Frugal Freedom

Another Day Closer To Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 03:43:00 +0000

I FINALLY found some time this evening and put my parents' bookshelf together, at least the hard part. They can do the rest. My nephew is off on a sleepover at a friend's house so it is just my parents here tonight. We took 3 dogs for a walk as the sun went down. It was still hot but not too bad. Tomorrow is supposed to be 104. I am not looking forward to June weather.

I got bitten by mosquitos or something and my ankles are itchy. It is driving me quite crazy. It isn't even the rainy season yet. It could have been a kissing bug. I killed one in my bathroom yesterday. They carry Chagas disease which is pretty awful so I hope it was a mosquito. Maybe malaria or West Nile virus is better. Maybe I should just start spraying myself with bug repellant. I wonder if it works on kissing bugs too. At least I don't have a tick problem this year...although the Summer has just begun.

Little Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Wed, 30 May 2012 04:55:00 +0000

I usually have around 30 minutes to work on something after work. I still need to put my parents' bookshelf together and make dog adoption signs but today I decided to re-configure the puppy fence so that they have a protected and shady area near my sliding glass door. This will also help keep my room cooler since it is a West facing door. I should have taken a picture but today's efforts were quite crude and nothing that I was proud of (except that it hasn't fallen over yet). I nailed a sheet to the eaves and attached it to the top of the fence as well as draped the fence with another sheet. It kind of looks like a fort. I would like to buy some shade fabric so that it is a little more durable and will keep the rain off of that area. At least it is a start. I can make improvements as necessary. I sure hope we don't have wind in the forecast.

The Days Whirl By

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Tue, 29 May 2012 04:12:00 +0000

My 3 day weekend was over in the blink of an eye. Although I tried to get everything done that was on my list, I still didn't get my parents' bookcase put together, get signs made for another dog rescue, and spread the sand in the side yard. I did make chocolate chip cookies, take a nap (yay!), water the trees, clean my room repeatedly, go out to my RV and collect more clothes, my window A/C and my evaporative cooler so that my parents can sit on the porch and be cool. I also gave 2 dogs a bath and made special meat balls for my old cocker spaniel to help him gain weight. Four days of work until another weekend!

On a sad note, one of my puppies disappeared. Everyone tells me that a hawk probably carried him off. I guess I got a little over-confident with my 6 foot block wall. I didn't really think a bird would carry off a 10 pound puppy. I am very sad about it. Hopefully my other 4 puppies will make it. They are no longer allowed to be out in the yard in the early morning hours. That means I get less sleep but I'd rather have living puppies than more sleep.

New Routines With Dogs And Trees

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Sat, 26 May 2012 04:08:00 +0000

Fostering 5 puppies is hard but fostering 5 puppies in my bedroom and being sick for 3 days is extremely hard! I am feeling better finally. After work yesterday I came home and had to catch up on chores like picking up the yard and watering the trees. The puppies think it is a lot of fun to pounce on the lantana bush and tear it up so I put some chicken wire around it. Last night one of the puppies was bouncing on the chicken wire on top of the lantana! This time I took the puppy fence that they aren't using any more and put it around the lantana. I think that will protect it.

The puppies are almost all well except for some coughing fits at midnight. I will give them their last dose of antibiotic on Thursday and hopefully they will be able to get their first vaccine soon after. They are all eating hard kibble but are still nursing too and I have let them do it because they have been sick but now it is time to get serious about this weaning business. With my last momma dog I put a t-shirt on her and tied it so the puppies couldn't nurse. The thought occurred to me to put some of that bitter apple no-chew spray on momma and perhaps the pups will decide that the milk doesn't taste good anymore. Poor momma is losing her hair. The vet said it is not mange and it is probably from an infection. She is scratching off clumps of hair but then it starts growing right away. She seems to be molting like a chicken. I am hoping that once all of her original coat has fallen out she won't have this itching problem anymore. The new hair is growing in nice and soft as opposed to the course hair she had. I just bought some more itchy skin shampoo because I didn't want to use all of my parents' Head & Shoulders shampoo on my dog.

