Cptacek's Personal Finance Blog

So, I just signed up for paperback swap. You have to post 10 items and then you can request 2, and after that, as soon as you ship an item you can request another. (I think. Maybe it is when the other person receives it and marks that they have it). Anyway, I knew I had a lot of books, but I thought that many of them I would want to keep. Well...I ended up putting 23 on there, and I already have one wrapped up and ready to take to the post office tomorrow. I am sending "Anna Karenina" and let me tell you, that book sucked. I actually couldn't wait for the heroine to die at the end so the book could be over.

I requested "Aztec Blood" and "Aztec Autumn" because I read the first on in this series (name "Aztec" of course) and liked it enough to read it multiple times.

I am also requesting Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (the movie) because I wanted to watch it this weekend and DH didn't have it.

4 other books are marked as being on someone's wish list. I don't quite know what that means, but I think it means they have to actually request it before they send me the info to send it to them.

It will cost $2.93 to send this book. Since I don't ever make it to the library, this is probably the cheapest way to get new books from now on.

Lots to catch up here...

We sold the cull cows last Monday. Two of them were very old and skinny, but both had calves. One of them got out all the time and had a calf. Another got out all the time and was due any minute (I was joking that when it went through the sale ring, it would have the calf's legs sticking out the back). 7 others either lost their calves or weren't pregnant this year. DH has been feeding them grain morning and night to bulk them up, and they really started to look good. The two that got out tempted us to keep them because in the past they have had good calves, but troublemakers have no place on our farm! We got a good price for all of them; both DH and I were happy with the check! Lowest was $.46 per pound, highest was $.5775 per pound, except for the pairs, went for $710 per pair. After paying the sale barn their cut, we brought home $7126.89. We were only expecting $5500 - $6000! And, I only paid $850 a piece for them 6 years ago, and all of them have had calves each year, plus I got to depreciate them on my taxes! That was a good investment.

We got the cows and bulls out to pasture on Friday. We have 43 pairs and 3 bulls now. DH had been feeding them twice a day, too, and having to haul water about every other day, and it was really wearing on him. He feels so relieved to not have to worry about that anymore! They are happily munching on new green grass, in the valleys, but nothing is growing on the hillsides yet. Hope that comes on before they run out of valley grass! It hasn't been warm enough to make the grass grow very fast, which is strange for around here. Most of the time the grass is ready by May 1. Where's that global warming when you need it, huh?

The wheat is coming along fine...it grew a LOT in the past week. We are going to have to get it sprayed for weeds in the next few weeks, and it is too far along for a truck to do it, so we are going to have to have a flying service do it. DH called them Saturday and he has to go give them a map on Monday. It has been so windy they are way behind, so hopefully it will get done pretty soon.

We moved the swather home the other day. (I did mention on a previous post that we had bought the swather, right?) It is driven by hydrolics, which means that if you turn the steering wheel to the right more hydrolic oil goes to the left tire so that tire will go faster, and vice versa (vs. the tires moving left or right). He said it is like a tank, but I've never driven a tank either, so that's no help. I am just learning how to run it, and DH had me get in and try to back out last night so I could get a feel for it, and he hadn't told me it steered a little funny compared to what I was used to. I started backing out, and couldn't get it to stop (did I mention that it doesn't have any brakes? You are supposed to use the hydrostat to go from forward to neutral to backing up)! I was backing right towards the tractor and couldn't stop. He lunged across me and got it stopped, and THEN told me how the steering worked. Thanks a lot! I about had a heart attack

We sprayed for musk thistle (a noxious weed that you have to control or you could get fined) today in one of the new pastures. There is a LOT there. DH let me use the 4 wheeler and sprayer, and he had a hand sprayer and just walked. We did that for about 5 hours this afternoon, and it was pretty nice out. Not too hot, not too cold, and the wind wasn't blowing too hard. We will for sure have to go back.

Haven't heard anything on the house yet. We dropped the price $3000 and someone went to look at it Friday, but I haven't heard anything since. I offered it to the guy I bought it from for what I bought it from him if he would pay half the RE agent commission, but haven't heard anything from my agent about that either. I think she sucks. Not following up very well, that is for sure.

Applied for another job today. Here's hoping!

My real estate agent called me today, and said that the people who I bought the house from want to buy it back from me. They moved to OKC for a job, but apparently they are back and are living in an apartment. They don't want to pay $9000 more than they sold it for, which is what I am asking. I bought it for $87,000 and I have it listed for $96,000.

Well, how about 2% appreciation per year? That would be $90,500. That is quite a drop, but if they would buy it right away, it may be worth it.

I haven't had any offers from anyone else. But it has only been a week.

I didn't eat out at all all week. That may sound funny to some of you, but I am proud of myself.

Monday for lunch I finished up the tortillas, ham, cheese and had some chips. There were some tortillas left. I'll probably get more ham and cheese for next week.

Monday for supper I watched the KU game (did I mention they won it all?) and ate frozen pizza and mozzarella sticks from the freezer.

Tuesday for lunch I had leftover pasta, sauted veggies (mushrooms, onions, green peppers) and alfredo sauce and an apple.

Tuesday for supper I made meatloaf.

Wednesday for lunch, we had our quarterly meeting with our boss. And we had sandwiches. How cheap. I am having a hard time not showing my contempt around some of my bosses, which is not a good career move. Need to work on that.

Wednesday evening I had leftover meatloaf. Tried warming it up in a skillet just for variety, and it was ok. Not significantly better than the microwave, so I'll stick to that next time.

Thursday for lunch I had leftover meatloaf.

Thursday evening, I got home and my DH and I had sloppy joes.

Friday for lunch I made chili and grilled cheese sandwiches. Enough left over for at least one lunch next week.

Good job, me!

That is kind of tongue in cheek. But, at the same time, a bit true.

Ok, you all know I am HORRIBLE at spending money on food. My husband was down here in the big city with me last weekend and we spent more than $200 in restaurants Fri-Sun! Holy crapper! After tallying that up, and realizing that I eat a sandwich from Jimmy John's most days for lunch (around $7.00) I once again am determined to cook at home and take leftovers to work.

Last week, I bought tortillas, ham, cheese, apples, individual cans of baked beans, chips and granola bars to take to work. The tortillas, ham and cheese could go in the fridge in the break room, the other stuff could safely reside in my cube. That was about $15, and gave me three lunches (two last week, one today). I even had most of the tortillas left, almost all of the chips, 2 apples and some granola bars left over for this week. So, that little experiment worked out.

Last night I ate a frozen Totino's pizza ($.98) and some chips and an apple I had at home while watching the KU game (yeah Jayhawks!) instead of going to a bar to watch it. Going out would have cost > $20 and I couldn't have jumped around like an idiot cheering when we won the whole dang thing!

Tonight, I was in the mood for meatloaf. So, I stopped in at walmart to pick up the ingredients, and here is what I got:
Eggs - $1.98 for a dozen
Generic crescent rolls - $1.66
1/2 gallon milk - $1.98
Orange Juice - $2.50
Generic Saltine crackers - $1.00
Dorthy Lynch salad dressing - $2.58
Tony Chazere's spice - $1.22
2 cans Canned Asparagus - $1.08
3 apples - $2.34
carrots - $1.66
ketchup - $.98
hamburger - $7.28

I got the canned asparagus thinking "I like asparagus, and since it is canned, it will be easy to make." Seriously, pretty much that entire quote went through my head. But, it was yucky! I'm going to throw out what I made and probably not ever make the other can. So, that was a mistake.

I had one apple before the meatloaf was ready and the other two are for work tomorrow. Trying to get more fruits and vegetables in my diet, and it is better than snacking on chips, etc.

Had milk with my meal, and the OJ is for breakfast tomorrow.

I didn't have any ketchup (!) and I didn't know if I had the salad dressing. I should have known I did, because I only use that kind for meatloaf, so now I have two jars of this salad dressing.

So, for the meal tonight, I used:
1 Eggs - but had to spend $1.98 for a dozen
Generic crescent rolls - $1.66
1/2 gallon milk - $1.98
Generic Saltine crackers - $1.00
Dorthy Lynch salad dressing - $2.58
2 cans Canned Asparagus - $1.08
1 apples - $.78
carrots - $1.66
ketchup - $.98
hamburger - $7.28
Total = $20.98

I split the meatloaf into 4 parts, so I'll have lunch for two more days and supper tomorrow night, and there are crescent rolls, milk, crackers, carrots and salad dressing left...well, pretty much everything except for the meat. So, I can make another loaf, but not meatloaf until I get more hamburger. Ba-dum-chick. I guess that is about $5.00 each, plus stuff left over. So, it did make sense. This time. I'll keep my eye on it

---------------------------

In other news, I have my house for sale! We put it on the market a week ago. I was going to do "For sale by owner" but with me being gone Thursday night - Monday morning, I didn't figure I would be able to show it much, so I got a real estate agent. I know it has been shown twice, and both like it, but one had to go to their bank to get a loan, and I haven't heard from if they were approved. I know the other one was pre-approved for a house more expensive than this one, so here's hoping! But it was an FHA loan, and this is an old house, so I don't know if they will be able to buy.

