Booting Our Debt For Good

Emotional Kind Of A Day

2011-09-12T11:50:00.001-05:00

With yesterday being the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it amazes me what I can remember versus the things I can not. You know you try to remember a day and all you get are bits an pieces, but on a day like that you remember almost every little piece of your day. I just turned on the TV to see WTC Tower 1 in flames not knowing a plane had just hit it, picked up the phone and we had no phone service, walked back in to watch more of the coverage and the 2nd plane hit Tower 2. I was stunned gathered up my then 11 1/2 year old he would be a year a little over a week from that day and walked to my in laws to use the phone. I was to officiate a Volleyball match that evening when I call the athletic director said that all activities for that evening and maybe more that week had been postponed in light of the tragic events unfolding before our eyes, and that all schools in that city were having parents pick their children up and school was closing for the remainder of the day. I had figured out that I had forgotten to pay our phone bill and that is why our service was out, but at the time that was the farthest from my mind. While standing talking to the lady at the phone company the plane hit the pentagon, it was just shock and a non understanding of what was actually taking place on our soil. I walked back home by that time the skies were a eerie quiet, my mom and dad had brought a swing set down from my brothers that day and as we stood outside the fighter jets started flying over, for several hours off and on that was all I heard in the skies. This was definitely not a typical Tuesday!

Its funny how you can remember those things but not a simple day or person, I try hard to remember things about family members who have went to a better place and are watching over. But still there are only little tidbits that I can hold on too. I was watching the numerous televised ceremony specials and realized only after watching the 9/11 tribute that was hosted by Robert DeNiro that the terrorist did not only harm innocent people in the Towers, Pentagon, Flight 93, and the other Flights; they harmed other nations as well. There were Americans yes, but African-American, Muslim, Hindu, Chinese, Japanese, and many others. They were either on the planes when they were hijacked, working on a Tower floor, were a police officer, firefighter, EMT, doctor, nurse, port authority, Chaplin, or service member. All of these people risking their lives were from some heritage that came here for a better place to live and raise a family, or they were here working for there own country at WTC. So the terrorist did not just plot against us they plotted against all these other nationalities as well, it wasn't just the US that was in war it was a lot. Even taking there own faith of Muslim, which is pure evil. Seeing all of this unfold 10 years ago was just shock but seeing those photos and video footage that had never been seen just torn my heart completely out. To all those families that lost someone whether on that day or since from the war to the diseases that have now surfaced from the debris at ground zero my thoughts are with them all, I have lost loved ones but can not phathom loosing some one in that way. To all of those people who perished, or worked that day you are all heros so are their families!

Well things are just going by

2011-08-30T11:45:00.000-05:00

Since I have last posted which I have to admit has been a while we have had lots happen. First our son's allergies he passed the milk challenge but not the egg, he can have them in moderation if they are not cooked into something already but only at home because he breaks out into hives. Second our electricity troubles finally came down to the light company coming into fix a bad neutral line coming into the house, thank the lord too because we were afraid it was internal and have to shell out a ton of money to fix it. Third we finally got our loan modification after several months of fighting tooth and nail to get it and now we are on the right track again with it before long I will be contacting Churchill and trying to refinance the house, I will be rid of Wells Fargo if it kills me trying! Fourth in June we changed from our old internet provider which was point to point service and horrid to DSL service with the local telephone company, with that came better service and more speed, at almost the same price give or take a few dollars. Fifth in July we let Dishnet work shut our service off and we have not had it since, we have been living on netflix, antenna, hulu, or other online watching sites, this saves us about $80 a month, and Dish will get paid when I am ready to pay them to because of the horrible service we have had to deal with for last 6 months, I requested a new remote that long ago and still no remote to be seen, so they will have to wait for me to get around to paying them and sending their equipment back also, hey its not my fault they were crappy!!!

