Mid Week Up-date

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Wed.!

Sure hope all those affected by Irene are hanging in there.... I know alot are still without power. Being a Floridian I know how that is, We were out for 5 days back in I think it was 2004 - It Sucks!

My mother-in-law made it thru her surgery just fine! I think she is even slated to come home today. It is amazing how fast the hospitals get you out now a days. My husband went down yesterday from 10am to 8pm and stayed with her and his father, never calling me once to let me know how she made out - He said there are no pay phones any where to be had in the hospital so he couldn't call.

As you know things are never dull here, so far this week our water heater broke. We are now taking cold showers, It sure does wake you up in the morning. We already have to go outside and turn the pump on from the pump house just to get the water into the house since the over flow tank broke awhile ago. So with the washer broke also, Kelly thinks God is making us use the information we had learned last year while watching all those dvd's about living in the different past time frames.

Then we had an episode with red ants by the tons climbing up the cable line which runs under the house up into Kelly's room! They were every where, all over her carpet. I poured bleach on the hole they were coming up from and it seemed to have stopped new ones from coming in but there were still massive amounts of ants already in her room. I decided to tear up her carpet, the carpet wasn't in great shape anyway and I figured she could never really feel comfortable in there thinking they might still be running around. I tore it out all by myself, I was kinda proud of myself it was a tough job since I had to use one of my steak knives to do the cutting. I cleaned the room up real nice and now she is painting the walls a pretty blue.

Just when I thought we had the red ants under control, I grabbed a cheeze doodle from the bag and got bit in the tongue by an ant. When I looked into the bag it was loaded with ants.... Gross! They had come in thru the front door walked over to the frig., climbed the frig. and got into the bag I had wrapped up on top. I was amazed how much trouble they had gone thru to get the cheeze doodles. I am not sure why the ants are coming into the house for food, it's not like we are having flooding or a drought here, There is plenty of food outside for them. Even tho they are so small their bite hurts real bad! You actually get welts from them and the bite area gets so itchy. I've been washing the floors with bleach and making sure no crumbs of food are left any where!

Like I said never a dull moment at our house : )

Thank God That Week Is Over!

Thank Goodness that week is over!!!!
Today my son called his car broke down and needed my husband to go down town and get him. Would you belive the tow truck took his car to the repair shop but wouldn't take him! I have always ridden in the cab of the tow truck with the driver. Not sure if this is a new policy because of some insurance issue or what but I think it really stinks you could be stuck on the side of the road if you didn't have anyone to call....
My mother-in-law goes in for surgery on Tues. the cancer has not gotten into her lymph nodes but they are going to remove both her breasts. My brother-in-law is flying in from North Carolina he told my husband "Because it might be the last time he sees his mother". I haven't been thinking in those terms, I've been thinking that she will make it thru the operation, I'm just worried about infections and such afterwards. She is an insulin diabetic and not sure if she needed to to chemo how all that would work out for her. My husband has been very quiet about the whole thing, I know when my mom was fading fast with emphysema I visited her at her home and I knew in my gut it was the last time I would see her alive but your mind doesn't let you belive it. I talked about how great the meal she made was, How happy I was that she was home from the hospital ect. - I never said I love you mom! I could kick myself now.... I really want my husband to go down Tues. and sit with his mother while she is getting ready for surgery and hope he has some one on one time with her (He went down to her home on Wed. and spent some time with her but he said she didn't talk much and was kinda cocooning herself from everything). Our brain fools us into thinking we have days, even years with our loved ones but we don't, time passes so quickly and then an illness pops up out from out of no where and we have to face the fact that that person might not be around with us anymore. My mother-in-law has not asked to see my kids or my brother-in-laws daughter, so not sure if they will be going down to see her or not. It's so odd we have had sooooo many problems and issues this week that we almost put my mother-in-laws cancer on the back burner.... Which is so sad!
I am praying all goes well and she makes a full recovery! She has said even tho she is 78 she is not ready to die yet....

How Low Can You Go!

