About 8 months ago, I went to a fundraiser in which I had a couple white wines to drink. Well, the wine affected me so radically that I ended up in the clinic getting fluids because I was so dehydrated and just plain ole didn't feel well.

Well, I am not a drinker, just socially once in a while, but again this past Saturday Night, my husband and I attended another fundraiser in which I had a couple white wines. We were home by 11:00 p.m. and we went to bed. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning to use the bathroom not feeling quite well. I went to the bathroom, but while I was in the bathroom I got extremely dizzy, so I dropped to the floor on my knees apparently hitting the side of my head on our sink. My husband heard the commotion and got up out of bed and was coming towards the bathroom asking me if I was okay.

I got up and walked out of the bathroom and again he repeated are you okay. I grabbed his arms while he grabbed me. I told him No and stop breathing in his arms. He immediately started CPR on me while my 16 yo daughter called 911 (this is what they told me). I did come back, but I can tell you I had a chance to be somewhere beautiful with my mom off in the distance. A place where there is no pain, warm and comforting.

After my husband and the EMS finally brought me around, I realized that I was still in a lot of pain. They took me by ambulance to the ER, where it was determined that I have a heart murmur and after plenty of tests (blood work, EKG, X-rays, Echo of my heart and so on), it was determined that the phospates or sulfa in which wines and some grape juices are processed attacked my heart, shutting it down.

Well, I am not a drinker, so staying away from wine and grape juice should be easy. The day was quite overwhelming for all of us. Seeing my mom (I wouldn't change any of that), but then, I almost left my children motherless; and my husband was extremely upset with what he calls "dying in his arms".

We have a hugh faith and this weekends episode just solidified that faith for us. I had a slure of doctors and cardiologists while in the hospital. I did tell them that I went somewhere else for that period of inbetween here and total death. I had a couple of doctors wanting me to get a CAT scan, but I declined. I didn't feel it was necessary. I know where I was and you don't get to tell me any different. I did have a doctor come back into my room and take my hand to tell me "Thank You" for standing by my faith and that sometimes the science in doctors takes over.

Overall, I don't have any heart disease, just a heart condition that needs to stay away from wines and grape juices, well actually phosphates and sulfa used in the processing.

On the other hand, I don't have any insurance, so this is gonna cost me, but I will take it. The chance to have seen my mother is priceless; and you can't put a cost on the opportunity to be back home with my husband and kids.

I am a little tired today, but I am going to work and enjoying my days here on earth.

So I got a call from my mortgage company yesterday informing me that I could refinance with them for a lower interest rate. My rate with them right now is 6.75%.

I have never been late on a payment and I also add extra to my principal every month.

Why would they want to redo my loan for a lower interest rate. Of course, I will take the lower interest rate.

At the time, I was unable to ask a lot of questions, so I did take their phone number and said I would call back. I guess I would like to know.

*How much are costs
*What kind of interest rate
*and Why would you call me out of the blue if I am never late.

You would think they would be too busy trying to help those loosing their houses.

Go figure.

So it costs $4.00/gallon gas, yet most people only get paid minimum wage of $7.50/hour, and that is before taxes are taken out.

So, we are merely working to put gas in our cars. Not much left over for bills and groceries.

I pray for those people struggling.

So, as we all know, yesterday was Mother's Day. It was a pretty good day overall. My kids bought me cards, I made dinner and we went to my brother's house to see our newest baby in the family. He is so adorable. He is 2 weeks old.

So, let's get off track for a minute. A couple weeks ago I was having a conversation with my youngest boy (13) about his conversation when he was with his dad driving in a car. It was about my birthday gift which is next Friday.

Anyhow, I asked him what dad was getting me. No secrets here, he just said, well it starts with a G, ends with an S and there is a P in the middle. I was like, what, I don't want a GPS. I would never use a GPS. I actually thought he was kidding, just to humor me and not tell what they were actually talking about.

So I let it go, until Mother's Day, when my husband said, how about opening your Birthday gift from me today (on Mother's Day) while all the kids are here. What, they will all be here next Friday also. Okay, if you want to.