-----------------------------

In still other news, I had a phone interview the other day with someone in KC. She liked my resume and asked where I lived and if I would be moving to KC. I said it was in the middle of the state, and my husband farmed so we couldn't move. But, I told her I was working in Wichita right now, so we are used to being split up during the week. She then asked how much I make. I answered truthfully, and she said I was out of her salary range. But wait, if you let me telecommute, I can take a pay cut! She said they are not currently hiring anyone who right away is in a telecommuting position, but people who have been with the company have moved away from KS and they keep working that way. She said she would keep my resume and if that ever changed she would call me again. Buggers!

---------------------------

My husband's father's cousin inherited a 1/2 section of ground late last year, and she offered to sell it to us! (A half section is 320 acres) It is mostly pasture, some CRP for a few more years, about 100 acres of crop land. She offered it to us at $625 an acre at 5% interest, financed through her for 5 years. After 5 years, we'll refinance through a bank with some equity in the ground. We get 50% of the mineral rights, with us getting first shot at buying the other half if they decide to sell...and it used to have an oil well on it, and she said they are thinking about redrilling.

It has a good machine shed, a house that needs lots and lots of work, a big barn that just needs to have the clutter removed, a workable corral that DH can fix up with him being a welder and all. We need to build about 1/2 mile of barbed wire fence and get rural water for the house and a well for the cattle. It doesn't have a pond, but used to...we could eventually clear out the sediment and have another one.

I was a little hesitant because of the amount we would owe, but after talking to a few people, it is actually awesome. My best friend is a loan officer at a local bank, and she told me someone around there paid $1000 an acre for pasture! I told her our information, and she said it was a really good deal. I don't bank with her, because could you imagine not being able to pay back your best friend? Or having your best friend have to foreclose on you if something happened? But it is good to talk to someone about it that knows what is going on.

We told the cousin that we would like to put down $1000 in earnest money now, and then, when the house sells, put down the bigger down payment. We would then have two payments a year.

She is really working with us, and I just am blown away by everyone who is trying to help us. I just can't believe how things are falling into place. Thank you, God.

My family cleaned up after the wedding, wow, almost two months ago, and put all the extra cups, forks, napkins etc that they didn't open, plus flowers my sister didn't use, in a big tub for me to go through later. Finally opened that this weekend. Took the stuff back to Walmart today. Got $55.18 back! Luckily, no line at customer service, and they didn't give me any hassle at all about returning it. Just gave me a gift card because I didn't have my receipts with me.

---------------------------------------

I have GOT to get another job. I was actually told today to stop working so fast...not in so many words, but that was the implication. I am in charge of an application that someone else wrote and I took over about a year ago. Either that person didn't get any requirements to code this, or just didn't listen. It has problems all the time. When a user reports the problem to me, I find it and fix it, usually that day. My users LOVE me. My upper management does not.

Here's why. At our work, we are supposed to plan things 7 days in advance. Like, everything is supposed to be perfectly coded and tested and ready to be implemented, and THEN you can schedule it for 7 days in the future. But, if the product is broken, you can get around this by putting in a break-fix. So, I legitimately use break-fixes all the time. ...I mean, users complain that something is broken, and I fix it. That is what that provision is for! But this generates an email to people two levels above me, and apparently they don't know how to filter email. So, my supervisor told me her supervisor told her to stop approving my break fixes.

Because of a stupid, stupid, stupid rule, my users are going to have to wait 7 days before I can fix the product. Completely crap.

Here is another rub. If I say I am going to fix one problem and schedule it out 7 days from now, I can't work on anything else on that application because when they finally implement it, it won't be approved. So, I can fix something one day a week and can't do anything else until that is put in production.

I hate this job.

I went on a job interview about a month ago, and they paid for my flight, car rental and hotel room. I didn't have to pay for it and then get reimbursed, they actually paid for it. But, they said to keep receipts for parking, mileage and food and then turn those receipts in and they would reimburse me.

I got a package in the mail yesterday from this company. I already knew I didn't have the job, so it was strange to get this package. It was a padded envelope and looked like this:


So, I opened it. It had this littler envelope in it:


And what did I find? A wad of cash and coins taped to a yellow sticky note!


Oh, and don't worry. The envelope says $94.14, and you eagle-eyed ones out there only see 12 cents. But wait, turn the sticky note over:

DH and I refinanced some of our farm loans last month. He has a banker he has worked with since he was in high school and I have one I have worked with for about 6 years now. Both banks want us to bank with them, and with the type of loans we get, the bank basically lays claim to everything on your farm if you default, so each bank doesn't want to fight the other if we default. Both bankers said eventually we will have to consolidate, but we don't have to yet. So, we tried to play one off the other. Didn't work...they both offered the same interest rate. We decided to keep the loans he has through his bank there (land at 6.75%, line of credit at 7%) and keep the loans I have at my bank there (Cattle at 8% and tractor/baler at 8.45%) but refinance.

We refinanced both of "my" loans to 7.25%, but kept them separate, if you know what I mean. My bank charges a loan origination fee of $85 (!) per loan which I thought was normal, but his bank doesn't. But his bank charges $6 a month for a checking account (!). That is going away, for sure.

Anyway, I have a spreadsheet that tracks my loans. That way, if I pay anything early I can track how much I saved by doing it that way. We have 3 yearly payments on each loan. I was putting the new info in today, and on the cattle loan if I pay the yearly payment, I end up paying an extra $98ish by the end. As near as I can figure, the banker refunded the $85 fee on one of the loans, but didn't change the amount due. I emailed him today to see how we should handle that...either a smaller payment this year or a smaller payment the last year or a smaller payment all three years. I know $98 is really a little amount compared to the combined loan total of around $30,000, but hey, I complained about someone stealing $.75 from my cup holder! The payment on the cattle loan is due April 1, so I need to know pretty quickly so I can get the check in the mail.

We sent our tax returns off it seems like ages ago. He owed, being self employed and all, but I got a humongoid refund. Like $8000, from federal and state combined. Yikes! Boy that money would have been better used last year when I was paying for a wedding and we were getting the farm started. But, I got it back already, and it will cover the cattle loan payment due April 1 and his taxes with some left over, which will just go to the general farm fund. This summer, when we have a better handle on what our monthly farm expenses are going to be, we are going to meet with the tax lady and change my withholding. I could guess now, but with all the deductions and depreciate and all, I just want to wait.

The guy we are partnering with told us that we could have 45 cows in the pasture this summer, instead of the 35 we thought. So, we pulled 10 more that are pregnant from my dad (and we'll pay him for the food and other expenses from November - March as soon as he gives us the bill) as well as 8 cows that are either old, not pregnant or trouble makers. DH is graining them every day and sometime in May we are going to sell them. Three of those cull cows have calves, and another one might be pregnant. I hope we can keep the calves and feed them out but sell the cows when that time comes. He might want to sell them as pairs or split them up and sell them.

We are up to 34 calves on the ground, and 14 left to go (? I think that is how many are left). Knock on wood, he hasn't had to pull one (help the cow have it) yet!

We needed another bull, and DH went to a sale on Monday and picked one up. I haven't seen it yet. He said it had good EPDs and was about in the middle of the pack price-wise ($2415). Yet another thing we need for the long term, but a crimp on the funds right now!

Speaking of a crimp on the funds, we bought a swather. An expensive one. It was a good deal, like $6000 less than it should have been. The same farmer traded the swather in for a combine. He is very meticulous about keeping his equipment new-like (oil changes, flushing hydrolic oil, mostly shedded, the clear plastic covering is still on the seat!). We found another one that had 3 times as many hours, was 2 years older, and was $2000 more than this one. Anyway, he traded the swather in and we bought the swather from the dealer for that trade in price. It won't even move 5 miles down the road to "our" place! We did it that way so we could take advantage of the dealer financing - 6.125%. We had to put 10% down and finance the rest for 5 years. We figured that we have to swath and bale around 2000 acres this year to have enough food for our cows, and pay for the tractor/swather/baler. That means the swather is going to be my home for the three days I am not at work so I can swath enough for him to bale the rest of the week when I am not there.

I've read that everyone has a comfort level when it comes to debt. That there is a certain level that you feel comfortable with and if you go over that it really stresses you out. I am inching closer and closer to that. All of the things we are buying will eventually pay for themselves (hopefully...they should, but you never know what could happen). But just looking at the debt obligations is kind of scary.

I decided that the only way I was going to get this house in shape to sell it was to go room by room. Tackled the kitchen today. LOTS o' LOTS o' LOTS o' dishes to do (yucky. Not my favorite job, so they tend to pile up.) Cleaned everything, new lightbulbs in the burned out sockets, dishes put away, drying racks put away, cleaned the top of the refrigerator, moved the table to look nicer in the space, etc. Got some pictures on my camera so even if a few dishes get stacked up in the next few days, if I get the rest of the house done I can create some fliers. I am going to make some fliers and put them up at work. Maybe I can sell it without the help of a realtor, but I'll only give myself about a month of the fliers before getting one.

