Back to the Budget again!

I feel like I just keep posting the same thing over and over! UGH!!! I'm back to the budget again. I'm feeling a little better and I'm sure that it is because of Hult clinic. The problem is that it is going to cost $130 a month for all of my meds. Now the only good thing out of this is, I haven't set up the automatic debits for the house yet. I'm not normally a procrastinator but for some reason I just didn't get to it yet. So I could use that money but I really want the house paid off early. I can't get the grocery bill down much lower. The only thing that I can think of is to get rid of our little bit of funny money. That would cover it. And then I get the whole feeling selfish thing going on. So does anyone have any money saving tidbit that they would like to share in the comments section? I've got the budget down pretty low but I'm always on the look out for a new tip.
Thank you,
SonyaAnn

20 comments

Raising an evil genius

This is a funny one. We are like every other family, we love each other but we can get sick of each other pretty quick. Well, I can always tell when the summer is here, the fighting usually gets completely out of control. And I'm ashamed to admit that I too, sometimes join in. But not this time! This time it was Den against the kids. And I'm happy to report that Den lost this round. Can you tell that I had my fill of him? And on to the story........
This was a couple of weeks ago and I just forgot about it. Anyways, Den and I went to bed(no good news there) and the kids decided to stay up. We said fine after all it's the summer and they deserve some fun too. And I like that they sleep in because then I can get some of my stuff done and it's nice and quiet. I had no idea that any of this was going on cuz I was out cold. But the kids were really loud and wouldn't be quiet. Now part of the problem here was that Den had fallen asleep on the couch for an hour and couldn't fall asleep so he was good and cranky. So the three of them got into a fight. Now I'm not the type to take sides I just want peace. Den being a man just wants his way. So instead of telling them to turn the TV down, he got all mad and pissy(from what the kids said, he said he never got mad) and ordered them to bed. And I do understand his side and he is completely right, it's just the way that he goes about things. His word is law and you're going to do it now. Pretty much like a drill Sergeant would do. And the problem is DJ is my offspring. So the kids complied but were mad about the whole thing. So what did my dear son, do? He went back down stairs and set the timer on the stove to go off 10 minutes before he got up. I know I shouldn't encourage the kids to be disrespectful but I bust out laughing. That stove has the most hateful buzzer that I have ever heard in my life! And the damn thing won't stop until you shut it off. It woke him up and he had to go shut it off. I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store for me. It's ok to laugh, I did tell him he had to listen to his dad and that it wasn't a very nice thing to do. Well, I told him after I stopped laughing. It's still me after all.
Thanks for reading,
SonyaAnn

10 comments

Friend's Friday

And my booger for the day is Andy over at the Tight Fisted Miser! He is an all around great guy and has been so helpful to me since I started blogging. So Andy I pick you as my booger. He even helped me by going though my blog to help me redesign it to make more money. Really, is there anything that can make me more happy? I think not. I'm easily bought with a kind word and money! So lets all snot rocket over there today and say Hi to Andy.
Thanks for Reading,
SonyaAnn

12 comments

Yummy

My plan is to put Basking Robbing out of business. Not to brag but this is a keeper! DJ helped me come up with this one and WOW! He needs to go into the ice cream business when he gets older. This is a must try. It's a chocolate coffee ice cream drink!
14 ice cubes
4 cups chocolate ice cream
1/4 cup chocolate syrup
2 cups strong coffee
Throw it all in the blender and blend well! And don't complain about the weight you gain, this one is well worth it!!!
Thanks for Reading,
SonyaAnn

14 comments

Weird Wednesday!

This one is a little sweet and slightly odd. Hope you like it.
Thanks for stopping by,
SonyaAnn

