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Archive for January, 2014

Crazy Weather & Crazy Propane

January 27th, 2014 at 03:46 pm

Today was payday, and my paypal went through.

I was able to add $200 to the animal fund to start saving for fencing and finishing the horse shelter.

Credit card is also paid down.

Our propane tank is currently between 30% - 35% so I called for a fill up. There is a propane shortage across the US. People are freaking out.

The price jumped from $1.50ish to $4.50ish in just a couple weeks!

She quoted me a price of $3 today. But she told me I should just turn down the heat and ride it out as long as possible. They won't even do fill ups right now. She said they won't give anyone more than 100 gallons at a time.

I will just keep checking the propane meter, and will wait until it gets down to 15%. She said to call back next week and see if the price has settled back down. That scares me. If the tank runs out not only will we not have any heat, but they charge a whole lot of fees and have to do a bunch of tests if the tank runs out. Ouch.

Crazy times! It is suppose to get super cold again this week. Last night it was about 65... when I woke up this morning it was under 10 degrees. That is insane! 40-50 mile per hour winds all night too, it felt like a tornado.

I am SO DONE with winter. Spring come quickly.

Freelance Job

January 23rd, 2014 at 08:46 pm

Praise the Lord!

Someone contacted me about designing a website finally.

The lady is very nice, and has already sent the initial $250. I am very excited to be getting the practice, and getting the extra cash.

It is in the process of transferring to my bank account, and paypal said it can take several days. As soon as it gets here that money will probably be sent to my animal fund to put towards fencing my pasture and finishing my horse shelter.

This money will greatly help me reach my goals.

Update on Neighbor

January 22nd, 2014 at 03:37 pm

Well when he stopped at my moms house, she managed to ask his name. She then googled him, and we have his phone number. She tried to call him but his wife answered and said he was gone.

I have not called the sheriffs office yet or AC. Although I do have a friend who works there, so I may ask his opinion.

I am trying to remain calm and civil, it is an 80 year old guy, and he is our neighbor. I really do not want a life long dispute. But really he needs to mind his own business.

I posted a no trespassing sign, and if he comes here again or makes anymore threats he will be DONE.

I wanted to call him last night, but husband is furious. He feels just as violated as me, and is saying how if he comes here again he is going to fire some warning shots in the air. Husband will not let me call him. He says if the guy is going to make threats, he needs to come say it to our face. We should not have to hunt him down.

My mom came out and rigged it up so the horse can go into the barn if he wants to. He has not been in there once yet, and husband wants him put back. (The horse is basically fenced off in the yard and pooping everywhere.)

My animals are well cared for. I have a 20 pound cat for goodness sakes, and a 200 pound pet pig. No one can say my animals are starving... lol. If anything they are overweight. This is all just ridiculous. I am appalled that someone would think I mistreat my animals. It is so the opposite of that.

I have decided to not let it bother me. Mom gave him my phone number, so he has no reason to not contact me if he wants to make empty threats again. We will be taking action against him if he does something again.

Thanks for the support guys!

@#^*# Neighbor

January 21st, 2014 at 07:38 pm

The neighbor that threatened to call animal control is at it again! I am so mad, I could spit bullets.

Now he has stopped at my parents house. (I have no idea how he knows us, or who they are.)

Apparently he came to MY house today while I was at work. He claims that there were no foot prints to my horse pen, so I haven't watered or fed him today.

Then he went INSIDE my barn and said there were sharp things in there that is unsafe for a horse. He also looked and snooped around and said I had no grain, so I am obviously starving my horse!

#1 There are no footprint because it is 30 mile an hour wind outside, and there is snow on the ground. Of course they would blow over. The water is frozen because it is 14 degrees outside.

#2 I DO NOT WANT people coming to my house when I am not home, and snooping through my stuff.

#3 No duh the barn is not safe for horses. That is why he is not in the barn!!! He has his own shelter.

#4 I have over 200 pounds of grain in there. And even if I did not, since when is it a crime to not feed a horse grain. (He gets hay 24/7 which is all he needs.)

He says if something does not change today he is calling animal control. I just do not understand. I am sitting here bawling. I do not think he has a case, but what if they come and decide he is right and I get in trouble or they take away my horse.

I want to call the police, but I do not want to start anything.

I will be stopping at walmart and getting a no trespassing sign on my way home. I do not think it will help though.

