WOW>

When I checked the USGS website, I found out that there has been 211 earthquakes in the past week. Check it out, it's amazing and scary at the same time. I'm going to do some research from the bible and hopefully post the part I'm looking for later.

The conversation...

Yesterday I had a conversation with a mother of 3. We were discussing finances and the lack of money. I decided while I was making lunch today that it would be a good idea if we started writing down all of our money being spent, this way we see where our money is going and why I have to work!
So on my blog I'll keep a food log of our daily food and the estimated costs. I'll use a montly cost of items such as salt, pepper, ketchup and mustard. When I do things like Kool-aid and tea I'll add in the cost sugar and water. Why water you ask? Well I use it to make the stuff, but on the flip side our water is higher than I've ever seen in my life! So adding it is would be the same if I bought water at the store, but a bit cheaper. Since I won't be able to keep up on here daily, I'll keep a journal on paper and ask Duck to help me with this. So...here goes. Side note....I won't be keeping track of my free meal at work, that would not be fair since I don't spend money on it, but when we eat out I'll keep track of that money.

Lunch: (since we got up late this was our breakfast)
Smiley had a package of peanuts from McDonald's, I always ask for one when I get a Sundae becuase he likes to eat them solo.

Duck took 2 mini snickers: $.21
Andes Candies $.75
5 chicken nuggets: $.41
1 box of broccoli augratin rice $1.00 (I don't put in the butter so I don't add for that)
1 pitcher of kool-aid with about 1 cup sugar $.51
1 cup apple sauce $.31

So lunch cost roughly $2.23 and fed only 3 of us. This is good, but that is going to be over $200.00 a month eating this cheap but adding the $.96 a month daily for candy is going to have to stop. We'll see what happens. I think 1.5 jars of canned veggie soup will run us about 2.48 plus the time it took to can it.

We are also going to be looking at our energy usage, while the next few days are going to be high, we are trying to get it much lower.

Our afternoon eating was horrible

McDonald's was 10.04
snacks 1.07

Dinner was
chick nuggets $.84
apple sauce $.31
Dirty Rice $.84
Mac and Cheese with sausage $1.83
Can of veggies $.53

Wow, if we don't eat anything else that is going to cost us 17.79. That's HORRIBLE. We must do better. 17.79 a day for a month is 533.70

Okay I need to read the meter, I worked on the house today, should have done more. I will work some more tonight, I will have company on Wed, so I'd like the house to look really nice. Duck also has to work on his homework.

Katy

Have you ever seen the movie

I Am Legend?

It is a bit creepy and I won't spoil it for you, it is about a scientist who works for the US military is some fashion. A woman who is a researcher created a new drug that we suppose to cure cancer 100%. It ended up mutating humans into blood thirsty zombies of sorts. Okay, certainly not my typical movie since I can't stand zombies, but my point is...have you heard about the new HIV vaccine? I just checked out cnn.com and saw the article. I didn't get into it as I don't have the time to sit and ponder it and research it but the way things are going it looks like we are going to need a scientist to help cure us from our cures. In some cases I think that some of these doctors, while having good intentions, they could be causing more damage then good, not that I expect to see zombies wandering around.

Well on that note, I need to get ready for bible study we are going over our skit today that we will do tonight at the meeting. I am so excited to be part of the school, now I need to find more time to clean like I should both here and at the hall. The new dish washer here will certainly help lots. It doesn't work as well as my first one, but it works, that is all that matters.

Toodles...have a great day!

Life Changing day!

First we will start with Riley: The doc said that he does not have Epilepcy now, this is something that could change in the future (how ever you spell that). Okay so that's the good news. The MRI came back normal...another sign of good news. The EEG came back abnormal. It showed signs of slowing brainwaves at times. While these weren't enough to consider them seizures, they were enough to consider them abnormal. If he has more visibile or more intense silent seizures we will have to do a sleep study and a 24 hr. EEG. We are waiting on his blood test results, I will have to dig in and do a bunch of follow up, this is important at this point. Critically so. If he is dumping too many proteins in his blood to, we will have to speak with a kidney doc and a dietician. Sunshine will have to change his diet and we will have to monitor more closly what he eats. By the way..stupid fact of the day. Did you know that 5 gummy worms have 3 grams of protein in them. Good thing to know if you are ever lost in the woods for an extended amount of time and only have gummy worms to eat. I'm very happy with the help that Dr. S gave us. While we are back to square one, we know that it isn't necessarily his brain causing the problem. We are going back to diet now. We need to see what we can do. I guess it is time to look up diet and autism.

