The farm and farmhouse

My goodness. Yesterday kitty was so sick that he could barely breathe and could not even swallow so he was covered in drool. His heart rate was not consistent.

This morning he is sitting up and even tried to walk around.

He ate an egg and a small amount of canned food. He is responsive, and will turn his head and look at you if you talk to him. His eyes aren't flicking anymore either.

I don't understand how he can change so quickly. He is on daily steroids, so it's possible that they finally kicked in.

He keeps surprising me, and I won't give up on him yet. It's good to see something in his eyes again, rather than a blank stare.

But I'm not expecting it to last very long, he is on borrowed time. So I'm just going to love on him as long as I can.

He has definitely used up most of his 9 lives.

I think kitty isn't going to last much longer. My heart hurts, but at the same time I feel bad for him, and just want him to let go and be at peace. I don't wish for him to suffer.

I've only slept a couple hours in the past 2 days. I've stayed up all night with him because I was sure he wasn't going to make it. Yesterday he went back to the vet and got more steroids, and he was surprisingly up and walking, eating, etc.

But that only lasted a couple hours, and then he was back, flat on his side. He can't control his muscle movement, and his legs are "peddling". His eyes are flicking uncontrollably back and forth, and he is getting distressed. He starts crying, and even when I hold him he doesn't seem to realize I'm there. His stare is blank. The vet thinks he has a brain tumor, but they say he doesn't act like he is in pain. I think he is just scared, and it is horrible to watch. I want to snuggle and comfort him, but moving him or touching him seems to cause a panic so I'm trying to just talk to him and leave him be.

I've cried for over 18 hours straight, and have been so upset I've made myself physically sick and am having tremors.

It's crazy that he can be up eating, walking, using the littler box, and be normal. Then in a matter of hours he is limp and unable to lift his head. Few hours later he might just randomly sit up and be fine again. I've never seen an animal go up and down that fast.

Pray for his peace, and my strength. I'm loosing my best buddy, and my heart is breaking.

After doing some more searching, I found that Hertz was offering to waive the "Young Driver" fee if you signed up for their Gold Family Membership. (Which is free)

I signed up for it, and cancelled my previous car, saving me $200!!

BUT. I wonder if they will honor that. I called them to check and make sure, and no one seemed to know what I was talking about.

I will be printing the website page out to bring with me to prove that, that was the discount I was offered. Hopefully if I have any problems I can throw a stink and get it.

I'm super scared I'm going to pick up the car and they are going to tack on a bunch of fees. I've heard horror stories. :/ Lots of fine print, and extra details. Any suggestions or advice on renting cars? I'm doubtful that I will actually pay what I am quoted.

Really started finalizing our summer vacation.

We are going to Yellowstone, and I've been stressing about syncing up flight, rental car, camp reservations, etc. It was a lot harder than I thought, especially since we are going during the busy season.

I paid our deposit and locked in our camping spot.

I reserved the rental car. It ended up being $600 which is kind of stinky. I originally thought it would be $400 but they tacked on $200 for us being under 25. But I am a bit relived to have it reserved, because when I went to reserve it last week the price had jumped up to close to $1,500!!

Now the price is locked in. I will continue to monitor it, and if it goes down anymore I will snag it cheaper.

All that is left to book is the flights. Hopefully tonight, but I have to pay for those up front, so I want to wait until husband is home.

This weekend we are going shopping for a tent, and camping gear for our big excursion. It's going to be fun!

So far the flight + car is right at $1,000. The campground for the week is another $130. Leaving us $370 remaining of our trip budget. Gas will be another $150-$200. That isn't going to leave us much wiggle room. The only other thing we will have to buy is souvenirs, and food, and we will have our normal grocery budget for that week as well. So I think it will be okay. We are splurging a bit since this is our first real vacation as a married couple, if we go over a little it's not a huge deal.