He needs to mind his own business. I know dozen of horses, with NO shelter. Why is he picking me on, when I have a shelter, and obviously well cared for animals. The only reason he even knows is because my house is out in the open and visible to everyone.

My parents are going to come help try to figure something out. But I am scared to put my horse in the barn again. He hates it, and he hurts himself.

Chugging Along & Broken Hand

January 20th, 2014 at 03:22 pm

Sent out checks for all the bills today.
(Except the darn plumber bill. Still no answer. arg.)
The money is sitting in my account, but I still would like to call and see if I can get it lowered first.

I also was able to pay down my credit card to below $100 and it isn't due until March 6th. So starting next week I should be able to start putting money back in savings again! Hurray!

Hopefully no other big unexpected expenses will come up, and our budget will just continue with smooth sailing. I can not wait to see our EF grow!

In other news, I broke my right hand yesterday. Which I have to use for everything like typing and doing chores. I hope it heals quickly.

Reworking Budget

January 17th, 2014 at 03:33 pm

Husband got his first big check. Smile

It could not have came at a better time, since our bills are about $120 over budget this month, and the $300 plumber bill. (Still have not got a hold of him yet. We are playing phone tag.)

Since our income will be changing, we finally sat down and I shared my budget plan.

This is a bi-weekly budget.

My Check $470
---------------------
House $100
Tithes $50
Lunches $30
Phone/Insurance $50
Gas $80
Savings $150

Remaining $10
______________________________

Of course other expenses usually come up and eat some of my savings money. But I am hoping that with husband raise we will budget some discretionary money, and I wont have to eat into my savings.

His Check $860
---------------------
Bills/House $300
Food $150
Gas $100
Insurance/Phone $40
Tithes $90
Savings/Bills $50

Remaining $130
_______________________________

Our remaining money will be saved, used for date nights, and remodeling our house.

Keeping Afloat

January 14th, 2014 at 03:09 pm

Just treading water around here.

I tried to call the plumber and see about lowering bill. No answer. I will leave a message and hopefully he will call me back.

Our electric bill was HUGE this month. $230. Most of the year it is around $120. So now I have to scramble for that money.

Trash bill and Water is also due before the end of the month.

Everything will get paid without eating into the EF but I am just trying to juggle what to pay this check, what to what until next check...

Still have another $150 on the credit card.

No money is being saved this month probably. Frown But I am just happy to cover all these costs out of the paychecks and not savings.

BIG Bill

January 12th, 2014 at 02:48 pm

We got the plumber bill yesterday...

$305!!!

That is so ridiculous.

The materials cost $5. He charged us $300 in labor.

Which the job should have only taken less than an hour. He just had to replace one elbow in our bathroom. But he soldered the top of it first then when he did the bottom the heat melted the top one and he had to cut it off and start all over again. Which ended up making the job 2 hours.

The second time it took less than 20 minutes probably to do it. But in between he tried other things to see if he could save it before he started over which ate up time.

I dont think we should really be charged for his mistake. But even if he are, is $150 really the going rate per hour? That is crazy! I want to be a plumber, they make more than doctors!

I have talked to a couple people, and they agree it sounds outrageous. Maybe he is price gouging because I am a female? Who knows.

I have the money but I am going back and forth if I should call him and ask him about the bill and see if I can get it lowered, or if I should just suck it up and pay and be done with it.

I dont want to make him an enemy because I may need him again someday, and he works with Father in Law on occasion.

But geez!

What would you do?

Christmas Party & God Provides

January 10th, 2014 at 03:25 pm

I got so wrapped up in the water disaster this week I forgot to post about our fun weekend!

Husbands work had their Christmas party Saturday. Enough cant be said about how generous they are, I have never experienced another business like them. I am sooooo tempted to put my application in as well.

They rented a huge building. It was all decked up and so fancy, everyone was all dressed up. I felt like a queen!

There was over 150 people there, and everyone was so friendly to me. I had at least 5 people come up to me and gush about how sweet and polite my husband was to them. Even the owner. I just told them, you havent seen him at home. lol.

I think the funniest thing about this was that it is a gun warehouse so literately 90% of the people that work there are hicks. So there were people wearing fancy dresses, then there were also men with long scruffy beards and camo pants. It was a hoot.

They served prime rib and chicken cordon bleu as the main dishes. But they had probably 7 other side dishes that were just as fancy. I am not kidding when I say it was probably the most expensive and delicious meal I have ever ate.

