I didn't fall asleep until two last night, which isn't unheard of, particularly on a night when I've been writing, but I wasn't last night.  Then I woke up at 8 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep.  I've been dragging all day, but I am in a surprisingly chipper mood.

I did manage to get some stuff done that I have been putting off.  I called the main doctor's office to follow up on referrals for my daughter.  She was supposed to have them done for P.T. for the torn miniscus and for an orthopedist for the same reason.  The P.T. has been approved by the insurance company, but the orthopedist referral hadn't ever been started.  They said to go ahead and call the P.T. place.  I hate it when we see someone who isn't our actual doctor.  They always seem to drop the ball somewhere.

While I had them on the phone I had them ask to renew a prescription for my daughter and one for me.  Her's is a powerful NSAID, but not a narcotic and mine is a narcotic.  Both cannot have refills left at the pharmacy, but have to be called in each time.  It used to be you had to go into the doctor's office to pick up the paper prescription, but that changed when Covid lockdowns happened.

Then I called the allergist to schedule an appointment for my son.  That was no waiting time on the phone, thank goodness.  It'll be a 3 hour appointment so he can get all the little pinpricks to see what he is allergic to.  He can't be on anthistamines for 5 days beforehand.  It's not until October, so he should have had time to settle into his job by then.  Speaking of which, orientation is tomorrow (the time stamp is still off, but I mean the 30th) for 3 hours.  I don't know why I'm so nervous for him, but I am not showing it at all.  I don't want him to be nervous.

After that, I called the P.T. place, but still no referral on their end.  *sighs*  It's a bummer, but there's only so much chasing down I can do.  And I don't know how far out they are scheduling.  I need to make sure they actually sent it to the place I asked them, too, if I haven't heart in a place.  It might actually be somewhere else as they do use another place sometimes.  I've gone to both, but one is a lot closer to our house than the other.

The new drug continues to help a lot.  I was able to wash my hair without any help from the husband today.  Usually he has to wash my hair, because it is hard for my one shoulder to be held above my head that long.  I have obnoxiously thick, long hair, so it isn't a quick shampoo, rinse, shampoo, rinse, condition, rinse.  It is a longer process.  It's still no fun bending over the kitchen sink for my back, though.  And I had to do the towel on the floor, wipe stuff up with my feet method for the water I got all over the place.  Then kicked it to the laundry room.  But I still did it.

The part of the garden on the drip hoses got watered.  Two more drip hoses arrived in mail today, a 25 foot to finish off the blackberries and huckleberry area and a 50 foot for the strawberry bed.  I picked off some more of the potato flowers.  I am about 2/3rds of the way through with that.  I can only bend for a little bit before it starts to ache.  I harvested my first zucchini and some of my cucumber plants have itty, bitty cucumbers on two of them and I have an tiny patty pan.  My pepper plants have itty bitty peppers, and my tomato plants have some small and medium green tomatoes on them.

My lettuce is finally ready to be harvested.  Planting late on that means no lettuce until practically August, but at least I have some now.  It is leaf lettuce so I just take the outside leaves and more grows from the center.  So a salad is on the meal plan for tomorrow.  I think I'm going to go ahead and pull the onions.  Transplanting them from the containers might have been okay if we hadn't had that excessive heatwave for so long, but the watering just couldn't keep up, so a lot of the greenery died. Better luck next year.

I forgot to mention in the last post that DH got crab on the weekend.  He got 8, one guy only wanted two of his 5, from the second day of crabbing.  The first day was for the "office" party for his group.  It wasn't as big a showing as usual due to people still not being vaccinated and not wanting to go to large gatherings.  The kids and I were sick with that stomach virus, so we couldn't go.  DH ended up bringing back five crabs from the leftovers.  DH got the meat all picked out of the shells and a lot of went into the freezer.  I can't due the picking due to my RA.  My hands just can't.  There is one container in the fridge that holds 2 picked crabs' worth of meat for snacking.  It's pretty good.  Dungeness always is, though I prefer snow or King, they just aren't around here.

They hope to go out again, but not sure what the season will allow.  They will be going fishing, though.  The salmon haven't really started running yet.

