Homeschool Planning Blog Post

I found this great blog today I would like to share with you "Fun In The Sun"! The gal is organizing her school year (Like most of us) and she posted her step by step instructions on her Homeschool Planning & how she goes about it which I thought was great. I think that is why our day is a bit jumbled here and there I don't spend enough prep time getting each subject ready before hand knowing exactly what I want done, most times we wing it!

Making It Harder Then It needs To Be.....

I sure think sometimes I make life harder then it needs to be! I had my stomach in knots over the fact my vet office was not going to let me charge my puppies vet bills.... I just felt shafted and hurt that even though I have done business with them for over 6 years (I go alot more times then the normal dog owner, sometimes twice a week for a month straight) they told me no more charging. Well I kept turning it over and over and then I finally called the owner today (He is the main vet who started the business) and explained the problem to him and he said "No Problem"! That simple. He said he understood how I ran my business and needed credit till the pups were sold and not to sweat it he would contact the girls in the office and tell them to allow me to charge. I can not tell you how much better I feel! I was soooo worried on how I would be able to afford to stay in business if I couldn't charge my vet bills. It's funny how I let meself worry and fret over this for days and if I would have just called him right off the bat I would have saved myself so much worry.
Just making life harder then it needs to be : )

The Days Happenings.....

Good Morning All!

The kids and I did make it down to the Super Target yesterday, I was not impressed at all. I agree with Freakmom the prices are not low by any means : ( They did have great sales on back to school suppiles - but of course I didn't have any extra money for that. We walked around and even the clothes for Kelly which I normally die for just didn't seem eye catching at all. Looking at all the items it still looks like Walmart is cheaper, but like Freakmom says I will keep an eye out for the sales.
We also walked around PetsMart, It is the smallest PetsMart I have ever seen. It is set up more like a Petco, loaded with food choices and few pets.
One of the best things about the outing was watching my son with his first paycheck - He scrutinized over each purchase looking for the cheapest price possible : ) He knows he needs to save gas money for the week so he was very careful.

In yesterday's mail I got a letter from our electric company explaining the up-coming "dramtic increases to our electric bills" that will take affect in Aug.for all FPL users - Yikes! You know when they say that you are in trouble.... I need to buckle down on our electric use! It is just so hot here I can't imagine using the airconditioner less but it may come to that.

On a sad note:
My cousin passed away yesterday he was only in his early 50's! He was an extreamly artistic person who seemed to be trapped his whole life by having to be "normal", He had great joys and terrible troubles through out his life and I hope and pray that he is at peace now. His artisic sweet sole he will be missed : (

Target & Cardinals.....

My baby cardinals are gone! The nest is empty. I looked up on the internet and they said they will leave the nest around 9 days old. I sure hope that was it and not a snake or something else. I mention the snake because my son found one on the side of the house by the nest which had a frog in it's mouth. It was so sad to see the look on the frogs face, I tried to assist him but the snake raced under our house before I could help : (

The new Super Target opened up yesterday in town - Does anyone do their shopping there? Do they have good prices on food? It will be alot closer for me then having to go all the way to Walmart. The kids and I age going down today to look around and pick something up for dinner we don't have anything left (I have to use the money I set aside for Kelly's school re-enrollment - Yikes). Anyway, I am looking forward to getting out of the house.

I signed up for an e-mail each morning from Joel Osteen I find it helps to up lift the day a bit for me.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day today : )

Cardinal Babies....

We have a cardinal nest in one of our trees in our backyard! This picture I found on yahoo looks just like the family that lives in the tree : ) I wish I could get an actual picture of them, but they are just up to high in the tree for us to get a picture of them. It is just the cutest when the mom or dad comes back to the nest and feeds the babies.... they stick their little necks out and churp - Just too cute! Kelly & I have been watching them while we swim in the pool, We stay very quiet and the mom & dad fly in and out numerous times. I told her we need to take her camera when we are out there to get some shots but she is worried we will get the camera wet. The parents seem to very attentive of the babies, My son walked over to look at the nest and the dad started churping to the mom that they might have trouble. I have to wonder if they will get aggressive with us since we go in and out the back door often with the dogs and their nest is right there.... Anyway, It sure was a great pick me upper finding this nest - Nature sure is beautiful!

Homeschooling On No Budget.... Is It Fair.....

Now that the new school year is about to begin (I told Kelly Aug. 4th. sounds good - Our local public school starts the 10th). I have been getting a number of brochures in the mail, all the internet homeschooling groups activities revlolves around buying and selling curriculum ect. as I mentioned I sold some of our past books to use that money to buy some new ones for this year, that worked okay but I needed to use most of that money for food/bills. I have had to face facts - I have no budget for homeschooling! This year the computer is going to be my only source for teaching supplies (as long as we can still pay the internet bill). I have a few books that I already have that we will use but other then that, there will be no new books, no trips even the little ones to the park may be an issue with gas prices, no experiments other then stuff I have on hand, no special activities like horse back riding lessons or lessons of any kind, No homeschool outings with our local homeschooling groups, lets face it we can't do anything that will require us to leave the house or needs special items to do..... I have to wonder if this is really fair for Kelly? Has anyone had a year where they homeschooled with no budget? I would love to hear how you made it exciting for the child? Please e-mail me at justme32110@yahoo.com I'd love to hear your stories...