We are back in school now and I must say hooray as both the boys are in same building and there from the time I drop them off of the bus to the time I roll back in and they are released for the bus. I am now trying to work my @ home business as well as my High School volleyball schedule and driving the bus. If you are interested in what I am doing from home click on link in side bar and request for me to contact you! I have been with this company as a customer for 4 years because I love their products!! I am no longer working at the outside sand volleyball courts due to major drama and selfish management practices and that is all I will say about that issue!! Yes this takes away income but the time I was there was only going to fill our gas tanks and not much else this summer with the gas prices as high as they were. Still plugging away with debt and regular monthly bills not much getting paid down because we are in limbo mode, but I have become an avid couponer and I will be until the day I die, I am saving so much and helping out the budget doing so now to get back on track with the monthly budget which has taken a bad back seat this summer to no regular income it has been hard to fulfill one.

Murphy Get OUT!!!!!!!!!

2011-01-24T10:43:00.001-06:00

Since my last post Murphy has just not stopped. We went through December not putting a cent in emergency fund because we had none to spare. We learned that we can make it on what food/s we have in the house and make some pretty decent meals out of them. January's budget was none existent, and February if looking bleak. All of us have had the nasty flu bug that has been going around here, it is bad when the Mr. goes down and can;t even go to work (that means he is down for the count) he doesn't get sick that much but when he does it pack a wallop for him. We have also had major furnace trouble and a problem with our electricity surging to the point where when we have the living room things going, we can't run dishwasher, garbage disposal, and washer and dryer together or it pops everything in the living room. Our furnace went out yesterday called and got it fixed, we went to FPU last night got home to it being out again. Waiting on repair man to come back and see if its the transformer again this will make the third. Plus I need to get a hold of a friend and is going to check out our breaker box to see if the surging is that or coming from the power lines/company itself. If we dont get this fix soon I fear we could have a even bigger problem or no house to come home to!
I am sitting here with a blanket wrapped around me stove on and our eden pure cranked all the way up, still it is chilly because we aren't exactly having what one would call a heat wave. We have had more the 12 inches of snow fall and temps hovering under 20 for the past 2 plus weeks. We have had no school which has left me sitting not getting paid, I eventually will in May when we make those days up but that doesn't help right now. We are going to be stretching it this week to make it with gas money for work travels. I have heard of stretching yourself thin but this is ridiculous!!! Trying to head in a positive way has been a step forward and many back. Just have to keep telling myself it will all come to an end and we will be alright. I know we can do this just have to keep my chin up

Debt Update

2010-12-05T08:37:00.000-06:00

Well Murphy walked through our doors last week, our emergency fund is gone. We were working with our mortgage company on a modification after the moratorium payments we were making after Mr. got laid off. They hit us with a great big bombshell of a balloon payment to start this modification of $2400 big ones. Yup you heard me right, we had to use the emergency fund just to stay in our house, now some of you would say that , thats not really an emergency well I am not moving my family right before Christmas, especially after we worked all summer making those payments only to get this thrown at us. So for now we are stopping all debt reduction to build the emergency fund back up once again. I am so frustrated with this that I just want to sit and cry at times, but I know that will not solve the problem and only make me feel worse.
Tonight is week 6 of FPU and I must say that week 5 was interesting, I got our credit reports. I am very impressed with them the last time we got them there were still things on them from when we filed bankruptcy that were not supposed to be reporting because they were in the bankruptcy. It falls off our record this coming year and I am glad, wish tho I would have know about Dave before we had to do that! There are a couple of things on mine that I think I might dispute because they are collections that were paid to the original creditor, and are still being reported as unpaid by the collection agencies!

Great Big Update!

2010-11-22T16:52:00.000-06:00

Its not of the financial sort but, our youngest son has food allergies and had a milk food challenge today! Need I say he passed with flying colors I am so glad that is over and now we can focus on the next challenge of egg. I will keep you posted on how it goes!

