Life at the Gardens

Pond digging

2009-05-05T11:37:00.002-04:00

We are also busy with having our pond re-dug out and reshaped. we ran into some big problems with the pond last summer and its finally getting fixed. When we bought this house 3 years ago we were told this 1 acre pond was really deep. It was going into winter when we bought the house so we never got to check it out. The first summer we discovered, while it is an acre big, it was very shallow! You couldn't swim in it and because it was so shallow it had no air or water circulation and it basically was a giant swamp hole and with the heat of the summer, it turned into a stagnant water hole. SO last summer we hired someone to dig it out and make it deeper. We knew that there was risks with this as when you are digging into standing water you have no idea what is underneath there. There is always the odds we could have run into a rock bed or the clay bed would not have been deep enough and we would have dug into sand. Which if that happens the pond would have completely drained out thru the sand then we would have had to dig all of the sand out and put in a new clay bottom. Well that didn't happen but whoever originally dug this pond put It over the top of what used to be farm ground. Tiled farm ground. when they started digging the pond deeper last fall, they hit several tiles that no one knew where there. This in turned caused the whole pond to drain in a mater of days. This also uncovered a fence that the people who had put the pond in had left. So the fence was smack dab in the middle of the pond too and that had to be removed as well. So winter struck and we had a mess out there. My daughter said it looke dlike armageddon out in the front yard. So we have had a very ugly yard to look at all winter. We couldnt dig anymore because the ground was frozen and the snow was deep and had filled in the hole. So we waited till spring. And we have had such a cold wet spring that they couldnt get back into the pond until just 2 weeks ago because the equipment kept getting stuck in the muck. Now we are finally only 2 days away from being done. They have made the pond bigger and alot deeper and they have smoothed out the edges of the pond and slopped it nicely into our yard. Its not done yet but soon we will be able to plant grass around the whole pond again and then wait for the rains to fill it up again.

Graduation and College

2009-05-05T11:25:00.002-04:00

I am also busy getting ready for my youngest daughter to graduate from high school in about 5 weeks. So I am busy planning the guest list and working on invitations and the menu for the party. We just never seem to have a free minute around here. Oh well.

Unfortunatley my oldest daughter as of now probably wont be home for a visit in June as I had originally hoped. I am very sad that this is not working out, as I really miss her. I hope my other 2 daughters dont end up so far away and stay in touch more often. I think they will , my college freshman calls me several times a week and texts me also and my youngest one and I talk all the time so I cant imagine that will change. Its so hard when your kids move away and start lives of their own and you dont see them or hear from them very often. Its really hard. She will alwys be my little girl no matter how old she gets and I will alwys miss her and love her.

My youngest daughter was accepted at 6 colleges but has picked the one. AND luckily for us it will be the same college our middle daughter is it. This will make life so much easier for the 2 girls, they really get along well and will be able to spend time with each other while they are at school. It will also make it easier onus with taking kids back and forth from school. They will start at the same time, and have the same breaks etc. We are very proud of both of them and they will both do great at college.

Our middle daughter will be finishing up her freshman year of college this week. We will be bringing her home on Thursday. SO our home will be a little more full for the next 3 1/2 months before the girls all leave for college. Next Fall will be a big change for our household as this will be the first time in really long time that we haven't had kids still living at home. Big adjustments are coming. At least they will still be coming home for breaks for awhile longer and will be at home for the summers, so I have a few more years before they will be completely gone. SO the transition period begins.

Gardening

2009-05-05T11:21:00.002-04:00

The early garden is in and starting to come up. I have radishes, lettuce and onions poking their heads up. Still waiting on the carrots, peas and beets to come up yet. I also planted some rhubarb and asparagus this year, so that we could get a patch started. the rest of the garden will have to wait until the ground and the air temp gets warmer.

My three seasons room is full of flats of vegetable seedlings just waiting for it to warm up so that they can go into the ground.

The pumpkin patch will be in a separate garden from the main vegetable garden. We just got the space for it cleared out last week.

So we are making progress in the garden front. Onto other things!

Court day!

2009-05-05T11:14:00.002-04:00

Today was another trip into the courthouse for a hearing dealing with the continual issue of an ex who is way , way behind in child support and medical bills for the kids. I am usually in court 3 times a year minimum with these issues. I know that sounds extreme but I really don't ask for this, he is so far behind that the judge and the child support office, order us into court on a regular basis to try to get him paying. Oh I cant wait till the child support years are over with! At this point he only will owe for 3 more years of support, at that time the kids will all be to old to qualify for support anymore but he is so far behind that we are guessing that he will have to pay me a weekly amount for an additional 3-4 years past that to get everything he owes caught up. Its just that after 3 more years he will not be accruing any additional past due amounts, so we may actually start to make some progress on this at hat time.

UPdates!

2009-05-05T11:07:00.002-04:00

I havent been on my blog in forever!!!! I have been way too busy and life here at the farm will get even more busy as spring gets further along and summer arrives. I spent so much time creating this blog and getting it up and running over the winter and i was really happy with he way it was going and I was just starting to get a decent following when life became very busy with a whole host of things. We are still working at clearing off items on our overly full plate. we have made big progress in some areas and are close to removing them from the plate all together but other items will drag on into the summer , unfortunately. So between these items and the gardens and kids, farmers markets, I will be hard pressed to get on this blog but a few times a month, so I guess I will just to try to get on her as often as I can and then rebuild this winter.

Weight loss goals....

2009-04-15T19:17:00.002-04:00

I'm not one to usually talk about my weight loss, but I hit a big goal this week! I have finally lost 15 pounds! This took 14 months, and let me tell you it has been very frustrating. 14 months is a really long time to take off what I put on in 4 months! I know that the slower you lose it, the more apt you are to keep it off, but still its frustrating. I am finally back to the weight I was 18 mos ago. I probably would have hit this goal sooner but Thanksgiving thru New years set me back and I had to re-lose some weight I had all ready lost! I also don't consider myself to be on a diet, they just dont work for me. Sure I would lose a bunch of weight quickly, on some wacky diet, but then as soon as I would go off of it, the weight would all come back. So instead what works for me is that I have to follow a constant plan, of making good decisions every day. It has to be a way of life for me. I also do not deny myself anything, if I want a piece of cake I will eat a small piece. That satisfies the craving and I am good to go. I just eat sweets in small moderation. I also weigh myself daily to track weight loss, but also to keep an eye on any weight gain, so that I can more easily take off a couple of pounds that may have crept back on. Unfortunately when I put this weight on in 4 mos., it was when we were going thru the stress of trying to start a new business and the start of a business partnership going severely bad, so without realizing it, I ate more and was eating more bad things. When I had realized that I had put 15 pounds on, I was very upset with myself. None of my clothes fit and I refused to buy larger clothes! 18 months ago I was at a point where I needed to lose just 5 pounds and I am happy to say that is were I am at again today. I want to lose 5 more pounds. I think that will put me back into all of my old clothes comfortably and I will be happy. After the 5 lbs more I believe if anything all I will need to do is tone up. I know with the summer soon approaching that I will be getting plenty of exercise working the gardens. So I believe the toning up part and the next 5 pounds will come off fairly easy, as soon as it gets warm and we can be outside every day!!

No matter how slow your weight loss seems to be going, keep at it, you will be happier and healthier in the end!! There was many times over the last 14 months I just wanted to give up because the progress was so darn slow, but now that Im at my first goal, I realize it was worth the wait and Im re-energized to work on the next 5 lbs!

What did you want to be when you grew up???

2009-04-14T12:29:00.002-04:00

My youngest daughter like alot of college seniors is trying to figure out what her career will be for the future. I don't know its so important to have a permanent answer right now, but at least a general goal or interest to work towards, that has lots of options. So many college students change their major anyway, as they learn and mature and start growing up and experiencing a different world outside of high school. But all of this got me to thinking , how many of us really end up doing, what we said we wanted to do when we were in elementary school and then as middle and high schoolers. Most of us went thru numerous career options before we even made it to our senior year of high school. I wanted to be a ballerina when I was really little, then that changed to a gymnast, and in high school I wanted to be a math teacher, to name a few. Instead I ended up in the banking world and worked my way up thru the ranks and took every class they offered to pay for and even became licensed in the finance world. Had I not been layed off I would probably have stayed in that world. It was the only career path , in my adult life that I have ever followed and all I ever knew. So I think we tend to stay in what is familiar and known, even if its wrong for us. I cant say I was happy there, or even satisfied with my career. I became easily bored and quickly outgrew each new job position I was promoted into. I was always looking for something more challenging, more fulfilling, that job that made you want to get up and go to work. Instead my career was more of a chore, an unpleasant chore, even though I was very good at all my job positions that I had in the financial world over the last 13 years. I hated going to sleep at night, knowing I would have to go to work when I woke up in the morning. All Thru the day I counted down the hours until it was time to go, the days never moved fast enough and that's just no way to live life.
So that's why I'm struggling now to figure out who I am now and what I want to be when I grew up.... Seems like it doesn't matter where we are at in life we are always learning and remaking ourselves. I would really like to find that something this time that makes me happy.

So how many of you actually ended up in the career path you originally chose??

Looking for the positives from the recession

2009-04-09T12:07:00.005-04:00

Ok those of you that read my blog are probably beginning to think that bad luck just follows us around. We have had more than our fair share of problems lately. But I know there are alot of people out there who are struggling as much as we are and that there are also alot who are worse off than we are. So I decided to find a few positives out of all the changes that this recession has brought to our lives personally and financially.

The grocery bill has went down... that's a big yahoo! This isn't because we had to cut back on the amount of food we bought, but because now that I am at home, I have the time, to look thru all, of the ads and find the best deals and I am using coupons again. I know it wasn't an excuse before but when times were better financially and our lives were so hectic, I didn't have time to look at coupons or even the weekly grocery ad. when I had a few free minutes I would make a mad dash to the store and just buy what we needed. I didn't have time to go to 2-3 different stores getting the best bargain. I think we all in good times tend to take things a little too much for granted and it was all about speed and convenience before. Also since I'm at home I can actually cook a real meal every day and that saves us alot of money. The quick convenience meals at the store cost so much more than making it yourself. When I used to get home at 6:30/6:45pm at night , it was all about throwing something quick on the table.

Family time.... My youngest daughter will be graduating from High school this year, so its been very nice to be at home with her to spend more time with her before she goes off to college next year, too. Also she plays tennis and i will actually get to go to her home matches this year and actually watch her play!!! With getting home so late from work I always missed, all of my girls tennis matches. My oldest played soccer and her games were more in the evening, so I caught more of her games, but the younger 2 play tennis and their matches start almost immediately, after school and I couldnt ever get there in time. I have alwys felt bad about this, as I know I was missing out on so much and the girls have grown up so fast.

New hairstyle..... Yeah I know thats an off one to think about, but the recession and job loss made all of us cut back, on going, to get our hair done, as often as we used to. I used to go and get a haircut and color every 2 months, now I have had to space it out every 4 months. 4 months is a bit long and by the time I get there it is in desperate need of help. Luckily I wear my hair long so it tends to grow out more gracefully between cuts compared to someone who has a short do, that needs constant shaping, to stay looking good. I also am not afraid to trim my own hair, so that helps alot. I also started using a root touch up product, to stretch out the times between full color jobs. I had been wanting to grow my bangs out for a long time but you know how that goes, they would start to grow out just to that annoying stage and when I was going in to get my hair done, every 8 weeks i would just be frustrated enough with it, that I would just have my bangs trimmed short again. So waiting every 4 months has gained me bangs, that are now down past the end of my nose. Almost to the chin length that I went them to be. So I gained a new hairstyle and saved money as well.