So, I open this present and sure enough, he bought me a GPS. I was totally dumbfounded. I don't want a GPS. To me it is a total waste of time. I don't even talk on my cell phone when driving down the road, now I have a GPS. And, if I do pull over to use it, I have to put on my glasses and figure out how to work the dang thing, just to get somewhere, when I have never had a problem getting anywhere before. What a waste of time and money to me.

It actually upset me and my oldest boy said "Mom let's go to the car". He showed me a little of how it works, but it was so upsetting to me and my son totally understood why.

As we sat there in the car, this is what we discovered:

*It is totally not who I am.
*I am a simple mom. I take really good care of myself for the sake of my family so that they won't have to. (Hopefully)
*Memories mean way more to me. I have lost so many loved ones in the recent years, and since my daughter's diagnosis of cancer 13 years ago, I have become a completely different person.
*It hurt me, because I felt like he just doesn't know my heart and what I stand for.
*Personally, I think they cost way to much and that money could have been better spent.

My oldest son sitting in the car with me realized that it went way deeper than just getting the gift for me.

Here is the kicker. They all asked me what I wanted. Personally, I would rather not have anything but their time. But, they persisted, so I came up with some simple items (a hanging plant, a potted tomato plant, rembrandt toothpaste and a margarita machine - I found one at Tuesday Morning for $50.00 - this was supposed to be the gift my husband was getting me. My kids still haven't given me their gifts, but my husband totally did not listen to me.

Well, I slept on it and found that I am still upset about it this morning. I put it on my gift shelf and I will give it to my husband on his birthday. Apparently, he is the one who wants it. So in my frugal state of mind, Thank You Dear Husband for saving me some money. I now have your gift.

So I really needed to get new tires for my Jeep. I called around today to get different quotes. One tire place gave a really awesome price for Wrangler P225 R75/16. Normally, the white lettering runs around $140 each. Most everyone I called gave me a discount of $125 to $129.99, until one of the tire places let me know that the black lettering was $69.99. Wow, what a difference. Not wanting to drive to far out of town to this particular tire place, I called back the tire place that gave me the lowest bid and told him the black lettering price. He said Okay. I got four tires, balancing, front-end alignment and taxes out the door of $339.20. I sure saved some money by calling around and negotiating my price first.

But, the kicker was that the guy at the tire place that actually did my tires was so impressed with my get-the-best-price tactics that he came to talk to me in the waiting room. He was wondering what I did for a living. I said "this". I actually have a couple degrees, but I stay home and raise my kids and treat my life like a business. I like to keep as much of my money as possible while getting the best price.

Most everything is negotiable. The only purchase I found not to be negotiable lately was Apple Mac Computer products. My son needed a new computer for recording. Apple knows they have the edge in that area, and were not willing to budge anywhere in price. The salesman tried by calling headquarters, but they wouldn't budge. They wouldn't even throw in a mouse. Well, what do you do. He needed to really upgrade his system due to how busy he is lately and the quality of his recording, so we bought it. My son is very satisfied with its performance; and if it goes on sale in the next 30 days, they will refund the difference.

Because I cannot get into the forums area again to ask this question, I will ask it here.

On another blog, a saver is getting up to 8.25% interest on her Australian money. Does anyone know how that converts to the U.S. Dollar. Here is the bank I am talking about

www.abetterdeal.com.au

I am just wondering if I should be utilizing this online banking for its interest rate, depending on how the interest rate converts.

I hope I didn't confuse you all. Anyone knowledgable in this area, please chime in, cause I am confused here. Thanks, and feel free to post this in the forums, cause I am unable to.

Yes, we have acquired a very old boat, but surprisingly in very good condition. It was given to us some time ago with the old motor that looks like it will still work. It still had all the chrome lights, mirrors, horn and Dorsett emblem on the side. We have taken out the old seats and carpet and re-fiberglassed the floor. We are ready to put carpet and seats back in it. The motor is missing the controls, so we need to search those out or buy a new motor with controls for it. I have looked on Craigs list and found some good deals.