We are not counting our tent, supplies, etc as part of the budget. We both enjoy camping, and needed to buy those things anyway. We will get a lot of use out of them in the years to come.

My goodness. I just typed out my goat waiting list, and organized it by date that they reserved because the next kidding season is soon...

I just counted and I'm at over 80 doelings. Not counting bucklings, which there is probably another 20...

That is 100 babies! There is no way in heck that I will have 100 babies.

That is only from 2014/2015, older than that I just took them off the list since they haven't shown any interest since. That also doesn't count, all the babies I've sold last year.

I've been telling people that the list was long and that I couldn't guarantee I would have any, (most likely not) but I didn't realize how long...

If all the goats took, I currently have 12 does pregnant...

Plus the 9 at mom's that have already kidded, which only had 6 girls! (Buck year)

Yikes! I'm hoping some have changed their minds. Otherwise they are going to be waiting for a while.

I guess I'm going to have to start turning people away. That's a shame. The problem is I can't make my herd bigger because I need to sell them, not hang into them. I bought 5 last year from another breeder, but I have just as much trouble as other people do, and had to wait years for them, and drive 24 hours one way!

I might be raising prices again next year. I can't keep up with demand.

I'm needing to buy a gun, but I'm having trouble deciding which one. I need it for home safety, scaring coyotes, and just plinking cans. We already have a gun in the house, but it is too big for me to shoot. I can't even cock it by myself!

I REALLY want the Smith and Wesson 317, but it will cost me $560.

Or I can get a Charter Arms Pathfinder for $300.

I can't make up my mind, because I hate spending that much money, but Charter Arms are known for their very poor quality. I hate to buy something that is just going to break. On the other hand, Smith and Wesson's 317 is one of the best on the market. And the resale value is great.

Is it worth nearly twice the price to get something of good quality? Or should I just get el cheapo since I won't be using it much anyway.

It should be noted that my husband works at a gun store, so I am getting either one at a very discounted price. A 317 sells for more than that used!

PS: Update on kitty. Still having up and down times. He keeps going to the potty on the floor, but I have been able to get him to start eating a little more slowly. Seeming to walk a little better, and he got to sleep in our bed for a couple hours which he loved. I don't think he was sleeping well by himself.

I paid off my credit card, added $300 to the EF, and we now have a total of $220 for our summer vacation saved.

Bad news on kitty. He was doing horrible this morning, and I thought he was dying in my arms. He couldn't even stand without falling backwards and and was limp as a noodle. I panicked, because we got a lot of snow last night and the roads are bad. But my mom came and got me and we got him to the vet early this morning. They gave him more steroid and more antibiotic, which is all they can do anymore. They were sad to see me again. Another vet looked at him as well.

We are home now, but he is still very weak and very sick. Praying the steroid kicks in and gives him a boost to regain his balance again. He is not eating or drinking this morning, and is barely moving. I feel absolutely sick and have bawled all morning. I had plans to go on a girls trip with my mother and sister, but they are now cancelled due to the weather and the fact that if my cat died while I was away I would never forgive myself.

Could really use some prayers.

Line of Credit is paid in full!!! Debt free again except for mortgage!

How cool is that to have our hardest goal done before the middle of February! Also sent $1,000 to the EF!

The other goals are going to fly by, EF will be done by the end of the month, and the others will follow soon after. 2015 has been a great year so far!

Two posts today, sorry! Just had to the share the good news.

First I had forgotten that husband has already been putting back for his truck. He has $300 saved so far. Also he has about $350 saved that could count for our EF, but I'm going to leave it off for now.

But the major news is that my company just signed with another company in a partnership of sorts. They also do website design, but they are not to keen on WordPress, so basically they are subcontracting all the WordPress websites onto us! That means we are completely swamped and running at full capacity, if we do decide to hire the new guy. We actually hired a girl as well to do our spell checking, content review, and marketing training. We really need to hire at least one MORE worker, but it is surprisingly hard to find good web designer. This is great news, and we are booked for the next several months! We have at least 14 websites on line-up and I can only do about 4 a month... The boss works full time in addition to his company, and the new hire will have to be trained before he really starts outputting. I'm guessing with my help he could do maybe 2 a month at this time.