Stay at home mom .... One surprise that came about and I know my better half is still reluctant to admit to it, because its hard for him to visualize that a one household income can run almost as well as a household with 2 incomes. Common sense would say 2 incomes have to be better, but now that I lost my job we are living off of one income and its surprising how much my income really isn't missed. By the time they took all of the taxes out of my check and the health insurance costs, and I paid for the parking garage and all of the extra gas, I was really bringing home next to nothing. Then since I have been off other things have been noticed like the grocery bill going down. I don't have to buy prepackaged convenience foods to take to work anymore or bottled water or juice to take to work. I don't have to invest in the business world attire, shoes , panty hose, etc that was required for work. My car is taking less oil changes since its not driving over a 100 miles a day. Which in turn saves on the wear and tear of the car and the tire replacement. Im not saying some extra income wouldn't hurt, and as you know I'm trying to work towards that goal, but if you really take a hard look at things it can be very surprising how little the second earner is really adding to the bottom line.

Cleaner and more organized home .... My house is always clean but as you know I now have more time to do more in depth cleaning and I have had time to get some much needed items done that I didn't have time for before, Like painting, and cleaning the carpets more often.The flower beds and gardens this summer will also benefit from more TLC this year.

I'm sure I could come up with more things to be positive about that this recession/downturn in our lives has caused but I think thats enough for now.

Changes....

2009-04-08T16:11:00.004-04:00

So we have still been wading thru the mess of disentangling ourselves from our business partner and the business, that will take a while yet to finish resolving. In the meantime we have had to get on with life and pick up and start all over. I'm still trying to figure out my career moves but I would really like to get this Farmers market, produce, floral, crafts, and holiday Bazaar business up and running to the point where it can at least pay a chunk of the household bills and I can just stay home and work this business. I still believe the concept of the nursery we started can still work. So we are coming up with a new name and starting over. We wont have a greenhouse to work out of this year but plan on having one next year. So we start out slow this year and rebuild. We will only move as fast as customer demand will allow us to and as far as financial means will allow us. I plan on doing this all without any debt this time. We still are getting such positive feed back from customers and interest in buying products from us, that I really believe had this darn recession not hurt us so badly the last year and a half and the partnership either hadn't went bad or had never existed in the first place, that this 3rd year would have been a big turning point to the positive for the business. So I am reluctant to give up the idea yet. I just have to scale it way, way back and start over. So I have a few business name options floating around in my head and soon will have to decide for sure. I plan on working the farmers market 2 times a week from June 1 thru Oct 31 and then the holiday Bazaars start in October and run thru December so I believe I can get a very good running start on this new venture, by the end of the year. So the first business activity we have coming up is for Mothers day. So The last week of April I will be very busy getting my plants all prettied up to sell at one of our farmers market locations. So hopefully things will start to turn the corner for us.
We have decided tp put in 2 gardens this year back by the house. Last year it was behind the greenhouses, but we cant do that this year. One garden will be for Pumpkins, gourds, and long term viney growing items. The 2nd garden will be for tomatoes, beans, radishes, lettice, onions broccoli and cauliflower, beets, etc, etc. Now we just have to get the ground worked up and tilled. That will be the next project. I can work the garden once its prepared but until then I am kind of stuck until my better half finds some free time form his job to get the ground worked up.

Are you starting your garden yet or are you in the planning stages yet, like us??

The snow is going......

2009-04-08T16:05:00.003-04:00

So the weather has been freaky to say the least, we had over an inch of rain on Sunday then 4 1/2 inches of snow fell Sunday night! Schools were delayed on Monday. Now just 2 days later and the temps are back in the 50's and the snow has melted off except for a few patches here and there. Please, please let it get warm and stay warm soon!

Still dealing with a sick family

2009-04-08T15:59:00.002-04:00

Sorry I am still fighting my infection, (it is finally getting better though) and my youngest daughter called from school today and asked me to come and get her, because she wasn't feeling well. I'm afraid that she might be coming down with a sinus infection now. Its a good thing they only have half a day of school tomorrow and are off on Friday. She can get some extra rest and hopefully kick this thing before its gets any worse. And if she doesn't feel good tomorrow she would only miss a couple of hours, of school, since they get out before lunch. I love summer and really hate winter but the transition from Spring to summer here is hard on everyone. Alot of people end up sick this time of year.

Can I just please have a break????

2009-04-04T12:58:00.002-04:00

I guess my plate was starting to get a little too organized and and on the way to being emptier of some of our problems that we have been battling. The plate has been overwhelming full for awhile now and it figures as soon as, we start to see an easing of problems and see that things are starting to move into a different direction, life decided I needed something else to worry about. I have battled with a blocked tear duct for a year and a half now, in my left eye, that likes to get infected off and on. But I had went 7 months with no problems, other than that eye waters a little more than normal. Then I get a sinus infection this week and the sinus infection drains down into this tear duct and infects it. Massive problem! I ended up with another very aggressive bacterial infection, in my sinus cavities, and tear ducts. So I'm not feeling so hot, very tired and run down. The eye is not a place you want an infection. I look like I was a boxer that lost his most recent bout. Ha Ha! So I will be hiding out at the house, as well until all of this swelling goes down! So the posts will be slim again for a bit while I try to get over this.They have me on high doses of antibiotics for at least the next 2-3 weeks and the Drs are talking surgery again, to go in and rebuild the tear duct, to give me better drainage, so that things don't get blocked and infected all the time. But I just cant do that right now since I have no Insurance! Hopefully we can get this infection cleared up and I can go another 7 mos without problems and maybe things will financially be better by then or we will have insurance. I just keep hoping it will just go away and not come back!!!!

2009-04-01T17:08:00.002-04:00

Ahhhh how pretty! The first flowers of the season. We don't have any daffodils or crocuses or tulips blooming yet, bu they are breaking thru the ground, so it wont be long. These beauties I picked at my daughters college, 2 weeks ago. She goes to school 3 hours south of us and 3 hours south is all it takes to make a huge difference in the weather. It is several degrees warmer there all the time and they have alot less snow. The winters are alot milder! So they get to see springs beauty before we do. I picked a few of these daffodils to bring home to enjoy. They lasted almost 5 days.

April is financial aid package month

2009-04-01T14:41:00.004-04:00

So here we go!! My youngest daughter has been accepted now by 6 colleges and the final choice will be hugely influenced by which school offers her the best financial aid pkg. April 1 is typically the start date of when most colleges start mailing out their offers. So in the next couple of weeks are mail box will start being flooded by mail from all of these schools and we should soon have a better picture of where she will end up going to school. I know she is excited and also worried, as shes pretty sure her first and maybe even her second picks aren't going to offer the best deal, they are private colleges and they typically just don't offer as much aid. But we sill soon know. are you waiting for financial aid packages in your homes as well??

Cobra update

2009-04-01T13:46:00.006-04:00

Awhile back I wrote a post about Cobra coverage and I was excited that the administration had passed as part of the stimulus pkg, a deal where the govt would fund 65% of cobra payments for a 9 mos period. The hopes was to allow more unemployed families, the chance to afford the Cobra coverage and give families health insurance while they were looking for a new job and new health insurance coverage. I was really excited about it, as it sounded like it was going to be a big help to us. With us paying 35% of the cost our health insurance, this was going to be alot cheaper than what I was paying as an employee. I unfortunately worked for a company where the costs had been steadily rising for years and the company had been passing the extra costs off to the employees and the employer was paying for less and less, of the health care costs for us. I was paying almost $800.00 a month for medical, dental and vision care for the family. With the cobra plan and the 35% option for 9 months I am looking at $470.00. So sounded like something we couldn't pass up on. When I first talked to my previous employer, the plan had just passed into law and they didn't have all of the details yet. They now have more details and while this may still be a good deal for us, it will mean a huge outlay of money to get it started and I wonder if the govt thought of that when they put this into place. Most unemployed families are not going to have the money to get this plan rolling.

The plan started March 1, so I would get 9 mos of coverage at 35% thru the end of November. I was laid off in January and lost my health insurance coverage on 1-31-09. I had to till 4-1-09 to mail in my initial application requesting that I wanted to continue with the cobra coverage. I have till 5-13-09 to get the first payment premium paid. The first payment premium though covers all of the in between months. So I owe for Feb, March, April and May when the first payment goes in. I know Cobra is continuation of coverage but since we had only one small medical bill in February, at this time it seems crazy to go back and pay for months of coverage that have all ready passed and we have used nothing, but that's not the way cobra works.

So February would be calculated at the full premium price, march, April and May at the 35% cost. And so forth. Ok this is a better health insurance deal for us, but that's still a heck of alot of money to outlay at one time, when you are unemployed. Oh but wait, when I called in to ask a few final questions when I was mailing in my initial application to continue with Cobra, I was told some more happy news. I should have known there would be another speed bump to get over. Turns out since this is such a huge undertaking to get this plan implemented by Cobra, that the govt gave them several months to get the plan working. Which means they say they needed time to get their selves up and running with the new program. Hmmmm.... So what that means to me and everyone else, is this. If you are trying to get yourself onto this plan now, you are going to have to jump thru a few more hoops financially to get onto this plan, than say someone who gets laid off later, in this year. So Cobra tells me it will be June by the time they have a new system up and running and are able to bill people at the correct 35% rate. SO they are allowed to, by law, collect the normal full premium payments until that time. So I actually owe the full Cobra premium for the months of Feb, March, April, and May, when the first payment goes in. Then in June the system will be able to go back and calculate all of the money I have paid in and give me a 65% credit for the months of March, April and May, because I overpaid, which they will apply towards future monthly premiums or give you a refund if you decide to drop the coverage. So 4 mos at full cost is going to be over 5K!! to get started. While I realize that with all I will be overpaying upfront, that I will have enough in credit to pay for all of my insurance thru November, and I wont owe anything else until December, its the principal of the thing. Yes, in the end I will get the insurance for 9 mos at the 35% cost BUT at a large upfront cost. What unemployed family can afford 5k upfront? $470.00 a month is still alot when money is tight, but its sure a heck of alot more budgetable on a monthly basis.

Is this really what the govt was thinking when they started this plan??? Families that experieince lay offs after June and decide to get onto cobra will not have to go thru this mess, they will just auto start paying at the 35% rate, so thank goodness for that, but those of us now trying to get onto this and take advantage of this program are not being helped out financially at all!

I have no options, I either make the payment in May or I give up the Cobra option. So more thinking to be done. The application was sent in to at least keep the option open for us, so now I have until Mid May to decide, what to do.

Great deal!!!

2009-04-01T12:22:00.002-04:00

I usually don't talk about my money saving ventures when I go grocery shopping, As I feel like an amateur compared to alot of you great deal finders and couponers! You guys are awesome and I have learned alot from you!! Anyway this deal I just had to mention though. My better half is a caffeine free Pepsi drinker. That is the only kind of pop he really drinks. In a pinch he will drink a sprite or a rootbeer but those are very few and far behind. Meijers had Pepsi product cubes ( 24pk) on sale for 2/10.00 this week plus I had 5-$1.00 off coupons ( I used 4). The deal only allowed 2 cubers per each purchase, so I had to use the self checkout lanes and ran 2 separate orders so that I could get 4 cubes of Pepsi. So after my coupons, my total was $8.00 for 2. That's like buying one getting one free at the normal price. You very rarely see pepsi on sale that cheap! I was very happy!

Sadness....

2009-04-01T11:25:00.003-04:00

April usually brings to us a flurry of last minute craziness, non stop working around the clock and excitement, while we entered the last 2 weeks before the greenhouses would normally open for the season. But not this year.....

