Random thoughts . . .

I trimmed small amounts from
my annual expenses recently.
I closed my mad money checking
account for a savings of
$72. I kept the free savings
account. I dopped my daughter's
road side assistance from
my cell phone plan, she won't
be needing it in Australia.
This saved me $36 per year.

My husband and I are muddling
through the process of combining
finances. We have his, mine and
ours. I'm on his accounts, he's
on mine. My tenant's rent check
is my fixed contribution to the
household accounts. I want to
and do maintain some independence
from him in regards to money.
I came with bills, I pay them.
I'm his backup in rough weeks,
he's mine. I let him know when
I spen money out of the household
accounts. I haven't touched a dime
of his bonus check that sits in an
my savings account. Some how we
make it work.

The hunt for a doomstead continues.

~mh

A nice day . . .

My beloved spouse got off work
early and we both went to the
dentist. He has to go back for
a root canal.

We took a country drive and
saw a doomstead that beckoned
to me. (REALLY beckoned to me.)
We're going back for another
look in an hour.

~MH

Fall projects?

Fall is very weird in Georgia and
Tennesee. It comes at you out of
nowhere. One minute, it's 95F every
single day and the next it's cold
and too late to plant anything.

Joan posted a question online about
fall projects. So I thought it would
be a good time to put pen to paper,
or words to virtual space and take
stock of where I'm going and what
I'm doing.

Healthwise:
I'm getting all my annual checkups.

I'm stocking some meds.

I'm seeing the dentist this week.

I see the neurologist next month.

We're getting the same for my husband.

I'm trying to build up my stamina and
walking.


Financial:
My new tennant seems to be working out just
fine.

I'm trying not to charge. I've begun the baby
steps torwards debt paydown.

I'm pondering savings and retirement.


Stocking up:
October is just around the corner. By then I
will have caught up from moving and wedding
expenses and I'll have extra cash to prep.
My friend Nicole said she accomplished prep
just a little at a time. Yesterday we went to
Walgreens to get a few photos printed and I
picked up a store add and found some bargains.
I bought dishwashing liquid, extra tp, feminine
products for a song. I was grinning ear to ear
and hubby said, "It doesn't take much to make
you happy."


Longterm:

We're quietly looking for a new home.

I need my TN cocealed carry permit.

~mh

Are the lights going out?

Common wisdom wouldn't even address
such a question. Yet, a recent story
in the local press told of an
apartment complex headed to foreclosure
and the utilities turned off for
all the units ~ because 50% of
the tennants hadn't paid their
bill.

We live in interesting times. On
any given month, 50% of my husband's
tennants don't pay their rent.
Living marginally is becoming the
new norm for so many folks. I
actually posted for rent signs
and knocked on the door of a nonpayer
just yesterday. I was polite, but
firm. "This can't go on another
month, we can't pay OUR bills. We
need you out by the weekend."

And my spidey sense is tingling
on overdrive. Time to work some
extra shifts and build up my
food stores.

~mh

I grew up, I swear . . .

Yes world, I have a Hello Kitty
debit card. I did leave this
purse at the store, damnit.
My point is, I have a child
like enthusiasm for life.
A near miss with a fatal
disease, and hanging with
full throttle lads brings
it out in me.

And I love with full throttle
enthusiasm, I don't know how
not too. I love my new husband
to the point of public
embarassment. I see nothing
wrong with nibbling on his
ear in front of the kids
at the playground, at the mall.

I love my friends and family
with equal adoration. I am
not however, a pushover. I
have my limits. I'll give you
the shirt off my back, but
don't take it without asking.

The saddest thing I told a
former friend the other day
was, "you burn through friends
and lovers like chewing gum".

She nodded, sad that.

~mh

Time for Drogheda to stop . . .

This phrase has been bouncing
though my spotted brain for the
last week. It's from one of the
final paragraphs of The Thorne
Birds. One of the main characters
was reflecting on her family's
long journey with a farm in
the outback. It was time for
another family to work the land.

I feel the same way about my
little farmlette. It's time for it
to stop. My family has scattered
and begun reseeding itself, as
families do. One daughter has
sprouted wings all the way to
Australia. The other is looking
forward, and sees a life beyond
these mountains and valleys.

I have been moving the last few
days. Dad and I took a load to the
dump, a load to my new home~for~
now, and a load to the Goodwill.
I have more purging to do. I hate
purging, I find it draining and
exhausting to decide what to keep
and what to get rid of. So many
things have memories attached.

My tenant to be has dreams, likes
my dogs, wants more horses and
might just have enough pluck to
pull it off. Sometime in the next
six months or so, I will walk
through the doors of my new home.
I will see land that beckons to
me, and my journey with that
farmlette will begin.

~mh