Lorihadams-- hi guys...been busy!

[lorihadams]

The contracts have been going around and around for the last 3 years...we've gone from 27 million to 15 million...talk about the economy sucking. My grandmother should get 2-2.5 by the time she pays taxes on her part...the bad thing is that all of her siblings are fighting over everything and it has pretty much torn the family apart...we have a few things left from my great grandparents...when my great grandma died she had so many quilts upstairs that we had to do a raffle. Had enough for the 5 children, 13 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren (at the time) to go around almost 3 times. We went by age and only the children got to pick theirs, the rest of us put numbers on the remaining ones and drew randomly. My mom got the spittoon that she gave my grandaddy. Everything else got auctioned off cause no one could agree on who got what.

Sad when families fight like that.

We keep saying that when we win the lottery we'll buy everyone out and renovate the old house and not let anyone on the property! I wish it could happen...I'm gonna miss it. My husband and I got married there down by the water....All the girls got ready in the old house...took a carriage ride down to the water with my flower girl.

We're hoping to get a few acres in a better school district and start a little "mini farm". I love all the animals and it'll happen someday if we keep working hard enough for it.

 

[PamsPride]

That is so sad that the family is fighting. The even sadder part is that it is not unsual. My family too was torn apart over money. My grandma was killed in a car accident...never had a dime to her name..but, the insuarnce paid out over $100K that had to be divided 8 ways. One of my aunts totally lied and took $$ that she was not supposed to and cut some of the other family that my grandma wanted to have have something out. That was nearly 15 years ago and they still do not all speak to each other except once in a great while....maybe once or twice a year...and they were all very close when I was growing up.

 

[lorihadams]

Well...the transmission went out in my car.

Gonna be $600 to get that fixed...there goes the gator for my kids for christmas. I'm so sick of being a slave to money....anyone else feel that way? Don't you just wish we could live without it? It seems like that's all I can think about anymore....drives me nuts.

 

[keljonma]

Great pics, LHA! Sorry to hear about the family fighting. Doesn't that just make ya nuts?!

That is just awful news about your transmission! Certainly nothing you can put off. Did the kids know about the gator or was that going to be a surprise? If they didn't know, I can understand your disappointment. But it sure sounds like you got a good deal on the playhouse on freecycle! I love freecycle. We're just about to list our tiller and push mower on our local site.

When our kids were growing up, we were pretty well to do. But sometimes even that isn't enough. So I think everyone here can understand your frustration. Ya know what they say about money...
-ya never have enough
-it's the root of all evil
-ya can't live with it, can't live without it
-you can't take it with you

"It's always something", as the late great Gilda Radner used to say.

 

[FarmerChick]

yea Tony's Dads family fought over land division. Pretty pathetic...cause my side of the family never fights over land, money, things, nothing. We would never let stuff get in the way.

Why Nanny died my Dad and his sis were to split the house....Dad just signed it over to her. She lived there taking care of Nanny and she didn't have like $100K to buy him out....and Dad had enough. So things like this are usual on my side. But Tony's side are fighters..LOL..heaven forbid someone gets one dime more than another....but money sure can do that to some people...just the nature of the beast.

sad to see the land go...that is the worst part. I hear ya!

wow that sounds like alot of memories with your wedding and all.....the past sure don't stay around long does it?




sorry on the gator but kids adapt real fast. if they don't know, they won't care......if they kinda knew and don't get it, well they will live..HA HA...alot of us never got things we wanted then and there.....but eventually we get some version of it......so don't fret on that one.

AND YES
I hate being a slave to money! I know exactly what you mean big time!

 

[lorihadams]

My sweet sweet sweet husband just sold his 243 to pay for the gator. It was his uncles and he never uses it anyway, we always hunt with my 30.06 or my 30-30. He also is trying to sell his golf clubs to help pay for the transmission. My mom offered to go in with my granny and pay for the gator but Chad told her no....they just put new step rails on our suv for us for christmas. He told her that he appreciated it but that they had done enough already and that we would take care of it.

I put his old truck on craigslist in order to send him to Oklahoma on a hunting trip for his guide service. They've been planning it for a year now and he is iffy on whether or not to go, even though Fred Zink...Zink calls....is trying to meet up with them to hunt together and he is super excited about it!

I'm only trying to get 500 for it cause it needs a lot of work...we had an offer this morning so we'll see how that goes once he sees the truck.

I'm also selling my 1972 volkswagen super beetle to try to help pay off some credit card debt...I just don't want to have it hanging over my head anymore...I hate debt.

