The update to end all updates

New House:

Well if you remember we were in a bind with out old house, the landlord took off out of state after a woman and pretty much dumped his 6 houses on his ex wife and his brother. Our house belonged to the brother, he didnt want renters. So after much drama we found this duplex in lehigh. Even though it is a "duplex" and we have people on the other sides of the walls, we cant even hear them! and they have a parade of kids in and out of there every day..I think they babysit or something idk. But the duplex is actually bigger than the house lol, and better maintained, but not by much. We have issues with the well and septic that the property manager doesnt seem to concerned about. We have to choose between leaving a septic alarm on all the time or being able to flush the toilets. Dont really care, one day the septic will explode and we`ll be like "told you so"

The house has a 1.5 car garage and a master bed/bath so no more sharing bathrooms  (yay!!)  couple of downfalls though. we have a dish washer, but only 6 cabinets...and a tiny half foot deep pantry...and I`m getting into a :stockpiling: habit so I`m getting creative with storing things. 

Garden:

I had to leave behind my onions and garlic because the totes snapped when we moved them, but we got the majority of the garden over here. I had to restart my loofahs and cucumbers because we live partially in the woods now so Ive had issues with bugs...I tried to keep it organic but i broke down and bought some pesticide. (though we werent paying attention till I read the full bottle it ended up being "organic" pesticide. I have also added some foxglove, lavender, dill, strawberry and some other native florida plants to try and spruce up the area. I have some pumpkin vines fighting with squash beetles too out there. Both of my tomatoes died so I have 2 more, but pretty much everything is suffering from the florida heat and flash flood rainstorms. I can`t wait for fall. Planted some watermelon, sunflower and cucumber today as well, hung them on the chainlink fence so I can train the vines to grow on it.  

  The only other thing that bugs us is that the whole back yard has a 6 foot chainlink around it with a gate by each garage. It`s not split so we eitehr have to block the dogs from getting back there or keep checking the neighbors gate to make sure it is shut.

 OH and there is this horribly annoying vine that keeps taking over the fence. I`m out there every week trying to cut it back. We are trying to machete a path on the wooded side so i can spray vine killer along the ground.

Drake:

Drake is walking! We have had nothing but sucess after the surgery, he is eating but refuses to learn with a fork or spoon. He doesnt even want plates and tends to throw them. We have weaned him from bottles and he is on straight sippy cups now. We have one with a straw as well but none of us can get it to work. We got kicked out of therapy because we havent been able to attend, just didnt have the gas since we live farther away from the boys jobs. But they sent us this huge packet of stuff to work on with him, and ortho said the 50% curve in his spine has dropped to 25%. He doesnt need braces or anything either so we can finally put shoes on the kid lol.

Animals: 

Okay about 3 weeks ago diamond died. The new house has wood and tile and she slipped a few times and then just couldnt get up anymore..We had to take her out to the ranch for dad to put down. Its been hell here since then. The others are fighting for top dog and since my back is injured I havent been able to stop them really. 

  We also ended up taking in a new dog, Jordan. The boys kept sending me ads from craigslist for a 4th dog after diamond  was gone trying to cheer me up. I halfheartedly texted or called each one, and jordan already had a new home. Few days after that jordans owner informed me that the shelter had him and asked if i still wanted him..I was shocked at what I got. Our "new dog" is half starved and was dragged under a car by his throat and then amaturely cauterized. He is 3 but has the teeth of a six year old, and is in very bad shape.  He is such a sweet dog, he puts up with all of the treatments and goes to the vet for wraps and penecillin every three days.

   He is Joshs new best friend. Josh finally has a dog that sleeps with him at night lol.

Also...we got a finch. Drake wanted her. Tweety Bird

Me:

well I havent been in the best health really. 3.5 weeks ago I was walking sassy and she pulled my shoulder nearly out. The next morning my back was on fire, it got worse and after 2 weeks i went to the er. Turns out she over-extended my back muscles. Its like round ligament pain from pregnancy, only at the base of my spine. Takes 6+ weeks to heal fully, but at least today I can bend over without falling. 

  

 I`ve started to make most of our household stuff as well, I have a horrible rash in my armpits from the natural deodorant lol. Turns out when you quit using commercial products your body goes through withdrawls lol. It was horrible for 2 days but now im peeling and even though I havent put any on in 2 days there is no B.O at all! Turns out commercial deodorant has aluminum flakes in it, and a chemical that makes you perspire, so you keep buying it.

  Same with the toothpaste. Flouride is actually pretty bad for your teeth, especially bc its put in our drinking water so you get more than enough of it every day. Its added to anything made with water. Its been tough getting the boys to use home made toothpaste because it tastes pretty horrible, but it leaves your teeth dentist clean, and we use a Colgate Complete mouthwash with little or no flouride. 

