Okay, so here it goes. I have these two very large Elm Trees that have died and need to be taken down. I know that it is probably costly.

But, my husband's brother is a tree guy. That is what he does for a living. He owns his own business. He says he will take them down for us next Saturday for nothing.

Okay, what's the catch. You see, I don't want to feel like I owe him; and, trust me, it will get brought up in the future; either by my brother-in-law or my husband. They will want something or throw it in my face; or make a big deal about it somewhere along the way. I get along great with my sister-in-law; and I do not want this to be a hinderance in our relationship.

So, I thought that maybe I could pay him about $500 for taking the trees down. I can't pay him in a one lump sum, but I can send him money over the next few months.

My question is 1) Do you think $500 is a fair price; and 2) I don't want to insult them by paying them either.

I am going to talk to my SIL today and let her know that I will be paying for the trees, so that it is not a shock when they get checks in the mail from me, but I hope it doesn't cause any hard feelings.

As I have been implementing my new savings and spending plan for 2007, I have updated my 2006 savings and spending totals to the right in my blog.

I didn't charge anything on any credit cards for the holiday season. It was a cash Christmas and Birthdays.

I spent $140.00 less on Christmas gifts this year (probably because I had less people to buy for), but it gives me an idea as to how much to put away each month for next year.

I have seperated my Debt area (to the right in my blog) as to the debt I would like paid off by the beginning of November 2007 and the two remaining debts, which are my son's college loan and my Jeep payment, which will be ongoing payments. So I owe less than $10,000 on the debt I want paid off by November.

In order to pay off that debt, I am going to work my summer job again this year, get my property sold and put that towards the debt; and also sell off some of my vacation weeks to put towards that debt, along with making the payments on them. Maybe I can get them paid off before November, but November is my goal, because that is when all the interest comes due on some of those loans; and I don't want to pay the interest.

I am calling around today to get some other quotes on my homeowner's and vehicle insurances. Hopefully, I can get a cheaper price on those.

Will do more cooking and baking at home along with making my vegetable garden bigger this coming year. I would like to can more jams/jelly, tomato sauce and grow more herbs for drying and making tea.

Also need to finish some projects around my cottage. Drywall the living room ceiling, put on a deck and a lot of painting.

More to come in the following days.

A friend off a yahoo group close to home has an abundance of vegetables in her garden. This is what I am getting for free.

"green zucchini (lots!)
yellow summer squash (lots)
spaghetti squash ( a couple right now with more developing)
acorn squash (just a couple with more developing)
small onions (a bunch)
green bell peppers (2)
cucumber (a few)
hot banana (?) peppers (lots)
herbs available: chives, oregano, rosemary, spearmint, orange mint, chocolate mint
Tomatoes should be available soon as should some watermelon and cantelope.

You are welcome to check with me every week for availability-I would really like the produce to find good homes! ;-)
Thanks for your interest."

Can you believe it. I am so excited. Time to get my canning stuff out and purchase a small freezer (which is something I have been wanting to do for a long time for excess items, on sale meat and stocking up).

Got most of my gardening done over the weekend. Planted the Urns, flower boxes and raised beds with some annuals, Tomatoes, Green Peppers, Cucumbers and my loose-leaf lettuce is coming up great. Hoping to do some canning and freezing this fall of peaches, strawberries, strawberry jam, grape jam, tomatoes, pickles, and hopefully, my somewhat root cellar will be done for storing these items and some bushels of apples and squash. I love harvesting, but it is a lot of work.

My husband added more rocks around some new garden beds. It looks really nice.