I wouldn't get pregnant until all my credit card debt from when I was single was paid off because I didn't want Chad to have to pay for my mistakes. I paid off my student loans at the beginning of last year so all we have now is this one...and we owe 250 on our laptop. Other than that it's the house and the car and that doesn't bother me.

As for my kids...the playhouse, gator, and stocking stuffers were going to be it this christmas. Oh, and my son wants the board game Rhino Rampage.... I think he just likes to say it...he's only 3 1/2.

We have some money in savings and hopefully that will cover the transmission work. We will only have 800 left in savings after it is said and done, which makes me nervous but I don't know what else to do unless I start keeping a couple of kids during the week for extra money. I used to be a teacher so I could totally do it, I just don't know if I want to go there yet.

I am going to go through all of the kid's stuff and clean out some things and take to Once Upon a Child to see if I can make a little money with that. I am hoping that my MIL will give me her old sewing machine for christmas and I can start quilting again and maybe sell some stuff on etsy or here locally. I miss sewing since my machine conked out on me. It really was a stress reliever for me.

Anyway, I think everything will work out...we may be tight but there are things that we can get rid of each month to save some money...phone (land line...keep the cell), satellite, stuff like that. There's always room to trim the fat, huh?

I'm gonna try to bake some bread this evening...again....the last loaf was horrible but I found my thermometer so hopefully I can get the yeast temp right this time!

 

[roosmom]

You may just find that, after a bit of adjustment, you are more......satisfied with life, with less money.

You will be ok. You will be.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I'm so sick of being a slave to money....anyone else feel that way? Don't you just wish we could live without it? It seems like that's all I can think about anymore....drives me nuts.

You hit the nail right on the head. Hubby and I were talking about this just the other day. I wish he would have wised up sooner (like over a year ago, but...) Especially with the economy the way it is.

 

[lorihadams]

It's our dream to grow our own food and process our own meat and have a nice "little farm" on a few acres. We are looking to move out of our current house and into a better county...the schools here are awful. If we have to stay here we might just homeschool but I don't know. I was going to try to go back to work when the kids got into school but I don't know what'll happen.
God will help us work it out....I keep telling my parents that my kids don't need all the toys and we don't need all the stuff they keep bringing us.

We would be great in this house if we could enclose the back porch and make it a catch all room...office, playroom, sewing room. My other solution is to find a house with a basement. I just need enough room for a garden and my kids and chickens to play. I grew up in an 800 sq ft house with a basement and it saved us. We had room to stretch out if we needed and lots of storage space and a wood stove! We even put clotheslines in the rafters and hung all our laundry to dry in the winter. I miss that stuff, ya know.

Chad has his own side business and we really need a dedicated office space and I am tired of sewing on the kitchen table...I have a sewing table but no where to put it. It's been in the attic since my daughter was born. All the kid's toys are in the living room or in their bedrooms and I don't want that. I want their bedrooms to have their beds and their clothes and maybe some books...quiet stuff.

It doesn't do me any good to send them to their rooms when they have all that stuff to play with.

I totally agree that we can do without all the stuff. Our tv in our bedroom just went out and my Chad flipped when I said that I didn't want to go get a new one. We don't need to watch tv in the bedroom....we need to sleep and well, you know...

Anyway, we can do without all of the "conveniences" of life, they usually end up making things more complicated anyway....except the computer, though, right?!?

 

[FarmerChick]

yea, stuff complicates life. as much as we want it to entertain us or whatever, it gets in the way...and costs us money.

paid tv....what is up with that? Growing up we had tons of channels that came in clear and perfect and that was tv...free.....now it is a bill. drives me insane! LOL

but as you de-clutter honestly you de-clutter your soul also. I have de-cluttered like mad. My house is no longer filled up with stuff. I love it that way.

Except for the kitchen. every drawer and cabinet is packed full....what the...LOL...it seems to be where everything settles. Hmm..time to tackle it I guess...LOL

and yes, kids don't need 50,000 toys. breaking your next walking over them gets old.

I am building a family room off the back of the house right now. I want my living room back from the kid..LOL...it will be the tv room, the exercise room for my Total Gym, her play room, and a big mudroom to wash eggs and a big pantry. Oh I can't wait for that pantry!!!!! But we just needed a little more space and this room will provide it.

So I know what you mean.

If you aren't happy with the school system and such then it is best to move to another spot that does give you what you want.....but if you can settle and stay, then build on like you said.

basements are fab. wish I did one when I built here. being single I figured I didn't need it, yea right, everyone needs a basement..LOL-LOL