DH still hasn't called the Fridgidaire people.  I hope he manages to get it done this week.  I really need to give the hog lady a head's up.  I do almost all of the calling and appointment making, but DH is the one who can explain things with the freezer best, so he really needs to do it.  My speech gets confused a little too easily these days and I fluster when I call unfamiliar places that aren't doctor's offices, because that is usually some variation on a long memorized script.  It's the meds (not the new one), but what else am I going to do?  I'm miserable without them.

I can't believe it has been nine days since I blogged.  I did fiddle around last night and revamp my blog's appearance.  I like to freshen it up every year or two, so I changed the color scheme and the avatar.  Well, the avatar is basically the same, I just updated the background, clothes, and hair.  I tried to keep the hot pink to a minimum on the blog layout, because I know that can be very hard on the eyes for some people, but I like it as an accent, along with the black for the sidebar headings.  That's why the blog title is in white.  It attacked my eyes when I tried it out in hot pink.  I think the electric blue goes very well with just that hint of the hot pink, though.  I changed my avatar to reflect how I look now, which I generally do after a haircut, though this was not that.  I still haven't gotten one of those.  No, I just have my hair tied back all the time now because it is nearly to my waist, so the photo reflects a long pony-tail.

I'm still spending way to much right now and I have lots of excuses for it, but won't bore you with most of it.  I am still saving heavily to the medical fund, just not the EF.  I did have to buy my son some plain black shoes and some dark blue jeans for the uniform at his new job.  They provide the shirts and aprons.  Yes, my son has been hired for his first job!  He has orientation on Friday.  The position is full-time  I've told him he is on his own for buying clothes from now on.  I am not making him pay me back for this, but I am making him pay me back for the bento boxes and insulated lunch bag for packing his dinner to work out of his first full paycheck.  He will also pay $100 a month towards the utilities since he is pretty much personally responsible for the high water bill, and he will contribute $50 a month towards food along with his 10% employee discount.

He's going to be working at the grocery store six blocks from our house which means he can walk to work, weather permitting, and then we'll drop off a vehicle for him in the parking lot or pick him up depending on how late he'll be.  He's supposed to be working the 4 p.m. to midnight shift, but you know how that sort of thing goes.  He'll be a courtesy clerk which is a fancy name for bagger and cart fetcher/cart sanitizer, and other sanitizing through out the store.  I'm sure there will be other things he does during the slow times.  As far as I know he won't be restocking for now.  He wanted to be a cashier, it was what he interviewed for, but they hired some people with more experience.  Still, he can work his way into it once he has proven himself to be a good employee.

It's union, which is good in some ways and bad in others.  The job security is good.  You can't opt out of the dues and not be in the union which is bad.  The union doesn't have a 401K, it has a pension, which is nice.  But you have to work there seven years to get it, whereas with a 401k you always have access to what you put in yourself and whatever has vested so far from employer match.  I'm not sure how pensions work, if they are strictly company provided or you pay into them.  If you pay into them, it would suck, because this is not a forever job for him.

He'll be opening a Roth IRA with his first full paycheck and will be contributing 15% of his income.  He will be tithing 10%.  We will have to determine what the pecentages are on the $150 he'll pay to us each month for his expenses.  I think he said he wanted to save 40% for the car, maybe more, and then have the rest for his spending.  He'd like $100 out of each paycheck.  Of course we won't know what he'll even be making after taxes and benefits, so numbers may have to be adjusted accordingly, just not tithe and IRA contributions.  Then we can set up a spreadsheet for his budget or get him on the Every Dollar app from Dave Ramsey.  Personally, I prefer a spreadsheet, though.

15% to the IRA is non-negotiable while he lives at home.  He needs to get into the habit of it from day one.  We all see the position my mother was left in when they made her spend down Dad's IRA and 401k for nursing home care to $100,000.  And we see what happens when there is enough money to take care of the left behind spouse and help your kids and grandkids as is the case with DH's mother.  I want my son to have so much money in his 401k by the time he retires that he never has to worry about losing all his money to that if either he or his future wife end up in the same position.

I want there to be enough to have end of life care and still have so much money left over he doesn't know what to do with it all, besides charitable giving and world travel (if that is ever allowed again) and taking care of his sister if she lives that long (doubtful as her life expectancy might make her go before I do with all her disesases).  And that any possible kids he might have can get an education outside the public school system and be able to put their own kids through a college that has hopefully corrected back to the center from the divisive and often communistic brainwashing that has taken over in many universities today.  It all starts with 15% every paycheck and no debt.