THen we went to Duck's aunt house. Everytime we are there she keeps telling me we should apply for disability for him. Why? Why is it any of your business? I can understand the first or maybe the second time, but I don't need her doing research for me telling me that I quality when I've been told by other not to waste my time, he doesn't. We don't need it anyway. While we struggle a bit when we make bad decisions, Jah takes care of us. He provides everything we need and when we seem to need a bit more he shows us how to make it. Them more money you have the more problems you have PERIOD. Granted I say that and I asked for more money at work, only because when Duck looses his unemployment we will not make enough to pay our basic montly bills. I'm only asking enough to pay my bills, everything else we will have to worry about then. Which is another reason as to why my pantry is stocked and my freezers are overflowing...literally.

We then met up with my very prego friend K who gave 3 of us hair cuts. It has been two years, she said I had a lot of breakages, but I needed to switch shampoo and conditionars every three days. Like use Suave (which has a high alcohol content) for two days and then use a better one the 3rd day. This would help, I'm going to look into this too! We had fun we first met up for lunch and then we to the salon. Sunshine didn't freak out as much as he usually does. Of course he wasn't asked to sit in the chair either. It was so nice to see her. When she has the baby I'm going to go up and see her. She did the same for me, she was one of the only ones who visited me in the hospital when I had Sunshine. Even my best friend at the time didn't come up. K has really been a good friend over the years.

Then we met up with JM, it was so much fun, I haven't seen her in 18 months. She bought us dinner and we sat at Pizza Hut for about 2 hours talking. I got to give her a wonderful witness, she asked questions and I had the pleasure of answering. It was truly moving! I love her to death, she has always been there for me through thick and thin. She is a wonderful and amazing woman.

Then we decided to meet up with my mother. We called Aunt S for the number since I forgot to write it down and quite frankly I thought we'd be leaving town well before then. So we met up with them at McDonald's she looks terrible, sounds terrible. I'm really happy she could see her grandchildren. She has osteoperious (again spelling), diabetes, emphazema and a slue of other problems. It was heart breaking to see. She kept prying as to where we lived and such. We gave a little as possible, being protective we feel at this point we must error on the side of caution.

Today when Duck gets home I'm going out to buy a big bottle of Calicum vitamins and some chewables for myself and the kids. I just can't swallow adult vitamins. We ahve to start eating better and exercising, I want to live past 55.

Well I need to get started on house work. I've got a lot of laundry to catch up and some dishes to do. I need to get things done and hopefull can some veggie soup.

Gotta scoot.

Stranger things have happened.

So after Duck got home in from his bible study with TL, we were of to the hardware to buy a new dish washer. Right before we were walking out the door I checked FC and sure enough there was a lady who was offereing one that was less than a year old. I sent her a message and left a phone number. On the way into town she called. I now have a new used dishwasher and a new microwave stand.

We'll see how it works out!

Night, off to Riley tomorrow.

Katy

Busy day...

Yesterday I didn't work as long as I was scheduled, I have also asked to be off by 7 pm. I'm always sent home early anyway, and they know I'll stay later if I need to. I ended up having to come in and work the early opening shift since R wasn't going to be there and B called off too. On top of that A couldn't be there so Ag covered for her. I opened with an inexperienced opener and learned that I need to learn more in the kitchen. This was after the fact that I couldn't get the safe since I didn't have the combo. I ended up calling S at 4:30, but I didn't realize that I should've called her home, my mistake I should have looked at the wall. Then at a few minutes before 5 I called L, no answer and finally had to call J, I felt bad but I had to wake her up. She gave me the number and it was a complex combo, I've never seen anything like it even working at the bank. I was a fun morning, I even had a minor fight with the muffin toaster, I couldn't remember how to get it hooked up right. The maintenance guy couldn't even get it, we were stumped. Then he finally got one pc in and we couldn't get it out. GRRRR. I watched him for a few mintues trying to get it out and then I started to get fustrated and said, "It's my turn and IT'S COMING OUT!" It ended up only taking me about 5 sec to get it out, when it get locked in, it has to be lifted out, not pulled. It was funny after all, we then figured it out. He actually had it in right, we just weren't looking at the bigger pic. I know now how to get it done! So that is two new things that I've done.

