Coastal Reflections

Love the new flooring

03:22, 2006-Aug-31 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 3 comments .. Link

Since dh was home yesterday due to pretty much everything being closed in anticipation of Ernesto, he finally had enough of sitting and twiddling his thumbs and ended up installing some more of our new flooring in the living room. I love it! He's hoping to finish out the remainder of the room tonight and then we'll have to move more things around so he can work in the dining room and kitchen. We have a new rule as well - no shoes in the house anymore. We have so much sand and dirt on our property and I do not want the new floor all yucked up by it. I also don't want stuff brought in on shoes with ds2 crawling around on the floors (this kid sticks everything in his mouth - the total opposite of how ds1 was!). I keep reading that one of the best things you can do to keep your kids 'natural' is to not allow shoes to be worn in the house. I'm sure I could have worded that better, but you get my drift hopefully. I do wonder how to politely make this request of others who come to our home though. We don't have any friends so it's not like tons of people come into our home anyway, but on occasion dh's co-worker will help him with remodeling stuff or we have to have a repairman come, etc.

I think the dogs are hating all the new changes as well. They have been banned from the house. They shed like mad and who knows what they track in on their paws. They've been spoiled indoor babies all their lives so this is a big switch for them. They've been calling the back porch their new home for almost a couple of weeks now, with time each day to run about and play. The porch is huge so it's not like they are cramped or confined by any means.

We weathered Ernesto just fine. It was only a tropical depression as it came through here - what a huge blessing. We did get a lot of heavy rain and some winds from about 8pm last night until the wee hours this morning, but no flooding that I have seen (although I have not been to the back corner of our property that usually floods). The news said we got 4 inches of rain so that was a big help with our drier than normal year so far.

Allstate seeking to raise FL homeowners rates AGAIN this year

03:18, 2006-Aug-31 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 0 comments .. Link

This really infuriates me!

Allstate seeks double-digit price

By Jeff Ostrowski

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Tropical Storm Ernesto may have spared Florida, but it wasn't enough to deter Allstate from proposing double-digit price increases for 370,000 homeowners Wednesday.

Allstate Floridian Insurance, which has 270,000 customers and is the state's third-largest carrier, told regulators it wants to raise rates by 24.2 percent. A second Allstate company, Allstate Floridian Indemnity, asked for permission to raise rates by 33.6 percent statewide.

The rate requests, while not linked specifically to Ernesto, are related to Florida's new reality of more frequent and powerful hurricanes, Allstate spokesman Ryan Priest said. "They're directly related to the extensive hurricane risk Florida faces," Priest said.

He also pointed to the rising costs of reinsurance, the coverage carriers buy to protect themselves from catastrophic losses.

The price increases come even as Northbrook, Ill.-based Allstate reports strong profits. Last month, the carrier said it made $1.2 billion in the second quarter. Shares of the public company (NYSE: ALL) closed Wednesday at $57.64.

"This was a very strong quarter for Allstate driven by excellent performance of our automobile insurance line of business," Edward Liddy, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement at the time. "Overall, we are growing our business and generating strong profitability while at the same time we are managing down our exposure to catastrophes in the lines of business and areas of the country where the risk is the greatest."

Allstate's latest rate hike request comes seven months after it was granted a double-digit increase in the state. In January, state regulators let Allstate Floridian Insurance boost rates by 16.3 percent, while Allstate Floridian Indemnity raised rates by 24.4 percent. If the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approves the latest proposed increases, they would take effect in December, Priest said.

Two state politicians from both sides of the aisle decried the proposed increase as one more hit for battered homeowners.

"This is just another example of consumers in Florida getting hurt," said state Sen. Ron Klein, D-Delray Beach.

State Rep. Randy Johnson, R-Celebration, a candidate for chief financial officer of Florida, criticized Allstate for seeking a second rate hike this year even after dropping thousands of policies.