I am thinking out of the $150 he gives me each month to put aside $100 a month to go towards his car, but use the $50 towards the utilities.  I'm not sure yet, since we are paying his portion of our car insurance still.  I planned on doing that, though, until he gets his own car.  He's also considering moving to his own Ting plan, so he can get unlimited data on his phone.  I won't let him do it on ours.  Since he won't be getting an allowance anymore (but will still be paid for jobs DH and I loathe, like washing and detailing the van), but still expected to do his portion of jobs as part of his continuing to be mostly supported by us, that money will be mostly freed up i the budget now, too.

His plan is that he's saving up and emergency fund first, then for a car second, and then for school.  He's decided he wants to become an electrician.  It's a two year course so it'll take some time to save up.  He won't get an expensive car, just maybe something in the 5K range.  I'm hoping we'll be able to help him a little, but the cost of the orthodontia work I'm saving up for makes it kind of prohibitive.  We won't be able to help him with school.  My focus has to be on retirement as we are so far behind and I don't want to ever end up in the position my Mom is in or the one my eldest sister is in.

But it does have medical which he doesn't need yet, really as he is only 21 and can stay on our insurance for five more years (you can't opt out).  But it does include dental and vision.  I am hoping the dental includes orthodontia as most plans that have it cover half the cost.  He'll get a big paperwork packet with all the info when he goes to orientation.  Not sure what other benefits there are.  Maybe life insurance or something.

The other thing I don't like is how they schedule.  It is based on senority so basically the people who have been there longest get to pick their shifts first and the person hired last picks last.  It's not done on any fair basis based on availability and a scheduler who makes sure everyone has to work some good and some bad.  It is cherry-picked.  That's why I said that while he was hired for 4 p.m. to midnight, he might not actually get those hours.  Although the lady who interviewed him said that most people don't want those hours, but he does because it fits with his sleep schedule and still gives him the opportunity to go to the chiropractor and schedule doctor's appointments.

It's hard to believe it took until 21 for him to get a job.  He tried before Covid, but first he was under 18 and no one was hiring teenagers here, it was employer's pick, and the picked over 18 every time.  They said as much.  All the kids complained they couldn't get jobs.  Then after 18 unemployment was so incredibly low that no one was hiring so no interviews were even offered.  Then Covid hit and I didn't want him out in the workforce, we didn't know what was going on yet, and he has asthma so wearing a mask for 8 hours a day was not doable.

Now that he doesn't have to wear a mask here (fully vaxed), he got hired the first place he applied.  Employers are desperate because people can still make more on unemployment in most states due to those extended benefits being at $15 an hour.  Most of these entry level jobs can't match that or they'd have to skyrocket their prices to raise wages to entice people, which always triggers inflation.  The benefits are supposed to end soon, though and then people will have to start working again.  I really hope they don't reinstate masks now, like some places are talking about.  I'm not sure he could manage the job if it keeps interfering with his breathing.  Maybe I could get him one of those helmeted electric respirators, although they probably wouldn't let him wear that!  And they cost $1000.  He'd have to pay that back, for sure.

I'm having a little bit of a "my baby is leaving the nest," going on.  He's not planning on leaving any time soon, but this is his first step towards really being an adult.  Other than working on the farm when we had animals, he hasn't had to be consistent about anything.  Not even school, since we homeschooled.  It's weird thinking about having a first job be your entry to adulthood.  My first paid job, I was little.  I only earned $35 that summer.  It was before they changed the labor laws, so I could work in the strawberries and the blueberries as a wee one with my mother (she was a teacher so worked the farms in the summer) and sisters.  There was no greater satisfaction than buying that powder blue Snoopy watch with my own hard earned money.  I had worked 4 jobs by the time I got my first job as and adult at 18.

Times change, I guess.  If you didn't know anyone, you couldn't help get your minor kid a job.  If they don't hire, they can't get themselves a job.  I bet a lot of kids will be able to work, though, with all the hiring going on now.  The faces are getting younger and younger behind the cash register everywhere we go and it's not because I'm getting older.  It's because they are sixteen.  And not just because it is summer.

I also don't like that most places don't take applications in person.  Everything is online now.  The experience of handing an application personally to a manager is just gone.  No first impression to leave with the manager, nothing that might help you get past the pre-interview barrier.  It's a lot easier to ignore online applications than in person ones.  Without that face to face there is no chance to get an edge by presenting yoursef as a neat, well-groomed, nicely dressed individual, or as a go-getter.  Not at all like back in the day.  The internet makes things faceless and impersonal.