Week #4 of FPU

2010-11-18T10:56:00.000-06:00

We were amazed with the "Dumping Debt" chapter, I love how Dave goes through this lesson. His way of getting the point across is just uncanny LOL! I sat down while doing last weeks chapter homework and also did the debt snowball in the gazelle budgeting forms center online. I like both paper and online methods and the are a real eye opener let me tell ya. I have to admit tho that I splurged Saturday night and bought a pay per view I should not have and Mr. Booting promptly held up our FPU book and looked at me and said and I quote "Dave would not like what you have just done, remember our cash flow sheet". I felt like I was 2 inches tall and admitted my fault, and that it wouldn't happen again. Looks like I have an accountability partner here in my own house. We have however managed to pay off some debt and will probably pay off some more tomorrow when his check hits the account. I am proud of our progress and how in tune we both are with the budget, our full blow cash flow budget will not start until December, because we were already into the month when we made the first budget. I am updating side bars after I finish this post, I am taking out the mortgage for now until we dump all the remaining debt and them I will add it back on when we start tackling it. So for now we are still funding the emergency fund which should be full in the next month, and dumping debt at the same time. It should work out fine since I added that to our gazelle budget LOL! I will stop funding the account however when it reaches $1000. Then I can focus that allotment to the debt, fingers crossed here and I will not say the name we all recognize and hate so much. The forms are so simple now to do too that I really am asking myself why didn't we do this sooner, oh yeah cause in Dave's words "We were stupid!"

FPU- Cash Flow

2010-11-12T08:20:00.000-06:00

We have finished the cash flow sheet class for FPU. All I can say is WOW! I was in utter shock when I learned what we really lived on month to month. Here I thought we lived on much more but the reality is that we are always relying on overtime or my activity trip hours. I now see that it is very wrong to live this way and we can do it plus some on just a take home pay. With that said I think December is going to be a great month of paying off debt, on a side note I used my some of my officiating checks to put Christmas on layaway, and it will be paid off well before Christmas. We roughly added up that we had a total of $31,000 to pay off give or take a couple of hundred. Remember this is a estimate, and we are working on getting a perfect number (not sure if I should say perfect) while working the classes. Unfortunately we are having to put money back in the emergency fund due to my last post (Where To Start), which I am very unhappy about.

On another little note here this budgeting is kinda what we have been doing anyway, but this system will help me to better my budgeting abilities. I like that it has things I wouldn't even dream of putting on my budget because I don't think about those things. I should tho, and will start adding funds to those over time. Well off to work on the forms some more and work on the forms our mortgage company wants from us. I have been under the weather this week too and everything has suffered very badly.

Where To Start (frustration is over the top)

2010-11-07T09:25:00.000-06:00

Since my last post on us being in the FPU class, many things have transpired. The first class was very helpful and we learned (& shared) several things on why we want to be debt free. That night before class tho our 10 year old decided to make a glass of tea, and I will add he just had to make it right by the computer. Some how while he was making this glass it spilled on the computer or spilled and ended up under the computer. Instead of coming and telling us what had happened he sloppily tried to clean it up, and did not get it entirely cleaned up. It fried my computer, I was beyond mad at this point, this is why we were in the middle of preparing documents for our mortgage company to see if we could get a permanent loan modification because our last payment was coming due and it was the balloon payment of almost $7700. I had not gotten all the documents saved from the internet so we are starting over from square one with them because the date came and went while we were trying to figure out if the hard drive was fried or not. Yes I could have went to another computer to retrieve them but asking family to use their computer with sometimes them hanging over shoulders just was not an option at that time. Needless to say our son is grounded, for a month. He is paying for the damages to and the cost of a new computer. We have our life basically through or on a computer, I pay bills, check balances, and track things all from here. The total which depleted our fully funded emergency fund by $300 is now at $700, which his dad and I are starting the commissions charts for earning money around the house and that is how he will pay for the damages. I know you are thinking are you crazy that will take forever, yes we realize this but he had been warned many times and he finally had to take a massive punishment for something he did and I assure you he got the point about what he did. So Murphy was in the for of a 10 year old monster in my house that well just didn't listen and got burned badly by not doing so.
Yes I was so happy up until that point too we had a fully funded emergency account, going into the 1st week of FPU. Now its depleted and I have to start putting money back in it once again. I know a computer might not have been a real Murphy emergency but when you live 30 minutes from town and that is how you pay and check the bank for everything it is. So we have had 2 classes so far and I have learn several things from both so far. I know we have gotten off track, and will get back on especially the farther we get in FPU. Other things happening here are the furnace finally got fixed and only cost $62, I was ecstatic about it too I was so figuring on around $300 for the entire fix. Well that is our last month in a nutshell we have class three tonight, and maybe by class time I will have my part of the homework finished (reading LOL!) .

