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Home > Archive: July, 2017

Archive for July, 2017

Rough Week

July 21st, 2017 at 01:15 pm

Just a quick check in, this week sucked. Like Klarose's friend, I have a family that is constantly asking for money, and I continually help even to my own detriment. My mom actually called earlier this week for $470 to catch up her personal property taxes. She offered to set up an $80/month direct deposit to me and to keep it open after the $470 is paid to start paying me back for everything else. I told her I'd talk to my husband, but then I knew it'd cause an argument, so I decided not to tell him. I called her back and while explaining that I hated her for putting me in the uncomfortable situation where I was keeping things from my husband, I burst into tears. I basically told her that if she had the nerve to ask for money again before every single cent was paid back, I'd change my phone number and essentially cut her out of my life because I can't tell her no and she can't stop asking me for money. She told me not to keep things from my husband and that she'd figure something out.

Of course, I immediately called my husband (still in tears) and told him everything. The next day, I took DD1 to the vet for his shots/wellness exam. Total cost: $500+. They checked his tail because it's been limp for a few months now and asked me to come in the next day for xrays.

Lo and behold, my poor baby boy (not so much a baby since he's 8, but still...) has bone cancer in the base of his tail. They'll have to remove it next week, but the chest and abdomen xrays don't show signs of it spreading, so here's hoping that the tail amputation will take care of it. Cost for that: $1400.

I still have to take DH's car in next week to see about the tire. Patching it would be ideal, but if it needs replacing, the cost would be $400+.

As if that wasn't enough, I found out last night from my brother that lives with me that my mom decided to cut me out of her life first and is now using his bank account's overdraft protection to cover the money she needed.

Another tire issue and food

July 18th, 2017 at 03:05 pm

So as if the patched tire wasn't stress enough, I started my 8 hour drive to Boston on Saturday morning - 2 am to be exact. About an hour into the drive, the low tire pressure light came on. I sent my location to my brother, got him on the phone, and stopped at a gas station to check it. Turns out, there was a nail in a completely different tire!! What rotten luck...this one was even closer to the sidewall and not even all the way in which is why it was leaking air. I think we're going to have to bite the bullet and get them both replaced. Even though the first one was patched, I think the tread wear would be different enough that we should probably just do both, but we'll see what our family friend says. I need to mail my friend's gift up to her.

I made a sausage stew-type thing yesterday and used up half a red onion and half a green, yellow, and orange bell pepper, corn, broccoli, and mushrooms. It turned out pretty yummy. I have those leftovers over rice today and tomorrow. Tonight, I pick up 40 lbs. of ground beef from Zaycon Fresh. I'm excited to try it as we don't really cook with ground beef since it's so expensive. I think this was right around $2.50/lb. for the 93% lean beef. I'll probably cook a big batch in the electric skillet and freeze the rest in 1 lb. batches.

I need to pick up cokes, deli meat, and salad mix tonight. We don't normally keep sodas on hand, but my little brother drinks them. I also have a recipe for a Coke tenderloin in the crockpot that I want to try with the defrosted tenderloin sitting in my fridge.

Dietbet Winnings, MRE night, and More

July 13th, 2017 at 01:42 pm

Things roll on. This was a tough week working 11 hour days to make up missed time from last week.

DH and I both won our round 2 dietbets. Almost $24 bucks each on $12.50 bets. I'm 83% of the way to round 3 with 3.5 weeks left. DH has already met rounds 3 & 4.

I didn't spend any money yesterday (or the day before). I don't anticipate spending today, but tomorrow I will have to get some groceries for my brothers for the weekend and also pick up a refill on DD1's allergy meds.

Last night, I was too exhausted to cook, and I wasn't all that hungry anyway. My brother was about to order food, but I convinced him to have an MRE instead to save money. My other brother walked in and said, 'Oh, it's MRE night? What are the options?' ...and so, MRE night was born. My little brother had never had one. He actually really liked it. I ended up eating a small bowl of leftover pasta salad (my first attempt and not all that great, but eatable) and half a grilled cheese.

DH gets paid tomorrow...about $200 more than normal. I'll probably give him half for spending money and the other half will go towards making up our deficit for this month. We're going to end up a bit short because I lent my brother $200 for his blown tire, and since his registration is due, I'm not sure when he'll actually pay it back.

DH also had a tire issue on his car. He found a nail embedded in one of his tires when he was checking it after hitting a curb. We took it to our family friend who manages an auto repair shop, and he plugged it for free. So far, it seems to be holding, but he said to keep an eye out for a slow leak since it's closer to the side than they'd normally repair.

This weekend, I'm headed up to Boston for a friend's bridal shower. I got her fire color-changing powder and smores retractable toasting sticks. I still need to get smores' makings, a gourmet smores cookbook, and gift basket for packaging.