I want to get the cleaning done today and get some things canned. I also have to get some studying done and I want to work on the blanket that I wanted to finish two years ago. We are going to go look at a new dishwasher. I need one bad, I'm wasting more energy do dishes and far more water. I could also be cleaning something else while that is running which would save me more time and personal energy!

Well I need to go get some alcohol to rub on my arm it itches really bad and the poison ivy is showing it's ugly face again.

Me.

A couple of days.

It has been a couple of days, but that's how it goes. I've been working hard trying to keep the few hours at work I got this week and trying to hang out with the family. Duck is back in the swing of staying up till 3, this doesn't work when he needs to be getting up around 7 or 8. He still isn't in the swing of his new school schedule yet either. This semester is proving to be rough already. I think we need to sit down a make a week to week plan to get thing moving in the right direction. We go back to Riley on Tue. I'm really looking forward to the results. I know that sometimes I'm not exactly happy with results that I get from there, and that some people plan don't like Riley, but I wouldn't trust any other hospital like I do Riley. I've learned that as a parent you must not stop asking questions until you understand. No matter how irriatated someone may be, it is our jobs to ask questions and make sure that we can care for our children after we leave.

I think I'm going to take a quick nap before I leave for the meeting. It would be nice to be able to wake up and do my lesson. Right now I can't keep my eyes open.

Katy

Wow 3 posts in one day..

Ya'll must think the only thing that I do is sit on the computer and type. It has just been a long day. I've actually got a lot accomplished. I picked up my paycheck that was nearly 10 hours short. OUCH. I was hoping it was more, but darn it! My next one will be about 18 hours short. This is going to be interesting. Within the next month we have to pay 3 mortgage payment and buy a new flue liner. I'm sure that we can do it as long as the UE holds out. My husband was required to create a letter of appreciation to someone, they said it could be the George Washington or anyone, he decided to write it to me. It was so touching that I nearly cried. Sunshine is being impossible tonight, he is about ready to be sent to bed alone. Anyhow, the successful day, sorry my mind is being pulled in a million directions. We picked up a exercise thingy from someone today on FC. It wasn't what I thought but looks like fun to do. One the way home we went to WT and picked up rain barrels that we found for $5.00 each. They were horribly dirty with the corn syrup that was originally put in them. We tried to wash them at the local car wash but it didn't work. I'm going to have to bleach them and wash them out as good as I can. It will take hours, but might be worth it. We are going to use one for the gray water system in the basement, 3 for rain barrels to water the garden, one is for EW and the other we are going to experiment with hydrogen on the other one.

Tonight when we finally got home, unloaded and returned the trailer I canned 14 qrts of bean soup. The first 7 turned out mushy which is my fav and the second 7 turned out okay. We'll have to see how they taste, the last batch I used 15 kinds of beans with extra pinto, kidney, navy and great northern and a bit of ham. This time I added in some carrots and bacon. I'm interested in trying it out in the next couple of days. We were both dying for potatoe soup so I made some. I used fresh diced red potatoes, crushed red peppers, minced garlic, minced onions, skin-less smoked sausage, creme and a bit of butter. It was so yummy we both had seconds and Smiley had 3rds. Tomorrow after I take Sunshine for his blood work, I will do the veggie soup and let Duck finish it while I'm at work.

Well I should head off to bed, this has taken me about an hour to write since we are watching a movie.

Me.

Something very sad...

In works of building my own non-for-profit I've decided to collect current news articles showing the growing need to feed the hungry. Granted, the US doesn't have the "most" hungry people, but I'm small, this is local and I have to start somewhere right?

Here's an article that nearly made me cry. The most stunning comments were about the fact that we (as the world) can produce enough food to feed the world, yet there is still over a billion starving and too many to count dying from hunger, men, women and children, helpless. I was asked today how this was going to affect my lifestyle, my goals and such. Honestly...right now I don't have the time that I need to do too much with this, but I'm going to take the winter to work diligently on this and experiment with ideas to help thoes who are hungry. Anyhow, my number 1 goal is to serve Jehovah and Jesus Christ, in doing this my family of course is second as called out for in the Bible.

