Apology for my Absence

Sorry, I haven't written in a while. The holidays were busy and then after the holidays, just trying to get some down time. Then I got the flu and I was really sick for about a week. I still have a lingering cough that just won't seem to completely go away. Most days, I think it is gone and then I get a coughing spell. We have welcomed in a new year and with it have made some assessments about our life. The biggest assessment is that our budget got out of hand last year with my mom's illness requiring much of our time and then my Hashimoto's flare keeping me exhausted, sick and generally out of sorts. So, I have taken a hard look at our budget and hopefully we are back on track. January was a bit expensive with the extra propane cost that we incurred, but we still managed to put some money away for savings. We need a new car as both of ours have some serious age on them and are starting to have some problems. One of our cars is difficult to find parts for and the past several times we have had repairs done the mechanic had to make parts. That is going to get expensive. It also uses a lot of gas, so it is time for it to go before it completely dies. That is our big goal this year is to find something reliable that we can either purchase outright or finance only a small portion that we can have paid off quickly. We have not had to finance a car in years so maybe we will get lucky this year as well. The second biggest assessment is the goats. We felt like our old buck was simply not doing the job in getting our girl's pregnant. In 2013 we only had 2 of the 5 girls kid. Last year we had none. So we put him in the freezer in September and hope that our replacement buck has done his job. Several of the girl's look like they could be pregnant. I should pull blood tests and might do that soon to make sure. But if we don't have babies coming soon then it looks like we will be getting rid of all the goats. We simply can't afford to feed them if we aren't getting anything in return. I could raise several lambs and a couple of pigs every year cheaper than keeping a non producing herd. I miss my milk, cheese and butter though. So, our grocery budget had gotten out of control and I am in the process of working within a very tight and strict budget. Not everyone in the family is happy about that, but it is what it is. I have been making soup once a week and then several one dish meals that are nutritious and filling. No need for elaborate meals and the cost of a meal is greatly reduced. I am in the process of getting the garden going and hopefully we will be blessed with a good harvest. My oldest and I are getting together things that I need or want to get rid of and will have a yard sale soon. That money will go into our savings for the car as well. I plan on posting a weekly tightwad tip column so keep an eye out for this that I have done during the week to save money so that more of it can go into savings. Hope you all are having a great new year. Blessings, Kat