While we were working on the boat, my husband was under the hull and found the original registration taped to the underside. What a find. So, yesterday, I went to Secretary of State to do a title search to make sure we can even use it. They really couldn't find any information on it, so they re-issued the title in my name with the same MC numbers and gave me my watercraft numbers for 2011. I am so excited. It only cost me $9.20 at Secretary of State.

I am off to get the carpet for the boat and order the seats. Can't wait to hit the water. I will take a couple before and after pictures and post them at a later date.

Stimulus Payment Schedule for Tax Returns Processed by April 15

Economic stimulus payments will be issued according to the last two-digits of the main filer's Social Security number. People who use direct deposit also will be among the first to receive the payments starting May 2. Paper checks will be put in the mail starting May 16.

DIRECT DEPOSIT

Last two SSN digits: Payment will be transmitted:

00 through 20 May 2
21 through 75 May 9
76 through 99 May 16


PAPER CHECK

Last two SSN digits: Payments will be mailed by:

00 through 09 May 16
10 through 18 May 23
19 through 25 May 30
26 through 38 June 6
39 through 51 June 13
52 through 63 June 20
64 through 75 June 27
76 through 87 July 4
88 through 99 July 11

People who file a return after April 15 will receive their economic stimulus payment, but probably about two weeks later than the schedule shows. A return must be filed by October 15 in order to receive a stimulus payment this year. See the online calculator for an estimate of the amount you will receive.

A small percentage of tax returns will require additional time to process and to compute a stimulus payment amount. For these returns, stimulus payments may not be issued in accordance with the schedule above, even if the tax return was processed by April 15.

Just thought you'll would like to know.

And all went well for my daughter Alexis. We did end up taking out the extremely large cyst. Our surgeon believes it is beneign, but with our history, it went to pathology and I will probably have that answer as to what kind of cyst it is by Wednesday.

We are all doing well and Alexis is resting peacefully in her bed with her cat, Lucy.

Thirteen years ago, my daughter (when she was 3), was diagnosed with Cancer. It was four hard years fighting that battle. She is missing her kidney, ureter and the top lobe of her right lung.

Now we have a mass on her right ovary. Our Oncologist and surgeon don't believe it is cancer, but we are scheduled for surgery on Monday, April 21st to look at it. We are not sure what it is, so Monday's surgery could either reveal a benign cyst or ovarian cancer.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during that time.

I have been trying really hard to get my debt paid off, but yet it is getting really depressing.

All my extra money is going to debt every month, which is leaving me to be extremely creative in entertaining my teenagers. They get costly as they get older. Along with always having enough to eat and maintaining our home.

So, I have been reading articles on the recession and the great depression to get an idea how families made it through with less in trying times. There have been some interesting articles. I thought I was being fairly frugal, but realized I am fairly laxed these days.

So to stay with the times and be frugal, I am trying to come up with a plan that keeps us feeling abundant, but to scale back without feeling deprived. Hard to do.

Like maybe I could bake more bread, instead of buying and definately do more gardening and canning this year. I would like to can more jams/jellies, tomato sauces, some fruits and try my hand at pickles.

Keeping lights turned off, heat and A/C lowered, combining errands and making a list of free/cheap entertainment.

For Example:
*Skateboarding and Biking at free outdoor parks for my youngest
*Going on Bike rides
*Playing baseball and tennis at outdoor parks.
*Free Saturday/Sunday Matinee movies.
*Taking the paddle boat out when the lake thaws and looking for nature.
*Playing on the trampoline.
*Get a State Park Pass ($24.00), pack lunches and hit the beach and nature trails.
*Let my teenagers have cookouts with their friends (I'll do the grilling)
*Playing basketball at the club and swimming.
*Tubing on the Lake when it warms up.
*Going to all the festivals going on around the area.

Well, that is just a few. What is everybody else doing to be more frugal and conscience in our trying times.

I have always told my oldest child that he was a test. Well, just the other day we had lunch together. So he says to me "Mom, you know that I just found out that not everyone has a song"

I was confused. Jonthan, what are you talking about. He said "it came up with friends the other day when I asked them what their song was" and they said "we don't have a song". Jon said "You don't have a song, everybody has a song, just like a birthstone". So that said, what is yours. Jon said "Forever Young".