8 comments

Good vibes only

All it seems like I'm doing lately is pouring my heart out here. This has turned into a confessional with a little naughty talk thrown in for good measure. It's weird how I'll tell you everything but in the "real" world I'm much more careful with how I blab. I do have a few very close friends that I tell everything too but here I'm more open about everything. Poor you. Anyways, I just wanted to tell you about what is going on with me. I have quite a few health problems. It's not enough to kill me but enough that there are times that I wish it would. I've been sick most of my life. When I was a kid, I was so thin that I had to go in to get shots. They all yelled at me for not eating enough but I was. And then I had a heart murmur and a valve that didn't close right. Then just to top it off, I was hypoglycemic. So fast forward a lot of years and two kids. I still have all of those problems just add on anemia, asthma, thyroid disease, gall bladder disease, chronic infections and my liver is always a mess even though I don't drink. Weird. And of course, I get the doctors that aren't real bright. I feel pretty bad most of the time. We have very expensive insurance that no one wants to take. I get a lot of "that test would be a waste of resources." So basically I fought for every test that I've ever gotten. And a few times when I couldn't get anywhere, I paid and had my own blood work done. I've done every kind of holistic diet and/or experiment on myself known to man. I just want to feel better. And my favorite, diagnosis from the doctor is depression. They shout it out like they have Tourette's syndrome. Three doctors have diagnosed this without even one drop of blood. It's great, I'm going to start shouting things out at them next time. And if you can think of any creative words just let me know, I'm leaning towards fucktard for my next visit. Anyways, when I finally do get blood work its always my thyroid and anemia. But nothing they do helps so I'm on to a new thing and I'll let you know. I went to Hult clinic in McHenry IL. It's a little odd but at this point what is one more test. They did a complete physical which is something that I have never had done. I filled out paper work that took almost two hours. It went over everything. Even things that I've never thought of. And then(here's the weird part) they ran an electrical current through me(kind a sexy). I've been saying that all of this has got to be related. But that always falls on deaf ears. Dr. Hult was so attentive and actually wanted to help me. If nothing else, for the first time I felt like someone wanted to see me better. Anyways, he ran an electrical current through me(still sexy) and hooked me up to a computer. So at this point he is either so far ahead of the curve it's insane or I was being took. What he was doing was individualizing a treatment plan for me. And here is the weird part, he said that I had no iodine in my system, my gall bladder wasn't working, there was no folic acid in my system and that my adrenal gland and thyroid wasn't working. Weird and when I went home and looked up the symptoms of each one, I had the most common symptoms of each one. He said that if I had had complete blood work all of this would have come up. But because it cost $1000+ for the work up that I needed it was easier just to blame me and say that I was depressed. So typical. Here is the problem, it is going to cost $130 a month to pay for all the meds. So I'm going to try it for two months and see what happens. I can say that I think I'm on the up swing but I'm not going to jump the gun. He uses all alternative medicine so we will see what happens. And what ever this is my sister has it too. He also asked if cancer was common in my family especially in the women. Well, yes, my sister had Hodgkin's, and a lot of uterine cancer and he said that it might be from the lack of folic acid. He was telling me about my problems just by reading going over the computer info. And the computer ran like a diagnostic for a car. It was so weird!!!
So I'm hopeful that I will be feeling better soon. It's been a long time of this. And I would love just to get back into soccer or some kind of activity. So I'll keep you posted. And no sympathy for me I don;t do well with that or compliments,I'm still a strange bird. Just send me good vibes!
Thanks for reading,
SonyaAnn

21 comments

Crap

I've destroyed this blog in an effort to upgrade!
Signed,
The stupid one

13 comments

Staycation

Well, I'm here to report back on our staycation. DJ loved it. Anna said it was alright. Den shrugged. And I didn't feel it. We decided that it would be fun if we all picked one thing for us to do as a family. DJ chose to go shopping. He wanted a day at the mall. So we did something that we have never done in the kids entire lives. We took $250 and just blew it. Anna, Den, and I bought clothes that we desperately needed and DJ bought a video game and a holster for his air soft gun(boys!). Anna and I went to Plato's closet. It's a used clothing store that only buys designer clothes. And it was fun and something that we don't get to do. Anna wanted to go to the drive in for her pick. So we packed a cooler and lots of candy and went during the week. That was nice because it was so empty. We figured that cost about $40. Den wanted to take the kids fishing and Anna was the only one that caught anything. I stayed home, Ya free time! So the fishing licenses, a couple of new lures and bait cost $53. And I chose Six Flags. We went Thursday night. We got there around 5p.m. and it was really, really empty. I don't know if this was because it was supposed to rain or because they just filed for bankruptcy. It was really strange. None of us have ever seen it that dead. I'm wondering if people aren't going because they are afraid that the service isn't going to be there or if no one wants to invest in a seasons pass because of fear that they will close. Or it could just have been a fluke. But if you are planning on going, Thursday night seems to be a winner. The only thing that they changed and it was quite sneaky was that if you leave after 7p.m. you can't get back in. Not even with a seasons pass. So basically what that means is you can't leave for dinner and come back. Sneaky Bastards. So, of course, it was only 7pm and we didn't want to end our fun so we stayed and ate pizza. My evening cost $30. So next time we will eat around 5:30-6pm so we won't have to pay for dinner.
So it seems like we had fun and we did in all fairness. But here a few draw backs from the whole staycation. The house will still get messed up. And since everyone is on "vacation" no one but mom wants to clean. And the chores that usually take most of the day have to get done a lot quicker so that the afternoon was free to do fun stuff. So I was running around like crazy. Everyone in the end did pitch in but it was not a happy time. The other problem is we tried to cram too many things into one week. These are all things that we would have done just spread out. It was a bit too much in one week. Don't get me wrong it was fun but hectic.
So I'm not sure if our vacation ever gets ruined again, if I'm up for a staycation. If we do try this again, I think I would just let each of the kids pick something and leave it at that. Because if I get to chose it will be taking a nap and/or cleaning. I'm sure that will go over real well with the crew.
Thanks for Reading,
SonyaAnn

