Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Today's Up-Date

Kelly & and I went back down to the H & R Block to sign the papers and would you belive the gal we used yesterday was not in yet but the supervisor was there and she went over our taxes and found an error!!!!!! The gal from yesterday didn't list Kelly in the right spot and we weren't getting the correct deduction for her. We are now getting $2,500.00 back!!!!!! Praise God!!!!! Our prayers were answered, I left that place with a smile on my face for sure : )
My husband only worked a half day today so that side of it is still bad but it sure is amazing how our prayers have been answered.

Thank you to all those who have put us in your prayers, It is greatly appreciated!!!!

Sinking Ship....

I feel like a sinking ship!
Kelly & I went to H & R Block yesterday, We got a gal who this is her first year doing taxes - Yikes! I have to say they were worse then Jackson Hewitt was, they just punch in numbers with out advising you one way or another on which would be best for you..... I was really afraid to do the taxes myself because of my business schedule C but seeing the way they did it they didn't do any better then I would have using Turbo Tax! It cost me $220.00 to have them, prepair the taxes. The huge kicker is that we usually get about $3000. back this year since my husband has been working for a company instead of running his own business we are only getting $1400.00! That is a HUGE disappointment for us - I needed that money to get us caught up on all our bills. I left there feeling sooooo low. My daughter the optimist says to me "Mom, At least we are getting something back", I guess I should look at it that way. To top it off Kelly & I have to go all the way back there today with my husband driver's license so they can print it out and I can sign it (he will be stopping by after work to sign it).

When I got home my head was splitting but I wanted to check to see how much we owe for our 2007 property tax that we wanted to pay with the tax return, $1008.00! I went and sat outside for awhile, the day was beautiful and I tried to just settle myself down and think positive. I burned dinner because I just could not concentrate, my stomach was in knots.

Then my husband came home, I was really not looking forward to telling him the amount of the tax return before I could start about that he says his boss told all the workers they are taking a 20% pay cut or find another job AND that he can't tell them how many hours a week they will be getting! My husband looked at his wits end, I hated to have to add in about the refund amount but I needed to. He said that his boss told them that he is looking into a possible large job up in St. Augustine but if they don't take his bid then they have no work for next week.

Soooo you can see why I have that sinking ship feeling..... I really can't seem to find the "pull up the boots" and tackle this problem feeling I usually get for situations like this. He said to call around today and see what the lowest prices are that we can get for phone service & internet. He says we should let the cable go for now. We have Bright House right now so I will call them and see if I can get a bare bones price. As I mentioned in a previous post I can take my husband's van off the road that will save some on the Geico bill (we pay $145.00 a month now for it). Then we have the electric, we should be having low bills from now on till it get's hot out (unless we have a terrible cold snap like last week). As for the food bill - I guess I will have to wait till next week when he get's his first lower pay check and then apply for food stamps. I am sure it will be hard to explain to them how we have no idea how many hours he will be working each week. If anyone has any ideas for living on possibly $200.00 a week or less for me, Please send them over... Our area has a huge unemployent rate so there really is no jobs to be had out there at this time (I thought about trying to get a night job stocking shelves or somthing but they are all taken). I just pray that this all works out!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Monday Already?

I woke up this morning not knowing what day it was..... Yikes!
Doesn't seem like it should be Monday already.

I did have a productive weekend, My husband & son helped me finish taking down the back deck and all the fencing in that area. Now the horses have a nice big running around area BUT we also took down their tarps which they used for shelter when it rains/sun, the tarps were all torn and a mess looking. The horses have a shelter my husband had made out of wood for them but they very seldom use it but now that is all they have until I can get them a new tarp type thing.

We got the shut off notice for the cable/internet/phone again so not sure how many days I have left on the computer. I probably will not be able to get it back up and running again until we get our income tax refund. Since I ran out of ink a few weeks ago so it has been really hard to prepare for no computer - I would have liked to print out some things before it goes off but I will have to do with what we have.

Today's mission is to find a cheap place to do our taxes. We have gone to Jackson's Hewitt in the past and they charge us $359.00 - I want to find some place cheaper! I called around to all the tax places but no one can give you a price over the phone they need to look it over. I have heard H & R Block may be less so Kelly & I are shooting over there this morning. Our taxes are a little tricky because I am self employed and need to list my dog business otherwize I would try and do them myself.

I heard back from the library again..... the head of the children's dept. heard about my e-mail and wanted to set up a meeting with me and any other homeschool family interested to see if she could buy any books we might need. I guess they can spend money on buying books but can't spend on the inter-library charges of sending a books from one library to another. I sent her the list I posted about earlier and we will see what she can get but most likely it will take too long for us to use them anyway.

I was wondering if anyone has used Galloping the Globe?
I know it is more for the younger kids but I thought it looks like it is a fun way to learn about the other countries.
Hope everyone has a wonderful day today!!!!!!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Friday - Yea!

This sure has been a very long week! Glad to see it over with....

