted on this continuing saga of how I'm falling apart one body part at a time.

Woe Is STILL Me.

It's been a couple of days since my dentist appointment, and although it's not as bad as it was, my tooth is still hurting. It's down from a scream to a more of an annoying whimper. Less an ache than it is sore when I bite and it feels almost itchy in the gums around it.

The good news is I think I'm going to like my new dentist. He seems kind and willing to work with my anxiety and sensitivities. The bad news is that he's going to a two week training seminar before he can do my sedation appointment. I'm glad he's keeping up on dental technology, but did it have to be right now?

He has put me on antibiotic pills and assures me that as the infection goes away, so will the pain. He's also assured me that he has given me enough pills so that the infection won't return before my appointment. As I said, it's feeling better. It's just not pain free yet.

I have to say, though, that having a toothache and sore mouth has really put a damper on my eating and cooking. Most foods sound like they'd be irritating, not soothing. I've not done well at sticking to my menu this week and have typically not been eating the same things as Shane and Kat. I'm also not feeling very enthusiastic about planning next week's meals. I often do that on Thursdays, but I'm not sure it's such a good idea today. I don't think my family will be happy with nothing but mashed potatoes for a week straight.

Having dental problems has also put a big damper on my plans/hopes for paying off our van this year. It could still happen...maybe. But even after insurance, a big chunk of our savings is going to go to the dentist. But that's what the savings is there for - to cover unplanned expenses, including my denta-phobic ones. It's a good feeling to know we won't have to use our credit card or get a bank loan to cover the expense.

It'll all get better soon, I know. I'm just feeling a little down in the mouth today.

Everybody Has One

Everybody has one. A hang-up of some kind. A phobia. Something they have a hard time dealing with.

For me, it's going to the dentist. I guess it started when I was just a kid and had a whacked-out dentist who recommended that most of my baby teeth get pulled because he said my permanent teeth were ready to come in but couldn't because my baby teeth were in the way. I'm not sure why, either from inexperience or lack of other dentists in my small town, but my parents followed his recommendation. I was nearly toothless for several years. And believe me, kids can be cruel when you're nine years old with teeth gaping like a 90-year-old.

Then when I was in 6th grade I got braces. They pulled together my few gaping teeth so those permanent teeth really could come in. But this was back in the day, when braces were chunky and were worn for years (in my case, four of them). I was never bothered by wearing the braces, but having them damaged the enamel on my teeth so that ever since they were removed, my teeth have been overly sensitive to cold foods, cold air, and often touch.

This means I can't even get my teeth cleaned without wanting to go through the ceiling from anxiety and discomfort. This is why I don't go to the dentist regularly the way I should and why when I do go, I have to have sedation dentistry performed. And this is why I, an otherwise frugal person, am willing to spend as much money as necessary to not feel or remember a thing while the dentist does whatever work needs to be done in one fell swoop. Our insurance will cover most, maybe even all, of the work, but not the sedation.

Anyway, all this just to say that the time has come for me to go to the dentist again. An aching tooth put a real damper on our camping trip this past weekend. I made an appointment for today for an exam, X-rays and treatment plan. I was anxious just making the appointment! The actual work can't be done until next week, because Shane is the acting foreman on his job until his boss gets back from vacation and won't be available to drive me until then. I don't know what I'm going to do for pain management until then, but as you can tell, I'm willing to put up with the pain rather than have the work done unsedated. Yep, I'm that uptight about it.

I can't be the only one. Surely some of you are as anxious about dental appointments as I am. Or maybe it's your ob/gyn appointments you avoid. Or something else entirely. Come on and share...it'll make me feel better knowing I'm not the only one.

A Little R & R

We'll be leaving later this afternoon for our fourth camping weekend of the season. It's been a hectic, so I'm looking forward to some downtime.

I've mentioned before that every camping trip is different in terms of food. This one is no exception. I've never done this before, but this trip, I'm just going to wing it when it comes to food. I've been far too busy this week to give much thought to meal plans for the weekend.

When we grilled some steaks last weekend, we threw some hot dogs and bratwursts on the grill, too. I froze those specifically to have tonight. We'll be getting to camp a little later in the evening, so I'll just wrap the already-cooked meats in foil and set them on our tabletop gas grill to heat them. I'll serve them on buns, along with some chips and fruit and call it supper.

We're camping just half an hour from my parents' house, and they've invited us to have breakfast at their house on tomorrow morning.

Beyond that, I have no food plans. Our camp is just minutes away from a town with an Aldi store, a Wal-Mart, and another grocery store, so we'll just stop in there and pick up what we want for tomorrow's lunch and supper. We'll probably pick up some kind of rolls or donuts for Sunday's breakfast as well.

Being a foodie, I've always focused my attention on the food when we've gone camping. More and more often, though, I'm finding myself focusing on just relaxing when we camp. And you know, that's not a bad thing at all.

Random Wednesday

First, I want to apologize to my friend Janelle, who is doing a series of posts about saving money on groceries on her blog At Home With My Monkeys. I replied to her post about looking for groceries in places other than the grocery store by suggesting she check out the Asian grocery store at our city's large open-air market. I found my favorite Lipton loose leaf tea there for 50% less than Wal-Mart; I think it's a great place to find bargains.

How was I to know she would almost lose her lunch by going in there? Really, I hardly even notice the dead-fish smell myself.