Although these puppies are really cute I dearly want a break from them. I want to take a half day off and then take a nap in my quiet dog-free office. haha. If all goes well these pups should be ready for adoption in 4 weeks. I'll be happy when they are gone but I will miss them too.

I am also trying to walk my 2 dogs everyday. My own dog is so fat because I have given him treats to keep him busy instead of taking him for walks when I am too tired to walk after work. I also stopped walking because it was hard to walk many dogs at once (including crazy foster dogs who pull on the leash). It is easier to separate the dogs now and just take my 2 dogs for a nice calm walk which is much more enjoyable. We go for a short 15 minute walk which is about all my poor chubby dog can handle but hopefully he will regain some of his energy and lose some weight if we keep this up. It is 105 degrees today but they say it will cool down to the low 90's this weekend. It isn't too bad at 6pm when I get home but it is still hot.

What else...I planted a total of 5 trees in the yard and now I have the arduous task of keeping them alive through the hot Summer. I only have to water them until the Summer rains start but that isn't for another 6-8 weeks! What was I thinking? The one rose plant that was getting leaves got trampled by dogs and puppies. My raspberry plant died. I don't know what it needed, probably a different type of soil. I should stick to plants that just need water. The Chinaberry trees are sprouting from the roots left in the soil. I am pulling those whenever I see them. I would love to spend time and money on the yard but for now I will just keep watering what I can and see what survives. Next year the trees will be established and I should be able to water only once every week or two. There is a drip system but it doesn't seem to be connected to anything. Maybe I will investigate it some day. On the other hand, drip systems and dogs don't really go well together so it isn't high on my priority list.

So, those are my 2 hobbies right now. Dogs and landscape. Keeping the dogs from eating the landscape and trying to get the landscape to grow so it will shade the dogs. Maybe next year I will attempt some sort of patio extension and grassy area, if I am feeling ambitious.

Down Time

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Sun, 20 May 2012 04:17:00 +0000

Wouldn't you know it, one of my co-workers was out sick on Monday but came in on Tuesday coughing. Guess what I got on Thursday? I started getting a sore throat Wednesday night but I thought it was allergies. Thursday I was getting worse and by Friday morning I had to call off work. I stayed in bed most of the day except to groggily feed the dogs. It wasn't very easy to sleep with 6 dogs and 5 puppies and 3 people in the house. When the dogs were sleeping the people would make noise and then the dogs would wake up. When everything was finally quiet the puppies would want to play. I spent most of today in bed too except that I had to get the puppies prescription re-filled and buy more dog food.

At least it is the weekend so I have more time to recover. I was looking forward to getting some things done but they will have to wait. Next weekend is a 3 day weekend too. Hopefully I'll be well and ready to tackle my to-do list.

Sick Puppies And No Sleep

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:54:00 +0000

I'm still here. I've been so busy lately with my sick puppies and dogs. Every day I cook special meals for my old cocker spaniel and mix up water, formula, and puppy chow for the puppies. My old dog was doing well and then last night he had an accident in my bedroom at midnight. That was not a nice way to wake up. Luckily I have tile in my bedroom but still.

The puppies seem to have moved from kennel cough on to bronchitus or something. They were getting better and then plateaued and could not get over the cough and runny nose. I was able to take one puppy to the vet today and they gave me more of the medicine that I was giving them except in an easier to give liquid. I sure hope they get better fast because they have learned how to escape their outdoor enclosure and prefer to sleep in my bathroom. That would be ok except for the pitiful little puppy coughs that wake me up. I got out the big box fan last night to drown out the noise. I hope I get a better night's sleep tonight.

Deciding Not To Decide Is Still A Decision

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:32:00 +0000

I decided to explore some of my goals a little bit more although I am not any closer to choosing which plan to follow. I guess my first plan is to wait and see what my parents need in the future. When their house sells they will have to decide if they want to stay here or if they want to move and buy a place of their own. Then, will I move with them, will I stay at this house or will I have the money to make improvements on my property so that I can rent out this house and move back there.