It was also an open bar, but neither of us drink. So I had a couple cokes and husband stuck to water.

They gave away a ton of attendance prizes. (Close to 100) Including ammunition, a gun, and other odds and ends like coolers and tents.

We didnt win anything. But every employee got a hat, a very nice jacket, and a box of chocolate bullets.

We was fun to socialize, and I had a great time meeting all his co-workers and friends.


Back to today. All week I have been praying that God would provide for the money for our plumber. Well yesterday husband came home grinning ear to ear. They gave him a $3 an hour raise!!

Big Grin

That equates to about $185 extra a check! Which means we will be able to save another $100 a month at least for our EF. We will have more food money, husband will have more spending money, and we might even be able to afford internet finally!

I am so proud that my husband is a good worker. Last year at this time he was working at McDonalds, and everyone ridiculed him. Now he is thriving in a job he loves. I am so happy for him, he really deserves it.

We Have Water!

January 9th, 2014 at 05:38 pm

Well the plumber came out this morning finally.


We have water again!!

But the spot are hard to reach, and it took him an hour to fix it. Then he had a leak and had to cut it all out and start over. Frown

So the little job took two hours.

I am not sure if he will charge us for the extra hour since it was kind of his fault... But I bet he will.

He said he will send me a bill, and I am super nervous to what it will be. I bet a few hundred dollars.

That seems so expensive for a little tiny elbow that needed replaced. It depresses me that we can not get ahead in our savings.

My mortgage payment hit and I am at $51,057.43

I am so close to breaking into $50k!

I am sorely tempted to paying an extra $57 just so I can get there, but I know it is not wise at this time.

With my normal little extra payment $29 went to escrow, so I have about $52 more until my escrow is all caught up. Hopefully by next month.

Baby goats are doing good. And I have about $500 - $750 worth of babies to sell depending on if I keep the girl or not. I wont get that money until at least May though.

Scary Goat Times

January 8th, 2014 at 03:52 pm

My water is still shut off. The plumber is suppose to come today, but I have not heard from him yet. Praying that he comes today, fixes the pipes, and that it cost under $200.

Yesterday my goat had trouble delivering her kids. This goat is the bane of my existence. Worst animal I have ever had, and she has been nothing but trouble. I bought her years ago, I paid a pretty penny for her and she was suppose to be bred when I got her.

She wasnt and we have tried to get her bred this entire time but she never took. We finally get her bred and then we have all this trouble.

She got caught in the fence (at old owners) as a kid and we believe she got brain damage.

She never eats right, and she is super skinny and unhealthy looking. She stares off into space for hours at a time, she walks alone and just wanders around. She honestly acts like a person with Autism. It is the weirdest thing.

Anyway my mom called me that she was having trouble. I am the most experienced at getting stuck kids out so I rush there, and try my best. But I feel a ribcage and a hip... But that cant be right.

We decide to take her to the vet for an emergency c-section. It is going to cost $300...

Mind you I already have spent endless money on buying and care for this useless goat. I have her sold to a pet home for close to nothing, and she was suppose to leave in a couple months. The thought of spending another $300 makes me sick. Id prefer just to shoot her, but cant justify it.

(Warning: This may be graphic to some.)

We get there, and the vet tries one last time to get the baby out. She is really violent about it. We hold the goat up in the air, and it was so messy I thought she was going to bleed out.

She did manage to dislodge the baby. It was literately twisted in half. So I WAS feeling a hip and a ribcage. It looked dead, but it had a really faint heart beat. We tried to revive it for a few seconds. But honestly it looked so broken, I dont think there is anyway we could save it, so our attention turned back to trying to rescue any other kids inside.

She forcefully pulled out two more kids. The first one was one of the smallest babies I have ever seen. It was so skinny, and not breathing. I thought it was gone too. The vet assistant didnt seem to know what to do. So I gently pushed her out of the way and grabbed the kid by the back feet and I slung that baby around like a lasso.

It seemed like this situation lasted forever, but I think from the time we walked in the door to when we left we like 10 minutes.

Im pretty sure the rest of the vet hospital thought we were some crazy people. Think of 3 people holding a goat up in the air, and another person slinging a baby around. And mess EVERYWHERE, including the walls. I felt bad about the mess. But it couldnt be helped.

To clarify, slinging is an old goat trick. The pressure causes anything in the airways to be slung out. It also jumpstarts the heart. Ive saved more than one goat this way, although Ill be honest it looks a little scary.

