Saving Money–October 11, 2016

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There are things in the garden that I plan to pick this week.  I’m especially excited about the boc choi.   I enjoy it in stir-fry and chicken soup.  I think I’ll make both, as my sister brought some from the farm garden as well.  It has been pouring rain, but I think we have a couple of dry days now, so hopefully, I can carve out enough daylight hours to get out to the garden for a bit.

My sister also brought potatoes, onions, squash, and other produce from the garden.  It’s coming to an end with all the rain, but we sure have harvested a lot this summer.

We have been crazy busy around here.  On Saturday, Rob rounded up a couple of friends and we got the freezers moved.  I cannot tell you how nice it is to have my food all in one place!  We spent most of the day moving them, and organizing the food.  Now I know what I have to work with.

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He immediately thawed and barbecued a turkey.  We found we still had 4 of the ones he raised last year.  We were only remembering 2, so it was a nice surprise.  Now I’ve got turkey bits for casseroles and sandwiches, and broth.  Some I will use right away, and some will be frozen.  I also will take turkey on Sunday for family Sunday dinner.

We also found a lot of steak, so enjoyed a nice dinner with friends on Sunday night and feasted on steak. It was so good to see them and since Rob barbecued, it was an easy mess-free dinner.  We cooked green beans and baked potatoes and my friend brought dessert.   It took me a little bit to figure out how exactly I was going to navigate the new house with company, as it was the first time, but we figured it out, everyone had a seat to sit on, and we had a blast catching up with our friends.  And…..there’s still more steak.  Every fall, we buy beef from a farmer and we did not use as much this summer as usual because we had difficulty accessing it.  Clearly, when we did, we grabbed hamburger:)  The new beef will be coming, and so we need to use the old up.  I don’t feel sorry for us!

I’ve been packing lunches for both Patsy and Rob.  I took one with J and I when we went to my dr. appointment on Friday as well.  Not only is this frugal, but I seem to get so sick when I eat fast food anymore, that it’s just better all around for me. (You never know if a little wheat got in there, and I react so much to it) I was able to combine errands that day, since it was all the way up in Portland.

We continue to go to the YMCA and exercise.  The girls are getting into their dance classes.  I still have a little more dance wear to buy for Patsy, but will probably order it on-line.  The items I bought at Walmart on clearance for only $2-7 are working  fine and have not fallen apart yet.  (I wondered for $2-3 shirts and shorts)  Patsy has basically grown out of her swim suit, but I am having her wear those nylon shorts over it right now and will continue to scour the internet for a good price for a new one.

I am keeping busy with homeschool.  My niece, Alissa, is joining Ja’Ana in homeschool and that is going well.  Her parents will be taking on some subjects and I will do others.

Rob really likes the people he is working with at his new job.  The kids are pretty hard to handle, so he’s on a big learning curve.  Yesterday, for instance, he got punched multiple times, stomped on, and punched in the face, hard.  The little guy he was specifically hired for really struggles, and Rob is finding out that he may be moved to another school where they can help him better.  Rob would need to move, too.  He isn’t super excited as he just got started at this school, but that is how it works here.  We will see what happens.  Today is the first day where he will go to the kid’s house and ride the bus to school with him.  We are super glad he has the job, and hopefully, it will smooth out as everyone gets into routines.

10 thoughts on “Saving Money–October 11, 2016”

  1. Congrats on your husband’s job! I can’t believe your beautiful canning (and shelves) amidst all your moving…and your nice new garden. We should be moving in a month. At least our house is sold and we settle on it then…we just changed the house we are buying so we are cutting it close…but we are ok if we have to take up residence temporarily if things don’t work out…we are just happy to have our house sold. I enjoyed always reading of your move, etc. Crazy upside down world we live in when your husband’s past job was too long at one job! That used to be considered a plus that someone was stable enough to stay at a job long!! I’m not blogging anymore but I enjoy visiting you! Andrea

    1. I’m glad you got your house sold. That is such a big relief, isn’t it? I’m glad you are enjoying reading. Thank you for the encouragement. It sounds like you are up in the air for a while, and boy can I relate. We still have piles and piles to sort through, but have now lost our free time, due to work. So, we try to do a few boxes anytime we can. Today, I could not believe that Ja’Ana had seen some dance wear I needed for Patsy and I actually dug it out of the pile, it fit, and it saved me $50-100 from buying a new set of shoes, leotard, tights and ballet skirt. I was really amazed and happy! I will have to get new shoes and tights before long, as they will wear out quickly, but, hey–it’s going to get us through a few weeks or even months.

  2. What a nice surprise to find 2 additional turkeys in your freezer along with those steaks! I have 2 big freezers also and I really need to inventory them…I have no idea what all is still in them. 🙂

    Praying for you hubby as he deals with the kids with such severe issues. I had to stop taking a subbing job that involved a autistic child with little to no language. He would get so frustrated and as he got older, he would really lash out. After getting bit, scratched and punched, I decided that it was not fair to him or I to have me work with him anymore because I could not get him calmed down. 🙁

    1. That makes a lot of sense! Rob is signed up for some training. He hopes it will help him deal better with these kids. He’s not discouraged, yet, so that’s good.

  3. I feel so bad for that child. Obviously there are some major issues he is reacting to that make him lash out so violently. My daughter used to have the same reactions as she has major sensory issues. Things like noise, the chaos of the classroom, inconsistencies in routine, high expectations, not understanding the school work, difficulties with social interactions etc. all added up like drops of water in a bucket. It didn’t take long for the bucket to overflow, resulting in an overwhelming explosion of emotions. The school just couldn’t understand this at all, which was extremely frustrating.

    There are lots of great information and videos on the internet that might help your husband understand why the boy is reacting, which might in turn help him calm the boy or help avoid some on the reaction. Providing proper supports will be the key to decreasing his violent outbursts (and it does improve with maturity too). I know this because I’ve been there!

    Here is a video that was really interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTT1KldAQbo. I found this on Pinterest which said “Caution: this video may be a trigger for those on the Autism Spectrum”. I started to play the video and within minutes, my daughter came into the room, literally from somewhere else in the house, and said in an very anxious voice “What are you playing? Turn it off!”. Worth listening to (and if your husband dares, play it near the boy he works with to show the other staff his reaction to it…it will prove a point!!!). Here is the link to my special needs Pinterest board as well: https://www.pinterest.com/krakey99/special-needs-parenting/. My more recent pins are more about teens on the spectrum (that the stage we’re in now), but check further down the board for younger children. I pinned a lot of the earlier ones when my daughter was having HUGE issues with meltdowns at school (and being sent home constantly because they didn’t understand) and was desperately trying to educate them on her disability. Hope this is helpful to your husband!

    1. Thank you so much. I will try to show these to him soon. We are adjusting big-time to him being gone so much after a year off, and me working at times when he is actually home…..We are getting it figured out, but unfortunately, we are missing some key communication! He does understand special needs pretty well, which is why I think he has made it for over a week. He is hoping for more training, though, and maybe these will help. He has had other teachers at the school constantly asking him if he’s quitting, and it’s only been a little over a week!!! He also feels very sorry for the children in this classroom. It’s so easy for one to set off the others, so soon they are all in a frenzy. Calm, quiet and routine….well, you know:)

  4. So happy you were able to get your freezers moved to your new house. Know this will make it easier to prepare meals.. Wow…how nice to find turkeys and steaks [ I am jealous..lol]

    Best wishes with hubby’s new job. It takes a very special person to work with the special
    needs kids.. So happy your husband, is able to do it..
    Have a blessed day.

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