As for me, I have been very busy writing.  I set my goal for last week at 6500 words and I did 564, 1663, 1174, 0, 0, 1442, and 2094 which totalled out to be 6937 words.  The two zero days were the really bad days of a five day stomach virus that kept me in bed those two days.  My goal for this week is 7000 words.  I know I almost met that last week, but I told myself I would go with 7000, than 7500, than 8000, etc. on up to 10,000 words a week.  I don't want to overly pressure myself on it.  If it is just 500 more words a week than the previous goal, it is attainable in my head.  Now if I really fly by it one week I may adjust accordingly, but I don't want to push too hard.  The goal here it to write every day or almost every day and I'm doing that, so it's all good.

I don't feel good about my payday report this last payday, so I'm not making it.  Like I said I spent way, way too much this month and while we paid off the card during the billing period, so no interest, we will still have a lot that carries over into next month from this make for the stuff charged after we close.  I really need to just put a halt to the spending on it.

I will be raising our grocery budget to $900 a month from $800 to feed four adults.  Inflation is getting to be too much to maintain at the lower level and DS will be taking his dinners to work so really need to buy things that can be eaten cold, like deli meat, which is much more expensive.  The costs of fruits and vegetables, in season, has doubled and tripled on some items.  I'm glad we don't need to buy beef anymore.  But chicken and pork have gone up a lot, too.  I'm not finding .99/lb chicken anymore, the sale price is now $1.99/lb.  Same on pork shoulder.  Bacon is a little scary.  It'll drop back down once we get some pork and chicken in the freezer.

Oh, and here's the kicker.  Our new Frigidaire freezer that we bought in December?  It sounds like an airplane taking off at times and the alarm keeps going off that it is losing temp.  All the food was about 1/4 thawed except in the very back, so we had to distribute that food through the other freezers.

I unplugged it after it tried to go down the runway at 5:30 in the morning.  We were trying to keep broth frozen in it to see if it would thaw or not, but with that kind of noise on the other side of the wall from the head of my bed, nope, nope, nope.  DH is supposed to call and wait on hold with Frigidaire most of the day tomorrow (I'm assuming) while he works, as it is still under warranty.  He can prop it up on speaker phone.  It's no way near a year old.  I will be out tomorrow with doctor's appointments, and grocery shopping, so I can't do it.

I don't know what the heck is wrong with the motor, but I have a theory.  I don't think the door was hung right, because we've had the little light blinking a lot when it should have been solid green and the alarm would go off every few days despite no one opening the freezer during that time.  There is a magnet that is supposed to line up with the bottom of the freezer, but it doesn't quite.  And there was always frost on the bottom basket.  I think the door was put on wrong which is keeping the seal from being quite right.  I think the motor probably had to work too hard to constantly be freezing and having no rest cycles because it was always trying to get it to stay  at temp.

I am hoping they will just replace the motor and fix the door at this point, or just replace the freezer.  I think it is a lemon.  If it wasn't when we bought it, it is now.  If we can't get it working right, or get a new one in time, I will have to cancel my hog order.  I did give her a heads up the day the melt down started to happen.  She said to just keep her informed when we know something.  It'll be a bummer if we have to cancel.  She says that if no one buys them like I am, they just go to auction, so she'll not be out too much from it.

I know we haven't had the freezer long, but I was already relying on it heavily.  Thank goodness we have the large chest and mini-chest and fridge freezers.  Without them it would have been awful because we had just bought the side of beef.  And I don't know if  freezers of this size are back in the stores yet.  Or any freezers.  And they cost around $1000.  Maybe more now due to inflation.  But honestly, I should not have to pay for a new one anyway.

Oh, well, I'll do what I always do.  Put my head down and cope with it.  There, a long entry to make up for not posting for 9 days.

$16,459.87 Starting Balance

+__,160.19 Amount Added

------------------------

$16,620.06 New Balance

This brings net worth to $113,827.73.

I had to purchase a new phone.  My phone has not been holding a charge.  I will charge it in the evening and turn it off and by morning it is down to 44%.  Turning it on trying to use it, would see it turn itself off after 20 minutes.  So the only way I could really use it is if it was plugged in all the time, which kind of defeats the purpose of a cell phone.  It was also getting really hot all the time, which we later found out was the battery.  It was pretty deformed.