Unfortunately due to an insurmountable mountain of problems the greenhouses will not be opening this year. I have mentioned in several of my posts, that we have been struggling thru alot of problems and have had to make some very hard decisions that we haven't wanted to make. Alot of the decisions we had no say in and were forced to follow because of this darn partnership. If we had, had a crystal ball 2 years ago and had known that the business was being started right at the time, the recession was just getting ready to start, we never would have started it and had we also been able to look into that same crystal ball and seen into the future, to see all the problems that the greenhouses partner was going to bring to the table, we definitely never would have brought him into the equation. The business could have started without this partner, he wasn't needed financially and he was brought in for reasons that really seem dumb now, but that's that 20/20 hindsight thing and there is nothing we can do to change, what has all ready happened. Even if the partner had never existed would the business be opening today, I don't know, I have a feeling the economy , the recession, the credit crunch etc., probably still would have been too much, of a strain, on a brand new business. But we could have closed up shop and waited for the storm to pass and tried to restart after the recession was over. But with a partner involved, and when a partnership goes horribly wrong, just as in a marriage that fails and goes into divorce, there are no winners. Things get split up, dissolved, assets are lost, etc etc. To completely dissolve this partnership and all ties to each other, the business had to cease to exist. So we can no longer use the same business name and everything that was the business will no longer be there. Its been a very hard time for my better half and I, lot of heartache and pain. We had put so much of ourselves into that business, personally, emotionally and financially and its all gone. We cant help but feel we have wasted 2 years of our lives with this venture.

But I also strongly believe everything happens for a reason and even though I cant see any good reasons for what we have had to struggle thru, I know that there is a reason. Somehow this will make us stronger and better and we will find a better path us and our nursery/greenhouse business.

I had mentioned in one other post and will mention it again, if you go into business with anyone, think long and hard about it, make sure you know that partner inside and out. I don't care if they are your best friend, a family member, or just a business acquaintance. You don't want surprises after you have entered into the partnership and its too late to get out. Make sure that all partners have the same work ethics, and goals for the business. That both partners are committed 100%. Make sure you have an iron clad contract between the partners, detailing exactly what is expected from each side of the partnership,including work hours, and financial cash flow into the business by each partner, so that when one partner doesn't uphold their end of the bargain you have some type of legal recourse. It makes for a very bitter situation when one side of the equation is doing 95% of the work and has put all of the cash flow into the business and the other side is making excuses for why they arent following thru on what they promised to bring to the table. It wasn't supposed to be that way. We take all blame for bringing the partner into this mess and we have to deal with the consequences of that and the losses we have incurred because of a very, very bad business decision. But to be fair the business probably still would have suffered because it was too new,when the recession struck. So now we are left with cleaning up the mess.

Ok enough wallowing in the mud, we know what went wrong and now we have to fix it, and like all divorces extricating yourself from a partnership is a long and painful process. So it will be a while yet before we can officially say its over.

New game plan. Stay tuned. I will outline more over the next few days.

April at last!!!

2009-04-01T11:21:00.003-04:00

We made it!! Another winter has come and gone. We are pretty much seeing temps in the 50's now, but mother nature still likes to remind us its not quite time yet for really warm weather. We are seeing alot of up and down temps and alots of windy and rainy days as well. But we all know it wont last too much longer and it wont be long now before we can put those winter coats way back in the back depths of our closets and forget all about them and move onto our spring jackets. Ahhhh flip flops and shorts cant be too far away now!!!!

Spring breaks are over

2009-04-01T11:06:00.002-04:00

The last 2 weeks have been full of kids. The college freshman was home for 10 days and then as soon as she went back to college, the youngest daughter, in high school, was on spring break. So this has been the first week that things have started to settle back into a normal pattern, as normal as can be possible, for us at the time. It was very nice to spend time with the girls and try to forget about the trying times we have been going thru. The girls have all grown up so fast and its hard to believe that 2 of them will be in college next year! My oldest daughter gave us a surprise this week as well! She and her husband are coming home for a visit this summer! By the time she gets here it will have been 111 months since I last saw here. So we are all very excited about this!!!

Where did that week go???

2009-03-12T10:30:00.005-04:00

Once again I find myself getting onto my blog and realizing another week has flown by and no posting or card dropping has been done. Thank you to everyone who has continued to drop in on me and to all of the new droppers a big thank you as well. I feel really bad that I have let this slide. Between having sick family members last week and having my fiance's grand kids several days this week and a whole slew of life's problems, I just have not had time to get on here. My plate has been way too full lately and I unfortunately have had to let a few things slide for a bit. I will really be glad when life maybe at least comes to some sort of an even keel again. With the economy the way that it is I don't expect life too be easy any time soon, but a little breathing room would really be nice.
The job market is horrible in our area and especially in my former career path, there is just nothing out there, And I cant afford to drive 1-2 hours to get to a larger city where there may be work in my field of expertise,and we definitely cant afford to move. Ive done the commuter thing for the last 4 and half years and by the time you pay for all of the extra expenses relating to travel and the extra wear and tear on your vehicle(miles, gas, oil, tires, higher insurance) and the parking garage fees etc etc, (none of which my salary made up for) and they took out taxes and the high costs of health insurance and you account for the 10-12 hours, I was losing every week in travel time( unpaid) and you quickly realized that you weren't really bringing home any money to help the monthly budget out with. So I'm left with trying to figure out what to do. I don't believe my field is a lucrative field at the moment or any time in the near future. I have had numerous people tell me its a blessing to get myself out of this field and start over in something more secure. I have had several ideas thrown at me, but I just don't know yet. If I have to start over then I want to be able to do something I really like and want to do for the next 25 years plus and I want it to be flexible as well. So I am looking into a few ideas and even thinking about going back to school.

Add on top of that all of the college financial aid paperwork we are dealing with for the youngest daughter and the middle daughter is in the process of making sure her financial aid and scholarships are set in place for next year and working on her schedule for next year and its time to redo her housing contract.

Add on top of that my unemployment hasn't kicked in yet and alot of that is pretty much now due to the fact there is a dispute with my former employer over 6 weeks of unpaid but earned vacation time that they haven't given me yet and the unemployment office is holding off my payments until that is resolved. Soooo more stress and an added financial burden. Looks like I am going to have to get an attorney involved( which I cant afford) against the former employer, to get this process moving.

Add on top of that the stress of figuring out what to do with a brand new business my better half just started 2 years ago. The economy has hurt us alot, it was the wrong time to start a business and alot of major problems with a partner that originally started in the business, with him and we are having to make some painful and huge decisions for the business. So we have been tied up in making plans for the business so that it can go on in a new form this year. Long story needless to say. Just like in a marriage you had better know who your partner is, so that little surprises after the fact don't come out and bite you in the rear and its too late. We got bitten. We take blame for bringing this person into the business so we have to deal with that mess and get ourselves out of it but then add in a bad economy and a new business is not a good place to be.

So as you can see we have too much on our plate right now and we are trying to work thru it bit by bit and start cleaning off this garbage and get a better life moving for us. We just seem to be getting hit form all sides with bad news, the economy is affecting every portion of our lives and forcing us to completely review and start over.

So please forgive me if I don't get on here as often as I should. Ive got alot of issues to deal with right now and they are taking all of my attention. Also as the weather keeps improving I will also get tied up in the farmers market, the vegetable and flower gardens, and crafting. So Spring and summer will also slow me down from getting on the computer as much as well. But please hang in there with me and I will Post as often as I can.

Its a good thing I am an organized person and I can multi task like crazy and I thrive at having multiple things thrown at me at once, but even this has gotten to be a bit much. I dont care who you are we all of us reach that point where we just feel like we cant handle one more thing. Its as if our whole life is being remodeled right now. We are tearing down and rebuilding from the ground up.

Now I have to head out for an approx 6 1/2 hour round road trip to go and get my middle daughter form college. Its spring break for her! So she will be home for the next 10 days. Yeah!!! Something good to look forward to this week. We really need it.

Thanks for checking in with me and I know that there are alot of us out there struggling thru life right now. Keep the faith, call me crazy but I believe it will work out in the end, no matter how bad things seems now. I really hope that 2-3 years from now we can all look back and say ahhhhhh thats why that had to happen and I really am in a better place now. Hang onto your hopes and dreams!

Road trip awaits!!! Bye!

Sorry!!!

2009-03-05T11:26:00.002-05:00

I have to apologize for being so far behind, I haven't posted in a week and I haven't dropped any cards. I honestly haven't had much time to even get on the computer this last week. As you read my other posts, that I did today, you will see I have been dealing with a sick family and college /scolarship paperwork and a host of other items that seem to have cropped up, that I only have been able to take care of, since everyone else has been down sick.
Yahoo, I won another award! Christy from Chrysler Creek has bestowed a wonderful award on me. When I get a few more things caught up today I will get the award posted on my blog. Thank you Christy!!!! and I'm sorry I have been behind on getting this posted!!!

scholarships / college financial aid

2009-03-05T10:38:00.004-05:00

So on top of taking care of sick people my youngest daughter had a pile of scholarship applications that were due by this Friday and the 5 colleges that she has been accepted at, have been after us, to get the rest of our financial info, to them so that they can review the info and get a finance package ready. In our defense neither myself nor my daughter have been procrastinating on either of these projects.She has been filling out as many scholarships apps as possible and whenever the application process opens up for a new one that shes interested in she has been getting on top of it right away. So she got sick right when a pile of 15 of them were due soon, So when she finally started feeling better we tackled the pile. While she gets to do most of the work -- all of her personal info, why she thinks she deserves the scholarship and alot of them require an essay of some sort, there is always a page or 2 of info that they want from the parent.

Then since my taxes are finally done I had to fill out more financial aid paperwork for each of the 5 colleges and make copies of all of my tax returns and w-2s and whatever else they wanted. So 5 huge packets were prepared and sent out. Now we sit and wait for them to get a financial aid packet ready. Some of the schools don't send anything out until the first week of April, so we may have a while to wait. Even though my daughter has these 5 colleges ranked in her mind as to where she would prefer to go, it will honestly (and hopefully not unfortunately for her) come down to which of these 5 colleges will offer her the best deal. While a college education is very important. I also don't want o put her or myself way into debt. And all 5 of the colleges will get her to where she needs to go and what she wants to do. I imagine there will be alot of parents and students that will have to heavily look at the price tag of college when they make their decision this year and there will probably be alot of kids who don't end up going to their first or second choice just because the cost is so out of proportion to what the family can afford. Its amazing the difference in costs between these 5 schools. Like I said all 5 offer the major she wants to pursue and will get her, to her ultimate career goal, but the price tag ranges from 20,000 a year to 45,000 a year between all of the schools. Unbelievable. So until we have all 5 offers on the table in front of us and we can do some serious looking at what its really going to cost, we wont be making any decisions just yet.

A week has went by????

2009-03-05T09:59:00.002-05:00

I just noticed that it has been a week since my last post. I have been dealing with a house full of sick people and time just seems to have slipped past me. My youngest daughter got it first. For her it was really just a very bad cold but then when my better half started coming down with it last Sunday it really knocked him off his feet. Which is normal for him, being a heavy smoker for decades and decades whenever he gets sick with anything, it always goes straight to his chest. There is no such thing as a simple cold for him, it always turns into a sinus infection and an upper respiratory infection. Pneumonia is always a fear with him. So from Sunday at lunch time thru Wednesday he has been in bed sick. He also takes longer than most to recover as well. So even though he is up and moving around today and he looks better,he still doesn't sound great. Knock on wood though as it looks like he will be able to kick this one on as his own and wont need to go the doctor, which is where he usually ends up.
Now I can only hope I don't get this bug.

Dreams....

2009-02-26T12:08:00.002-05:00

What do you think dreams are? Can your dreams be pictures into the future or the stuff Disney songs are made of? You know... A dream is a wish your heart makes when your fast asleep.... I know for sure bad dreams or scary ones, are not a wish that my heart makes and usually they are triggered by some type, of disturbing movie I have recently watched or even grisly news that I have seen on TV or read about. I can almost always find something in my bad dreams that I can link to something I have recently seen, so I can easily figure them out and put them into perspective. But my good dreams I'm not sure about, I'm not sure if they are just hopeful wishing on my part or if they are really trying to tell me something. Usually I don't dream very often but lately I have been, and I think that like alot of people I am looking for any reason to be hopeful, for the future and that my dreams just may be wishes I am hoping for, but it sure would be nice, to believe that these dreams are a hint, of better times coming. We all need to believe that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Hope is something we all need to hang onto.