**********

All is quiet here today; my daughter Jeanne went back to work today (still on crutches) and Kat is at her second-to-last day of summer school. I've been able to catch up on housework and bill-paying. Getting things in order, which is something I require to feel calm and peaceful.

**********

Tell me, what do you think of this afghan?


Jeanne and her husband have asked me to make it for them for a wedding gift. At her request, I'll be replacing the red yarn with a deep plum, but otherwise it will remain the same. We bought the yarn yesterday afternoon and I'm looking forward to getting started on it. If you want to make it, too, the pattern can be found here.

**********

Remember the motorized bike we bought in May? We've been having fun with it on our camping trips and cruising around town a little, but we have to take turns with it. Well, guess what? We bought another one. We got another great deal, this time from a craigslist ad. This one has a nicer ride in my opinion, so it's probably going to be the one I ride most.

The problem is that it's almost identical in appearance, and it's confusing to say "the old one" and "the new one", since the one we just bought is actually older than the one we already had (see what I mean?)

We think we should name them to be able to distinguish between the two. We've thought of several names already: Itchy and Scratchy, Beenie and Weenie, Phineas and Ferb, and even Mary-Kate and Ashley. Of course, Beavis and Butthead, but neither of us wants to ride Butthead.

Any ideas?

Injuries, Illnesses, Company and Cooking

Kat is enjoying time with her mom while my daughter and new son-in-law stay with us for two or three days. Jeanne turned her ankle badly and has been advised to stay off that foot as much as possible for a few days. They live on the top floor of a four-story walk-up; that doesn't bode well for someone on crutches and in a half-cast. Not having a spare bedroom (it houses our computer and other things), we've put her on the couch and him on an air mattress on the floor. But if the rain here stops, we may set up the pop-up camper for them, or give them our bed and we'll sleep in the camper.

**********

Last Saturday, an ant bit me on the toe. If you've ever had an ant bite, you know that it involves much itching and swelling and a nasty blister at the bite location. The Internet says to leave it alone and try not to break the blister or there could be scarring. The bite just happens to be at the cuticle, right where the moon of the nail is. There's not a lot of spare skin there to handle the swelling, so the blister ended up breaking on it's own. It looks worse, but feels better, and I couldn't care less if end up with a scar.

**********

I went to a new endocrinologist yesterday. To make a long story short(er), I used to have hyperthyroidism, then had a procedure done that resulted in hypothyroidism. Supposedly it's easier to treat than hyperthyroidism, but I'm not so sure. In the eight years since I had the procedure, I haven't felt nearly as well as I did before it. It took a couple of years just to get my synthetic hormone dosage right, but now it seems out of balance again. When it's out of balance, the feeling ranges from feeling "not quite right" to feeling downright sick and more than a little mentally impaired. I know a few of my readers have the same problem and know exactly what I'm talking about. I had been taking a generic medication, so the new doctor has switched me back to a name brand, thinking it may be more consistent from pill to pill. She also took blood to see if the dosage needs to be adjusted. I'm hoping that this fine tuning will help me feel more like my old self soon. It will take weeks or even a couple of months before I know for sure, though.

**********

It's been unseasonably cool here; we've been able to turn of the air conditioning for most of the last few days. This morning is drizzly and cool, so I'm going to turn on the oven and bake some zucchini bread with some zucchini from our garden. I've also got come chicken in the crockpot for Crockpot Chicken Alfredo, which smells wonderful. I can't wait for dinnertime to get here.

Quick Monday Post

I thought I'd publish a short post this morning just to say "Here!". I think some people (A.Marie?...LOL) are concerned I'm either not going to post again or have gotten lost somewhere in the depths of my house as I clean it.

It was a busy week last week. I'm only about halfway finished with my room-to-room cleaning of my house. Part of the reason it's taking me so long is that, while I clean, I'm also sorting out items for a garage sale. And trying to keep up with laundry and meals. And trying to keep the rooms I've already cleaned looking good so that I don't feel an urge to start over as soon as I'm done.

**********

Some special events happened last week, both warranting celebration, but neither getting much attention at the request of those who would have been in the limelight.

On Thursday, my parents marked their 60th wedding anniversary! Isn't that amazing? They married as teenager, so they are now in their mid- to late-70s and going strong! We had small parties for them on their 25th and 50th anniversaries, but they didn't want a fuss made for any of the others, not even this one.

On Saturday, my daughter and her boyfriend got married! I'm not sure if it's an elopement if everyone knew ahead of time that they were going. :) They've been talking about getting married for a while, and after watching another couple go through the stressful planning of a large wedding, they decided a big ceremony wasn't for them. I can understand their sentiment; Shane and I were married in a similar manner. Anyway, Shane and I are happy for them and wish them the best.

**********

On a totally unrelated note, I was finally able to trap the mama cat that's been living in the back yard. A volunteer from the shelter came on Friday with a drop-style trap and sat for a couple of hours waiting, baiting her with tuna and smelly wet cat food. The volunteer left, I put a bowl of familiar dry food in the trap, and had her within five minutes! The kittens are already back from the vet/shelter, and the mother should be back this week, so they can all live happily (and kitten-free) ever after under our deck.

**********

I'll be posting my weekly menu today. Some of the recipes I've chosen from other blogs are just so tasty looking (to me, anyway) that I didn't want to let them pass by. But like last week, those may be the only posts I publish this week. I promise, though, to get back to more frequent posting next week...clean house or no.


See you then!