Adventures in WiFi

Qwest/Centurylink has always been my nemesis.  I spent so much time listening to that annoying automated voice that I cringe every time I hear it.  At least now they give me the option to push a button instead of telling that voice what I want.  I've been paying for the internet service out at my mobile home.  Initially, I kept it connected because I planned to go out there and sort through my stuff.  But then, the tenant moved in and I said, that's ok, I'll keep it on since this will be a temporary thing.  8 months later at $57 a month, I was looking forward to cancelling it as soon as he moved.  He will be responsible for all of his own utilities at the new house. 

Last month, my tenant sent me a text and asked if I had shut off the internet.  No, I wouldn't do that without telling him.  I called Centurylink and they got me to the right department which always takes extra time because Arizona seems to be still under the "Qwest" brand name and a different division of the company.  We went through the usual troubleshooting and they agree to sent a technician out.  3 days later, I get a phone call from the tech who can't find my property, which is normal, and I give him the "third cactus from the right" sort of directions.  He made it, went back and forth to the main box on the street a couple of times and determined that my modem was about to die and a rodent had chewed the wires at the street.  The rodent part was good news to me because I always like it to be their issue.  My tenant sent me a text and said the tech gave him a free modem and everything was fine now.  I didn't believe the "free" part so I called the tech and he said, yes, they give out free modems now if the modem is dying.  Wow, I'm impressed.  I bet Centurylink has a lot of extra modems from their leased returns.  What a good PR stunt.  And, he told me that he noticed that my account was not on a promotion so he added one.  It reduced my bill by $20! 

Now that my bill was reduced, I thought that if I got a promotion for my other service at the house, then I wouldn't need to cancel and I could afford to keep it on until I am in a position to move out to the property again.  I finally called and was surprised to hear "add a promotion" as one of the calling options.  No threats to cancel necessary, the agent happily added a 1 year promotion and reduced my bill by $25.  Great!  Now I can carry on with my plan to get the house ready to sell and move out to my property while simultaneously looking for a house to buy with my mother.  And I will still have wifi available at each location which is really handy for my phone with no data plan, just wifi.

More Days of My Life

Work has been really busy.  I usually use my lunch break to write a post now and then but today I am staying late and hoping that the traffic dissipates.  Last Tuesday, I brought Jimmy-dog to work, left early, drove over to the vet office which is the opposite way from my house, and found out that I was one week early.  Bummer.  It was too late to go back to work so I went home. 

On Thursday, I got the chance to go visit our plant in Mexico.  It was fun seeing the people that I talk to and email everyday.  I always find it interesting to see the differences in culture, housing, traffic, stores, everything. 

Saturday was cold and rainy and we stayed in.  On Sunday, I brought food for the youth group.  I should try to make something instead of buying the expensive deli trays but they are awfully convenient.

On Tuesday, I brought Jimmy-dog to work again and then to his appointment.  His test was negative for Cushing's so the vet didn't really have any new options for me. 

 

1) Wait and see. 

2) $5-6K surgery on a dog with a heart murmur and high blood pressure. 

We are back to the same choices.  Jimmy-dog is doing much better than he was last summer so I am fine with the 'wait and see' choice.  He got a new medication for high blood pressure and refills on his other meds.  The office visit and ultrasound re-check were free but the blood pressure, blood panel and urinalysis came to $500!  I wasn't prepared for that.  Oh well, I should be getting rent from my tiny house people and my mobile home tenant so it will all even out.  Since I wasn't expecting to spend more on Jimmy-dog, I made an appointment for my chi-weenie, Chester, to get his teeth cleaned (finally) next week.  I've put it off for too long.  He had his teeth cleaned when I adopted him but that was like 4 years ago and he has bad breath again.  As my 3rd dog, he is going to the discount vet, not the fancy vet with dental xrays.  Hopefully, we will still get good results.  Jimmy-dog is supposed to get a re-check in 3 months, that would be March.  And then Sassy needs a Valley Fever test in April.  Pets are expensive.  My cheapest dog right now is my foster dog because all of his medical is covered by the rescue group.

So, that's what's happening.  This weekend I might try to make it to the Habistore to look for cabinets if it isn't raining again.  It is across town and I never seem to be over there when they are open or I don't have a dog in the car.  I had a brief thought to make my own cabinets but with everything that I have going on right now, I would end up with a lot of plywood and no results.  That is a project for another day.

The Wants and Want-Nots

Last week was a short work week made even shorter by taking two sick days.  I feel better now but fear it has moved into my sinuses.  Hopefully, it will go away on its own without antibiotics.  On Saturday, a contractor came over to look at the work that I need to get done in the laundry, bathroom, kitchen, and carport.  He hasn't sent a quote yet and I am very anxious to see it because I want to know if my plans are realistic or not.  I have planned out my kitchen renovations more and it seems like if I can find cabinets on Craigslist it won't cost as much as I thought.  Most of the cost will be in upgrading the electrical panel to add electricity to the Arizona room/carport area.  Maybe I will be able to afford a mini-split A/C for this summer.  I am not looking forward to another summer with only an evaporative cooler.  If I can't afford a mini-split, I'll get one of those mobile units that use an exhaust hose out of a window.

Also, before Christmas, I bought, on impulse, a motorized bicycle.  I had been looking at them for a while and was hoping to buy one when I moved back out to my property for short trips to the store up and down the big hill.  A friend was selling one for $250, typical price for a used one is $400.  I jumped on the deal but after I got it home I realized that:

  A) I didn't need it right now.

