Lucky Robin's Personal Finance Blog

The van work cost $987.33. Ouch. But the guy said there is nothing else wrong with it and that the tires were in excellent shape. They rotated them, changed the oil, changed the filters, replaced the brakes, flushed the lines, and washed the vehicle. I forgot it was supposed to be salsa red and not pollen yellow! This is the most expensive service we've had to date, which is not bad for a nine year old vehicle with less than 50,000 miles on it.

I think I am going to up my car maintenance fund to $100 a month instead of $50, though. At least until it hits $1000, then stop. While I don't think anything else that is big is going to come along, I'd like to be ready for it if it does. We were only half ready this time and I had to rob other funds.

We planted more potatoes in the garden tonight. We got in 3 rows of Yukon gold potatoes and two rows of Russets. Tomorrow we will try to get in 3 more rows of red potatoes. I may have a bit more seed potatoes than that, but will run out of prepared garden area. I might plant the rest in containers if there is any. Or garbage bags.

You can grow potatoes in garbage bags and then unfold and fill them as the plant grows. I've never done it before, but I've seen it done on youtube and it seems to work. I'd just have to figure out where to put them. Maybe the other side of the house in the narrow strip. We've grown potatoes in the ground over there so it does get enough light for that. We'll see.

We took the van into the shop today to get a new battery and an oil change and then DH mentioned, "Oh, and by the way, last time it was in, they said it would need a brake job this time." And I'm, "You didn't think to mention this to me." He forgot. Not his most shining moment, but I love him and he's a good man, just has a sucky memory. Anyway, that will be $892 before tax so I'm thinking around $982 with taxes. We have high sales taxes to make up for no state income tax.

I only had $456 in the car maintenance envelope. If he'd told me I would have been putting more in there besides $50 a month. *sighs* Well, I borrowed $75 from the household envelope, $400 from the laptop envelope, and the rest of the grocery money, since that and the household envelopes refill tomorrow. So that wipes out the laptop fund. It was either that or borrow from the Gift/Christmas envelope and we've got 3 birthdays in August plus Christmas coming up, so I didn't want to do that. My laptop is still hanging in there.

The important thing is that I have the money for it, don't have to dip into the Emergency Fund or use the credit card for it. And I want the brakes in top condition before we have to go to Seattle on the 22nd.

I hope they've broken up the occupation of Capitol Hill by then. It is too close to Virginia Mason for my liking and we will be on edge the whole time, because they do intend to expand if they are not stopped and I am really worried they will try to take the hospital campus, too. I don't want to be in the middle of that at all. Scary times. And our governor is clueless or he is flat out lying to the public. The asked him about it at the press conference yesterday and he said he was unaware of it. Unaware after two days? It is his job to be aware of an insurgency like this in his most populous city. You won't catch me voting for him again, and not just for this reason.

But I digress. I'll have to bump up the laptop fund savings for a bit to replace what I took (all of it) as soon as this month is over. This month is all about that last debt payment. Then we will have freedom to get a few things before buckling down again and working on the EF.

Mumof2 wanted to know how I make homemade ice cream without an ice cream machine and I just put up a video today of how I make strawberry ice cream on my youtube channel. I think I am going to do a whole ice cream series of no machine ice cream through the summer. There are lots of yummy flavors that I want to do as we go through the summer season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N-1j8uQ4I8

I harvested more radishes from the garden today. This brings my count to:

Purple Radishes--4
Cherrybelle Radishes--1
Icicle Radishes--11

The purple radishes are quite large, I can only hold 3 in my hand, and the icicle radishes are quite a bit bigger than that. So far that makes 3 lbs of radishes. Not to mention all the radish greens, which I am eating some of and the rabbits are eating some of. All told, in organic radishes I've harvested about $10 worth if you go based on size, where one icicle radish would be equivalent to 5 regular red radishes and a purple radish would be around 2.5 regular radishes. One bunch of organic radishes is $1.29 where I live.

I made chicken taquitos for dinner tonight and they were fantastic. There were leftovers so I froze them. I baked the taquitos, but the frozen ones can just go into the deep fat fryer next time or if someone wants a quick lunch they can do a few. The recipe was very easy and I made a double batch.

Usually I want to tweak a recipe, but this came out good the first try. Although I did use garlic and fine herbs cream cheese instead of plain, so I guess I did tweak it. And I will probably add more cilantro and green onions next time, just because I couldn't really taste the small amount that was there so I guess I will tweak it some more. Oh, that's just the professional cook in me coming out. You can take the girl out of the restaurant, but... Anyway, the recipe I used is here if you are interested: https://ourbestbites.com/baked-creamy-chicken-taquitos//

It rained on and off all day, so other than harvesting radishes and weeding part of the radish bed, I didn't really do any gardening. If it had been dry I would have weeded the rest of the radishes and the second strawberry bed.

I did order some more radish, carrot, and onion seeds for bunching onions (scallions) which should hopefully be here in 7 to 10 business days according to Johnny's Selected Seeds. By the time I made it to a nursery, there were no bunching onions available. They sold out fast once they were allowed to be open. Lots of new gardeners this year thanks to Covid-19. Next year I will try to be more on the ball and plant my own starts. This year I had what was likely Covid-19 at seed starting time.

I didn't spend any money today and I am trying not to peak at retirement again this week. I am so looking forward to Friday and paying off that debt. 3 days to go.

I hadn't looked at retirement since February 21st. I absolutely did not want to see how bad things were when they went into free fall after the lockdowns started. But DH told me the IRA was almost completely recovered so I thought that I would take a look at it and the 401K. The 401K is doing really well, considering. Not as well as it would have without Covid-19, but still, we're ahead after our contributions and employer contributions by $763.04 of just profit. The IRA has to make up $374.02 still to meet where it was in February, but it has been making rapid gains in the last two weeks.