I ordered a new battery which was $18 and DH tried to install it, but he ended up destroying the screen by pushing down on it too much.  He also stripped a couple of the screws and it wouldn't turn on properly, then it wouldn't turn on at all.  It was completely bricked.  The cost of replacement screen was enough for me to say screw that, I might as well get a new phone.  So I ordered one and a new phone case and that cost just under $310.  I had more than that in my allowance folder, so I didn't have to scramble to pay for it.  I did pay the extra to get it here earlier.  Still won't be until Wednesday.

I finally got the clothes I've been waiting on for ages.  I had ordered 4 summer nightgowns back at the start of June and 2 ( expensive) bras.  The nightgowns were in 2 packs and on clearance.  I've thrown out the ratty old ones that I've sewn up a few times.  The new bras are fantastic, so I might order two more when I've got a little more money in the clothing envelope.  They were over $50 a piece.  Worth it though for the fit and comfort and cooling panel.  I'm glad I decided to try a new style.  I don't remember what I paid for them, but I used money in the clothing envelope.

My jeans are starting to get pretty ratty, too.  I have some nice ones one size down and some sweats in that size, too.  I really don't want to buy new ones, so I am back on the diet wagon.  Hopefully this time I will stick to it.  Mostly I am in shorts right now so it is fine, but that will be over soon enough, so I've got two months to go down a size.  I can do that.  I've done it before.

I did pretty well on my writing this week.  I set a goal of writing 5000 words.  I had two days where I didn't write and 2 days where I kept getting interupted while trying to write, but I got some serious writing in on other days and hit my goal.  I had a total of 6181 words from last Sunday to Saturday.  I'm going to post here for accountability.  I did write today, but that will be on next Sunday's post.

Sunday: 901 words

Monday: 41 words

Tuesday: 0 words

Wednesday: 1634 words

Thursday: 0 words

Friday: 195 words

Saturday: 3410 words

My goal for this week is 6500 words, so if I do around 930 words a day I can hit that.

Thursday I had a massive fibro flare, but finally got to start the medicine the new orthopedic doctor prescribed on Wednesday of the week before.  It only took a week and a day for his office to pull their heads out of their butts and actually get it sent to the pharmacy.  I was supposed to start it the day I saw him, and I called 3 times about it over the course of a week.  The last message I left was a tone full of firm, polite, restrained annoyance (still obvious, but not like I was going to go off on anyone, or what I call Mom tone, which is a balancing act when not using it on children.  It worked and they finally called me back on that one within 15 minutes.  I was very polite to the person I talked to, who was quite apologetic, and I had the meds in my hand within two hours.

They work.  It knocked my fibro pain down to half the first day and 3/4 the second.  It is also helping with the nerve pain in my leg which was what it was prescribed for, but he said it should help the fibro pain.  I started on one pill a day and now I'm on two pills a day and in a couple of days I'll have worked up to three pills a day, which is what he wanted me on.  You just have to build up over a few days to see how you react and that the higher does doesn't make you to drowsy to feel anything.  I don't feel any more tired than I normally feel, so I don't think that particular side effect is one I got.  I don't feel I have any side effects from it at all.

He wanted me to start pool therapy for my back and hip, but that won't start until October since they are booked so far out.  I am scheduled to see a pain management specialist in August, but if this nerve medicine drug keeps working, I may not need anything from him.  I haven't taken hydrocodone since the day I started it.  I haven't needed it.  I can't believe how much better I am feeling.  I certainly have a lot more motivation.

Not much more going on.  I did get a big stack of books from the library.  I'm on a theme right now of romances by the lake or the sea, usually with some woman renovating a cottage or a lighthouse or a B&B and hiring the sexy handyman or contractor or having a helpful single neighbor man to do his part.  It's totally a trope, but it is one of my favorite, as they tend to be pretty light and airy summer reading.  Currently reading a lighthouse one.  I'll dive back into space military sci-fi with a strong female lead in the fall, then mountain lodges and home for Christmas stories in the winter.  I tend to read apocalyptic stories in the spring.  Not sure why.  It's a weird pattern with me, but I like what I like when I like it, so oh, well.