  B) I didn't want to mess with a noisy motor and the gas/oil mix that it requires.

  C) It was taking up space and I would rather have $250.

Last Saturday, I took it to my co-worker's house for repair.  He loves bikes and has all of the tools, tires, patches, you name it.  He got it working and is going to see if he can sell it for me.  When I do move out to my property, I hope to buy an electric bike instead.  We shall see.

Anyway, this week is plodding along.  I took Jimmy-dog to the vet for his 8 hour Low dose Dexamethasone Suppression test.  I'll get the results next week.  This should tell us if he has Cushing's Syndrome or not.  The 4 hour test was negative but this test is supposed to be better.  I hope he does have Cushing's.  Then we can stop the guessing and go ahead with the treatment.

Today was payday so December's credit card bill has been paid.  This month's bill is adding up with Jimmy-dog's test costing $520.  The good news is that the Tiny House people are staying another month so that's $350 from them, and my tenant out at my property paid me $400.  That sounds like a lot of money but my tenant at the property has been living there for free since July because I told him I would wait for his social security payments to start up and they finally did in December.  $400 doesn't quite cover 6 months of free electricity, water, internet, and trash but if he keeps paying me I'll be able to building up my reserves again.  If I had the chance, would I offer to rent out my mobile home to a homeless stranger on the word of a friend of a friend again?  No.  It has been a learning experience and it has turned out ok so far and I am glad that the mouse problem is under control (thanks to his cats) but I should have moved all of my stuff out first.  But it was so hot in July and the mice were just making themselves at home and it was very overwhelming.  Most of my stuff is out now but it is all jumbled in the barn-shed.  The organization that I had last year is gone and I just need to put it out of my mind until I am ready to move out there again.

Mortgage Update for December 2016

The gift buying is over and I managed to pay $1,200 extra towards my mortgage principal which brings the total to $22,931.  One year and 4 months left.  Now, to be honest, I haven't paid my credit card bill yet.  I don't get the bill until January 4th and  it's going to be a big one but I don't have to pay it for 30 days.

So, how did I spend my vacation days?  It stared off with a half day last Wednesday to take my nephew to the airport.  He wanted to be left at the curb so I was at work by 9am.  This meant I only had to work 4 hours and then I would be free.  I happily left by 2 and I don't even remember what I did after I got home.  On Thursday, I had the whole day off.  I slept late, did at least 6 loads of laundry, mopped the floor, vacuumed the bedrooms, moved stuff around in a semi-organized manner.  It was great.  The weather was great.  Everything was great until I made myself dinner and noticed liquid on the floor.  

I thought one of the dogs was angry at me for mopping but when I threw some paper towels down, it was clear that this was no dog puddle.  This was a major leak.  I threw a towel down and the water just laughed.  I thought the water might be coming from the closest appliance which was the dish washer so I got a wrench and tried to shut off the water valve under the sink.  

While I was trying to do that, my elbow went through the water soaked particle board, which is what my 70's cabinets are made of.  Curious, I easily broke off hunks of particle board to reveal a half inch of water under the sink cabinet.  Then, looking to my left, I noticed water around the gap between the tile and cabinet next to the fridge.  

Orange electrical cord for the Tiny House people.

Pondering that for a moment, I decided to check the bathroom pipes located on the other side of the wall.  They looked ok but the grout was a little damp.  Not wanting to break into the walls at that moment, I decided that it was probably a leak from the laundry drain pipe.

My laundry was mostly finished for the day and I wanted to eat dinner so I stopped the investigation and finished eating.  Then I remembered that I had a ShopVac in the other room.  Perfect for sucking up wet messes.  I dragged all the wet, dirty towels into a trash bag and out to the back porch and quickly sucked up all of the water and mess.  What a handy little machine.

I left everything to dry out and went to bed.  The next day was Friday and I picked up my aunt from the airport and had a nice dinner with my mother and sister.  Saturday was another cleaning day but I did not pursue the laundry leak mystery and that is where I will stop for today because I should just post this or else it will get too long.

Ready for a Break

Whew, what a hectic week.  Have you ever seen an email at work and felt like the other people copied weren't reading it?  This has been going on for months and even though I re-sent the information to the person and mention to other people that I don't think the current information is being used, nothing happens...until...it is time to ship the product and there are discrepancies.  Then it's "Why didn't I get this information" and "Someone didn't follow procedure" and everyone points the finger at everyone else.  Ugh.  I can't wait until I don't need this job anymore. 

One of the big bosses at our other plant is retiring at the end of the year because of medical issues.  I'm assuming cancer because they talked about treatment for a year.  That is not the way I want to retire.   And then, last Saturday, one of our co-workers had a heart attack and died during a bicycle race here in Tucson.  He was only 54.  His office was next to mine although he traveled most of the time.  We just never know when it will happen.

Update on Jimmy-dog:
Last week, Jimmy-dog had his surgical consultation.  The surgeon was not convinced that removing the adrenal tumor would alleviate all of his symptoms.  He also evaluated his back and hind-end weakness and said that he seemed to be doing ok for now and he didn't recommend any treatment but referred me to the internal medicine vet.  So, on Friday, we went back and repeated Jimmy-dog's history to the Internist.  She did another ultrasound and said we should do the 8 hour adrenal test to rule out Cushing's because even though the 4 hour test came back negative, she still thought his symptoms pointed to Cushing's Syndrome.  I'm beginning to feel like I'm going in circles with these diagnoses.  The first surgical consultation recommended the same course of action, the 8 hour test, and I am wondering why my vet didn't follow up with it.  She must have been convinced that surgery was the answer.  It would have saved me $450 for two more opinions and another ultrasound.  Anyway, I'm going to schedule the 8 hour test for January because the next few weeks are too busy and it's another $400.  If that test comes back positive, hopefully, Jimmy-dog will react well to the medication.  If not, surgery will be back on the table but I really don't want to do that.