Weather Ride

2009-02-26T11:57:00.005-05:00

So on Sunday we woke up to a surprise snowstorm and had up to 8 inches dumped on us. Tuesday and Wednesday we had temps in the upper 40's to even the lower 50's and the snow has been melting like crazy. Today we woke up to a very heavy blanket of fog and and a 3 hour school delay. This afternoon the rain is supposed to start ( up to 1 inch is expected) and maybe even some thunderstorms tonight! Then right behind that its supposed to turn very cold immediately and we may even see some snow flakes again this weekend. Spring is definitely coming, as we are starting into our roller coaster ride of transitional weather, with extremes from one end of the spectrum to the other. Indiana has long been known for very unpredictable weather, we get hard, long,cold and snowy winters and alot of the time winter doesn't want to let its grip go on us until well into Spring, we often have ups and down clear till May, then as the past years have shown, we go from being very cool to being exceedingly HOT! We seem to skip over spring alot and the same is true with fall, we don't always get to enjoy a nice warm colorful fall, we often go straight from summer to cold. The weather is never boring here that's for sure! But it sure makes it hard to try to know when its truly safe to put plants outside.

WHAT's going on????

2009-02-22T10:38:00.002-05:00

The weather forecasters have been way off the last 2 days and definitely not in our favor. At midnight on Friday when we turned the TV off, we were still under a winter storm warning with 5-8 inches of snow to be on the ground Saturday. The snow was to start by 4 am they said and was to be at its heaviest by 7:30 am, so after hearing this, I cancelled the 1 hour trip south, we had planned Saturday morning, for a meeting about a scholarship program, my daughter is involved with. Instead we get up Saturday and by 7:30 am the first flakes were just starting and the snow warning had went away and thru out the course of the day we only got a couple of inches. Mind you we were not complaining about it as we were very happy that it looked like we had missed the brunt of this storm.

Then Saturday night again, we listened to the news and weather and at 11:30 pm ,the weather person said we were only to get a dusting more of snow overnight, due to lake effect snow wrap around, but nothing to be worried about. Instead we wake up to several inches of new snow! So my better half is out plowing now. He says we have at least 7- 8 inches out there all ready and we are still getting bursts of snow falling off and on. We read one report this morning that said we will end up with a total of 9 inches today.

Come on Spring.... March is only 6 days away.

Cobra Coverage-- Changes coming, We maybe able to afford it????

2009-02-20T10:43:00.006-05:00

Being recently layed off I got my packet of info about 2 weeks ago, informing me that I could continue my same group medical, dental and vision coverage for the family, on for an additional 18 months. Sounds great but I now have to pay the full premium of these policies. $1350.00 a month. Who on earth could afford that??? I knew that our premiums were going up starting January 1 and that our employer was going to make us pay more out of pocket before I was even let go and my significant other and I had decided we just couldn't afford the coverage even when I was still an employee. The cost as an employee was going to be almost $800.00 a month, that was a huge chunk out of my paychecks every month, so we had started looking for outside coverage before I even knew I was going to be layed off. I am Life and Health insurance licensed but I have not actively sold insurance for almost 5 years now so I know there have been alot of changes but I know enough about the industry to know that $ 800 was too much and we could do better elsewhere. The problem is that my employer only offered 3 plans and you had no options to pick and choose from certain benefits from within the 3 options so you were forced to to pay for benefits that you may not want or need but since it was group coverage everybody got the same thing. also the insurance premium for the employee themselves is pretty good but when you try to add 2 children and a spouse onto the policy the premiums just go thru the roof! We definitely were paying more out of pocket for insurance than we ever were using in benefits. We could have easily self insured ourselves for less but then you run the risk of a major injury or illness and then you could be in trouble from huge medical bills. Its always better to be safe than sorry and just have insurance. BUT always shop around and make sure you are getting the best coverage for the best price.

So now that I am not working we were put in a new delima of what do we do now. Until unemployment kicks in we cant afford to go buy coverage anywhere and the $1350.00 a month was not an option.... Until the Economic recovery bill was signed into law this week. Please note I am not an expert on this and there are more pages and items included in this plan than most of us will ever see or understand, so I can only tell you about what I have been told on this subject concerning myself only. So I can not guarantee the following info is correct for everyone or anyone other than myself. But I called my former employer yesterday and was told that yes part of the bill President Obama signed this week will in most cases allow the government to subsidize 65% of the cobra premium for up to a 9 month period. The package is still too new and my employer said that they do not have all of the details yet but they will be mailing info, to all former employees that will qualify for this new lower premium when they get all of the rules and regulations sent to them by the government. This is the info tht they had at this time, subject to change as they got more details. Apparently if I had all ready signed up for Cobra( which I hadnt yet, thank goodness) and had been paying the higher premiums all ready, they will not go back and refund anything for prior months, it is only for payments starting in March or April and going forward for 9 months. Also if you have been recently layed off( guidelines of that time frame were not known by my employer)and chose not to accept the cobra coverage at that time, you may be given a window of opportunity to sign up for Cobra coverage. Again this is only info I got from my previous employer concerning my specific case so please contact your former employers if you think you may qualify for this or if you have additional questions. Its definitely worth looking into. As we can probably afford Cobra coverage at this lower cost, for 9 months and that may give us enough time to find coverage elsewhere or give us time for one of us to get a job that has good coverage.

4 weeks to Spring!

2009-02-20T10:25:00.002-05:00

Oh please hurry up spring, 4 weeks can seem to be a very short time frame or it may end up feeling like it is dragging on forever. Especially since another winter storm is taking aim at us tonight and tomorrow. I have heard varying reports, depending on exactly how the storm tracks, of 5-7 inches of snow. BOOOOO! We just had gotten to the point were we could see the grass again. Sigh........ Why couldn't we get a little help from Mother nature and she let us have a mild end to this winter and an early warm spring? I could really use the break in the heating bills.

Blog Love Award!!!!

2009-02-18T14:30:00.012-05:00

Christy from At the Creek, just gave me this award. I am very ecstatic as this is my first award!!! Yahoo! That was so nice of Christy and I am pleased to accept it and pass it on to some of my blogging friends.

Here are the rules attached to this particular award:

* When you receive the Blog Love award, you should place the logo on your blog proudly!

* Link to the blogger that awarded you the love.

* Nominate your friends and bloggers you read regularly, as many as you like.

* Finally, let them know you’ve nominated them to receive the award.

I am still fairly new to the blogging world and there are so many great blogs out there that I like to visit, so I had a hard time deciding who to give this terrific award to, there are so many wonderful blogs all deserving of this award.

Drum roll please...I am passing this award on to the below blogs, that I follow frequently and love:

If you love "The Bachelor" show then you have to check out this blog! Stacey B is the best!

Hair 4 my Princess If you have girls in your life and they love to have their hair done, then this blog is for you!!! Some of the most original and cute hair designs are shown here, with step by step instructions!!

All Things Ribbon Another must site to visit if you have girls. Some of the most beautiful hair bows and dresses are featured here. Check it out, you wont be sorry!

Thrifty Creativity One of my favorite blogs to visit and one of my top droppers! Thank you!! I always find a useful tip to use here!

Half Price/Full Pantry A blog not to be missed! Love this blog. A topper dropper of mine and always has a positive comment for me!!

Cell phone nightmare!!!

2009-02-17T19:07:00.004-05:00

More Thorns, More thorns, OUCH!! I just looked at our cell phone bill that came in the mail today and My better half just about had to give me CPR and pick me up off of the floor! I have heard about parents getting scary cell phone bills but it had never happened to me until today. If you remember I just had called my cell provider and had our plan reviewed and made changes and saved almost 65.00 a month, well that savings is gone...... Our bill was 3.5 times the normal this month!! No flowers here for sure!!!! For the last 8 months we hadn't even been using 25% of the minutes on the plan we had, so our account rep, during the account review, suggested we drop to a smaller plan and save ourselves some money, sounded good at the time but now its not looking so good. Even if we had been in the original plan we still would have been over in minutes but not by as much, but the bill still would have been alot higher either way. We have free nights and weekends and free long distance and free mobile to mobile with our carrier and free unlimited texting so how on earth could the bill be over??? A teenager who got overly chatty last month, thats how. And all of her calls were before 9pm , when the free nights kick in and alot of her friends are not with our carrier so the free mobile to mobile was useless. So we were charged for every minute over our plan minutes at .40 cents a minute! So after a very long talk with her and and a call to the cell phone company we are at least sitting up and breathing more easily. They are going to put us on a payment plan and break all of the extra charges up over a 2-3 billing period time frame. Needless to say my daughters cell phone usage will be heavily monitored for awhile and she is going to help pay for the extra charges.

Valentines

2009-02-13T14:13:00.003-05:00

Our Valentines Day plans sound a little odd, according to my teenage daughter but I don't believe so. My better half's, Aunt and Uncle are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary tomorrow! Now what could possibly be, more the definition of Love and Valentines day, than 50 years of marriage? Like all couples they had their up and downs in their younger years, but they are truly in Love with each other after all of these years. Unfortunately in to days world 50th wedding anniversaries are somewhat of a rarity and should be celebrated, a big party and a nice meal and dessert are planned at a reception hall. While it may not be your typical valentines, where you think of just 2 people spending a special day/evening together, it is still a date for my sweetie and me and a nice meal out and being surrounded by family and friends, that's a room full of LOVE!

Happy Valentines to everyone!!! Do you have special plans?

Ahhhh....Perfect!

2009-02-13T14:04:00.002-05:00

Day 10 has rolled around again and so round 2 of my friendship bread baking began. I went back to my original recioe and it turned out perfectly. Yummy! So that other recipe goes in the trash!

Back to reality

2009-02-12T14:33:00.002-05:00

The short burst of warm weather is over. Not good! It is so cold and windy today and they are saying we may get measurable snow on Saturday. BOOO! we just got all of the snow melted off. Even thought its cold today we are still seeing signs of more wildlife out and about. We had a few geese and even 2 swans land on the pond today and hang out for awhile. The swans are the first we have seen this winter, so spring is surely still just around the corner... right??????

Wildlife

2009-02-11T10:23:00.002-05:00

This morning I had 4 very large turkeys in the field behind my house! The warm weather seems to be bringing all sorts of wildlife out and about, as I just noticed that my friend Christy has a picture of a possum, on her blog that she found today, in her chicken coop!! You can check out her picture and blog by clicking on her AT the Creek Button on the side of my page !

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

2009-02-10T14:21:00.002-05:00

I want to thank everyone that has commented to me, about my blog concerning my first mammogram. I appreciate all of the positive comments, it really does make you feel better to realize that so many other women have had the same scares that I went thru and they really understand where you are coming from. The end result though is that no matter what, we have to take care of ourselves and have any test done that we can to protect our health. Thank you for the support, all of us Women need to stand together and help each other out!!!

I also want to thank everyone who has given me such positive feedback about my job lay off. I really appreciate the concern, support and positive feedback that I have gotten from so many people thru this blog and outside of this blog. It is so sad to hear that so many people are in the same boat. I will keep positive thoughts in my heart and in my prayers for all of us!

Rain

2009-02-10T14:18:00.001-05:00

What an odd thing to hear last night, Rain.... After listening to the winds of winter howl around the edges of the house for so long now, it was a very nice change to hear light rain falling on the roof as we fell asleep last night. Now tonight they tell us we may hear a thunderstorm , that doesn't thrill me as much though. BUT anything is better than more snow!

62 degrees ?????

