Halloween decor

As you can see, I did indeed get tired of posting about finances.  We are still watching what we spend for the most part, although we've been able to ease off a little bit.  So far everything is being paid out of regular income, and we've not had to dip into savings.  We were able to schedule the next thing on our to-do list, which was something on our heating unit that's been getting worse over the last couple of years.  That was fixed last week.  

Please enjoy my Halloween decorations: 

Yep, that's it.  I found this little ceramic ghost that lights up with different colors a few years ago at a humane society yard sale.  We've never really decorated for Halloween very much. Our house is off the road and our driveway is not the easiest to turn around in, so the first several years we lived here we got at most 3 or 4 trick or treaters.  After my mom moved to town, we started going to her house on the 31st and enjoying the crowds that she gets.  Last year there were over 250.   

Last night my mom, middle sister, and myself went to the historical society and listened to them tell stories of murders that happened in our town long ago. That sounds really weird when I put it like that. It was billed more as a spooky kind of thing, and it was pretty much just a straight forward telling, so not exactly as we had hoped, but we were glad to get out and support the local community.  

Spending the last couple of weeks

The last couple of weeks haven't been too spendy.  I reported last time about how I backed into my husband's car, dented his bumper and broke my tail light. We actually wound up having good news for both cars.  Our deductible for each car is $250 and I wondered if maybe I could fix the tail light myself.  So I found a couple good videos on Youtube and watched them over and over, and convinced myself I could do it.  I ordered a used OEM part from ebay for $104.26 including tax and "free" shipping.  And.....I did it!  I had to have help from my husband to get the old part loose but I'm happy to say it's working and looks good as new.  

We made an appointment for an estimate at a local body shop for his car, and when he got there, the man went under the car with his heat gun and popped the dent out.  When my husband tried to pay, the guy said no, because there are things more important than money.  Such a nice surprise, and of course they have us as future customers in case we ever need them again.  

Non-regular Expenses Sept 22-October 4

Ebay 104.26 (tail light)

local coffee trailer 10.75 (husband)

Groceries 46.11

Political donation 10.00 (husband) 

Groceries 61.10

Lunch out 59.51 (after husband's dr appt in another city)

Groceries 96.60

Chewy 61.36 (dog)

Political donation 10.00 (husband)

Ice for cooler 6.71 (for our Costco purchases 2 1/2 hours from home)

Lunch out 38.90 (after another dr appt for husband in the big city) 

Costco 284.41 

Chewy 125.09 (dog)

Wendy's 10.72 (broke down and got French fries for both of us and a Sprite for me)

The dog continues to give us some extra expenses and that's ok.  Not one bit of regret about that.  I think we are on a good path now with his food and meds so expenses will continue to be there but should become more regular and spaced out a bit.  

We always eat a meal when we go out of town for medical appointments and I don't see that changing. 

Ice for cooler because we forgot to bring the cooler packs we keep in the garage freezer.  

Costco was lots of produce, bag of rice, OTC meds, canned goods, nuts, a pack of Beyond burgers, olive oil, soap, bread, coffee.  

Wendy's was our only unplanned "slip" and I can tell you how that happened.  My husband took his mom to an appointment and then decided to get Starbucks after.  He then called me and said "Hey, you want anything" at which point I said "I haven't had fries in forever."  The end.  

Overall we are doing pretty good about being careful with our money right now.  We have enough to pay off the big credit card bill in full that comes from the vet bill and foundation repair work we had done.  Our goal was to not have to touch savings to pay those off and it looks like we will be able to do that.  

A Bunch of Nothin'

What have I been up to?  Pretty much nothing.  Just normal life, a couple of medical appointments out of town for the husband, taking care of the dog, the cats, and the house.  Listing and selling a few things on eBay.  In other words, just a quiet life.  And I'm ok with that.  I have had periods of life where it's one drama after the other and the ol' nervous system does not do well.

I bought a tie out for Milo, just to give him more mental stimulation.  I ONLY use it when I'm out there with him because his anxiety creeps up when he's alone, not to mention I don't want anyone to think I'm tying my elderly dog out and just leaving him out there.   I've got a hammock and he has a Coolaroo-type bed where we can hang out while he's outside. We don't get a lot of traffic but I thought he might enjoy the different sites from the front yard he doesn't normally get to see. He didn't really "get" it, and kept trying to go back toward the house, but I'm hopeful he will start to enjoy himself.

It's once again persimmon time.  How do you know?  When the persimmons fall to the ground, they are ready or just about ready.  If they are not quite ready they will finish ripening in the house.  

I finally sold this thing!  The cushions are sun-worn but in good shape other than being faded.  The buyer can either recover them or use outdoor fabric spray paint on them.  The glider itself is heavy and I hope the buyer gets many years of good use out of it as we did.