It's Official

2010-10-04T10:51:00.000-05:00

The hubby and I are officially FPU students. A local church is hosting the FPU classes and I told him that I really wanted us to go to actually have the materials, and knowledge for our finance's. I am more of a have to see it in black and white to understand it person. Since I can't budget worth a crap, have tried many times; it will be a great thing. All tho we have been trying this on our own I think it will help us to work the program together, we are even making our 11 year old sit in on the DVD portion of the classes to help him understand what it is we are doing. Even tho we are not very far in debt this action is what we need for our long term future. So as of Sunday night October 17th, we are pupils again. It will also give us kicks in the pants when we start getting off the trail, I feel really comfortable with the people that will be there, because we know if not all most of them. I know they are in the same boat and want to be out of that boat into a great boat of no debt just like us. As we make this venture I will post (or try too) as often as I can hopefully right after class on what we got out of the class that night and goals from that night (if any). I am really excited to join the millions on this program and can't wait to get started.

Taxes update

2010-08-13T10:29:00.000-05:00

I can honestly say that this tax thing is a total pain in the BUTT! On the upside however I have been able to knock out a portion of it in the last 2 weeks, at a total of $172.33. That takes care of the 2007 portion of the $717.00 for state numero uno! I have been working on getting the information they need on the 2005/06 tax papers to maybe be refunded our federal taxes that were used to pay those years. Now if only state 2 would be reasonable and take their stupid filings and quit rejecting them maybe we would get some where with them.

So since the beginning of July, I have been able to payoff $542.33, to which I can say I am very proud of myself to start knocking things out. I am hoping by this time next year to be knocking out the auto loan we will just have to see about that. I hope everyone has a blessed Friday and weekend. This is our official last weekend to summer and we all will be home. I know we shouldn't do this but we are going to go out on the lake Sunday I think for some family time. Nothing to terribly expensive but just some good ole' fashion (as Chevy Chase would say) family fun. No we won't be in the "Family Truxter" either LOL!

Tax Update

2010-08-05T08:44:00.000-05:00

I spent quite a few minutes on the phone Tuesday with our home state Dept. of Revenue. I have found out that all I need to send them is the tax papers that were sent to the state Mr. Booting worked in and a form from them; we may get all of the federal taxes that were applied to tax bills for state one back. So I am working on getting all that information prepared to be sent off. I originally called to check on a tax lien that been placed on us for the tax year of 2006 because of a balance due. They said they had received the federal offset and the only amount owed for that year would be about $18.00. Then we started talking and the gentleman told me about the form we could send in to offset the paying into them if we had paid to another state.

Today's Menu

2010-08-03T14:56:00.000-05:00

I am making Rosemary Chicken w/ White Beans.

6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast halves (6oz ea)
1 tblsp canola oil
2 cans (15.5 oz) great northern beans, rinsed and drain (optional)
1 c sliced fresh carrots
1/2 c sliced celery
2/3 c Italian dressing
2 tsp dried rosemary. crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

1) In a lg skillet, brown chicken in oil in batches on both sides. Place beans carrots and celery in a 5 qt slow cooker top with chicken

2) Combine the salad dressing, rosemary, salt and pepper; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low 3-4 hours or until meat thermometer reads 170 degrees.

Daycare Bill

2010-08-02T10:13:00.000-05:00

Whelp the daycare bill will be dropped off, and tagged as "paid in full" later this afternoon. I am so glad that these 2 small ones are out of the way so we can tackle the ever dreaded tax bills. I will pick up my order from the Pampered Chef party as well, that has 2 Christmas presents in it. I am going to go put a couple of things on layaway in next couple of weeks for the boys and start getting theirs bought, just so we don't have to spend November and December scrambling to buy it all.
I was on Facebook Saturday and one of my friends posted she had some apples to give away. I hopped on the chance of snagging a bushel. While I was at work waiting for the bartender she stopped by and dropped them off. We are going to make apple butter and sauce out of them. I got another surprise when one of our bartenders brought me a bag of tomatoes. I went and got some Mason Jars at Wal-Mart last night after work and am planning on canning later this week. I even bought our favorite salsa mix for the tomatoes. This will be my 1st time canning by myself. I watched my mom do it when I was a kid and helped out quite a bit but the has been many years ago. I know I can do this and have many people I can call on if things go a rye!
So hopefully we can put up some food for out pantry this winter.
My Mother in Law got a bunch of pickling cucumbers at a local farmers market and is making bread/butter and kosher dills out of them and we are in for some of that too. So our pantry is going to be looking pretty good, I may even head to a local Winery for their Tomato Days after work on Saturday!