2009-02-10T14:13:00.001-05:00

I cant believe it , its supposed to be 62 degrees today! yahoo!!!!!!!! I believe this may be mothers nature way of saying hang in there things are going to get better. I sure hope so, any little thing to feel good about makes everything seem a little easier to take.

First tease of spring...

2009-02-07T14:48:00.002-05:00

The snow is melting!!! Yeah!!! I can actually see my driveway again, all the ice and snow pack cover, we have had for soooooooooooooo long is finally going away. In its place we are getting lots of puddles of water and wet muddy ground, but who cares, we are actually starting to see the grass again!!! ( Mind you I say that now, but after having to clean up wet, muddy dog paws before thy are allowed to come, in the house, will get old fast too) Looks like most of the next week is to be very mild for us, so all of this snow should be long gone!!!! The air even has that hint of warmer and better things to come. I realize that this warm spell will only get us thru the middle of February and I'm sure we aren't done with all of the snow and cold yet, but its so darn nice to finally get a reminder that Spring truly is just around the corner now.

A big sigh of relief....

2009-02-06T10:13:00.003-05:00

So, do you remember I had my very first mammogram last week, because my Dr wanted to get my baseline exam in before my health insurance lapsed the end of January? Well Being the first one for me, I wasn't quite sure what to expect and of course after hearing all of the horror stories and all of the jokes that people make about them, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But I must say it was nothing like I had expected, it was not a long procedure nor was it all painful. At the most you could say it was a little uncomfortable. Alot easier than a pap smear, if you want to compare the 2 necessary evils that women must do to protect their good health. Now I will say that I had a little bit of a scare with my Mammo though, 2 days ago I got a phone call saying they needed me to come in for additional pictures as they had seen some densities on both sides and they needed to take additional pics to verify that it was just fibrous tissues or fatty tissues and not something else. They also said they had scheduled an ultrasound for just in case the next round of pics still didn't clarify what they were seeing. OK that's a little scary, especially since this was my first mammo and I wasn't expecting this. Apparently though this is very common and alot of baseline mammos get called back in for additional pics. They don't have any pics from the previous year to compare to and sometimes the first pics just aren't clear enough. So I was told not to panic and not to assume the worst but my mind started racing anyway. AND it didn't help that my better half got mad at me for worrying about this. In talking to a friend yesterday she said she has known several women who had to go back in, for call back mammos, due to nodule densities and they almost always are nothing and she said all of these women had gotten scared and anxious too. She seems to think men just arent as sensitive to these issues as they should be and that its just their way of avoiding having to think about something being wrong with the person they love. Maybe, but a hug sure would have been nice. All women when we go to get our yearly pap smears and mammos want to hear the words everything looks good we will see you in a year, you never want to hear the words, we saw something that we need to do additional tests on. That's just scary! I am happy to say that after a trip to the hospital, very early this morning and several digital xrays, they were able to determine that I indeed just have fibrous tissues and very very very dense breasts and dense breasts/fibrous tissues are not a precursor for cancer. Thank goodness!! I was told this morning though that since I have such dense breasts I should only have digital mammos from now on. The basic xray mammo that I had last week just isn't capable of cutting thru all of my dense tissues. But there was no way to know that when I had the mammo last week since it was just my first one. For alot of women the basic xray mammo works just fine but for women like me they recommend only digital pics. They showed me the difference from last weeks xrays compared to today's digital pics and it was a huge difference in the picture quality! I could totally see why they had wanted to take additional pics.

Now for all of you women out there who havent had your baseline mammo and or have been putting it off because you are worried or scared. DONT BE! Its a very simple procedure and the few minutes of discomfort are well worth the peace of mind of knowing that you are in good health!!!! Even a few scary days waiting for the next batch of pics to be taken is still worth the worry of finding out for sure that there is absolutely nothing wrong!

So maybe I can actually get some sleep tonight. I'm exhausted today. Today, I definitely found a flower after wading thru several days of thorns!!!

Baking day... Ups and Downs

2009-02-04T20:02:00.002-05:00

My friendship bread starter was finally at day 10 so I was all excited to make my 2 loaves of bread today! Unfortunately the finished product did not turn out as well and my anticipation will have to wait another 10 days. I should have stuck to my original friendship bread recipe, as everyone loves that! But No, I had to try a variation on the original recipe that I found online. The differences were so little that I wouldn't have thought it would have changed it so much. The main differences from the original was this other recipe called for 2 boxes of vanilla instant pudding, instead of 1( everyone loves vanilla and more vanilla had to be better right? or so I thought) and it called for vegetable oil and applesauce instead of just veg. oil, and this version didn't call for cinnamon and sugar to be sprinkled on the bottom of the pan and the top of the loaf like my version does. Like I said very small changes but enough to change the whole flavor and texture. Its definitely edible but its just not what I am used to. So back to the original in 10 days. Round 2! Since the bread didn't turn out as well as planned I decided to make up a triple batch of chocolate chip cookies to stash in the freezer for my sweetheart, A cookie monster he is.

Finding ways to save money....

2009-01-29T14:11:00.003-05:00

Due to the economy and change in income levels we are looking for ways to cut our budget on a monthly basis. Some of the cuts I have found don't even effect our daily living and we are still getting what we have always had, but at a cheaper price. I called our cell phone provider a few weeks ago and told them I wanted to review my plan, I had noticed on our monthly bill that we had a plan that had way more minutes in it, than what we were using each month, so we were paying for minutes every month that we weren't even using. So we cut the plan minutes back. Also we had Internet access on 2 phones and it turned out we were only using the service on one of the phones ,so again we were paying for something that we didn't use. So we also removed Internet service off of one of the phones. 2 simple changes that didn't effect us at all or cause us to lose anything! We saved $60.00 a month for 2 simple changes.

Onto the home phone and Internet service. We get both services from the same provider. Again I noticed in our monthly bill that they had a flier for Internet service at 19.99 a month. I thought what the heck we are paying 39.99 a month! So I called them and again asked for an account review. Turns out the initial contract we had signed with them had long since ended and when that happens they auto put you into the highest rate plan. Hmmmm don't you think it would be good customer service on their part to call me when the contract ends so that they can make sure I am a satisfied customer and I am in the best possible plan at all times??? Apparently not, they make more money this way. I was told it was the customers responsibility to call in when the contract ends and that they don't have to notify you when the contract is expiring. HMMMM again I don't believe that's the way to do good business, but its not my company. Unfortuantely they offer the best service in the area for what we use, so I am pretty well stuck with them, good customer service or not. So anyway while they cant offer me the 19.99 a month because that's only for brand new customers ( so why do they put the fliers in an existing customers bill then??? Kind of like a slap in the face, I think) but they can offer me a rate of 29.99. So a savings of $10.00 a month.

I also called our Direct Tv provider and I didn't do as well there. Looks like we are in about as good as a plan as we can be. I was able to knock 4.99 a month off of the bill because we found out we could put the receiver, that is in the college students room on vacation mode, that way we don't get charged for the service in her room while she is at school. I wont turn it back on, for all of the 1 week here and there times, she is home for breaks, during the school year as it wouldn't be worth it, I might as well just leave it on full time then. So when she is home for Christmas, fall and spring breaks and any other times she will have to watch tv in one of the other rooms, of the house. I will just turn her receiver back on when she is home for summer break. So I guess a 4.99 savings a month is better than nothing.

So all totaled a savings of $74.99 a month.

So if you haven't called and had a check up on your phone, Internet, and cable services it is definitely worth it.

Job cleanup???

2009-01-29T11:57:00.005-05:00

Who knew being let go from your job was so much work??? I sure didn't . Having been at my job for 13 years I had gained experience in many areas of the banking/financial world and I had even been involved in the on boarding and off boarding of employees, but my experience level stopped at the employee receiving their pink slip and watching them pack up their desks and then being involved in the redistribution of their workload to other employees. I had never been involved with the backside of what all the employee went thru after they had been layed off. OH MY GOSH, dealing with the emotional and financial changes that being layed off brings is one thing, but then to realize there is still so much to do is a little frustrating! Your told that you will be getting info by mail to tell you all of the details of when your insurance coverage ends and info about Cobra continuation, any vacation pay you are still entitled too, if any, what and if and when any retirement assets are allowed to be rolled out, and on and on and on . But they don't tell you how slowly all of this info will trickle into you by mail. Here it is the last week of January and I still didn't have all of the info I was needing so I started making phone calls on Tuesday and after 2 days of playing phone tag with people in countless different depts within HR and being transferred here and there and placed on hold for very long periods of time I finally believe I have all of my info. Other wise I was told they had to the end of the month to get all of this info mailed out! So as of yesterday I find out I only have 3 more days of paid insurance coverage, so that sets off a whole new round of phone calls. ( Had I waited for all of this info to come in the mail , my insurance would have all ready lapsed!) I quickly called my Family Dr and my eye DR to see when any of my family member's were due for check ups or if there was anything we needed to get done before I lost my insurance in 3 days. Unluckily our annual exams arent due with the family doctor for another 4 months and the insurance wont cover them this far ahead of time, if we do it this week ,so we have to wait on those, but my Dr said since I have never had a mammogram yet we might as well get my base line exam done yet this week, since the insurance will pay for it in full. (Fun, I'm sure) And my vision insurance said that they will cover my better half's and I's, eye exams if we get them done yet this week, even though we weren't due for check ups until February, they said it was still within the allowable window. So by good graces our DR s have been willing to work with us and are squeezing us in tomorrow to get these items completed before the insurance runs out on Sunday. So we should be pretty well set for another year before we would have to worry about the expenses of yearly checkups or having to buy new glasses and contacts, so that is a little bit of financial peace of mind. Now lets pray for continued good health. Now we just have to figure out whether we will try to continue on with Cobra coverage , which once I receive the info, I have 60 days to decide about ,but I know Cobra is soooooo expensive and I cant imagine we will be able to afford that since my income is gone. I imagine we will have to look into buying insurance coverage elsewhere or see if one of us gets a job with insurance benefits soon. Health care is so expensive!!!!! Also I got another phone call yesterday from the parking garage where I had to park at work and they wanted to know why I hadn't paid my January bill and they were getting ready to send out the February bill and if I didn't get both months paid ASAP they would suspend my parking privileges!!! WHAAAAATTTTTTT Im not employed there anymore! Turns out my employer forgot to notify the parkign garage that I had been layed off so they had continued to bill me, bills are sent directly to the office so I never realized they were still generating. SO they have noted it in my file and will cancel the Feb billing but the January billing is still debatable, as they held that parking spot open for me and they could have rented it to someone else had they known I wasn't an employee anymore. Can we SCREAM real loud now??? I of course made sure she understood completely that this was thru no fault of my own and I wasn't paying for that parking space when I never used it in January. So now I have to wait for her to call my employer and validate that I was layed off before they can decide to release me from the fee for January! Ughhhh. I will be so glad when all of these loose ends are wrapped up and I can really get on my with my life with out this company. Its been almost a full time job just to keep on top of all of these loose ends and try to get it wrapped up. Also to anyone out there that has been layed off recently, please do not assume that your employer will follow thru and complete all of the items that needs to be done to finish up your employment. And don't wait for the info of your separation from the company to be mailed to you, you may lose valuable time and benefits if you do. Start calling your HR service center right away and get the answers you need and make sure your all of these loose ends get wrapped up, as believe me, your employer probably wont care if things get missed.

Fellow The Bachelor show lover

2009-01-29T11:49:00.002-05:00

I enjoy watching" The Bachelor" show and I have found a great blog that I follow daily! Stacey B. at http://bachelorlove.blogspot.com/ does a great job of recapping the shows every week and digging up facts and info on current and past bachelor and bachelorettes. Her blog is colorful and full of info and humor!! She does a really great job and I find myself checking her blog every day to see what new tidbits she has out there. She is gathering a large following, so if you love The Bachelor too head on over to her blog and check it out!!