Well, of course he was just teasing, but it was pretty funny. I keep reminding him that he was a test model and he shouldn't take everything I say so literally. I mean, afterall, I was in the hospital 3 days wondering what I should name him.

http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/

Pretty interesting reading.

I see a lot of people have been talking about vacationing, saving money for vacations, taking vacations, not wanting to spend money on vacations, etc.

Well, here is a story of Bob and Mel Blanchard who visited an island in the Caribbean, only to find that they wanted to live there.

http://www.ereader.com/product/detail/4336?book=A_Trip_to_the_Beach:_Living_on_Island_Time_in_the_Caribbean

and;

http://www.livewhatyoulove.com/

I have both of these books; and they are truly inspirational for how I want to live my life and how to work my money so that I am living my life.

Take some time to read them. They are simple easy reading, but perfect for this time of year and can probably be found at the library. I bought both of them, because I enjoy them that much.

and in bed all weekend long. He got up and went to work today, so I have stripped the bedding and have been washing and bleaching everything.

I will need to go to the laundry mat in a little while to wash my comforter, cause it won't fit in my washing machine. That will cost me about $6.00

We had a SuperBowl Party to go to last night, which I went to by myself. I had fun. My whole family was there. It is always good to see them.

We are headed to the airport to put my oldest son on a plane to Colorado. In early December his girlfriend drove out there for a job. It took her three days. Her car completely died half way there. She ended up trading it in for a new one. Then she had to load all of her stuff from her car to her new car and drove the rest of the way in to Vail.

We also have family out there who own a Million Dollar company that my kids are the beneficiaries to.

This will be fun for Jonathan. I know he misses her, actually we all do. While they are out there, they are going to a concert and our favorite restaurant, Casa Bonita.

He will be home on February 10th, unless he finds a job and stays until his girlfriend drives home. You just never know with young adults.

So me and my youngest son share a cell phone. He is 13. We have had this cell phone for about 2 years and have a really low monthly plan. Now, even when we got really chatty, it has never been over $60.00.

But recently, I had it added to my AT&T bill. My AT&T bill covers satellite, land-line, internet and cell phone. Well, I just got the bill and when they added the cell phone to my bill plan, they somehow took off all of my blocks (internet, texting, etc.) which we don't use on the cell phone.

So my bill was $163.00 just for the cell phone part. I about croaked. I call customer service and stated that I didn't understand the bill. She pointed out that there was over 400 text messages and quite a few downloads to MySpace. What. You see, every little cute girl thinks that my 13 year old is the cutest boy and they keep e-mailing and calling him, plus they wanted some pictures of him downloaded onto myspace, so they could always look at him. He really is very adorable.

So, I told the lady at customer service, that this phone used to have a block on it, just for those reasons. She said she could help me. Perfect. She re-instated the blocks and took $113.00 off my bill.

As for my son, he said he was sorry. I mentioned that he needed to let all these girls know that they are limited on how many times they can communicate with him.

As we joked about it, I said, to give them all a different day and tell them, they can only talk to you twice a month. Sorry, but you are too young to date and you have way too many girls wanting your attention. He, of course, just giggled. I am in trouble, but at least the blocks are re-instated until I decide on a different plan when he gets a little older.

Yes I did. I got a $66.00 a month raise, so I added that to my ING account direct deposit. I figured I can live off my old salary, so why not just let that extra $66.00 go to my high yield savings account. Yee Haw.

Plus, I opened an E-Trade account for $1.00 and in 30 days, I will get a $25.00 bonus. Yee Haw. Of course that will go towards my $20 Challenge.

I have a lot of extra cash coming in January to start off my $20.00 Challenge, while paying down my debt. Can't wait to see what the total is from all my rebates. Yee Haw.

To most of you, when you look at my side bar and see my debts, you must go Wow, that girl is in deep. But, let me assure you that I am not.

Just to put your minds at ease, I will tell you that I have three children. My oldest (22) has been in college for three years, and I only owe $3,831.49. Most all of his college I have paid for in cash. He now has a degree in Digital Engineering and an Associates in Music Theory and Composition.

