Before and Afters (the frugal way)

This is a truck that we got for $1 from my brother-in-law a few years ago. The truck is not registered, insured and at the present time it doesn't even run. As you can see it never made it down to the Christmas Tree recycle center. I read in article that pine needles are good for acidic loving plants. I'm all about helping the earth without chemicals. Once the green pine needles were cut and put around my plants I was left only with the xmas tree (most of that was pine branches that fell off in a storm)


Now that truck. I hate it. I'm looking to sell it for $100+. I would like $500 but at this point I just want it off our property. Nothing screams "redneck" like a broken down Ford truck that hasn't moved in close to 2 years. Thankfully we don't have any blocks to put it on and my husband has this thing about a nice yard so it stays in the driveway. Whew.

This is an OLD, rusted out milk container.


Behold! The wonders of spray paint, a left over plastic serving dish someone left at my house and a little imagination.


It's a bird bath!
Cost for above. $2.19 for blue paint. $5 for those marbles and starfish at the craft store. All the rest was recycling and me.

Landscaping

I spent the entire day Monday tending to the adult AND the children's garden. (along with composting, dandelion pulling etc and etc) I ended up with a splitting migraine by 5 pm. Right now the garden plots look pretty damn good if I say so myself. We aren't planting any cold weather veggies (carrots, asparagus to name a few) so my work there is done for awhile. Now I'm onto creating a gravel path. A small gravel path. A small gravel path that I will do all by myself. I've gotton several different directions on how to do it and I plan to start on Thursday or Friday of this week. The first path is only going to be about 10 ft. If that works out this year I will do another one from my driveway to the patio. Currently we have these horrible stepping stones/blocks which I ahbore.

I stress that I'm doing it myself because I want:
it done right
not done half assed
not done on the cheap
I want to learn something instead of depending on others.
If I left it up to my husband i would have to nag him about it all summer. I'm also going to learn how to do crown molding. Same reasons as above.

No power walking or running so far this week because of the rain. On a good note, I'm back to my morning oatmeal instead of those breakfast bars. I'm also drinking lots of water. Little steps here and there and I should be back to "happy me" in no time.

Slug

Last Saturday night my husband and I went out for date night. Dinner, drinks and conversation. Nice. When we got home I felt like vomiting. I'm pretty sure it was the sauce that the veal was cooked in. This bout of sickness made my husband mad. Seems he couldn't get a little something. (it had been "like" five (5) days!) Things like that make him not so nice. Not violent or verbal abuse, just not nice. When we got to bed he rattled off the following:

1. I am a slug
2. I don't do anything with the children (see #1)
3. I don't go to church, people think he's divorced, it's a very bad example for the children.

Ok so lets look at the above.

1. slug. Yes I will agree. I've had a bout of depression. I have no job, no income, we are broke and I have absolutely no time to myself. My father (who I love dearly) is here from 7:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the evening watching tv, reading the paper or laying on my couch. I on the other hand am either on the PC (job searching) watching tv in the basement, cleaning, doing wash or moving furniture around because I don't want to watch CNN, FOX or MSNBC. At night (after making dinner...never mac & cheese or sandwhiches) I want to watch MY TV shows. Sorry!

2. Ummm, who takes our daughter to swim team practice 3x a week? Who goes to her meets? Who takes mother/daughter days? Who plays games with them? Who takes Tommy to baseball? Who is with David 24/7? Yes my husband is a Scout den leader so he does a lot more with T. He does the homework with the kids. (I do not get new math!) Yes he takes them on a 2 hour hike maybe 1x a month (i've been on those hikes) Fuck you.

3. Catholic church? I am not devout like my husband. I have some serious issues with the pedophilia scandal. Did you know the Vatican knew about this problem in the early 50's? Huh? They did NOTHING about it! Why the hell can't priests marry? They used to be able to. Our priest is BORING, old and ... well...I'd rather visit my OBGYN for that hour then pretend to listen to him. I do love the church. More for reflection and spirituality....not the stand up, sit down, kneel, repeat.

Well he got a little something the next morning and all is well. Such a simple man.

Now the little verbal talk has made me be less depressed or just woke me up from it. I've walked/run with the dog 3+ miles. (more than once mind you) Power walked on my own, finished tending the soil in the garden (with the compost I MADE...so much for slug) Created a small "grotto" among some tree/bushes for the children. (that took hours of saws, clippers and an axe just to get started!) I taught my youngest (4!) how to ride a two wheeler today (which involved a lot of running just to keep up) Actually that took 5 seconds. He just did it! Crazy.

Today I went for my power walk with the dog. My husband (in bed) asked me to bring him the paper. I told him that was awful slugish of him not to to be able to get the paper. He then asked for a bj. I told him that would be awful sluggish of me to do that when I would be much less of slug if I took the dog on a 3 mile jog.

I think he is regretting the slug comment. Funny, I'm not done using it.

what the?

Ok, sure I live North of the Mason-Dixon line....but snow in April?

I finished applying for unemployment. Now it's a wait and see. I think my former employer will deny my claim. (even though they told others that they won't) I have 21 days to find out if there will be a hearing. I will be bringing a lawyer to the hearing if there is one. Thankfully my husband knows lots of lawyers and police officers. The wording of my termination letter is why I think they will deny me benefits. Though, there is nothing in writing to back that up. I seem to be very pessimistic lately. I blame CNN.

I saved $8 today at walmart and $16 last week at our local grocery store. I'm huge into store brands and coupons now. I think others are also. I went to buy a coupon holder and there were only two (2) left. Consumer reports has an awesome article on how to save at the grocery store. I highly reccomend it.

At what age can I stop doing Easter baskets? This year it's going to be an Easter bag if I can't locate the baskets. (somewhere in the basement) Candy wise it's a hollow bunny, jelly beans and marshmellow eggs. I'm putting an unfinished birdhouse in each basket with paint, brushes and also a small lego set for the boys and an anklet for my daughter. I am really done with candy in the house.

My children aren't quite getting that our money situation has changed drastically. We had kids over during the week and they were passing out juice boxes and snacks like it was nothing. Actually one child reached high up to get to our snacks. Her mom claims she eats super healthy and doesn't understand why she is overweight. The fault might lie in our house. Last time she slept over she ate all the chocolate chip pancakes because she was the guest. She poured herself a very large glass of apple juice also. More than my children drink in a day. The motorized scooter her parents bought doesn't help with weight loss either. I'm keeping my mouth shut on the above.

misc updates

The playset has been moved! It's not totally up yet, but that'll come this week.

The garden is 75% ready for planting. Just need to add our compost and some finishing (tilling) touches and I'm ready to plant.

I went to unemployment this morning. There were currently 1,500 people ahead of me. That is not a made-up number. They were on J83. I pulled A77.

I feel like a slug. Hopefully that will change.

I tried to quit my Y membership. They want to put me on the financial aid plan. I left and will return this week to officially quit. Even the financial aid plan won't work.

I have finished moving furniture around. I've done all I can in that department.

I am actually looking forward toward spring. Summer....eh no. I'm starting to crave sunshine (with BIG white clouds!) This is a first in many years. I think it's the gardening bug that has grabbed me.