Our Own "Stimulus Package"

So, there's much talk about the economy, bailouts, stimulus package and it seems the news media is reporting every single hiccup, burp and event taking place in Washington D.C. I for one, don't think that it is the governments job to bail out anyone, especially big companys with CEO making salaries that would feed a small country.
My better half and I sat down yesterday to see what we could do to stimulate our own economy. There are things we have talked about for some time, but we decided to take the hard stand now.

Good bye Dish TV! Good riddance! Sure I hope I don't miss 100 channels of shopping networks. I know I will miss reruns of NCIS, Mark Harmon is such a good actor and I have a thing for gray hair, but tough times call for tough measures.
Good bye Netflix! Only $10.00 a month, but we just can't figure out movies to watch, there's such poor entertainment these days.
Good bye insurance on the cell phones. Such a waste. If we really have to we can get one off ebay.
Discussed getting rid of the cell phone, but decided that for now we'll keep it.

Savings per month.......about $130.00.

We also went through our statements carefully and found that there were two different items being taken out that we weren't aware of. One of them was only $10 a month, but for the past 15 months it was something we didn't need. Called the company, they said, woops and refunded us $150.00. The other company said they wouldn't refund us $11.95 a month for the past year, but we cancelled them. So add another $21.00 to the $130.00 above.

We also decided to rent the apartment again....sigh....I loved having a canning kitchen. I love having the extra space for junk, but that's some valuable real estate that could be used for other things and this house is plenty big for just the 3 of us.

I also went to Albertsons to see if I could get excited about the BIG huge coupon sale they were having this week. I looked and looked and tried to get excited about the HUGE savings. I even put stuff in my cart. But then put it back and walked out of the store empty-handed. I just don't buy that kind of groceries, so would it be a savings? Sure, cake mixes were about 75 cents, but make my own cakes for much less. I don't eat Progresso soup, I don't need fruit roll ups, and don't buy boxed cereal. I know people were going out of there with cases and cases of the stuff, but nothing made me happy.

I also decided that we'll be eating less meats and more dried beans and veggies. Eating more of my home canned goods if we need a snack. Those peaches are delicious.

Maybe one of these days we'll get rid of the cell phone or the land line, or maybe I'll have a huge yard sale and get rid of a bunch of junk.

My better half is required to take a week-long furlough between now and the end of May...without pay. Better that than a layoff, but it's a little scary out there!

Just trying to be prepared for the wild ride we seem to be having!

Houston...we have lift off!

I have loved it here! Yesterday was the best. We drove to Galveston and walked along the beach in the ocean water. It was the 12th of February and I'm walking in the ocean! Unbelievable! It was warm and soooooo relaxing, the waves....ahhhh. We also saw a Carnival Cruise Line sail past...on their way to somewhere fancy I'm sure. But I was content.

Lexie isn't sure how she feels about the ocean........

But I know how my toes feel about the ocean...they loved it! We also picked up fun seashells.
Of course the best thing about the trip was this little angel!

Technology....hmmmm

Not sure how I feel about technology, it's a love/hate relationship. I LOVE it when it works right or when I know how to use it.
I got a laptop from my better half, now I am trying to figure out how to load music from my ipod (it was very difficult to get it there in the first place) and pictures from my camera onto my laptop....uhm, my camera had over 2500 pictures on the memory card....it's been rather cumbersome to try and find a certain picture. For two reasons I didn't want to unload the pictures onto our main computer at home...
#1 It's a piece of junk..(my hubby the 'puter guy and I have a piece of junk)
#2 I've been crossing my fingers and being a very good girl in hopes that I would get a laptop to call my very own.

So here I sit, trying to read info on Picasa, a storage system for photos, I thought I had downloaded my pictures...all 2500 of them....but nope, didn't work. So now I'm reading the "how to get started" section AGAIN from the Picasa help page.

Glad my toes dressed up for the occasion.

I'm sure this is very elementary for everyone else. I struggle. I think I'm a smart person....I can give drugs to stop a heart, start a heart, I can start a IV on a vein the size of a gnat's eyebrow, BUT I just don't get technology. I just want to turn it on and have it magically work.

Come on sunshine........

It's a beautiful sunny day today, but I'm looking for some warmth too. Luckily for me I will be finding it this coming week. We are flying down to Houston to be with Lexie for her very 1st birthday! Oh, ya, we'll see Lynsey and Nick too. But the icing on the cake will be warm 75 degree weather, sunshine and warm....did I mention warm. I have decided that I am a solar powered girl and I NEED SUNLIGHT!

OK, I feel better now.

PS...If you scroll down further on this blog and look on the right of the page, you will see a "weather where I live" widget. In big bold letters it says FORBIDDEN. Now, I'm not sure which law or copyright whatever I've broken, but I think there is a deeper meaning here. What it really means is....the weather here IS forbidden and shouldn't be allowed. I'm going to leave it there. It is my statement. It is how I feel. It is what I would vote for. It is my platform for my political party affiliation. So, hopefully you aren't offended, but FORBIDDEN should be this icy, frozen wasteland, sub-zero dark days. FORBIDDEN I tell you! FORBIDDEN! And don't forget it.

Caring for a small child...

The old gray mare she ain't what she used to be......nice little tune that I remember my grandpa singing to my grandma.....not sure why. But today it's in my head.

We drove to Pocatello last night to meet up with the Campbells and pick up little Krew-man, Krewby, Krewminator, Krewzer...whatever name fits him at the moment. Poor Nate and Sara HAD to go on a cruise and needed someone to care for the little guy. So we got home about 10:00 PM last night, I was determined to keep the little monkey awake until he could be put to bed. We hit Righy and it was a fight from there, tickling the toes, kissing his cheeks and any other antics that we could think of to keep him awake. He was so tired I figured that he'd sleep anywhere he was placed....not so. No to the pack-and-play, no to the sleeping bag on grammy's floor, only place to sleep was in grammy's bed, next to grandpa. OK, we're too tired to fight it. I lasted until 0200 with knees and feet in my kidneys and got up and slept the rest of the night in blissful peace on the couch.

The very noisy toy that mommy and daddy sent for him to play with got put up...WAY HIGH...note to parents..."if you want this old gray mare to watch him, leave the toy home"
He's been a blast, screaming for the kitties to play with him and listening to him say "oohh, pretty" to everything. He's full of smiles and wiggles and loves lasagna.


He took a nice long nap.....


I really love the bed hair too. He doesn't wake up from a nap easy...he's rather cranky in the wake up process, reminds of his daddy. But once he's awake he's quite the little charmer.