Our retirement account balance now rests at $59,197.67, an increase in the two week period of $1196.98, only $785.40 of which was contributions.  We gained $411.58 in interest.  I am starting to calm down a bit about the stock market.  I was getting antsy after last month didn't do so well.  Not that it matters, we are in it for the long haul, and I'm not about to bail.  It would be nice to hit $60K next payday, but who knows?  Might take longer.

That brings our net worth to $113,677.54.

We drove out to Lynden Meats today and picked up our whole beef. I wasn't sure we were going to fit it all in the back of the mini-van, but we did. For those who are interested in pricing we paid a $400 deposit, the remainder to the farmer was $1892.50 at slaughter, and the cut, wrap, and kill fee was $663.14. That was a grand total of $2955.64 for 665 pounds of hanging weight.

It works out to $4.51/lb for pasture raised, grass/hay fed only, organic beef, including soup bones, liver, heart, and tallow. Even on sale I can no longer find any beef under $4/lb and closer to $5/lb. Most organic grass fed beef is $7.99/lb just for hamburger and higher for others. That hasn't really gone up like regular beef prices, but this is so much less. We had some fantastic steaks tonight, but for the most part we will be using up the storebought beef first since it is older and not as well wrapped. There's not that much left, though. Like one or two pot roasts and 6 4 pks of steaks.

I'm so glad we cut our grocery budget to the bone to save up for this. I feel so much more secure with that spread throughout my freezers (which all have alarms). I don't put all my eggs in one basket since the Great Freezer Meltdown parts 1 and 2 over a decade ago. I'll feel even better when we get our hog at the end of October, although that will require a drive to Del Fox in Stanwood, which is a bit further than Lynden.

We've got a lot of old freezer burned chicken and turkey breast that will be going in crab pots. We would have used it last year, but DH's friend's boat was broken down most of the summer. We saved it because crab aren't that picky. The season starts for that in two weeks and they'll probably fish as well. So in the next two weeks I need to make up the soup bones into broth and can it to get it out of the way for seafood. I'll also likely make the turkey that is in the mini-chest freezer as it is taking up a lot of space.

I put $33 into the hog fund last night when I cleaned out my grocery envelope, but the cut and wrap fee was higher than I'd calculated, so I took $63 out of the hog fund and .14 out of the coin jar. So that leaves the hog fund lower than it was at $722, but I'll keep adding as we go. The end of October is a little over 3.5 months away. Then I will keep saving because I also want to get some organic chicken and possibly a lamb in the spring.

We had a nice Independence Day.  The fireworks were beautiful and they had quite a few new shapes that I had never seen before.  They also had some that were this intense shade of orangey-yellow that I've never seen on a firework.  

Today was nice and peaceful.  DH had the day off paid since the holiday was on the weekend and it was one that the company pays for either the Friday before or the Monday after if the day falls on a weekend.  He gets seven federal holidays and one floating holiday (which we usually take the day after Thanksgiving or the week of Christmas depending on our plans).

I have managed to write 1848 words so far this week that I kept and 503 that I deleted.  I am still kind of having to force myself to do it by using a writing sprint to get me started, but I am managing.

Most of the day I spent watching a Turkish drama called Kadeslerim which is very good if you don't mind bawling your eyes out.  Even if the subtitles aren't the greatest in the first episode, they get better after that.  I had to look up some expressions being used because in English they seem inappropriate to the circumstances, but they meant something else in Turkish that went with the plot.  Fortunately I found a list of twenty common Turkish expressions and it helped my understanding a lot.  The actors are amazing, the emotion conveyed was very impactful, and everyone is very beautiful.  I really, really want to see the bad guy get his.  If you don't mind reading your shows, this one is worth watching.

I filled out my paperwork for yet another jury summons.  I am not kidding when I say they constantly call me.  This time my doctor put in the note that I would never be able to serve in my condition.  I don't know if that will be enough to remove me from the summoning pool.  You would think with 3 degenerative diseases that cause permanent issues with sitting for long periods and as many doctor's notes as I've sent in they wouldn't continue to call me year after year.

It feels like harrassment of the disabled at this point.  I know it isn't, I know it is automated, but it still feels that way.  I have been summoned 14 times now.  You know how many times my husband has been summoned?  Once, and they didn't end up needing him.  My mom and MIL?  Never.  My son?  Once, but Covid happened.  All people who can serve and would be capable of serving and want to serve.