Only a little bit away

2010-07-30T12:17:00.000-05:00

I am only a little bit away from being able to pay the daycare bill off, YAY! After making our house payment today, our cell payment, and the internet bill; I am happy to say I still have money in the account. I have been putting my earnings this week toward the payoff of the smaller bills, to make way for the larger ones. I have $131.00 of the $268.00 we need to pay off the daycare. If I do it right after tonights games I will only have to pull a little bit out of the account to finish it off. I need to go get some meat and things to make for lunches and that would be about it for groceries. I feel so good about getting back on track with paying off the debt, I have even stumbled across Dave's broadcast on a channel while I am on my way to work. That has given me a little bit more of a push. I also talked with the gentleman at the mortgage company today about what is next to help us take care of the balloon payment. He was very helpful and gave me instruction on what we need to do to go further with modification procedures once the balloon payment is due. Hopefully we can get that all straightened out and it tacked on the end of our loan. That bridge we shall cross in late September. At least I have been getting information on what we are going to need to do to make that happen.

We The People

2010-07-27T12:29:00.000-05:00

Side bar update

2010-07-26T11:10:00.000-05:00

Well since I now have all the figures I am updating the side bar today. I have just paid off the A/C repair bill today to other than having a horridness headache which I have had now for 5 days. I feel great and that we can successfully get back on the debt snowball once again full force. I just have to keep my chin up with work here lately has been a push for me to go to work and deal with the whiny people we have that play volleyball with us. The past month has been really bad with complaints every thing one could possibly imagine to people not doing their jobs or being petty about things. I know I am venting here but it chaps my A$$, because if it was me i would have it chewed completely off by now. I just want to scream at times, but Dave pops in my head with one of his famous lines of many and I plug along with my night. So hopefully the month of August will get better and I can get rid of this darn headache. On that note I have been put on some meds that may take care of them, we should know for sure in the next 2 months if it does if not we are back to square one.

Month of July

2010-07-23T11:28:00.000-05:00

Well once again I have managed to pay everything on or before they were all due with the exception of the internet. I had waited because of the problems we were having, no biggie tho since they have pro-rated the next bill I am not worried about it going in late. We got our letter yesterday from the school about when we can pick up our free school supplies for this up coming year. I was glad to see it, it is on our states tax free weekend which I thought only appropriate. That is one less thing we have to worry about for that weekend and I can just worry about buying shoes, and underwear now, everything else is already done. I do need to pick up a good coat for the oldest as he doesn't have a heavy jacket that fits this year, I wasn't able to find any at the garage sales. I have to pay the A/C bill next week and that will be taken care of. The next on agenda is the daycare bill. Which I have been putting little amounts here and there back for. Then when those are taken care of it will be off to the races for the emergency fund and taxes. We got a letter from the state telling us they are going to put a lien on it off our federal, which is fine with me, we have had it done with the state we live in and it worked out well because they only took half of what they were asking for and called it good! If that is the way we have to pay it then so be it. NO skin off my nose sine that state is being crappy about the whole thing anyway!