"This is what Florida families have to look forward to: the constant, piecemeal picking away of their disposable income by insurance companies," he said.

Allstate stopped writing new policies in Florida in 2004, and it said in May that it would offload 120,000 homeowners policies to a start-up, Royal Palm Insurance. Its decision to cut its risk in hurricane-prone states followed last year's Hurricane Katrina. In the third quarter of 2005, Allstate lost $1.6 billion after Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast.

Allstate is only the most recent carrier to ask for a double-digit rate hike. State Farm Florida Insurance Co., the state's largest private insurer, recently won a 52.7 percent increase. Nationwide Insurance is seeking a 71.4 percent hike, while USAA wants a 40 percent boost in rates.

In an article in the Sept. 4 issue of Fortune magazine, Allstate's chairman said rates in Florida aren't high enough to offset the risks of doing business in the state, particularly as warmer weather, a growing population and rising home values promise to make hurricane damage costlier than ever.

"If you talk to someone in Florida, they say, 'Boy, in the last five years, my home has gone up 80 percent in value,' " Liddy told the magazine. "But if you ask them, 'Well, are you paying 80 percent more for your insurance?' they would say, 'Oh, no. I only want to pay 8 percent more.' There's a disconnect."

Meanwhile, state officials are looking for ways to keep carriers like Allstate from fleeing the state. Gov. Jeb Bush appointed a commission to study property insurance, and he has said he might call state lawmakers into a special session to address insurance sometime after next week's primary election.

Both Johnson and Klein criticized an insurance reform package approved by the Republican-dominated legislature in May.

"When the insurance industry writes the insurance bill, they end up sticking it to consumers," Klein said.

The calm (or mayhem) before the storm

07:36, 2006-Aug-29 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 2 comments .. Link

Well, it looks like we're definitely in for Ernesto here tomorrow. The forecasted track has changed quite a bit since Sunday morning, but has stayed consistently coming up through the state of FL (just wobbled back and forth as to where exactly). It looks as though we're not going to be spared, period. At one point yesterday we were right in the eye's path as it was making its exit back into the Atlantic Ocean. Now the path has veered westward so we'll be to the right of the eye now, and unfortunately, taking the brunt of the winds. We're as prepared as we can be. We still have limbs and such that we cut down lying down on the road for yard trash recycling pickup. They have ignored picking them up for weeks so those will be strewn about all over the place. I hope they don't cause any damage. It's typical of our yard trash recycling to just leave it all lying there (never mind it's a service we have to pay for whether we use it or not and never mind it's hurricane season and they should be picking these type things up on a weekly basis as they are supposed to!).

Dh will be taking off work today about 1pm (he hopes) to come home and see through the last preparations. He'll get plywood up over the windows and somehow I will help him. Ds1 will have to step up to the plate and take charge of watching ds2 for us. We have to get everything moved off the front and back porches (and we have BIG porches with lots of stuff on them!) moved into the garage. That will be an ordeal in itself as the garage is full of all kinds of stuff with the whole house remodel we have in progress and most of the stuff on the porches is remodeling stuff.

I have a couple of teeny loads of laundry to do today. Technically the loads are way to small to be washed, but with the potential for losing our electricity and not knowing when it will be restored (took over 2 weeks with Frances in 2004 and 3 days with Jeanne in 2004 - didn't lose it last year with Wilma), I may as well have it all clean. Dh also wants me to bake some things today. One thing he specifically mentioned is pear bread. Ds1 is not fond of that so I'll make some blueberry muffins for him. I'm not sure what else I'll whip up. I'll be using my 16qt. roaster oven so I don't heat up the whole house with the regular oven. It'll be nice to munch on some 'comfort' food tomorrow while the winds are whipping and howling. I need to check the batteries in everything today as well and get our cell phones charged, although mine doesn't really get a signal here due to all the trees.