DH told me we had another 2 calves today, so we are up to 7. Got the fence up around the pasture/hay meadow yesterday, so the cows are stretching their legs and are glad to be out in the grass. The grass hasn't been used for 3 years, so there is lots of it out there. Better than feeding them every spoonful!

Got news yesterday that the price of mineral is going up. By about 25%! The reason (at least what I was told) is that one part of the mix comes from only one factory in China, and they are being shut down for the Olympics! Who would have thought! The price is going up April 1, so we are going to buy a bunch at the end of March to tide us over.

Also heard from that we are going to have room for 45 cows this year instead of only 35, so we are going to take another 10 of mine from my dad. We are going to pay him for the work he's done, and the feed he's fed, for the past 3 months. That means we have more of our cows than he does now!

One more piece of news is that we heard from the implement dealer, and this month their interest rate on the used swather we are going to buy is 6.25%. They didn't know what it was going to do next month, but we are going to wait. Another option is to go through the FSA office to get a guaranteed loan, with interest rates in the 3-4% range, but I don't know if those loans get turned around quick enough for what we want. We'll be looking at that this weekend.

I went to the Social Security office today to get a new SS card. I waited an hour, finally got called to the window, and took out the copy of the marriage license that the District Court clerk gave me, and the lady said it wasn't valid because the clerk signed the paper with BLACK ink instead of BLUE ink. What a bunch of crappola. I called the District Court and they are going to send me a copy in the mail. I have to send that, plus the paper the SS lady gave me in, and I'll get my new card pretty soon.

Also checked with my bank here in town about getting a signature guarantor stamp on my mutual funds, and there is one in town (not my usual branch). Just have to get my new driver's license then go in, and they will do it for me.

Lots of details to figure out still. Get the house ready to sell, find a new job, change names, start a new farm and be a newlywed. No wonder I am feeling a bit stressed! And I thought that would all go away after the wedding!

Well, back to doing the farming thing on the weekends and working Monday - Thursday. I'm commuting 2.5 hours on Monday morning, working 10 hour days until Thursday night (staying in the house I need to sell), and then commuting 2.5 hours back home. I'm pretty tired Monday and Tuesday, feel good Wednesday and then tired again Thursday night before I get back home. But I can't quit until I find another similar paying job.

I had an ex-co-worker look over my resume the other day, and she said it had too much clutter and not enough meat. Not enough job skills, not enough specific languages and programs and database skills, etc. I rewrote it on Monster today and sent it back to her to critique again. Before she said she couldn't understand why I hadn't been able to find anything because of my skill set, but after seeing my resume, she said hiring managers don't know much about specific qualifications for IT jobs, so I needed to load up on specific "buzz words" to get noticed. We'll see how that goes.

As for the farm, we had a wheel fall off the pickup the other day! Something to do with the wheel bearing or shaft or something. Luckily we weren't hauling any bales like we had done the day before. Drug it to the shed and used the tractor to feed cows that day. He found another 4 wheel drive pickup, very rough, some kinks to work out, for $1300 and we bought that the other day. Jeez, when will we stop spending so much money?

But we have 4 calves now! They are so cute! Another two were on their way yesterday, but as of this morning, they hadn't been born yet. As soon as it warms up a little we are going to finish the electric fence around some more pasture so they will have more room to stretch their legs, and hopefully the cows will eat enough of the old grass that we can see some tree stumps someone foolishly cut off 4 inches off the ground. We can't hay that because it will break the swather, and the grass is so tall we can't see the stumps to clear them out, and there isn't a good fence around it so we haven't been able to put cows out there. I hope we can get them out there this weekend.

I am doing pretty good at not spending money on frivolous things since the wedding. I used a gift card to get a pair of pants, a nice shirt and a nice jacket for interviews, and only spent an additional $10 at Dillard's for that stuff. I've been eating at home most nights, but if I don't cook something big on Mondays to take to work, I've been ordering a sandwich for lunch. They are good, but expensive. So, gas is a big problem and farm expenses and lunch, but I am not spending a huge amount on anything else.

We paid off all of his credit cards the other day. I used some of the money from the 0% interest card. I know, I said I wasn't going to do that, but we were paying 19% interest on $5000! Even if we can't pay back $5000 when next December comes around, that was smart, because we won't have 19% interest then. He had two other cards he used on the honeymoon, but for only a couple hundred each, so we are not paying any interest on any credit cards now! We also paid off his line of credit ($1200 at 7% interest) and renewed the line of credit in both of our names for 7%. So now, all he owes is for the land (6.75%) and house (5%). Need to pay off the Co-op bill by the end of the month, or we will pay 18% on that. We still have my cows (8%), the tractor and baler (8.5%), my house (6.9%) my student loans (3.13%) and my pickup (3.74%). Hopefully we can sell the house pretty soon. We can refinance the cows and the tractor and baler for 7.25%, and we are going to meet with my banker next week to do that.

I've been taking over a lot of the monthly bills that he has been paying at the house up north (or sometimes not paying). I'm having to put $900 a paycheck into my bill paying checking account, and so long as I don't lose my job, it is figured out for the rest of the year. But, there are two more bills I need to take over for him...his long term disability insurance and his life insurance. He has a whole life insurance policy, and I would like to get rid of that. We are meeting the insurance people this weekend, and I'll make them re-sell it to me. Good luck, I say, cause they're going to need it.

He used to balance his checkbook in his head (? I don't think that is balancing it, do you?) but I have a spreadsheet worked up for him now, so he can look at that anytime he is home, and he is even updating it! Quite a change. We are also going over past week expenses and upcoming expenses on Sunday night before I leave early on Monday so we kind of have a plan for what farm expenses we will have that week. I'm using some of the money we got in cards at the wedding for cash spending money, and it is going pretty far, actually. I found some automatic charge on his account for $19.99 the other day, but we can't tell what it is, he doesn't remember, and I tried to call yesterday to cancel it, but their computers were down (a convenient excuse, huh?). If he didn't do it today, I'll call them on Monday to get that canceled.

We finally got health insurance for him, and dental and vision, and Accidental Death and Dismemberment, and $100,000 life insurance policy on him. I upped my insurance on me to about $540,000, plus the maximum AD&D. With all of those additions, adding him, upping all of my coverage, we didn't even double the premiums from before. As I've said before in a previous blog post, Single People sure get hosed on insurance!!! http://cptacek.savingadvice.com/2007/10/16/single-people-sure-get-hosed-on-insuranc_31214/

Whew, it's been awhile, hasn't it? I guess it has only been about 3 weeks, but what a 3 weeks it has been.

First, the wedding. It was beautiful. It was exactly what I wanted, and I can't think of one thing that I should have done differently. I don't have the pictures back yet, but when I do, I'll post a link to them. I think, all told, I spent about $8500 total, and that is with a full church wedding, 5 attendants each, 3 little people, cake, liquor, and meal for 325 guests and honeymoon for 6 days.

We decorated all day the day before and the hall looked absolutely gorgeous. The balloons and table decorations and cake table all came together perfectly. I can't say how much my family came together for this. 5 sisters, my mom, his mom, a friend of his from high school and me spent about 6 hours putting it together. I WISH I had the pictures back, but that'll have to wait.

The wedding itself was absolutely exactly the way I wanted it. It was a full Catholic mass, but no extra stuff. No Unity Candle, no "flowers to Mary" thing. Just a regular Mass with our vows, blessing and exchange of rings, and the special blessings the priest prays over us. The singer and organist played/sang very well (and made me cry), and the entire congregation joined in singing and in the responses, which is what I wanted. I wanted full participation from the congregation, and they did it. Putting the extra effort into the program was worth it, so they could follow along.

A little humor during the ceremony...the priest forgot to get the holy water to bless the rings with, so my brother, an alter boy, went back to get it for him. He leaned over to us and said "I forgot the holy water. It'll just be a second." The best man replied, "That's ok, I forgot the rings." He had been saying things like that all day AND the day before, so I knew he was joking, but the priest didn't . So the priest kinda freaked out a bit, but DH and I just giggled.

I thought the three young kids were going to have a meltdown immediately before the ceremony started. The two girls were fighting over the flowers, and the ring bearer was sleeping. We had to take the flowers away until they were next in line to go up, had to wake him up and keep him from being grouchy, and then we hooked their arms together, gave them their flowers, and sent them up. They were so cute, and they were very good once they were out in front of everyone. No trouble at all, even though they were all 3 years old. Could have been trouble! The ring bearer fell over for some reason when we were all up at the front, but the best man just picked him up and put him back on his feet, and he was ok.

When I walked out of my little "hiding" room, I first saw my friends from Texas at the back of the pews. They were a little late, and I actually am glad they were, because they were the first people I could see. That made me even happier, that they could be there. Then, I turned the corner and could see my guy at the end of the aisle, and I couldn't get my dad to walk fast enough so I could get up there. We had a kneeler in the middle of the aisle with chairs behind us, so it felt like we were in our own little world...not having to look out at the congregation, like the priest was only talking to us. Everyone said how nice the ceremony was, and I agree.

