Category Archives: Life

5 Things Friday

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  1. We have entered week 6 of no working oven.. This is actually starting to bother me!
  2. Beach vacation is coming up!  We are going much earlier this year and to a totally different beach. New adventures await!
  3. The garden at this point has been a total failure. Even the plant that I have purchased are not growing!
  4. The good news is that  we are at least starting to figure out and work on the problem. After buying a ph meter, our soil is alkaline.  We purchased a bag of lime this week and have started adding it to the soil.  Even after the first application we started to see some new growth. I am going to stay positive and hope we can at least harvest a few fresh veggies this year.
  5. I have managed to pull a muscle in my back. Not sure how I completed this but it is very painful!

5 Things Friday

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  1. Guam’s school year officially ends on Monday (Sunday for me) this means that I will be only working on Sunday night from now until the beginning of August!
    1. A sweet Guam mother sent a care package that I received on Thursday!  It included all items exclusively available in Guam. I cried!  Everything is beyond delicious.  I really needed this boost!
    2. I will have worked at least 40 hours in Guam in the month of May!  This is after sharing the majority of my caseload with others!
  2. We were able to go 45 days without heat or air. We caved yesterday May 20th and turned on the air condition.
  3. Unfortunately we discovered a water leak last weekend. The leak was in the line to one of our ice makers so that was a $5 fix.  It had been leaking on our HVAC duct work which had to be replaced. I have not received a bill for this yet.
  4. Gas prices have risen significantly over the past several week plus we need to get the oil changed in the van. Our gas budget is going to be higher than previous month but still under the budget.
  5. Grocery prices continue to rise much more than I can ever remember. We have a fully stocked pantry and freezers so I am currently focusing on re-stocking only items that we are absolutely out of in addition to more “convivence” items just to make the weeks go easier with less eating out!

February in Review

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February was an extremely busy month. I worked an additional 60 hours in Guam. This meant that everyone has stepped up and is doing lots of extra stuff around the house. February has brought lots of rain. But the good news is that I have finally decided a plan for the square foot garden which will increase my overall growing space, raise the beds and make it pretty. This will be an intense time consuming project but I am very excited by it.

Groceries– budget amount is $650.   We have actually spent $599.71. This is not as low as I had hoped but still a full $50 under budget. I am only planning to purchase needs in March and then use the rest of the money for food in Disney.

Auto/ Gas / Insurance: . My goal is  $400 a month.  The price of gas has significantly (60 cents a gallon) increased over the past 2 weeks.  We are also driving to work and school five days a week. total for the month is $280.69 so well under budget. Next month will bring oil changes to both vehicles. So I anticipate the amount to remain under budget but not by much!

Cash Envelope system- GOAL Met!   We are continuing to use this system. I was able to pay an additional $500 on our Disney trip this month but also covered the cost of the repair of the washer.  Both Matt and I got paid this past week so the envelopes are back to zero. Any money saved this month is spending money in Disney.

Goal #4- Blogging- 15 post per month.  This is post number 6 for the month. See explanation from  above

Goal # 5- Fitness– Goal is to exercise of some type at least 10 days a month.   Nope not even close

Goal #6 – Bible study- Goal-  Read or Listen to the entire Bible in a year.  I have been listening to a podcast every day that I drive to work. I should be able to listen to the entire session by June.!

Earnings- $25 in gift cards

No Spend Days- another fail

March is going to be a month of financial change for us. We are in the process of re-financing our mortgage to drop the interest rate again. We are also considering rolling some other debit in the re-financing so I will explain everything once it is settled.  March should be fast and busy but the Disney count down is on so I am excited!!!!

5 Things Friday

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  1. Lily got her permit today! 
  2. Amanda was able to get a new to her car without any assistance or co-signer. She returned the van she has been using since she no longer needs it. We sold the van for $1000!
  3. I am exhausted, this week has been extremely busy with both my regular job and Guam. I am scheduled to work Sunday through Thursday every night for the next month.
  4. Lily and Zachary are grounded.  The reason is politics.
  5. The kids have decided to attempt to start a small business of there own, making Christmas ornaments and pot holders out of wood.  Matt and I will be assisting in the sell but first they need an inventory.

Life Happens- Unexpected Trip

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Things change very quickly, as has been proven yet again. Matt’s father passed away on Sunday January 10th. We made the very difficult decision to leave all the kids here and head to Florida to help make arrangements and for the memorial service.  This trip was total unplanned but fortunately we were able to cover the cost without causing significant hardship.  The emotional toil was significantly higher than any money spent.  Amanda was able to spend Monday- Thursday night at our house. Haley stayed Friday and Saturday night.  My mother was the bus driver and made sure that Kendall and Zach got to school every day and to piano.  A friend stepped in to make sure the kids got to church on Wednesday night. I had already written our meal plan so no additional food or groceries were needed at home, although the kids ate out several times as a sister treat.

One thing we learned very quickly was that the small town in Florida that we were heading to was hosting a dog show.  The price of a room jumped from $72 a night to $114 after our first two nights.  Total cost for hotel was $546.71

We chose to drive with both of us going. We did consider flying but would have needed to rent a car for the week so we could not justify this expense. Total spent in gas was $112.25

We did go to Disney Springs on Wednesday night for dinner. On Thursday, we used a remaining day ticket from our December trip to spend the day at Magic Kingdom. I was able to redeem point to cover the parking and several snacks. Although this increased our trip cost by $150, this was a much needed break from the stress of the week and I would not change a thing. Our photo pass from December also was active so I will share some pictures on Wednesday.

