This past week was a mixture of saving and spending–kind of like life–full of good and bad. Here’s how it went:
The pigs continue to grow. An appointment was made this week for the mobile slaughter man to come the first week of March and take care of them. They are all spoken for, except 1, and several are paid for. We anticipate Rob’s labor will pay for our pig. It got a little complicated when we realized a few weeks ago that one of them had not been properly castrated by the woman we bought them from. After phone calls, and pictures being sent back and forth, she traded in the incorrectly fixed pig. Thankfully, Rob was able to catch it with no problem and take it back. So, it was not a complete loss as it would have been if we had been stuck with a viable boar. They aren’t good to eat, and we have no need for a daddy pig. The new baby is smaller, by far, then the other ones. So we are out a bunch of feed, plus the cost of transporting the pig and trading it in. We are still not sure how we are going to handle that–but the good news is that we are still going to make enough money from the other ones to pay for our pig. We will be lucky to break even on this one, though.
Rob picked up a temporary job and earned a bit of $. He might have been needed one more day, but a piece of glass he had previously stepped on caused an abscess in his foot, causing us to go to the doctor for lancing and antibiotics. She said he had to stay off of it. The good news is that he is healing up nicely, now, and he did get paid for the one day.
We sold some dishes, cookbooks, home-school books, and a few small items from the shop on e-bay and a used book store. We got over $150, which will bring our savings total for fixing up the new house up to around $600, once we get it all into the right account.
We did not buy a new refrigerator or popcorn maker when they broke. I am using the fridge in the garage and a pot for now.
We had our taxes done instead of having Rob do them with Turbo-Tax as usual. It was complicated this year because we had done some logging. We had a fear that we would owe a lot, but that was not true in the end. We also worried that our inexperience and lack of knowledge would cause us to make a mistake that would come back to haunt us later. We will be getting a small refund. I’m sure we paid taxes, but there was enough money withdrawn from Rob’s paychecks from last year to cover it. I’m so glad we had this firm do the taxes. They had a lot of experience in timber sales, which is why they were recommended to us and knew how to calculate which part of the sales were actually profit, and how much timber was purchased when we bought the property (they don’t consider that profit). We still do have expenses to pay, such as replanting baby trees, etc., so still are not spending the money until after we have paid what we need to. Still, we had envisioned paying, and ended up not paying and even are getting a bit back—-happy day!
We have been eating a lot of that cauliflower I froze last fall, along with many other vegetables I preserved by canning or freezing.
I shopped on Thursday at Costco for myself and 4H club, which was Friday. I am in charge of cooking classes and there were 9 recipes to prepare for this week. I purposely chose recipes that used my stockpile. I didn’t have everything. I didn’t have time for multiple stores, so got what I could at Costco and spent about 10 minutes in a Safeway getting the few remaining items.
I took the kids to McDonald’s Thursday after dance. I figured we could afford that with the excellent news about the taxes. Thursday was a crash and burn day for me–I could hardly drag one leg in front of the other, but needed to go with Rob to the doctor (we weren’t sure if he was going to be able to drive after they fixed him up–he actually could). I also wanted to see what the Dr. found–had I gotten all the glass out, done something wrong, etc. What did I have to do to take care of it at home? Since he could not see the bottom of his foot, it was all me. Also, planning and getting ready for so many cooking classes for 4H is time-consuming, and I was exhausted because I had saved that job a little too long. By the time I figured out that I was the one who was going to go to take the kids to dance, shop like a maniac while they were in class, and do dinner as well, since Rob was in bed at that point with his foot up, I decided that Mrs. McDonald could make dinner. They accidentally gave us 2 extra cheese burgers and an order of fries. They caught the mistake and gave us the extra food for free, as they would have had to throw it away, and it was their mistake. We took them home to Rob and he didn’t even have to get out of bed to eat dinner.