Frugal Living - Where To Cut Costs

In my quest to find ways to lower our bills, I found this neat blog: Days To Come... she has written about a number of interesting ideas.

With FPL (our electric company) receiving the okay to raise our rates I think it will be our biggest problem area... Our last bill was $208.00 (I really tried to conserve too). In Aug. they will be raising the rates, Plus our usage has gone WAY UP it has been so darn hot here that the aircondtioner has been purring pretty much day and night. I was thinking if we keep taking dips into the pool to cool off maybe we wouldn't have to use the AC as much (but for sure it will be very hot for the dogs...). I have really curbed my use of the dryer, Kelly & I reuse clothes if they are not to dirty so I haven't had to run the washer or dryer very much just for my husbands & sons clothes.

We don't have cell phones (my husband does have one of those pre-paid ones he uses once in awhile) so we don't have that bill.

Our Phone/Cable/Internet is on one bill $148.00 a month, As I have said in the past I think I really could do without these three things but my husband & son need the phone for work calls, My daughter would just melt if she didn't have her internet, The cable well my husband & son do watch it.

Food - Now that seems to be an area that just keeps going up and up and we keep getting less and less : ( I have been shopping at the Dollar General store but I have found Walmart to be cheaper. It is farther away for me but I am thinking if I food shop & go to the library for our school books on the same day it might be okay. Of course I have all my animals to feed also - I have been letting the goats/chickens/turkeys out to get grass ect. in the early evening to help cut the pellet usage. The horses are using hay & pellets - Hard to say how much we spend weekly because I use both things also for the goats. The dogs get a huge 50 lb. bag a week & the cats get some cans from the dollar store.

Car Insurance - Our car insurance is with Geico, We pay something like $74.00 a month (that's with having my 19 yr. old son on the policy and 2 older model cars). I don't think we could go any lower there.

Cars - We have a Jeep Cherokee & a 15 passenger van. We bought the van for my dog business & evacuating in case of hurricanes here in Florida. Right now my husband is riding with a guy who lives out by us, He drives over to his house and they go from there. He pays him roughly $30.00 a week towards his gas to take him.

That's roughly all our bills at this time.

If you get a chance also take a peek at Frugal Abundance some great ideas there too!

Just Another Day..... : (

I went to the mail today and one of my puppy families sent me a check for $300.00 to celebrate her puppies 1st. Birthday! What a wonderful surprize that was - I wrote her and told her she will never know how much that money came in handy for us. I went out to Walmart and used $210.00 on food shopping - It was wonderful to be able to buy food again.... It's the most fun Kelly & I have had in a long time just being able to buy food. Of course when my husband came home he complained and said how come I can go blow money I get but he has to use his money for the household expenses. I mentioned I bought "food" and one small item for the kids to play with, nothing for myself but he says he's going to go golfing again this weekend.... He just went on Sat. with my son. He says that he is justified in going to play golf because I spent money on buying my horse (that was many months ago when we got our income tax check back, and at that time he told me to go ahead and buy the horse that I never buy anything for myself and I deserve it). I can not express how frustrating it is to have to deal with this every day of my life - To be honest if it wasn't the horse he would find something else. So even though we owe a number of people money, we will also be getting the shut off notice for the electric any day now, we have gotten the cancellation notice for the car insurance, that we have gotten phone calls from the cable/phone/internet company that we owe them too he will be spending his money on going golfing : ( I have given up on this matter, I have all the bill listed on the frig. for him to see and that is that I can't do any more. The sad thing is that if I would have paid the electric bill instead of buying food he still would be going golfing and then we would end up with another week like this week of having hardly any food - I had to go to the food pantry to help supplement the little we had : (
I keep praying that things will get better.....

Just Another Wed.

My son made it through his first day at Winn Dixie : ) He had to get carts & bag mostly, they added a few more days to his schedule so he is happy (I of course am worried because we don't have any money left for his gas to get him there - We are out of money for the week and we are only at Wed.).

I was at the vet's office on Monday, Now there is one area that doesn't look like the economy is hurting.... The place was jammed, My appointment was for 10am. I got out of there after noon! They told me they are opening up another office in the next town because business is booming. I still think Kelly should go into that line of work, She would make a great vet. assistant. I have been dealing with this vet for the past 6 years, now they tell me that I can no longer charge there (How it used to work I would have a litter of puppies run my bill up and then pay them off when the litter was sold). I felt like an eught ball standing there when they were telling me no more charging allowed in front of a packed office.... I got my nerve up and tried to call the owner vet and talk to him about it but he is on vacation.

Has anyone found any great frugal websites or blogs? When I had gone to the store and paid $4.95 for a gal. of milk, $1.99 for a pkg. of stick butter and $2.89 for a loaf of bread I almost died - That's almost $10.00 for three items....