Just when I think we can sink no lower we go even lower!
If dealing with my mother-in-laws breast cancer isn't enough this week we received in the mail that if we don't pay our property taxes it will be put up for tax sale....Yikes! The past few years when we received our property tax bill we have been in survival mode thinking that the next year will be better and we will use our income tax check to pay it off..... Well each year comes and each year goes and it had gotten no better then the last one so we now find ourselves three years behind in our property tax. We owe $3,266.22 due by Aug. 31st.! I guess they will take a one year payment by that date to stop the tax sale, but that would be alittle over a $1,000 which we don't have either. It is amazing how you think things are bad but in a split second it can be so much worse!!!! Not sure how all this will play out, I have looked into if there are any org. in my county who help out with past due tax bills but haven't been able to find any yet. You would think with my county still having a 14.7% unemployment rate and many who have been unemployed for over a year would have some kinda program so I will keep looking....
Please say a prayer that things work out.... Thank you!

Wed. Mid-Week Up-date

My in-laws heard back from the doctors yesterday and the lump my mother-in-law found on her breast is cancer.... She has to go for tests and then they are thinking surgery thurs.. At 78 I'm not sure how well she will do with going thru surgery and then being able to fight off the infections that seem to accur afterwards but I guess time will tell.

My washing machine broke, the motor won't go on any longer. I tell you I miss that machine already : ( I have been doing a few items by hand, but it is alot of work. Not sure when I will be able to get another one, I hope soon.

My husband didn't get called back for work this week which has been a huge bummer! The kicker is when the guy had called him for work he said they were swamped with work.... My husband worked 4 days last week and then has been off since - What happend to being swamped????? I sure hope they call him back to work next week!

School is going well, We are not at full roll yet but just starting up Kelly's engines... : )
It sure is something about all these earthquakes! I worry about California when I hear other areas are shifting.... And then we have hurricane Irene, I don't think she will be a problem for our area of Florida, but looks like the Carolina's could have some issues from her. Hurricanes can be so unpredictable we just have to keep a close eye on her.

Have a wonderful day!!

First Day Back To School Yesterday

We got our first official day of school under our belts for this year!
It went very well : ) We kinda started last week but things came up so we are off and running now for sure.
You all know how I have planning issues! Well I really tried to get the first day planned as best as I could and it really does make a difference for Kelly. If I stop and have to look around for what we are doing next I lose her.
With us using the Mystery of History book it has also put an added learning of the Bible back into our day again which was missing last year which is so uplifting.
Just overall a great day! Okay I have to admit we AGAIN didn't get to math... : (
I am not going to let that happen today, this child is way behind in her math and needs to work on it every day. She is sneaky and gets me to go off in another area so I forget about math but I'm not going to fall for that today.
Hope everyone who has started back to school is enjoying it : )
Have a great day!!

An Up And Down Week

Here we are at Friday again....
This weeks up-date sure has its ups and downs.
We started school on Monday and it went very well, We are starting to dig into the Swiss Family Robinson book. I love that I have two copies so Kelly can read along when I'm reading and I can see the words she is having trouble with when she is reading. I was going to get a different version of the book since there are alot of words that are causing trouble for Kelly (and for me too) but our libray had no other copy with 2 books available. Being that we are major animal lovers there sure is alot of animal killing in the book so far - Yikes! The book seems to have captured Kelly interest already which is always a good thing : )
We also did some math worksheets, Yes I said math worksheets. I know it's hard to belive but I got my child to actually do some. I'm starting out with very easy problems to try and get her motivated. Hey, I'm just happy we got some math done at this point.
She also worked on some spelling words, Still not sure what we are doing with that. Like I have said she can get thru the week of working on the words and do well on the test but by the next week they fly right out of her brain. I'm thinking of working more on vocabulary instead but she asked for spelling words and when my child asks for work heck ya I'm giving it to her : )
As the week went on our days were not as good, Kelly felt kinda sick and was a crank pot. We had some issues with the dog warden asking for proof of my dogs rabies shot which my daughter-in-law and I can't seem to find so Toby has to go Sat. for a rabies shot. They happen to be running a low cost shots clinic in my area for only $10.00 Whoo Hoo! It was looking like we were going to have to pay for a vet visit plus the shot which was in the area of almost $50.00.
On to very sad news, My mother-in-law found a lump on her breast and went and got it checked out and had tests done on it. The doctor says it doesn't look good but they won't know for sure until the tests get back next week. She is in her late 70's so I'm not sure what options they will be giving her. The poor women is a wreak, I've told her to think only positive thoughts nothing is for sure yet. This is such a blow since my father-in-law was diagnosed with the onset of alzheimer's recently : (
One other note, Would you belive my husband is off of work today already! This is the kinda thing that drives me batty... Just when I think we are able to breathe again it all goes out the window. I had called and cancelled the cash assistance since he was back to work & notified them of his working so they may cut off the food stamps. My husband is not sure if he is working Monday or not either so it looks like we are back on this roller coaster again.
No one said life was going to be easy.... With God's help we will get thru all this! Better days are comming!
Have a wonderful weekend!!