The other company will continue to supply us with unlimited work. Once some of these jobs get finished and the checks start coming in, I should get a considerable raise! Things are going better than expected. It is nearly unheard of for a company to make a profit after only one month of operation.

Well it appears the steroid shots aren't working for my kitty anymore. They told me that would happen, but they figured it would be months from now.

The strongest antibiotics didn't work either. So I think at this point there really isn't anything else we can do for him. I'll continue to report to the vet, but the only other thing they could do is a brain scan at a specialty vet. $$$ which I can not afford. They are stumped. At this point he is either going to heal on his own over time, or he won't.

He is not as bad as he was, but he still has no balance, and is walking in circles. Thankfully he is eating, drinking, etc, normally. So I don't think being off balance will actually kill him. But I am worried about him falling off something and getting hurt.

I'm not sleeping well because he paces in our bed during the night. (Walks over my face) He also jumps up and down several times, which he can't really do anymore. So any movement and I shoot up to make sure he is safe. Thankfully my quick reflexes helped him this morning. He tried to jump on the bed, but then started falling backwards. I managed to grab him and pull him up before he hit the ground. I may have to start locking him in a kennel at night so I know he can't hurt himself, and so I can sleep. But I hate to do that. He's been sleeping next to me, and had free roam for his entire nearly 12 year life.

I feel so helpless, my poor little baby. I can't imagine life without him.

I just checked the "where's my refund" and it says it has been approved and that I will receive my federal return before the 10th! Hurray!

State hasn't even acknowledged they have received it yet... For the record, my state government sucks. I'm pretty sure it's one of the worst in the nation.

Work is going well. We have more business than expected which is a good thing. I am currently meeting/training a new person to see if they would be a good fit to hire because our business is quickly out growing our time.

I'm really loving it! I get to work from home, doing stuff that is fun, and then once a week I go meet with employer and discuss things and then he takes me out to a fancy lunch. I think I'm becoming spoiled! Part of me is worried that it is too good to be true, and that it isn't going to last very long. But so far, nothing but up.

We are so swamped that we actually doubled our rates! We are trying to build up a buffer account for the slow times, but if business continues like this it's very possible that my income could double or more in the new few months. That is hard to imagine, as I am making more now than I ever have. Trying not to put the cart before the horse, but it's certainly fun to think about.

The car was picked up and I drove straight to the bank and put the full amount on the LOC. Less than $800 to go! How exciting!

I just want to dance and shout and sing!

I was checking our taxes one last time before submitting, and I realized that I mixed up a 3 and a 7 on our state income tax. When I fixed the error I got an additional $400 back on our refund! We are getting a total of $2,100 which is the most we've ever gotten. Taxes filed.

Also, the lady who had me hold the car got her refund back today unexpectedly early, so she is picking up the car and paying tonight when she gets off work!!!

So that means, today I just made over $6,000! Whoot!

$1,000 will be going to the EF. We are paying OFF the line of credit, and the remaining $350 we are saving for our summer vacation.

After all the payments clear, I will be debt free again except for the mortgage! How exciting.

Waiting on husband to text me his DL number during lunch so I can e-file.

Also caught an error on my W2. My old address is listed. (I moved 3 years ago!) So I'm not sure if that will affect my return. It was probably wrong last year too, and I don't remember having any problems. But I alerted old employer and they are going to call their tax accountant and make sure.

We are getting the most back ever! $2,100. That is great for us. $1,000 is going straight to the EF, $1,000 I believe is going to vacation fund, and we may go out to dinner with the other $100.

Some people try to take out the minimal taxes as possible. I don't. I don't claim anything. I enjoy getting a lump sum at the end, rather than have an extra little amount in my normal check. I really don't care that it is interest free. Most likely it would get spent anyway, and even if I saved it I would make less than 1% interest, so how much really more would I get...

