Loving Home

to be gone for so long.  I have been working a lot, then sick, and finally this past Saturday my daughter got married.  She gave us three weeks notice to have a church wedding.  I did it though and she looked beautiful.  The groom didn't get into town until 7 am Saturday morning so we were praying really hard.  :) As soon as I have a pic I will post it.

Tonight I paid off 2 medical bills, Kay Jewelers and our Visa.  This frees up $80 a month to roll into our next bill on this list.  So far this summer I have paid off .... $1,751.37.  Wonderful !!!!!  We are down to 8 debts not counting the house.  We started with 14 !!!

I got the Dress Barn account paid in full  !!!!!!!!!  However,  dd is moving into her own place and needed some help so the medical bill will have to wait.  Oh well.

Recently I sat down with our bills and wrote out all, and I mean ALL, of our debt.  I had to start crying when I added it up.  Why, oh why, have we let it get this out of control? We are just under $78,000 in debt before the house.  After sitting down with dh we are starting to formulate a plan of attack.  So, here is what we have done so far ..... Got a settlement from a car accident we were in last year -  paid off Ginny's bill and A-1 Cash in full, paid the repairman who fixed our dryer,  got both car payments caught up and bought me a new sewing machine as mine was on its last leg.  We also gave dd $800 to help fix her car.  We have some repairs around the house the we have to do and the garden was planted.   $663.00 off of our debt. We are looking at cashing in our annuity.  If we are able to we plan to use it .....  to pay off both annuity loans we have taken out, saving almost $203 a month, Wells Fargo (for our  ...

I know everywhere seems to be having crazy weather this year.  Just a few weeks ago we had frost that killed some of my veggie plants and now we have had 90 degree temps for two days now.  Today is suppose to be close to it.  This is crazy !!!  My broccoli is starting to bolt because it is too hot out.   So sad :(  I was looking forward to a good crop this year. However,  I am excited that the farmer's market opens tomorrow for this year.  I love going to the market.  We are blessed to have one that opens Tuesday and Friday morning from May thru November and then on the square on Saturdays starting in June thru Oct.

The news last night said it was going to be cold today.  So we went out and covered our garden and our young peach tree and prayed for the best.  Woke up today to flurries !!!  Wow, hopefully our plants will survive.  I am more worried about our peach tree really.  It has buds on it.  It is beautiful to look at but at this point I am ready for spring.  Easter is a month away.  Come on warmer weather, it is time to take control.

While I was out of town this past weekend my dh and dd went to the garden center and purchase plants for our spring garden.  They got 12 broccoli plants, 8 cauliflower plants, 2 kohlrabi plants,  4 purple cabbage and 4 green cabbage.  They also bought snow pea plants and some radish seeds.  I would normally plant kale but we have a lot in our freezer still.  He has asked me to think about what else I want in the spring garden and I can't think of anything else. What are you planting in your spring garden?  He is building me at least one more raised beds maybe two.  I can't wait.  To keep our food budget down we need to have a productive garden.

I was blessed this weekend to attend our Ladies Retreat.  Actually, I was cooking for it but I still got to participate and hear most of the talks.  The topic was "Finding Our Place" in the kingdom.  Talking about finding a ministry or area that we can plug into.  They were talking mainly about homeless women and those who are recovering from addiction and pregnant.  They were really interesting talks. Our craft project for the weekend were quilt blocks.  They had chosen pink and purple fabric and we could pick any design we wanted.  I made two blocks as I was one of four who could sew ~ one was a maple leaf block and the other one was called "Railroad ties".  I really enjoyed planning, cutting and sewing it, It was a wonderful weekend but back to reality it is.  I need to plan menus for the week ......

The snow bubble over of area of Tennessee has finally burst !!  Monday morning we finally got snow.  It had started as ice and sleet Sunday night then changed over.  My husband, who is a teacher, is still home on snow days three days later.  The most northern part of the county he works in still has ice on the roads.  Hopefully tomorrow he will be back to work.  His classroom animals I am sure are hungry.  :) We had everyone home on Monday, all five of us, and the kitchen took a beating.  ~smile~  Tuesday I work for five hours and then today again all of us were home.  My dd has started her new job and she is working from home now.  Her training started on Monday.  She will have six weeks of training.  It will be home April 11. Last night my dh and I met with our elders from church so dinner was a fend for yourself affair.  Tonight we are going to have the chicken that I had originally planned for last night. ...

This was a busy day.  I was able to attend church after three weeks.  It was wonderful to see everyone again.  Sunday school was a small class but we were excited for one of our members as her daughter was in labor with her first child.  Worship was wonderful and I really missed the singing. After church, my daughter and her fiancé met me and took me out for lunch at Olive Garden.  Wonderful meal !!!!  Then my dd and I went to the Pink Bride Bridal Fair.  It is the second time that we have attend one and there were not as many vendors as last year.  Her wedding is five months away and we have done very little planning.  We have a deal that her father and I are not putting a penny towards the wedding until they get some pre-martial counseling.  We are still waiting for it to happen.  :(   She keeps making plans so that when they finally get some done we can start putting things in place.  So far we have reserved the venue...

The weather in middle Tennessee has been crazy this winter so far.  We have had everything but snow.  The snow gets to a county or two west of us then parts and goes around us.  Our county must have a snow bubble around it.  Then last night we had tornadoes around us also.  Now our county has had the most tornadoes in Middle Tennessee in the past forty years so we take warnings very seriously.  Don't get me wrong, we have had cold weather, very cold weather.  Just not the precipitation that you would normal think of in winter.  I have just wanted one snow this winter that is it,  is that too much to ask?  In middle Tennessee it seems to be. Now I can't wait to get into our raised beds to prepare for our spring garden.  I hope to plant cabbage, broccoli, peas, kale and cauliflower.  I might plant more if I get all the beds readied in time.