My plans are also affected by my rental house. So far I have been receiving rent every month but I haven't heard if the current tenant will renew their lease or not. If my rental house is vacant for a while I won't have $1,000 a month to save.

Assuming that I am still getting paid rent and that my parents are still living here and helping me with the house expenses, I have approximately $1,000 a month to use as I see fit. There are 3 major directions that I could go.

1. Pay down the mortgage. $500 extra a month would mean I would pay off my mortgage in 8 1/2 years. $1,000 extra a month would mean I would get rid of the mortgage in 5 years. Since the interest rate is only 4.5%, I am not in a hurry to pay it off although it is quite fun and motivating to see the balance decrease so rapidly each month when I am paying off as much as I can.

2. Fix up the house. I could easily spend $40k on fixing up this house. I probably wouldn't get the money back out of it when I sell it but it would make living here more comfortable.

Air conditioning $6k
Landscaping $3k
Turning carport in to garage $5k
Kitchen remodel $10k
Screen in porch $5k
Roof and wood trim maintenance/replacement $5k
Masterbath remodel $5K
-------
Total $39k

The purchase price was $91k so with $39k in improvements the house should be worth $130k. That's not too bad for this neighborhood but it wouldn't sell for that much in this market. Any improvements would really be for me and my parents so if my parents are planning to move then I don't think this plan would be on the top of my priorities. Maybe a few of the items but not $39k worth of improvements.

3. Improve my property. There are $51k worth of improvements that I would like to do to my property.

Build a garage $23k
Add a block wall $10k
Improve electical service $10k
Add plumbing $5k
Add gutters $3k
-------
Total $51k

I'm guessing at some of those prices. I could also add just a concrete pad, RV hook up and block wall fence and rent it out to someone with an RV. I estimate that would only cost me $15k. I hate to see my property just sitting there and getting run down. If I am not moving back there any time soon, at least I should get rid of the old mobile home, sell my RV and either tear down or fix the existing gargage.

So those are my priorities. I need to pick something to save for otherwise I will spend all of my extra money on toys for the dogs like this dog backpack that I just bought. I get the feeling my foster dog doesn't appreciate it.

Dogs and Trees

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:33:00 +0000

I say it every time. I can't believe the weekend is over already. I'm going to try to get up early so that I can put in an hour at work before I have to leave for the dentist but I don't know if that will work out. I had one sick puppy on Friday and I had to force feed her for 2 days until she felt better. Today she ate on her own and was ready to play. Unfortunately, she has 4 siblings who have also started to cough. I hope they all eat their breakfast because force feeding 4 puppies is not something I have time to do in the morning.

After taking care of all of the dogs today I was able to get a nap. It was only an hour but the dogs joined in and we all had a peaceful rest. My blind cocker spaniel has mastered the dog door but he always ends up stepping in the water dish and leaving muddy footprints all over my bathroom. I need one of those dog dish buffets that keeps the dishes off the ground. My new momma dog slept inside last night. She had been outside but she started barking at 4am so I brought her in. Luckily the other dogs weren't too disturbed by her presence. It always takes about 2 weeks for the new dog to find their place in the pack and to find a place of their own to sleep.

It was hot today so I waited until sundown to start digging holes for the new trees that I bought through the Trees For Tucson program. I bought one chinese pistachio and two more desert willows. The spot that I picked for the pistachio just happened to be where one of the old trees was so the spot was full of roots. I was able to pull out some roots and dig a hole but it was dark by the time I got the tree in the ground. Maybe I should just try for planting one tree a day. That is probably a little more realistic.

Teeth Are For Buying

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Sun, 06 May 2012 04:20:00 +0000

My teeth are out to get me or at least break me. I've always had cavity-prone teeth. No matter how much brushing, flossing, extra fluoride tablets, and fluoride rinse I used as a kid, I always had a cavity at the dentist. In fact, the last dentist that I had told me that I had too much fluoride and it stained my teeth. It wasn't until most of my teeth had fillings that the cavities started to slow down. I hoped that was the end of it but I knew that my father had shown me his own mouth full of crowns so it was just a matter of time until I had my own set. I was hoping it would be later rather than sooner but it turns out the fillings don't last forever. Since I got most of my fillings as a child they started to get loose and more cavities formed. I don't even know how many crowns I have now. I think I have 8 but I'm not sure.