It will be exciting to deposit that much at once and see my numbers shoot up!

Well the cat went back to the vet. Poor guy.

They are worried it is NOT an ear infection now, since he's not responding to antibiotics. They are starting to think brain tumor, cancer, stroke, swelling on the brain, etc.

They tested him for feline leukemia, and he was negative. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have a tumor.

Three vets looked at him, and they are all just at a loss. They gave me one of the strongest antibiotics on the market and said if this doesn't cure him, then it's not an ear infection. It's kind of scary. There are a ton of side effects and warnings, and it even says use extreme caution on the box.

The plan at this time is to keep giving him a low dose steroid when he regresses, until it stops being effective. The problem is that it took over 12 hours for it to kick in this time, whereas the other times there was improvement after only an hour or two. So I'm worried that it is already not working as well as it was.

If I want to take him for an MRI, or X-Rays, then they will have to refer me to a specialist, which is over 1.5 hours away, and will cost a small fortune. Not sure if I can swing that, or if it would even give us answers.

My poor little baby. I love him so much. Thankfully when he is regressing it is not as bad as it originally was, so I'm really hoping he will slowly improve and get better. He is still happy, snuggly, and purring. He just has bad balance. It might just be something he lives with long term, unfortunately.

The first person came to look at it. Then texted me about 30 minutes later, saying they LOVE the car, and want to buy it, but they don't get their taxes until end of next week.

They want me to hold the car, and they will pay an additional $100 on top of asking price. Should I do it?

I have two people coming to look at it tomorrow, so I hate to turn them away, and then this lady changes her mind next week and I don't have a buyer.

But at the same time, full price is awesome!

Arg. Help!

So much accomplished with this paycheck!

I paid OFF all credit cards. I paid the mortgage. I paid $122.06 towards the LOC. I put back $50 for vacation, and saved $225 for the EF.

Have to pay 6 month car insurance due this week, but have it mostly in cash.

Have a person coming to look at the car this morning, so prayers that they take it. That would really help us out so much! If it sold for the asking price, I would only owe about $850 on the LOC, which I could knock out in a couple months.

Cat is still up and down. He has acted a little sick a couple times, but when it was time for the vet appointment he would start acting fine again. Arg.

Job is going well. We are pretty swamped for the next several weeks, which is good! And that will pay for February, so I don't have to worry about getting let go because of no business. I'm enjoying going out to lunch and meeting with clients once a week, and working from home the rest of the time.

Tomorrow a girlfriend and I are going to the movies to see "Into the Woods" and then we are getting ice cream.

Pretty good news all around!

I finally listed the Cobalt for sale last night. I already have 5 people coming out to look at it over the next several days!!

Keeping my fingers crossed that it sells. Have it listed for $400 more than I am really hoping for, so I'm pretty confident that I will get that I want, and it seems like it will go quick.

Had a lot more people comment on it and ask questions, and it hasn't even been listed for 24 hours yet. Haha, I should have asked for more.

It will be such a relief to be done with it, and be able to pay off most of the LOC. Drove it to town today and it's still running great. Vacuumed it out. Tonight we are changing the oil. Now I just need to give it a quick scrub.

I won't lie. I'm going to miss it. Such a quiet, smooth ride, and it has a lot more power than the Neon. Sigh.

As a side note, I am sick. Ugh. I didn't do much working today. I did take an hour nap, that felt great. Had to postpone client meetings until Thursday. Praying I get over it quickly.

Well bad news and good news. The bad news is that my cat was acting sick again Saturday night, so I had another appointment for today. The good news is that on Sunday he woke up feeling fine again. Today he is being his normal self, so the vet visit has been put on hold for the time being. Maybe he was just having a bad night. If he shows anymore signs he will go straight back to the vet. Really praying that he will get better and not regress again.

