Take some dang cough syrup!

DD has had a tough week. First it was the test score and then her roomie has gotten sick -  again. Coughing coughing coughing.  All night. DD hasn't been able to get very good sleep. She was so happy when roomie and a couple of her other friends went to a concert (a ways away) on Tuesday night and ended up spending the night at one of the girls houses closer to the concert. She got good sleep that night. DD offered to go to the store and get her cough syrup or something and she said she didn't want to take anything.

Even the suitemates on the other side of the bathroom were getting woke up at night. One of them even suggested taking some cough syrup and her reply was "I don't like it and it only works for a couple of hours". Nice of her to be considerate of those around her. I'll bet even the guy on the other side of her wall was probably getting woke up.


DD is realizing that roomie's rudeness and immaturity is with most people, not just her. I caught a small glimpse of it during move in weekend, when we all went out to lunch and she was acting a bit of a baby. One of the suitemates (who will be one of DD's roomies next year) went to this concert with her and said while they were driving down there the other girl was mentioning how excited she was for living arrangements next year (she will be DD's roomie's roomie - make sense?!) because since she came to the school winter quarter she didn't get to choose her roomie.  DD's roomie said "ya, me either". The suitemate told dd she thought to herself "wow! kind of rude since I am kind of one of your roomies, being a suitemate, but really a slap to DD".  DD and her roomie did pick each other!


Now DD is enjoying 4 nights of roomie-free sleep! Roomies mom came into town (an already planned visit) Thursday and will be there through Monday and roomie is staying with her mom at her hotel. I said good, now Mom can listen to her cough all night and hopefully will either get her to a doctor or at least some OTC meds.

I guess when roomie's mom came to the dorm (dd was in class) one of the suitemates said roomie made another rude comment about something, so really, they are all getting tired of her attitude. Like I told DD - only a few more months now and she can be back home in her own room and next year in an apartment with her own bedroom. I'm just glad dd hasn't gotten sick. She's tried to stay out of the room as much as possible, wipes stuff down a lot and hopefully her fairly healthy eating and every other day 2 mile run is keeping her immune system strong. When she was home a couple of weekends ago she and her BF went on a 10 mile bike ride.

And next weekend she gets spoiled at a B&B with her boyfriend :)  She sent me links to the place and I am jealous, haha! DD likes hiking and it looks like there are lots of hiking trails there.

On another topic, after a few days of rain and clouds here it's a beautiful sunny day.  Here is a picture taken from a back window - the sun just coming over the house from the front, casting a shadow. Our backyard sometimes reminds me a bit of a park and I especially love the early morning sun shining on it

In other news...you know the neighbors behind us? the ones with one son in jail and one out on bail waiting his trial? Well, last night their 3rd (oldest) son was arrested and is in jail now too.  Booked on like 6 charges. 1st degree burglary, 3 counts of theft, driving without an ignition interlocking device and drug paraphernalia.  Wow - those parents have to be so proud.

Review update

I had my review/lunch yesterday. We spent very little of it actually talking about that. Mostly, I think, because we have a very good easy rapport with each other and always chat about personal stuff. She said she just wanted to thank me for such good work and she doesn't know what she would do without me. Then she said she wished she could have done more on the salary, but "the guys" (the 2 company owners) put restraints on what she could do and she didn't go into details (I could tell she felt kind of uncomfortable). I just kind of nodded and said well as long as it's not related to my performance....

When we got back we sat in her office for a few minutes. She just quickly went over the written evaluation (all good/exceeds expectations) and then read her comment at the end of it:

O has shown amazing support for me both personally and professionally over the past year. I can't think of a year in my life that has been more difficult. Not only have I relied on her personally but always knew that things were being handled professionally at the office. Her work ethic is beyond approach, she strives to make the best of everything. She has a calming manner that makes everything easier. She is detailed and organized. She is continually looking for processes to make us better. I encourage her to keep thinking outside the box in this regard.  This doesn't seem enough but Thank You for all you do every day.


In our short conversation in her office she also made reference to the salary (when showing me the annual printout we get of all our actual compensation, benefits, etc) that is why she tries to do "other" things for me that she can do that, while aren't actual money, are extra for me and nothing the "guys" would notice or know about. Like extra work days at home (she is always emailing me several times a month saying you can work from home today if you want, when it's my normal day to come into the office). I said I really appreciated my job flexibility and telecommuting. Or several times I have tried to use my PTO when I had a day or half day off for something and she wouldn't let me. She'd just pay me regular.

She also just basically gave me a $300 "bonus". On our payroll mid month I screwed up and paid myself an extra 8 hours of vacation. I caught it right when I saw my paycheck that is was higher than it was supposed to be. I sent myself an email to put in my "reminders" to fix it the next payroll and cc'd my boss in the email. I said I'm cc'ing you to let you know I goofed and wasn't trying to pay myself extra money!  She emailed back that I was so funny and that's why she loved me.  Then, when I gave her the payroll report this week to glance over before I submit for processing she crossed my 8 hour deduction and says don't deduct that 8 hours,  I started to argue with her and she said "it's a bonus for being so honest. I would have never known" and I said I shouldn't get a bonus for being stupid!

So, that's where I'm at.  I've never been a super strong personality when it comes to asserting myself. Never ever. I was so shy as a child you could say boo to me and I'd probably jump 10 feet. I'm not that shy any more, but I'm still quiet and I can be shy in a group setting where I don't really know anyone. One on one or two and I can hold my own meeting people and not being shy.  But, asserting myself is still way down there on my skills.  One reason why I have never wanted (well I tried once) to be in a management position.  And I have an even harder time being a butt about it when I know she is being so nice and sincere (she is always telling me how much she appreciates me) and telling me she will give me "perks" in other ways.

I remember several years ago this happening. I think I got no raise and again it was "the guys" (she has to go over her reviews with them first) but then the next time around I got a really good raise (more than I expected and basically made up for the year before)...probably because she was able to say to them that I was now due.  That's probably what will end up happening next year. We'll see.

I put the extra monthly money into my 401k now and with the company matching half of it, I also can look at it like a $1500 a year increase in compensation.  Plus, it looks very likely we will get our mid year bonus in June.