The reception and dance were really good, too. It went too fast, and I didn't get to spend time with everyone I wanted to, but it was so much fun. Food was awesome, cake was awesome. The Grand March was a lot of fun...there were a lot of my friends that hadn't done that before, but I think they had a good time. We had one dance by ourselves, another dance with the entire wedding party, and then everyone could dance. We stayed until the end, til the lights came up, and then we left for our family and friends to clean up

If I had to do it over again, I would:
- leave more time to get ready and take pictures. I knew we were going to be late, no matter what our intentions were. That is just how my family is. We should have said pictures were 30 minutes earlier than they were, so we could have had more of them.
- pick out the songs the DJ would play. I thought that because she was a professional and supposedly did this kind of thing all the time that she would know what songs would get people out on the dance floor. But she didn't, and played a lot of weird songs. That was a disappointment. AND she didn't play the Flying Dutchman (which I had explicitly told her to), but I didn't remember that until the next week.
- keep a list of everything you buy for decorations, and what you plan on doing with them. I had some things that I forgot what I was going to do with them cause I had bought them 3 months earlier!
- figure out that hooks, eyes and a snap on your halter wedding dress will not hold up your boobs if you don't have a bra on. Especially if you are a double-D like I am. Somehow, get yourself some support. When you try your dress on, dance around, jump around, bend over, hug people, etc. Don't just stand there like a statue with your tummy tucked in, cause that is not what you will be doing for 10 hours that day.

Long story short, I am so glad I put the time in months before hand so I wouldn't freak out the week before the wedding (I left work a little early on Thursday and decorated on Friday. Everything else was done, so I didn't have to take off a lot of time before hand). I kinda impressed myself with how I handled all the arrangements, cause I didn't have much help, as vain as that sounds. I have only heard good comments, and believe me, if something had gone wrong, someone would have told me about it. We are very happy, we were surrounded by our family and friends, we had good food, good wine, good atmosphere, no one got in a fight, and everyone got home safely. Can't ask for more than that, huh?

Next blog...honeymoon.

Putting what was on my side bar in a blog entry, just for record keeping sake.



DONE:
REHEARSAL / DINNER:
- Programs
- Gifts
- Flowers for people
- Tuxes
- Flowers for church
- Pew Bows
- Marriage License
- Big framed marriage license (to get signatures)

DECORATE:
- White and blue plastic tablecloths
- Long lighter for candles at reception
- Balloons
- Air Compressor and blow nozzle
- Balloon sticks and cups
- Pole bending poles
- Cellophane
- Curling Ribbon
- Centerpieces
- Table Tents
- Cake table:
- Napkins
- plates
- forks
- nuts
- M&Ms
- punch stuff
- flowers
- cake top
- background
- lace tablecloth
- Stuff to cut the cake
- 2 gallon pitchers
- 4 white grape juice with peach
- 8 ginger ale 2 liters
- Napkins for meal
- Bowls
- Water crystals / strainer
- Candles
- Fake Champagne glasses
- M&Ms and Hershey's Kisses for tables
- Blue Bows
- scissors / tape / duct tape / stapler
- Alcohol
- Hefty bags
- Stuff for punch
- Guest pages / pen
- 8X10 picture of us
- After framed marriage license is signed, take to VFW
- Bring "card" box - wrap a box with wedding wrapping paper and have a slit in it for people to put cards
- Guest book pages and pens
- Back drop from K and R
- Directions from old church to new church

WEDDING:
- My necklace / earrings / bracelet / hair clip
- My rings
- His ring
- Written out Thank you notes
- tennis shoes and white lacy socks
- Lacy shoes
- Black coat
- Makeup bag
- Emergency kit with black/white/blue thread, tweezers, deodorant, tape, hair pins, kleenex, uh, woman's stuff, etc.
- Flower girl crowns
- Ring bearer pillow
- Bags packed for honeymoon
- Folder with directions
- Knee brace
- Static Guard

THINGS I DID:
- Clean the pole bending poles
- Make emergency kit - black/white/blue thread, tweezers, deodorant, tape, hair pins, kleenex, napkins, safety pins
- Pick up tuxes 1/24
- Meet with DJ 1/24
- Call the benefits center to let them know to start coverage - 1-866-508-8058 (2/4/08)
- Call Sincerely Yours to pay for arch
- Call Complete music to pay for DJ
- Pack for honeymoon
- book for drive
- Get Nails done
- Go to Confession
- Make pearl hair clip
- Print sign for Card Box
- Print sign for Guest book
- Get pickup washed
- Get Oil change
- Final fitting of my wedding dress
- Print directions from old church to new church
- Write out checks for Glenna and VFW
- have my two rings soldered together
- Get backdrop from K and R
- Make "card" box - wrap a box with wedding wrapping paper and have a slit in it for people to put cards
- Wrap box holding programs
- Get liquor
- Make guest book pages from card stock
- Buy pens
- Pick up bowls from co-worker
- Get a dress for last bridesmaid
- call everyone and tell them the plan for rehearsal and wedding day
- Call cake lady with final number (312 RSVP'd...we're going with 325 to be safe)
- Call caterer with final number (312 RSVP'd...we're going with 325 to be safe)
- Tell MIL to call Meridy's to let them know how many people will be at the rehearsal dinner
- Make pew bows
- Get final count on rehearsal dinner (32)
- Pick up the marriage license (after 1/10/08 - three day waiting period)
- Wrap ring bearer gift
- Buy more cellaphane
- Buy more punch glasses, forks, napkins, cake plates (more people than I thought are coming)
- Buy more flowers to put on cake
- Bachellorette party - January 12 (!)
- Book room at hotel for wedding night
- Look up directions to hotels and cabin and print out
- Get cool pen for guest book
- Get cake topper
- Call VFW guy to coordinate getting in the day before
- Get my dad measured for his tux top
- Pick up flowers from Aya
- Ask M for "pole bending" poles and pick up
- Make necklaces for flower girls
- Get long lighter for candles at reception
- Buy blue plastic for the head / cake tables and pole bending poles
- Buy cake plates
- Buy balloon sticks and cups
- Buy his wedding ring
- Meet with Glenna to finalize the wedding cake
- Meet with organist to go over the music
- Ask Glenna if she is going to handle the plates, napkins, forks for cake - No, I am
- Get flower girl dresses
- Make the veil
- Get strapless bra (or halter bra) - Got a bra that mom is going to sew into the dress.
- Check out prices for helium - NO FRICKIN WAY. TOOOOO EXPENSIVE. Going to use forms and air instead.
- Make table centerpieces out of balloons, sand, ribbon, curling ribbon, and cellophane.
- Make program for wedding
- Write out thank you cards for Fr. David, singer, organist, eucharistic minister, ushers, program attendant, alter servers, etc.
- Get gift boxes for necklaces / earrings
- Buy sand
- Gift for ring bearer - toy truck and trailer
- pick out songs for ceremony
- Get white tennis shoes
- Buy blue, white and silver M&Ms
- Tell groomsmen where to get tux tops and what else to wear
- Buy napkins for dinner.
- Send invitations to cake lady and organist
- Buy pocket watches for groomsmen
- Seal, stamp invitations and send OR hand them out (by end of November)
- Tell Aya to make a corsage for eucharistic minister, singer, organist, reader
- Send $60 to R for the Flower Girl dresses
- pick out guys' tuxes
- Find someone to hand out programs - Bessie
- pick out songs for reception...first dance, etc.
- get his black Wranglers
- get his black boots
- Make table tents
- Bridal shower October 28
- Put numbers on RSVP cards so I can know who is actually coming (in case their handwriting sucks)
- Stuff envelopes
- Meet with Fr. David for the third time to go over FOCCUS results.
- Order my dress from ebay store middle of October
- Address invitations
- Tie invitations with ribbon
- If I change my phone number, let all vendors know that!
- Make necklaces and earrings for bridesmaids and other family
- Get Bridesmaid's dresses (Three were on sale!)
- finish registering for gifts
- Reserve Meridy's for rehearsal dinner
- Book cabin for honeymoon
- Buy pearls and other jewelry making stuff (will be around $11 per necklace & earring set)
- Stamps on RSVP cards
- Print out maps and have Copy Max cut them
- Order thank you cards from printsmadeeasy.com (they came in. they look beautiful)
- Meet with Fr. David (for the 2nd time, after church this Sunday. Need to take Engaged Encounter certificate)
- Have hotels in Russell reserve blocks of rooms for guests
- Punch holes in invitations
- Print out invitations.
- Get cake person. Glenna will do it. 698-2458. She has an arch we can decorate. She has a punch fountain and we can provide the punch or she can do it. She can make the mints...but I was going to have blue and gray M&M's...may be cheaper. Want to have sheet cakes for the guests to eat, $27.50 for 30 servings, and a two tiered cake for the head table.
- Meet with Fr. David (1st time)
- Get Ring Bearer pillow
- Get tiaras for flower girls
- Buy flowers/vases and give to my sister #3 to make...thank you A.!!!
- Get Singer (Marla) / Organist (Kathy)
- Send Save the Date cards
- Go to Engaged Encounter (Aug 10-12)
- Get guest list from my mom, his mom, and then fill in the blanks for who I want to invite. His list is done.
- Order water crystals (for decorations)
- Order "save the date" cards
- Send Complete Music agreement and deposit
- Get engagement pictures
- Know who the attendants will be and ask them
- Photographer - my sister #1 is going to do it.
- Confirmed church with Fr. Charlie
- Decide on a color dammit: BLUE and GRAY
- Steve Dlabel will do the catering. $8 / plate. 658-3434
- Confirm with VFW and put down security deposit