Okay...so here it is:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090916/sc_livescience/thescienceofhungerwhat1billionpeoplefeel

I encourage everyone to read this article. You will have to copy/paste it.

Toodles.

The call...

Yesterday I rec'd a voicemail from the lab at Riley. I returned the call late knowing that they'd have to call me back. Well this morning they called, Sunshine's genetics test showed an unusually high level of amino acids and they now need a blood test to confirm and test further. Yipee. This is NOT going to be fun at all. I'll take him to the local hospital tonight to get it done. I may have to wait until tomorrow morning depending upon when we get back. I spoke with Dr. S's nurse L yesterday, they finally took into consideration that he won't take a liquid med and called in a pill seroid for him. At this point the poison ivy is clearing up. I guess I'm wondering if the steroids in his neb would do the same as the ones he takes orally. Hum...something to question next visit. We will need to see them next week after his apt at Riley. I'm anxious to hear the results. I'm really impressed with the neuro doc that we were assigned to. Helpful and knowlegdeable beyond all belief. Now if I can just get a resp doc that will do the same. I want to know if Sunshine will always have asthma. He was diagnoised at 6 mo old and has been struggling ever since. Smiley was diagnoised at 1 month old and has only had one attack. It seems that he may have grown out of it as most kids do.

Duck is already off to school, probably pulling into the drive about now. We are going to pick up some rain barrels that we found for $5 each. I think I'm going to get 4, maybe 5. Since I'm going to plant the corn on the opposite side of the yard next year, I will need to water them too! The beans are coming up well, I picked all the pumkins the other day, I'm waiting to see if the new shoots produce anything before I pull the plant. The only thing that is producing now is the peppers. I will finish pulling the tomatoe plants and put all the corn stalks in the compost later this week. My compost bin is full, I will need to get some straw and coke, in my research, this will help the compost process work faster. I'm looking forward to canning the pumpkin, I've gotten rid of almost all of it at this point. We also made some VERY GOOD salsa the other day. I'm thinking that I'm going to can some great norther beans and rice and them pour the salsa on top. That sounds yummy for some reason. I'm going to make more beans soup tonight, I think I need to run out to S's for more canning jars. I'm nearly out and my selves are full of food, but I can't let what I have left go to waste. I will also take her some spaghetti and chili. I do wish Duck had not taken the truck, I could've done that while he was gone after my bible study. I guess that will give me time to take care of the bean soup. I still haven't gotten around to the potatoe soup, it requires a lot of time and I'm not read to sit down and do it all. I will do my best to do it on Monday.

Well I need to get off of here and get ready for company.

Toodles..
Katy

Update some things...

I picked up a few hours this morning and I'm exhaused. I should have gone to bed earlier. I think I felt a little bit of the benedryl this morning although I think the biggest crash was from drining the coffee and then stopping. I laid down on the couch this morning until the boys got up. Work seems to be going a lot easier for me.

I have a ton of things that I want to get done today that include a lot of things outside so I better get to it. I'm going to start in the laundry room, that seems to need the most amount of work right now. I'd love to get the new washer in and get it hooked up.

More later

Katy

Yummy!!!

So I tried something new. No it wasn't the soup, I still haven't made that yet. I plan on working on it while I'm cleaning and working on the house for the next 3 days. Along with everything else that I do like my bible study and so on. Anyhow, back to the yummy...I bought a bag of mixed beans, cleaned them, put them in a bowl with a raw potatoe chopped up. After letting them soak I put them in the canning jars after maybe an inch of bit size chopped ham. I only filled the jars about half way, then I filled them the rest of the way with water. And YUMMY! It was so good. I stopped myself from having another helping, but I could've eaten another jar. I'm thinking it would have tasted a bit better with crackers, but that would've been more than I needed.

I still am covered in a rash, it has now spread all over my neck in bright red splotches and a bit on my arms. I'm keeping a box of cottonballs covered in alcohol close. I'm working but very careful not to touch anything without either having gloves on or without having washed my hands first. I'm down nearly 15 hours this week. I was hoping to be able to stay until 9 tonight, but we had so many people it was horrible. So I volunteered to come in for a few hours tomorrow since we are down two people. This works out great for me, I can leave by 9 and Duck can go to school, and I can pick up 5 more hours. Things have been going much easier for me. I don't have the added stresses that I had.