So, I went to the dentist on Wednesday and I got bad news. I need a crown. There is a cavity next to a filling and although they could try to just do a giant new filling, I would eventually need a crown. I decided to go with the crown but it is going to cost $1,100. I was sad because I cancelled my dental insurance a few years ago when I was going to retire early and get my dental work done in Mexico. Well, I don't feel like using vacation time to go to Mexico twice to get this crown so I will have to pay $1,100. Luckily, I have a health savings account and my employer contributes $500 a year. I didn't have many medical bills last year so there is $1,600 in the account. That is a relief. I thought I was going to have to use my tax return for dental work.

I did a quick comparison of what I would pay with dental insurance verses without insurance. Turns out that if I get one crown every 4 years then I would pay the same whether I had insurance or not because insurance costs $390 a year and 2 cleanings plus xrays only costs $250 a year. It seems like my teeth need something every 2 years but maybe someday they will all be crowned and I won't have any more problems.

I am so glad that I increased my contribution to my health savings account a few months ago. I put $100 in it a month. It sure is nice to have that money available when I need it.

Bright and early Monday morning I will be back in the dentist chair. What a way to start a new week.

May Day May Day

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:37:00 +0000

How did it get to be May 1st already? This year is flying by but I probably say that every year. Next week I will be 40. I don't believe it but I guess I must accept it. I guess retiring by the time I am 40 is out of the question unless I cash out my 401k and move to a very cheap country and live simply. I have people (and dogs) depending on me so that is out of the question.

This is my newest foster family. I still have 2 foster dogs and I have been putting off getting more because I have been busy moving and helping my parents but things are settling down now and when I saw that they were going to be killed in 2 hours I decided to set up a kennel for them in the yard. Luckily it is the time of year when it isn't too cold at night and it isn't too hot during the day. It is much easier to have puppies outside than inside. I couldn't do it right now if they had to be inside. The squealing puppy noises would keep me awake.

They have added new chores to my life, mainly feeding and watering them twice a day. I have to get up at 6 now instead of 6:30 so that I get everything done. They are very cute though. I love watching puppies wrestle and play and the momma dog is very sweet. I think they will all get adopted easily when the time comes.

I'm going to try to go to bed early tonight. I was dragging at work and it is only Tuesday.

I've Been Sold

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:52:00 +0000

I finally opened my mail from Friday. I thought it was all junk mail but I decided to open it anyway. There was one from Fannie Mae. I thought it was another bogus mortgage pre-payment plan (I've received at least a dozen of them) but it told me that Chase sold my mortgage to Fannie Mae. How strange. Fannie Mae is the one that kept me from getting that fixer upper that I wanted. It turned out to be a good thing because this house is so much better than that one.

I was disappointed that my mortgage was sold for a second but then the letter said that Chase would still be the one collecting payments so it doesn't really matter. All I want is to keep the convenience of having my checking, credit card and mortgage information all at one site. Since I get to keep that, I am happy.

After Work Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 05:00:00 +0000

I came home today and watered my flower in the front yard as usual. I water it in the morning and when I get home from work. When I turned off the water I noticed the faucet was dripping. I tried to tighten it and it got worse. This is a brand new faucet that was just put on when I moved in. I couldn't leave it spraying water everywhere so I turned off the main water which was attached to the same pipe and headed over to the hardware store. Unfortunately, I relied on my not-so-great memory to find the replacement part. Once I was staring at all of the different faucet choices I had no idea what I needed. I didn't even take a picture and I forgot to bring my phone so I couldn't call my parents and ask them to look at it for me.