Who Is Looking At Your Phone Calls????

I'm telling you this is scarry!
You all know about my financial problems of late, Well we are wayyyy behind on our one and only credit card from Walmart. We know it, they know it, We have tried to make a few payments but they add on an over limit charge on top of the interest rate which makes it impossible to ever get to an affordable payment range...
Anyway, They call us constantly I'm guessing about 7 times a day, It is a message telling us to call them. I have stopped picking up the phone when they call (being that my phone is one of those pay as you go phones, I waste minutes every time I pick up). I was getting a little leery when right after I would talk on the phone they would call, making me feel like they are able to monitor my phone calls which is freaky. Here is the topper, They ARE scanning my calls and they saw what phone number I was calling and started calling that number!!!!! It happens to be my son's phone number of which I NEVER gave to Walmart on the credit card application. They are now calling him constantly thru out the day also. Isn't this really scarry how someone not even govt. related can tap into your phone calling! This has me pretty freaked out on many levels, I mean how many times do you give out your phone number???? I can think of endless number of times I have given it out and you never know what people are doing with it. Are these same people who are able to tap into your calling able to tap into your conversations????? They obviously know exactly when I'm on the phone and with who, maybe even the location I am calling from : ( My son called back the number and told them that he wants his number removed from their calling system immediately. It really is mind blowing and creepy!!

What Is It? A Dog or A Rabbit? : )

Can't you tell Kelly needs to get back to school work.... This girl has too much time on her hands, That is Reba her dog/rabbit : )

It sure is Hot today here in Florida, We have been getting up into the high 90's with the heat index over 102! It is wayyyy to hot to go outside, our poor horses hardly move at all they just stand under the canopy tent we have out there for them and just sweat : ( I swear you won't hear me complain not once this winter about it being cold!!! These hot temps have got to go!

I can't wait for our copy of Mystery of History to get here.... I LOVE history it is my all time favorite thing to learn about. No matter how many times I go over a time period there is always something new to learn about it. Kelly is going to be none to happy about us going back to the beginning of history again (I tried to get there last year but we went a bit more indepth with modern history then I had thought).

They shut off our tv and our internet should be off by tomorrow or Monday so we are going to have alot of time to start school work : )

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, Stay cool!!

Happy Friday Everyone!!

No, It's not Cousin It.... It's my daughter Kelly and her many different hairdos : )

I have fantastic news to share with you all!!!! My husband starts work on Monday - Whoooo Hoooo!!!!!

Not sure how long the job is for but heck anything right no is a blessing for sure.

I hate to even write about it because I don't want to jinx it but I have to share : )

I do have to say this past month I have learned alot about myself, when the chips are down I can pull the boot straps up and get the ship floating again.

Since I haven't worked outside of the home for over 25 years I was scarred that I was useless in the job market to be honest with you. I have found I do have some skills that can make me money if need be which I think has really given me an uplift.

Well enough of me going on about that....


I have been re-reading "You can teach your child successfully" by Ruth Beeschick, I really enjoy that book! I read it when we first started to homeschool but in my haste I don't think I really digested what she was saying. This time around I am really listening to her words and am picking up alot of tips I over looked.
You know when I wasn't sure how I was going to fit in homeschooling and working with all that is happening around here, I was sooooo sad. You know what they say you don't appreciate what you have until it is gone. Now that I have been given another shot at it I really am hoping to make it better for both Kelly & I. One thing that I really have to address is that Kelly & I both like to learn in different ways and I find it very hard to switch off of what feels so right for me to switch to a way I feel uncomfortable with (does that make any sense???).


