A Wing and A Prayer, A Sigh and A Care

I'm just gonna jump right in today. My husband just called me to say gas prices went up. Now, normally that wouldn't warrant a whole text message, much less a call. I'm used to seeing the prices vary by week by about 2 or 3 cents. Aren't you? Well how about this whopper! Read it and weep. Gas prices went up a whole 26 cents. Yes. You did not read that incorrectly. Our gas prices rose 26 cents. With my husband having to drive 45 minutes or more to work every day and then again to get back home, this could be the beginning of the end for us. We just recently decided to opt out of the food stamp program b/c we felt we could perhaps make it on our own. Our own government is trying desperately to push us back into the system of handouts on a maybe. You heard correctly again! There isn't even a problem yet! They're raising prices on the /possibility/ of things going completely nuts. So our government is basically saying, "Let's stick it to the poor souls who still have jobs during this time of greater unemployment. Let's see how many more we can drive out of jobs because they can't make it in to work. Oh and while we're at it, let's continue to waste our own natural resources because the sky is blue." Yeah, folks, it makes about that much sense.

So somehow, I have to figure out a way for us to earn more income. We had to drop our dental coverage because it was costing us more than we spent in dental visits per year. You read /that/ right, too. It was a good policy but come on! Spending more to keep it than we did to use it was just a little upside down, if you ask me. Now we're going out of pocket on that but at the time, we thought we'd be able to take care of the normal visits on our own, albeit one person at a time. Oh, well, maybe I should just go to dental tech school. Back to the matter at hand, I guess I better go apply for my business license. I'll be putting stuff up on Etsy if I am able to get that license and I'll post here to notify folks when everything is a go. I might eventually put things up on Artfire if I make enough money through Etsy to cover the monthly fee for premium that Artfire charges. I really need to figure something out. I must. In this nasty economy we have, with a group of money-grubbers at the wheel who could care less about anyone but themselves, well, you have to ask yourself what is going to give next?

I'm so thankful we live in the country. I hope our garden does well this year. We're going to need those veggies. I refuse to pay $2 for second rate lettuce. And at Wal-mart, to boot! I am just so amazed that people will buy that nasty iceberg lettuce for that price. It's a sad day when iceburg lettuce costs more than romaine. Wow. Just wow. I really hope that my milk price doesn't go up. Otherwise, we will be buying a cow...or borrowing one. I won't be able to buy milk if the price goes up. And I can't risk the health of my children by buying second rate milk, either. So, what a conundrum!

So now we need to figure out how to spend money in the best way. The grocery items we purchase rarely, if ever, offer coupons. I've gotten to the point where a coupon being offered to me usually causes me to suspect the item of some kind of nefarious ingredient or chemical. So I'm watching instead for sales. Wal-mart is no longer a guarantee for the lowest price in town, though they still do the price-matching. And if they have a lower price on anything, it's usually for their clothing or for their brand of grocery items. I never shop for clothing at Wal-mart. I usually hit the outlet or bargain stores for that and only at the direst need. I can sew. :) I guess we'll be staying close to home and trimming our eating habits down to bare minimums. I wonder how many others will be having to do the same. You can pretty much bank on it that the politicians will not be among us. And for the record, I'm all about the billionaire who made his money legally being able to keep that money that he earned. He shouldn't have to pay for my kids to get their teeth cleaned. I just want us to have an opportunity to be able to hold a decent job that pays for what we need. I don't want a handout. I'd rather have the opportunity to succeed at something. But it looks like it's going to be very hard to even do that for now.

Remember to breathe.

Whee! Here we go!

Ah, it has been very good these last few weeks. We started school on the 9th and things have been going fairly well. I can hardly believe we've gotten three weeks done! At least, the girls have gotten 3 weeks in. Our son started yesterday and it was so nice to see him start with a smile on his face. I'm so glad we decided to use the college books his father kept. Those will definitely challenge him. I think that's exactly what he needed. He told me today that he likes his new books. I could hardly believe it! And my youngest is reading (READING) this year! I'm so glad that I didn't push her too fast. She's really enjoying it. So overall, the first few weeks of school get an A. :)

On the crafting front, I haven't been up to much of anything. I did manage to scrapbook the children's play and part of the photos from the first play we did back in the spring. I don't have an album yet but the pages are looking fun and creative.