I picked one out that I thought looked right and then, as back up, I bought one of those Y attachments that turns one faucet in to two and has a valve to shut them off. Wouldn't you know it, I bought the wrong faucet but luckily the Y worked like a charm. I just screwed it on and shut off both valves. Tomorrow...or maybe this weekend I will go get the right faucet and fix it properly. I am sure glad I had a back up plan though. I have enough experience with plumbing to know that buying a few extra pieces can save a whole lot of time and extra trips to the store.

Chores Completed And More Chores Created

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 03:30:00 +0000

My weekends have been as busy as my weekdays lately but I actually got a nap this time. Friday night we watched Labyrinth because my nephew had not seen it and it was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. Of course, the reason it was one of my favorite movies was because I was infatuated with David Bowie. I must admit the movie wasn't as great this time.

My old cocker spaniel has been having trouble going to sleep and he started to howl at midnight. I tried feeding him and then let him outside for the rest of the night. The weather is very warm at night so he just wanders and sleeps. For some reason he doesn't howl when he is outside. One of my dogs didn't like that there was something outside and he got up at 4am and started barking at the sliding glass door. That was not a good start to the weekend.

On Saturday my nephew and I took my foster dog to dog training classes. I must admit I was not happy to do it. More homework and tests was not what I was looking for in a weekend activity. At least it is not hard homework. I hope this dog gets adopted after all this.

I was planning to go out to my mobile home on Saturday afternoon but the lack of sleep from Friday night caught up with me and I took a nap for most of the day. Sunday I tried to take a nap too because I had another sinus headache. The headache still hasn't gone away but it is tolerable. I made it out to my property in the afternoon. It was VERY hot and dirty out there and I found a leak in the water supply for the RV toilet. I have had a leak in the RV for many months and I couldn't find it. Well, I sure found it now. Unfortunately, it is going to be difficult to get the broken piece off because of its tight location. I hope I don't break something and need a whole new toilet. I don't know when I will get back out there. It certainly isn't high on my priority list. I should try to find the replacement part at Camping World since that isn't too far from my work.

So, anyway, I am doing laundry now (almost effortlessly since it is indoors with automatic water!) and trying not to think about another full week of work although I will probably need to take half a day to take my old dog to the vet. I've decided that he either has cancer or pancreatitus. That is what google told me. Hopefully it is pancreatitus because that is easily treated.

Tax Refund!

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 03:29:00 +0000

I know, I know, I am supposed to OWE taxes not lend the government my money and then get excited when they return it to me but... I wasn't expecting a refund. I am not very good at taxes and if it wasn't for TaxAct online I would have to pay someone or something. I thought TaxAct was supposed to be free but I think that is only for the very basic form and I have to pay extra because of my rental house. It is one of those things that I just throw money at to make it go away. Save my return for next year? Here's some money! File my state forms? Please, take more of my money! I admit that I am not good at saving money in every aspect of my life.

But anyway, back to my unexpected riches. I now have $1,000 for my emergency fund. That isn't the most fun thing in the world but with 2 houses and an RV and a bunch of stuff still out in my crumbling mobile home, I am sure something is going to need to be fixed sooner or later. And if nothing needs to be fixed, maybe I can save up $6k by next year and get air conditioning for this house. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to save that much before July of this year. July is when it gets humid and the swamp cooler doesn't work anymore. We are just going to have to tough it out with window AC units and hopefully those 6-8 weeks of humid time won't be too bad.

For now am just happy seeing my account with a little padding since I used most of my money to buy this house and put in the new furnace.

Sunday Yard Work

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 03:27:00 +0000

I really need to remember to take pictures. I was hoping for a relaxing Sunday afternoon but my dad decided to chop down some cactus so I helped with the cleanup and couldn't help but chop some more cactus myself. Then the oleanders were leaning over the sidewalk so they had to go and the lantana was growing on to the driveway so that needed trimming too. Oh yes, and some weeds near the street had to go too while I was at it. Now I have a headache, of course, and I am not looking forward to getting up for work tomorrow.