Plus, my two other children, ages 16 and 13 have fully-funded accounts from me totalling around $20,000.00 each.

My house has 100 percent equity in it and I have done major renovations, including a master bedroom, bathroom, kitchen remodel and a brand new entry foyer, all while keeping the integrity of my 80 year old cottage and I have paid cash for all of its renovations.

And, just so you know, now that most all of that has been accomplished, I am tackling my debt area like a gazelle for the next two years to eliminate all but my mortgage. Then look out mortgage. Well, maybe after I get a hot tub.

I just don't want all of my friends here to panic and worry that I am in too deep. Know that I have never been late on any payment and I am looking forward to January to jump on the "Dump my Debt" bandwagon, and; watch out Julie in the "$20.00 Challenge". Although, I am not sure I can top her totals. You go girl.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, whichever pertains to you.

So, I am getting my 1/4 Cow the end of this month. I have to call the processor and let them know what cuts I would like. We try to eat mostly organic here in our home. I have a small garden and what I can't grow, I will purchase from local organic farmers to use and can myself.

The one item that cost me an arm and a leg is Milk. It can run up to $7.50/gallon. Eeek. I wonder if I could hide my own milking cow over by the swingset. Hmmm.

I love the way the Newport News puts together 10 items to wear 10 different ways. Even after looking at the different ways to put the clothes together, I was able to find another outfit they left out.

http://www.newport-news.com/shop/category_splash.aspx?gp_coll_id=9&gp_cat_id=1649&gp_fashcoll_id=201

Anyhow, I am heading to my closet today to go through my clothes. I want to keep the items I mostly wear and try to do this 10 items, 10 ways look. I am going to get rid of old and worn out clothes and make a list of items I should be replacing. I have noticed that I do like blacks, whites, blues, but I also have browns, grays and some other colors.

I was also looking at the must have's for the fall season and patterned tights are back in and longer skirts. This might be something I would like to add to my wardrobe. I will try everything on and ask my kids for their honest opinion on how it looks on me and is the color right for me.

Anyhow, I usually wear the same couple items from off the top of the dryer when I do have a closet full of nice clothing. This should be fun.

Oh No. Well, it is not that bad. I put together a Halloween Party for the members of our little country club. My budget is $175.00, but I ended up spending $196.15. I was over by $21.15.

I did end up with extra cake and brownie mixes for my own shelf, a bag of powdered sugar, and some opened baking items like chocolate chips, Hot Chocolate and butter. Also, I had planned for cooking 80 hot dogs along with 8 bags of Doritos. If there is any left over of those unopened, they will come home with me.

So all in all, I did pretty well putting together a Halloween Party with food, games with prizes (money) and a really cool centerpiece.

Our family Pumpkin Patch outing costs us $19.75 and our costumes cost us $67.00.

So with my overage for the Halloween party, our pumpkins patch outing and costumes, my out of pocket costs are $107.90.

Everything is done and paid for; and I am going to have a good time tonight. Let the ghoul times roll.

So, my SIL spilled the beans this weekend that my MIL has MRSA (which can be a drug-resistant deadly bacteria in some people), yet my MIL has not told us about it. She has had it for quite awhile and on an antibiotic.

Now, here in my house, I have had a child that was stricken with cancer and has a compromised immune system, yet my MIL hasn't said anything to me about her condition. She is one of the most selfish and ignorant people I have ever met. She just acts like "Oh well", I have MRSA, why do I need to tell anyone.

And, just two days ago, she popped by like nothing was wrong. This was before I knew. I am so mad at her. I told my husband he needed to deal with his mother, immediatly.

And, not to put the responsibility on my SIL, but I also told her that when she talks to our MIL, to tell her that she needs to be telling people, otherwise, I am going to have to come out and tell our MIL that I know, whether it gets my SIL in trouble or not. Screw that, if my MIL even got mad at my SIL for telling me, I would be even more pissed off. Grow up and be responsible. Her MRSA could kill my daughter.

I have decided to try to get-together enough women for a Coupon Club to meet once a month. Here is how it would go.

