Edge of the Forest...

Yes, I know, I had said he got a job, but right before he was supposed to start it, he got two calls from two different companies, both of which he really wanted to work at. Both of them seemed like they really wanted to hire him fast. Well, one has interviewd him on the phone, and that is it, other than calling every other week to say they are still looking into hiring him. The other one, he has had one interview per week, each time with a different person, but still no offer.

We are both about to pull our hair out, because he could have been working, making over twice what the unemployment office has been giving him, but here we sit.

The first job offer he got, he can still report to on Monday, and plans to. We cannot wait any longer on these other two companies. Mike's opinion is, if they call him again, he will meet with them, but it'll have to be after working hours for this other company.

Please pray, because we are literally down to the last few dollars in the bank, and I am just hoping I have enough to pay all the bills before he gets the first paycheck with this place he is starting with on Monday. We figured out the gas to commute is going to be approx. $400/month, which will pretty much eat up any extra money we might have had after bills. We will not be able to sign up for their health insurance, etc., unless they pay the full amount. So, we will will still be without insurance. I just pray no one gets sick. I looked up our state program for kids, and we will make too much for them to participate, besides the fact that there is no one in this town that will admit to taking patients with the program. No one likes to deal with it.

I keep looking around the house, trying to figure out what I can sell, but I either figure it "could" sell, but no one around here would buy it, and selling it online would cost too much shipping for most people to want to buy the stuff.

Thanks for all of your prayers!

It's birthday time again!

These birthdays seem to be coming faster and faster as I get older. Do you ever notice that happening?

We aren't doing anything real exciting around here. Just hanging out at the house and will celebrate with a cake later on.

My mom and dad called and wished me a Happy Birthday. My dad is 30 years older than me, so we always have fun talking about what it was like when he was my age, and what I will feel like when I am his age. LOL!

Three days to go!

I'll be 44 this coming Tuesday! Where are the years all going? It seems the older you get, the faster the years go by. I'm not sure what we will be doing, since our funds are still very tight. Ah well, it'll be a great day, no matter what we do. My sweeties always come up with something fun for me.

***I was going to post pictures I took of some beautiful flowers, but it says I do not have enough space. I'll try to come back later and figure out why.

Woohoo! Three wonderful things happened today!

First: My hubby got a job! It is almost 60% less than he was making before, but it's a job! Praise the Lord!

Second: Drover is home! Our sweet pooch is sitting here howling for his buddy, who is outside howling that Drover is in here! LOL! He has to stay confined until his stitches absorb, but then he's a free doggy again, to run and play!

Third: Today, hubby got a call from a man at a commercial lumber business (read: no retail stuff, no weekend or holiday working) wants to talk to him. They have bought out a couple of other companies and are looking to fill many positions. He will be talking to this guy on Wednesday at 2:30pm CST about specifics. Please pray for this, because this is a LARGE company that will pay hubby as much or more than he was making with his recent ex-employer. It would also be a step UP in his career, not a step down, like the job he just took. He is taking the job above right now, because he has no other solid offers, and we are afraid of the unemployment board siding with the ex-employer, and paying us no more benefits. The guy that just hired him told him he would never hold it against him, if he had to leave for a position that was more like his old one. He just can't afford to pay more than what he already offered him.

Thank you all for your prayers during this ordeal, and please keep them up. If the possible job he is talking to the guy about on Wednesday does not work out, we will still be in a great financial pinch, since it is such a severe pay cut. It does pay more than the unemployment though, so that will be good.

Thanks again!

Drover is out of surgery!

The vet just called. Drover made it out of surgery okay, and he is resting. He is keeping him at least until tomorrow afternoon, possibly Monday. He likes to see the dog getting up and moving around, and eating a little, before he releases them home. It was a total of four rocks that came out of him. There is a certain young man at this house who is going to be questioned quite heavily and seriously now about this incident.

Thank you all so much for all of your prayers. I know he's just a dog, but he is a big part of our family.

Please pray for our sweet Drover

Our son went out to feed the dogs this morning, then came back in and said that Drover would not eat. That is totally out of character for the dog, so I went out to see what was going on. Drover was very lethargic and would not even look at his food. We gave him some fresh water and he did drink some of that, but he was still not his playful self. I then asked our daughter to let him off of his tie-out cable, so he could wander freely. He walked around sniffing things, like any good bassett, but then just sat there, looking all forlorn. He then got up, tried to poop, but could not do anything. I then began to really worry. Before I could get to him, he threw-up the water he had just drank. I knew then, that he needed to get to the vet, fast. I called them and let them know we were coming. I knew it was either an obstruction or parvo.

At the vet, he checked him over and ruled out parvo, and could not feel anything in the abdomen just by palpitation. He decided an x-ray would be in order though, since it sure sounded like he had something in him obstructing things. The vet came back in and indeed, there were TWO things in his intestines. One large object very far along, then another smaller object further back. He said his first course of action was to try mineral oil and laxatives, to try to get them out that way, but that if they did not move by tomorrow, he would have to operate to get them out.

Please pray. His buddy (his cousin, 1 month older than him, who was raised as his littermate) is beside himself. He has been howling and crying all day for his friend. I just want whatever it is to pass through easily, not only for the dog, but for our finances. This was not something I had anticipated or need to deal with right now. He is such a sweet, special dog. He is just over a year old, and he is just the best buddy you could ever have.

Tasha Tudor died today

2nd level interview today

Hubby had a 2nd level interview today, and he thinks it went well. The person doing the interview was a much harder interviewer than the last, but he still feels it went very well. He said he was told he could hear something as early as next week.

