Just checking in

Thought I would come up for air and drop a line to let everyone know we are still kicking here in middle TN. Been a crazy past week or so, always something going on. I guess the most consuming issue has been my little miniature daschund, Howard. We noticed last week he just wasn't right, and was regressing in the progress he has made towards walking. We took him in and Doc said that he had blown another disk in his back. That was so alarming to me. How many more can he go before he is 100% paralyzed instead of the 50% he is now? When will I have to put him down. He is only 8 and has been battling this for almost two years now. Sigh. The good news is the Doc seemed hopeful and gave him some good pain pills and an anti-inflammatory pill. He seemed better for a couple days, but then seemed to slip again. We took him back in on my son's next day to work, such a blessing having a child who works with your local vet. I guess I was just panicking. Doc seemed to think Howard was doing fine with his med's and just needed more time. He reminded me how long it took last time for the swelling to go down. We are hoping he will regain the limited range of motion he had regained prior to this injury. Doc called him an amazing dog and said he hadn't seen many who even tried to walk again. He may be amazing (yes I am a proud dog mama) but personally I believe he just doesn't "get" that he can't anymore. Does that make sense? Not once, even after the original injury, has he stopped or tried to do anything differently. He will drag his legs behind him until they bleed, because he just keeps walking/running/chasing cats! Our vet is one of the dog vets at the Iditarod every year, and he has given Howie a pair of the little booties the sled dogs wear to protect their feet, so he won't rub soars on his knees. So that is what I have been up to, fussing over an nine pound dog! LOL Well that and other things, like shopping and the never ending laundry pile (who's cloths are those?).

I always shop on Friday, for the upcoming week. So today I shopped and finished out my first month on the $75 a week budget I set. Well, after tax, pet food and toilet paper it is more like $45, but anyway . . . I am amazed at how well it went and how we were able to do it! Yes I did get some help from a friend who volunteers at a local distribution center that deals in bread (like the discount bread stores), and miscellaneous other food and other items. She even had items such as brand new unopened deodorants to give me and my daughter. Every dollar counts! I am so blessed to know her. She is helping a couple other families in our church as well. I guess I feel that what ever help I received from her means I don't have to go to our local food pantry for help, and someone else can benefit from that. Any bread I receive from her means that the flour I have can go toward something else, such as pancakes or rolls. You get the point. I have watched this lady become a born again Christian in our church and her growth in the word has been exponential, as has her bread ministry. It started out as a crusade for the local jail and has grown with her helping two different churches and a several individual families! What a blessing!

Something that I have noticed in my budget shopping is the mark down meat phenomenon. When I first started purchasing mark down meat, I found it at only a couple of locations and there was a limited amount. There were actually people waiting/pushing to get this meat. The early bird and all that. But for about the last month or so I have noticed that almost all stores have not only marked down meat, but an abundance of it. Today at the Wal-Mart (early) their entire meat counter was full of mark down. Usually it is only one or two items and very seldom. This tells me two things. One, people are not buying meat or cutting back on how much they buy, and two, they can't even afford to buy the mark down meat either! There are some tough times ahead. I feel blessed that my DH job seems secure for now and that we are making it, even if it is week to week sometimes. We plan to stock up on meat with a small amount of our tax return, keep up with our $75 budget and work hard on our garden this spring. I think we will be OK.

Remember, our economic future is not dependent on a new President but on God. He knows His plans for us and will provide for us (Jeremiah and Matthew).

Blessings, Beth Ann