Bad test scores

DD is really struggling in her Managerial Accounting class. It really does appear to be the professor, in this case. DD studies for hours and hours.  So far she has gotten a 60% and a 66% on the two tests they have had. The class average on this last test was 65%.  In her previous 2-3 accounting classes she got 100%.  The professor doesn't actually teach anything. She assigns them the reading and then they come to class and are supposed to work on the homework assignments in class in small groups. DD said then it's loud and hard to concentrate to figure out the problems with everyone in the room talking in their groups.

After the first test I told her to go talk to the professor. Take her suitemate with her (she has this class too and is struggling) if she doesn't feel brave enough to go herself.  Ask her for help! Ask her how to get help! I kept throwing suggestions out to DD and she said "I'll figure it out"

So, she just emails me that she got a 66% on this last test and is so frustrated. She messaged me during class and said the prof just said "I know you guys aren't happy with these scores, neither am I. I'm surprised they are so low" and then she goes over the answers for the test. She said the guy behind her mumbled "then teach the class". I know DD studied for hours and hours for this test. I said if it were me, I'd be going through this test and it's answers with a fine tooth comb.  Did you end up finding these correct answers in the book? If so, then use them to help you figure out how to study. If not, then go ask the prof how you are supposed to learn this if it's not in the book and she isn't lecturing anything.  Then DD replies - she makes us give the tests back to her.  So I replied  - THEN go ask her if you can have it back or make a copy of it so that you can go over it and figure out what you are doing wrong!

DD's reply:  "I'll figure it out"
My reply:  "That's what you said last test :P"

Then I asked her does she at least score on a curve? and DD says "I don't know, I don't even think she knows". I said then ask her! Ask her in front of everyone, so that everyone knows! Don't be afraid to go ask her anything.  What's she gonna do? Give you a bad grade?

All's I can say is I'm glad it's not me having to go through all that again. Once was enough.

Where will I spend it all?

I still haven't had my annual review at work yet.  My input to it was done a month ago.  We have to do a self review, with goals, etc.  My boss was sick half of last week, not to mention she is always super busy.

So,  yesterday I was processing payroll for our payday on this Friday coming up. I was reviewing the report I print out for the hours, vacations, sick days etc.  This report also has hourly wages on it. I almost didn't notice it, but my hourly wage was different.  "Oh!, she put in my raise!" Then I blinked again and saw the amount. A whole .48 cents an hour higher than before. I blinked again, honestly thinking this had to be a mistake!

48 cents an hour? Really? One time before my boss was so late getting the actual reviews done she just gave me the raise and eventually did the review. So then I compared all the others that I know report to her to see if they got raises, too.  All but 2 (which is strange but I'm sure they will be getting one) also did.....BUT, all of their raises range from $1.00/hour to $2.85 per  hour.  Ok, I know why the one guy got the $2.85 (new out of college, past his "let's see how he does" phase and got a nice raise - that's how we do it), so even throwing him out of the average, the rest of of them got $1.50 to $2.00 per hour ($3000-$4000 per year) increases.  Even our receptionist, who has been with us for years and makes a very decent salary for her job level (I even looked it up - the average salary for a receptionist in our city is $32k a year - she now makes $47k), got a $4000 a year raise!! Last year she got a $2200/yr raise.

I have never gotten less than a $2000 a year raise (my first year and a different, cheap boss), not counting when the economy went to hell and no one got raises for awhile. Most of my raises have been in the $3000-$4000 a year range. Last year was $2400, not high, not low, but I was happy with it.

But .48 cents? That's $1000 a year.  That's 1.3% of my annual salary. Now 48 cents an hour would be a decent raise for someone making, say, $10 bucks an hour. I don't consider it even worth it at $75,000 a year salary. That's about $66 per month after taxes. Whoopdedooo :/  Honestly, they might as well not even bothered with it. We had a record sales year last year and this year we are totally killing it already. We broke our monthly sales goal for this month only 2 weeks into the month. So, it's not like the company is cutting back on expenses......as evidenced by the other raises I see went through.

And I, myself, certainly haven't been slacking. Just in the past 2 weeks I made a huge discovery (compliments of the informative CPA I deal with for my side job) that there are some "entertainment" expenses we can be categorizing as 100% deductible and not in the 50% category. In all our years with our company the CPA we use has never once brought this tax savings to our attention. I was so excited to find this out that I called my boss on my way home from work to share the info with her.  I just spent a couple of days going through all our 2014 meals and entertainment expenses to see which I can move over to a different expense account. There  might be a few more I find but I was able to save us being taxed on over $13,000. This will really be a huge savings on years we have company parties. When we had our 25th anniversary huge party several years ago we probably spent $100k that all could have been 100% deductible instead of the 50% deduction that our CPA had us use. In 2013 we had a large company X-mas/year end party that probably $25k was spent on. I've also come up with some ways to be more efficient and save time/money.

I have a feeling she put the raises through last week, thinking she had this week to get the reviews done and let us know what our raise is before anyone sees their paycheck on Friday. Then she got sick for most of last week and hasn't had time to get them done yet. It will be interesting to see what my boss says when I do get my review. If it's not until after payday this Friday and she says "you got your raise on your last paycheck" I'm going to say "oh, I did? I didn't even notice"!

I probably sound ungrateful and pissy and yes, I guess I am. Honestly, I'd rather hear a "you aren't getting a raise this year, we feel your salary is where it should be" than a piddly 1%. It feels like an insult on some level. Ok, I'm done with my rant....for now.

Smiley

I had my long awaited cosmetic dental visit this morning.  My front tooth and the one next to it are now covered in a temporary veneer that looks so much better! And my wallet (or at least my FSA account) is $1441 poorer!  Ah well, much worth it to finally have a decent smile again and not feel self conscious about those two teeth - they always showed up even darker in pictures, it seemed.

I left for work yesterday morning and my "you have a tire with low air pressure" notice came on my dash. I have had this one tire that every 4-6 months gets a bit low. DH fills it up and it's good to go for another 4-6 months, so I thought this was the same tire and figured it was fine until I got the car back home from work.  Got home and asked DH to fill it up with some air and he realized it was a different tire and it had a screw in it! Whew - glad I was able to make it to work and back with out it going flat on me! Yikes.

I took it the the tire store that's about 2 miles from us. It's a small independently owned store that we have been going to for probably 20 years or more. They fixed me up right away for free and I told  them I'll be back soon for a new set of tires. These tires are hanging in there, but will need to be replaced sometime soon.  DH has been telling me this since last June, but every time he takes a look he says I still have some life left, so keep on going. He told me in June that I would probably need new tires at end of summer/fall, but they are still ok.