New amounts are:

$22,694.58 401K
+_9,647.71 IRA
----------------
$32,342.29 New Balance

Total difference is an increase of $3843.04. We are well past what my wished for milestone was in February, which was hitting $30K. The next big milestone for us will be $50K. I really hope things continue to recover as more areas move into phase 2 and 3.

The guys came back from fishing with a lot of spot prawns, hopefully the first of many successful trips. They got two of their pots picked even though they were in the area. Poachers are rotten people. It's not that hard to get your own pots. If you can afford your own boat, you can afford your own pots and bait. Some people are just bad to the core like that. Still, we have plenty for dinner tomorrow and some for the freezer.

I did some cleaning in the kitchen today and I made two batches of hard ice cream, one strawberry, which I haven't made before, and one chocolate. I use the no ice cream machine method. All it requires is a mixer and sometimes a blender, depending on what flavor you are making. Besides chocolate, in the past I have done maple cookie and vanilla. I want to try blackberry, orange, maple pecan, and root beer flavors this summer. Maybe a mint chip for the others (not one I care for). It's super easy. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes of hands on time and then into the freezer for 8 hours.

I do have a hard ice cream maker but it only does one pint at a time. I also have a soft ice cream maker. One day when I have more space I will use them again, but this really is just so simple.

I got some laundry done today and some dishes as well. I didn't do any gardening, though. I also took DD to physical therapy, did a quick grocery run for ice cream ingredients, and then went back to wait to pick her up. While waiting I read a book that is on my phone. When DD came out I tried to start up the car, but the battery was dead. I had to call a towing service to come jump start me since DH was out to sea. He is never home when this happens! The jump cost $85. If DH had been around it would have cost nothing. They were fast to come though. I probably waited 15 minutes from the time I called, if that.

We will be buying a new battery and I am going to bite the bullet and go back on AAA. The local service they used to use that I hated has now gone out of business and the good one that is left in town is what they have to use. So my issues with AAA have been resolved. If I order now, the cards should come before the trip to Virginia Mason in Seattle June 22nd.

I am still waiting to hear back from the liver doctor. If she wants to see DD, I am hoping we can make it for the same day as it is in the building across the street from where her other appointment will be. It would be nice to just make one trip this month instead of two.

Where is everyone? It has been awfully quiet the last couple of days.

If anyone wants to see the latest, I put up a new gardening video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEEbhPc9BRo I've made a ton of progress since the last one.

Yesterday we managed to get 20 feet by 3 feet of flowerbeds weeded. Part of this was done the day before in that it was when two of the lilac bushes were dug out. Yesterday was going down about a foot and making sure all the bulbs my mother hates got out. I have to say it was a generously bulbing plant. I thought they were pretty, but I did not like how they draped themselves over the sidewalk. They had fronds with sharp edges that could cut your leg if you were wearing shorts.

We sifted all of the soil to get out the lumps and clumps and rocks, and we added some better soil from one of the raised beds we are taking down. The soil there is mostly clay so anything improves it. Then we planted it with wave petunias. It looks pretty good now, but when they spread out it will be spectacular. I love wave petunias. I got magenta, pink, hot pink, dark purple, purple black, white, and magenta with white stripes.

I also made a hanging basket with 2 leftover dark purple and two purple black petunias. While I love the big spectacular baskets the nurseries make, I can't afford a $40 to $50 basket. Well, I can. I just won't.

DH and DS are going to go prawning on Saturday, so we won't get as much done in the garden, but the payoff could be 160 spot prawns. We bought two fishing and shellfish licenses for them yesterday. It cost $128. I have to call fish and wildlife licensing to figure out what is wrong with my account. They think when it was moved from the old system into the new one someone made a typo, because something is not matching, but the licensing place can't fix it. Hopefully someone there can. They tried running it under my maiden name in case that was the problem, but it wasn't. I didn't think so, as I was pretty sure the last time I had a license was after we were married.

I wouldn't have been able to go on this trip anyway unless DS stayed home, but even then not on a Saturday as DD has physical therapy every Saturday this month. Someone has to be home to drive her there and since DS still does not have a license, it can't be him. But they sometimes go out on Sundays or Fridays or Mondays so I will get to go out, assuming whatever needs to gets sorted with the license.

We did get boards laid down over the area of weeds we want to kill. It takes about 3 weeks. We used boards taken off the old raised beds. There are some cracks that will have to be covered or it won't kill the weeds in that area. I think we should just rent a sod cutter, but if we don't get around to that, this will work. It just takes a lot longer. I want to get at least one more raised bed built, but that involves getting the last of the turkey coop torn down and then the old roof taken apart for building materials. We might get the coop done and the roof taken apart, but I doubt we will get anything built on Sunday.

There is not a ton more I can do until DH takes the pickup full of weeds to the dump or builds a new raised bed. I guess I could put down a tarp to put more on, but that is twice the work. I guess I could work on the kitchen, though. I just prefer out door work, but all of the cabinets need to be wiped down and out, the counter tops could use a deep clean and the floor really needs a good scrubbing. Or mopping. I can't get down and scrub anymore. I'd also like to totally reorganize the pantry, but that requires a trip to Lowe's and the lines there have been ridiculous since the lockdown.

Oh, we are officially in phase 2. And that does mean salons, so once they get going again I can finally get these split ends dealt with. I think I might splurge and get my hair colored, too. I haven't done that in a long time, but I am tired of the silver streaks.

I could color it myself, but that is really hard on my shoulders and I have been abusing them with all the shoveling as it is. And also, I want to support the poor hair dressers who have been out of work for ages. I plan on a large tip unless they screw up something like dying my hair bright pink instead of auburn brown. I usually give a good tip of 20% because they always do such a good job there, but want to do 25% this time. Which will be pricey, but we've had an income this whole time and they have not. It's not like I've been using my spending money on anything for months.

Well, I called the state fishing license place and what I need to do is bring my social security card into the local license place between 8:30 and 4:30 of a Monday through Friday and have them call the state place. There is a digit off so I have to have physical proof. And I lost my social security card a few years ago. I didn't need it for being self-employed and I had it memorized so I never bothered to replace it. I know it is in the house, but it has never shown up. So I went online and ordered a new one. It will take 7 to 10 business days to arrive, so I guess I can't go fishing until then. Ah, well. We have all summer.