And, thank you to the reader who suggested buying an egg-crate orthopedic mattress topper to use as a dog bed for Jimmy-Dog.  I found a queen-sized one at Walmart for $20, folded it twice and wrapped it in a large flannel sheet.  It is plenty big for him to stretch out and provides a comfortable sleeping spot while being much cheaper than a conventional dog bed of equal size.  Great idea!  Luckily, I don't have any dogs who shred dog beds.  They only destroy squeaky toys.

In other news, my mother is in California for the next few weeks and she seems to be having a good time so far.  She will be back here before Christmas and then will have to decide if she wants to stay in AZ or move to CA permanently.  My nephew came down with a cold last Friday and stayed home from school yesterday (Monday).  It was only one day but in my head I always over-react.  What if he misses too much school?  There is a 9 absence limit and then classes have to be re-taken.  What if it turns in to pneumonia and lasts for weeks with doctor visits and medications?  What if he's faking it?  What if he gets behind on school work and his grades fall?  What if he gets sick next year at college and doesn't know what to do?   Calm down.  He went to school today and has the next 5 days off to rest and catch up on any homework.  I have been trying to educate him on when to take cold medicine and when to go to the doctor, the difference between viral and bacterial infections, the importance of fluids, etc...  He doesn't like to take any medicine but I want him back in school asap.  Graduation is only 6 months away and we are going to make it!

Car Repair and Dog Repair

Continuing the car saga, I didn't hear back from the mechanic on Friday, which was odd, so I called on Saturday morning.  He told me that the car would not repeat the problem, meaning, it started up every time they tried it.  He said his technician had been going out and starting it every half hour.  Since the car kept starting, they couldn't diagnose the problem so there was nothing to fix.  I guess that was a good thing.  I now carry a hammer in my car just in case my starter ever needs "motivation" again.  My nephew and I drove over to pick it up and then we stopped by the cat shelter again.  I asked if they had more chores to do because the point of volunteering, besides helping out, is for my nephew to be able to add skills to his resume.  We ended up scrubbing litter boxes in the back so now he is qualified to be a dish washer.  Haha. 

All this week, I have been reluctantly counting down the days until Jimmy-dog's surgery next Tuesday.  Then, yesterday, my vet calls and says that she wants me to get a another opinion from a second surgeon.  She had called him for advice for this case thinking I had already had a consultation with that surgeon but I only consulted with the one surgeon because after that we were going to try non-surgical options, which we did.  Anyway, the surgeon at Veterinary Specialty Center of Tucson, VSCOT for short, mentioned that some dogs can have these adrenal tumors with no symptoms at all so we should be sure that his symptoms are actually being cause by the tumor.  We shouldn't try risky surgery if the outcome is not going to improvement his health.  I completely agree.  I was under the impression, and my vet was too, that removing the tumor would fix everything, except his back pain.  So, Jimmy-dog has a consultation on Nov. 15th and I hope that this surgeon has some answers.  Jimmy-dog has been doing better with walking lately.  I give him half of a pain pill twice a day.  He still isn't able to jump on the bed or chair like he used to but he hasn't been holding up one leg and trying to hobble around on three legs like he was doing.  And even though the eye drops for his excessive thirst cost $80 a month, maybe there is a cheaper medicine out there some where or maybe I can give the drops every other day with the same effect.  So, the Jimmy-dog story is to be continued...

How Much Is Too Much

The temperatures are still in the 90's and I am looking longingly at my sweatshirts.  The forecast has been saying 80's for next week but when next week gets here, it changes to 90's.  As far as I can remember, the weather is always chilly for Halloween and all of the princesses and thinly clothed ghouls must shiver while hunting down their candy.  My other reason for wanting the weather to change is my tired wardrobe.  Either I pull out the long-sleeved shirts or I buy something new.  I'd rather not spend money on clothes besides something from the thrift store now and then. 

So, my veterinarian just called and offered to do Jimmy-dog's pheochromocytoma tumor removal surgery for $3,000-$3,500.  The estimate from the specialist was $5,000-$7,000.  The reason she recommended going with a specialist initially was because she was worried that the adrenal tumor had latched on to the vena cava.  Since the ultrasound showed that it had not grown that big yet, my vet is willing to try the surgery.  She has never done this surgery specifically, but she has removed other tumors.  I had decided not to do the surgery because it seemed too risky and I didn't want to pay $7,000 with only a dead dog to show for it.  But now that my vet is all excited about doing it, I'm considering it again.  It would leave only $1,000 in my emergency fund but it wouldn't take that long for the fund to recover as long as there weren't more costly emergencies in my immediate future.  I was planning to use that $3,000 next year to speed up my mortgage repayment plan if nothing important came up. I think something Important came up.  It seems like I should do it so that he will feel better.  I don't really know how he feels except that he drinks a lot of water and has to pee a lot.  I'm hoping that it will fix his bloating issue, help him lose weight, and reduce the strain on his back.  I think I've talked myself in to it, at this point.  Surgery would be November 8th.  I'm already a nervous wreck.

And More Bills

I was beginning to think that the property tax bills wouldn't show up this month, but, guess what showed up yesterday?  My 3 tax bills. 