Purging From Closets

2010-07-21T10:40:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday while I was folding laundry, I started going through my closet/dresser and purging things that I no longer wore, or had just plain couldn't. I was humbly shocked when I downsized my closet by like 40%. I had to recently go out a grab me a few things, yes I got me a few cloths but I bought everything on sale and saved quite a bit of money. I know it should have went on taxes, but I needed a few things. I also got hubby a couple of pairs of shorts, as he has been loosing weight and his fall off now. I also did this in both the boys closets after our garage sale school cloths purchases in early June, I have 3 bags waiting to goto DAV, all though the kids cloths might get taken to once upon a child for some cash. I don't care how much we may get but a little would go a long way.
I am getting ready to sit down to do the August budget and its back to school in the middle of the month so saving instead of spending is going to have to be my mantra. I may take the challenge that Beks over at Blogging Away Debt proposed to her hubby. No dining out for 60 days they are in week 2 of this challenge, and looks like they are doing fine with it. I think it would be a great way for us to save that little extra we need here and there. The only be thing I am worried about is the busy schedules we will both keep in the month of September with our officiating schedules. But if I can take that $15.00 we spend at McD's and buy lunch type stuff then we are all set. I am going to have to push for this and work hard at it, in mid September we are back to only paychecks again no extra cash here and there, but since our re-budget of the house payments and I am back on track with a bill paying schedule I think everything will be just fine. Maybe who knows I will find more ways to pinch the ever depleting penny, and come out of this winter smelling like a rose (insert a humbling shrug here). This challenge may take place in August but now that I sit here and type this I think maybe we should take the month and start it in September just to test ourselves while we are in that busy schedule. So to night I will start by taking my own packed meal to work with me couldn't hurt right.

The month of June and July Update.

2010-07-16T11:03:00.001-05:00

The month of June was an up and down venture with our internet provider. We had some major storms which in turn cause all kinds of havoc on our point to point tower. It was not only us but a lot of the smaller communities that use this service. The upside is last week I called in and talked with them, the prorated our bill for 2 weeks worth of lost services. Chalk a big fat PLUS sign our way the credit was a little over $19.00 and I was very happy they were so cooperative.

I have just finished the bills for the month of July, a couple of the bills were a little more than budgeted. After my cell phone taking a swim in a glass of ice water, we went and added a line with a better plan so we could have a phone sitting here in the house for emergencies. That took our bill up just a bit but in 3 months it will level off to a better more manageable amount. The light bill was $45.00 more than I had budgeted for, it has to do with the A/C being fixed so its not all that bad. We are about to also go rounds with Dish Network, I am once again locked out of my online account. After last month and calling tech support to fix the problem it has once again surfaces, oh and did I mention that it took 25 minutes to get tech on the phone. The other problem with our online account is that we can not do payments from our checking/savings accounts due to a opppsssss about 3 months ago where a payment went back. They put you on a probation period of 6 months only allowing you to pay by mail, Greendot money packs, or credit.debit. Well that is all fine and dandy because I was just picking up a Greendot money pack and paying that way; until that service was locked out as well which I am sorry to say it complete and utter BS. That is a guaranteed service provided through the Greendot company that automatically sends the funds straight to the company you are using the funds for. I asked why they we blocking that option they couldn't tell me why. Go figure that a rep couldn't tell me why. So we are taking heavy consideration on switching to Direct TV, I checked and they have channels we were getting even after we downgraded our package, we have lost channels. Not to mention they are offering free HD for life, with more channels that dish doesn't even have. The plus is that it would cost us the same or close to same amount we are currently paying with Dish. I am going to show Mr. Booting the differences tomorrow while he is home to get his take. I thought about just shutting the whole thing off but even with the converter boxes we wouldn't get very much. Most of our locals we currently pull in 1/2 have paid programming on them a lot of the time. I know it would save us around $70 or more a month to put towards the tax bill, but that sacrifice is something I am not ready to handle yet. The other plus to maybe Direct TV is that we may be able to get by with only one receiver for 2 rooms. Weighing the options is really tough but I am getting really tired of being inconvenienced every time I try to pay a bill or get tech on the line.

So the month of July was a little bigger on the budget but it all worked out in the end. We get three paychecks this month so the last will take care of house for the month of August and maybe the 1st of the month bills. I have started putting back little by little money for the taxes, daycare, and A/c bills tho, slowly those amounts are building for a payoff. Groceries might come out of that check as well, I am happy to say that we may not need very much, just meats, veggies, fruit, and odds/ends. The canned goods and things of that nature are in cupboard already. On another note my Crock Pot meal was a hit all said it was very good and wouldn't mind having again. I tried another meal it was Crock Pot Fajitas they however need a little work I think I will make a few changes to that recipe and try it again. It was a very bland recipe we are used to like Lowery's seasonings or something like that. But if I can make the changes to make it taste just as good or better we wont have to but those seasoning packets anymore. I will however buy my taco seasoning from Sams Club, it takes us 6 months or more to use it up.