Baking Bread

2009-01-29T11:33:00.003-05:00

As the days of my hard core spring cleaning are coming to an end I am looking for other ways to get used to being at home on a daily basis. I am not one to just sit around, I have to keep busy. I love to cook but with a demanding job, kids, and all of the activities at the school, a significant other, 3 dogs, and a house to take care of ,I had always been in constant high gear and I didn't have the time to cook like I really would have liked to. So, much to my better half's delight, I have been able to start cooking regular home cooked meals again and other treats that I just didn't have time for. Cookies for one thing, he has a sweet tooth and loves cookies, along with other sweets but cookies are his favorite! So no more store bought cookies while Life is restructuring itself in our lives. I also have a bread machine that has been collecting dust and I pulled it out and cleaned it up yesterday and I made a loaf of home made bread yesterday. Absolutely wonderful!! Once in a great while I would pull the bread maker out and I would just buy a box mix for bread making and while they were good, actually making a loaf from scratch is soooooooooo much better, So I will be making bread at least once a week for the family. I also mixed up a batch of friendship bread starter up on Monday so in another 6 days I will be ready to start sharing my starter mix with friends but I will also be ready to bake up my first batch of the bread. Yummy!!!!!!!!!

SNOW day.... again

2009-01-28T09:57:00.003-05:00

Schools are closed while yet another round of snow comes thru. Winter has been very long,cold, icy and snowy for us this year. Normally our area receives an average of 35 inches of snow a year. We are at about 40 inches now and there is a chance for another inch or so today and another inch tomorrow and another inch the day after that so the totals keep going up! Last year was a hard winter for us also we had about 70 inches of snow last winter! So we have been well above the norms for the last 2 years! A nice mild winter has got to be in store for us soon. With all of February and March to go yet, We very well could be pushing that 70 inches of snow mark again.... (sigh) I'm dreaming of a nice sandy beach with warm tropical breezes blowing in my face, how about you?????

Monday...

2009-01-26T12:47:00.002-05:00

I just realized today that my postings have been lacking. I started a couple and saved them and then never finished them. I have been keeping up on my card drops but the blog posting kind of just fell away for the last week. My mind has been on other things and I haven't felt much like writing, so I have been on my spring cleaning quest yet again this last week. I cleaned all of the surfaces of the living room furniture, swept under the cushions, etc, I ran the cobweb wand around all of the corners of the house and I cleaned the ceiling fan blades, and dusted in every imaginable corner that normally doesn't get done every week. I even got to clean the garage, although that was not a job I had in mind to do! We keep an older fridge out in the garage and we use it for overflow food items( mostly at the holidays ) and for holding all of our sodas, water, juices etc. My youngest daughter went to go to school one day last week and she always grabs something to drink, on her way out the door. Unfortunately when she opened the door, the all ready loose side door shelf holder, busted the rest of the way off and bottles and cans of all kinds fell out and onto the garage floor. Breaking of course and leaking a very nasty sticky concoction all over the floor of the garage and a chunk of carpet we keep at the back door to wipe our feet on. This was no little job to be easily cleaned up with a paper towel! This was a move the car out of the garage and get the hose out and spray the floor down and scrub it with a broom to get rid of all of this stickiness. I also had to get the carpet cleaner out and clean the chunk of carpet. So I figured if I was going to have to go to this much work anyway I might as well clean a few shelves out in the garage and straighten a few things up and run the cobweb wand around in the garage and clean up the walls too. So several hours later the garage was very clean, mind you I was wet, dirty and cold but the garage was clean! I clean my house every week and I keep it very clean, overly clean according to my daughters but we all have those in depth cleaning projects that we only get to a few times a year and since I have extra time now I am getting them all done. If it was only nice outside...

A new start... I think

2009-01-22T20:36:00.003-05:00

Well its definitely time to take the first step off of this crossroads I have felt like I have been stuck on for awhile, or maybe I should say I was pushed off of it. I worked for a large financial/investment firm and I am a licensed financial professional and my company like so many other financial firms and banks have been reducing staff due to this on going credit crisis and recession. Little investment firms and failing banks are being gobbled up by bigger firms and banks, and that unfortunately leads to new problems, that most people don't think about. When 2 banks or investment firms merge, you end up with a whole lot of jobs that overlap each other and way too many employees, so the new company ends up letting go of a whole lot of employees while they are restructuring a new company. Add on top of that sales are down, the stock market is down and corporations are cutting corners wherever they can. While so many of us employees in this line of work have been living on pins and needles for months and months now and we have watched lot of other coworkers let go over the last year ,you just never want to believe you will be next. I knew the winds of change had been blowing at my place of employment, for quite awhile now, but I had hoped for the best. I am struggling with realizing that a place I have went to work at, for the last 13 years is no longer a part of my life. There have been times, who am I kidding .. most of the time I felt like I lived at my place of employment and that I spent more time there instead of with my own family. So I have had frustrations with my job but who honestly hasn't??? No job is perfect but after you have been there as long as I had been it had been become my second home, my second family, it was a part of me. To the corporation its not personal when they let people go, but to the employee it is and it still doesn't make it any easier when I was 1 of 8 people let go in the last 2 weeks. I know, I know look for a bright side right??? When one door closes the saying is another one opens, so I just need to keep an open mind. So there are a few things that I will not miss... the hour long commute each way to and from work, the hefty parking fees at the parking garage, the catty office politics, the stress of the constant ups and downs of the stock market, not having enough time for my family and home, the huge fuel bill I was paying to drive back and forth to work.... Its just that its change, 13 years is along time and this has been the only job that I have held in my adult life. Part time jobs in high school don't count, they weren't a career. Everyone keeps telling me I am young, I have plenty of time to start over, Retirement age is still a long waaaaaaaaaaaay off but what do I start over with? My job profession is in a field that is laying people off fast, the head lines every day tell of another bank laying of several hundred to several thousand employees, finding a good paying job in this line of work will be next to impossible for the next year or 2, I am afraid. And do I really want to go back to that line of work??? Now is the time to decide if I am going to reinvent myself, go back to school, start anew career or hope for the best and keep looking for work in my line of expertise and hope that over the next year thinks start looking up.

The Bachelor!

2009-01-20T12:12:00.002-05:00

As you may have noticed I have added "the Bachelor" button to my side bar. I know its a reality show and it is more times than not kind of silly, but I enjoy watching it and I know there alot of people out there who also enjoy watching the show. Its a nice place to get away and and just enjoy yourself for an hour or 2. Its also amazing the lengths that these bachelorettes will go to get their man! I also enjoy some of the one on one dates that they go on and its fun to see tropical islands in the middle of the winter or see the extravagant dates they go on. its just a fun fantasy show to watch. If you agree let me know your thoughts otherwise don't hold it against me if I watch the show.

Too Cute Puppy...

2009-01-18T16:19:00.004-05:00

We have 3 Golden Retrievers, ages -- almost 12 years, 3 1/2 years and 3 months. The oldest is a female and she is the mother of the 3 1/2 year old male and the baby is the son of the 3 1/2 year old male. So 3 generations! We never planned on having 3 dogs at one time but due to circumstances that were out of our control, we ended up having to take a pup in exchange for the stud service. ( Another family member was to take the pup but when the puppies were born things had changed and the family member couldn't take the pup, so we ended up with the bundle of joy) The puppy ( Dakota) has become one of the best thing to have happened to us! He has brought us alot of laughter and happiness , and in these tough times that has been a blessing. Yes puppies are alot of work and the potty training can be a non stop job at first, but the cuteness and the love he has bestowed upon us ,far out weighs the work. He also has given his dad a playmate. Jake at 3 1/2 still has alot of puppy in him and he enjoys having someone around that has as much energy as he does. These 2 are inseparable and keep each other company all day long. All 3 dogs get along great but the female is getting old and she has slowed down alot, luckily she is in good health for her age but she just doesn't get around like she used to. Having 3 dogs in the house has turned out to be no different than having 2 dogs. The puppy is a non stop bundle of energy as all puppies are and he really is a good boy. He loves the water in the true fashion of alot of golden retrievers. My better half is all excited about this. Our female dog has never taken to the water and only likes to wade in the water and not any deeper than just her paws. Jake the 3 1/2 year old loves the water too and you are hard pressed to keep him out of the pond in the summer. BUT baths in the tub forget it, he will put up with a bath in the tub but he sure doesn't like them, the puppy though loves the tub, he will crawl into the tub when its empty looking for water and he is really happy if he finds someone in the shower and he can crawl into the shower with them! And I mean he willingly crawls in on his own, so if you arent wanting a shower mate you had better make sure you have that bathroom door shut all the way! I have never seen a dog love water so much! It will be interesting to see how he reacts to the big pond this summer.

The sun is shining!!

2009-01-18T14:48:00.002-05:00

It has been a very long time since we have had such a sunny day! Yes it s still cold outside but nothing compared to the below zero temperatures we have been experiencing the last week. No matter how yucky the weather is outside a nice sunny day lifts your spirits and gives you hope that we will soon see warmer days!!

Happy 18th!!

2009-01-17T14:52:00.004-05:00

Today is my youngest daughters birthday, she is 18 today. I cant believe it! In a few short months she will be graduating from high school and then off to college in the fall. Then I will officially be a college Mom. Having 3 daughters has been the best gift of my life but its hard to believe they are growing up and I will soon not have any kids in high school anymore. Next fall I know will be hard as we will officially enter into the empty nesting phase. Even though my middle daughter just started college this year It was hard when I had to take her to college and leave her there and come home with out her. It was way harder that I thought it would be, It was hard when my oldest daughter got married and moved away also, a year and a half ago. Slowly they are leaving and giving me time to adjust but I know next fall will be hard. For so long it has been just me and my 3 girls. As hard as it was to leave my middle daughter at college this past fall , I have quickly settled into realizing it is just college and she gets to come every few weeks and that she will still be home every summer. Mind you I fully realize that as she gets older and makes more new friends at college that she wont be as excited about coming home for every single college break but for now my youngest 2 will be around be a few more years even if it is just for breaks from college. So I will get a little more time to transition to the stage when it will just be me and my fiance' at home. So for now my 19 and 18 year old daughters still need me and they aren't ready to start a home of their own yet. My baby is 18 today, where did the time go??? Several years ago I had a friend walk up to me on my youngest daughters birthday and she told me Happy Birthday! I reminded her my birthday wasn't for another month yet and today was my daughters. She said I know that, but you gave birth to her today, so today is really your birth-day. Today is a day of celebration for both of you! I have never forgotten what she told me that day, it really meant alot to me. Happy 18th Birthday to my Baby!!!

Twist Loofah giveaway!!!

2009-01-16T17:18:00.002-05:00

I was just visiting my friends blog," AT the Creek" and saw that she is doing a real cool giveaway of a Green Irene product! She is giving away 2 twist loofah sponges. Here is the info on these really cool environmentally safe sponges--- they will scrub off dirt, grime and grease and are biodegradable. According to the Green Irene site these sponges are perfect for washing dishes or scrubbing hard to clean areas in the house.These sponges have 2 sides, on one side you’ll find an absorbent sponge material and the other side has a natural loofah scrubbing layer for that extra scrubbing power you need on those tough jobs! You can link to the Christy's site "At the Creek" by clicking on my link on this page. Head on over and sign up for the giveaway! This is for a limited time so don't hesitate, she has numerous ways to get yourself in on the giveaway!

More spring cleaning!