Heck, if I were capable of sitting that long and not on two powerful painkillers, I'd love to.  But these medicines make it hard to concentrate or focus and I cannot go without them or I don't function.  I am just so frustrated.  Every time I have to go see the doctor (major extra expense on year's the deductible has not been met), get a doctor's note which I generally have to go back for a day or two later, and spend my own stamp (minor extra expense, but it bugs me it is not postage paid for something that is not optional) to send it in.  Any extra trips, driving or walking, are just so bad right now, I really resent it.

I am almost at the point of giving up my garden.  DS has to do most of the work right now.  Maybe things will get better after I see the neurosurgeon this week.  Maybe he can put me on something else or give me injections or something.  The numbness in my thigh is now all the way down the outside and has moved to about half of the front.  I feel completely useless.  I'm even having trouble cooking every day.  At least I can still type.  Not sure what I will do when I lose that ability.  Well, that got depressing.

This was not a good week.  Mom has got it into her head that she wants to give us the house now, like next week, using a quit claim deed.  I keep trying to tell her she'll get smacked with a massive gift tax if she does it like that.  She's going to go see someone she said is an elder lawyer.  I'm not even sure what that means, unless what she means is an estate planning lawyer.  I told her she needs to ask him about the unified estate tax credit instead, but she isn't really in a listening mood.  I would prefer she just write her will and leave it to us there.

I'm not terribly thrilled about this turn of events, because I don't think we can afford the property taxes this year.  I'm trying to save up for DS's braces and get the EF fully funded, then save up for next year's medical deductible.  Plus it is looking like DD has a torn miniscus.  She has an MRI coming up soon to be sure.  Then she'll likely need surgery since it is pretty much a given that physical therapy doesn't work for a torn miniscus if it is so bad you can barely walk.

I finally got an appointment with the neurosurgeon.  It should not take a month to get a referral through, but my doctor's office had their heads up their butts and it took nearly 3 weeks for the referral to be sent, when it was supposed to take 1.  Than another week and a half before the neurosurgeon's office got their end sorted.  It's at 9:30 in the morning, so that is going to suck.  It is very hard for me to get moving in the mornings due to the fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis.  Plus I am a night owl not an early bird.  It's in a week so at least I don't have long to wait now.

I had a couple of days where my back pain was so bad I was crying, but it has at least eased off.  Those days coincided with the temps of 92, 97, and 100°F in our heat wave.  Mom gave in and let us put an air conditioner in our (not really a kitchen) kitchen window.  It's the only window in the house that will work with our unit from the old place.  It didn't do a ton, but enough to make it liveable.  It was still 80 degrees in the house and we had to use all the fans we had.  But at least we could go to the kitchen and cool off and DD's room, which is opposite that window, was comfortable so we would go in there a lot, too.

It's doing better yesterday and today and I can reach with my right arm again.  It's down from a 10 to a 7 with pain levels so it is bearable with medication.  DS has been watering the garden, but I haven't really been able to even go outside.  I may try tomorrow.  At the very least I will walk to the end of the driveway where DH will set up chairs and watch the firework show over the bay.  It was cancelled last year due to Covid, so I was very happy to hear they are doing it like normal this year.  It is always so pretty and we don't have to deal with traffic or any of the negative aspects of city events like crowds, smokers, overly perfumed people, bratty kids, and drunken adults.

I don't think we will do a BBQ or anything for Independence Day.  It really depends on how hot it is to be playing with charcoal and fire.  I do have steaks, so we could.  Just not sure it is worth going to all that effort right now.  I'm not up to it, but DH might be.

I have started writing again after a six month block.  I'm not sure I really like any of it yet, but the point is to get back in the habit of daily writing.  I was doing pretty good until the pain got bad and had to stop, but I have started back up again as of today.  We'll see if it leads anywhere.

We got a dividend check in the mail from Louisianna Pacific.  A whopping 51 cents for 3.1 shares.  I am actually thinking about getting some more maybe next year.  We can sign up for a $25 a month autowithdrawal if we want to.  It has always paid a dividend and that has been steadily rising over the years.  We used to Drip it, but they discontinued the Drip about seven years ago.  It'll go to the EF eventually, but I am not going to make an extra trip to the bank to deposit it.  It can wait until next Friday when I do the payday stuff.

Not much else going on.

$16,455.44 Starting Balance

+_____4.43 Interest Added

-----------------

$16,459.87 New Balance

That pops net worth up to $112,480.56.