The bookcase did not get put together as there was too much cactus chopping going on and we kind of forgot about it in the back of my truck. We brought it in tonight and looked at the many pieces and that is as far as it got. Some people came over to meet my foster dog but I think he was a little too energetic for them. My nephew and I will be taking the foster dog to training classes starting next Saturday. Hopefully it will help him get adopted.

I am going to bed early with the hope that a good night's sleep will give me a better attitude for Monday. I am already looking forward to Friday again.

The New Usual

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 04:25:00 +0000

I seem to be running out of hours in the day. It used to be that I got home from work, fed the dogs, cleaned the house, showered and then settled in with my computer to write on my blog, catch up on Facebook and watch something online. Now I come home, feed the dogs, clean, help my parents with whatever questions they have (anything from where is the boy scout meeting to how do I register my credit card online), water my new plants, maybe eat dinner that my mom made, take a shower and finally get in to bed around 10. I am hoping that the after work projects slow down soon so I can get back to my usual routine.

Today I took my parents to the thrift store. My mom was looking for a bookshelf but they didn't have anything suitable. I found 3 shirts, my dad got 4 shirts and my mom got some too. I was hoping to buy 5 shirts so I could go a whole week without repeating my usual wardrobe but 3 shirts is a good start. After that we went to Big Lots and found a tall bookshelf for $35. I didn't have my truck with me so I came back and got it later. Then I took my terrier to the vet for his shots. He freaked out as usual but I had a muzzle on him so he didn't bite the vet this time. Poor dog.

The bookshelf is still in the box in the back of my truck. There's another project for the list. Maybe we will tackle that tomorrow.

Finally Done With The Taxes

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 02:23:00 +0000

I finally submitted my taxes. I am a horrible procrastinator when it comes to taxes. I used TaxAct but I couldn't keep track of all of the fees. I thought I prepaid but I ended up paying $20 to file, or to have a back up copy on file, or...I don't even know. All I know is that they have been filed and if all goes well I will have $1,000 for my emergency fund.

Temporary Link

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 03:23:00 +0000

I got a reply from my Century Link email and they said they would send someone out today. That was awfully nice of them to fulfill my request and not argue or transfer me somewhere else or try to upsell me on services. Bright and early my phone rings this morning. I almost didn't answer but then remembered that the service man was coming today. He said he would be here in 20-30 but I think it was more like 15 minutes.

He looked at the problem and I said that upon further inspection I didn't think the chewed wire was the problem because the wire was actually coming from the outside service to the box not from the box into the house like I first thought. He looked at it and switched some wired around and then said to go try an indoor phone jack. I still didn't get anything and it turns out that not only was the wire chewed (which was the least of the problems), the phone jack in the kitchen was bad, and there is a problem from the alley to my house. He said that he doesn't know how I was getting internet service at all.

He ran a temporary line from the alley through my yard and other repairmen will come back in 45 days to fix the alley problem. They need a backhoe and a digging permit. That's ok with me because he changed out my bad jack so all of my house jacks work and I was able to move my modem out of my bathroom. The modem is in the dining room now which is where my mom's computer is that needs to be hooked to the modem directly.

I mentioned the fiasco I had calling Century Link and he said that the outsourcing contract will expire this year and that even he gets frustrated and will hang up if he gets an outsourced agent.

In other news, I bought a piece of plywood for my nephew's loft bed so that is all taken care of. Now we just need to get it more organized in there. My mom and I spent a lot of time trying to organize and condense the boxes in the living room. We put all of the Christmas ornaments and boxes of family photos behind the couch and I set up my TV and attempted to clean off a portion of the couch so that it is a usable space again. I thought we would have to use the whole living room for storage but it looks like we will be able to use the room after all.

Century Links' Merry Go Round Of Despair

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 03:33:00 +0000

You may remember that when I moved in to this house none of the phone jacks worked so I had to plug my phone line directly to the outside box and route the cord through the bathroom window. My router is still living in my bathroom and it hasn't been a priority to fix the problem because my netbook is wireless. Now that my parents have moved in they brought with them a very old Mac computer that is not wireless. The time has come to fix the problem. I tried the phone jacks again but still nothing. I examined the outside cable and it looks like it has been chewed up. So, I need someone to remove the chewed part and splice in a new cable. This sounds so simple. I wish I could do it myself but a google search told me that only a licensed contractor should be doing that sort of repair and that means calling the phone company.