One for my rental house: $1,500

One for my mobile home property: $1,000

One for the adjoining acre to the property: $350

The bill for the actual mobile home arrives later and it is usually only $100.

I estimated $3,000 for my property tax so it looks like I am within my budget.

The house I am living in now has an escrow fund for the property tax so I don't worry about that.  Once I pay off the mortgage I will have to pay that myself.

And, guess what showed up in my inbox?  My rental house rent statement which is a negative $185 for this month.  Ugh.  I was hoping it wouldn't spill over in to next month.  The bill for replacing the control board on the A/C was $1,065.  I hope it lasts a long, long time.  $650 of the rent payment goes towards my extra mortgage payment but I won't have it this month.  After I pay the property tax bills I will see if I want to borrow from that fund or skip the extra payment this month.  I could pay the property tax in 2 installments but I like to pay it all at once and get it over with. 

My ailing dog had another vet visit last week.  The vet wanted to try a medicine called DDAVP (also called Desmopressin).  For some reason, no one in that office is very good at finding the best price for meds.  First, they called in the prescription to a local compounding pharmacy.  If you don't know, and I didn't know before I had dogs, a compounding pharmacy takes a drug and changes the dosage or method of administration, for instance, taking a powder and turning it in to a beef flavored suspension at a puppy dosage.  They do this for humans too, although, I don't think humans choose the beef, tuna, or chicken flavorings.  The compounding pharmacy was out of the medication that I needed.  This is where it gets complicated.  The vet tech told me to go buy it from Walgreens and take it to the compounding pharmacy.  But Walgreens needed a prescription so the vet tech called it in.  I went to Walgreens to pick it up but they had misplaced the prescription and it wasn't in the computer.  The pharmacist found the paper but then we were all confused by what I was supposed to be buying.  Turns out I was supposed to buy nose spray from Walgreens and take it to the compounding pharmacy to turn it in to eye drops for my dog, except we didn't know that then.  I happened to ask for a price because Walgreens had to order it anyway and they said $216!!!  I knew it was going to cost $50 to compound it so I was discouraged and left without ordering.  I called the vet office and the person who answered the phone did a better job of explaining what I was supposed to be buying and the whole nose drops to eye drops thing.  

I did some searching on the internet and found the drug at Diamondback compounding pharmacy in Phoenix where I already get my Valley Fever medication for my other dog.  My request for a quote came back at $78.  I can't compare the price because I don't know the quantity that I was going to buy from Walgreens but I am pretty sure $78 is the better deal and it doesn't involve me driving across town, it will be mailed to my door.  I called my vet to make sure it was the correct drug and dosage and they called in the prescription.  Whew.  All this just to alleviate my dogs excessive thirst problem.  I sure hope it works and doesn't cause other side effects.

This has been another big bill month and it isn't even half way over.  It is months like this that make me worried about leaving my stable job and paycheck.  Simplifying is going to be the key.  I don't think I can financially handle more than two pets at a time.  The others (and you know there will be others) will have to be fosters so that the rescue pays for medical treatment.  Rental houses cause me stress even though they bring in income.  If I can arrange my finances so that the rental income is discretionary instead of needed for bills then that may be alright.  I have too many vehicles and I will remedy that after my nephew goes to college.  Oh, and speaking of college, my nephew got admitted to the college of his choice which also happens to be the school that we visited last spring where his parents met.  Only 11 short months until he is a college student!  Am I living in the future too much?  I think so.   Next month will be all about the FAFSA federal financial aid, grants, loans, and scholarships!  What an education I am getting. 

Mortgage Update for March 2016

March was a big month for extra bills since my nephew and I took a trip and I had my dog's teeth cleaned (cleaning was the cheapest part.  10 extractions and 2 growths removed were the expensive part).  Yet, I still made an extra $1,200 payment on my mortgage for this month.  I could have skipped a month and paid the bill all at once but I would rather borrow from my emergency fund and pay myself back over 3 month's time. 

The new mortgage total is $36,412.  If I can continue at this rate, I will have my mortgage paid off in 2 years and 1 month. 

At the vet's office last week, I asked if I could receive the "dental awareness" discount which is for the month of February but since my vet had the flu and had to reschedule to March, they gave me the discount.  Then, while waiting for them to bring me my dog, I reviewed the itemized bill and saw that they had charged me $14 for a cone collar even though I declined it, and $10 for pill pockets which my dog hates and they didn't give any to me anyway.  They gave me a refund.   

On Saturday I stopped by the hardware store and bought paint for my barn-shed.  Usually I go to the store close to my house but they don't carry paint in the 5 gallon buckets.  I checked my credit card statement just for fun today and noticed that I had been charged twice for the paint.  The computers were offline when I made the purchase and it looks like I got charged again when they came back online.  I called the store and was told to call the corporate office.  The corporate office said the store should have handled it so corporate called the store and straightened it out.  I still have to return to the store to get the credit put back on my card.  So many little things that need to be monitored.

And there were two other instances of being over-charged this month.  One was for Tracfone minutes.  I tried to buy minutes for my nephew's phone online and I got a message that said the transaction could not be completed and I needed to call Tracfone.  I called them and the customer service person completed the transaction over the phone.  When I checked my credit card later, I was double billed.  It took an online chat and another phone call to get it straightened out.  Then, my internet provider, CenturyLink, sent me a card that said my credit card was declined.  Called them and got it fixed but I still don't know why it was declined.  The agent told me I could increase my internet speed for only $5 more so I agreed.  Two days later a new router/modem showed up at my door.  Another phone call got me a return number and I sent it back but I still have to call to make sure I am not being charged for a leased router/modem.