I've been thinking about some things I want to get accomplished before seriously saving for the hard goals. I think we can do it over the course of 3 paydays.

1. Save enough cash to pay for a handicapped ramp for the back porch. This is a premade steel one that is easily removable so we can take it to our next home. It will cost about $1000.

2. Pay in cash for a driver's ed class for my son. We haven't been able to find the time to teach him to drive and I need him to be able to drive. This will cost $750 (possibly with tax so might be closer to $890 if there is).

3. Buy new shoes for everyone who needs them. That's at least me and DH. DS might need a pair, too. DD is good. Buy jeans for DS who has lost a lot of weight. This is contingent on the stores reopening their changing rooms, because he is the sort who must try pants on as he has a long crotch to waist ratio. This is a line item in the budget, though, under clothing.

4. Save for our September getaway by the sea. This will be as we go along, $200 a month.

Our hard long term goals are:

1. Bump retirement from 5% to 7%. This will compensate for if they have to carry through with stopping the matching due to covid belt-tightening. Will start in July.

2. Save to get the Emergency Fund up to 3 months of income. I know Dave Ramsey says expenses, but I feel safer with income. I don't think he accounts for medical insurance costs if you become unemployed. For this I will need a total of $19,650. We currently have $8821.90 in the EF. We need to come up with $10,828.10. I think we can do this by the end of December, possibly the end of January.

3. Once we have saved 3 months income, bump retirement up to 10%.

4. Simultaneously save for the down payment and 6 months EF. I'd like the ratio to be $1500 a month to the down payment fund and what is left to go to the EF. I am not entirely sure what that amount will be with retirement contributions at 10%.

5. Once the Emergency Fund is at 6 months expenses, bump retirement to 15% and put all remaining funds toward the house down payment fund. Eventually I would like to have saved enough for our house to have a mortgage payment that is only around $1500 a month. That means we will have to save for longer, but I don't want to be stretching every month for $2000 mortgage payment. I want to have a reasonable payment with cushion. We can do $2000, but then we'd have to be tight with the budget and I would like to be a littler bit looser.

6. Save hard core for the down payment. I am playing with the idea of just saving up enough to buy a house outright. It would mean living here a lot longer, but the payoff could be worth it. Not sure how much longer mom is going to live, though, since she is 80. It might be longer than it would take to save up that much money.

If we just save up for a down payment with the idea of a mortgage, I think we will need about $120K for the house and land we want with a reasonable mortgage. That is about six and a half years to save. So all told we are looking at 7 years to get where we want to go. Which really seems like forever. But DH ought to get some raises during that time so maybe not that long. Who knows, though. They are on a wage freeze during covid. He didn't get the raise that should have gone with his promotion and even the merit raise that should come in July won't happen for anyone. That doesn't mean he won't eventually, just not now.

Although MIL does give us money from time to time, so maybe any of that that doesn't go towards medical can also be saved towards our goals and make us achieve them faster. I don't count on that, though.

It's raining and the most I have accomplished today is taking a shower and doing a deep conditioning on my hair. I need a good hair cut. My split ends have split ends. We aren't even in phase two yet here so who knows when I can get one. Our county was all ready to apply on Monday, but then they issued new, slightly looser rules, which required five additional forms to be filled out. I think they submitted yesterday. I hope so. It's not stage three, but at least it is one step closer.

More than a hair cut, I want a teeth cleaning. My dentist appointment was supposed to be in March and I know when they do reopen they will be slammed. If they reopen. There is always the possibility that this closure might have bankrupted my dentist. He's only a couple years into owning the practice (bought it from my old dentist, who retired) and I am sure he has student loans and rent he can't make without working. I worry about my hygenist, too, who has been with me for more years than my current dentist.

Anyway, I did 8 hours of garden work on Sunday (walked 11,000 steps, never did that before) and then was too sore to do much yesterday other than dishes and some cleaning the kitchen. I also prepared a Copper River salmon for the BBQ along with corn and zucchini and made up sugared strawberries. DH did most of the babysitting of the grill, though I am the one who checked the fish. I haven't bought Copper River salmon in a couple of years, ever since it got crazy popular and super expensive, but it is my favorite salmon. They had a great sale of $8.99/lb if you bought a whole fish. Usually it is $18.99/lb whole and $28.99/lb for a filet, this year it is $16.99. Although they will filet a whole one at no charge. Guess the usual price gouging doesn't fly in a pandemic year.

I normally prefer coho to sockeye (which Copper River is sockeye), but I will eat any wild Pacific salmon or wild river or lake salmon. What I won't touch with a ten foot pole is farmed Atlantic salmon. When you grow up with wild Pacific that mealy stuff is just not what you want to eat. There is just no comparison.

Sometimes the keta goes on sale for $2.99 at the height of salmon season and that is what I generally can. Sometimes you can get coho for $6.99 and normally that is what I would freeze. But now that DH and DS are fishing, we will eat whatever they catch.

I wanted to get my potatoes planted today, but it is raining pretty hard. I am hoping for a break in the weather so we can get them in the ground. We should have done it yesterday, but I was pretty wiped out from Sunday. Tomorrow is supposed to be clear, though. And if not, we will just plant them in the rain.

May was a three paycheck month and so this last paycheck was a bit larger than usual. That's because they don't take medical out of a third check. I never remember that there will be a couple hundred dollars of difference on what is already an extra check, so it is always nice bonus surprise. It only happens a couple times a year, so I guess remembering that doesn't stick out in my mind.

$339.26 Tithe
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
__75.00 Household Envelope
__66.55 DH Life Insurance
__60.46 Me Life Insurance
_100.00 Blow Money Adults
_120.00 Allowances Kids
1000.00 Monster Mom Loan Payment
1226.11 Citi
----------------
3387.38 Total Money Out

We've been using the credit card a little more than I'd like. We've been so tight for so long that I think I loosened the purse strings a little too much this month. Oh, well, it happens. And we can pay it. I will try to get better about that, though.

