Day 390 and Coughing

Ugh, with all the wind and dust the last few days, my allergies and asthma are in an uproar and I am not feeling the greatest. I have been coughing my head off and it's just wearing me down. I'm headed to bed soon and hopefully will get a decent night's sleep tonight. I've noticed after not being outside much today, my cough does seem a bit better.

Day 389 and WOOHOO!!!!

Well, I know I mentioned this yesterday, but well...it's worth mentioning again. LOL. We paid off our American General Finance note today! I can just barely express what a big deal this is to us to know that both of our vehicles are free and clear and ours! It feels like stepping out of bondage to know that we will no longer owe American General Finance any money since we have been making payments to them for years on loans that we kept renewing/refinancing.

On a personal note. I have a couple of prayer requests. My grandpa is in the hospital. He had a stroke last week, was doing better and went home, then had to go back this past Sunday. Also, my dad sees a heart doctor on February 16th.

Day 388 and this crazy weather

A little over a week ago, we were covered in ice with sub-zero temperatures. Then it warmed up Friday, got cold again the first of the week and today we're at 70 degrees! We barely needed our jackets when I took the kids outside this morning and I'm sure we won't need them this afternoon. Is this weirdness or what? Not that I am complaining, mind you...it's a whole lot easier to get through the winter with a house full of kids when we get some nice days and get to run outside.

Tomorrow, we'll pay off our vehicle loan! It had both the van and the car on it and it was through American General Finance. Not only will that save us $256 a month, if we drop the van from complete coverage to liability, that will save us an additional $18 a month. We'll probably keep the car at full coverage since it's newer and Tom drives it back and forth to work. We plan to start putting that money aside to replace the van. We've had it 10 years and it's almost 13 years old and has over 160,000 miles on it. First we'll probably save up to buy something for Tasha to drive when she gets her license this summer (we had an extra vehicle when Josh and Serenity were driving before they bought their own). Then she can get a job and save up to buy her own. I just praise God that I filled my spots right about the time Tom's hours got cut so that we were able to finish paying that note off. What a blessing!

Day 387 and the continuing saga of my dryer

Several months ago I posted about the saga of my dryer. In short, we got it fixed twice within a few months (it's been 1 1/2-2 years ago now that it all happened) and it has still not been quite right since then. However, it is working and it dries clothes so I haven't given in and got a new one yet. I'm not willing to pour any more money into it at this point. All this time we haven't been able to restart it right away after it finishes, we have to wait for a while or it won't start back up. Then in December, it started a new trick. Instead of shutting off when it got to the end of it's cycle, it just kept going and going until the door was opened. Ok, not a huge deal, just make sure I set the timer and open the door when the cycle is done. I usually do that anyway, just so I don't leave clothes sitting in there. But sometimes I get busy and ignore the timer when it goes off. Anyway, now today it has a new trick. When I turned the dial to start it up this morning, it just started on it's own before I even pushed the start button. As if that was not weird enough, it finished it's cycle, I had heard it stop but had not got in there to get the clothes out yet. After a few minutes, it started up again on it's own!!!!!! I think it might be time for a new dryer. LOL. I'm hoping to get our taxes done soon and maybe we'll get enough back to get a new one. I'll keep you posted on the continuing saga of my crazy clothes dryer!

Day 386 and Valentine's Day

Well, Valentine's Day is just around the corner. What kinds of plans do you have for your sweetheart? Tawra Kellam of Living on a Dime is offering a free download this week of her e-book: Valentine's Day on a Dime. Go to this link: http://www.livingonadime.com/ebooks/valentinespr.html (You will have to copy and paste it in your browser since I don't know how to make it clickable). I'll also post a clickable link on my sidebar.

This year the choice for Tom and I was pretty easy. Our church is having dinner and a movie on Valentine's night so we're going to that. I can't wait! They are showing the movie Fireproof which I have been wanting to see.

On another note: If someone could give me some lessons on how to make links clickable, etc. in these blogs or direct me to a tutorial, I would very much appreciate it!

Days 383, 384, and 385 and the Emergency Fund

Well, I got all my homework done and submitted before it was due. Now the waiting on grades begins...and I started new units today. I've been doing some of my reading. I'm going to try to stay on top of things better this time. For some reason I always have a hard time getting started at the first of the classes.

One thing I'm really proud of us for is that even though I was extremely overwhelmed with homework this weekend, we stuck to our meal plan and ate all of our meals at home! Go us!

I had some drop-ins pay for some days this week today and added some of the money to the baby emergency fund, it's up to $370! So we're making progress there too. WOOHOO!!!
Now if we can just keep from having to use it for a while. LOL.

Hope everyone had a happy Monday. Back to my reading!