Spent on the wedding:
6/29/07: Resize rings - $77.08
7/06/07: Vellum - $37.97
7/19/07: Tulle & Ribbons - $40.98
7/22/07: VFW Deposit - $150
7/23/07: DJ Deposit - $100
7/24/07: Engaged Encounter - $200
7/24/07: Invitation paper - $12.97
7/24/07: Ribbon - $7.80
7/25/07: Envelopes - $137.85
7/29/07: Bridesmaid dress (A's) - $21.46
7/29/07: Bubbles and tiara from Walmart - $36.40
8/4/07 - Save the Date Postcards - $48.84
8/12/07 - Printer labels - $5.68
8/13/07 - Stamps - $65.00
8/16/07 - Hole punch - $2.14
8/24/07 - Flowers, misc decorations - $269.48
8/31/07 - Bridesmaid Dress - $58.17
9/02/07 - Bridesmaid Dress - $42.92
9/06/07 - Cut invitations and buy ream of copy paper - $14.29
9/10/07 - 400 yds blue ribbon - $15.50
9/11/07 - Thank you cards, 300 for $44.84 including shipping
9/13/07 - Postcard postage - $78.00
9/26/07 - Pearls and jewelry making stuff - $140.11 (will make 13 necklaces and earring pairs)
10/3/07 - Reservation for honeymoon cabin - $145.73
10/19/07 - Groomsmen gifts - $166.57
10/22/07 - Dress - $359.99
11/15/07 - Return to Walmart +70.40
11/15/07 - Paper - $18.33
11/15/07 - Table tent cutting - $5.31
11/21/07 - Shoes - $26.76
11/21/07 - Jeans / Boots - 105.42
11/24/07 - Ring Bearer's outfit - $53.53
11/27/07 - Flower Girl Dresses - $60.00
11/27/07 - Stamps for invitations - $104.40
11/27/07 - Vellum for programs - $20.98
11/26/07 - More Flowers - $14.08
11/29/07 - Hershey's Kisses - $14.48
12/3/07 - Groomsman gift - $26.81
12/8/07 - Bridesmaid dress - $82.50
12/11/07 - Napkins and plastic champaign glasses - $60.55
12/11/07 - Tulle - $32.18
12/13/07 - Cut and drill holes for programs - $8.50
12/16/07 - Balloons - $86.67
12/17/07 - M&Ms - $68.61
12/17/07 - Cellophane and curling ribbon - $13.90
12/18/07 - Money for thank you cards - $160
12/19/07 - His brother's tux - $53.53
12/20/07 - Staples - $4.69
12/20/07 - Sand - $4.33
12/20/07 - Program guts - $59.52
12/21/07 - Photographer - $300
12/21/07 - Florist - $200
12/28/07 - Nuts - $20.13
12/29/07 - His wedding ring - $40.68
12/29/07 - Forks, cups, tealights, nozzle to blow up balloons - $45.40
01/02/08 - Cake plates and plastic for tables - $93.41
01/04/08 - Fabric for dress - $12.85
01/11/08 - Cake top and fancy pen - $24.64
01/14/08 - More plates - $14.84
01/14/08 - More cups, napkins, flowers, forks - $46.52
01/14/08 - More cellaphane - $3.71
01/16/08 - Cut guest book - $3.47
01/17/08 - Liquor - $347.23
01/17/08 - Pens for guest book - $4.03
01/21/08 - Half of J's bridesmaid dress - $35
01/21/08 - Cake - $335
01/21/08 - Supper - $2600
01/21/08 - Hall rental - $400
01/24/08 - DJ - $500
01/24/08 - Balloon arch $53.65
01/26/08 - Pop/mixers/beer/ice at reception to VFW $101.00

Total: $8394.54

So I went to Walmart today to get my oil changed. Just before I went in, I saw that I had some change in my cup holder. I was going to pick it up, but I decided to count it instead to see if someone would take any. There were 3 quarters, 4 nickels, a dime and two pennies. $1.07. Nothing big, but hey, this was an experiment.

After about an hour and a half, my pickup was finally done. I went out to it, and I had 4 nickels, a dime and two pennies left. Someone stole $.75!

Ok, admittedly, 75 cents is nothing to blow a gasket over. But then, I looked at my work order ticket, and it said that the work started at 1:33 and was done at 2:37 p.m. Now, I know that the work wasn't done by then, because I had to call my boss at 2:52 to explain why I wasn't back from lunch yet.

I called the store manager and told him that I had money stolen and they lied about the time, so how was I even sure that any work was done? How do I know that oil was even put into the pickup?

He said that he was worried about the situation, that he would refund my money (even if it was only $.75), and if I was worried the work didn't get done, he would have the service bay manager look it over.

I went there after work and the service manager explained that my pickup had been randomly picked to be inspected, and that when the work was done, the work order was closed, but the person doing the inspection still had to do their thing. That actually makes sense. So, I dropped that. The service manager also said that she remembered the pickup, as it was the first one that she had to inspect that day.

Ok, by that time the store manager and the service manager were both there. I said I understood about the time thing, and that I now believed that they actually did do the work. What about my money?

The store manager did NOT want to say out loud what my complaint was, but he offered to get my money back on the oil change and that he would follow up on the theft. He said that he would let me know what the cameras showed and that they would deal harshly with whoever did it.

That is all I wanted. THANK YOU, store manager, for doing the right thing. I know that $.75 was almost not worth driving the mile to the store, but hey, don't steal from me. If you steal, even $.75, you should be punished.

Free oil change for me, and they will get a return customer. The managers treated me fairly, and they also treated their employees fairly (they had to check the tapes before they would do anything, which is how it should be, I think).

Getting my dowry today.

Since I bought the cows 6 years ago, I have joked that they, and the calves I sell, were my dowry. I had no idea back then that I would marry a farmer. Funny how things work out. What started out as a (legal) tax shelter is going help provide for my about-to-be-started family.

Today I am selling my calves. Hopefully they bring a good price, and I can replenish what I have borrowed against the 0% interest credit card money for the past 6 months, and pay the cattle loan due in April.

Sale day is nerve wracking. You take your entire inventory for the year to the sale barn and trust that you picked the right day to sell, the market is strong, and the buyers are there to buy them. You have to look like you have no emotion, but inside, you are excited or seething or worried or happy or content. Just depends on a few cents per pound either way and it can change your entire year.

They go through so fast, separated into steers and heifers, then into weight groupings, and you may only have four groups go through, even though I am selling 81 calves and Dad is selling 50-some. Once the dust clears and you have all the prices per pound, then you calculate it up and everyone looks at you to see what your final emotions are going to be.

Then, we have to split the checks. I only get a third of the check from selling my calves (dad gets the rest because he did all the work last year). Hope it is enough!

Next year, we will get the entire check for around 30 calves (we are doing the work for those 30 cow) and only split the check for the other 50.

A few items of good news on Friday...we contracted 500 bushels of wheat for $8.04 per bushel. That means we only have to get 10 bushels per acre to make the land payment and cover harvest.

An average wheat crop for our non-irrigated land would be 30-40 bushels per acre. Even if we are close to a disaster, we should be able to get 10. Fiance is shooting for 50-60 bushels per acre, and if so, great! If not, we have the land payment for sure covered plus money left over.

I also bought 100 shares of BNI on Friday. I had been watching it fluctuate between $81 and $86 for the past few months, and if finally got below $80, which means a P/E ratio of 16 (or less, I can't remember). Bought it for $79.79. This is in my IRA that I rolled my 401(k) into.

The bad news is that my boss finally told me that I cannot work from home at all after I get married (Three days at home and two there would be perfect for me, but I was willing to take one or two days at home). I can work either a standard 8 hour 5 day week or a 10 hour 4 day week and I can choose either Monday or Friday off. I told them that won't work for me and I'm going to start looking for a new job...but I'm not quitting right now. I'm going to choose the 4 day week with Friday off for now.

Their decision is totally stupid. I am a very good programmer (and no one else in the department knows how to do what I am doing right now), and not once ever in my whole history of working has someone had to "supervise" me. I don't have customers ever at my desk. The people I work with work in Atlanta, Houston, California, Florida, etc. There is absolutely no reason for me to be at my particular chair. I can talk to my customers on the phone from home just as well as I can talk to them at my desk. When I was home with my knee surgery, I got MORE done than if I have to be at work, because I don't get interrupted. That makes it even more asinine, because I already did it for 4 months with no problem.

They said it wouldn't be fair to everyone else. Well, who said life is fair? How about I have skills that others in my department don't? How about I have discipline and drive that others don't? Fair, schmair. We aren't in junior high.

Oh well. Their loss. After the wedding, I'll be hot and heavy applying for a programming position where I can telecommute.