Anyway, it was a lovely spring break at the house but now we are back to the school schedule, the mobile home during the week and the house in town on weekends.  9 more weeks until summer break!  I'm looking forward to it, except for the up-coming heat.

3 Cars but No Ride

I was so happy to have a 3 day weekend but the first day I had a sinus headache that wouldn't go away even with 2 pills and a nap.  The next day, I don't know what I ate the day before but something did not agree with me so I was miserable most of the day.  On Monday, I had promised to take my nephew to see Ant Man with his friend and friend's mom.  We browsed the mall for a bit and then watched the movie which was ok.  I guess I was expecting more from the movie.  I really dislike sitting in movie theaters and paying high prices so going to the movies is something I only do when other people want to do it.  I had two free passes given to me by a coworker so at least that was a bargain.

On Tuesday, I jumped in my car to go to work and the battery was too dead to start the car.  The funny thing was that I have two other vehicles at the house in town but out at the rural mobile home I am stuck.  I briefly considered riding my nephew's bike but the closest auto parts store is 20 minutes away by car.  I called AAA and popped the hood.  I never noticed that the battery is not visible in the PT Cruiser.  I had no idea where it was.  The AAA guy was out in an hour and he knew where the battery was hidden.  He tested it and it was bad so he sold me a battery right out of his van.  I didn't even know they did that.  The new battery has a 3 year warranty and a 6 year pro-rated warranty.  I don't expect to keep this car that long.

So, that was my less than exciting weekend and expensive start to the week.  After the $1,100 maintenance bill from last week, I was hoping I wouldn't have any more problems any time soon.  No such luck.

I have much better news about my mother.  She is safely in Washington state now.  She is doing much better physically and mentally.  She will be there for a few more weeks of rehabilitation and she gets to see her grandkids everyday so I hope she is enjoying her time there.

Two more days until another weekend.  It is getting a little cooler here.  Today was only 88 but this weekend it will be back up to 99 so I don't think I will plan to work on any outdoor projects.  This is the time of year that I look longingly at my long sleeve shirt but it is still too hot to wear them.  Cooler weather is right around the corner though.  3 more weeks max.  I can't wait to turn off these air conditioners and save some money on my electric bill.

A Truck Tale

As you know, I still have 2 vehicles.  Not selling the truck turned out to be a good decision because it has been very useful with the mobile home remodel and my niece using it to get around town.  Later on, my nephew will use is to learn to drive and to get to school.  But keeping 2 vehicles is not cheap.  Back in February or March, I needed to replace the battery.  Then, I noticed leaking from the radiator and that had to be replaced.  A few weeks ago, my niece got rear-ended and luckily, the driver was honest and stopped to exchange insurance information.  Even though the damage wasn't major, my niece took it in for an estimate and I got a $570 check.

Can you tell it's a little lower on the right?

On Monday, I took the day off for my birthday and worked on my property.  My niece was there with the truck and I was looking for bungee cords when I noticed that the back tire was cracked along the tread and I could see the metal inside.  We stopped what we were doing and went directly to the tire store (and In and Out Burger) and $300 later I had 4 new tires.

I hope that is all of the truck maintenance that I need for a while.  I am looking forward to only having one vehicle again after my nephew goes off to college in 2 years.  I only have one car in my early retirement budget.

Not a Frugal February

February is turning out to be a very expensive month.  I decided that I would pay the $1,000 that I owe in taxes with the interest that I made on my mutual fund ($500) and raid $500 from my property fix-it fund.  Ok, that was fine as long as nothing else went wrong this month.  Then on Monday, when I turned on the heater in the car, I smelled antifreeze.  I had smelled it before when the heater was on but I kept forgetting to check under the hood when I got home from work because I didn't need the heater in the afternoon.  Finally, I wrote it down because I was going to visit my mother on Tuesday and it would be convenient to drop my car off at the shop if it needed it.  Well, I opened the hood and there was green liquid on the engine and the coolant level was low.  sigh.  So, the next day I dropped the car at the mechanic for the forth time in 4 months and my mom and I went to visit dad at the nursing home.  It was his birthday and one of the staff bought him a giant chocolate cupcake and I put together some happy birthday posters from family members.  He seemed to appreciate it and he really enjoyed the cupcake.

Today, I heard back from the mechanic.  Now it needs a new radiator.  Total parts and labor $650.  My cheap car is not as cheap as I thought.  I already spent $750 for a new motor mount, thermostat and hoses.  I don't understand why the whole cooling system fell apart.  I would love to know if the mechanic missed all of these broken parts or they really broke in succession.  I certainly hope this fixes the problem and I don't have any more issues for at least a year.  Of course, that's what I said last time too.

So, where to get the money?  I was REALLY looking forward to putting $1,600 extra towards the mortgage next week but I can only do that if nothing goes wrong that month.  I am already using the interest and borrowing some of the property money to pay taxes so I can't use that money.  I could try to not spend any extra money for the next 3+ months and scrape $200 a month out of my budget but no more unexpected expenses could come up or it wouldn't work.  I think the only sensible thing to do is take $400 out of the extra mortgage money and then try to make it through March without any extra spending which will give me the other $250.  It is disappointing but putting an extra $1,200 towards the mortgage is still awesome.  I will get it paid off eventually.