If he is indeed sick again, that means antibiotics aren't working and they are going to have to knock him out and look inside his ear. One of the permanent ways to cure chronic and severe inner ear infections with cats is to remove the ear canal and everything inside. Then he would be deaf. Really hoping it doesn't come to that. Hopefully other treatments will work.

Or if it turns out not to be an ear problem at all, then we are looking back to doing scans for tumors, or brain damage, etc.

Trying to stay optimistic.

My parents gifted me a windfall of $200. I'm going to send $80 to the credit card, and the rest I'm going to hang onto for now, in case of more vet bills.

Finally got my first paycheck. Whoot, Whoot!

Sent $275 to the EF, and paid down the credit cards by about half.

It's exciting to finally see my saving numbers go up! Next paycheck my EF will be over the $3,000 mark.

Wow I can't believe it. I called the propane company and ordered some at around 9 this morning. And by 9:20 the truck was already out here delivering it! Usually it takes days to get them out here. Besides the fact that the company is over 30 minutes away, so they must have just happened to have a driver in the area.

So glad I'm on budget billing this year. I don't have to worry about coming up with lump sums, and also I'm locked in at a maximum price of $2 a gallon, whereas last year it got over $4 in the winter.

My paycheck will clear tomorrow. *crosses fingers* I told employer I still had not received it and he was very upset. The company he hired out to do it made some sort of mistake, and he was on the phone with them for over an hour yesterday. He said if they don't get it right this time, he is just going to write me a check. That's fine, I'm in really no hurry.

Still no check yet, no idea what time it goes through. If it's not cleared by tomorrow then I will call and see what's up. I know they were having some trouble getting it set up.

I did go ahead and deposit my freelance income, and paid $88 towards the LOC. It does feel good to see the number go down!

Down to owing myself $150 which is great news.

My first paycheck should clear tomorrow, and I'm still up in the air about what to apply it towards.

Including the cash I made today from doing freelance work, I will have a total of $665 after bills.

My only current plan is to put $275 towards my EF. Which leaves a remaining $390.

There is $370 on my credit card, but it's not due until March. So I was thinking of paying $300, and putting the other $90 on the LOC. Or should I just pay it all off, and only send about $20 to the LOC? Sigh. I can never decide. What would you do?

Husband wanted to be included in the budget so last night we sat down and figured up a new budget now that I know exactly what I will be making after tax.

Of course the budget will be a little different for these first couple checks because I owe myself some money and my credit card needs paid down. But hopefully this will be our budget once things get settled.

Our Total Monthly Wages = $3,000

$500 - House
$100 - Propane
$50 - Water
$20 - Trash
$75 - Internet
$175 - Electric (Average)
$300 - Food & Household
$300 - Tithes
$75 - Car Insurance
$10 - Phone
$350 - Car Fuel
$300 - Spending & Unexpected Costs

$200 - LOC Paydown
$400 - Savings
$100 - Home Improvement Fund

Husband had promised to buy me a dresser for Christmas, but I couldn't find one I liked.

We desperately need storage for our house, so we thought a small dresser for a blank wall in the living room would be great.

A couple weeks ago we went shopping and were just going to buy one at homegoods, but I wasn't too enthused about any of them. I nearly settled for a $200 cheapo looking one, but decided at the last minute not to get it.

Well last night I was searching craigslist for the thousand time and finally found a winner!



Here it is in it's new home. It's so cute and only cost $100! Please don't mind our missing baseboards and drywall dusty floors! Work in progress...

It looks good in the picture. But in real life the color looks kind of greenish. (Our walls are actually charcoal grey)The way it looks in the picture is my favorite color, and matches our decorations. But in real life, I'm not so sure it's a good fit.



This picture is a little more true to color but still not accurate. And yes, we have a lot of board games stacked "hidden" under a table, and yes that is a lego castle. Haha. I wasn't kidding that we have no storage...

