Ask, and ye shall recieve . . .

Some time ago, I asked God for a new life mate.
I needed nurturing, hand holding, understanding,
and other wicked good things.

God heard, helped me over the bumbs, and I found
a new life. I became a new wife.

On a fine afternoon in late August, we married in
a park surrounded by our family and friends. The
wedding took 5 minutes, the party lasted 3 hours.
I gained three sons, he gained two daughters.
I brought an impressive dowry of weapons, ammo
and land. He brought passion, compassion, real
estate and an open mind.

Our wedding night was postponed, as we had a house
full of children. The next day we took my daughters
to the doctor. One had a swollen hand, the other
needed a checkup before she left for foreign lands.

The next morning, we boarded a plane for Virginia.
When we arrived there, it was cold and raining.
The cold felt awesome after a long hot southern summer.
Husband looked at me, and I looked at the map.
I remembered visiting the Luray Caverns when I
was all of 11 years old (1978). I pointed to
our destination and we took off.

I loved the caverns. He(Ty) loved them. When we
were done with the tour, I asked an employee where
she likes to eat lunch. We ended up at a small
town diner, filled with locals. Ty asked a local
what he liked to do for fun. We were pointed in
the direction of a scenic highway and some
wineries. The rain helped us decide on a winery.
No tours were available, but we had our first
official tasting. I finally met a chardonay I
liked.

Ty mentioned that he'd never been to the Smithsonian.
So of course, we spent the next 2 days touring
the air and space museums. We snuck in a bit of
peach picking and a visit to a feloow doomer's
for dinner. We had a gorgeous trip.

~MH

Closure and fresh begginings . . .

I done lost my post. Gtting hitched
tomorrow. Wish us well.

~M

Frugal weddings

I'll be honest, folks keep asking me about my
wedding plans . . . and I'm not really making
any. I had the date arranged, and changed, and
a preacher lined up with a phone call. My
fiance and I may go pick up the lisence thingy
this week.

I found a park near where we live, we're going to
mosey in commando style, get hitched, get some
gorgeous pictures and mosey out before anyone
notices 35 folks gathered about.

We're hosting an afternoon party at our place
right afterwards. Beer. Pizza. Wine. Cake.
Coffee. I might throw some other munchies
about. My fiance is handling the pizza
arrangements. My oldest daughter has appointed
herself as my alcohol consultant. My stepmom
is bringing a salad. My Alamama homie internized
my honeymoon.

So what's left to do? Get pretty and work a few
extra shifts to pay for primping.

Cheers,
M

Money and changing times . . .

I can't believe I haven't posted since May.
Life has been changing so quickly, and I am
a bit reluctant to waste time with yammering
about it on line, until now. I finally
have a quiet hour to myself and I have time
to collect the thoughts rambling through
my head.

I have moved. I am working a lot. I help care
for 2 rambunctious lads. I've made friends
and so on.

I started cutting expenses in April and May.
My budget has been super stretched, paying
for my roof, and I was tired of being broke.
I canceled my home phone and internet. I ate
in as often as I could.

One day my neighbor showed up and asked me what
I was going to do about my horses. "Fatten them
up." I said. "I want them." He said. "I'll
take care of them til they die, they'll want
for nothing." Now in these times, you don't
get an offer like that. So we agreed, and he
built infrastructure from the ground up at
considerable expense (I donated gates and such)
and the horses went across the street. The
neighbor man has only them and some stray cats
to answer to, I think it was a blessing all
around. (Annual savings $2000)

In late May, my house mate moved in. She came
with a dog, a runt~kitten, a kid and a healing
heart. As she moved in, I was slowly moving
out. I was tired of living in 2 places and
needed to make a home in one.
(Annual savings: monthly utilites and about
$80/month in gas, wear/tear on the car.)

Soon after my fiance proposed I officially
moved in. (Savings to move across state line
and not pay Georgia state income tax, $200
per month.) The wedding is set for mid August.
(Tax savings to be determined, but I will be
in a lower bracket.)

I got a call from one of the managers at my
work, my weekend pay was being phased out.
So while I didn't know it was coming, my
above changes certainly helped.

Next up, my frugal wedding.

~M

Couponing my way to collapse?

There really is an art to this couponing stuff.
One of my girlfriends brings home tons of food
that she gets for very very cheap. But as a
fellow LATOC poster pointed out, most of the
deals are for processed food ~ which they eat
so little of.

This may be why I favor couponing at chain pharmacy
stores like CVS and Walgreens. Today's CVS trip
was as follows:

step 1. Research blogs/circular/online coupons

step 2. sign up for CVS extra care card and check
cvs' site for online coupons

step 3. scan card at cvs kiosk for more coupons

step 4. make multiple purchases, up to item limits,
to make maximum use of etra care reward buckso5

The blogs explain this process in more detail.

Today's haul:

1 dawn dishwashing liquid
2 11oz maxwell house coffee
2 bottles extra laundry detergent 45 oz
2 large single roll tp
1 speedstick lady's deodorant
1 8oz herbal essence hairspray
1 15oz vo5 shampoo
1 15oz vo5 conditioner
1 10oz aussie hairspray
1 clearance/discontinued item

All this for about $18.50. I could
have done a bit better.

Cheers, M

I feel doom lurking . . .

This is a recent pic of an alligator in the
everglades.


I really felt a sense of doom on the horizon,
a sense of noodginess that changes are coming.
I felt unprepared, and unsettled. So I called
a few of the brightest minds and ended up
picking a good friend's brain. "Calm down."
She said (I paraphrase), "This thing is going
to take decades."

We chatted a bit more, about everything from
my relationship to the minimal doomstead size.
She suggested that I go buy more food, and hold
onto my doomstead, all very good advice. I had
to cut our chat short. But the moral of the
story is . . . slow and steady wins the race.

And of course, I need to keep plans flexible to
adjust to a changing world.

~M

sigh . . .

I'm sitting here watching Russell-of-the-
pornographic-tongue lick the remnants from
a jar of peanut butter. Next to him in my
second dog crate, lies my redbone napping.
The collie mix and the pyrenees rule my back
fences.

My American Eskimo has his own pen, he doesn't
like my other dogs. Buddy the doomer dawg
sleeps in a catbox turned dog house on my
front porch.

And now a seventh dog has been dumped. It's
a girl, cowering and shivering and begging
for scraps of food and love.

Sheesh. Why can't folks take care of their own
problems instead of bringing them to my door?
I can barely afford to feed my own, let alone
take on anymore.

Seriously.

~M