My library did get back to me about the $2.00 a book request charge for inter-library loan books and they said no excetions can be made for either homeschoolers or teachers. I contacted my local homeschool group and posted about it but not one person commented on it so I guess they either don't use the inter-library loan option or they don't think $2.00 is too much to pay for a book.... Anyway, I went through the rest of our "Reconstruction Period" for history and they do have a few of the books so I won't be missing too much but the titles listed below that they don't have if anyone has read them and felt they are not worth missing if you could let me know:
If you lived 100 years ago by Ann McGovern
If you lived at the times of the Great San Francisco Earthquake by Ellen Levine
If you lived in the Alaska Territory by Nancy Smiler
Bully for you, Teddy Roosevelt by Jean Fritz
There may be a few other titles I will check with you all - I would HATE to miss a goody : )

Kelly and I have started taking down the back deck. We wanted to get it down to allow the horses to get closer to the house for warmth & to get out of the wind. It is taking alot longer then I thought, I am really out of shape and pulling up those boards just does me in. We have it about half way so if I do a bit each day we should get it done "maybe before summer' heheheh....

Every year we go to watch the sports cars race at the 24 hour race down at daytona race track but this year we aren't going : ( Oh well, Maybe next year.

I hope everyone has a great Friday!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

What A Week So Far.....

What a week it has been so far.....
On my husband's job front things are looking worse! What is happening now is his boss is giving him just enough work time so he will not have to pay unemployment to him. My husband was off Monday, worked Tues. from like 9 to 3, off Wed. and is working today but not sure if he will have any more work for the week though. It sure is heck having to try and figure out how to live on an amount you have no idea of what that weeks pay will be....

Then I read over at my local library website that it is now charging for inter-library loan books!
$2.00 for every book requested!!!!!! I use this all the time as my library doesn't seem to caryy many of the books required for our Biblio History Curriculum I wrote the library asking if there is any excetions for homeschoolers of teachers - I sure hope so otherwize I am up the river.....

This morning for the first time since we have lived here in Florida (almost 6 years now) the water in the animals bins were frozen!!!!!! It is darn cold out there this morning. Frost is every where on the ground, I am thankful that our heater was working last night/ this morning for sure. The animals are looking at me like what the HECK is this? Too cold for Florida!!!!!!!

Enjoy your Thurs. - Make it a good one : )

Monday, January 19, 2009

Rotten Weekend And It's Still Going

It's been a tough weekend again.... My husband was carring on about everything again but he did find time and money to go golfing with my son! That's what burns my butt the most, here he is saying we are going to let the cable/phone/internet go - He's not paying the bill which he knows there are only two things Kelly wants in this world and it's her horse & the internet but he finds the cash to go golfing instead. He was ranting about how I keep spending.... the only thing I have bought other then food was a $3.00 bread pan that I hope to be able try my hand at making bread. He screamed when the dogs were barking because my son was going in and out of the house because he forgot something because he was trying to nap during the day yesterday, he came flying out and called me the "b" word, I tell you I know why Kelly sits with her ear phones on and the volume turned up loud. He is home again today so I can just imagine he will not move out of his room much like yesterday. I sure do pray that things get better : (

Friday, January 16, 2009

Chugging Along.... And Bread Making Questions.

Thank you for the prayers sent our way, It really is appreciated!
They sure have worked.... My husband came home last night with the story that his boss called him over to let him know he had all intentions of laying him off yesterday but that at the last minute two jobs came in with enough work for a week or so, So he will keep him a bit longer. I do have to say that this kind of living will drive even the mello type person nuts - Not knowing one day to the next if you have a job or not. The worst part is that there is no other jobs out there in our area so rebounding to something else really isn't an option : (

I borrowed my in-laws bread machine, It is a BreadMan Plus. I called the company and asked for directions which they e-mailed me right away. Kelly and I followed the directions (My in-laws sent over a box of sour dough bread mix to try) we made it and it looked okay. When I turned over the bucket it cooked in to get it out, It came out okay then I noticed that the mixing lever that was in the bucket was now cooked inside the bread!!!!! Has anyone ever had this happen to them? Are you supposta remove the lever after the mixing is done so the bread can bake in the bucket? Is the lever supposta come off? I sure hope I didn't brake the machine, I will NEVER hear the end of it. Anyway the bread came out nice but it tasted terrible! I'm sure we are just not sour dough type bread people.

Our public school is off again today they are taking today & Monday off - But we are going to have school today. We have been doing pretty well the past few days I guess. I had Kelly write sentences with missing spelling words for me to fill in the answers and when I got stuck on one she has already forgotten what the answer was supposta be.... She was hurring to get done to make the bread but it really worries me at times how things just zoom out of her head so quickly. Math is also still a sticking point - I am forcing her to do some kind of math each day. She does multiplications worksheets pretty well but when I change over to division problems she says "How do you work them out again"? I have to do the first problem for her and then she remembers how to do it but I want her to be able to do this kind of stuff on her own. Just not sure what I can do to make this stick better in her brain.

It sure is cold here in Florida! We have a heat lamp going for the horses at night trying to give them some warmth. I know it's not as cold as some of you are dealing with but it sure is nasty for us.

Stay warm & Have a wonderful day!!!!!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

One Day At A Time.....