We topped off the tanks in our vehicles last night and dh filled our gas cans. He also filled our extra propane tanks for our grill. We went to BJ's and it was quite chaotic. The kiddos and I almost were hit twice in the parking lot just trying to get in the store. Dh stood in line to get the propane tanks filled up, but it actually didn't take long at all. While in line he found out they had run out of regular unleaded gas earlier in the day so he left and filled up one of our vehicles at a station down the road that wasn't busy. He filled his and the gas cans he had with him on the way home at another station and then took his work vehicle and the remainder of our gas cans back to the same station to fill up. He said the second time he was there a man pulled up and called everyone crazy for getting gas because nothing was going to happen and then the man proceeded to unload his own gas cans and fill them and his vehicle up! Such is life here (and yet one of the reasons I would love to move).

We're currently forecasted to get 4-8" of rain and a 4-5 foot storm surge. I know the house will be surrounded by a moat again. The ocean and lagoon will flood us via the creek that our ditches at the road tie into and the land behind us is low and will flood us as usual. What we don't know is how the road that was put in just on the other side of the land behind us and the 2 houses that have been built on the other side of it are going to affect the flooding. We've already seen last year that the road made it worse, but the road wasn't completed then - now it is.

Off to do what I can...................

New plans today

09:21, 2006-Aug-28 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 2 comments .. Link

Dh finally started installing the flooring yesterday. The hallway is done and he's worked his way into part of the living room. I had planned today to move everything from around the fireplace and give it a good scrubbing (brick fireplace). We plan to build a surround of sorts for it leaving about half the brick exposed. The new flooring is the click and lock laminate, which should not get wet, so the fireplace really needs its bath before the flooring goes down. However, dh woke me to let me know that tropical storm/hurricane Ernesto has changed forecasted tracks yet again (it's changed many times in the last 24 hours). As it stands now, we'll be in the cone of hurricane winds Wednesday and into the wee hours of Thursday. Ugh! I was so hoping this season was going to remain quiet and mostly inactive. Now I need to get busy doing up all the laundry today, refilling our bottles to have water for flushing the toilets, etc. because I'm sure if it stays on it's current forecasted track we'll be without electricity for sure. We learned all too well in 2004 that where we live is at the bottom of the list for getting the electric restored so if we lose it we could be without it for a while. Off to do what I can...........

A due word

08:38, 2006-Aug-25 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 3 comments .. Link

I have been struggling with my feelings toward the church where we are members. We just joined this church in late Jan./early Feb. 2005 and although we didn't care for every single thing about it (no contemporary music, which is our preference, and extremely few members our age along with extremely few children) we felt that's where we should be. People were friendly, good teaching was taking place, etc. The small group of Wednesday night attendees went through with me the news that my mammogram and following ultrasound showed nothing of concern after all, then the news of my pregnancy, and the events surrounding my pregnancy like having to go see a specialist several times due to my age, our decision to not have an amniocentesis, news that the baby was low and might make an early appearance, etc. The church surprised me with a baby shower (I say surprised because I honestly didn't know their stand on showers and with this being my second baby I honestly figured with them being an older aged congregation that they probably didn't believe in giving showers for second children). Women came that I had never even met! I truly felt good about going there.

My ds2 was born by scheduled c-section at the end of last December. My spinal didn't work so I had to unexpectedly be put under anesthesia for the surgery. The associate pastor called the hospital and one other church member called the day I was discharged and that's it. We had no visitors other than one lady from church who would come and stay with me while dh came home to feed and tend to the dogs and cat. Maybe the Christmas season had something to do with this - who knows? I truly thought that our Sunday School class would offer to bring us a meal once we were home (I know they have done this for other families) or at least call and check on us (since our Sunday School teacher is one of the pastors on staff), but no one did. (Now in their defense, I feel that they probably didn't offer a meal because the teacher's wife knows we eat organics, but after surgery and extremely little sleep in the hospital dh and I might have just thrown caution to the wind and said bring it on.) Time went by and I truly thought that some people would start calling to just say congratulations and that they were thinking of us and keeping us in their prayers. One lady from our Sunday School class did call and say she wanted to visit us but she was sick at the time and knew that she needed to wait until she was well. (We were heavily warned by the on-call pediatrician in the hospital to keep ds2 at home for the first 2 months if at all possible due to him being born during flu season. With the high retiree/snowbird population here during the winter months along with the fact that most of our church are elderly in age, and come to church whether they are sick or not, she said the chances of him getting sick were great.) The associate pastor also called us a few days after we had come home from the hospital. That's it. No one else called. Our Sunday School class did not send a postcard saying we were missed or anything. Ds1's Sunday School class did not send him a postcard until Easter!