There would be a total of 12 women. Each month a different woman would host the club at her home. She would provide some goodies to snack on.

The other 11 ladies would bring their coupons, rebate forms, etc. in hand to exhange and a dish for the host. The host meal goes like this: If I was cooking a lasagna a day or two before the club meeting, I would make an extra lasagna for the host and put it in the freezer. So the host would end up with 11 dishes to put in her freezer. But this could be anything, a bag of bagels, a bunch of cookies, chili, lasagna, etc. Just so long as it was something not done to far in advance of the meeting. That way every month, the host would have 11 extra meals and snacks on hand for hosting the Coupon Club and it should only cost the other women $5.00 or under to cook/bake.

Also, for each month, we would have a specific topic, along with the Host Meals and coupon/rebate form swapping. Something like below.

October - Organizational Meeting: Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and exchanging wish lists (this is a list specific to each person so that the other member can help keep an eye out for certain coupons or sale item). We could actually do this any time we have something to add to our wish list. Each member could keep a pad of paper with a specific page to each member; and the member could update her page in all of the books whenever she needed to.

November - Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and _________________________.

December - Coupon exchange, host meals and a cookie exchange.

January - Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and discuss new budgets for the new year.

February - Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and _______________________

March - Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and _____________________________

April - Coupon/rebate form exchange, host meals and ______________________________

May
June
July
August
September

You get the idea. So now the group just needs to fill in which month they want to host and what the main topic will be about.

I hope I can find enough people around my neighborhood to participate; and, as always, if you all have any ideas, send them to me.

He is 22. I have talked about him here before. He is a very considerate young adult and always gives me the biggest hugs ever.

Well, yesterday, he had a funeral to go to. A friend of his, 18, killed in a motorcycle accident. Very sad.

But, I ran into him yesterday, after the funeral, in town, as I was running some errands.

He came up to me, gave me a great big hug. I said, Jonathan, I tried to call you back today to see what you needed. He said, mom, it has been so stressful lateley. He said his cell phone was dead and his car wouldn't start, but he was calling me to see if I knew where his dress pants where at (he was wearing jeans). He also forgot his wallet at home when a friend picked him up for the funeral. He hadn't had anything to eat and wanted to go with his friends to get something to eat. I gave him $20 cash and a $10 gas card I had just gotton from mypoints.com.

I went home feeling so sorry for him. I called his dad to tell him that his son's car wouldn't start and if he could possibly fix it.

I can't wait to call him this morning to see if he is feeling better. It seems he has so many of these types of challenges every day, just struggling to make ends meet, going to college, trying to work a part-time job. Please everyone, send good vibes to my son, Jon. Maybe it will help change his course.

About two weeks ago, my husband had to take me to the hospital because I was so sick. I never get sick, but apparently I ended up having very low iron, getting deydrated and my electrolites were off. I felt horrible. They gave me fluids and something for my nerves, because the stress of my life was very much taking hold of me while I was there.

Well, anyways, I don't have any insurance, so I will add that bill to my debt reduction area when it gets here. I asked the nurse how much that bag of fluids was costing me and how much that shot was she was putting in my IV, but she didn't know.

That was stressful in itself. I have been working so hard to pay down my debt, pay cash for the renovations being done on my house, my kids school and my oldest college, while just making all the regular bills and eating heathly. It was an eye-opener that I needed to slow down and only do what I can do with what money I have. I will let you all know how much that bag of fluids and shot cost me, as soon as I get the bill.

But, ten minutes after I got home, my DD passed out twice and we had to call an ambulance to take her to the Emergency Room. She has had cancer in the past, and we ended up having a battery of tests for her for the past two weeks. She is still in remission, just having a problem with her platelets clotting to quickly and causing her to have a low blood pressure. Hopefull, we have everyting under control.

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.

My mom grew up in rural Kentucky and would tell me stories of her youth.

It seemed they had everything, because 60 to 70 years ago, the days were simple to an extent. They worked harder, I believe, but they didn't have skateboarding shoes or ipods to complicate life. Those kinds of things that come with growth.