14 comments

I'm an ass!!

Please forgive me for I have sinned yet again. I have not forgotten you all, I'm just having some problems but nothing major, well for me anyways.
First, the kids are off. It's amazing how much time they want. Jeez, it's like I have to take care of them or something!
Secondly, Anna left for OH today. So I had to drive her to O'Hare in all that damn construction. And why the hell are they still charging tolls, they really should be paying us to drive in that mess. Anyways, I'm a little better with it. She is going to be staying only with her Grandmother and her cousin. So I'm almost alright. Almost. And thank you for all of your kind words and pulling me through that little break down! Lots of Love!!
And lastly, we had a bunch of our dear friends flood this weekend. We were blessed not to take on any water but quite a few people were not so lucky. This neighborhood is known for flooding and even though we are on a hill we have flooded with sewage in the past. Yuck! So this time it was just rain water for the most part but still quite a few families have lost a lot. We did our best to help so that's another of my excuses. Our dear friend's Donna and Steve(Donna, leave a comment you stalker!!!) flooded. Donna's parents are here from England and they went out to eat and were trapped on I-94 for hours while their house flooded. So we went over and did the best we could but they did lose their carpet. My family and and my in laws were all going to their house for a get together the next day so we changed it to our house. And then I found out that so many people were dealing with the flooding and tearing their houses apart that I invited quite a few of them over. So we had a lot of people over. We canceled our Father's Day and used all of that food for everyone. It was a ton of work and we were all tired but I think that it definitely helped lift every one's spirits. Well that and all the alcohol, it's still me after all.
Oh and Anna had tennis camp in there too!!
So please forgive me for not answering and coming to spend time with you at your blogs. I will get caught up soon so please don't leave me. I'm just a little slow and it's alright to agree!
Lots of love,
SonyaAnn

8 comments

Friend's Friday

My booger for the day is Helene over at Coupon with love and Granny Spice. Stop over and check her out. She really is snot bad at all!
Thanks for reading,
SonyaAnn

6 comments

Our FL disagreement

Everyone knows how cheap I am. I like to call it frugal but in the end I just don't want to spend money if I don't have to. But something might be going on with me. It might be a mental episode or something. I could possibly be having a break down, I'm a little askeered. ;-p! But Den and I have actually flipped sides. I want to spend and he wants to save. He has always been the spender. I don't know if our marriage can handle this. I'm just a little freaked out. As you all know we are planning a trip to Florida in October. Why October? Because it's cheaper and less crowded. Go figure. Den's birthday is in October and since Disney is graciously giving you a ticket on your birthday that just sealed the deal. And I bet you are looking for the place where I have fallen off of my frugal wagon. Alright then here it is...... I want to fly and Den wants to drive. Gasp! We only have nine days total four of which would be spent driving. It's about 22 hours from our house to the mouse's house. When I was a kid we would drive and I hated it. Den only went once and they drove. The longest trip we have ever driven is to Alabama and that was when my dad died. We left at like 4am and got there about 10pm. But I don't really remember the trip and it was just a hard time. He said he didn't think that it was that bad of a drive and there are three of us to drive. He is right(chest pains) we would save quite a bit and we would get to explore more but we would have less time in Florida. We have about $2300 set aside for this trip. This is our last family vacation because Anna will be starting college next summer and we will really be broke then. I say go out with style and he is saying to save money. I figure airline tickets are about $175 per person. But if we drive my guess is gas will cost around $400. It would be nice to have a car to go and explore but I don't know. Any ideas?
I just hope this trip turns out better than our KY trip!
Thanks for reading,
SonyaAnn

19 comments

Wicked Wednesday!!