Wonderful and Busy Weekend

2010-07-07T10:10:00.000-05:00

What a wonderful Independence Day weekend, other than it raining pretty much most of the day Sunday it was still a good time. Saturday my niece was married to a wonderful man, the wedding was beautiful. Great food, family and fun was just the ticket for the night. Sunday we had our annual church Fourth of July picnic after services, the rain didn't slow us down, food was great along with the fellowship.

The only down side to the weekend was not being able to get on the internet, our point to point tower here in town has been on the fritz. We have had many storms over the passed month which has reeked havoc on the towers, not just here but all the outer area's that the cable company has towers. I called them yesterday and the told me the tech was here working and that they were having problems every where due to the storms in the middle of June. They have been replacing things right and left on every tower and still can't keep up. The tech I talk to told me to call back in when service came back up for a prorate on our bill. Wasn't that just nice of him ;) I called in this morning and got a prorate of $19.29 for 2 weeks which is just peachy with me Thank You Cablevision!

Other than these events nothing else really went on I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday weekend.

Slow Cooker Tuscan Pasta

2010-06-29T14:10:00.001-05:00

I finally got to the store for all of the ingredients for my slow cooker meals, the first 4 any way. I have chosen the Tuscan Pasta, it looked great and since its been whipped up smells great too. I will tell you I have no room in my cabinets for anymore canned goods tho, great trip to the store and hasn't buckled the budget to bad I must say. Now for the piece De restistonce.

Tuscan Pasta

Makes 8 servings

1lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1in pieces
1 can (15 1/2oz) red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15oz) tomato sauce (I subbed 2 8oz I already had on hand)
2 cans (14.5oz) Italian-stewed tomatoes
1 jar/can (4.5oz) sliced mushrooms, drained
1 med green bell pepper chopped
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1/2 c. celery, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced (I subbed 3 tablespoons of minced garlic from a jar I had on
hand)
1 c. water
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
6 oz. thin spaghetti broken into halves

Place all ingredients except spaghetti in slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 4 hours or until veggies are tender.
Turn to HIGH. Stir in spaghetti; cover. Stir again after 10 minutes. Cover and cook 45 minutes or until pasta is tender. Garnish with basil and bell pepper strips if desired.
I placed Slow Cooker liner in for easy clean up.
Reynolds Aluminum 00504 Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner, if you are wondering about them they are very handy to have on hand.

***Taken from the Easy Home Cooking Slow Cooker recipes book.

You can probably sub a different veggie here and there I am not to that point we will see how it goes with the family first. I actually can't wait to taste it it looks so good. I should be ready just in time for Mr. to get home from work tonight.

Hamilton Beach 6-Quart Slow cooker
Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking
Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
Simple Slow Cooker Recipes (Better Homes & Gardens Cooking)

A/C & Furnace Update

2010-06-23T14:14:00.000-05:00

It wasn't as bad as it could have been at all. The a/c is fixed with a new transformer, but when the time rolls around we will have to put a new circuit board in for the furnace. The total bill for yesterday was $102 much better than I feared it would be. Kinda ironic that the bill was 102 and the temperature outside yesterday was 100 LOL! I broke as you can tell it was miserable in this house. I am still thinking that somewhere some how maybe that emergency fund may have to replace the furnace, to a better and more efficient model. So you may add to that list of outstanding bills a bill ll of $102 under heading A/C & Furnace Repair. The circuit board I am going to be pricing here in the next week or so to be sure we have the money for it. I am still thinking about getting a zone heater for the upstairs and downstairs both to help on the gas bills this winter. Hopefully I can find them for less than $300 a piece.

Storms Storms Storms

2010-06-22T10:13:00.000-05:00

WOW! What a wild weekend, we had storms of every shape and kind. On Friday night the rounds started and about every 12 hours a storm hit. Winds of 60-70 plus mile per hour, hail, heavy lightening, and rain, seemed to be all we could see. Trees lots of them are down, plus for a while power was out for a lot of folks, and we of course no internet. When the main cable goes out in the town where ours is supplied ours is out too. Well we have been out since Friday night and is still out as far as I know. I am writing to you today from the guest internet at the hospital while I wait on my Mom to get her thyroid biopsy done. Thank the Lord for the internet here so I can catch up, you know you are internet dependent, when you have none and go nuts.