I'm considering repainting it a little bit more bluish. But what do you guys think? Maybe our dark lighting is just discoloring it, and I hate to paint it and ruin it. Sigh. I'll wait and see what husband thinks.

Yesterday I cleaned off a bookshelf and found some old school books. Only one was worth anything so I decided to list it on amazon. I wanted it gone fast so I listed it for $40, about $5 less than the others.

It sold the same day, and I took it straight to the post office. Well sadly it cost me $14 to ship, and amazon only allotted me $7. So after extra shipping and their their fees, I made less than $25. Arg.

Anyway I got home, and decided I wanted to build a phone app. So I got started, and instantly realized that the coding language that is used for apps, was what the book I just sold was about. Gr. Hopefully I can figure out it without a book. lol. I should have just kept it.

Also my design company landed another elance job... And then we realized that the website was for illegal drugs, and we had to gracefully decline and back out.

Sigh. It's just been one of those days.

On the upside I deposited the goat money and paid off one of my credit cards completely. I will now only be using the Chase card until I get the $500 spent to receive the bonus.

My poor cat that was very sick on Christmas Eve regressed and was right back to where he started. Circles and circles, no balance, meowing, hissing, couldn't stand, etc.

So he went back to the vet this morning. They gave him more steroids and a long lasting injection antibiotic instead of the oral meds. I have another shot to give him in a week.

My poor little baby. I am very fortunate that the vet is very nice and reasonable. The injection was $47 but they didn't charge me for office visit. So including the steroid injection the visit only cost me $57, Whew.

They said this might be a chronic issue and that he may have to get steroid shots on a normal basis. Praying that isn't the case, and that this time the stronger meds clear it up for good!

In other news, I believe I am getting paid on the 15th. So that is a welcome surprise. I will use that money to pay down the credit card, pay excess bills, put some in the EF, and hopefully a little to the LOC.

Job is going fine. Dealing with an unruly client right now, which is hard, but otherwise having a good time.

I sold a goat this morning and will apply the $50 straight to the credit card.

Besides the bridesmaid dress, fuel for the car, and a new muck bucket I haven't spent anything this week! Hurray. No eating out or anything, which is amazing for me.

I've eaten salads for lunch, and made myself scrambled eggs for breakfast. That is a real accomplishment for me. I love quick, easy, and unhealthy food.

We also stayed within our food budget, and even have some left other.

Tomorrow is husband's company Christmas party, which is so much fun! Can't wait!

Well the last few days turned out pretty stressful.

My first day on the job turned out well. Met up with the team, and we went to dinner and a Meet Up. Learned quite a bit.

Yesterday didn't go so smoothly. I got up early and cleaned outside, and got the goats all ready. Well 15 minutes after they were suppose to be there, they called and said they had car trouble and couldn't make it. So I wasted half my day, when I should have been working! Hopefully they will be able to come on Saturday.

Then I had to go get fitted for a bridesmaid dress for Sister-in-law. So that took up the rest of my day, and also cost me $125 for a half down payment. Yes, you heard that right... It's a $250 dress. Honestly it's not that special, and it costs more than my own wedding dress did! Ouch. I had completely forgotten about that expense. Sigh.

I did take my laptop in the car, and got some work done. Talked with my first official client, and started working on her stuff last night. Love it!

Brr. It's cold though. Right around 0 without wind chill. Poor little animals, I hate winter time.

Today is the first day on the job! How exciting. I'll be meeting with a client, discussing future plans, going out to dinner, and going to a meet up. Sounds like a fun day.

Tomorrow someone is coming to look at the goats and possibly buy one. I also received two more emails last night inquiring about goats. Arg. There just isn't enough to go around.

Made some more progress on the debt front. I used my last paycheck, and also a monetary gift given to me by my parents to pay down the credit card and also the line of credit. $100 to the LOC, and I paid over $200 on the credit card, bringing the balance down to about $75.

I'll report back tomorrow about how work goes.