Our total cost of the trip was $1471.  We placed most of the expenses on our gas credit card that we planned to pay off this month. During our trip Amanda who has been driving our older van decided to obtain a car loan and get a new to her car.  She returned the older van which we will sell to recovery $1000. This is very unexpected but will enable us to cover the trip with little to no financial strain!

5 Things Friday

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  1. I have not used this format since September ??? Really maybe that is the reason I have not been hitting my blogging goal?
  2. Today both the kids and I had a remote learning day due to the weather forecast of 2- 4 inches of snow. Instead, we have had a cold rain most of the day with a change over to snow around 4pm. It has been yucky!
  3. I have made a “extra” money goal. I would like to save $500 a month in January, February and March to use as our food money in April. So far for the first week of January I have “found” or saved $203. If I can get to $475 I can purchase gift cards at Target to save an additional $25.
  4.  We are working hard at staying on track with our budget in January. So far was have spent $55 in gas and $91 in groceries.  I did place a Norwex order for more of Lily detergent so that will be an additional $70.
  5. My van is still in the shop after I hit the deer. Because they are going to repair damage from when I backed in the pole at Baptist hospital while Amanda was in the hospital. They estimate it will be fixed next week. I paid $500 from our stimulus and the insurance covered the rest of the repair.

Monday Menu Plan on Tuesday

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It has been over a month since I last posted a menu plan and many of the meal that occurred in the mean time have been take out.  I am not even going to pretend that we did not enjoy each and every one!   But we are back on track with a goal of saving up all of our money to eat on at Disney in April.  I am working really really hard this week to use up most of the left-overs in the fridge. It is already crazy full! The one game changer may be if we get predicted snow on Friday.  This will mean hot soup is a must!

Breakfast– Saturday-pancakes and sausage links. Sunday- I made egg cups and everyone else found left-overs or bagels.   Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, bagels or omelets.

Lunch-  Saturday–Matt and I ate out for our “date” to Costco, left-overs at home.  Sunday- Cagney’s (local restaurant)   I am taking left-overs every day this week. Matt is doing the same.

Dinner-  Saturday-  Nachos (frugal win as we used half a bag of meat and the rest will be used on Tuesday.)   Sunday-Crack Chicken Noodle Soup (definitely a repeat as of today none is left!) Monday-Pork Fried Rice (left-over pork from Christmas Eve. I also placed 2 additional meals in the freezer for future use.)  Tuesday-Soft taco and more left-overs  . Wednesday- Left-overs  Thursday-  Corn Dogs or another frozen sandwich from the freezer .   Friday- Chicken and Dumplings in the Crock pot. (I need to use the chicken breast I unthawed last week).

Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving is a very fluid holiday around our house.  Many of our Thanksgivings have been spent travelling.   We have travel to Michigan and Georgia to visit with family on most of these trips. We also have discovered that Thanksgiving is an awesome time to visit Disney World.

This year we are quarantined.  Technically, Matt has been released but the kids and I are officially quarantined through Monday November 30th. The good news is that Matt is definitely better. I am starting to feel human again. I am positive that I have experienced COVID twice now but did not chose to test on either occasion. The kids all have not had any symptoms.    I chose not to test this time because the kids would end up needing to quarantine another 14 days after my test. They have been really troopers and this really would benefit no one.   We did end up cooking both the turkey and ham along with multiple side dishes. We have been enjoying and even packed some lunches for next week.  Thanksgiving was not cancelled just quarantined.

Zach has been experiencing some stomach issues. After multiple discussion with his pediatrician’s office, we don’t feel they are COVID related. Instead, a food intolerance. We are going to watch his diet as well as complete some testing to try and get a handle on what is causing this.

The goals for the rest of the holiday are to get the Christmas decorations complete!

5 Things Friday

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  1. The weather has finally turned cooler this week. I turned off the air on Monday. The temperatures are going to take another cooler turn with highs on Sunday expected to be 63.
  2. Square foot garden- I pulled up 8 basil plants and hung in the building to start drying. I also bagged the ones that had been hanging since last fall.  I am not sure if we will use but for right now I want to save as much as possible. I am still getting a few tomato a week from the garden which is highly unusual for this late in September. Pimentos and peppers of several varieties are still growing. But by far the most exciting news of all is that we have sweet potato flowers!  I am going to leave these in the ground at least another couple of weeks before pulling up in hopes of even more flowers.
  3. Honesty disclaimer- I really debated sharing this so that is my reason for trying to hide it in number 3.  A coworker who I work in the same room with on a daily basis has tested positive for Covid-19. She texted me early this morning to let me know. I have been tested and will likely have results between Sunday and Tuesday. In the mean time, I have been advised to quarantine. The fear and stigma associated with this along with unreliable information is 100 times worse than even waiting to get my results. An example, when I spoke to my supervisor this morning, she stated that I did not need to get tested and did not need to quarantine. I chose to go ahead and get tested because of my Humira dose is due. By this afternoon, the story had changed to my co-worker could chose to get tested or just quarantine for 10 days while continuing to work remotely. But on the bright side, I will not be spending any money this weekend as I am stuck at home.
  4. My second job in Guam is starting to pick up. My goal is to work around 35 hours a week. So far I have been successful on scheduling around Zach’s baseball games.
  5. Lily will start Driver’s Education in 2 weeks!