Good-bye, November

November, I won't miss you.  Last week was delightfully short but busy.  On Monday I picked up my car from the mechanic and paid the $700 bill.  Tuesday was a dentist appointment.  No bill and no new issues but I have a couple of sensitive teeth that need to be dealt with some day.  Wednesday, well, I don't even remember Wednesday.  I think I bought cat food.  Thursday, I drove to my mother's house and my car's radiator was boiling again!  Yes, the same car that I just paid $700 to have fixed.  It was making all sorts of hissing and bubbling noises.  Of course, the auto shop was closed for the 4 day weekend.

Thanksgiving lunch at the church was fine but it didn't feel like Thanksgiving.  Afterwards, we went to visit my dad and watched TV until he fell asleep.  My mother graciously switched cars with me since mine is still drive-able for short distances and she lives close to the auto shop.  I'll have to call them on Monday and make an appointment.  Friday was my first day to relax and I did just that.  On Saturday I was planning to go out to my property and rat-proof the dog door in the mobile home but I was having such a nice time relaxing so I put it off until Sunday.  I had planned to take at least 3 of my kittens back to the shelter to be adopted but they all started sneezing again on Saturday.  My hopes for being cat-free soon faded so I went to the feed store to buy more horse stall pine pellets for the litter box.  They are really cheap compared to the feline pine products sold for cats.  Unfortunately, they told me they were out and didn't know when they were getting more because their supplier burned down.  Oh well, I had to switch back to clay litter which I don't like because of the annoying fragrance and dust and it is just too heavy to cart to the car and then out to the trash.  Other than my quest for cat litter, I finally had time to collect seeds from my morning glory plant and my pole beans.  The pole beans came from the seed library and it will be fun to be able to return some seeds this year.

And finally, today, I loaded up the momma-cat because she was not sick and took her back so that she can be adopted.  Then I met up with the person who was adopting my foster dog.  After that, I wandered the rows of dogs looking for my next foster but I didn't get a new one yet.  I am trying to wait until my chihuahua puppies are adopted which will be another 2 weeks from now.  I like this fellow but there are a lot of other dogs that are more in need than he is so I probably won't get him.

Next I headed to my property to cover up the dog door hole with an old campaign sign and some caulk.  The plastic sign was perfect because it was easy to cut and lightweight so it could be glued in to place.  The white part is the plastic sign and the grey part is what is left of the door flap.

Luckily, there was no new pack rat activity inside.  As I looked around, I thought, "If only I had a few days to spend out here to get things organized...oh wait, I just had a 4 day weekend".  Oh well.  I grabbed a few things and was headed back home in under 30 minutes.  And that was my 4 day weekend.  Time to set the alarm and start December!

Borrowing From Myself

Wowza.  This is an expensive month.  Monday morning I got a call from the auto shop.  Turns out running over the rake didn't do any damage even though it sounded horrible.  The problem was the thermostat and hose connection so all of the antifreeze leaked out.  While they were checking for damage under the car, they noticed that a motor mount was broken.  Grand total: $700, $400 of that was labor.  So, now I have the $500 vet bill and the $700 car bill, right before Christmas.

Now, I could take $100 out of the maintenance and dog budget until I pay myself back or I could skip a month of extra mortgage payments.  I think I will wait until January to decide.  Next month is a big step because my extra payment will put me in the 40's!  So exciting!

I made it to my 4 day weekend so I will try not to dwell on the fact that I owe myself $1200 and just enjoy my long weekend.  Tomorrow I will spend time with my parents, then I don't have any plans except rat-proofing my mobile home and trying to return as many kittens as possible.  They keep randomly sneezing and  really want then to be well so I can return them for adoption.  The first thing I want to do, though, is sleep in, at least until the dogs tell me they are hungry.

More Car Bills

Well, so far my long weekend isn't going as planned.  First, my dad broke his arm on Wednesday but he was back at the nursing home by the afternoon so I headed down on Thursday for Thanksgiving lunch.  I was almost there when my mother called me and asked me to pick her up.  I turned around since I had already passed her off-ramp and was sitting at a red light when I heard a rumbling sound.  I thought  maybe it was a motorcycle engine and there was a motorcycle across the street but it was too far away to sound that loud.  When I pulled in front of her house, I turned the car off and I could hear the radiator boiling and smelled antifreeze.  Last weekend I ran over a rake on the highway and I was hoping there wasn't any damage but it looks like I didn't escape  unscathed.  Luckily, the auto shop that recommended to me was only 2 blocks away so my mom followed me there and I dropped off my car.

We were 1/2 hour late for the lunch.  Our food was room temperature but it wasn't bad for nursing home food.  At least if wasn't bland.

Dad's arm was hurting and they only had Tylenol to give him so we waited for the doctor to arrive and he gave him a prescription for Vicodin.  The nursing home said they would fill the prescription so we headed to Walmart to buy supplies for my dad.  Then I fixed some things at my mother's house while she delivered the supplies to the nursing home.  I was expecting my mother to be back any minute when the phone rang and it was the nursing home saying that there would be a $12 delivery charge for the prescription.  We didn't want to pay that so when my mom got back we jumped in the car, went back to the nursing home to pick up the prescription, waited at Walgreens until it was filled and returned to the nursing home AGAIN to drop it off.  By this time it was 7pm.  I had hoped I would be home before 5 but I couldn't leave until we finished all of the errands because I had to borrow mom's car.  It was almost 8pm when I got home and the puppies and kitties were hungry.

