The Bunch Have A Hay Set Back and A Gets A Job!

We haven't done a lot this past week, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been a lot going on behind the scenes. We are finishing our last couple of Fun Jar items before school starts next week and we had an unexpected hay set back.

First off, last week I was so excited that I had found hay in this crazy market. I felt like I had won the lotto. During the delivery on Monday, D noticed that the hay I ordered and paid for was NOT the hay being delivered. Once you have animals that require hay, you learn very quickly what the different types of hay look like and what was on the truck for delivery was the same lower quality stuff I had already bought the week before. I was not very happy since I had asked a dozen times when I bought it if it was definitely the hay I specified and was assured that it was. Nope, it wasn't. Hay delivery was sent back and they still charged me the trip charge for their mistake! We had to go back to our original plan B. This means using the lower quality for the bulk of their daily diet, but supplementing with high quality hay. This means getting square bales which requires a lot of space to store. Right now you can still find hay square bales fairly easy, but that will most likely change as fall and winter get closer. The square bales are very expensive so farmers with a lot of animals tend to not want to buy very many in bulk so right now there is a surplus of those. However, once the farmers can't find the rolls they need, they will either need to sell their herds off or buy super expensive square bales. Luckily, my parents have an empty barn on their property so our plan B included filling it up with 54 hay bales. D and T spent a whole day taking 2 loads over there, but now we are definitely set until May with hay. The horses aren't too fond of the new hay, but they still eat it, just not as excitedly as the other stuff. It definitely isn't the worst hay we have seen for sale. In fact, it was a lot better than I originally thought it would be.

This week I decided to repaint T's room. It has really been needing it since we moved in, but it took 6 years for me to finally feel like painting a house again. It turned out great and he loves it. He didn't even want to put anything on his walls because he thought they looked so good.😂 I just used the left over paint that L had from when we did her room and it was luckily just enough. Once we are able to get rid of the gross carpet and get the grey colored laminate, it will look so nice! We did L's closet with the leftover vinyl planks we had from when we remodeled our old pop up, just to see what it would look like. Unfortunately, all this proved was the carpet was really dirty (even in a closet) and that the color will look sharp with the color of paint she picked.

I never remember before pictures! This time at least I remembered before I started painting, but it was after I taped everything.

It was a very bright yellow. Pale yellow I like. Bright yellow kind of screams at you.

He loves his new room.

I really like the color L picked out. Artic Mist.

Won't that color look nice throughout the house. Definitely better than their dirty almost shag like carpet!

We are putting off any major renovations though until we see what the economy does. Our electric bill was $435 dollars this month! If you have been to our house in the summer, you know we live modestly: black out curtains, thermostat at 78, mostly use fans, no lights or only one led light, and we have foam installation which means our a/c actually cuts off, even on 111 degree day! Many of D's coworkers have complained about electric bills over $700 so I know by comparison that ours is pretty good, but WOW. I feel for people who can't absorb the extra cost. There once was a time our budget was so tight that we literally would not have been able to afford a bill more than $150 than it normally was. Not only are the electric bills out of control, but the cost of food is out of control too. The cost of living increase this year is at about 10%, but don't worry D's work is off setting this with a 3% raise! I am happy the town is giving raises. There have been many years we did not get one, but an increase of less than half of the cost of living increase seems a little out of touch.

A heard back from the vet office she interviewed at and she starts on Monday, August 29. She will work MWF and every other Saturday. This will be a big adjustment for her since it is her first job and she will be going to school full time. My little girl will be very busy and we will not see her a lot. It will be a big adjustment for us too. I am so proud of her. She did this all on her own. I only helped tweek her resume a little. It is hard for me to let go of her, or any of my kids really. We get comments all the time about how I am a mother duck with my little ducklings following me in a row, which is kind of weird now that the kids are so old. However, I am straight up a mama bear. If you mess with one of mine, she comes out. I really try to hold it in at T's games, but in all honesty, there has been some definite times she has emerged during games. Snide or cruel comments aren't overlooked with me when it comes to my kids.

One of our last fun jar items was going on a hike and swimming at the lake. I expected the lake to feel like a hot tub since it has been so hot, but it was actually cool. We had to slowly get in to it. It was a nice way to spend the day.