We are coming to my favorite time of year. I love the autumn months. No matter where I am, things just seem lighter and full of hope. It could be that most of the fun holidays are coming up. It could be that the autumn colors are my favorite colors. I really don't know what exactly causes it to be so. It just is. Where we live, we don't see much 'fall color' in our trees. The air changes, though, and it becomes cooler, much like a breath of fresh air that blows away the heat and humidity. Having said that, I /hate/ Louisiana winters. They are wet, cold and generally nasty. There isn't much playing outside that goes on during the Louisiana winter.

Our Redwall Feast will be coming up soon and I just love preparing for it. I can't wait to plan and send out invitations! Should be lots of fun since we have new people to invite this year.

I have several costumes to make. Last year, theShi asked me to make her a San costume (the heroine from the movie Princess Mononoke). I've been gathering the materials to make it for some time but it's coming together...slowly. LOL TheRo asked me for a Merle costume (from the anime Escaflowne) and that one should be a bit easier. We'll see. This month, I'm going to try to get some of the few things I have to buy to complete it. Thankfully, I have almost everything I'll need. My one worry is 'fur'. That kind of material is usually pricey and I'll probably need about 2 yards, if not more. We shall indeed see...

On the garden front, our citrus trees are producing pretty well. In a few months, we should have pink grapefruits, lemons and oranges and probably in amounts that will be too bountiful for our needs. I think the people of the church will probably be blessed with some. I'm looking forward to fermenting the lemons and I hope to make some orange marmalade and some grapefruit jelly. Our efforts with last year's crop yielded some very pleasing results!

Well, I guess that's enough for now. I really am trying to get better about posting more often. I don't worry too much about doing 'extra' stuff on a regular basis. I'd much rather get into the habit of doing the necessary things on a regular basis...like dusting and mopping... Well, we do what we can. Talk to y'all soon! Laugh a Lot!

Plants Planted

My bulb garden, my hydrangeas and my butterfly/hummingbird garden are all planted. The mosquitoes tried to eat us alive while we planted the last one but we got it done. All that's left is to edge and mulch and put in the pebble pathway. Yea! Short one tonight because it's so late.

Another Day, Another Procrastination...

Well, here's hoping tomorrow will see the finishing of my mosaic table top and tray. I finally finished the grouting today but it's such a large project, I couldn't finish entirely. I sincerely hope I haven't ruined it b/c it really looks like it will be a neat item to add to my front porch. The tray looks pretty cool too. I think I'm going to go for a Mediterranean feel with the decor. I guess we'll have to see.

My husband cooked an awesome meal of beef stew tonight. I'm so thankful to him since I spent most of the sweltering afternoon outside working on the grout for the aforementioned projects. He's such a great guy! What in the world I ever did to deserve, I may never know.

Tomorrow for sure, I'm planting my bulb garden. I may also be planting the hydrangea bushes but I have to determine location before we can actually plant the things! My hummingbird and butterfly garden collection is on the way and I can't wait to see everything come together.

Well, that's all for now. I'm plum beat...or is that "plumb beat"? Whatever...I'm tired! Goodnight all. Remember to breathe. Laugh a lot!

Sweet! Loving my iGoogle!

I just love all these gadgets for iGoogle. They are so much fun when they work. I tried to get Lava Lamp to run and it never would. Playlist was pretty cool. Took it off because it automatically plays when you load your page. That's not such a great thing when the kids are still asleep! I love being able to catch a glimpse of what is in my email inbox and what my Twitter friends have to say. Too cool!

Today was also good because I was able to go shopping for a bathroom floor! Finally! Solid wood to stand on will be so nice. I can't wait to see the finished product. So even though I didn't get to work in my garden plots today, something good did happen.

I'm so excited about having a garden again. There's just something about helping (or in my case, trying to help) something grow. I eagerly await the green leaves and colorful blooms. I'm hoping I can really do this garden up well. Lots of pretty accents and classic touches could be in the future. I would so love to add this great solar light I found on Target.com. It's a gargoyle holding a glowing torch! Then there is a green lady statuette that's super fab. They would be excellent additions to my garden but for the price! Ouch! I'll be looking for them in other locations and hopefully finding a better deal somewhere else. I won't be holding my breath too long, though.

My kids have been enjoying the sun lately. They are all turning this lovely shade of golden brown from playing outside so much. Thank goodness for Avon Bug-n-Sun! At least with that stuff you get what you need for a hot, humid summer.

Well, I guess it's time to sign out. I need (yes, NEED) to watch some classic Jonny Quest with my kids before sending them off to dreamland.