Another call, baby steps, expenses and Firesticks

Mom called again yesterday, a little before lunch. She's still confused, it sounds like. Unsure where she is. Plus, for some reason she could hardly hear me, though I could hear her fine, so I'm not sure what was up with that. When I answered she said oh I pushed this button on this thing and got you. I said yep! Then she asked if I knew where she was? I wasn't quite sure how to answer, so I just said yes, you are in (city name). She said ok and this is where I live? yes. But you could tell she was confused, plus she kept saying she couldn't hear me when I'd answer, so then said she's glad she got to talk to me and she'll let me go.

I'm glad to be having her doctor appointment, next Tuesday, to get established with the doctor they use at her facility. But, I'm sure I'll end up disappointed with the doctor, just as I am with most all doctors. But overall, I'm sure this doctor will much more convenient then where I was taking her before, plus this doctor is a geriatrician.

Dh finally seems to be making progress out of the planning stage of building the lofts in his shop to the actual "doing" stage. He ordered a bunch of bolts and screws yesterday (he does shop online to find the best deal, at least) and a tool he'll need (he found one ebay for about $50 less than regular stores). As long as there is no snow this morning (none yet) he said he will probably go into town to the lumber store and get some of the lumber needed to get started. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Plus, he's about to get put in Facebook jail, LOL, so he's going to need something else to do, haha. 

Ok, it's March now, I'm at least ready for some warmer days, like in the 50's LOL....or even 40's. Nothing like that on the horizon yet. 

I'm still doing my little expenses spreadsheet to track my variable expenses each month. I budget $600 a month for groceries/personal care/household supplies. In January I spent $454, in February $641. I think I need a couple more months to get my monthly average tied down. I did create a separate category for pets (which includes the chickens). I don't have a budget, but sort of have always included it in my $600 groceries/household. In Jan I spent about $50 on pets. February was $243, but $150 of that was the vet bill and $93 was stocking up on 2-3 months of chicken feed/scratch/bedding. House maintenance in January was $287, in Feb it was $0. We spent $0 on clothing both months. Gas was about the same both months, right around $160. Gas was more than I thought I was spending per month, but I also feel like we had quite a few extra trips both months, taking/picking me up at airport, same with dd. Lots of extra trips in for my mom. We'll see if it goes back to my normal $80 a month budget.

Eating out (drive thru and restaurants) was about $150 each month. Both months we had a restaurant visit (vs the normal fast food stop), in January for our anniversary and in Feb we took dd out to dinner after we picked her up from the airport.

My firestick for the tv is still giving me lots of issues, so I guess I'm going to have to order a new one. I had to reset it like 3 times in 45 minutes while trying to watch a show last night. Same thing the night before. Kind of annoying that they don't seem to last too long. But, I just had a thought - maybe it's the Youtube tv app giving me issues and not the firestick....that's about what I watch 90% of the time, but I guess when it's giving me issues (freezing and saying not connected to wifi) I should see if I have any problems watching Netflix or Prime or another app for awhile. I think tonight I'll try deleting the app and adding it back, and test other apps on the firestick before I order a new one.