I just want to say I LOVE homeschooling : )

P.S. - On a side note, I was scheduled to work at the animal shelter on Sat. for an hour to clean the cat cages. Since my husband needs the car to meet the boss tomorrow I texted the gal at the shelter telling her I can't make it that my husband has found work and I will let her know how things work out. I told her I will call her Monday to let her know if I will be able to work there or not. I wanted to make sure this job pans out as we hope it will before closing the door on my working. The girl just texted me and said "What Ever"! Sooo I guess working there will be out in the future, she must be mad at me but she knows they goal of the cash assistance program is to get people back to work.... I tell ya I have tried to follow all of the program requirements that have been asked of me and to be honest you have to jump thru hoops to get this cash assistance which we still as of yet have not seen a dime of (signed up July 21st.) and I still get the short end of the stick..... Oh well God willing we will not have to go that route in the future!

Thoughts On Cursive Writting

I received this article from my homeschool group, It talks about how as a nation we no longer are teaching/learning to cursive write and the impact in may or may not have on future generations.
I have never stressed cursive writting in our homeschool day, I have come to feel that everything is done on computer so there was no need for Kelly to learn more then her signature (which honestly you hardly ever need any more either).
In reading the article it does bring up some good points, that if you don't really learn it you are not able to read it and some of our nations most historical documents are in script. I really think more and more people are using the internet/computers for letters, e-mails, journals/diarys, ect so not many paper letters are sent out anymore. Most all reports are required to be typed so you wouldn't be using it there either. I may be wrong and this is just my opinion but I think cursive writting is a thing of the past which we will not be using in the future kinda like checkbooks, postal mail to name a few other examples, I guess time will tell.
Either way it was an interesting article, if you get a chance take a peek at it.

Have a great evening all!

Good Thursday Morning!

Hope you'll are enjoying the month of August... It's almost half way gone already - Yikes!

I have good news to share with you, We are getting a copy of Mystery of History vol 1 Whooo Hoooo! I know you think I'm nuts getting excited over a book but I was so hoping to be able to use that book this year.

We still haven't got down to the nuts and bolts of school work yet : ( I worked at the animal shelter Monday & Wed. from 8am to 12 noon but it sure throws my entire day off. I have to fingure out a way to juggle everything....

I still haven't filled out our school paper work from this past school year so I need to get that done and get her paper work in for this year too! York Christian Academy only charges $30.00 for the year to sign Kelly up so I am hoping to get that paid when I get my first cash assistance check to make sure that is all taken care of for this up coming school year.

My chickens looked so cute sitting together up on the goat house door that I took this picture, I need to take some shot to show you how much the baby chickens have grown... they have turned out to be 4 really beautiful hens!

Enjoy the day!!!!

Heard From Lawyer.....Up-Date

I finally heard back from the lawyers office!
What a load off my mind... as everything thing else in my life lately he said I am not mentioned in the will : ( I was sooooo hoping to use that money to MOVE away from this HELL HOLE but I guess that is not going to happen now. I am kinda thrown why the ladies would make me a co-executor and not mention me in the will but of course it is there wishes and I will continue to try and get this completed for the ladies.

Lawyer Issue, Any Ideas????

Okay I'm getting a bit worried now about this lawyer issue.
He never called back on friday even after I told the secretary I have been leaving messages for a month now. I checked on the computer and his address and phone number are all correct and the same info. that was given to me on the letter that he sent me.
But really why would he not want to talk with me to get this case closed????
It is a simple will (as far as the info. I know of), So I can not for the life of me understand why he is dragging his feet.
I then thought that there might some time restraint that he was trying to get to (the lady died Sept. 2009) so we are closing in on two years now. I checked again and some states do have time restraints on probate wills but not seeing how that will effect in this instance.
He as the other co-executor must be getting paid from the estate for his services so maybe he wants to draw it out as long as possible????
I'm thinking of sending a letter to his office that he will need to sign for just to cover my bases to show I have been trying to get this case moving.
My husband is thinking we might need to contact a lawyer to deal with this issue since we are all getting that feeling in the gut that something is just not feeling right about this entire thing, Of course money will be the issue getting a lawyer.
Any ideas from you all on what I should do about this will issue? The lawyer and will in question are up in PA. which adds to the problem.
Thanks for you help : )

Freaky Friday

What a Friday I am having.... I love Fridays, they are the end of the work week and everyone is usually in such happy moods.