My fiance has been struggling in the snow and mud for the past month without a 4 wheel drive pickup...well a 4 wheel drive pickup who's 4 wheel drive doesn't work. Trying to feed cows, haul them water, even just drive down the rock roads has been terrible! Caused quite a few fights between the two of us, along the lines of:

"VROOM VROOM VROOM"

"Stop it! You're going towards the ditch!"

"VROOM VROOM VROOM (drive / reverse / drive / reverse / drive / cuss / cuss / cuss / reverse / drive ... / get the chains out / cuss / cuss / cuss) PEEL OUT"

We were at the last straw. 4 wheel drive is almost a necessity with this weather. I guess chains were working, but much less convenient and took a lot more time.

He talked to a few people who knew their way around a 4 wheel drive, and they decided there was something wrong with the transfer case. (You pull a lever in the cab, and the other end of the lever is in the transfer case. The gears in the transfer case is what makes it go from two wheel drive to four wheel drive.) So last week we finally tore into it. My dad had a transfer case that had one of the bearings out of it, but the rest of it was good (he had fixed his last year, and this was the leftovers), and told us to come pick it up and use it for parts, because their pickups are both early 90's Ford 3/4 ton pickups.

In two afternoons, we tore ours apart, tore Dad's apart, and found what was wrong...a plate that moves when you shift wasn't moving like it should (sorry if my terminology is wrong...I call it like I see it) because the snap ring had came off. We think the snap ring had come off because on the end of the lever was a star shaped "male" end, and on the plate was a star shaped "female" end, and one of the fingers of the star had worn off and it couldn't get the plate to move.

So we looked at Dad's, and no more star! They must have decided that was a bad design, because his lever and plate had a half circle on each component that fit together, which seemed much sturdier. Put his plate and lever in our transfer case, put it all together, lots of gasket making goo, lots of bolts, both of us on the cold concrete trying to put it back up under the pickup. Got it installed, backed it up, he started testing it (of course by driving off into the snow...I was smart and stayed in the other pickup) and IT DIDN'T WORK. Stuck in the snow.

We left it there for 4 days.

Finally, he decided today to look at it again (this time without my help). Pulled it out, took it apart, and discovered that the plate was on backwards! When he told me that, I didn't remind him that I had questioned which way the plate should go. For the record, I didn't tell him it should go the other way, I just asked which way it should go. So maybe both of our faults. Anyway, he got it off, opened, switched around, more gasket goo, more bolts, more cold concrete floor, but this time IT WORKED!

This is awesome. He was looking for a new transfer case or even a used one at a junkyard, but all he could find was 3 hours away for $950! Yeah! Only had to buy more gasket goo! And extra diesel because he tore around the pastures through any snow banks he could find

Someone asked me to post a picture of my veil. I made it out of 2 yards of tulle ($2), leftover edging from a curtain project I had done over a year ago, a pearl hair clip and clear plastic thread. It was less than $7 to make, and is exactly what I wanted...simple, easy to take off, and not expensive. And I think it looks good, especially with my dress, because there is a lot of intricate detail on the back of the dress that I don't want to cover up.

I've had a hankerin' for cinnamon rolls lately, so I looked up a nice recipe online:
http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_.html

Doesn't look too hard, does it? I've never made cinnamon rolls before, so I thought this one, with nice step by step instructions, would be a good starting point.

Here is my version of these cinnamon rolls:

4 cups (1 quart) whole milk
1 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil. that is all I had. Hope it will work!)
1 cup sugar

I was supposed to mix these together and scald and then let cool for an hour. Scalding means heat until just before the boiling point. Except, I didn't catch it. And it boiled. Over. Oily, sweet milk all over the burners, and I didn't know how much I lost (it looked like a LOT!) so I threw that out and started over

Ok, 4 cups (1 quart) whole milk, 1 cup olive oil and 1 cup sugar. Thought, "I'll clean the mess up after I scald the milk. I have to wait an hour anyway." So, put the pot back on the same burner and started seeing smoke. Ok, turn that burner off, move to another one. Started to see smoke AND fire. Eek. Got the fire out...it was just a small one. (I'm not kidding by the way ) Finally got one that I could use, scalded it and moved off to cool.

Opened some windows to get the smoke out of the kitchen.

Waited an hour and transferred the oily, sweet milk to a bigger bowl. Should have started out with that one. Added 8 cups flour, mixed and waited another hour.

Then added 1 more cup flour, 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder, 1 scant teaspoon baking soda, and 1 heaping tablespoon salt. Mixed that together, floured countertop and worked with half of the dough.

Here is when I realized I don't have a rolling pin. So, I patted it out and stretched it and pounded it until it looked big enough. It was not thin enough or long enough, but I didn't realize that until I finished the next few steps.

Melted 2 cups of butter and drizzled on top. No, really I poured it on top and because the dough wasn't rolled out big enough, a bunch of it ended up on the countertop. Then, I poured on 1 cup sugar and covered the top with cinnamon. It was such a mess!

I rolled the dough into rolls and cut them into 1" pieces. I put the butter I had left over in the bottom of a 9X13" pan. Then I put all the rolls into the pan. Then I realized there was too much butter, so I tried to hold the rolls in the pan and pour off some of the butter. Didn't work extremely well, but at least I didn't drop any of the rolls.

Waited 30 minutes, and the rolls expanded to fill the 9X13" pan. Baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Made the yummy frosting. It is SO RICH, but it really tastes good. The coffee adds a nice touch.
Frosting:
1/2 bag powdered sugar
1/4 C milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp melted butter
pinch of salt
Mix.

That is my kind of recipe. Dump ingredients in a bowl and mix it up.

The rolls came out of the oven and I poured the frosting on. It looks DIVINE! I can't wait to go to fiance's side Christmas tonight so we can tear into them!

I was born on Christmas. It kinda sucks.

Throughout the year, my boss brings cakes and cookies and stuff in for people's birthdays, and usually goes out to lunch with them, but not for me. Today was most people's last day for the rest of the year, and no mention.

We used to have a snack day once a month at the place where I worked before, and it was for the birthdays in that month. Except December. It was cancelled during that month because there were already so many Christmas parties everyone was going to.

When I was in school, same thing. Kids got cupcakes on their birthday. I never got any. Kids got sleep overs for their birthday. I never got one. People suggest to celebrate on half birthdays, but hey, that is June 25, and we aren't in school then either, dummy. But the summer kids still got a party just for them.

Throughout the year, people ask me to help out with birthday stuff for other people, and I usually say no. They think it is strange. "I mean, everyone has a birthday, right? Everyone gets the same kind of party, right? We'll do it for you when it is your birthday! Oh wait, its on Christmas, isn't it? We don't work that whole week. Well, we'll remember and go out for you the week before." No you won't. Never happened before, and its not going to happen.

What the heck is wrong with me? I'm damned near 30 (you know, on Christmas) and I shouldn't get worked up over no one celebrating my birthday. I guess that is not true. My family does celebrate my birthday. After we open presents in the morning, and have lunch, I get sang to, a present, and a bunch of my sisters rolling their eyes because I'm taking the attention away from their kids. I've had a birthday pie before because we had so much cake for Christmas. And I don't even particularly like pie!

The first balance transfer is working out fine (I made $110 in interest last month!) so I decided to do another one. I got a 0% offer in the mail with no balance transfer fee, the 0% good until 01/01/09.

I called in and applied, and asked for $20,000 to be transferred to my FNBO card (which has $0 balance right now). I know in one of my previous posts I said that I would only do up to my credit limit so FNBO would transfer the money to me sooner, but I can cover the first month with the balance transfer from AmEx, so I won't be out any pocket money.

The number was 1-800-694-9261. I need to follow up on this in the next week.

More specifically, how do I budget for a business that is VERY cyclical? If you haven't read my blog at all, you might not know...so first some background.

I'm 29, work as a software engineer at an airplane company, and live a very comfortable life at this salary. I think I've made smart money choices (except that darn NEW pickup I bought 4 years ago and have 2 years left to pay on it. Oh, and it already has 104,000 miles on it. Grrrr, darn ex-boyfriend that convinced me to buy it.) Over the past 6 years I've bought a house and sold it for a $15,000 profit, bought another house that I owe ~$70,000 on, (it is worth ~$90,000), I have ~$125,000 invested in 401(k)'s, IRA's, Roth IRA's and taxable accounts. I own ~80 cows in a partnership where I don't have to do any work on them but get 1/3 of the money from selling the calves (My dad - my business partner - gets 2/3 of that money for doing all the work). The cows are worth about $60,000 + probably $20,000 for my share of the calves about ready to be sold at the beginning of January. I was maxing out my 401(K) and maxing out a Roth IRA every year, plus investing in the taxable mutual fund around $50 every month. I've got a very workable budget for a steady income and steady expenses.

I am getting married to a farmer. Right now, at least before we were engaged, he was more of a "farm hand" than a farmer because even though he had 80 acres of farm ground he was buying, most of the work he did was for other people. He got paid from the guy he worked for, traded some welding and other work for another guy, and gave his labor away to his dad (that is another story).