But, my grandpa was a blacksmith and worked out of his own shop, along with growing tobacco. Mu mom believes the tobacco, on a good year, brought in about $900 and along with what he made from blacksmithing, which I really don't know how much he made from that. I am sure it was sporadic.

But my grandma and grandpa would have to really plan for their years. They had a very large garden, did canning, smoking meat, gathering fruit to put in the root cellar.

I don't believe they had a house payment. They lived in the same two houses forever, one which burnt down. We have our own cemetary where my relatives on my mom's side are buried. There are 9 children who needed clothing, shoes, coats, underclothes, gloves and hats (which were probably sewn, knitted or crocheted). I find it very fascinating and would like to do an experiment.

As I lay in bed last night, I wondered what it would be like to really plan, I mean really plan for the upcoming year. How much beef and chicken to put in the freezer. How much canning you would have to do to have enough green beans, tomotoes and corn to last until the next harvest. How many cucumbers you would need to pickle in large crocks sitting on the back porch. How many berries to pick for jam. How much flour, sugar and honey purchase or to grind to last a certain amount of time, until the next buying spree. my mom said that grandma could make the best biscuits ever. How much wood to chop/buy to last the winter season. Do you buy a pig or a cow or both. Cows, of course, give you milk. I, don't have that option where I live, but that is exactly how I lived until I was 16. On a farm, with a garden, chickens, cows and pigs.

Also, what was Christmas and birthdays like. In their family, everyone got just one gift for Christmas. They all went to the same one room schoolhouse, which they walked to. The school is still standing. And, there is still tobacco being grown in the fields around my family's cemetary, which is way down a dirt road, through the creek and up a steep hill. It is actually across the road from the first house my mom lived in before it burnt down, then they moved down the road.

So, say we took the $900, plus what the blacksmithing might bring in and let's just round it off to $1500 a year to live on. With inflation today, what would that amount be (around $15,000). You tell me. I am not sure the inflation rate from 70 years ago. I am sure their was a lot of bartering going on in those days, something similar to our freecycles.

I do keep track of how much I use on certain items. I use about one large (300 ounces) laundry soap every three months. I buy 4 - 40 pound bags of Red Out water softener salt every 5 weeks, etc.

I think I will sit down with my kids and really make a bare bones budget with the poverty level today, and see what we can come up with. How much hard work we would have to do until the next harvest. To really think about what we should purchase, what we should sew or knit; and then do it with today's level of growth. Give them a clothing budget and they can either spend it on expensive things or visit the Salvation Army or garage sales.

I think it is something to think about; and maybe a lot of you already do. Let me know your thoughts and stories or what you would do or maybe already do. I find it fascinating to say the least.

Another blogger brought up stocking up for Dec/Jan/Feb. and I think that was a good idea to be ready for the winter seasons.

I have been building a new foyer which is not a heated foyer, but attached to a room that is, so it stays cooler than the rest of the house.

Anyways, in my new foyer, I am putting a small freezer and a pantry/cupboard to hold canned items and other house related items that I am stocking up on.

It is also going to have a really nice coat closet for all of our off season gear with a cute little settee in the room for putting on shoes and boots.

Here's to seeing how far our stocked pantries and freezers can go. This is going to be a fun and creative challenge. There are a lot of websites in regards to root cellaring, stocking up, canning, freezing, drying, etc. This will be a great subject to teach my kids.

My daughter is coming up on her Sixteenth birthday. I would like to do a surprise birthday party for her. The only problem is that her birthday is in December and we live in Michigan. Too snowy and cold.

When my oldest son turn sixteen (his birthday falls in April), we were able to have his outside with a bonfire. I am not sure that is going to work for my daughter.

So, I need some really cool ideas. There will probably be around 30 people, and, shhh, it is a surprise.

Also, my youngest son will be turning 13 in December. But he is easy. He just wants me to take him and his friends to the Skateboard/BMX park. Usually, over the past years, I have pizza for dinner, load all the kids up to take them to the pool at the local high school. It is only $2.00 per kid, then back to our house for opening presents, cake and ice cream. This year, we will just go to the BMX park.

Thanks in advance for the really cool ideas I know this group will come up with for my daughters "Sweet Sixteen".