I have new goals for this week:

1. Two batches of salsa (hot and mild)
2. Potatoe soup.
3. Clean up the laundry room
4. Move the dishwasher out and the washer in.
5. Finish up bedroom
6. Finish bunkbeds
7. Steam Clean carpets upstairs.

I think that's good for now, I need to go through our family goals and update them, some have been accomplished.

By the way we were fortunate to be given a broken chainsaw, the guy said that it wouldn't start that the motor was locked up. Dad had Duck put more chain oil in to it and bingo! It works great, we will be chopping and cutting wood this week as well.

Toodles, gotta be up in 5 hours.

Katy

What a day!

Today was perfect at work, S and I were the only ones there and it was so easy going. Although we were really slow and ended up sending so many people home, it was a great day. We had fun, we did the job, we took care of the guests and it wasn't stressful in the least bit. It was a great day. I was actually able to run a shift and we even got extra cleaning done including the entire play place inside head to toe.

The poison ivy is getting so bad, it's nearly all over. I itch and I itch and I itch and I know I shouldn't scratch, but it itches! I just do my best to wash my hands an apply alcohol and caladril regularly. I think that I have this pinned down to when I brushed King out, I washed my arms and hands well afterwards (I'm allergic to dogs) the next day I had bumps on my left forearm, then two days later is spread like wildfire. I think that I may have to go back to the doc. There isn't much I can do, and I really don't want to miss anymore meetings or work. I don't think it wise to go to the meeting in the morning, I still consider myself contagious. I will see what E thinks, I really want to go, but I really don't want anyone else to suffer as I am.

Well I'm going to go, I need to do the few dishes and run a couple loads of laundry.

K

Got a few minutes?

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/shipping-container-homes-460309?link=rel&dom=yah_green&src=syn&con=art&mag=tdg

If I ever came into money, I would build a small totally green community out of these!

Katy

Ronald

Well we went to see Ronald, the boys really liked it. Sunshine was so excited he too so many pics of him. We saw the owners, my co-workers and friends it was nice.

We are going to try something new with our finances, we are going to set up ebill and a separate account that will connect to another, therefore we will deposit enough money to cover our montly bills, what is left will go for whatever and groceries. That way our bills are paid and we know where the money is, where it's going and so on. It will take me a month or so to put this into action, but we are working on it.

Today wasn't all the great at work, although it was better than I thought it was going to be. My original hopes were that I would be able to go home early, my face still looks horrible and it burns really bad now. So I went in, I was going to go ahead and go, but I'm glad that I didn't. One person called off and then K was a no call no show. When I called her 30 min after her shift started, her husband said she'd be in later to talk to the manager. Okay...I knew what was coming. So now we would be screwed if I left, I had no choice but to stay. We did very well actually, it was busy, fun and ended up being a better day than I thought it was going to be.

I have to go out and pick pumpkins and tomatoes, so I can get them canned. They are dying and rotting, I hate to waste food.

I'll make Salsa and Potatoe soup tonight. I'm going to see how the Zupta comes out.

Maybe more later.
Katy

Had to do it...

I had to break down and go into the local health department. I wound up with my eye nearly swollen shut, my right eye is started to get infected and now it is spread over most my face, my chest, my stomach, my legs, my ankles, in my ears on my scalp and surrounding my neck. I had to call off, last night I talked with M, but didn't know if he'd remember to write down my message, I tried to call L since I thought she was working this morning. I ended up thinking, I will wake up in the morning and see how I feel. I got back up at midnight to try to take some more meds, I was worse, I called and spoke with AW, she said she'd put it on the schedule. So I went in the morning and I was able to rec a shot to hopefully clear this up. I think I am going to try to take a bit of a nap, I 'm exhausted and I'm really hungry.

I have to wash everything that I touched and slept on.

I went into work to give the note and they said it is obvoius that I was really having trouble, they didn't want the note because I had touched it. I laughed and understood!

Later.....

The RASH!!!!