I have stuff to write about my "raise", but I think I'll do it in another post.

Ta da!

A couple of weeks ago I posted that I wanted to knit something like this blanket

http://onefamilyoneincome.blogspot.com/2015/02/knit-and-purl.html

Well, here is my finished project

I'm still learning, but I'm quite pleased with this creamy, cozy, gorgeousness!  DD said she wanted it about 8 rows into knitting, so this one will go to her :-)

I already have the yarn to make myself one....as I still want one for my sofa.  This one turned out just a bit chunkier than I really wanted so my next yarn is similar, maybe just a touch thicker, but I am not going to double it this time and see how it turns out. The yarn color for the next blanket is also a bit more of an "oatmeal" color. I got it on sale last weekend at Michaels where they were having a buy one get one 50% off plus another 25% off your order. So, instead of paying $7 per skein, I got them for $3.94 each.  Same deal on the yarn for the blanket above.

I think it's safe to say I'm hooked on knitting now, though we'll have to see how much I can stick with it when I decide to try something harder than a big rectangle, haha!

Showdown!

DH and I and our good neighbor finally kind of "had it out" with the renter/drug dealing neighbors. Friday evening (still very light out) I went out into the shop to let DH know dinner was ready. The dogs had followed me outside and they started barking like crazy, so I went back out around the front to see what was going on.  The black S10 Blazer that has been in and out to renters house 25 or more times in the last week or two was driving past our gate (which is at the corner of our and good neighbor property) backwards, squealing their tires and with the window rolled down barking back at the dogs. A few feet later (in front of good neighbors driveway) they then hit the dirt and are making even more of a mess/noise.

I went back in the shop and told DH and he ran out there. By the time I got back out there (I was still standing inside the fence) he had stopped them in front of good neighbors and some yelling back and forth was going on.  DH telling them to show some respect while they are in our neighborhood, etc. Then the renters meth head son comes running up yelling "he didn't do anything!" Blah blah blah.  Then I notice our good neighbor walking up to all this (whew! made me feel better) and he stands there. Meth head kid tries (he's done this before) to charge DH and act like he's going to get right in his face or something so DH just 2 hands pushes him back. His dad (renter) was standing behind the car by this time and crabs his meth head (step) son and tells him to get in the house. Kid is screaming and his dad says "he did too do it, I saw him". He shoves the kid (he's like 19 or 20) back towards their house and tells him they aren't coming here again (meaning the car) and he goes inside and the 2 scums in the car leave.

Us and our neighbor are still just standing there looking at renter as he's standing part way down the street between his place and our good neighbor, like he's not sure what to do. Then DH says "all's we're asking for is some neighborly respect". Then renter walks down to the 3 of us and apologizes. Then he asks us if we still have our security camera's and we say of course and he says "well, we've been broken into twice lately. My (younger) son's school tablet is missing and my rent money was taken. (Gee......you don't think it's your own drug dealing kids and their lowlife friends that have anything to do with it??!!). That's why the cops were there 2 different times, taking theft reports. Good Neighbor asks did they forcibly break in (because he's thinking same as us - kids or their friends stole the stuff) and he says no, but I don't lock the deadbolts. Then he says "has your cameras seen anyone coming in back here around 2 or 3 am?  I literally think that us and good neighbors jaws hit the ground! DH just laughed and I said which night?! Then DH says there are people in and out of here at that time of night almost nightly.  He seemed surprised. He says that's the first time that S10 Blazer had been to his house and we are like Nooo, he's been here a whole bunch of times the past couple of weeks.

Dh says your 2 sons are out at that time all the time and he says "well I know C does, but not Z - he's got school, not allowed" and we say um ya....he's out there too, quite often. 

So I ask  you, is this guy just totally dumb and blind or is he just trying to play dumb so we all won't think he has anything to do with it? Then we bring up the 700 cars/walkers a month down the road to his house. I really don't think it was registering with him. Then good neighbor says you aren't here all the time, you are gone all day and sometimes for a couple of days at a time.  There are cars and people in and out of here all the time.  DH then says we moved to a private dead end street because we wanted peace and quiet, not 700 cars a month and I said that's more cars in a month then the two of us (and I point at good neighbor) go in and out in 10 years time. DH then brought up that the 3 of us had consulted a lawyer about the road easement and "reasonable use". He told him we definitely have a case to sue the property owner, but none of us want to spend money on that, so c'mon, let's show some respect to us. At least we let him know and maybe he'll pass that info along to his landlord (which is the guy on the other side of us, who has been out of the country the past 2 months). DH told him our lives have been miserable the past year and a half. We get no peace and quiet, we get woken up in the middle of the night on a regular basis and good neighbor has had these "visitors" onto his property twice.

DH says this is the same kind of "activity" that was going on AND a lot of the same cars now coming to your house that were at the house behind us and you know what happened to them...........

I think he's blind to most of it and doesn't want to see it. He is gone all day, probably goes to bed fairly early because he usually leaves pretty early like 5am. He's probably home relaxing for a few hours and then goes to bed early and has no clue what all those kids are doing the rest of the night.


We then brought up the terrible condition of the road due to his driving the semi truck in and out and he's totally tearing up the corner.  Big chunks are now breaking it apart. He said he is going to fix it soon, but I'm not holding my breath.

We all walk away and go back to our homes. A little while later renter leaves and doesn't come back until the next morning.  Of course our front camera catches his kids walking down the road at midnight meeting up with a car on the corner and then walk back in. A couple hours later at 2 am a car goes to their house for a short time and leaves.

We thought after the talk we might end up with a week or so of real quiet.  Again, I'm not holding my breath. I am glad that the 3 of us were all able to confront him together instead of just me and DH. It showed more of a "united front" and good neighbor did speak up a couple of times during the conversation, so that was good too. Now renter knows for sure both his neighbors are not happy with him.

A good Friday

YAY!!! I now have Netlflix and Amazon video streaming to my television.....I'm doing the happy dance.....I told myself one way or the other I was going to get this figured out. My last resort was I was going to try a new router.

My IT guy at work figured it out from all the info I kept feeding him the past 2 days. I told him there was an advanced settings menu for accessing the network and he gave me some info to try and enter (ip, gateway, dns....all stuff I don't have a clue what it is) in there and voila! it worked. I owe him.  I probably drove him nuts the past couple of days.  I'll have to make him some cookies or something.