The baby started gasping for air like a fish. And after some rubbing she came back to us.

In the end it only cost me $50. And I got a mama goat, and two babies which will be worth at least $200 each. So I think thats a pretty good deal.

Mama goat is in shock. I cant blame her with how rough she was handled, but we agreed with the vet. It was either lose all of them, or get them out NOW. Choices had to be made, and the babies were worth more than the mama.

I think she is doing a little better this morning, so time will tell if she recovers. I think she will pull through just fine.

Little baby is very weak and small, but she is slowly getting stronger. She is so beautiful, she looks like a little deer.

Whew. The last babies were born this morning. So goat kidding is over until March. Praise the Lord!

This morning I deposited $145 to pay down the credit card bill. But I think I will leave it in my checking for now, until I find out how much the plumber is going to cost.

Worst Weekend Ever

January 7th, 2014 at 03:18 pm

These last couple days have been horrible. I am ready to break down and cry.

Sunday we got this crazy snow storm. Temperatures have been below 0 for days now, and windchill has been as low at -35.

A neighbor (I dont know who) called my mother in law and told her to tell me. (What a coward) That they would call animal control if I did not put my horse into my barn. He has an outdoor field shelter, but apparently they felt that was not good enough.

Husband and I spent all of Sunday putting up tarps and walls in his field shelter. Then we decided it wasnt good enough so then we spend several more hours trying to block off a section of our barn. It is full of furniture, hay, tools and junk. And it is not animal safe, especially a horse.

We got a little pen rigged up. Sunday night was fine, but last night he was too antsy in there, and was freaking out. Somehow he cut his leg open and was bleeding everywhere, and I had to end up letting him sleep outside anyway. He was fine BTW.

I dont have many nice things to say about the neighbor who thinks they were being a good citizen... Especially since this entire county is full of horses that live in field shelters.

I had to miss work Sunday and Monday because my car was trapped behind a 3ft high drift.

This morning I woke up coughing and I heard something funny. So I run into the bathroom and our pipes had frozen and busted and water was spraying everywhere.

I screamed for my husband and we tried to shut it off, but the leak was before the shut off valve so we had to run down to the road and turn it off at the main. Which is probably a good 300 or 400ft away.

Under our house is full of water, hundreds maybe thousands of gallons spilled overnight.

Now I have a farm full of animals and no water, and our driveway is impassible.

Luckily father in law showed up with a snow plow from work, and he plowed my driveway.

So I got my car out, and father brought a couple buckets of water for animals.

Hopefully we just have one leak, and it wont cost a lot to fix. Im worried. Plumber should be here tonight or tomorrow. Even if we do get it fixed, it might refreeze. Water bill will be super high.

I just made it to work 5 minutes ago, and my mother called me and one of my goats is having babies and is in trouble. So now she is coming to get me so I can try to save my goat.

Everything is just going wrong. I dont know if I can handle it all.

The

Savings or Credit Card?

January 3rd, 2014 at 05:10 pm

This week I have spent more than I should.

My best friend came home and we went out, twice.

Yesterday I took a couple ladies to visit another friend that lives a couple hours away to see her new apartment. At the last minute they asked me to drive because I had a smaller car (to save on gas). It cost over $25 in gas to get there. They did not offer to help pay, and I did not bring it up. So of course it saved them on gas! lol. I hate to be nit picky about small stuff like that, but all I can think about is the $25 that wont be going to my EF this week.

Now comes my dilemma. I need to put $75 a week into my EF.

I have about $150 on my credit card right now. Not due until middle of Feb. I will be adding probably $50 more this week to it for normal expenses such as gas.

I like to pay off my credit card every week or at least down as low as I can, just to stay on top of it. I dont want a huge bill due at the end of the month.

After bills this week I will have around $160 left.

Should I put $75 in my EF, and just pay down $85 on the credit card?

Should I put $50 in my EF, and pay down $110 on my credit card?

Should I pay off my credit card asap and put only $10 in EF?

Option 2 sounds better because I hate having a balance on my credit card. But if I want to keep up with my saving goals, every time I cut back the amount I deposit, I will have to catch it up another week and that is hard!

So I think savings should come first.

What do you do? How do you chose between savings, and delaying debt payment for a little while longer? Do you pay your credit card in full every paycheck and just put your extra in savings? Or does saving come first?