Things have just been to busy for us work, errands, not feeling well again, and dodging storms. I am awaiting a slow down I think that will come when church camp rolls around. Our oldest will be gone to his first church camp from July 9th thru the 13th, I hate to say this I can't wait. I will get so much done while he is gone his room can get the royal cleaning it needs and the cloths shifted from him to his brothers grow into pile. I did get a chance finally to get another crock pot and am looking into recipes to help the budget, even if I have to make them all up on Saturday's the week before and freeze them to pop them in I think that will help a lot. I told Mr. Booting my idea and he kinda looked a little skeptical that I would even get it done for the freezer let alone pull it out to cook! Oh well I have to start somewhere right!!!!! I did find a magazine of all slow cooker meals with pull out cards for all the recipes. Plus for me and we can try these and see how they work, anything is possible.

June Goal

2010-06-18T11:25:00.002-05:00

I know I didn't say that we (I) had a goal for this month but secretly in my little world here (back of my mind) I did. I have made that goal of having all the bills paid on or before their respective due date. I have not been able to say that since last October, yes yes yes I know bad of me. I just feel so much better that we are getting back on track or having a plan. The positive up for this and me is I have not used my pay checks from the bus routes yet we have used Mr. Booting's to pay every thing this month. The only thing that wasn't paid today was the insurance and it will come out automatically on Monday. Now I can focus that money on our extra's WOOOOO WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
I also need to take the boys to get their dad his fathers day gift, and yes I budgeted for it. I would tell you all what the oldest wants to get but in case on a whim he decides to look at this he won't get tipped off! I will be taking the pay checks I have not used of mine to pay the daycare bill, and installment one or 2007's portion of state one's taxes. Then I can focus on the second state's which I have been thinking of calling with a take it or leave it amount. Dave mentions getting every thing in writing on his show and thats what I intend to do when I call them what is the worse they can say "No", the way I figure it is they will take what they can get, and I can think they owe that to us since they are keeping my hard earned tax dollars that we have already paid into their state.

Slow Cooker Menu's

2010-06-17T12:59:00.000-05:00

Well after my total shock with the second state and their lovely taxes. We have heard from them they have rejected our filing of the 2007 tax year, saying that we did not reply by the appeal date now thanks to this we owe them a whopping $13,000 plus. I cannot believe that we paid into this state and were supposed to get a refund and we have to pay. The state we live in didn't say a word and process our return no questions asked. Just goes to show you how some states are just wanting the money GEESH!

I have taken into consideration our menu's and am going to start making crock pot meals and using the Julie/Julia method with a little twist. I will make the meals by doubling the recipe and freezing 1/2 for winter meals. But I am going to use the Easy Home Cooking Slow Cooker book, when I am finished with that I will move to another I figure if I can do this I will have meals stock piled making winter a little easier. This cook book has appetizers/beverages, main courses, soups/sides, and bread/ desserts. Typical type cook book but I also considered if I make some of the side dishes and freeze them, then I can have them when we do cook. Appetizers and such could be good for family dinners and anything else that comes our way on short notice. Now if I can get to it that would be great I do need to go get another bigger crock pot maybe 2 if the price is right. This would help the budgeting a bunch, Who knows maybe Mr. Booting will get in on the action, well I should say he will because part of the time he will have to be taking the meals off and freezing them. If anyone has any tips for freezing dishes like this I am all ears.

Back to the debt I have run the numbers and its looking like this:
1. Balloon Payment for Mortgage $ 7849.02
(we hope to get that modified when the time comes)
2. State 1 Tax Bill $ 719.19
3. State 2 Tax Bill $13,746.36
4. Daycare from winter to finish off $ 268.00
5. Emergency Fund $ 0.00

For a grand total of $22,582.48

Here I thought we were getting back on track and the proverbial brick wall strikes again! Tweaking the budget is still a work in progress as most of you know. So we will keep plugging away with it. We still have the auto loan and keep paying just the monthly payment, I so wish I could put more toward it but that is just not possible at this time. I hope everyone is meeting their goals or trying to meet them happy "Debt Free" all.