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!