I met my first Karen....

I don't want a house full of books or the latest kitchen gadgets or a new car or...a Stanley cup. I don't car about Stanley cups. Or labubu dolls, whatever in the world those things are. 

I want a closet full of wool sweaters. Does anyone else ever type in "wool sweater" in postmark and drool over the selection? I want this one. This holiday themed one screams berry pie and snowy thanksgiving. This one looks absolutely decedent and luscious but why is it over $100?  Actually, I am shocked that I can find 100% alpaca or merino sweaters for under $40 sometimes. Do people not know what they are selling?

Alas, I am not made of money so I limit myself to one new sweater a year. After a lot of searching and checking my closet, I bought this one because I don't have many basics and I don't have anything in black and white. And the seller claims they couldn't find it and refunded me, and now I have to start my search all over again...oh well. I'm thinking of going with brown and buying something in alpaca for this fall. Zip and/or buttons seem to be my friend since I am still nursing Esther.

Anyway, today Esther fell off the trampoline backwards onto her head and I don't even know why I let her up there. She's fine, I think. I have her watching Ponyo downstairs with a cold pack on her neck after checking her all over and giving her her nursies. It was on the tip of her head but she told me her neck hurts too. Poor kid. We do have a net on the trampoline, but the part you zip up is broken and...she just fell right off. I'm going to see about getting the zipper fixed.

By the way, she's been getting on the trampoline since she was one. This is the first time she's gotten hurt. And I feel so responsible she's definitely too little to be on it, but she wants so much to be with her big brother and sister so much! 

School went well today. We got everything done except Shakespeare. Maybe I will read it at dinner. Probably not. Oh, and we were supposed to paint today but I can always do that tomorrow. 

I ate cake and didn't check my blood sugar, shhhhhh don't tell. It was handmade Angel Food cake and I did half the sugar but......

Nothing much is happening right now in our lives. I am almost all the way recovered neck-wise from my accident, my brain is catching up...still a bit slow mentally. We will hear if our car was totaled or not on Wednesday. The person who hit me does have insurance and they accepted liability...so all the paperwork is squared away and we are just waiting for the results.

Brian spent all weekend working on our spare car, the old one, so I will have something to drive this week, and we can go on vacation at the end of the month to the beach. Only this car does not have heat and that was one of the reasons we got the van--and also the seating issues, three kids in the back is a bit tough with their ages. Brian test drove our spare car to work today and everything looks fine! It will be nice to have a reliable vehicle tomorrow if nothing pops up between now and when he gets home...I can't believe he worked so hard. I made him ham, mashed potatoes and veggies (one of his favorite meals) to thank him tonight for dinner. We all have our arguments and struggles but I know at the end of the day I have a husband who loves and respects me and shows up for his family, and I am so grateful. I hope he knows how much I love him.

The new part for the car was $300. We put it on the credit card...

Anyway, I met my first Karen over the weekend. I was putting a screaming Esther into my car (I made her hold my hand in the parking lot, how dare me) and this lady in the car next to me started yelling that my car door hit her car and scratched it and it's a brand new car. I calmly looked at her and told her that her car was fine and it was--we both looked--but she was not having it. She was screaming at me and Esther was screaming and Becky started crying and I think some of Karen-Lady's kids were in her car and I didn't know what to do...it was crazy. I did not hit her car with my door! It was a whole crazy episode and I hope Karen-Lady's husband talks some sense into her. She must have been having a bad day. 

And her car was very dirty. 

Eyeroll.

I had to come home and make lunch after that and let me tell you there was some praying and some loud music for awhile!

Some people need more sleep, and less coffee...that's all I'll say.

Excited about Mountain Run Jam! And beach trip! And school, and thanksgiving and Christmas and all the cozy winter vibes.

Not excited about my cycle, which started today, and I bled through my pad and my pants while teaching my kids school...I have not done that in 15 years. Glad I was home.

How are you all? 

Budget Sep 14-20th and 21-27th

September 14-20th

Alright, I'm back to budgeting after a few weeks of chaos, car wrecks and chronic illness...

Our budget for the week of September 14-20 is $1,218. We have nothing left over from previous budgets to add. Our credit card was due so we paid $532 on that, and also I paid hot yoga ($95) our Electric bill ($283) and our tithe. After all that we had $258 left over which I am sure we will spend on groceries today. The no-spend challenge awaits for the rest of the week. Given how I am recovering still (at least I can cook now) I think it will okay, though we do need gas and that will have to be put on next week if it won't fit with the grocery budget. Also we need diapers... I lump that into groceries since we get them from the same place, does anyone else do that?