Our feelings were (and still are) quite hurt. (I do need to say that the associate pastor did come over and visit us one evening at the beginning of Feb.) Maybe I have the wrong expectations, but I expect my church to be my family. I also expect to find/make friends at church (no one ever said someone has to be my same age to be my friend). We do not have any family here locally and I don't have any family alive other than some aunts, uncles, and cousins (only one aunt stays in touch with me). I had one good friend here locally and she stopped speaking to me after I told her I had learned I was pregnant (same friend had rejoiced with me when I had shared with her earlier in the year that the Lord had put on our hearts to have another child). Dh's family does not stay in touch with him as they should and they have never made me feel a part of their family (they have caused me much hurt actually). My church family knew all this.

What has been the result of all this? We haven't gone back to church. That pains me, especially for ds1 (who asked Jesus into his heart Feb. 1st of this year). It also irritates me that I have heard countless times at this church how they know they are an older congregation and they really need to be reaching out to young families and getting them in the church, otherwise the church is literally going to just die out. Here we are a young family and we are members of the church and they failed to reach out to us during a time when just a phone call (or postcard) to say someone was thinking of me would have made my day (you know what those post-partum days are like if you've had children). Instead I just feel forgotten.

I begged and begged dh to call the associate pastor to let him know why we hadn't been back. I truly wanted them to know where they had gone wrong with this young family so maybe they could do better in the future (I see now that I also wanted them to feel bad and guilty about what they had done ). I have also been carrying around the heavy load that maybe they are all thinking that since we didn't come back that we just used them all to get things for the baby (via the baby shower gifts), which is just not true. Dh kept telling me he wasn't ready to call and wasn't ready to call, but he did intend to call. He never did though and now he tells me he won't be making a call. I disagreed with this decision and let him know, but he said nothing further.

I have been reading Ephesians over and over this week and I know the Lord has been speaking to me through it. For he himself is our peace (Eph. 2:14a) - I need to hold this in my heart. For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. (Eph. 3:14-15) - it's not wrong for me to expect my fellow Christians/church members to be my family because that's what we are! (Side note: I watch Joyce Meyer's television show on weekdays and earlier this week she mentioned that a lot of times when she has an altar call that the people who come instinctively reach out and hold hands as if they know they are now part of a family and that they are. This spoke volumes to me.) Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. (Eph. 5:24) - point taken, I will say nothing further to my dh about this.

Progress being made

12:04, 2006-Aug-21 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 2 comments .. Link

Well, it's nice to see some progress being made on all of our remodeling issues. The guy helping dh actually came this weekend and some things got accomplished, but not without running into more problems (as always) first. The crown moulding dh picked out wouldn't work. This house is 25 years old and is completely out of square. We believe it's partially because the original owner built it himself and building codes in this area were pretty lax then (if he even bothered to get permits) and partially because everything here is built on concrete slab and over time as the house settles things get a little out of whack. The joints, seams, corners (whatever they're called) just would not match up and were way too out of whack to be caulked and painted. Dh had to return everything and come up with another solution. I can't explain what they did, but it looks nice. Of course the whole ordeal set us back time wise, but I suppose we should just expect that on every project as that is what's happening to us 90% of the time. Quite a bit of priming and painting got done. I'm not sure when the final coats will go on. Dh is planning on painting the remainder of the ceiling tonight and hopefully will start installing the new flooring in the hallway, dining room, kitchen, and living room in the next day or two. Ds1 will be helping him again so I'm going to have to play "union negotiator" again and determine how much ds1 will be paid. LOL It'll be a nice way for him to earn money and it'll keep me from having to help dh! I did try to help dh when the first bit of this flooring went down in ds1's room and I just did not have the patience to deal with it or figure it out. Ds1 (age 6 at the time) took one look at it (click and lock hardwood laminate flooring) and immediately figured out the process so he helped dh and earned a bit of spending money.