When we got engaged, we decided that we wanted him to continue to farm and me to continue to work as a software engineer, at least until the 2.5 hour commute did me in and/or we had some kids. My off-the-farm job would be a HUGE help to getting going on farming for us instead of him killing himself for someone else. We decided I would only invest 4% in my 401(k), which is the company match, and take the difference and put it in a high-yield savings account (getting 6% interest) until we could save up enough to buy some land.

We decided that we wanted to get bigger in cattle instead of farming right now, and that would be our focus.

The first thing we did was invest in a tractor and baler. We got a loan from the bank, $12,500, over 3 years at 8.75% interest. About $5000 every year for 3 years in payments. I financed that through my bank, in my name, and the tractor/baler belongs to me (until we get married...then all of it belongs to both of us), because I am in a higher tax bracket than he is. Next year that won't matter, but this year it does. I can write that investment and all the expenses off associated with this endeavor off. He swathed and baled a lot of feed, prairie hay, and brome grass this summer; some of it I will get paid for and some of it I will get shares of the crop to feed my cattle. For this year, he is my employee. He kept track of hours he worked and money he spent on fuel, parts, etc., and I paid him an hourly wage of what he was getting paid by the other guy and reimbursed him for what he spent. I've spent about $4200 in parts and labor so far this year. Because we bought this so late in the season, we won't make that back this year, but we should make that back plus what we owe next November on the loan by the end of next summer.

Next, he had people asking him to cut sunflowers, soybeans and milo, but he didn't have a row head for his combine. (don't ask...just a special piece of equipment you need to cut sunflowers, soybeans, and sometimes milo). He found one for $800, and the first guy he cut for is going to pay around $850 for cutting his crops, so we bought that too. This deal was a little different than the baling business...I just floated him the $800 so he could buy it, and he is getting paid for all the work he does for the other farmers. He owns the combine already, so I couldn't come up with a fair way to determine how much of the paycheck the row head vs. the combine was worth, and there is not much depreciation in $800, so not worth the effort of figuring that out. He'll pay me back when he gets paid from them.

Finally, we were able to find enough winter grazing and summer pasture to take over 36 head of my cows from my dad. This way, we can keep all of the money from selling the calves instead of only getting 1/3. But, we took over the cows in November/December of this year, and they won't have their calves until Feb-April. We will grow em up and then sell them January 2009. Lots of expenses here...we had to buy fencing material, we have to pay rent on the winter and summer grazing, we have to buy mineral and other supplements to help them get through the winter. We are going to buy panels in case one of them has trouble calving, so he can get them in and help them (soooo worth it. If we save just 5 calves because of this, it will pay for itself. This is something that will last 20 years or more). We are going to by a hay feeder and a wagon so we can feed them during the winter. I'm going to guess $8500 this winter/early spring in expenses, plus his salary until we are married. These are all start up expenses...the expenses next year and after won't be as much.

Lots of expenses at the start up, but great potential down the road. He is really good at finding good deals, making due with old equipment, fixing things if they break, fabricating things instead of buying them (if he has time), etc. He has also been very good at explaining what we need, what his goals are, big expenses coming up, etc. I've really been hammering hard that if we NEED to buy something that will make us money in the end, then let's buy it. But if we don't NEED it, then we won't buy it. And he agrees with that.

Apparently, I'm good at writing checks, cause I've done A LOT of that lately .

I am going to be the accountant for our household and the farm. I can figure out the household stuff, as I've done that for myself for a long time, and we'll just need to compromise (as all married couples do) on that money.

But, how do we budget for the farm? My job will pay steady, but unless my boss lets me telecommute some, I will have the same expenses I have now. If I get rid of all the wedding expenses I'm paying for now, I'll free up some money to pay the bills at the other house (yes, at first, we will have two houses, one by where I work and the other by where he works).

I can see big chunks of farm income coming in when we sell calves in January, get paid for baling either when the people we bale for sell their calves or sell their wheat, when we sell wheat in July, and for custom harvesting in July and September. I've always been one to keep just enough on hand to pay my bills and send all extra money to loans to get them paid off and not pay so much interest. I had a $3000 emergency fund, but with the above expenses, I drained that plus cut into some other money I had set aside for other things.

How much should I save up? Should I have a goal of trying to figure up what the expenses will be for 6 months (both the household expenses and the farm expenses) and save that, and then put extra money towards loans? Or consider the household expenses as being paid for out of a salary and just try to save up for the next 6 months of farm expenses? I guess I'm asking, how do I switch from thinking "I'll get paid in two weeks (or less)" to "we'll get paid for this 6 months from now"? And how do I plan for things like that?

It is not "supposUBly." It is "supposEDly."

It is not "ValentiMe's Day." It is "ValentiNes's Day."

It is not "taking a different taCT." It is "taking a different taCK."

It is not "your welcome." It is "you're welcome."

Ugh. Sorry for that. I had to put it somewhere or I would have exploded on some co-wokers.

-- you might have read all my ideas already, but I wanted to record it here in MY blog instead of just in someone else's

All of my bridesmaids are wearing a different cut of dress (same color, though) and we found 3 of them on sale. I ordered my dress on ebay...it is hand made and will cost $300 less than at David's Bridal, but is the same style (check out the ebay buyer comments before trying this!). I might sell my dress after the ceremony, too. Why keep it and store it? It will be out of fashion when my future kids are getting married.

Go with sheet cakes for the bulk of the guests to eat. I'm going to have a small fancy-decorated one for the official cutting, but it will be taken to the back room to cut for the guests so they won't know they are eating sheet cakes. Not that they should care...free cake for them!

We bought the groomsmen gifts with three 33% off coupons, and an additional coupon I got at the register. Over all, with the coupons and that additional coupon, I got 26% off.

Never buy anything without checking for a coupon or comparing with some other store.

I made the bridesmaid gifts - pearl necklaces and earrings (REAL PEARLS!). I spent $140.11 on materials, and I made a set for 5 bridesmaids, 3 sisters not in the wedding, my mom, his mom, and his soon to be sister-in-law (his brother's fiance) and me. I have enough material to make 1 more and probably a bracelet for me. That means their gifts are < $12 for a real pearl necklace and earring set. Did I mention they were real pearls?

My sister is making the flower stuff. My big bouquet, the bridesmaid bouquets, the boutineers, arrangements for the church, etc.

My mom is making the flower girl dresses. I have two flower girls, and dresses at wedding shops are > $100, and I'm not paying that!

A different sister took our engagement pictures with her digital camera and she had them developed at Walmart and gave me the CD. They look awesome! We are out in the country, so we had a lot of neat backdrops (in a barn, trees behind us, limestone bridges, etc) but if you are in town, you can use a nice park or arboretum.

Remember, postcards are much cheaper than a card and an envelope. The postcards themselves are cheaper, and the postage is definitely cheaper. We have a lot of people coming in from out of town, so I thought save the date cards would be a nice touch, so they could plan way ahead of getting the official invitation. Postcards can save you a LOT of money! I used one of the engagement pictures and went to printsmadeeasy.com and made them up myself. I got 300 of them for $44.84 (including shipping), or about $.15 a piece. Postage was $.26 each vs. $.41 for a card and envelope.

I bought a ream of gray paper and two 100-piece sets of vellum and printed them out. Some ribbon I found at an ebay store, and some time, and I tied them all together. I also made RSVP postcards out of the same gray paper. I had Copy Max cut them for $1 a cut. Much cheaper than buying kits.

I also made Thank You postcards using printsmadeeasy.com. Again, $.15 a piece plus $.26 for postage.

I've looked into getting those M&M's with the words on them, but they are very underwhelming. I had a few friends have them for parties in the past, but you can't hardly read the text and most people won't notice anyway. So I won't be getting those...and they are expensive!

I'm going to make my own veil. Veils cost > $100 at David's Bridal, but tulle is like $1 a yard. I can make a lot of mistakes for $100!

Got 7 of the 8 groomsmen gifts...well, 5 for the groomsmen, 1 for each dad, and need one for my fiance still. Got them nice Wrangler pocketwatches from Shepler's.

They were $29.99 each. I had 3 33% off coupons, so for three of them, I saved $9.90, or paid $20.09 each. With each purchase, I got a coupon for either $5 off a $25 purchase, $10 off a $40 purchase or $25 off a $100 purchase. So, I bought the other 4, which was $119.96 - $25 = $94.96

Total: $20.09 * 3 + $94.96 = $155.23 / 7 = $22.17 a piece. That is about 26% off each of them!

At least in my company, they do. Ok, up front, my company gives good benefits. I am not comparing my benefits with someone who is self employed. I am also not comparing my benefits with someone who works for a school, or a bank, or even another IT shop or aircraft company. I am comparing my benefits with two other groups of people who work at the same company as me: married couples/families and same-sex couples/families.

I am looking through the benefits package for next year because the open enrollment is right now. I have to decide what I am going to choose for the first month for me, and what I am going to choose for my fiance and I when we get married.

I pay ~$1000 a year for health insurance for me. When I add him on, it will only be another $700. The vision insurance doesn't go up at all. The dental plan goes up by less than half. Why is that? How come he gets a better rate than I do? I mean, that is great for US, but really, how come someone who doesn't work for the company have to pay $300 less for the year compared to someone who does? So, the married couple gets a $300 break compared to the single person (in this company).