I promise to ruin just about everything for you! Please don't let the kiddies see this one! Click here if you are feeling naughty! Please save me from myself.
Thanks for letting me corrupt you,
SonyaAnn

10 comments

Let's talk about.....

I bet you were hoping that I would say SEX! I know me too! But alas it's not a really good sex story. CRAP! It's a little more of a sensitive subject than that. I bet your wheels are turning now. It's about monetizing the blogs. It's a touchy subject because we aren't supposed to talk about money. And I'm really not trying to get you to click on my links.(sounds naughty ;-}) I love to write and I have been blogging about nine months. And I know that all of you that have blogs do it for the love of it too. It's a nice little rush when someone comes to visit and has a kind word for you. And we agree that we will continue to do it out of love. But let's just admit that we wouldn't mind making a few bucks doing this either. So my question is what am I doing wrong? Are you having any luck? I'm making about $.03 a week. And I'm not kidding. Like I said it's for the love not money but still $.03 is almost insulting. So if anyone has any ideas for me, please leave a comment. If you have seen something on other blogs that caught your eye please let me know. Some of my favorite sites that are doing well aren't the most eye appealing. I have read quite a few articles on making your blog more successful and some say that its the set up, others link placement, others say its the background. I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas. And please be kind, I'm being honest and open. It would be nice to make a few extra dollars. And I know that some might suggest that I invest some money in the blog and hire a professional but it is me we are talking about.
Thanks for reading ,being kind and leaving a comment,
SonyaAnn

23 comments

Packed and Ready

Well this is us packed and ready to go on our trip to Kentucky. We are traveling light this trip. Ha! Well, it's obvious that we didn't go. We were supposed to leave last Friday but we are still here. And here goes another story.......
My sister in law(that should pretty much explain it all) decided to rearrange our trip for us. Her and my BIL do very well for themselves and we are broke. I should just stop there because you pretty much got the whole picture. But it's me and I can't shut up. Their son is a couple of months now and we were going to go down for a cheap visit. My in laws let us use their time share and we were going to precook all of our food and bring it with since the condo had a kitchen. So we were only going to need gas money and money to take them out to dinner. So we more than had it covered with the $500 we saved. The original plan was for us to spend the weekend with them. One day at their house and one day at the condo enjoying the pool and any other amenities. And then we were going to go during the week to Six Flags( it would be free because we got passes for Christmas) since they had to work and the baby was in day care. Then we were going to go to their house before they got home and have dinner waiting for them and spend more time together. I thought this would be a fun and frugal(my favorite word) trip. But it just wasn't meant to be. They live in an upper, upper middle class neighborhood and. So basically everyone is one upping each other and we REALLY don't fit in. So then my SIL said she would take an extra day off just to hang out. OK that's cool we would get an extra day with the baby and we could just check out all the shops and what not. Then her husband took off and she took another day off. And then we were going to a baseball game, the horse track, fishing, a bourbon tour, and last but not least spending time exploring a really neat cemetery. Because all of those things would be so much more enjoyable to two teenagers than Six Flags. So in the end, we were going to have to spend our FL fund to get to do what they wanted. The kids didn't want to give up our Disney trip in October to spend time at a cemetery. Needless to say, it was a few fun days here. In the end, they overspent our budget. And to answer your question, yes I told her six times that we didn't think we could swing it financially and that we would just stick to the original plans. And the answer to that was well the bourbon tour and the cemetery are free. Do what I do and just plaster a smile on your face and shake your head. The bourbon tour might have been fun for me but I probably would have loosened up enough to speak my mind. Scary.
So here we sit for the week. We are going to try a staycation. I'll let you know how that goes. So if I don't respond right away it's because we are trying to get along in the house instead of the car.
Thanks for reading,
SonyaAnn