I've been working on getting some things set up with an organic co-op that's being set up through dh's place of employment. It's starting to stress me a little and I certainly don't need the stress, but hopefully people will get off their duffs and get me the info I need to get the process moving along better. Probably what's going to happen is all these people who have said they are interested in ordering are going to end up backing out. Oh well. I truly felt this all was the Lord's doing and an opportunity He was blessing us with, but if it doesn't fly I will just have to go back to ordering from the other co-op I had found. It's a stressful situation in itself that I would rather avoid, but we'll just see what happens.

It also dawned on me over the weekend just how close Christmas is! Ack! I do have a good deal of shopping already completed for ds1 and ds2, but I have got to get started again on the cross stitch gift for ds1. I had been working on it a good deal this month, but it is just a huge project in size (14x17 completed size - that's huge for me!). I'll hopefully get back to work on it and see where I stand at the end of September. I know how I want to make ds2's quilt that will be one of his gifts and I know I can complete it (it'll all be done by hand) if I start no later than the 2nd week of November so I do have a good amount of time left to deal with the cross stitch.

I also finally finished getting about 40lbs. of zucchini into the freezer this weekend. Most of it got shredded to use in quick bread, turkey burgers, spaghetti and the like but I did bread some of it for frying. We purchased a new freezer a little over a week ago and it was supposed to have been delivered this past Saturday, but as is the norm when we are scheduled to get something delivered (from Sears) there is a delay. *sigh* Now it is supposed to come this Thursday. We got the largest size we could fit into the space we have and it'll be great to have more room as the one we have now is filled to capacity. We will be keeping our current one though and moving it into the garage.

The best laid plans...

09:36, 2006-Aug-14 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 4 comments .. Link

Things never do go quite as planned around here. Dh's co-worker was supposed to help him with remodeling projects 2 weekends ago and instead was sick. He was supposed to help both days this past weekend and had something else come up. Dh went to buy wood that he needed for baseboards and crown moulding and he said it looked shabby at every store. It's been an uphill battle to find good, quality materials ever since the hurricanes of 2004. Poor dh did get the hallway and linen closet re-primed (did a far better job than the person we PAID to do it back in May and that's saying a lot as dh is a very messy painter). He also got one coat of paint on as well. We chose to use the Harmony zero VOC paints from Sherwin Williams> and I am very pleased with them. The odor can best be summed up as similar to Elmer's glue and it doesn't last long at all. The primer is a tad stronger than the actual paint. I chose a color called banana creme and it's definitely yellow! I've had since May to live with the color since Sherwin Williams highly suggests you use tinted primer to match the paint. I'm not a huge fan of yellow, but always tend to gravitate toward using it in our homes. This banana creme is perky for sure which I think will add a happy and calm feeling in our home.

Closing my blog for now

11:14, 2006-Jul-27 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 8 comments .. Link

I won't be blogging any more - for how long, I don't know. There are a few reasons behind this.