While looking this up, I saw a link for same-sex couples. I'd never looked into that before, but I was curious as to what the requirements were for them to get benefits and what it takes to change the benefits if they break up.

It turns out that my fiance and I either meet, or could meet within a day, all the requirements except one. Here are the requirements:

1. We have had a single relationship of at least 12 months duration and intend to remain in the relationship indefinitely. (Yep)
2. Neither of us is married to or legally separated from anyone else nor have had another same sex domestic partner within the prior one year period.
(Yep)
3. We understand that in those jurisdictions which offer registration for same sex domestic partners, the Company reserves the right to request proof of registration as a condition for or continuation of benefits. (I'd say this is a toss up. Kansas doesn't have one, so this doesn't apply)
4. We are both at least eighteen years of age and mentally competent to consent to contract.
(Yep)
5. We are not related by blood to a degree of closeness that would prohibit legal marriage in the state in which we legally reside.
(eew. And yep)
6. We cohabit and reside together in the same residence and intend to do so indefinitely. (The current arrangement will be the same as when we are married. I am at his house Thursday night - Monday morning, and work Monday - Thursday, so stay here Mon, Tue, Wed nights. The same will happen when we are married)
7. We are engaged in a committed relationship of mutual caring and support and are jointly responsible for our common welfare, living expenses and are financially interdependent and recognize our responsibilities for any debts incurred by each other. Our interdependence is demonstrated by at least two of the following which we agree to provide documentation of, if requested, and as a necessary condition to the initiation of benefit coverage:
a. Common ownership of real property (joint deed or mortgage agreement) or a common leasehold interest in property.
b. Common ownership of a motor vehicle (we could by tomorrow)
c. Driver's license listing a common address
(we could by tomorrow)
d. Joint bank accounts or credit accounts
(we could by tomorrow)
e. Proof of designation as primary beneficiary for life insurance or retirement benefits, or primary beneficiary designation under a partner's will
f. Assignment of a durable property power of attorney or health care power of attorney.
8. We are not in the relationship solely for the purpose of obtaining benefits coverage.
(yep)
9. We are of the same sex.
NOPE.

So, we meet all the requirements (or could by tomorrow) except we are not of the same sex. If it got him health insurance, since he doesn't have any now, I would do all of those things tomorrow.

I called the benefits office to see if I was overlooking anything, and the nice lady (really, she was nice) said that there was nothing for my situation, and that she gets calls about this all the time. I said, "that's kind of discrimination, isn't it?" and she couldn't say she agreed with me, but she sure did imply it.

She then said that Kansas is a common-law state, so we could declare our situation common-law married. But then, if we broke up, we would have to get a divorce...lawyer fees, court dates, etc.

Here is what the same-sex couple has to do: sign a paper saying:
1. We are no longer same sex domestic partners
2. Please cancel the coverage on this date
3. I have provided my former same sex partner with a copy of this notice
4. I understand that I may not seek to declare a new same sex domestic partner for company provided benefits for a period of twelve months from the date on which the same sex domestic partner benefits are terminated.

I think both situations are unfair to the single person. If there is a married person, a person in a same sex relationship and a single person doing the same job for this company, even if they all have the same salary, the married person and the gay/lesbian person gets more compensation than the single person does because of the benefits they receive.

I want to keep track to see if I get my $35 back...what I spent to put the garden in.
7/8/07 - 1 cucumber
7/10/07 - 4 tomatoes
7/20/07 - 2 cucumbers
7/22/07 - 2 yellow squash
7/28/07 - 1 spaghetti squash, 3 yellow squash, 1 zucchini, 1 cucumber
8/3/07 - 2 cucumbers, 2 zucchini, 2 yellow squash, 2 spaghetti squash.
8/5/07 - 1 zucchini
8/11/07 - 4 yellow squash
8/25/07 - 1 yellow squash, 2 zucchini, 1 spaghetti squash
9/2/07 - 2 zucchini, 1 yellow pepper, 2 eggplants, 1 yellow squash, 1 cucumber, 1 spaghetti squash
9/8/07 - 2 zucchini, 1 spaghetti squash
9/9/07 - 1 spaghetti squash
9/16/07 - 2 yellow squash, 1 spaghetti squash, 1 zucchini
9/23/07 - 1 spaghetti squash, 1 zucchini, 1 green pepper
9/28/07 - 2 spaghetti squash, 1 zucchini, 2 yellow squash
10/02/07 - 3 green peppers, 1 tomato, 1 spaghetti squash
10/13/07 - 6 spaghetti squash, 4 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, 6 "baby" green peppers, 15 green tomatoes
10/21/07 - 2 spaghetti squash, 2 zucchini, half a twelve pack box of small tomatoes

Totals as of 10/13/07:
7 cucumbers
20 tomatoes
18 yellow squash
18 zucchini
20 spaghetti squash
1 yellow pepper
2 eggplants
10 green peppers

I got a nice surprise today. I was looking ahead to what I will have to pay on my natural gas bill and on my electric bill this month, and they are both WAY lower than I had budgetted for.

I budgetted for $150 for gas, and I only spend $16.05 this month (!). My highest bill in the past year was $150, so I budget that, but in the summer I don't use much gas (water heating and cooking is all I use it for, and you all know how much I cook). I'll put the other $133.95 towards replenishing my emergency fund.

I budgetted for $50 for electricity. Looks like the monthly bill was $52.28, but for some reason, I have a $40.21 "cost adjustment" and a $1.62 "tax adjustment", so I only owe $10.45 for the month. Yeah! Another $39.55 towards my emergency fund.

Just looked at my bank statement, and Curves charged me twice this month, with it being debited on Tuesday, 10/9/07. That is SOOO ironic (or is it? hmm...) because I cancelled my membership on Tuesday, 10/9/07. I just wasn't going, and it was a waste of money.

I called the owner, Krista, and she couldn't find any record of a double charge, but wanted me to fax her a copy of my bank statement. So, I did that, and hopefully they will just refund the money with no fuss.

I just booked the honeymoon cabin! When I called a month ago, they said if we stayed for 3 nights, the room rate would be 30% off. I intended to book it back then, but the one cabin I had my eye on, they said if it snowed, we couldn't get to it. So, I said I would call back after looking at some more. Found another one, and called today. For January, the room rate is 40% off! The cabin is usually $125, but we'll get it for $75. I had to put half down now, and pay half + $100 security deposit when we get there (we get the $100 back if we aren't too wild )

So, total for the three nights is $291.46. We'll have two more nights in hotels (one there, one back), plus gas, since we are driving from Kansas to Tennessee.

I have a FNBO Credit Card. This was my first card...I have had this card since 1996. I use it periodically, but never keep a balance on it. I also have a Chase Visa that I use every now and then. I recently got an offer for an American Express card with $22,100 limit, 0% interest, 0% balance transfer fee. So, since the FNBO was empty, and the Chase Visa didn't have much (only what I had bought that month) I transferred $2500 from AmEx to FNBO and $2500 to Chase Visa. Once that posted, I requested checks from these two cards. FNBO was no problem, got the check right away. Chase Visa wouldn't refund the full $2500, because I had a balance on there, but did refund me $2400ish, and I replenished that money with some from my spending money, so I had $5000 in my new 6.0% checking account.

That was easy, and I still had $17,200 credit left on the AmEx (after the first $100 payment). This time, I requested $17,100 of that transferred to FNBO. Here, I ran into problems. The money posted 9/14 and I called that day to request a refund. The guy said that they had to wait 5 business days to make sure the check cleared. ? That didn't happen the first time! He said the earliest he could request it was this Tuesday (9/25), but he would take care of it. I checked today, and that still hadn't happened. So, I called customer service. I requested the check, and after 10 minutes on hold, the lady said "accounting is backed up. It will be 8-10 days before it will get through accounting, and then we will mail it." I said, "well, that's terrible customer service. Can you bump me up to the front of the line because I called about this over two weeks ago and the other person I talked to said he would take care of it and he didn't?" She said, "hold please" Another couple of minutes, and she came back to tell me that they are cutting it now and I will receive it in 7-10 days, I assume because of the mail.

So, things I've learned...
- Next time I do one of these, I'll do it the same way, where I request a bit of money first and then a bigger chunk later. That way, if the bigger chunk doesn't get her right away from the intermediate transfer, I'll have the money to pay the first credit card and not have to dip into other money.
- Don't trust the customer service guy to follow up on your problem. I should have called back on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday...until I got what I wanted.
- If their solution isn't acceptable, tell them that, and tell them what you want. Their goal is to keep your money as long as possible, while if you are playing this game, your goal is to get the money as soon as possible. Keep asking them until they agree.
- I think the initial problem came because my credit limit on the FNBO card was $15,000 and I was requesting a check for $17,100. If it had been below the credit limit, I bet I would have gotten the check when I first called two weeks ago.
- This was still worth it, even with the hassle. I'll make about $1000 on the AmEx money sitting in a 6.0% checking account for a year (taking into account the monthly payments of 2% of the balance and getting it completely paid off before the interest hits), so some mouse clicks to initiate the transfer and two phone calls for 20 minutes each to get the check is worth that!