2009-01-16T12:54:00.004-05:00

I know its not really spring but it is so nice to be able to say the word. I can dream right??? But I am doing my major cleaning jobs now, that alot of people wait and do in March or April, when its warm enough to open the windows and doors. January and February are our down months so we get as much as we can get done now. When spring breaks the greenhouses will take up all of our time and I wont have time for all of these in depth cleaning chores and painting that I am getting done now. So since the weather again has forced us to stay inside the last few days I am now scrubbing carpets. I usually have my carpets professionally cleaned once a year and this year I will have that done mid May, in preparation for my youngest daughters graduation, from high school. I have a carpet cleaning machine of my own and I use that in between professional cleanings to keep the carpets looking good. Since we also have a new puppy in the house we have been potty training, I have been cleaning the carpets myself a little more often. I cleaned them right before Christmas so that they would be all clean before we started having guests over for the Holidays. Unfortunately the puppy wasn't 100% trained yet so he has had a few accidents since the last cleaning. (mind you I always spot clean where ever he has an accident as soon as it happens, but its just not the same as getting the steam cleaner out and going over the whole floor) I am happy to report though that the puppy has went almost 2 weeks now without any accidents so I am hopeful that we are past this part of his training stages. So I cleaned the carpets in the living room, office area, and 2 of the 3 bedrooms, yesterday. Today I will tackle the 3rd bedroom and the family room. Then all of my floors will be completely cleaned! Yahoooo!

I Love Etsy

2009-01-16T12:40:00.005-05:00

For those of you who don't know what ETSY is just click on my link to my Etsy store on this page. I am fairly new to Etsy ( 2 months) but the number of people that have come thru my store all ready, is great! I still have alot of Christmas related items listed for sale but I can custom make just about any kind of decorative item designed to a color scheme,design, season or holiday. Give me a holler if you are interested. I also have started listing some vintage/antique items at my store and am having very good luck. I just sold an antique typewriter yesterday! We have tried to sell these items locally with no luck but the Etsy store has opened my products up to a whole new market and has helped us to find buyers that are interested in these types of items. Head on over to Etsy and take a look around there are alot and I mean alot of cool items, that are hand made or vintage!!

FREEZING....

2009-01-16T11:47:00.002-05:00

Unbelievable at 7 am this morning the actual temperature was -17 and the windchill has been 20-30 below zero. They say we could break records here. Indiana gets cold but not usually this cold! All of the schools that I have heard about from the middle of the state clear North are closed. Alot of the colleges are still open though. My college freshman called me last night and she is freezing! The whole dorm building is frigid, the school tells them the heat system cant keep up with outside air temp. So the students are having to wear their jackets and gloves in the dorms and stay covered up with blankets to keep warm. Lots of hot chocolate is being drank too! She attends a very large and prominent college in the state and I cant believe they aren't doing anything for these kids. They were told that until the deep freeze breaks they cant do anything about this and it will be the earliest of Saturday before they can even start to look at the problem with the heating system. On top of that the main campus is a good hours walk from the dorms and the buses are so full that some kids are being forced to walk to class in these frigid temps! And the school wont add additional routes to help with the overflow. The college wont close unless the actual temp is neg 25. She tells me that the temp is neg 18 at noon but it never hit the magical neg 25 to shut classes down. I know, I know I am being an overly protective mother but nobody should be out walking around for an hour in those kind of temps. Luckily so far to day she has been able to get on a bus and is only walking from class to class on the main campus .My youngest daughter and I though are staying in all day! I am not a lover of winter and this just makes me want to pack it all up and move to a much warmer location. How about you???

Scrubbing hard!

2009-01-14T13:16:00.002-05:00

Since I completely painted both bathrooms last week and I washed all of the rugs and shower curtains and window curtains in the baths also. I decided to finish up today and make it so the bathrooms were 100% clean from top to bottom. The only thing left was the floors. I have tile floors in both bathrooms and while I love the tiles and the pattern , I hate the color of grout that was used. We bought this house just 3 years ago and we have slowly been remodeling and changing things. The tiles and grout were put in by the previous owners. The tiles are pretty shades of creams,tans and browns and have a rippled texture to make them look like marble or stone. Unfortunately they put in a very ,very light colored grout and it shows dirt quickly! I would have went with a tan color myself. Because the pattern/texture of the tiles is uneven the grout lays lower than the tiles and the dirt settles into the lower areas where the grout is and no matter how much I mop the grout gets stained and dirty over time. The mop flows over the top of the tiles and not down into the grout. I also have teenage daughters that help out with the housework but they don't like to put any more effort than necessary into the job and they wont really scrub the floors when they mop. ( Imagine that!) So every so often I have to get down on my hands and knees and spray the grout down with a bleach solution and scrub the heck out of it with a stiff bristle brush. Not fun!! So while my bathrooms are super clean now, the whole house smells like bleach. yuck!!! As I said before all of this snow and cold weather we have been having has given me the free time to get alot of much needed chores done! What yucky project can I come up with next??

the Gardens...

2009-01-13T14:02:00.002-05:00

Hi! for those of you that keep checking in to read about life at the greenhouses or gardening tips I promise as we get closer to spring I will be writing about that more often than not. Right now this is our very quite time as far as plants go and like alot of new businesses we are in deep thought about how to survive this recession and still be around a year or 2 from now. So many new businesses and even well established small businesses are going under and those that are still here, have went into survival mode and are re-looking at their business plans and scaling back just to survive and come out on the other side of this economy we are in now. So as we get closer to spring and we go thru the changes we will have to make this year I will share more. as our blog theme says we are trying to find the flowers amongst the thorns of life and right now there seems to be alot more thorns, to weed thru.

day of frustrations....

2009-01-13T12:41:00.004-05:00

Winter has its grips on us and will not let go. Another storm warning today and when it expires tonight we go under a blizzard advisory. They say another 2-4 inches may come tomorrow and another 1-3 inches the next day and don't forget to add in the very bitter cold temps, and wind chills! Looks like the weather is acting like the economy-- very difficult! On top of all of this I had to be in court again, this morning to deal with never ending problems of an ex who doesn't want to , doesn't like to, or a countless other reasons pay child support or his portion of the uninsured medical bills he is responsible for and he is forever behind! And I mean way behind, I have essentially raised my girls on my own. So we end up being in court alot and I have had to deal with the court system, judges, attorneys, child support enforcement offices, for a very long time. Its sad but as much as I would like to keep my girls young for a little while longer so I can enjoy them before they completely take off and start their own lives and make homes of their own, there is another part of me that cant wait until they reach the point (usually 21 or after 3-4 years of college) and I no longer have to deal with this and to me that is so sad that I have to think like that, but its been 17 years all ready and that is a very long time and Im tired. I realize that when they do reach that magical age we will still be dealing with a large dollar amount that he owes, but it wont be getting any larger after that point and I can hope the situation will resolve itself. This is one of those situations where I still have not fully seen the reason for why I have had bear this burden for so long but I still am positive that at some point in my life I will understand. I keep saying that at some point in my life if I were to ever come into a bunch of money I would pay off all of my own debts and get myself into a situation where I could help other single parents that Have had to deal with similar issues. I unfortunately and not necessarily from my wanting to, I have gained alot of knowledge over the last 17 years and if I could help other single parents that would be a blessing. I have gained alot of knowledge and have personal experience in areas that no single women should have to endure. My marriage was very abuse and I wish I could help other women who have had similar situations or are going thru what I have. Court days really reinforce that over and again, in my mind but as of yet I am still financially struggling to just take care of myself and my family and I am unable to do what I would like to do. Maybe this idea I have had in my head for so long isn't what I am meant to do and that's why it hasn't come to happen yet , and my mother tells me maybe I need to write a book about my life experiences and that would help other women, but that idea hasn't grabbed me yet and jumped out at me and said just do it. So today is a day full of self reflection and wishing I had made better/different choices early on in my life and I had never been with this man but then again I have to remind myself I have 3 beautiful girls and I wouldn't want, to have not had them as the are the best blessings in my life but as for the rest of the hardships Ive endured because of this man, Im still searching for a more positive reason as to why I am still having to deal with him. So the weather today and over the next few days, will match my mood. See the post below that I did initially on 1-7-09 and am just now putting out there.... What are your goals that for what ever reason are hanging around in your mind but life and its happenings haven't allowed them to materialize yet?

Cleaning tip....

2009-01-10T13:02:00.002-05:00

In my previous post I talked about washing my shower curtain. This is something that I have always done and if you have never tried it, please do, it will save time and money. No hand scrubbing and no smelly toxic shower chemicals that you have to spay on! I know alot of people just throw their shower curtain liners away when they get shampoo and soap build up on them and they start looking yucky, but that's not always necessary. You can wash your vinyl shower curtain, in your washing machine, in warm water with a couple of towels ( the towels help scrub it as it is washing) and normal laundry soap. Usually running it thru one wash cycle is all it takes, if it is extra dirty, you can do it twice. You can also wash it in hot water but I try to use only the warm water to save on the energy bill. Normally I only wash my clothes in cold water but the cold water just does not do well on the vinyl shower curtain, it needs the warm water to keep it pliable in the washer. It will be wrinkly when you take out of the washer and you can do one of 2 things from this point. Go hang it up immediately in the shower and let it air day ( the first time someone takes a nice hot shower all of the wrinkles will fall right out, of the vinyl curtain.) You can also put the curtain in the dryer on a very low heat setting and let it dry for a few minutes and I would suggest only a few minutes, as too hot of a dryer or too long in the dryer can cause some damage. I learned this tip years ago and it has saved me alot of money over the years and has also kept my cleanliness habit happy as a shower curtain can quickly get yucky. Please note, that if your curtain has holes or tears in it ,the washing machine will just make things worse, so this tip works best on shower curtains that are still in good condition and just need a good cleaning.

Making things pretty

2009-01-10T12:39:00.003-05:00

Snow, snow, and more snow, it doesn't seem like its going to end. Since we are pretty much stuck at home I have used the last few days to get some to do items, crossed off of my list. I also have a very bored college student at home that is sooooo bored she is begging for things to do and volunteered to help me get some painting done around here. All Right!!! She helped paint her sisters bedroom a week ago in very light shades of an aqua /teal color. My youngest daughter has always had a thing for teals and light blues. The bedroom turned out very pretty and really brightened her room up. So when my college age daughter came to me yesterday and said you know we still have time to get the 2 bathrooms done before I go back to school, I was ecstatic!. So my master bath was painted yesterday! We used a two tone approach when we painted this room and used shades of cream and a light cocoa brown and it turned out wonderfully. It brightened the room up and made the walls all fresh and clean again. I also washed my curtains, the shower curtains and the rugs in the bathroom as well, so spring cleaning a little early. I keep my home clean and am somewhat of a neat freak but no matter how hard you try to keep the bath walls clean, you always seem to end up with water streak marks on the walls that just wont wash off! So in the last year and a half we have painted the kitchen, the entrance way, 2 baths, all 3 bedrooms, now all that is left are the living room and family room. The family room is very large, so I wont attempt it until the spring/summer when it is warm enough to open the windows so that the paint fumes don't smell us out. I also am not sure what I want to do with that room yet, as far as a color. The bathrooms I wasn't worried about as they are fairly small and we turned on the vent fan and the paint fumes never got bad. The living room I could easily do in the winter yet and I just about have the color scheme worked out, but after tackling the bedroom and 2 baths I am just about painted out for now and may wait a bit, maybe even until spring before I start painting again. So being snowed in can be a good time to get those items on yur to do list done that you normally dont have time for. Now off to make cookies for my better half. He has been asking for me to make him some fresh chocolate chip cookies!

Crossroads....