  As soon as we run out of something I figure out how to make it homemade. We no longer buy box dinners, but instead I make sauces and use block velveeta and pasta since its usually B1G1free.  

Also our foodstamps is going up to like 425 a month so we are storing cans in totes under the couches, and our bed, We also are collecting shelves and small dressers and stacking them in the garage 

 so far I make creamer, homemade hershey syrup, laundry detergent (liquid, solid and granular) and fabric softener, febreeze, toothpaste, deodorant, and conditoner.

We no longer use those plug ins, bc studies found they can lead to respitory problems. Instead the flea market has a store that sells essential oils and fragrances, I mix some with water and spray the house, we also use an oil burner, going to try my hand at potpourri soon as well. 

I`ve started taking a variety of daily suppliments, as the back scare has made me realize I really need to get my stuff together. B12,D3, C, a multi gummy, E, something for my eyes and an estrogen suppliment bc I think thats my big issue is the birth control messing up my hormones. 

We have really cut back, No more cable, no home phone. We dont pay for water here, and electric was only 95$ this month dispite people leaving lights on everywhere. We strategically placed the fishtanks so no more nightlights or noise makers (babys room)and theres only 4 windows on the whole house and we have the south side so we get less sun as well lol. 

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Book I`m reading: Go Green, Live Rich by David Bach

I went to the library for one specific book, which I will mention when I read it, and ended up leaving with 15 books! I`m on a mission to learn as much as I can about living green,  rural homestead type stuff, cutting back, saving without killing ourselves and gardening since these are all things I can do from home when the husband gets his new ID and can go back to work.
  This book "Go Green, Live Rich by David Bach" was actually the second thing I picked off the shelf. Its supposed to tell the reader 50 ways to live a greener lifestyle without going into bankruptcy. I`m currently in the process of reading it and I`m going to be making notes as I go without spoiling the book for everyone else. ;)

   So far tip number one is to determine your own carbon footprint so you can see where you stand in our planet`s plight. He gives you a nifty website to do this in under 3 minutes and surprisingly our footprint was 8.0/15.0(the 15.0 being the entire U.S) so I don`t think we`re doing too bad, but there`s always room for improvement. The website also shows you ways to improve, and other spiffy facts.

  Another really good tip that I myself will be looking into is water usage. I already plan on trying to find a way to save rainwater to use for the garden, since summers in florida are  half rain, half sweltering heat, but now I`m reading that low flow faucets and showerheads help conserve water. I`ve read and seen television shows that complain about low flow, saying that it "feels like a homeless man is peeing on me"- Samantha Who, or all the advertising for the massaging showerheads. Really though, I love me a massaging showerhead, but it kinda eliminates the need for my husband or submissive to rub me down, and do we really need to be pelted with pressurized water? I think I could adapt, not sure about the others in the house but eh, I keep track of the money :)

    There is also a chapter on how to green up your house, and no its not all about sun gathering and all that, but also about the products you use. I`m already researching the internet to try and find recipes online to make my own shampoo and stuff like that, see how much I can cut back. Sorry avon

 So I`m finished with the book, all in all it is a very helpful book. It`s short enough so you don`t fall asleep reading it, but filled with enough information to help you get a good idea of how to start out on the right path towards living green. I hope you check your local bookstore or library for this one.

Silver Lining?

So either god hates me or I just have some bad juju following me around..(anyone know someone who can get rid of that?)..but we`ve had a rough go of it the past few weeks. While the baby is recovering from surgery quite well, Tony`s been out of work.  Luckily he just landed a job that should help us meet the rent at least.
  Turns out our landlord just up and left a few months ago..explains why no one`s come by for the rent in 2 months. Well he left some of his houses in the care of his wife, and the others belong to his brother..guess which we fell under. The brother wants to sell the house, and already has a buyer who isn`t interested in renting it out. We were pretty much told to either come up with 58k to buy the shit hole or get out. So as much as I don`t like it, we`re moving. BUT as luck would have it that same night, after applying to every single house for rent on craigslist, at 8:42pm a duplex in lehigh came up! We called the number right away even though it was 9:15 at night lol.
   We went and looked at it already, and though it is small, I`ll finally have my own bathroom and dishwasher. Oh and water is included! Its 50$ cheaper a month and we dont have the water bill anymore. Problem is my dad isnt very happy its in lehigh. But we have checked it against the county records to make sure it is legit, and the owner has taken it off the market. The girl in it now is gonna be out on the 15th and we are trying to come up with as much as possible to get in. But we def. have a place.
   The biggest issue with finding a place is our animals. As you know most of them are rescues and their behaviour would get them put down. Sassy has separation anxiety and Kingsley is as aloof as a cat but as needy as a child. Not something anyone really wants around.