On Friday, I expected to hear something about my car.  I waited around until 1 and then called them.  They said it was next to be looked at.  I waited some more and they never called.  They aren't open on the weekend so I won't hear anything until Monday.  Meanwhile, some family friends wanted to meet my foster dog so I took her out there.  I didn't realize that they lived 40 minutes away.  Turns out they didn't think I was coming because of my car situation.  I stayed for dinner and they kept the dog for a trial weekend.  I don't know if the dog will like such an active household.  They had a lot of kids.  Since I didn't have a dog to take to the adoption event on Saturday, I offered to go back to mom's house so that she could visit dad or run errands but she said that she could find a ride.  I suppose I should have gone out to my property today but my motivation kind of disappeared under the black cloud of unknown car bills so I stayed home.  I did the usual cleaning, cooking, playing with puppies, and attempted to fix my computer's antivirus.  After removing my nephew's games I finally got the antivirus to scan my computer but my work's software still won't recognize the antivirus so I will be sending emails to the IT department on Monday.  I really want it fixed so that I can work at home again.  It is such a great perk along with being able to wear jeans every day and taking dogs to work.

Tomorrow, I will take my 6 week old puppies to the pound to get their shots.  I was hoping to take at least 3 of 5 the kittens back to lighten my number of fosters but only one kitten has reached the 2 lbs. goal weight so it doesn't seem worth it to only take back one.  Hopefully, 3 of them will weigh enough next weekend so I can take them back to get fixed and adopted.

So, that is my weekend so far.  I hope tomorrow goes well with no bad surprises.  I am so glad this is a short week coming up but I need to get my car back, pay the huge bill, and go to the dentist so I'm looking forward to those parts to being over.  

Dog Cargo

Rough weekend.  It started on Friday when I came home to find the dogs had pulled out the plastic liner on my bed cover.  It was hanging out on the floor and I needed to cut it but I decided to give the dogs their evening treat first because they were running around excitedly and I didn't want to poke them with the scissors.  Next thing I know, my big dog is trying to jump on the bed, then he yelps and when I turn around he is limping.  I think he probably slipped on the plastic and twisted his leg or he did the splits while trying to get on the bed.  He limped outside and I was hoping that it was just a sprain.  He came back in and seemed to be ok.  Later that night, I helped him get on the bed.  Early the next morning, he tried to get up and yelped.  He managed to get outside.  I went back to bed and woke up an hour and a half later and he was still outside.  I tried to help him up but he was in a lot of pain and all sorts of terrible scenarios started going through my mind.  Broken hip, strained back, torn ligament, etc... I called the vet and they say they can get me in as an emergency case which means an extra fee and more waiting.  A few minutes later, she calls back and says they have had a cancellation so I can have a regular appointment.  Now the hard part, getting my 75 pound dog in to the car.  I tried putting his front feet up on the bumper but he yelped so that was out.  Next I managed to heave his whole body up and in the back of my PT Cruiser.  I must say the dog cargo space certainly came in handy.  We got to to the vet and I slid my dog to the ground.  He could walk but he yelped when stepping up the curb.

Anyway, lots of tests and x-rays were ordered and I went home but first did some grocery shopping while I was out.  The fall fruit selection was very boring, by the way.  I am sad that watermelon season is over.  Later I went back to collect my drugged-up dog.  The good news is that he didn't break anything.  The bad news is that he has an enlarged spleen and we won't know what that means until the blood test results come back.  My dog got anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, and pain killers.  I think I could use some of those myself after lifting him in to the car.

Today he is feeling much better and even jumped on the bed tonight.  This little trip to the vet only cost me $550.  I had decided that is was going to cost $600 so I wasn't surprised at the bill.  Of course, this made me think about my goals to semi-retire early.  I must be able to afford my lifestyle which includes the care and maintenance of 3 dogs.  The good news is that my future budget includes $700/m for my basic bills and $700/m for both projects and, if needed, unexpected trips to the vet.  Hopefully, I won't be needing too many of those.

Crown Me

I finally got a temporary crown today after my root canal 2 weeks ago.  I don't remember root canals being painful for a whole week after but, wow, I almost regret doing it.  I still have some strange cold sensitivity so it didn't even fix the problem.  I have to wait 3 more weeks until the final crown arrives but at least I can chew normally again.  Now I can eat all those chips and crusty bread that I couldn't chew before.  There goes the diet.

I was only charged $450, assuming I have enough insurance for the year to cover the other half.  my yearly benefits for dental are $1500 or something tiny and unreasonable like that.  When my work switched to a health savings account, I was skeptical but so far it has worked out well.  Work puts in a quarterly amount in my account and I have money deducted every paycheck so I don't even notice the money going over to the HSA.  It sure is nice to have money in that account when I need it.  I can use it for medical, dental, and prescriptions.  I don't know how many times I have panicked a little when I got a bill and then I remember that I have money in the account just for this reason.  So, today, when I got the $450 bill for my crown, I just handed them my HSA credit card.  Finally, one part of this whole ordeal that was relatively painless.

Dental Procrastination, Not a Good Thing

Waffles.  What do waffles have to do with today's topic?  Nothing.  Today's topic is teeth.  Ok, so waffles have to be chewed so that makes them relevant, but not really.  I just wanted to show you a picture of the waffles that I made last weekend.  The extras went in to the freezer for future weekends.  I love homemade waffles so much more than store bought.