2009-01-07T15:30:00.007-05:00

All of us at one time, or another in our lives have found ourselves standing at point where we know big changes are coming to our lives. Sometimes I don't even realize I have been at a crossroads in my life until I'm some ways down the path ( sometimes its months or years) and I will look back and realize the exact moment that led me to the moment I am in. Sometimes I have made good decisions and other times I look back and wonder If I had only just taken the other path, Life would have been so much easier! Other Crossroads I have arrived at with much difficulty and I have found myself standing at the crossroads knowing I must go forward and knowing with all certainty I Definitely cant go back, but yet just not sure which path to take. I find myself in that spot now and for some reason I can see that there are 3 paths ahead of me but I honestly don't know what I am supposed to do. 1 path of course will eventually find me down the road realizing I made a wrong turn and I will eventually find myself at another crossroads, trying to figure out how to make things better, the 2nd path will be the right path and the path in the middle will walk between the 2 options, giving me time to figure things out . Alot of people believe there is only right and wrong in the world, I believe there is gray as well, a middle ground that is a compromise. So that also describes my 3 paths that are lying in front of me. I realize that when I hit these moments in life, I don't have all of the answers and I'm just going to have to push forward and hope and trust in the future and hope I haven't misread the signs of my life that I am supposed to be following. So soon I will need to step off of this point, I am just standing on and have faith that everything will be ok, but for now I am just standing there waiting, to take that first step and hope that I will have made the right decision. I definitely have faith and hope in my heart but I am also an analytical person and I find that I don't like to do things, unless I am fairly very certain of the outcome, so I tend to be cautious and over think things and study and research like crazy until I feel ok about my decisions, but this cross roads is a puzzler . I don't believe I have all of the info I need yet so I will stand here awhile longer before I start the next trek down a new part of our lives.

Bookkeeping!

2009-01-07T15:13:00.003-05:00

I am happy to say that I have all of my info updated in quickbooks, as I had thought I had let things go further than I like. Mind you quickbooks is easy to work with, but if you let your receipts pile up, it can be a daunting issue to look at how high the pile is. I love just about anything to do with accounting so that's not the reason, I always fall behind, in my inputting, of my entries. Usually I do really well until the greenhouse is in full madhouse rush stage in the spring/early summer and then the receipts just start getting shoved into a file folder and I keep telling myself the next week will be better, I will get to them then. But as is normal we don't come up for air until late fall and by then the pile of receipts is so large that I just dread the thought of even starting on them, as I know it will be a full days work or more to get caught up. 6 hours today just sitting at the computer and sorting thru receipts and inputting them into the computer! Luckily nothing else was going on today with my better half or the kids and I was able to work straight thru without any interruptions, which is very, very rare. So now I just have to wait for the rest of our w-2's and other tax docs to arrive in the mail and we will be ready to go see the accountant. Hopefully that will bring good news and not a tax bill owing. Oh well, for now I will just dream about how great a refund would be. Are you dreaming of a tax refund too??

FAFSA's---WHEEEEWW its out of the way

2009-01-05T21:36:00.004-05:00

For those of you that have college students or high school seniors graduating this year and are planning on going off to college, you know its time to submit your FAFSA online. This makes the third year I have had to fill one out. I remember sitting in a college funding meeting with my oldest daughter 3 years ago and listening to the counselor talk about how long the process was and how hard it could be to fill out the Fafsa, I also had several parents tell me how horrible it was and I had myself all set up to believe this was going to be an absolutely teeth pulling horrifying ordeal!!! I am thankful to say and can put your minds at ease, it was no where near as bad as I had thought it was going to be. Each year that I have had to do one it has gotten easier and faster. The system is very user friendly and hallelujah it saves info in it from one year to the next, all you have to do is review the application and make updates were needed. Since this is the first year that I have 2 girls going to college next year it carries information over from one application to the next making the second childs FAFSA soooooo easy to do. I always like to get the Fafsa done as early as is possible as I believe the earlier you get your financial aid requests in the better shot you have of getting approved early and for more options. So if you have a child going off, to college next fall, jump in and get your fafsa done, its really not that bad.

Managing Monday.....

2009-01-05T16:16:00.002-05:00

As the new year gets underway I find myself getting ready for tax time. The first tax docs arrived in the mail today, so I will start to set aside all of the docs, we will need for the accountant in a separate file. Hard to believe its that time of year all ready but hopefully the tax man will be kind to all of us, and we will get a much needed refund check!! I consider myself to be a very organized person but every year at this time I find myself looking at our quickbooks and realizing I have a whole day of inputting to get the records caught up for the end of year. Again another goal for this year input deposits and receipts as I get them, That way I dont end up with a mad dash in January to wrap up the previous years books. Its just so darn easy to think I will do it tomorrow and then things just keep coming up and the next thing you know several weeks have slipped away somehow and you are behind. We will definitely work on this, this year.

January settles in

2009-01-05T16:08:00.004-05:00

The Holidays are over and now we turn to the long days of winter. Hopefully they wont be too long and spring will be upon us soon. Being new to the blog scene I am having a hard time getting myself into the habit of blogging every day, that and getting over the second guessing of what to write about and thinking no one will want to read about that. So while this may seem like a small goal to some, I have got to set time aside to write at least every other day. I really want to get moving in the Wahm world, so any tips you have would be great! I would really like to earn a few hundred dollars a month to help supplement the household. I'm just struggling at figuring out how to get myself to that point where I can earn some cash and trying to figure out what opportunities are legit. All feed back is greatly appreciated!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-01T17:59:00.002-05:00

2009.... What do you think the New Year will bring us? I'm not sure yet but I am glad that 08 is over and that we have a fresh slate to start with. We spent New Years eve at our neighbors home along with 5 other couples. We had lots of fun and had lots of time to talk to friends and catch up. The happiness of the group was catching and made us all hope for a brighter year to come. Today myself and the rest of the family took down the Christmas tree and all of the other decorations, then we dusted and swept the whole house, So Christmas festiveness is gone. I always hate taking it all down as the house looks bare when it first gets put away. My mother has always had this belief ever since I can remember that its bad luck to have your Christmas tree still up on New Years eve. Apparently there is some type of superstition that if you still have the Christmas tree and decorations up on New Years eve you will also carry any bad Carma from the old year in to the New Year. Have you ever heard of this?? I have always left my decorations up until at least January 1 and sometimes a few days after that just depending on what entertaining we have yet to do. usually I think nothing of this superstition but this year it has been in mind as I don't want to carry any negativity into the new year! How did you spend your day??

A New year is coming ....

2008-12-30T12:16:00.003-05:00

Like so many others that I talk to, this past year has been hard on so many families. We are amongst those ranks, just when we think nothing else could possibly go wrong it does, and usually in a big way. And its those continual problems in life that tend to bring you down and question your faith. As the new year approaches I look forward with hope that things will settle down financially not just for our own family but for everyones. I try to always find the positive in everything and believe that everything happens for a reason and has a greater purpose, that we don't always see right away, but we have been tried sorely this year and I keep wondering if I am missing something and not seeing the signs that we need to follow to find a better way for our family, so that we don't have to struggle so much. So as the new year approaches I am hopeful that things can only get better and I will try to look for the bright spots and thank god for what I do have and be blessed with my family that I truly Love and try not to dwell on the hardships or be fearful of new struggles. So OUT with the OLD year and in with the NEW and I will be praying for all of us to have a better 2009. So join me as I continue to find the flowers amongst the thorns of life......

The meaning of Love....

2008-12-27T18:28:00.002-05:00

Like so many other families the economy's hardships has put a strain on our budget this year and Christmas funds were very limited. My fiance and I had agreed to not get each other anything and make sure we at least got gifts for the 2 grand babies. It was hard explaining to my 3 girls and stepson that for the first time ever we were short on cash for Christmas and that family togetherness and special meals was going to be a huge part of our Christmas time this year. They have all been very understanding and are all of an age to understand that the whole world is struggling financially this year. My fiance though, bless his heart sold his scuba gear to get me a gift anyway. He didn't use the scuba gear much and had talked about selling it but had never been able to do anything with it. So he decided that this was the time and he wanted to give me a Christmas present even though he didn't have the spare cash this year. So he sold something that he really didn't need to have, to be able to give me a gift. His gift, ( which I absolutely love) isn't as important as the special meaning of what he did to make sure he could bring a smile to my face for Christmas. Was your Christmas special too???

The Ice is Melting......

2008-12-27T18:22:00.003-05:00

Last night my daughter and my fiance went out and chipped away at the large amounts of ice that had build up on our sidewalk. They were out there for hours chipping away. We wanted to at least get the sidewalk cleared off so that we didn't have any of our company falling down on the ice when they arrived this morning. I cant believe how much ice we have had this year all ready and winter really has just begun. What is January and February to bring us?? Today has been a totally different story, the ice and snow started melting rapidly this afternoon due to the almost 60 degree temps, who can figure this crazy weather out??? As soon as New Years is over my heart will start yearning for Spring in a big way. a winter person I am not and this year has been very hard all ready.

Christmas get togethers...

2008-12-27T18:12:00.002-05:00

Our final Christmas get together was today. My parents and my brother and his wife and my nephew came over today, from Ohio. I made the traditional roast turkey and ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet corn, green beans with bacon and onions, rolls, relish plates, cheese ball and pies and cookies and on and on, OH My! We all ate too much and had fun catching up with each other. Now everyone is just wanting to lay around and watch tv and feel miserable in a good way! We have lots of leftovers for the next few days and put alot of meat in the freezer for future use. The holidays are just about over, one last final hurrah for New Years and the holidays will be over. I always regret the holidays coming to an end and having to take down all of the decorations. It is so nice to see family and friends that you just don't see often enough thru out the year. How about you?

Christmas Eve!!

2008-12-24T16:52:00.003-05:00

Christmas eve will be just me, my fiance and 2 of my 3 girls. My oldest daughter lives in Ca. So I only get to see her about once a year. So I am missing her alot especially at this time of year. So it will be a family night with a nice pork chop dinner and family time. The girls have asked to make it board game night as well, so I am sure we will have some fun playing games. Tomorrow we will open our gifts to each other here at home and then head to my finace's sons home to see our 2 grandbabies and spend the day with them. They are planning on having a nice turkey dinner and we will bring the desserts and plates of cookies and candies. So we are all looking forward to the next few days and the time spent with family. I hope you enjoy your holidays and time with your families as well. Merry Christmas!

Seed catalogs!!!

2008-12-24T16:39:00.002-05:00

This time of the year not a whole lot happens in the greenhouses except dreaming for warm weather again! Its a little depressing to see 4 empty greenhouses covered in a blanket of snow and ice. I miss the colors and scents of all of the vivid flowers and the constant commotion that a greenhouse business brings. This time of the year about all we can do is make plans for the layout of of the plants on the benches and go over inventory lists and go thru the piles and piles of see and plug catalogs that come in this time of year. Its lots of fun to go thru all of the books and see all of the colors and plant options. It can almost be overwhelming at first when all of these catalogs start coming as they are just so many!! We look thru all of them and then sort them out by price, quality and selection and start weeding them out from there. Normally we buy plugs for all of our flowers and only plant seeds for vegetable plants, but this year we are going to be planting more from seed. It will be more work but the cost will save us alot in the long run. With the economy the way it is this year we, like all growers are having to re-review all aspects of our business. So this will be another learning year.

Totally Tuesday!

2008-12-23T16:09:00.002-05:00

Hey! Today has been a day that has totally included a little bit of everything. Last minute madness before the holidays and also trying to get everything done before the next round of bad weather strikes. My middle daughter is home from College, so its a fuller house for awhile, which is great!! But while she is home we are squeezing in Doctor checkups today and final Christmas shopping. The shopping is officially done, yeah!!! We didnt have anywhere near as much to do this year as like everyone else, the economy is cutting our budgets way back, but thats ok as Christmas is about family and we are definitely blessed this year with our kids and grandkids. My stepson gave us a new bundle of joy just 10 days ago! So we have much to be thankful for this year, even though the economy has hurt so many of us. While this is a new blog I ask you to bear with me while I get this up and running and please know it will grow and change as I adjust it, to get it going in the direction that I want. When the holiday season is over I will concentrate more on our nursery/greenhouse.

Seasons Greetings

2008-12-22T16:11:00.004-05:00

Hi and welcome to my new blog! Hopefully you'll enjoy what you read and maybe even learn a thing or two about gardening or life in general. I also dabble in arts and crafts so I'll be adding pictures and links to my etsy shop later on.