My husband said it looks more and more like he won't have a job next week.... His boss came in yesterday and told them all to start looking for another job. The boss says he won't pay for them to get unemployment but I think he has no say in that matter since they were all on the books and have their pay stubs... I just really take one day at a time, It is to scarry to look any further. Since it takes a few weeks before you get the first unemployment check (I am not sure if the boss drags his feet on the matter it may take even longer) I guess our first move will be to try and get one of those loan type things on our income tax refund that I have seen advertized on tv. at least we would have some cash for food ect. It sure will be tough for my husband to find another job at this time of the year... Like I said one day at a time.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

I'm Back.....

It's been a long couple of weeks but we have the internet back up and running for a few weeks anyway. I sure have missed you all! I haven't been able to keep up with your posts since we had been going to the library for our internet viewing : ( I hope to keep Kelly away from our computer long enough so I can read some back posts....

On the home front not much is new same old stuff just a different day! My son has NOT moved out so that has been a great blessing to me. It has been soooo hard to try and explain to him that taking on too much right now is not the way to go.

Kelly had been so depressed that we didn't have the internet working, I really felt for her because I understand that her computer friends are really her friends and she had missed them terribly, The one girl called Kelly and tried to stay in touch with her.

On the homeschool front, Not much going on.... It has been VERY hard to get back going since the holidays. I haven't been very organized with the lessons again which has added to the slowness of the progress. I do have to say our homeschool blogging angel sent many books to Kelly and she has actually ASKED to read during school time! It made my heart sing : ) It really has been a two sides to not have the computer - Kelly HAD to find things to do instead of sitting at the computer. I told her for the next few weeks that we have the internet she really has to try and do other things during her free time, but knowing that we probably will not have it long has made her even more crazy. *On another note: My local library is trying to raise their late books return fees and if you request an inter-library loan book it will cost $2.00 each! Yikes!!!!

My husband has worked a full week! This is the first time he actually got 40 hours in in a very very long time. If this could just continue for a few weeks we could get all caught up with our bills but he is very worried that there has been talk of laying the guys off.... We would get about $200.00 a week on unemployment - Yikes! I have been trying to rack my brain to see how we can live on that. I have changed the horses to the cheapest horse pellets I can find (Happy Horse) at $10.50 a 50 pound bag - We go through 2 bags a week to feed the horses, goats, chickens & turkeys. The hay is what is killing us, I used to struggle to fit a bale of hay in the back of my jeep now I can fit two : ( they have reduced the size of the bale by alot so we are using almost a bale a day at $7.25 a bale. I looked into getting a round bale but the run $75.00 a bale so I don't think that will be the cheaper route to go. I figure we are spending roughly $65.00 a week on those animals, then I have all my dogs I haven't found a cheap dog food that works for me yet since I need a good quality food for my girls when they get pregnant. I do have to say I have been getting alot of families interested in buying a puppy which is a great thing but I was worried with the bad economy so I didn't mate many of the girls in fear of having too many puppies and no homes.... Back to the bills, the car insurance is up to $145.00 a month with adding my son's car on - If need be I can take off my husbands van if he has no work. Then our cable/phone/internet bill runs $150.00 a month - The funny thing is that this past couple of weeks our cable company just shut off the internet but left the cable still on from the pole so we still had tv. so my husband and son didn't feel the pain of not paying that bill like Kelly & I did! But if worse comes to worse we could get rid of all that and just get basic phone service. We are looking forward to getting our taxes done for our refund - It is ear marked to pay some of our back property taxes that are past due (we owe two years). Then we have to tackle the money we owe my in-laws, We borrowed $40,000.00 from them to pay off our home. When my father-in-law broke his hip and was declining he and my mother-in-law said that we no longer need to pay them back that they didn't want to see us struggle but once my father-in-law rebounded and an knew he wasn't going to die he now says we have to pay them back the money again.... so it has been a see saw with that! We are supposta pay $125.00 a month to them, I really wished we could just pay them off and be done with it but it doesn't look like we will EVER be able to get another big loan again with the way things are and our credit being shot to heck! Then our food bill, I have been REALLY trying to lower that as much as possible. I think I have it down to about $150.00 (dog/cat food & paper goods ect. included)a week shopping mostly at the dollar store and Walmart. It is really and area I have to go over and over to see where I can cut costs. Bills they sure will wear you out!!!!!

You sure can tell I haven't been able to post lately I have talked your ear off : )
Hope everyone has a wonderful day today!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Happy New Year!!!!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and that all your hopes and dreams for the New Year come true!!!!!!

We are having a bumpy start to the New Year already and it's only three days old!
My 19 year old son has decided he wants to move out! He thinks if he rents a place closer to his college he will have more time to study ect. but what is really happening is he wants he and his girlfriend to move in together : (
I am sick about it on all sides of the issue..... I pray this all works out.

We have had our cable/phone/internet shut off so Kelly & I have to track up to the library for our computer fix. So you can see our money troubles have followed us to the New Year. My husband has not worked in two weeks, his boss says they have work for the up-coming week - I sure hope so!!!!!

We didn't do any school work over the holiday so I hope to buckle back down and start back up on Monday, As you can imagine things are CRAZY at our house right now.

Take care & Have a wonderful weekend : )