I have posted before about how frustrating Qwest customer service is and now that they are called Century Link, nothing has changed. First, I tried to get on the website. For some reason it wouldn't recognize any of my passwords. I tried to reset the password but it wouldn't recognize my 'internet only' phone number and told me to call customer service. I called the internet repair help line and was obviously talking to someone in a foreign country. I explained the problem and they transferred my to a guy in Idaho Falls. For a brief moment I thought that I was getting somewhere but he said he had to transfer me to phone help and then tried to get me to add Direct TV service. The next non-native English speaker, after hearing that I did not have phone service, said that she was transferring me back to internet help even though I told her that is where I started and I had been transferred 3 times already! The last woman also did not know English well and the connection was bad. She insisted that she could only hear every other word I said and I finally had to hang up because she just kept saying that my internet was working.

I ended up writing Century Link an email which was also difficult because once I admitted I was a customer it kept trying to get me to sign in which I couldn't do. I pleaded with them to send out a repair person but so far all I have received is an acknowledgement of my email and also a very annoying follow up email from the frustrating phone call which spelled my name wrong and then says that they hope they answered all of my questions and then directs me back to the website.

I don't know why I stick with Century Link. I should have switched to the cable company's internet service when I moved. I have heard that their customer service is LOCAL. Perhaps it is just a rumor.

The Last Piece Of The Puzzle

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:46:00 +0000

My mom and I are working on setting up my nephew/brother's room. What is a nephew/brother? He is my nephew by blood and my brother because my parents adopted him after my sister passed away. So far my parents and I have been able to live peacefully in the same house (with 5 dogs). On Monday we will add a 12 year old boy to the mix. This should be interesting.

Hopefully it will all work out and they can all stay here until their house in Washington sells and then they will buy their own home. That is the plan anyway. It changes day to day.

Last night I put together the bunk bed that a friend gave me. There were too many pieces and I couldn't figure out how it went together so I just used the pieces that made sense and left the others. I think she actually gave me more than one bed, perhaps the other parts were for a trundle bed of some sort. I bought the futon because I was going to sleep on that and give my parents my queen bed but I ended up getting a full size bed for only $25 so now the futon is extra. I think it works in his room. I am going to get a bookcase from the mobile home and buy a clip on reading light and he can have a reading area under there. We still have to get the rest of the room in order and I need to buy a piece of plywood because that mattress is precariously perched up there with no support. Those chores are planned for Saturday. One of these days I will get back to working on my own projects.

First Mortgage Payment

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:21:00 +0000

Today the first $540 were sucked out of my bank account to pay for this new house. That's a whole lot less painful than the $860 that used to leave every month for my rental house.

I suppose you want to know if I will be making another countdown to pay off my mortgage but no, I won't do it yet. I want to do some other things first like save a large maintenance and emergency fund, do some improvements such as add air conditioning, dual pane windows and maybe even a kitchen and master bath remodel. On the other hand, I don't really know where my parents are going to end up. They might stay with me for a long time or maybe I will move to a different side of town with them and rent out this house. It is all up in the air right now.

Oh, and my other plan is to save my money for building on my property. I have too many plans and not enough money to go around.

Driveway Decor

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:43:00 +0000

My mom's car is part of my driveway decor now. She doesn't have insurance coverage yet so she isn't driving. I called to get her signed up but the insurance company was busy so they said they would call back in a couple hours. They did call back but we were eating lunch at a restaurant and I didn't have the time to talk. My mom decided that she would wait until Monday to talk to a local agent instead. In the meantime, we bought a cover for the car so that harsh Arizona sun won't damage it. We will be riding to church squished in my truck again. Actually, the parking lot at the church is so tight that my mom doesn't want to park her car there at all. I think we need to find a new church with a roomier parking lot. haha. Gee, something makes me think I'm not going to be allowed to transport dogs in this car. It does have quite a roomy trunk and the back seats fold down. I bet I could fit half a dozen dogs in that back seat/trunk area.

