Some Recent Wins

Now that we are really penny pinching, I appreciate the occasional win more than ever! For now, we are going to allocate $42 per month (one roll of stamps) for sweepstakes entering. However, that may change if things get tight, so I'm also trying to enter sweepstakes online more.

I was notified the other day that one of my online entries was picked in a General Mills sweepstakes open to active duty and retired military families. We won a Nintendo Wii system, complete with the Wii fit.



That was a really nice surprise and one that will be put away as soon as it arrives. We figured it would make a great birthday present for my son or, if my husband is still unemployed at that point, we may just keep it hidden until Christmas. I also won a $50 gas card the other day, which was also a military sweepstakes. That will come in handy when Mike goes to job interviews.

Today, while I was out doing errands, I figured I would pop into the local Indian casino. They give me "free play" each month in varying amounts and I had $7 to spend this week. I do love going to the casino and it is one of those things that I have to give up for the most part just now. However, I decided to limit myself to the $7 they were giving me and another $5 in my wallet. When the money was gone, then I would go also. Just about the time I had used up my $5, I hit the bonus game on the slot machine I was playing and, during that bonus game, I won a $90 jackpot, combined with the other winnings during the bonus game, I walked away with $110! That will pay for our perishable groceries for the week! Too bad that doesn't happen ever time I go to the casino.

These wins, while not incredibly expensive or lavish are so nice, especially now that we can't buy a lot of luxuries for the time being.

Painting and nursing

My son Jonathon missed four days of school last week due to a stomach virus. Mike tended to him, as I was at work most of the time. Kristina came home mid-week from college for a long weekend and spent a day helping Jonathon with some math homework. Now both husband and daughter have the same illness -- just in time for the weekend (when we planned to get quite a bit of work done). I had something similar about three weeks ago, so I'm hoping that it hasn't mutated enough to reinfect me, but I am washing my hands like a maniac and spraying Lysol liberally on doorknobs, handles, remotes, keyboards, and other common items. Now, more than ever, it's important that I stay well, as if I don't work, we don't get that pay.

The drywall guy finished today. He was incredibly slow, but did a really great job! I was able to prime and paint a few of the smaller areas today and then move furniture back to where it was suppose to go (with the help of my son, who is fully recovered). I'm hoping my husband feels well enough tomorrow to do a few things like reattaching some baseboard that we had to remove so I can put my office back in order. I haven't painted for some time and I had forgotten what a satisfying job it is -- giving immediate gratification for a job well done. Tomorrow I plan to prime and paint the larger areas, including the downstairs bathroom, a large under the stairs storage area, and the garage. It will be so nice to get the bathroom vanity back into place and out of the middle of my living room!

The plumbers are coming to finish the master bathroom plumbing on Monday. The quote they provided was very reasonable, so I was thankful. I'm hoping that they can finish that job in a day or so, and then we can get on with putting that bathroom together. I was talking to my mom the other day and she was worried about the stress my husband's unemployment might be putting on the family. I told her that while we weren't happy about it and, of course we worried about money now more than ever, the greatest stress in my life just now is the chaos my house is in due to the construction and remodel. Once everything is done, I think I'll have a real sense of peace.

One nice benefit to the chaos is that we are sorting through our belongings as we put things back -- culling out anything we do not need or want any more. I'll try to sell them online for some extra cash and, what does sell, we'll donate. One of my resolutions is to be much better at keeping records of those types of things, so that when tax time rolls around next year, I can take all of the deductions I should.

Well, I've got to squeeze a bit more painting in before bedtime. I'm feeling a sense of urgency to get as much done as possible -- just in case the dreaded stomach virus hits me again (but I'm praying that doesn't happen. I just HATE being sick!).

Some Days Are Better Than Others

Last week Mike was informed that the purchase of his company will not go through after all. Apparently, the delay in financing was just too much and the senior stockholders in the company demanded that the company refile for Chapter 7 and be liquidated instead of saved. So, Mike is officially unemployed at this point.

We had a tough few days as we attempted to process the information. While we always knew logically that this could happen, we always felt that the company would be saved (and thus were in some denial about the possibility of unemployment). Of course, this happened in the middle of the re-plumb of the house and remodel of the master bathroom.

I'm happy to say that the re-plumb went fairly well, passed the city inspection, and now we're just waiting for their drywall guy to patch up all the holes. What wasn't so great was that when we did the initial quote/walk-through with the owner of the plumbing company, he indicated verbally that most of our master bathroom plumbing (for the remodel) would be no extra charge, as they would already be doing plumbing in that area. However, once the re-plumb started, he indicated that the two jobs were to be entirely separate (due to the class action claim), and he would give us a quote for the master bathroom when the re-plumb was done. That is supposed to happen today -- so I'm crossing my fingers he is a man of his word and that no outlandish fee is quoted, as we just can't afford another huge cost just now (we had to spend $2000 of our own money to hire this particular company, as opposed to the company the class action people usually use (we were not impressed at all with them), to use the materials that every plumber we talked to recommended (instead of the materials included in the class action claim) and to continue the re-plumb to the street so that we would not have a possibility of future leaks under the slab (which is an expensive problem with the substandard pipes).

We spent the weekend productively, doing taxes to figure exactly how much we owed and making a spreadsheet of our finances, including current income, money that is expected in soon, unusual expenses (like the bathroom remodeling costs and taxes), and a regular monthly budget. It made us feel a lot better to see that we'll still have some savings left after our unusual expenses and that we'll be bringing in enough to live on if we are careful with our spending.

Mike was able to get into the dentist for his cleaning before the benefits expired at the end of the month (the kids and I were just in last month). Our health insurance continues, as it is military and not through his work. We were also informed by the company (two days before the end of the month) that we had to use up any money in our FlexPay account by 2/28, or loose it. So, we had to go on an unexpected shopping spree to purchase over the counter medications and other covered items so that we could submit a claim for the amount we had paid in this year. We'll use all of the items eventually, but it was frustrating that the company did not let us know about the situation until two days before the deadline.

I'll be happy to see the progress on the drywall patching when I come home from work today and hopefully the quote from the plumber for the master bathroom plumbing is not horrible. I'm so eager to have my house put back together again and items put away. Living in chaos, especially during this particular time and situation, is stressful -- and we need as much peace of mind as we can get just now :)