I just heard from my primary care physician's office. They received the results of my blood tests from this past weekend and in addition to me having hyperthyroidism (although all my physical symptoms still point to hypothyroidism), my blood sugar levels are elevated which means I may be prediabetic or diabetic (I wasn't given much info on the phone and the call woke ds2 so trying to talk over a crying baby was pretty much useless). I was not told to fast for my blood tests and I should have been. *sigh* I should have been asked at the lab if I was fasting before my blood was drawn and I wasn't. *sigh* Dh and I honestly do not remember if I ate or drank anything before I went to the lab or not. He seems to think I did and I think I didn't until I came home. Anyway, I have to go again this weekend and have more blood drawn after fasting to see if my levels are again elevated. One other test came back out of proportion as well and I can't remember what the person who called said it was, but if I did eat or drink that could be what caused it to be off as well.

All these medical issues are weighing heavily on me. Add to that the stress from ds1 being out of control behavior wise (all jealousy issues with the baby even though he loves him dearly and dh and I don't know how to fix it) and I am just a wreck emotionally and physically. Dh is adding to the stress by telling me over and over that we just need to put ds1 in private school. I am completely against that as I am passionate about homeschooling and still feel that is what the Lord wants us to do. Dh says he also disagrees with ds1 being in private or public school, but somehow he thinks that will solve the stress. I can't get through to him that it will not make the jealousy issue go away and all it will do is create more stress for me having to deal with a school system I am against and a way of life that I do not feel the Lord has called us to lead.

I have many things on my plate that I need to be focusing on such as time with my kids, homeschool lesson planning, educating myself about my medical issues, etc. I don't think my blog gets read much anyway and I don't feel I contribute in the capacity here that others do as far as helpful information and such. I have no real life friends and just a handful of online friends so yes, I do seek friendships online and it is disheartening to me when hardly any comments are made on my blog posts. I know I need to stop fretting over that though and stop seeking friendships online. What I need to do is let Jesus be my best friend. I turn to others before I turn to Him and that has to stop.

Gloomy Saturday

10:18, 2006-Jul-22 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 3 comments .. Link

Today is my birthday and it's looking to be a gloomy day out. We're going in a bit to look at some shoes for ds2 and drop off some things at a thrift store, then all my guys are taking me out to lunch at Red Lobster. I hope we don't end up soaked by rain! I hope to go back out shopping this evening for some clothes for ds1 to give him for Christmas (our tax free shopping days start today).

This morning I had to go have more blood drawn at the lab concerning my thyroid. Usually it takes about 10 minutes total between checking in, showing my ins. card, getting paperwork printed, getting called back to the lab, and actually having the blood drawn. Today it took 40 minutes just to get called back to the lab and then they had to draw 7 vials of blood for all the various tests my doctor is running! My arm is pretty sore now, but hopefully it won't be too bad.

Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the yard...

09:15, 2006-Jul-17 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 2 comments .. Link

I've been really cautious about going into the yard anywhere on our property due to all the snake encounters we've had, mostly with water moccasins, since last fall. Yesterday I did a majority of the mowing and dh finished up for me. He came in and immediately called a family meeting. He let ds1 and I know that whenever ds1 is outside from now on he is to stay right with one of us at all times. The reason??? Dh saw a pygmy rattlesnake while mowing about a foot away from our back porch (which is now enclosed to the point that it could not have gotten onto the porch, thankfully). He chased it with the mower, ran over it and chopped it into bits.

Sonic boom!

09:11, 2006-Jul-17 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 1 comments .. Link

We just heard the sonic boom from space shuttle Discovery re-entering the earth's atmosphere. We're watching on local tv now to see the actual landing which is just about to happen......

They have landed! Hooray for a safe and successful mission!!!!!