Later this afternoon I have an appointment with my hairdresser to get my hair cut and colored, so that will be nice to get done.  Next Tuesday is my dental appointment to get the 2 porcelain veneers on my teeth #7 & 8 and that will be very nice to finally get done. I'll look and feel like a new person :)



We won't be seeing DD again until her Spring break in a month. She is going to spend part of this weekend with her best friend, at her college, which is about an hour or so drive from DD's college. Then next weekend her boyfriend is taking her for a weekend getaway to a quaint location (I'm jealous!). Then part of spring break week they are taking a trip with some of his friends and will be gone 5 days.  A better offer was made on the townhouse he wanted, so he didn't get that and is back to looking again.

Not much planned for the weekend. It's supposed to be sunny and 60 again. The lawn is almost needing mowing already! I will probably just grocery shop, do some house cleaning, work on my knitting project and another DIY project I have started.....if I can figure out how to run the sewing machine - ha! It's actually my daughter's (though I do know how to sew, somewhat). My mom gave it to her when she was younger. It's never gotten used much and I think I might have used it once years ago, so I'm not familiar with how this works and settings. Guess I'll have to get out the manual.

Apparently DH's computer/email got a virus and sent out spam emails to all his contact list.  Great - just one more thing to try and figure out :/  I just ran a complete scan with our virus program and it says it found 2 things and cleaned them up, so hopefully that took care of the problem. I am too worn out trying to figure out my tv stick to deal with this too.

Oh, and I reserved Game of Thrones Season 3 from the library and it's finally in, so I'll stop and pick that up after I get my hair cut. That's keep me busy this weekend.

One problem fixed

I managed to fix one of my problems yesterday - the knitting mistake.  Thanks to commenter Joan's explanation, it was really an easy fix....but it sure looked like I was screwed! LOL Now I'm back to knitting away.

No luck on the tv stick for streaming. My IT guy had me check a couple of settings on my router, but all was good.  He thinks it must be either the router or the modem - probably the modem as it is the thing that got changed in the last couple of months (though I think my problem started before that change). The tv stick is connecting to my network now, but it's not letting me get through to the internet. Something is blocking it. I just don't get why every other device logged into our network works.  I'm very bummed. I just wanted to plug it in and have it work.

Sick germs must be going around the office again. I think I just got my 5th email that someone is out sick. This time it appears to be an upper respiratory thing. I have to go in the office later this morning. Let's hope all the sickies did stay home and I'll be breathing clean air.

DH got a chance to finally try out the rifle he built. Our good neighbor friend has the week off and he took DH to the outdoor shooting range that he is a member of. The gun worked, so DH was happy ;)  They are going to go again on Friday, so at least DH is getting a chance to get out of the house and do something fun and so is neighbor. Other than work he doesn't get out and do a lot, either.

I have another DIY project in the works. I found what I needed at Goodwill last weekend and hopefully will get it done this weekend. Stay tuned! It means I have to get the sewing machine out...

Look at this Walmart Savings Catcher refund on my last grocery shopping trip

For receipt 671026907816117422281, Savings Catcher checked advertised deals from top competitors in your area and found one or more lower prices. That means you get back $10.45!

That's the most I have ever gotten back! Nice! I am currently up to $55 in rewards for this year already. WOW! That's a great savings for one regular shopping trip. I haven't cashed in yet.  Trying to go as long as I can with saving it up. My goal is to make it until next Christmas shopping time.

I have no idea what I am doing

I'm not having a very successful week :/  Now I messed up my knitting last night. I got done with a row and realized I goofed somewhere near the beginning of the row. I watched a video on how to "un-knit" a row (very useful info to have) and undid the whole row.  When I got it out I was left with this:

My working yarn is 4 stitches into the previous row! How in the world?!  I have no idea how to un-knit this now since the working yarn isn't at the first stitch of the row. 

I am also having no luck with getting my new TV stick to work (or my Blu ray player) so I can stream Netflix and Amazon video. I'm pretty sure it's something in the router or modem. I tried hooking it up to our other tv and have same problem, so it's not an issue with the tv. I googled the issue on Amazon's forums. Some are having issue or similar, they are not getting anywhere with Amazon tech help and those that post on there "solutions" are way to techy for me and I don't understand what I would need to to do change my router settings.  I have an email into my IT guy at work, so hopefully he can help. I'm pretty sure this started when I had to change my router and modem back and forth, when Comcast sent me that stupid new modem.  My blu ray player was streaming fine before all that. I just don't think I noticed the problem right away because I don't watch Netflix all the time.

Well, it's definitely a problem with my home network router and/or modem. I just created a "personal hotspot" network using my iphone and was able to log into the tv stick no problem (I obviously don't want to use that as it uses my phones data) but at least now I know where the problem lies...now I just have to find someone to figure out how to fix it, because what little I can find online is all too hard for me to understand what they are talking about.  Hopefully my work IT guy will get back to me and know how to fix it. I just don't want to have someone else start playing around with the network settings and have it end up messing up my VPN access into work.

Still no streaming

My new streaming stick arrived today. I can't get that to work either. GRRRR!! It recognizes our network. I know I am putting in the correct wi-fi password, but it will not connect.  Basically same problem I've been having trying to access with our blu-ray wi-fi.  I thought maybe our blu-ray (it was a cheap one) just wasn't working right anymore. I'd try and try to log in and a couple of times it finally did, but would take a half hour of trying, so that's why I bought the Amazon Fire TV stick.

BAHH!! I'm so frustrated.  Now that I think back all this trouble I have been having started around the time I had to do all the Comcast router changes/fixes. Everything else we have wireless works - laptop, phones, ipads...I just want to watch Netflix on my tv! Is that so much to ask?!

I'm thinking either it's something to do with the router or modem or possibly the tv itself. It worked for a year and now it won't.  I'm just not computer savvy enough to get this figured out.  I'm going to go pout..........

Sunday ramblings

Hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day. It's always a very low key holiday for us. We just had Christmas in December and then in January our anniversary (where I already got flowers) and then my birthday. Valentines Day is usually pretty much just another day for us.

I went grocery shopping in the morning - by myself.  DD already had plans to go with her boyfriend to look at the townhouse he put an offer on. Kind of strange on that listing. It was apparently at $90k with no offers and got lowered to $85k. Now there are 3 offers on it and DD's BF had to put in a higher offer at $95k! Funny it sits at $90k with no offers and now they'll get $95 or more. It's still a really good price for around here. I guess it is a foreclosure.