$8821.90 Balance Forward
+___2.37 C1-360 Interest
+___0.65 CU #1 Interest
--------------
$8824.92 New Balance

The last time I had gluten was on May 21st and I started my diet on May 23rd. As of today I have lost 10.4 pounds, dropped a clothing size, which gives me a lot of new options with capri pants and shorts and sweat pants, if not jeans. My shirts are a lot looser, too, and longer than they were before, or at least they go down further.

I feel better, too. I am not having near the trouble with mucus pooling in my throat that I was when I was on wheat. It isn't gone, we are in cottonwood season, but it isn't where I feel like I am almost drowning in it. I also haven't had to use my asthma inhalers since dropping gluten and I am barely using my nasal spray at all, and certainly not first thing when I get up so I can breathe. I always thought it was dairy that was my problem, but I've had milk and cheese through this, so it doesn't seem to be.

I have also noticed that it has become a struggle to meet my daily calories for a safe daily intake. I'm just not hungry or craving bread all the time. I do push myself to eat at least 1200 calories a day, and I am happier if I can get it closer to 1400 to 1500. I've never had to worry about that when wheat was in my diet.

My stamina is also getting better and my legs are getting stronger. I was having trouble standing for more than five minutes at a time since having what we suspect was Covid19 back in February. Not with walking, mind, just standing in one place. Two night ago I was able to stand the entire time I was cooking instead of having to pull up a chair. Not to mention how much longer I can work in the garden, including doing things like shoveling. I was so weak when we started putting in the garden in April.

I've also noticed my RA symptoms don't seem as bad, despite using my hands a lot and my fibromyalgia, while still noticeable, is not as bad, but that may just be from the increased exercise.

I'm not sure if I have a gluten intolerance or just a wheat allergy. I know I don't have celiac. Considering the mucus output going down so much, I think it is an allergy.

Franz now has a gluten free bread line that tastes good. It has two types of bread, hamburger buns, hot dog buns, and bagels. That's the same as what Udi has, but Udi comes frozen. I like the Franz better as it is softer. I am still learning to bake gluten free, just haven't stumbled on any great recipes yet. I am going to attempt to make cornbread this week though, as I found a recipe that looks promising.

Mostly I am happy with just eating meat, veggies, and fruit, though. The bread craving is gone, so unless I am going to have a hot dog or hamburger on the grill, I don't feel much of a need for it. The kids do, though, so I buy the gluten free bread mostly just for them. They've been off wheat since the beginning of the year and both feel better and have dropped weight as well.

I read wheat belly years ago and was just not ready to give it up. Now I wish I had tried. I might have saved myself a lot of weight gain and physical pain and breathing issues.

$2000.00 Balance Forward
-1000.00 Payment Made
-----------
$1000.00 New Balance

One more payment to go and I am debt free, ya all!

I took DD to her primary doctor today as a follow up for her ER visit. He did prescribe her more valium, but only another 10 days worth. I wish he could have seen what a difference it has made to her day to day living, but all he's worried about is it being an addictive substance. Not so much about helping with pain and making those tight muscles relax. My mother has been on valium since I was a child and takes 3 times as much. We understand that it can be abused. But when the doctor is in charge of prescribing it, I don't see the issue. It's not like we're going to go out on a street corner for it. Just use it until things ease up and then wean off.

She has no reflex action in her left leg. Didn't matter where he tapped the thing on her knee or ankle, it didn't kick. He also poked her and there was no reaction. Her leg has been numb for a few weeks. So something serious is going on, but we won't know much more until the MRI on June 2nd. She restarts physical therapy on Saturday. I hope it helps and doesn't make things worse.

Then even if things are serious, her weight may be a detriment to getting surgery if she needs it. They say lose weight like that is an easy thing when you have to take prednisone every day to live and it makes you gain weight. I know what she eats. We don't have junk food in the house and she doesn't go anywhere to buy food or have an income to do it. I'm lucky if I can get 1200 calories into her in a day because she is so nauseated all the time and she isn't even able to cook her own food because of all the pain. She is not overeating. If anything she doesn't eat enough. It would help if her pituitary worked properly. And her digestive system. Her inflammation level in her blood work is off the chart, not to mention her neutraphils are crazy high.

I just want a healthy kid. Is that so much to ask? Why does she have to have five diseases, something wrong with her back, hip, and leg, and a liver tumor? How much can one body take? But sure, doctor, let's worry about addiction instead of quality of life, okay? Because that's more important than being able to function on even a basic level.

/Rant

What a nice little vacation DH and I had. It was wonderful to get away from the kids and to get away from my mom and have no cares in the world for a few days. The sea air was fantastic, 2 out of 3 sunsets were gorgeous and 1 was spectacular. I loved just being able to sit on the deck and stare out at the sea while DH cooked on the BBQ. DH made all of the meals, so I didn't even have to do that much. I really felt relaxed and unwound for the first time since mid-September.

It was also great to sit in the hot tub and just watch the ducks and seagulls and the dog that went for a swim every afternoon at the same time. I love seeing the tide go in and out as well and seeing all the shells left behind on the beach. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can see the seals, too.

It was good to have some alone time and DH and I had a serious talk about weight loss needing to happen and that I wasn't buying anymore junk food, I wanted it out of the house. He has agreed and is doing well since we got back. As am I. It is nice to have the whole family on board for a change. It was always so hard on me when I tried by myself. DS has been doing great since the start of the year. He lost 30 pounds. DD has lost some, too, but that is more due to the liver tumor and not wanting to eat much.

Speaking of the liver tumor, it has grown from 2.7 cm in October to 4.1 cm. We are waiting to hear back from the hepatology doctor about what steps to take next. I think she has to have some kind of nuclear medicine test, at least that was what the hospital recommended after her recent CT scan.