I got up early and took my husband over to meet up with a guy who he is going with to scout out some job possiblites, then I shot over to the animal shelter to get some hours in there and would you belive the gal never came to let me in : ( I called an waited, beeped, waited, called again (I had called Wed. night to let her know I would be there Friday). She has a gate blocking her driveway you need to know the key pad combo to get in, there is no intercome to beep her in the house. I'm not not sure what was up with that since she said she could use me every day I wanted to come over.... I always try and find the signs in things and it just seems like I am not supposta be going this route.

I called the lawyers office again this morning (I have called a number of times and left messages with the answering machine, remember I got the letter from this lawyer on June 22nd.). Today someone actually answered the phone! I asked to talk to the lawyer the girl asked who was calling and then got off the phone and then came right back on and said he was busy. I asked to be able to hold until he could get to me but she said no he would return my call at a later time. I told the gal I have been calling for over a month now, I could feel my fur start to go up. It is now almost 2pm and still no return call....

I said heck with it all and Kelly went down to my son's house, She NEEDED to get away from all of our problems! She wasn't feeling very well this morning but went away anyway. I'm glad, I hope she has a wonderful time.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

Honest I Am Not Making This Up

Hope everyone is enjoying this first week of August!
August is one of those months where your mind starts to race because it's like the hump month, We are moving away from summer into the "Back to School" time of the year. I can't wait to flip a couple of pages on the calendar just so we can get some cooler weather!!!!
This week has been one crazy week for sure : )
First I did some time over at the animal shelter and loved it! I have not worked outside of the home in such a long time I had forgotten how it feels to put a days work in where someone appreciates you. On the flip side I didn't have enough gas money to go back down town for the resume class on tues. I waited and went down yesterday for another class and they said I need to get the resume class in before they can even begin to take a look at if I qualify or not for the money assistance..... It costs me roughly $10.00 each time I go down town for gas and they now want me to come back on tues. this is all so crazy if I had the money to blow I wouldn't be asking for assistance.
Anyway, On to the "Honest I am not making this stuff up" list:
We had a three foot rat snake in out bathtub! I pulled the curtain over and there he was, I shut the curtain and ran and got Kelly. I tried getting him into a garbage can but he kept slithering out, of course he started to get mad at me and became really wiggly and moving all over the place. At that point I closed the bathroom door and put a towel under the door... I had know idea what we should do. I called my neighbor down the street and asked him if he had something I could use and he said he would come up and get the snake for me "Halleluia"! He came down right away and picked the snake up with a towel and took him away.... He said he saw a crack in my tub drain where the snake must have gotten in. I now stick paper towel in the hole when we are not showering just to make sure we don't have any more visitors!
Then on the same day as the snake episode I got stung again by a scorpion, This was not my first time but it sure hurt worst then the last time. I had alittle swelling but that was about all.
My neighbor behind us also was caught by the police for drugs, but you wouldn't know it he is still there. I would have thought he would have gotten some jail time since this is NOT his first time getting caught. I just shake my head on how some people just get away with things!
I know this all sounds like I am writting a suspense novel but it's not it's my life : )

On the Schooling Front, Kelly's computer friends all go back to school on Monday so she really wants to get back to school work also. We have already started the Swiss Family Robison book but the copy we are using has alot of tough uncommon words which is making for a slow go of it. I am thinking of switching to an easier version of it. I would rather her enjoy the book then to be put off by the wording...
Since I am not able to get any new books for this years school year I have been going thru the bookshelf and am just going to use what ever we have. I have had for many years a copy of "The Story of Mankind" that we may use, not sure yet (Have any of you used it?).
I need to plan so Kelly can do some of the work on her own when I am out at the animal shelter. Kelly can't go with me to the shelter because someone needs to stay home and keep our dogs quiet since the episode with the neighbors calling the cops. It's funny the animal shelter I worked at is in a residental area with neighbors closer then mine and the dogs there bark non stop all day but yet none of the nighbors complain, I guess they all feel she is doing such a fantastic thing helping these dogs find new homes they over look it.

My son called and wants to take Kelly to his house for the weekend, We have a tropical storm Emily that will be skirting the coast the waves by his house are going to be huge for our area. My husband & I are going to the shelter tomorrow but I am hoping she can go down Sat. & Sun. to have some fun away from here for alittle while anyway....

Have a Fantastic Day Today!!!