After groceries I went in search of some specific brand of transmission fluid DH needs, because he's going to flush the transmission himself on his truck. Walmart didn't carry it, so I stopped at the nearby auto parts store. I didn't see it there either, but decided to ask and glad I did because they had it in back. But, they didn't have some clear 3/8" plastic tubing DH needed 6 feet of. DH said try the pet store. They had some but it wasn't marked the diameter size. Looked 3/8 to me LOL....but it wasn't even close haha. So, after unloading and putting away my groceries I went to the hardware store. I actually found the tubing all by myself - in big rolls where you cut off the length you need.  While I was there I also picked up a piece of dowel rod for the wishing well.

When I got back home DD and her boyfriend were back and they spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with us until they went out to dinner with some friends.  DH got the wishing well finished with a handle and added some trim to the edge of the well.  Can't wait to put flowers in it!

This whole thing cost $4! Except for the dowel rod it was all scrap pieces we already had.

Saw the first sign of Spring when I was out putting some bird suet in the feeder hanging in my flowering plum tree

One bloom came out on the tree yesterday. My very favorite tree when in bloom. We are supposed to have nice warm weather this week, so I imagine it will be in full bloom soon. A couple of weeks early I think. These trees are everywhere around our area and so pretty when they are all in bloom. But, they are such a tease! We get 2 weeks of beautiful pink (or white on the dogwoods) flowers and then they are gone and we are left thinking "hey....where'd Spring go?!"  while we wait another month or two for Spring to actually arrive.

So far, I am the only one up this morning - besides the dogs, the parakeets and the restless cat. He scratches at DD's bedroom door, so I open it for him and he walks away. He's such a cat.

If DD has some free time today we'll go do a little shopping. A few things needed at Target on sale and I'd like to look at Michaels and see if they have the yarn I need for this blanket I am making. I bought 2 skeins at Joann's and got it started and figured that would give me an estimate of how many more I needed. I ordered 14 more (I'm doubling the yarn) from a place online on Wednesday. They charged my debit card right away but apparently still haven't shipped it. Grrrr.... I might buy a couple more at Michaels, if they have any (Joanns only had 3 left when I bought the 2) so I can keep working on it and then when the rest comes in, if I have more I could use my receipt and take a couple back to Joanns or Michaels.

Except DD has already hinted, and then asked, if she could have this blanket when I am done! I've only got 8 inches done so far but it looks like it will be nice and super chunky and cozy. So, I'll have to make another one for me - haha! but it's actually a bit chunkier than I envisioned, so I'll try making the next one without doubling up on the yarn. I am using Red Heart Grande yarn and it's pretty thick, especially when doubled up.

I think I'll go make some blueberry muffins for breakfast.  That should wake them up smelling that.

I found a new show to watch. It's on Amazon video and it's a new series Amazon put out called Bosch - based on the books by Michael Connelly.  I have been listing to his Michael Holler series on audio books and Bosch is a recurring character in this series, but has his own series of books, which I had planned to listen to once I got through these other books. I'm liking the tv series. They have the whole season loaded and I'm on episode 4 already. I like the actor. He's the guy who played the Irish gun leader in Sons of Anarchy.

Speaking of Amazon video - the Amazon Fire tv sticks are finally back in stock so I ordered one yesterday. I had $15 in Amazon gift cards (from Swagbucks and other rewards) so it only cost me $25. I hope it will work well. I can't get our blu-ray dvd player to stream anything anymore and I'd like to watch these shows on tv rather than my little ipad mini.

DIY and a Valentine's surprise

We have a teeny laundry room and this is our "pet food station" in the little area that was originally intended for a freezer.

That brown rug in the left corner of the picture is the rug in front of the back door. Behind the picture taker is the washer and dryer.  Yep. Tiny room.

And not pictured is where I stash all the extra cases or two of water and 12 packs of soda. They are against the wall in the dining room! I just really have no where to store things that big out of sight.

Last weekend, while bending over to scoop out some dog food (the new bag arrived and that one bin is all filled up now, much to old pup's relief. LOL) I had an idea. How about if DH built a shelf underneath these bins and raised them up high enough so that I could store a case of water and some soda underneath?! A couple pieces of wood for the "legs" support and a piece of plywood on top. Easy.  So I brought up the idea with DH.  First he tried to say we don't have enough wood.  I said there is a bunch of wood leftover from the bathroom remodels. Then he tried to say "I thought you were going to put a freezer here?" Umm.......ya...we talked about that like 25 years ago. That ship has pretty much sailed and with basically just the two of us now, I don't need another freezer.  I said "whatever - I'll just try to buy something that will work".

Then he got to thinking about it, took a look at his wood stash and realized it would be easy to make.  But, of course in true DH fashion it has to be wayyy fancier than I cared about. LOL.

Finished DIY project.  Didn't cost one dime. Everything was scraps we had leftover from other projects. He even covered the plywood with leftover floor laminate so it matches the floor. (Note: when storing leftover pieces of laminate and trim....do not use blue painters tape to wrap around to hold the pieces together...trying to take the tape off totally took of the laminate on the trim! I'll have to touch up the exposed spots with something)

 As I was cleaning up the construction mess DH said he had another project he wanted to make me and since he had all the equipment out and it was still nice outside he was going to make it, but it's a surprise and I have to stay in the house.

So, I stayed inside.......for hours....DD got home and she was outside helping him..for hours. By then I was dying to know what it was! Finally, at around 6pm, in the dark, I got the ok to come outside and see!

Isn't it adorable? And he made it all from scrap leftover wood we had. I love that. I especially like how it's already all weathered looking. The only piece he didn't have was some dowling for the bar across the well, so he still needs to finish that up.  It will look so cute this summer with flowers in it.

Meet my new best friend

I have a new best friend. Her name is Samantha. Samantha was a huge help this week in getting me to and from work in record time!

Woohoooo!  Samantha is the voice navigation in the Waze traffic app I downloaded to my phone. She's the bomb. Really.  The first week or so I wasn't so sure.  GPS navigation has always been wrong for driving to our house. We always warn people that are driving to our house for the first time to not use their GPS map. For some really strange reason it actually takes a person out of the way past the street into our private road neighborhood and tries to bring you in the back side...through a dirt road that is blocked to even get through! It's been like this for years and apparently still the main way for directions to our house. 