It just gives me a larger appreciation for Rob. I truly could not do well at living the life we lead without his constant help and support. He has always wanted a large family,and promised long ago to bear his share of the load of the daily work involved with so many special needs kids. And he has. He will do doctor visits, therapy, dentists, DHS visits, shopping, laundry, cooking, etc., etc., etc., as will I. It takes us both. Let’s face it, we do SO much work ourselves because our kids either can’t or won’t. Don’t get me wrong, we train them, but it often takes much longer to do a job than is normal, or it is beyond their ability. Then you add in sometimes oppositional behavior, caused by neurological glitches, or just teen-age years, and it gets interesting sometimes. So, we tag team the emotional part as well, and handing out the consequences, etc. He has never resented giving up the toys he thought he wanted when we were young, such as a fancy pickup, a boat, time for fishing a lot, hunting a lot, etc. I feel like it’s Valentine’s Day all year long, because our love has grown and matured over the last 33 years to so much more than it was when we first got married. I am blessed.
Boy can I relate to your comment about special needs children that “can’t or won’t” help with work, not to mention the oppositional behaviour and general teenage attitude! I envy those parents who have “compliant” children. There is nothing more irritating than to hear those same parents complain about simple or minor “issues”. I just want to scream “Really! If that is all you have to deal with than you should be counting your blessing!”
No kidding! They simply don’t understand. One time I was told that I just needed to “try harder” with one of my sons by a doctor. Later, he was diagnosed with some of the worst ADHD the ADHD doctor had every seen. I just remember at the time feeling so defeated, thinking that it was somehow my fault for not being a good enough mother……I’ve learned a lot since then and wouldn’t even listen now, but I was younger and knew I was trying as hard as I could. I couldn’t even leave the boys alone long enough to take a shower–it was hard. We got through, though, one minute at a time!
I also have learned to let so many things go, trying to focus on the important.
Before my daughter received her ADHD/Asperger’s diagnosis, we had some pretty intense issues with behaviours, especially at school. The school basically pointed the finger at our parenting skills, blaming us for all the issues. Of course it wouldn’t have had anything to do with the fact her teacher was fresh out of college and never taught before.
Anyways, the “experts” were called in and we were told we’re just not doing time outs right! What a joke that was. I’m so angry with myself for listening to these people. It really destroyed my relationship with my daughter at the time, and it has never been the same since.
It is hard to not get mad at the child for behavior they can not help. It is also hard to figure out the “can’t” vs. the “won’t.” Of course, we want our children to do as much as they can, but it’s hard to strike the balance. I’ve been criticized many times for “being to easy” or “not making them mind” and so forth. I am quite positive I do many things wrong–I’m a human. But, I’ve just stopped listening to those comments, suggestions, or advice when they come from people who have no knowledge or experience with what I’m dealing with. I joke that I’m just getting good at this at a time when many of my children are already gone!
Sometimes you just have to resort to fast food! It’s good that it’s there when you need it.
I think you both are great parents. So involved in your children’s lives.
I wouldn’t have attempted doing those taxes either. Ours are simple, just standard deduction and two exemptions. Takes longer to print them then it does to do them.
Interesting about the pigs. I learned something new. I didn’t know boars were no good for eating. Any day you learn something new is a good day!
Hugs
Jane
I am also very glad for McD’s when I need it. I’ve thought many times about how it would be if I lived in olden times and there was no fast food! Not fun on busy days, and I’m sure they hit the wall at times, just as we do.
My friend who raised pigs told me that you could eat an unfixed boar if it was young enough. We also have another friend who had to have an operation done on his boar (a demonstration for an OSU veterinarian class) and then wait for 3 months until it was not strong any more and could be eaten. So, we would never sell an unfixed boar for meat to someone else, because we would take the risk that it would taste too strong.
My BIL had the same thing happen to his foot with a little splinter of glass that he didn’t realize had gotten imbedded. He was off his foot for a long time. Hope your Honey heals faster.
I am happy to report that his foot already looks 100% better than it did! I’m glad we didn’t mess around with it, because I’m paranoid from stories I have heard.