We've been working hard in the garden since we got back, but today is a day off because we worked for 7 hours straight yesterday and are sunburned and sore. We got a lot done, though. There is still so much to do, though. But I am good with a day off for everyone. It also rained all morning and early afternoon so not too much could be done, anyway.

I have pictures I would like to share, but am having trouble getting it to work.

It's been a tiring last several days but we got the ground garden weeded, rototilled, put up the bean supports, formed it into trench rows, and planted four rows of green beans and a block of corn that was 8 across down the length of the ground garden. I got my zucchini planted, my bee balm and larkspur transplanted, four of my six tomato plants in garbage bins, the remaining two potted up into 2 gallon pots, my ten pepper plants planted, and my pickling cucumbers in.

We also put down a thick layer of new hay for mulch, wet it down and trampled it, all around the beans and corn. It was first cutting hay and there are no grass seeds in it, so we shouldn't have to struggle with that.

I've shown DS exactly how to water, some plants don't like water on their leaves like tomatoes and peppers so need to be done at the base, some seeds like carrots have to be misted, some it doesn't matter on, so he has the list and knows exactly what to do while we are gone.

I can't wait to be at the seaside. I need this so much. Looking forward to sitting in the hot tub tonight and watching the sun sink into the bay. I don't know if we will swim in the water or not as the shore is very rocky and I don't want to tear up my feet. There is a dock but it is not a very stable one, it is on floats and anchors so it is hard to walk on, let alone jump into the water or get out of it, especially with no ladder. You can see exactly how it is made when the tide is out. I wish it was on pilings, but oh well.

I just wanted to check in before I went. I've been so quiet, but only because I was working so hard in the garden. My nephew has our number as do the kids, so if there is an emergency with my mother or my daughter while we are gone he will call. I am sure DS would call, too, but if he has to stay with Mom or DD, then nephew might be the one to call.

I need to go pack and figure out what food we are taking, besides the rib-eye steaks for the BBQ. Those are coming for sure, maybe some pork ribs as well.

$330.86 Tithe (including AdSense portion)
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
__75.00 Household Envelope
_800.00 Citi
_100.00 Blow Money Adults
1000.00 Emergency Fund
__50.00 Car Maintenance Envelope
_130.25 License Tab Renewal Van
_120.00 Allowances Kids
__50.66 Garbage
_100.00 Clothing Fund
--------------
$3156.77 Total Money Out

$7808.17 Balance Forward
+1000.00 Deposit
+__13.73 Allstate Refund Check
-----------
$8821.90 New Balance

This has been a rough week for me. I think the fibro flare is finally leaving, but I am still going through caffeine withdrawal. I think I have about two more days of it. It just makes me really draggy and unwilling to tackle much of anything. I have so much to do and no inclination to do it. But I will go out and work in the garden tonight. I always feel better for being outside. We need to finish filling the new bed and some garbage cans with soil as I bought my peppers and tomatoes yesterday.

I am also bummed because I lost my camera download cable. One of the things that doesn't work on my laptop is the memory card reader. I did order a new cable plus an external reader as well, just so I have backup. I think the old one might have fallen into my garbage can because I can't find it anywhere and I always keep it in the same place. So I can't work on videos, because I can't get them off my camera. No one else has one or a reader on their computers. One of them is supposed to be arriving tomorrow, so I will be in for a night of editing to get my garden video up on time, but that is okay. Oh, and CB, I forgot to answer your question, but yes, I am making garden videos again. The link is in my sidebar.

Despite my blahs, we did get the raspberries transplanted into a nice, orderly row. They were taking over their area and it was impossible to get in to pick them. We ended up tossing some of the smaller ones. In a different time, I'd have potted them up and sold them, but I don't want people coming to the house. I don't have anywhere else to plant them, either.

As this lock down drags on I feel it more and more mentally. I will be glad to get away to the cottage with DH. I think I really need it for my health. Now that my nephew has moved in, I feel less worried about leaving mom with just my kids, too. I know they are both legally adults, but one is disabled and the other is still young even though he takes care of DD when we are away.

I am glad this vacation is already paid for. I don't think I've ever needed something more, but if it wasn't already paid for I wouldn't be buying it now and we wouldn't be going. Too much uncertainty in the world.

I really put my body through the ringer on Friday. I got a ton done, but I have been basically non-functional with a Fibromyalgia flare since. Today I was able to go sit outside and watch DH turn the compost pile while I kept him company. It was kind of peaceful as we were at the back of the property in a little hidden away area that almost makes you feel like you are in a forest. Almost, because you can still see one the neighbor's fence and top of their house, but it was restful (for me) with the birds twittering and the squirrels and cottontails bravely running nearby.

I think tomorrow I might be able to do some garden work again, but I am going to take it easy and be gentle with myself. I can't go down like this. DS will be free to help starting tomorrow afternoon. If it is still bad, I will simply keep him company and direct him on what to do. I can't do anymore digging. It wrecked my legs and made it hard to walk. But I can do some things, so I will leave the hard stuff to DS.

I went to Winco last night to get chicken and they had signs up every four feet in the meat department saying to be mindful of other customers and not overbuy meat in a day right now so as not to overwhelm their supply. They did say we could come back daily, though. I say we will have limits within a week. I got four packs of legs and four packs of thighs, which was what I'd intended, but I am going to go back tomorrow and get some more legs to can.

I was hoping they'd have a good pork sale, but the ads were lousy, so I will just buy chicken legs for canning and do a batch a day until I have a month's supply on the shelf. Legs are the easiest to can as you can do it bone in. You are basically just filling your jars. I may pick up a couple of hams to can, too.

As these meat processing facilities continue to close over employee illness, we may go from limits to rations for meat. It would not surprise me in the least. I want to be ready. I don't think it should be limited to an amount per family, it should be limited to so much per person in your family, which is what rations would do. Right now in some areas they are limiting a large family to the same amount as a small family. That will eventually cause problems. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but I don't think anyone still thought we'd be on lock down this long, either.