OH MY! So I went into a local pharmacy tonight and asked where the benedryl was. The pharmisist asked me which kind I said any, he asked what I was needing it for, so I showed him the growing red mass on my neck. He said, "OH, you need tablets!", and the girl took me to them. Now I think that Sunshine has it on his face. It has spread all over my neck, up one side of my face and over my left eye. This stinks really bad! I'm beginning to think that it isn't hives anymore. I will try to call the doc in the morning to see if we can get Sunshine in if we need to, I'd rather him have a shot to get it over with. I can't afford that luxury since I don't have insurance. If it gets too bad, I'll ask him to give me a shot and well just have to pay. It's getting really bad really quick.

Oh my~!

Out of it!

I itch all over it's getting worse instead of better. I think that if I am still having problems by Thur I will have to get to a doc somehow. I have no energy and could have slept the entire day. I think that it is time to make some coffee and get moving. We have company coming over tonight and I need to make sure the house is presentable, maybe I can get Duck to go to their house, or reschedule for Friday. Sat I hope to go yardsaling again, I'm really needing to find some clothes for Sunshine. I'm also looking for an ax, maul, hatchet and chainsaw. Today my main objective is to get the clothes in the laundry room clean and upstairs, get the washers switched and get the tomatoes canned. Everything else, while still needing to get done can wait. Mon while out we found a new washer (the guy said he only used it for a year) for $20 and an older electric stove for $5. We picked them both up. We also found a treadmill for free, needs the key though. I will try to find one otherwise we will use the motor for a windmill. Okay well I need to get started, I have a lot to do!

Katy

a clean joke...but still for adults only.

An Elder's Business Card

A new Elder was visiting the homes of those in his congregation. At
one house it seemed obvious that someone was at home, but no answer came
to his repeated knocks at the door.

So, he took out one of his business cards and wrote "Revelation 3:20"
on the back of it and stuck it in the door.

When the contributions were collected at the following meeting, his
card was in the box, so the Accounts Servant brought it to the brother.
Added to his notation was this cryptic message, "Genesis 3:10."
Reaching for his Bible to check out the citation, he broke up in
gales of laughter. Revelation 3:20 begins "Behold, I stand at the door
and knock." Genesis 3:10 reads, "I heard your voice in the garden and I
was afraid for I was naked."

Remember when the funniest jokes were the clean ones?

They still are!

It's been a few days...okay, a week and some..

I'm so stressed out that I have hives ALL OVER. I itch so bad that I have a huge rash on my neck and under my chin, I have scratched so much I have bruises. Today I picked up some medicine to try to help, if this doesn't work I'll have to try to go to the health department. Which brings me to my next subject...the fact that some democrats are trying to push the plans for people like us and those who make up to 66K with a family of 4 will have to pay between 1,500 and 3,800 in fines if they don't have insurance. Okay, my place of work has insurance and it SUCKS. I've said this before and I'll say it again, they should cancel their insurance for the Indiana employees so we can get on HIP. It would be cheaper and we would get more benefits. I hate to say this, but it is the reason I started working there and if this plan goes into affect, it will be the reason that I will have to leave. I'm not going to have most of my check used for insurance that will only cover 10,000 MAX. That won't even cover an accident or anything serious, let alone a year. I'm not going to stress over it, it isn't worth it, I've got enough to stress over.

I've sorta been accused of cheating at my WT studies. Now, while I admit that this could be a misunderstanding on the sisters part as she is not "hip" on current technology. All the same, it was wrong for her to say what she did. Now, I know that Jehovah has told us not to let there be a divid among us, so I will forgive the situtation, however it has caused a futher situation that has negative results. I will discuss this with the brothers, the technology is available, why wouldn't we be allowed to use it? Especially if it is benefitting us?

I found out that for the firt time in nealy 6 years my mother has decided that she wants to meet her grandkids. How am I suppose to react to this? I'm still processing that she is going to die, she is really really sick. She slipped back into a coma Monday before last and when she woke up had a revalaiton that she wanted to see the boys. I'm nervous, quite frankly I'd rather not do this, but will I regret it? In a few years when she is gone will I have remorse? Can I say that I've done the Christian thing?

These are things that are causing the hives, life has been a roller coaster right now, I'd like to find a different ride that is a lot more fun, how about a merry-go-round or the one of those with the swings, that's always nice.

Well I need to get to eating dinner, we are having chili, fritos and chips, (chips, chili and cheese) YUMMY! Don't knock it till you try it, it's great!

Katy