Friday Update

ELECTRICITY: Not only did this go up, it went way up. The constant running of the washer and dryer to clean our clothes from the storm damage has kept the electrical usage up. We couldn’t exactly wait for the appraiser to show us. (He is assessing things right now. Yes, he finally showed.) But, since I prefer to wear clothing and prefer to have my family wear clothing, I decided to do some preliminary clean-up and wash our clothes. I was also doing laundry of non-replaceable items like mother-daughter-daughter skirts and other homemade skirts that I have made. Hopefully by next week things will be back to some semblance of normal.
Meter reading: 75029
Usage: 619kwh
Average per day use: 88kwh
Percentage: 293%

IDC: My indoor garden is growing beautifully. The tomato plant has lots of flowers on it and one of the suckers that I pulled off when I suckered it has taken root. When I was watering the lavender, I accidentally snapped off the top of the ornamental pepper plant and it is recovering nicely. It looks like it will bush more rather than grow straight up like it was thanks to my carelessness.  
The self-watering containers are working beautifully. I fill the bottle, put it open end down into the dirt and the roots will take what they need when they need it. Although it seems like it shouldn’t work because the dirt it dry when you look at it or touch it, the bottles emptying and the plants growing by leaps and bounds tell me otherwise.
The other aspects of the IDC show that we need a lot more work. Surviving a tornado with our home mostly in tack but eating on the go a lot tells me that we need to do more for the mental aspect of the survival. Things-wise, we have done very well. We’ve stayed here and we have done a lot of our own clean-up and even though we have food here, we have chosen to not eat here. It is almost as if we were reaching out for a comfort/convenience that we seemed to have blocked within our own home. We have emergency food. We had an emergency. Why did we not tap into it?

GARBAGE: I shudder at the thought of this. We have not taken any garbage with us into town this week, but I know we will have a LOT.  

GASOLINE: I did not fill up this week, but I did put $40 in. Husband filled his tank and it will be filled again since he is going to pick Charlie up. More gas will also be used to go to Danville on Sunday.

MONEY: Oh, boy. We have spent a lot. I don’t know how much and the thought is rather disconcerting to put it mildly. We are going to do some Dave Ramsey type accounting here soon and start doing some major savings.

HOMESTEAD: It looks like all the critters survived the tornado. Milk supply did drop off a bit, but it is starting to pick back up a bit. The drop is not surprising. They were all skittish for several days after the tornado.
The soap business is taking off in terms of advertisement and publicity. We even have a bit spot in the local paper. We were mentioned in conjunction with the upcoming fair. This is big! Ok, maybe not for big booming business, but for us it is big!

HOMESCHOOL: Charlie has been gone this week and the girls have had a week off.

GOALS ACCOMPLISHED: 
1. Get a working lawn mower. Either replace the blade on the push or get a riding. I am going to combine my next two checks to (hopefully) get a riding lawnmower for my husband. While this is not a “Done by this time next week” goal, it is still a goal of mine. ***Not Done
2. Get back into Weight Watchers. I have not been to a meeting in a couple of weeks. I went to one since I started working. The truth is I am afraid to go to a weigh-in because I know I have been bouncing around the same five pounds and it is embarrassing. I have been making poor choices and it is showing on the scale. ***Not Done
3. Get fly sticks. We have a couple, but we need a lot more. Both for the garage and the shop. (Not to mention the house.) ***DONE! Wow! I actually accomplished one goal this week!
4. No drive-thru or fast food of any kind. I can’t keep eating on the run like I have been. ***Not done
5. Lose 5 pounds by this time next week. ***Not done. I’d laugh at this if it weren’t so pathetic.

NEW GOALS:
1. Lawn Mower
2. Weight Watchers
3. No fast food
4. Lose 5 pounds
5. Assess our emergency plans and implement drills