But, Waze assured me that after several trips via my route to my house (basically the last mile or so), it would remember that as a preferred route and sure enough it did.  Last week I still wasn't trusting Samantha to get me home or to work the quickest route. I'd drive past her suggestion, thinking I knew better.  Tuesday I finally trusted her and decided to follow her route all the way home from work. I was home in 60 minutes. It's been taking me anywhere from 75 minutes to 2 hours to get home the past few weeks.

It was not a route I would have even tried and parts of it didn't even know about! When she took me off on an exit before my usual 5 mile slow down to my normal exit, I was nervous, but went for it. Then she did the strangest thing! She basically had me loop around this funky way to get on this side street towards home. I have taken this street in the past attempts home (I've been driving this commute almost 10 years now) but accessed it from the exit prior...where there was always a long wait through a couple of lights to get turned on the street off the freeway and then the next left to get on this main road was another long wait through a couple of light sequences.  Samantha's sneaky little way saved some time. I had also stopped going home this way because once I dropped down the hill into my towns downtown area I'd sit at that light forever.  So I haven't gone this route in years. But, instead of going down this hill she had me cut off to another less traveled road down the hill and all these little side streets and on my way home to the other side of town.

I was converted!

Thursday morning she took me on a route that got me to work in 53 minutes! Seriously - I haven't gotten to work in less than an hour the past couple of years. Her route is shorter...IF traffic isn't terrible, but half the time it is terrible and since I never knew how it was going to be from day to day I just avoided it for the more consistent 60-65 minute route.

So, now I'm just going to let Samantha and Waze get me too and from work and have less hair pulling and more time :)

A nice wake up

Woke up this morning to a text from DD (sent after I went to bed last night) that said "see you tomorrow!" and a link to this:

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a29039/best-things-about-being-close-with-your-mom/

What a way to start the day! I can't wait to see her this afternoon.  It's gonna be a great weekend. DD home for 3 days and nice weather starting for the next week :-)

Up and down

With DD off to college our monthly grocery bill has really gone down. Even more than I expected. I budget all our food/pet food/cleaning/household supplies/misc in one lump sum. I usually shop at Walmart (or Target) and am able to get all the stuff in the same trip on the same receipt, so it's easier for me just to budget it all together. I also include any take out/eating out in this monthly amount. Based on what we typically spent BC (before college), I budgeted $550 each payperiod - paid twice a month.

When she left for college I basically kept my budget the same but lowered my grocery/misc category by $100 a month and started giving DD $100 a month.  So my bi-monthly amount has been $500. But, happily I have noticed that we aren't even spending the $500! Typically we seem to be in the $350 to $400 range!  This last pay period it was $438, but that included all the pets food purchase and I won't have to buy that again for 6 weeks.  I'm happy for the reduction in expenses, especially now that I have to pay $162 a month for DH's Crestor medicine. Gain some - lose some.  Isn't that the way it always seems to go?

I received a surprise check in the mail for $36.  Apparently there was a class action lawsuit against Sprint. We used to have Sprint as our carrier, when DH was in business, so this was our share of the lawsuit money. But, it was made out to his company name (which has his name within the company name) and there is no company or checking account with that name anymore. I wasn't sure how I would deposit it, but I just deposited it into my savings with my bank app on my phone and figured I'd see what happens. So far it hasn't been denied.  I got into work yesterday and there was a check for this same deal - for over $2000!  I'd rather have that check, LOL.

Our electricity bill was $20 lower this month than this month last year. At first I thought it was probably due to a combination of DD being gone and a milder winter. But, in looking at our bill closer, I have come to the conclusion this is not the case. Plus, I think our winter was pretty mild last year, as well. We get 2 separate bills. The house is on one and the garage/shop is on another. The garage bill is almost exactly the same as last year. $1 higher, actually. So, if  my house bill was down due to higher outside temps it would stand to reason my shop bill would also be down.  So, I'm chalking the $20 savings up to DD being away!

Friday is payday and 2 non-interest charging accounts will be paid in full! wooohooo!  My Paypal Credit (formerly Bill Me Later) will be paid off as well as Lowe's. When DH was building the beautiful cedar arbors for me, he needed a table saw and I put it on a 6 months no interest promotion. Between these 2 payments gone I will now have $275 extra in my monthly budget. I am doing the happy dance about this.

Still no performance review at work yet.  Soon I hope and most likely any increase will be retroactive to the first of the year. Honestly my reviews typically take like 10 minutes, so just do it! LOL.  We are also starting the year out like gangbusters and are so far exceeding our YTD sales goals. If we can keep that up through June, we will get the first half of our bonus then. Last year we hadn't made our mid year goal by June, so no bonus. But, by year end we pulled it out, so we got the whole year's bonus at once.

Practice and more practice

Well, would you look at that! My knitting and purl stitches.  I think I'm getting the hang of it.  I KNOW - all you experienced knitters out there are chuckling to yourself (or maybe even laughing really hard) "she thinks that is good?"  LOL.  But hey, even you guys were beginners at this one time too :-)

My first practice last night I was trying to use 16 stitches - 4 knit and 4 purl, alternating, but somehow I kept picking up a stitch. That makes no sense to me and apparently doesn't to a lot of others out there in knitting land because when I tried to google it there were several different answers as to why it happens.  So, I backed it down to a total of 8 stitches and went very very slow and no extra stitches.

My big needles are supposed to come tomorrow (yay for prime shipping) but I'm still undecided on the yarn. The one I *think I want would end up costing me about $100 to make the blanket. Knitting seems to be an expensive hobby so far! I think after this I'm going to have to cut myself down to small projects - scarves and such if I want to make anything after this.

After my big needles come I'll practice with those awhile and then make a decision on which yarn to get for the blanket. It's so hard to buy any online when you can't really see what the thickness is or feel how soft it is. That's why I think I'm going to go with the one I found at Joanns, but buy it from a different place online at $2 a skein cheaper.

Knit and purl

My recent foray into knitting with the arm knitted blanket has me wanting to do more. I have an addiction, hoarding problem, love for blankets and in my Pinterest-ing I came across this blanket

photo from LynneKnowlton.com

 

I think I actually drooled on my ipad!

I linked through to her website (www.lynneknowlton.com) and read this how to blog post and some of her other posts. She is adorable. I want to stay in her guest treehouse. I want her to adopt me.