13 comments

Needing to Vent

Things aren't going so well for me lately. I have to say that I am more honest and open with all of my blogging friends than I am in the real world. In the real world, I only have a few very close friends that I tell everything to but here I feel safe. So unfortunately, you get more of the real SonyaAnn than anyone else. My condolences!
So I'm going to tell you a little bit of my background. Dennis isn't Anna's biological father but he is without a doubt, her dad. And the few people in the "real" world that have tried to argue that point haven't come out the winners. I admire him so much for this. Anna'a bio-father left us when she was 2. He drained the bank account, had run up the credit cards and took the only car we had and left me with the payments. And then my mother gave him $10,000 to fight me for custody of Anna, they tried to have me institutionalized and have DCFS take Anna. Mind you I was only 22 but looking back on it I was one Hell of a fighter. I ended up filing bankruptcy which was ALL my fault. I was responsible for myself and my bills and I should have put my foot down but was too weak. My ex put me in the hospital and I've had restraining orders against him. And he hasn't paid child support for years. And this is just what he does. He has repeated this with many woman. And I'm really not mad about it, believe it or not I'm glad that I'm where I am now. I believe there is purpose in our journey and I'm lucky. If I hadn't gone through all of that, I couldn't be who I am today. And because of all of that, I appreciate my family even more. I don't hate my ex and his family but I would like for them to leave me alone. But it's just not going to happen. So here is my problem, Anna loves to go and visit them. They do love her and she has a cousin that is her age that she adores. So his mother is flying her out there. His mother blames me for all of the problems in his life. Why not?!? It can't be his fault after all. Den finally told him that he can't talk to me anymore because he is just getting worse. Which is what we should have done a long time ago? He wouldn't dare abuse Den. I just didn't want Den to have to solve my problems so I suffered for years. See how stubborn I am. Anna will be flying out there for a visit in a few weeks. So they booked everything without asking and just assumed that I would drive her to the airport at 3am. So he bullies me and is still forcing me to do what he wants. I told Den that I feel like firing off an angry email asking how are they going to get her to the airport. So Den said if you ask a question and you already know the answer than you are just starting a fight. I hate when he is right! And the upsetting thing is, this is never going to end. Even when Anna turns 18, I will still take care of her. I guess that I'm just upset that they can still force me to do for them, my ex will never pay child support, and threatens me whenever he wants. I try to take the high road and never say anything even when his mother calls screaming at the top of her lungs that I block her calls. To which I answer, well you got threw now, unfortunately. In the end, I will always do for Anna that's just what a good parent does. It just makes me mad that he has no contact with her for 6-8 months at a time and I still have to do for them. I know I could take him back to court but he works for cash and just jumps from one woman to the next and one job to the next. I've tried to get it and he just won't pay and because he moves from state to state and it makes it even harder. I just hope that Karma will intervene.
Please just say something nice so I stop crying. I'm tired of feeling bullied. I have very little contact with my family but because of Anna I still have to deal with my ex and his side. I know in my heart that dealing with them and being civil is the best thing for Anna but it's the worst on me. I could go on for hours about what a SOB he is. Like calling Anna and telling her that he was getting a divorce because her soon to be ex-step mom hated her. And I had to tell her that it was because he was caught cheating again. Or when he kicked her 1 month old sister and wife(different woman) out of his house because he was on to the next woman. When Anna was little, I never flat out said anything, I just pointed out the other side. Now I'm more vocal about it. I know she doesn't like it but I ask her to look at it from my point of view now that she is older. And Anna is very protective of her little sister and I said that is how I felt when he pulled stunts when she was little. So I think that she is getting an idea of the pain he is causing.
I'm not going to change this, I've accepted that. But the high road sucks sometimes!
Thanks for being my shoulder to cry on,
SonyaAnn

33 comments

Friend's Friday

Hello and welcome to another Booger Friday and today I pick........drum roll..........Ashley over at Living on Ashley's allowance. She was the 100th person to join my cult! So jump over there and start stalking her!
Thanks for coming to see me,
SonyaAnn

4 comments

Pecan Sandies

This is a recipe that I've been working on. It began it's life as a shortbread cookie recipe then morphed into a butter cookie recipe and has now become a Pecan Sandy recipe. I've got the recipe just how I want it so it's going to stay this way, I think. My mother-in-law, Donna said this was the best cookies she had ever eaten. I think she is a little bias but I'll take the compliment. So here's the recipe.....

1 1/2 cup of softened butter
2 cups flour
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup corn starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pecan pieces

1.) place all ingredients in a large bowl
2.) mix thoroughly with hands
3.) form into 1 inch balls
4.) bake for 20 min(check after 15) at 300
It is so easy and doesn't take long to make. I hope you love this as much as we do.
Thanks for Reading,
SonyaAnn

19 comments