Have a Great Day!

Wooo Hooo Friday!

They say it is going to be very hot today, Feeling like 100 degress! It's funny when we moved down here to Florida from PA. I always thought I would unload some of my extra weight because I would be able to be outside more often - NOT! I have gained more because very seldom can you got outside.... it is either too hot, too buggy, or raining. You really have to get what you need to do done very early in the morning or you are sweating bullets and batting off the bugs.
My son goes today for his orientation at Winn Dixie - His hours today are 12 to 6, He is nervous I can tell. I sure hope the day goes well for him. His store manager told him that someone just gave in their 2 week notice so maybe he can get those hours too....
If you get a chance take a zip over to "Our Place Blog" and read this post, It may bring tears to your eyes....
Have A Great Friday!

My son was all depressed when he came home from filling out more paper work for his new job - Winn Dixie is only giving him Tues. & Thurs. from 12 to 10pm. He was soooo hoping to make enough money so he could move out - He is at that stage where he thinks life stinks here and he could do better.

The horses broke out of their pen, luckly they were eating grass in the back yard. Kelly and I ran out there at 3am. trying to get them back in. Would you belive I ran face first into the hotwire! I saw sparks dancing on my face - That can't be a good thing...

With Kris not working very much my hope to get back to school work is kinda out the window. Kelly is at the computer from the time she get's up in the morning to the time she goes to bed (other then a few dips in the pool & a ride or two on the horses when weather permits). The last time I was at the library I got a few more Magic Tree House books that she hadn't read yet in hopes she would pick one up, no such luck : ( I am not sure when public school starts around here but I guess around Aug. 1st. or so.

We are anticipating one of our girls to have puppies tomorrow so that will be exciting. Being a dog breeder is alot more work and time consuming then I had ever thought but when you see those cute as a button faces.... they just melt your heart - If you would like to take a peek at some of our past puppies you can check out our website: Town and Country Schnoodles

Hope everyone has a wonderful day today!

Homeschool / Public School

Good Morning all!
I was reading some post in my e-mail box from our local homeschool group, I really think 95% of them starting homeschooling their children from the begining. That is why I am so glad for homeschooling blogs! I can find others who have started homeschooling after their child has been in the public school system. I think if your child was in the public school system you have a whole set of other problems to deal with then if you were the only teacher they knew. On the homeschool front we are still on SV as Kelly likes to call it but with Kris starting work Monday I am hoping to kick it back in gear very soon. I was able to find the BiblioPlan - America and the World: 1850-2000 waiting for that to get here - I am worried about how I will be able to get the library books needed for it though with gas prices & now that my son will be using the car most days. Then I really have been thinking we need to start working harder on her writting (we have been doing very little of it) & grammer. The Well Trained Mind says also to add logic which I might also add. I talked honestly with Kelly and asked her what her thoughts are about pubilc school, Did she want to go back? She said no. I told her we would need to do more work this year then last. Time will tell about that....

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!!!!!

It sure feels like Sunday, Doesn't it?
We went down to the beach last night and watched the fireworks (We really didn't have the money for the gas to get there, but it was nice to get away from the house for a few hours).
We have had some ups and downs this past week:
My son did get that job at Winn Dixie! Woooo Hoooo!!!! We are worried about how we will find enough cash for his gas to get there - I was thinking about taking my engagment ring to a pawn shop and see if I can get a few dollars for it....
On the down side my horse "Roper" had colic! It sure was scary and even scarier when you don't have the cash to call the vet : ( Luckly my son's girlfriend knows about these things and gave him a shot and by Kelly and I walking him around he bounced right back.
I hope everyone is having a Wonderful Fourth of July weekend!!!!!!

Birthday Boy Turns 19 Today

Today is my son's birthday, he turns 19! How can that be..... I woke up this morning at 6:30am took my husband to the guy's house who is riding him to work got home and ran right back to bed - I have been feeling sooooo drained and tired. I slept till 9:00am, got up let the dogs out and low and behold the goats had broken out of their pen & ate almost all of the horse hay! I had to repair the broken fence and get the goats back in there asap I just hope the neighbors didn't see them and call the animal control again! In the mean time I had gathered together some change so when my son went down this morning for a job interview at Winn Dixie he could pick up a cake mix, When I got back in from the goat episode he was already leaving : ( So now no cake, no presents nothing for his birthday - I just pray he get's this job that will really make this day special for him, Please keep your fingers crossed.
Mentioning work my husband said I should get a job, so I placed an application with the new PetsMart that is being built down in town. Of course if my son get's a job I will have no car to get there - I could ask for the evening shift but with jobs the way they are here you would hate to mention that you can't work a certain shift... Which leads me to Kelly she said she wants us to run the public school time frame and go back to school work when the public school goes back to school. That would give her the month of July off, I really hate to do that since she is soooo far behind & all she does all day is stay on the computer. What really worries me is if I get a job my husband is going to want to put her back in public school so I can work full time. I guess time will tell about that one.
I really appreciate those who have taken the time to post comments, they have been helpful to read - Thank You ; )