No word yet...

We've received no word yet on the position he interviewed for this last week. They did tell him though, that it could be anywhere from several days up to three weeks, although they doubted it would be three weeks.

Please keep us, especially my dh, in your prayers. He is continuing to send out resumes while he waits.

Please pray - another interview tomorrow at 10am CST

Please pray! This is definitely a legitimate interview tomorrow. It will still be retail, but beggars can't be choosers, as the old saying goes. It would be a different type of store that he'd be running. We are all going, so we can do something afterwards. We've all been so cooped-up here, we are all getting stir-crazy!

Well, it turned out to be somewhat of a scam...

well, maybe even ALL scam. We are so heartbroken over this. We really thought this was a great job opportunity, and it turned out to be a scam recruiter, wanting almost $7K to "help" hubby find a job. You should never have to pay someone to find a job. Legitimate recruiters get paid by the companies to find the employees, not the other way around. We even got called by another company, same thing (now we know what to listen for in their sales spiel). I think they are pulling his resume off of Hot Jobs for this junk.

So, we are back to square one. No legitimate company has called as of yet. Please keep praying!

~Kathy

Please pray for us...

Yesterday my dh lost his job of 7 years. He was the store manager for a building supply company. We have no idea what we are going to do.

Happy New Year 2008!

I do pray everyone had truly blessed Christmas and a joyous start to the new year!

I am so excited to find out a dear internet friend has started blogging! She took and internet break approx. 2.5 yrs ago and she has been greatly missed by many.

I will try to check in more regularly over here, as I do have a few friends over here and do miss you all!

Hello!

It has been a long time since I have dropped by over here, but I wanted to be sure and say hello to all of my friends here. I update my new blog more regularly, but not as much as I'd like to. Life just gets so busy!

We are enjoying the wondrous Autumn that has come. The temperatures are so mild! We have not had any rain in the last couple of weeks. The pictures in this entry are from the last time it rained here. It certainly cooled things off for us!

I dh hope you are enjoying this wonderful season! If you stop by here, or my new blog, please leave a comment if you can. I do so love hearing from everyone that drops by!

It's been a while...

I pretty much have moved over to my other blog, but I do keep this one up, to keep track of my friends over here on HomesteadBlogger. It's just such a lovely place, I don't want to totally leave it.

We have been busy here at home, but still haven't been able to get a garden started, or get the animals we wanted. We did add two more dogs though, so now we are up to six! It was cheaper than the two miniature donkeys my dd wants. We will get them, but for now, we must wait.

I hope everyone is doing well, and if you happen to drop by here, leave me a quick note, if you can. Also, you can see my other post, about my other blog, and feel free to stop by anytime.

Thinking about moving...

I have a two week free trial, so if by the end of that I still like it, that is where you will find me all of the time. I am still trying to figure out a lot of things, so when you go over there, please bear with me.

Well, I forgot again, but I'm here now!

We are still not really getting into the plans we had for this property. It seems that this first year here has been fraught with more problems than we had anticipated.

We had initially wanted to plant a garden, get a couple of miniature donkeys for the children and possibly get some guineas, but you know how it goes, "best layed plans" and all.

I may plant a much more scaled-back version of the garden we had wanted, just so we can see how it goes this spring and summer. The minature donkeys and guineas are going to have to wait until next year. There's no way we can do them right now.

The biggest problem we have had here, since moving in, has been septic tank problems. We have had to have it pumped twice now, and after the second pumping, we installed a clean-out tube, just past the tank, so if we get a blockage in that line, we can get to it. We augered-out the line, while the tank was still empty, as we found HUGE tree roots all down the line. We have also put down a root killer into that pipe. In this area, if you want to replace your septic system, you have to go with the new aerobic systems, to the tune of $5000, and that is with any company you go with out here. They are all the same price. Well, we don't have that kind of change sitting around here, so we will continue maintaining the old system. It is doing better now, but still kind of slow. We figure, at about $100 a pop, if we have to pump it once a year, that is a lot of pumping we would have to do to reach $5000 spent. So, for now, that is what we are doing. We are hoping not to have to pump for quite a while now.

My stove and dishwasher both up and died on me too, shortly after we moved in. They were the original appliances with the place, and NOT in good condition at all. The stove was a fire waiting to happen. The dishwasher had a crack in the tub and was leaking water everywhere, plus most things did not work on it, including the soap dispenser. So, they have both been replaced. Our refrigerator also died on us, but was resurected by the repairman, and it was still under warranty, HOORAY! We even got back a large portion of the money we lost on the food that spoiled.

Well, that is all the updates on the little homestead for now. I'll check back in soon, so that you can hear something a little more fun from me!

Has it really been THAT long?

I can't believe I haven't posted anything on here since last September! I don't have time right now, but I will try to come back and post something later this evening. You can also visit my other blog if you would like. I do try to update that one a little more. I also have this one too, if you would like to visit there also. Yes, I know, I spread myself too thin, LOL!

A new blog for me

I originally started this because I wanted to leave a comment on someone else's blog, but didn't want to be "anonymous". So, I went ahead and set up this blog. I have another one on Homeschool Blogger, Another Day. I hope you visit there and enjoy it. Right now, a lot will look the same, but give me time on here.

We have 2 acres we have just moved onto in at the end of July. We want to start a garden, get some animals, etc. All in good time. We don't want to rush out there and get everything and then do nothing, because we are overwhelmed. I am already overwhelmed with just the house. It looks like a bomb went off in it. Boxes and messes everywhere.