No matter what happens, I want to be ready for it.

So I changed my blog title, because my sister found my youtube channel and I don't want her finding my blog. I may end up changing my user name to just Robin or Robin's Luck, but we'll see. I was thinking of changing it to Debt Free Robin once I am debt free, anyway.

I guess that is a good thing, though, because it means the soil is healthy and alive and full of red wigglers. But I could do without the image on my eyelids. That always happens when I see a lot of something for a long period of time. I worked in the garden today for 5 hours, 4 with DS and 2 with DH.

We got the bean "field" and the corn "field" weeded today. There is still a bit on the edges that needs to be dug out tomorrow, but that will be probably another 30 minutes of work. We lost the sunlight, though, so couldn't finish tonight. We also got the bean supports taken down. We should be able to Rototill tomorrow, weather permitting.

I'd like to do the potato "field" tomorrow. None of them are really fields, more like patches, I just refer to them that way. We only live on just under 1/2 an acre, so they couldn't really be fields. I'd also like to transplant some raspberries from a place where they are taking over to a place I'd rather they be at. They are thornless raspberries and they are not a deep rooted plant, so it should be relatively easy to move them.

We saw a lot of squirrels and rabbits, today. The mama squirrel kept trying to get our attention by waving her tail at us and taking off, trying to get us to follow her. She doesn't like us so near the place she has her nest. Well, I don't like where she has her nest, so we are even. Squirrels are why we cover our raised beds, and rabbits are one of the reason why we have tall raised beds, although it is mostly for my knees.

The rabbit didn't really care. It got as close as 4 feet at one point and we were talking to it. There is a family of cottontails that lives under our rabbit shed. Every year they have a couple of litters. Most don't make it due to cats and hawks and owls, but there is always a pair there the next year. Don't know if it is the same pair or their offspring.

I am very worn out, but I really want to get this done so everything can be planted and mulched and we can get on with the business of growing. I am going to purchase some silage tarping in the fall to cover the bare ground so we don't have to deal with weeds like this again in the spring. It is pretty heavy duty and can be used for several years.

I am thinking of growing my potatoes in straw this year. It would make harvest a lot easier. We'll see.

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+___1.88 Interest Added
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$7808.17 New Balance

The tabs money was money saved from a previous paycheck, not really out of this paycheck, but I will track it with it, since it was paid today. Otherwise paycheck spending was $3,144.64.

Nothing to the EF this payday, but next I should be able to throw $1000 into it. May is a 3 paycheck month. I have to decide if any extra money will go to the EF or to the loan. So far DH's job is secure and looks secure for the foreseeable future, but with the world the way it is is anything really secure? I want that loan paid off so bad, we are so close, but at the same time I know we should still be careful.

The urge to not have to hear snide comments from my mother about how we owe her money (even though we pay consistently, and extra when we can) is very strong. Even though we've paid $108,000 off, that last $2000 still gives her leverage to be a donkey hat. I don't know why my mother has to have turned so mean in her old age. She hasn't always had a spiteful streak. I hate the start of dementia for what it has done to her. If I could go back in time I would have stayed on the hospital payment plan despite the interest rate instead of letting her help us, just so she couldn't use it as something to hold over us.

$318.47 Tithe
_500.00 Utilities
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
__75.00 Household Envelope
_115.17 Internet
__36.00 Garbage
_100.00 Car Insurance Fund
_100.00 Gas Money Envelope
_100.00 Adults Spending Money
_120.00 Kids Allowances
1000.00 Monster Mom Loan Payment
__85.55 License Tab Renewal Truck
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3230.21 Total Money Out

$3000.00 Balance Forward
-1000.00 Payment Made
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$2000.00 New Balance

Today I worked on turning the compost. I got the second bin turned into the third bin all the way down to the level that all that was left was composted soil. It is rich, black, and full of worms. Such beautiful homemade dirt. Yes, things like this make me so happy. I am a garden geek, what can I say?

Tomorrow I will work on filling our large containers with some compost at the twelve inch from the top mark and then putting more compost about 4 inches from the top. That gives seeds and starts a good starting place, but also gives them a boost when the roots get a foot down.

After all that soil gets moved out then I will turn bin one over into bin two, then we will replace the outer wall of bin one with a bigger pallet. The one we have on it is too small for the amount of animal bedding that goes into it. When that is replaced then bin three will be turned back over into bin one. Lots of work ahead of us, but I only do that when it is raining, because it is under the shelter of trees, so I can still work outside without getting wet.

I might also weed tomorrow as it is supposed to rain until 1:30, but then be clear and nice. The soil will be lose from the rain and more likely to give up the weeds. Then Friday is supposed to be clear all day. We need to get as much weeding done as possible before the weekend as it is supposed to rain Saturday through Monday. I don't mind working in a light rain, but the guys are whiners. I guess it is from growing up working in the berry fields in the summers, rain or shine. As long as I have a rain coat and a hat to protect my glasses from rain drops, and it isn't cold, I am fine working in the rain.

My kids are driving me crazy today. I've avoided my mother for my own mental health. I hate caffeine withdrawal. And I might be rapid cycling. I hope not. That usually happens before mania. I have been level for such a long time, 3 years I think, but I feel like I am on the doorstep of mania. I guess I'll get a lot done if I go over the edge. And I might even finish my book. But I won't sleep and that is always the hardest part of a manic episode for me.

One thing I am really lamenting is that I didn't go to the library on the last day before it was closed. I have run out of library books to read and you can't read Kindle in the bathtub. Well, you can, but I'd rather not risk it. Chris pulled out the few books he has in the house and one of them both interested me and had large enough print for me to read. I think a trip to storage is in order for the weekend. There are plenty of books there that I would be happy to reread and some I have never read. I'm sure some of it even has a large enough font for my poor eyes.