Car Shopping...DONE!

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 04:14:00 +0000

Whew...we have passed a major hurdle. The car has been purchased. My parents are now able to roam freely about town and do all those things they want to do like buy milk and potting soil.

The only thing that I had planned to do today was to go look at a Buick Century that was for sale by owner. I went over at lunch and the guy let me take the car home so my parents could see it. The car ran well but it had a lot of little things wrong with it like broken speaker covers, broken window controls, cracked windshield and old tires. My mom was not impressed so we decided that I would return the car and drop them off at the dealership that they wanted to visit. At first I was going to go back to work and let them take a taxi home but I thought I would stick around because I didn't think the dealership had many cars in their price range and then I wanted to take them to another dealership.

Well, my mom test drove a Chevy Cavalier and it was Ok. Next she tried a Toyota Camry and she said she would buy it! I couldn't believe it because I thought she would want to try out more cars plus it was more money than we had discussed but she wanted it so she bought it.

It is a very nice car and everyone I talk to says it was a good deal. I am very happy that my parents can get out and do things while I am at work. I did not like them trying to walk to the store for milk in the heat. Now I just have to teach my mom the main roads around town so that she can find her way. What good is great gas mileage if the gas gets burned up going in circles?

A Quick State Of The House Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 04:13:00 +0000

A lot has been going on around here and I finally took some pictures so that you all could see what I am talking about.

This is my bedroom with the happy dogs and the baby gate. You can see the fence in the background. That is closed when I am not there so that the dogs can't jump on my bed while I am at work. They have access to the yard through the sliding glass door. My bedroom has a west facing glass door so it is getting warm during the day already. I need some curtains to block the sun.

This is my parents room. My mom measured it tonight and we found that the other bedroom is bigger. I didn't think they would want to be next to the room with all the dogs in it though.

This is the view from the kitchen. We set up the adjoining room to be the living room. there is a armoire and TV in the other corner.

This is the backyard now. The dogs have their half and my parents are planting a small garden in their half. I hope they have better luck at Arizona gardening than I have had.

This is the extra room where my nephew will stay in 2 weeks. I folded up the futon tonight so there is more room. We are still working on putting the bunk bed together.

And lastly, this is the storage room. This is where all of my parents' stuff went and it is slowly getting unpacked. Someday we will be able to sit on the couch again.

So, there you go. That is the state of my house. The furnace installation was completed today. I am very glad that is finished. Now, back to the car search!

Rough Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Daizy) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:31:00 +0000

I hope the rest of the week gets easier. I got ready this morning using a minimum of water and then looked up a plumber that was recommended by the guy installing my furnace. Did I mention my furnace? Now I can't even remember. Let me back up. A fellow who has a heating and cooling business offered to give discounted services to people who foster dogs because our rescue organization helped him out with a dog that he wanted to save from getting put down at the pound. I jumped at the chance and asked him to get my evaporative cooler ready for Summer. He came out and changed a valve and checked everything and got it working and only charged me $52. That was great so I asked him for a quote on a new furnace. He sent me the quote later and said that he could do it for $1,000 with the current Spring sale on equipment and his discounted service rate. The previous quote that I got was $1,500 so I jumped at the chance again. Of course, right after that the drains all clogged.

Today he came by to pick up the deposit for the furnace and take measurements. It will be installed tomorrow. He recommended a plumber so I called and they came out at 3. My parents had said that they might want to get a hotel but they decided to stay. It took the plumber over an hour to snake the drain from the roof vent. $150 later, I have working drains and toilets. He said it was probably caused from sitting vacant so long and toilet paper and other things drying out in the drains.

The day crawled by today probably because I was worried about what was happening at home. My parents are stuck without a car now and not having working bathrooms was inconvenient to say the least. Anyway, that is over and we can continue the search for a car. I'm sure we will find one by the weekend. Or I should say, we better find one by the weekend because I need to other things on my to-do list.