My teeth have been sensitive to cold for a many months now.  I wasn't sure which tooth it was so I just ignored it.  Then a tooth started hurting when I chewed.  I thought it was the same tooth so I called the dentist.  The tooth with the crown that I got in Mexico was the suspect but it turns out that I forgot that tooth already had a root canal so it couldn't be sensitive to cold.  My dentist said the tooth behind was the problem and he sent me to an endodontist today for a root canal (oh fun).  When I got there they tested the teeth and found that the back tooth was sensitive to cold so a root canal was in order but the tooth in front of it with the crown was sensitive to pressure.  The fix for that tooth is to cut in to the gum, put a filling in the root and sew it back up.  I had no idea they could do that and it sounds awful.

I decided to go ahead with the root canal because I was expecting that.  I survived and afterwards they gave me an estimate for the gum surgery thingy.  $1,100!!!  It seems that the cost of the root canal has drained my yearly funds for allowable dental costs.  I'm not even sure I have enough funds left to cover the crown that I need for the root canal tooth.  I'll be making some phone calls tomorrow to figure this out.  Maybe I can chew carefully until January when my benefits re-set or maybe there are other alternatives.  If I hadn't put off the root canal I could have had it done last year and then I would have enough to cover this years problem.  I'm always hoping my teeth will stop needing attention.  Every time this happens I am reminded why people used to just get their teeth pulled.  Implants are not in my retirement plan so either my teeth need to chill out or else I am headed for the inevitable dentures.

Another Bill Mystery Solved

I was eager to get this delinquent property tax problem fixed so I brought all of my evidence with me to work on Friday.  The bank hadn't even sent the cancelled check information but I wanted to find out if I was going to have to go down to the office or if I could email my findings.

First, I got the receptionist or whatever she was.  I don't want to call her unfriendly but she sounded over-worked and weary and it was only 9:15am.  I was prepared to be polite and patient but our conversation went something like this:

Me:  Hello, I received a notice in the mail that I have delinquent property taxes from 2004 but...
Her:  What is the state code.
Me: 10034523
Her:  It will take a moment while I look that up....  Yes, that is correct.  The property taxes were not paid.
Me:  Well, I'm pretty sure I paid them and...
Her:  Hold on a moment.
Me:  ....
Her:  Now, what was the issue?
Me:  I have evidence that I paid the taxes and I would like to know where to send it?
Her:  Just a moment, the phones are ringing.
Me:  ....
Her:  You want to do what?
Me:  I want to know where to send the evidence that I paid these taxes.
Her:  That would be Administration.  I'll transfer you.
Me:  (Oh please let them be more helpful.)

The next lady to get on the phone was initially skeptical of my claim and told me that I would need a copy of the cancelled check but then she looked it up in her computer and she found some sort of record of my  check being cashed.  She said the magic words, "I believe you."  And I wanted to hug her through the phone.  She said she needed to look through the old records in the back room and someone would get back to me today.  A few hours later, I got a call from a fellow who told me that they found that my check had been applied to something else (I'm still not sure what) and now it has been applied correctly to my 2004 mobile home property tax.  I am thrilled that it was straightened out and I didn't have to go down there or pay more money.  Later on I got the copy of my cancelled check from the bank.  It is nice to know that my bank will do that for me.

So, that is fixed.  I wonder if I should be worried about whatever the check used to be applied to.  Do I have a new delinquent debt floating around out there now?  I definitely need to keep better track of my property tax receipts.  Moving from house to house is not good for my record-keeping and getting brightly colored letters from the sheriff department telling me that my property is going to be sold for back taxes is no way to start a weekend.

Those Annoying Mysteries

The mystery of the bad service from my property management company has been solved.  After hearing nothing back from the email I sent on Tuesday night regarding the HOA violation notice that was sent back to me by the PM, I called them today.  I asked the woman who answered the phone who it was that handles HOA violation letters.  She said that she did some and another woman.  I asked to talk to the other woman but this lady, I'll call her Lisa, was hesitant and wanted to know what it was regarding.  She sounded a bit guilty so I told her that I had emailed the notice on May 30th and didn't hear anything.  Then last Tuesday I was mailed a copy of the notice which is supposed to go to the tenant.  She said,"Oh, that was me".  It turns out that she is new and still being trained.  She mistakenly sent the notices out to the owners instead of the tenants.  She also sent them out very late.  Anyway, she apologized profusely and I let it go even though it would have been nice to get a reply to my email.  I shouldn't have had to call to find out what happened.  So, that issue is fixed for now.

Today, I had a letter in my mailbox from Pima County.  It said that the property taxes on my mobile home weren't paid in 2011 and if I didn't pay by the end of the month they are going to sell it at the tax auction.  The strange thing is that I got one of these letters last year or was it the year before regarding unpaid taxes for the year 2004.  It turned out that I didn't pay the 2004 taxes by mistake.  I was distracted by all of the paperwork needed to buy my house, which is now my rental house, back in 2004.  But I have been good about paying all of my taxes since then so I spent an hour looking for evidence.  I found my old check register with the copy of the check and the tax bill with the payment portion torn off.  That doesn't exactly prove anything.  I looked for a receipt or a bank statement but I didn't find one.  My bank doesn't have online statements that go back to 2011 so I gave them a call.  They were able to look up the statement from October of 2011 and tell me that the check had been cashed.  Tomorrow the bank will send me a copy of my statement.  I wish I had remembered to ask them if they had a scan of the cashed check.  I'd like to know who signed the back.  I'll call Pima County tomorrow and see if I have enough evidence to support my claim.  I don't know how they could have cashed my check and not paid my taxes unless someone in their office was stealing.  I really hope this is the last mystery for a while.  Digging for proof that I paid a bill 3 years ago is not my idea of fun.