Yesterday I got the weed pile and the rose trimmings moved into the bed of the pickup truck. It's a full sized bed and the amount of weeds I put in it are slightly rounded above the top of the bed, except for the garbage can full of rose trimmings and the giant kale plant that was pulled out. Those are slightly higher. We will cover with a tarp and tie it down before taking it to the green part of the dump. It is their composting portion of the dump for all yard waste. It costs $6 a load to dump, which is a lot cheaper than the cheapest dump load which is a base $12 plus weight.

It was a lot of work and what I did was load the wheelbarrow, empty it, then sit down for five minutes. This is what I do to get over my stamina issues since the illness in February. It takes longer, but I got it done in two hours. I've got two mini brush piles I need to move this afternoon and then the load is ready to go for tomorrow.

The plan for today is to figure out where I am going to put the containers for the tomatoes and zucchini and then fill them up and hopefully to get the parsnips planted. I also want to transplant some of my big herbs into large containers and then find some small ones for the smaller herbs. We've got totes and garbage cans and buckets, so everything will have a home, I just have to get it all gathered up and figure it out. I think the giant rosemary plant will have to go up in the front yard. It is about two and a half feet tall and I am not sure it's roots will fit in a container other than a garbage can and those are reserved for the tomato plants.

I can't believe it is almost May. There is still so much to do and I am pretty much the only one working on the garden right now. Mom is driving me crazy right now. She seems like she is doing everything she can to slow down getting the attic finished for my nephews arrival. Last night, for instance, around 7 p.m. the guys were ready to vacuum the floor. But she didn't want them to vacuum the floor. She wanted to do it herself and refused to let them. But she didn't want to do it then, she wanted to do it in the morning.

If she had done it last night, they could have been mostly finished. It wasn't because it was late and she was tired. She stays up to 11 p.m. most nights, and she spent the entire day watching TV and not doing any work, same as the day before. We're not the one letting my nephew move in after all, yet they are the ones doing all the work to get the room cleaned out and ready and she keeps doing things like this to throw spanners into the works.

Meanwhile, I don't get the help I need in the garden because she insists on them working on the attic and complains if they go out to help me that they aren't working on the attic. This is just one example of the petty, stupid stuff she pulls. I will be so glad when we can afford to move out of here.

Another thing she did is back in February she insisted that the dishes need to be done on the longest cycle, which takes about 3 hours and uses 4 times as much water, because we were sick. But the quick wash gets everything clean and only takes an hour and uses far less water. She thinks the three hours sanitizes everything better. I think that's BS, especially coming from someone who does not wash her hands with soap after touching raw meat, just water. DS follows behind her cleans every surface she touches in the kitchen.

Now she's complaining that the water bill was $40 higher this month, but insists that the rise is do to my son taking long showers (he isn't and they aren't any longer than they've been) and not the fact that the dishwasher is using more water. That is the only thing that changed. Also, we pay all the utilities, so I don't know why she is whining about the water bill anyway.

I put a stop to this dishwasher thing, since my son or husband are usually the ones starting the dishwasher and told them to just do it on the short wash and ignore her. I am also keeping an eye on my son's shower times and making him get out after twenty minutes, at the latest 30 minutes if he's been working hard and using the shower to soak his sore muscles. The rest of us keep our showers pretty short, like 10 minutes or 15 if I am doing a double wash and condition of my long hair, and if my muscles hurt I will just take a bath. It really is just the dishwasher.

And she is just one of those people who isn't happy unless she is complaining about something. It gets worse than older she gets. I try to have compassion, but some days it is really hard. I stay nice and I stay polite and she apologizes often for being so bad, but I'd rather she just stop doing these thing than keep apologizing for it. It would be easier on all of us.

And then as we start watering the garden it will see a rise there, so hopefully I can keep it down with the dishwasher enough that it will still make a difference. We are still getting quite a bit of heavy rain so we may not have to water too much. I'd like to hook up rain barrels to the drainpipes again and use that water in the garden, but I'm not sure if I can find used ones and new ones are expensive.

Oh, I sold a rabbit buck on the weekend. Zane has gone to a new home to be a stud for some folks getting back into meat rabbits. Cyrus went a couple weeks ago. That leaves me with four rabbits, one breeding pair that are both broken blacks, a retired red doe who is more of a pet now, and another buck that is a broken red.

I may sell the breeding pair, and may just keep the broken red as a companion for the retired doe. Vincent is my favorite buck, he is super friendly, and while he and Ruby can't be in the same cage because she still might get pregnant even though she is old, they can be right next to each other. Well, with two inches between cages to prevent any accidents.

I don't know, though. It might be worthwhile to hang on to the breeding pair in case we can't get meat. I don't really want to do that again, but there may not be a choice. We have enough cages left to have three grow out cages, so it is doable. But I think I'd rather get meat chicks if we are going to go the route of raising meat animals again.

It is always easier to get chicken feed than rabbit feed as the stores keep it in stock consistently. And Cornish cross only take 8 weeks to grow out whereas kits take 12 to 14 to get them to a large enough dress out size that 1 animal feeds us 1 meal. And on the practical side is much harder to kill a cute rabbit than an oblivious chicken, even if it is easier to dress out a rabbit.

Mom has been making noises about having laying hens again, too, but she can't take care of them so it would fall on us. I don't want to get up that early in the morning or always have to be around at sundown to put them in, so I don't think that will happen. I can handle it for 8 weeks for meat birds, but not full time and not in the cold season. And hens are noisy. They cackle when they lay eggs and sometimes when they don't. You can hear them from a couple houses away. I don't want people knowing we have them if things get rough out there.

Chicks aren't too loud once they are old enough to go outside and these would all be boys who don't start to crow until they are much older than they'd be butchered at. I just don't know if I want that responsibility, though. The garden can be done at any time of day, weather permitting. Chickens have a time table. Rabbits always have food and water before them so don't require a specific time to check their feeders and waters only need to be filled once during a 24 hour time period. And they are quiet.

We'll see. I am hoping it doesn't get as bad as all that but with another meat plant closing, it could get bad fast. I think this is the eighth one.