Brian just got back from the store and spent $190.19 at Walmart. This is what he bought and the prices if anyone is interested

• 4 notebooks at 0.35 cents each
• Nellies Free Range Eggs 5.24
• Org Broccoli x2 7.72
• Large Huggies diapers 39.77
• Potatoes (precious) 3.84
• tomatos 2.98
• organic bell peppers 3.46 x 2
• yarn for Becky in yellow 3.77
• 2 glass food storage containers 5.26 each
• Great value half and half 5.64
• Sour Cream 3.27
• Cream cheese 2 pack 5.47 x 2
• Nuts 9.72
• Powdered Sugar 2.22
• Salsa 3.76 
• Maple Syrup 17.97
• Salsa 3.76
• Carrots 2.62
• Cubanelle peppers 2.62
• Yellow squash 0.87
• Organic zucchini 2.96 
• Blue chops 5.98
• 16oz salted butter 4.47
• Chocolate 3.44 x 2
• Bacon 6.97
• Strawberries 3.77
• Apple Bag 6.97
• Onion Bag, yellow 3.64

The Walmart total was $187.64 with three taxes it came to $190.19. That leaves $67.81 for gas for the week so it looks pretty perfect... I'll update if it turns out to not be so great.

I was disappointed to find our credit card was so high. It's about 800 that we owe for the next payment! Our credit card got used a lot after my wreck. My husband doesn't cook and I wasn't able to for two days so he got pizza and cava, the first day, and I know he also did take out once on the second day but for the life of my poor concussed brain I can't remember what it was. The take-out break was great but also expensive. On top of that, he put some groceries on the credit card and also a few amazon orders (we got the kids halloween outfits...and socks, lol) We also had to buy parts for our "spare" car which he is going to fix this weekend so I have something to drive. The van was towed away by our insurance to see if it is totaled or can be repaired. So our credit card had quite a lot on it...anyway, we will work on paying it off completely through the next 2 paychecks.  

September 21-27th

In this time period we owe audible (22.95) our water-bill (I budget 80, I am not sure how much it is yet) and we saved 100 towards our raw milk payment which is due in October, and 100 for our house tax bill which is due in December. I also put 150 in our emergency fund. We also have our weekly tithe. 

We have the same spending to start with this week--1,218. After subtracting all of the above bills, it leaves us 715.57 for the rest of week. 

I'm going to update this post as we spend...

The Crazy Week

Man, I don't even know where to begin. This week Brian had off and it's been good and difficult in so many ways. So every time we try to slow down and have a vacation usually we end up arguing about something. We are getting better at communicating and I hope we can work on our relationship even when he's working a lot...vacations are hard for that reason.

Anyway, I wanted to go get my hair cut this week, just because it's been getting really heavy and bothering me a lot when I do yoga. It's a lot of weight on my neck. Here's my before and after! The hairdresser was awesome and we found out we grew up on the same street in Madison Heights. How crazy is that. She straitened my hair which is interesting, I never take the time to do that. Maybe I'll buy a straightener. I really like it and it's super light on my neck and will make yoga so much easier.

On the way home someone ran into the back of my car.

I'm so thankful that the kids were at home with daddy. Actually, my mom was on the way to my house to watch them because we were supposed to go on a date. Instead I went home and gave myself a dose of aconite and arnica, and went to bed with an ice pack on my neck and then did a round of castor oil packs. I'm okay, but I probably have a concussion and definitely have some whiplash. 

Today I feel a lot better. My neck and shoulder hurts a lot still so I am doing another round of homeopathy and ice/castor oil. I don't think I'll be going to the gym next week mostly because I don't want to drive that broken car, but I should definitely wait until my neck heals up a bit. Who knows how long that will take? 

The only other car we have right now is a four seater stick shift, which I cannot drive. I have never learned how to drive a stick shift. So I had to miss Reuben's first football game today which was really disappointing.

Right before my hair appointment and before the wreck, I got a text about a lady who does Brain Coaching (using something called Equipping Minds) which we were looking into for Becky's dyslexia. I finally found out she has dyslexia as well as dysgraphia (thought her dysgraphia is a lot better). And this lady charges 1k per 13 week session (it's 850 + a 150 fee for supplies) and we just can't afford that. I was crushed. Becky is really struggling and I wanted to get her into a program to help, and as the lady wanted us to start this coming Monday...there was no way. I will have to find another way to help her. Please pray that I can be a good advocate for her and figure something out. 

It's been a really hard two days.

And Brian goes back to work on Monday, we don't have a car, and I didn't prep any food for our week. I'm in pain and I'm sad and everyone is struggling. But the weather is amazing and I have a wonderful family that I love and who love me.