This blanket is considered a beginner knitting project. Ok, that makes it even better. BUT, it requires using NEEDLES! Eek! Needles are scary!

It's supposed to be really easy, she says.  Just 4 knit stitches and then 4 purl stitches, Repeat, repeat, repeat and you'll have this gorgeous blanket.

She got the inspiration from an Etsy seller who made this version with even chunkier yarn

(link to Etsy from picture)

I almost had a heart attack when I saw how much this yarn cost.......$50.....per skein! Just a throw sized blanket would cost $200 to make. Not in my budget, besides the fact that I don't even know how to knit. Luckily Lynne gave much cheaper yarn options and I actually like the thickness and look of Lynne's blanket much better. 

I decided I'd better learn to knit, so while DD and I were at the craft/fabric store Saturday I bought some knitting needles and the cheapest skein of yarn I could find - for practicing. 

(DD picked out the color and said once I learned I could make her a mug cozy out of it)

And last night I practiced.......and practiced and practiced. I am not good at this........yet. First I did a bunch of rows of the knit stitch. That wasn't too hard but still had my share of goofs. Then I tried to learn the purl stitch. That one was harder, but I finally got a few rows of it and seemed to get in a rhythm. So then I got brave and tried to do 4 knit stitches and 4 purl stitches and repeat. Ya.....didn't go so well. I tried and pulled it out, tried and pulled it out. Either I'd forget which stitch I was supposed to be doing or just completely do the stitch wrong. Back to watching the videos.

I am bound and determined to figure this knitting stuff out! That lovely blanket will be draped over the corner of my sofa one of these days come hell or highwater.  Hopefully, I don't drown in the process.....and hopefully it will turn out looking somewhat similar...I should probably just hope it at least ends up looking something like a blanket!

Saturday fun day

I had a great day yesterday. DD and I met up halfway between home and school. Did some shopping at a mall for a couple of hours and then went and had lunch at Red Robin..........YUM.....:)

We haven't seen each other in a few weeks and last weekend I suggested that sometime soon we should meet up halfway and she was like YES YES YES! Let's do it on Saturday. We each drove an hour (yay for Saturday morning light traffic) and found each other in front of the JCPenney store.

I had a couple of things I wanted to specifically look for to buy: A blue hooded pullover sweatshirt for DH and a couple of desk drawer organizers for his desk. I don't really need anything - recent Christmas and Birthday has left me with lots of nice new things.

We could not find a plain old blue hooded pullover sweatshirt! Found one in clearance at Penney's but it was wrong size. Sears didn't have any either. That's really why I hate shopping and rarely go to malls. If I have something specific in mind I can never find it.  DD found a cute sweater cardigan to buy. We went into a cute little gift shop type of store and saw some cute owl car fresheners so I bought the set, put one in my car and DD took the other two.

Then we went to lunch. DD had some $ left on a Red Robin gift card (that was actually my card but I gave it to her like a year ago because she goes out to eat more than me) so we decided to go there. There isn't a Red Robin in her university town, so she wasn't likely to use it up anytime soon. Lunch is expensive! $35 for two meals and milkshakes.  So with her $13 left on the card, it still cost me $22 plus I left a $5 tip.

After lunch we decided to find a craft store and an office supply store. They were about 2 miles from the mall and both in the same shopping complex. Again, no luck finding what I was looking for at the office store (desk drawer organizers).

We drove back to the mall and saw a Home Goods store across the street. We've never been in one of those stores and OHHH! We liked it. LOL.  Then I took DD back to her car. I decided I'd better use the little girls room before the drive home (which with afternoon traffic took me and hour and a half), so we went back inside the Penney's store. The entrance we had used was right back into the men's athletic wear. As I'm walking past a table (that we had already looked at when we were there 3 hours earlier) I spot a hooded sweatshirt lying on top of the other stuff on the table. It was XL, it was blue, and it was on clearance for $12.99! Score!  We went back to our cars,  hugged, gave her ALL the chocolate from my house and some leftover pizza, and went our separate ways.  Fortunately, she has a 3 day weekend next weekend and will be home next Friday afternoon :-)

Pizza Pie

I have been making my own pizza the past couple of years. It's delicious and has made us not even want delivery pizza anymore. I've been using a $5 metal pizza pan I bought at Target but a couple of months ago I decided to get a new pan and for $15 bucks I got this stoneware one from Walmart

Oh my! I really does make the pizza better. The crust has always been so good but with this type of pan it's even better.

                                    I'm not too good at making a perfectly round pizza

                                 These were my advisors during the pizza making :) Black pup knows they aren't allowed in the kitchen but I guess he figures as long as the tip of his tail is still outside the kitchen he qualifies.

Ready to go into the oven.  My half has Canadian bacon added, cuz as far as I'm concerned the more stuff the better

Yummy! This was our dinner Friday night....and the leftovers last night.

Apartment living

DD and her 2 roommates for next school year have started looking at some apartments in the university area.  Three bedroom's seem to run about $1200 a month and include water and garbage utilities. They also come with a washer and dryer.  Adding in her share of electricity and internet (they aren't going to get cable as none of them watch tv much, other than netflix) and estimating for food, we are estimating her monthly costs to be less than $700.  Currently, her university room and board runs about $1200 a month.  She will save $500 a month and (hopefully) be in a much happier living situation.

She will need to pick up a new mattress and bedframe, as she wants a full sized bed and not take her twin bed from home. She is able to contribute a coffee and end table and one of the other girls a couch.   She has a set of dishes, pots and pans and some other kitchen items. They will also need to find a used dining table and chairs. It sounds like Craigslist and Ikea will be their friend next summer while they try to furnish an apartment.

She's so cute as she was messaging me about it all. She said she wished I was there to go look with her. She thought she should be looking for her first apartment with her momma! :-)

And while she is researching and preparing for that, her boyfriend just got approved for a mortgage to purchase a home. He's currently looking at a townhouse here in town.  He spoke to his banker today and with the amount of down payment he will be able to put down his monthly payment on the townhouse would be only $500. You can't rent anything around here for that (maybe a room somewhere) so he's planned well the past 4 years he's been working a good job and living at home and putting money away. Kudos to him.  He's really got his act together.

He's pretty much gone head over heels for my daughter, it appears :-)  They've only been "officially" together a little over a month and on their one month"anniversary" he told her he looks forward to many more months and years together. He treats her with so much respect.  I didn't know there were young guys like that anymore LOL. It's very refreshing to see and she deserves to be treated like she is the sun and the moon and the stars.