I have done so much work in the garden the past three days I am practically falling down exhausted at bed time. But I've got my peas, carrots, and radishes planted, a lot of weeding done, and tackled the overgrown climbing rose bushes today. That was a major chore and I got my fair share of thorns poked into me, but it looks so much better and the blooms this year should be outstanding. That took me three hours to do.

Tomorrow I want to work on the potato planting area and get the big weeds out. The soil is pretty loose there, but there are some things that will require digging out with a shovel, like Russian thistles and pernicious creeping buttercup. But then I can easily shake all the soil back out so we can keep that. I think I can get that done in an hour or two, even though it is a big area. It's just not horrifically overgrown like some areas.

The pesky squirrel and her babies are still under the turkey coop roof so that is still on hold to be torn down. I just want them to move out already. That coop in on prime ground.

After the potato area is done I want to start loading the truck with the weeds and branches and rose clippings so they are out of the way and off the ground where I need to pull yet more weeds. I'll probably be wiped out by then but if I can I'd like to start work on the corn and beans area. We are reversing them this year from last year so we aren't planting them in the same place. Then next year we can rotate them with the new potato bed, too. I will be glad when the guys are done with the attic so I can get help in the garden again. Nephew moves in on the first.

Of course all that is contingent on it not raining. If it is raining I will be canning beef chuck roast instead from the $3.49/lb sale.

Also mid-day tomorrow I have to take DD to the rheumatologist. I am really wishing DD had gone with a telemedicine appointment, but she had the option of going in. I don't know if they will let me go in with her, but the rate at which she's been having panic attacks means it would be a bad idea for her to go alone.

I am going to try to kick my real sugar Pepsi habit again. In February I started drinking it after a couple years of not and it is making me feel cruddy, after the initial lift from the sugar and caffeine. But I got addicted, so it is pretty hard to quit. I know I will feel a lot better if I do, though.

Okay, off to bed with me now.

My Google/AdSense payment was deposited into my account yesterday. I wasn't actually expecting one until next month, but I must have done better on YouTube during March than I thought I had. I know my two virals were getting hit a lot because there were tons of new comments. Wasn't expecting such old videos to get so much interest. They are the ones on making homemade sausage seasoning and making and canning homemade mustard. I have a very small channel, but I still manage to make about $500 a year with it and that's with putting very little effort into it.

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$2069.79 to go to hit my next mini-goal.

I'm pretty wiped out today from working in the garden yesterday, but I am still hoping to get at least an hour in later today when the sun moves behind a tree. Yesterday I got the rest of the dirt out of the one long raised bed and then got the rotten wood all torn down. Then I started working on weeding the next bed. I got one 8 foot by 3 foot section finished and then about 2 more feet by 2 feet additional done.

I moved 2 wheelbarrow loads of soil as well. Today DS will help with moving soil while I continue to weed. He puts the dirt into the wheelbarrow and then I help him unload it. That is easier for me to do since the wheelbarrow is at a good height for me and the soil is all loose at that point. At least we will do that if I can get my body moving. Some days are much harder than others. It might not get done until tomorrow. I have to pace myself within my body's limitations.

If I don't do it today, I am going to sit down and make myself do a one hour writing sprint. I just need to get over the hump on something and then I can move along on the book again. I tell myself I have to be a productive human being for at least one hour a day, so I don't fall into a slump of just watching YouTube or Netflix all day, every day. That is not good for the mental health.

I sat down and have made up two budgets. One I am calling an emergency budget and one I am calling an extreme no income budget. The emergency budget is for if DH has to go down to 32 hours a week again. The extreme budget is for if he gets laid off. It was looking like we were going to weather this okay, but what with the oil companies getting slammed this week, I don't know. He works as a lead engineer for a construction company that does work for refineries. So this could trickle down to hurt his company.

Anyway, I figured out that with an extreme budget we can get by on $1683.18 a month excluding medical. That's cutting out everything that isn't a bill and cutting the grocery budget in half. Without an income there is no tithe, either, which also cuts things down a fair amount. If DH gets laid off they will continue to pay their portion of medical for two months. I am not sure how much our portion is, but I think it is around $450 a month, so I would have to add that in. After that it would be the full amount for the COBRA. DH would qualify for unemployment so that would basically go to pay medical and if anything was left, to the Emergency Fund, for future months.

With what is in the EF now, that will last four and a half months. We will be harvesting from the garden by then, too. Of course we are going to continue to add as much to the EF as we can between now and any possible future layoff. I feel better having some kind of a plan in place. It is scary to think about, but it is scarier not to think about it at this point. Better to know what we might be getting into.

I hate living with uncertainty. I always have. I just pray his job continues, even if it is at reduced hours. The medical insurance is the big thing. It is what absolutely leveled us last time. When you have people on life-saving drugs, it is sometimes the only thing.

The garden is starting to really come along with the clean up and getting dirt moved. I am ready to plant one bed now and have transplanted the strawberries. There is a lot of work ahead, but I am determined to have a big garden this year. With the food supply chain being disrupted, I want to have as stable a source of fresh vegetables and fruits as possible.

I have my first garden video up of for this season if anyone wants to see it. It's only six or seven minutes long. It has a new intro, new music, and a new outro. I'd be curious what you think of those things in particular. I always go with a country theme for my garden videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN7WPp7-iyw

I will be planting snow peas this afternoon and possibly carrots, radishes, and parsnips, too. Carrots and parsnips are something that can be canned, so I'd like to do at least 2 plantings of those, one after the other. They are 60 day crops and do well in both cool and warm weather so I should be able to take a crop into the fall/winter season, since you can overwinter both in the ground, too and go out and pull as you need them.

I planted my Aerogarden 2 weeks ago with lettuce and it is doing amazing. It grew much faster than ever before. I guess it knows we need it to. Or maybe it just likes the environment of the closet where the temperature is always stable.

So anyway, we should have edible lettuce in four weeks and if I plant the radishes today, about the same on that. Can't wait to start eating homegrown salads again.