Snakes and compost

05:11, 2006-Jul-12 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 1 comments .. Link

I specifically had dh make a compost tumbler out of a trash can instead of an open-air compost bin because of snakes. With the variety of poisonous ones we have here I didn't want to take any chances of having any unpleasant run-ins while mixing the pile or such. All has gone well with having the tumbler until the other day when I was finishing up the mowing. I got near the tumbler and what do I see? A snake lying next to it! I can't seem to win. LOL

Educating myself

04:50, 2006-Jul-12 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 0 comments .. Link

We went to the library for the children's program this morning and I took the opportunity to check out some books about thyroid disorders. I have scanned through one of them a bit today and I never knew there could be so many things go wrong with your thyroid or just how many different things could be the cause. One thing I've read with great interest is how it's possible for you to develop an underactive thyroid after pregnancy. Maybe that's what's happening with me since my ds2 was born just over 6 months ago. I have many of the symptoms since most of them mimick things that happen postpartum anyway (hair loss, fatigue, foggy mind, poor memory, etc.) and have many of the other symptoms as well. Of course, to be fair, I have several of the symptoms of an overactive thyroid as well. I'm grateful for the lists in this particular book though. They are far more extensive than anything I've found online so at least I can write it all down and go equipped when I see the endocrinologist.

I have a huge urge to declutter around the house even more, but today hasn't been a good day thusfar. About halfway through the library program my left ear closed up (like being on an airplane) and I couldn't get it to pop. My right ear started doing the same thing, though not as bad. I felt okay otherwise, but ds2 had been sitting in my lap and when I stood to put him in the stroller at the end of the program I lost my balance and he went crashing in. Thankfully, he was okay. I was okay driving home, but then again when I was standing or walking around I was very off balance and loopy. I tried to lie down with ds2 for a short nap, and although I didn't get much rest (ds1 bless his heart never can leave me alone), I'm feeling better now. So..... hopefully tonight I can go through the house a bit and get out the things I already have in my mind that we don't need. I would like to have some things together by the weekend so dh can take them to a local thrift shop we've donated to before.

Doctor found a nodule on my thyroid

11:43, 2006-Jul-11 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 4 comments .. Link

I had an appointment this morning for my annual and the doctor found a nodule on my thyroid. He wrote up an order for me to have a blood test, which I will most likely go do this weekend so dh can stay with the kiddos and I don't have to drag them to the lab. He also is sending me to see an endocronologist (waiting to hear from that office as to when). He said that doctor will likely do an aspiration or surgical removal to see if it's benign. I'll admit it, I live in fear of the "C" word. My mom died of breast cancer over 12 years ago and that dreaded word haunts me continually. I had a scare last year with that and now here it lies potentially before me again. I wish I could say I stay positive in situations like this, but I don't. My mind always wanders to the worst scenarios. I don't have a church home and I don't have any friends other than a handful of precious and dear online pals. If you feel compelled to pray for me, it would be much appreciated.

Co-op... blessing or nightmare?

07:11, 2006-Jul-11 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 0 comments .. Link

I'm wondering if the co-op is going to continue to be a blessing (one of many ways we can buy organics cheaper) or if it's just going to be one headache after another each week.

I still haven't seen a catalog, but had figured out what some of the items listed online were and signed up for the quantity I wanted. The lady finally made an annoucement last evening that she was raising the % surcharge. A new person to the group questioned it and then a couple of old members spoke out in favor of it. I checked the orders again, thankfully, and found that 3 people had erased their orders since the announcement and that left me scrambling to re-do all of mine (everyone signs up for what they want and it gets ordered if case quantity gets met). People deleting things really messed me up on a couple of things, especially something I really want and now I most likely won't get. What still has me scratching my head is the person who spoke out the loudest in support of the lady raising the surcharge then went and deleted every single one of her items (and thus affected me). I just hate being at the mercy of other people when it comes to something like this and not knowing if my order is going to end up being placed or not. I have learned that the produce order each week goes about the same way. You never know what others have ordered so if not enough is wanted then it doesn't get ordered. You don't find out until you arrive to pick it up. Too frustrating. It's making meal planning and stockpile planning quite difficult.

Dh and I have checked into purchasing opportunties (at co-op prices) for us as an individual family and they don't exist unless we lie about some things, which is the wrong thing to do. Still waiting to see what the Lord's lesson for us in all of this is or where He's trying to lead us.......

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