Traffic is a 4-letter word

Traffic has just been horrendous lately! And I'm not exaggerating! Two of my last 3 commutes home from work have taken me at least 2 hours (I've blocked out the rest of the bad ones from my memory). And I leave work at 3pm! Tuesday it took me 2 hours and 10 minutes to reach my destination of home. It usually takes me about an hour to get to work in the morning (I leave the house at 8:30) and usually 65-75 minutes home. I think it's taken me that long to get home once in the last few weeks.  Doesn't seem to matter if its sun shining or raining (though rain is pretty much a given that traffic will suck). Last week we had a glorious sunny 60 degree day.  I thought the drive home would be breeze. Two hours later I pulled in the driveway :/

I woke up to the sound of pouring rain. Ugh. Gonna be another long commute home. Again. But about 7 minutes before I was to leave the house my wonderful amazing boss emailed and said....you guessed it.....traffic is was really bad. She gave me the option to work from home again today. Heck ya! Got a dog laying on my feet under my desk and my car is staying nice and dry in the garage.  Now........if I could just figure out a way to not have to dry off wet dogs all day.

What to get a guy for Valentine's Day

Dh and I don't usually give each other Valentine's Day gifts. We just had an anniversary and birthday last month and Valentines Day has never been a big deal to us, but I saw these on Pinterest and just had to get him some ~

Chocolate ammo! How cute is that?! Even if we did normally exchange gifts I'd never know what to get him and this is just perfect for a guy's type of Valentine's Day gift.  They have chocolate guns too, but I wasn't going to spend $32 (with the coupon code) and another $11 on shipping on a piece of chocolate, but the ammo with the cute can was only $11 and the 20% off code paid for half the $5 shipping.  He'll get a kick out of the originality of it :)

What happened to my balance?!

I'm a bit frustrated this morning! At the beginning of January I purchased a discounted e-giftcard to Petco. After my purchase of dog food at the store I had $22.67 left on the gift card.I folded up the printed out e-card (with my receipt) and put in back in my purse to save for the next time I needed dog food. This morning I went online to make a purchase from Petco.com and intended to use my e-giftcard - but apparently there is nothing left on the balance! I for the life of me do not remember going to Petco again in the last month!  It's a bit out of my way and usually the only thing I buy there is dog food. Maybe I went there for something this past month and just totally spaced it out. I hate when I can't remember something like that and there is no way to check what purchases were made against the giftcard.

If I had used up the whole balance on a later visit, more than likely my purchase would have been more than the $22.67, so I would have had to pay the difference and then used my debit card.  There are no Petco charges on my debit card. And even if I could determine that the balance somehow got used by someone other than myself, I'd have no way to get it back.  So, I'm left frustrated and wondering what the heck happened.

Anyhow - I did save some on my pet needs purchases today.  Black pup takes fish oil pills (he thinks they are treats) for his itchy skin and usually run me about $20 for a 100 day supply. I am currently out of those so decided to go online and purchase them (and use up my gift card balance). They were online sale for $13.99...but I didn't want to pay shipping and I am almost out of food for the other dog and cat food. All the pets food was on sale so I ordered a bag of each of their food. I bought a $100 e-card from giftcardzen (if I would have known my other one didn't have any balance left I would have bought a larger one!) for $85.  It's all being shipped and I don't have to make a trip to Petco.  Might be the way to start doing this and save me a trip and gas.

Speaking of pets - that reminds me I am a few days past due on applying their flea treatment. I usually buy a 4 pack (so last me 2 months for 2 dogs) and this is my last ones left, so time to order some more in the next couple of weeks. I usually search out the best prices online and purchase that way.  Sometimes it's Amazon, sometimes Ebay, sometimes from the pet stores.  Flea treatments are so expensive!

Finished blanket and other odds and ends

I finished the arm knitting blanket!

I had about 2 feet completed from last weekend......well....when I went to try and get it back on my arm I somehow got the end messed up and just ended up pulling it all out! But, I did not just give up and shove the yarn in a drawer (oh! It was tempting!). I started over and gave myself enough time to complete it in one sitting. It took me 3 hours. I would say that it took this long because the yarn is not near as chunky as the 45 minute video, so I had to make more rows going across to get the same width and I also wanted a 7 foot length compared to the 5ft length of the video blanket.  I'm surprised my cat didn't show up in this picture. I had to shoo him away like 3 times while trying to get this set up to take the photo. He wanted to jump up on it as soon as I put in on the chair.

Here it is on the foot of my bed ~

I made one goof with a stitch about midway through the blanket :(  But overall, I got the desired result. Since I've never knitted anything before, I think I did ok for a first try.  It took me 5 skeins of yarn doubled up. I don't know why I didn't buy 6 skeins! I had to double the last skein from each end, but it ended up the perfect amount of yarn.

I only spent $110 on groceries yesterday, so I also got this new tablecloth while at Walmart. It looks a lot better in person than in the picture. I don't really like it in the picture!

It was $13, it's kind of thin but I think I will get it's use out of it 

I also finally tackled the mounds of papers taking over my desk. Fortunately most of it ended up in the recycling pile or the shredding bag. I then got the house dusted and vacuumed, made lunch and sat down at 1pm to make the blanket. By then it was getting close to getting dinner started.

I've also been dealing with my normal annual end of January/beginning of February sinus problems. I usually have it a couple of weeks this time of year, for whatever reason. Sinus headaches, (though the headaches haven't been as bad this year) and a "fuzzy" feeling in my head, which has been worse this year. Makes it hard to concentrate. I'll be glad when it's passed.

I scored some gold stars with my boss on Friday, so that was good timing with my salary review coming up soon, LOL.  I really hope it will happen before the next payroll.....I am paid hourly so February's, with their short pay periods, suck! Basically I get shorted about 2 days of pay than all the other months. $500ish short hurts a bit. A raise to help offset the short pay period would help.

We aren't into football, so no Superbowl watching for us this afternoon/evening. I'll be glad when it's over - it's about all anyone is posting on Facebook - at least in my neck of the woods. It's also raining, which means wet dogs to dry off every time they go outside. Ugh. We keep a basket of drying towels near the door. They will get their use today, it appears.

Well, I am off to make a confetti cake, so we have something to snack on this week.  Enjoy your day!