not so silent Saturday.

 Thought I'd try a not so silent Saturday. Which is every Saturday! 

It's 30 degrees this morning. Thankfully, it will warm up to 50, but cold!! I'm missing all the green from our trip to the southern states where it looks like summer! I'm so ready for our trees all to be green again. It's slowly getting there as some buds are on the trees. Just not as advanced as Arkansas, Texas etc.. We even had snow flakes yesterday and a cold wind when it was 40 degrees for the high. Next week will warm up to the 60's with another crappy rain filled weekend Friday - Monday. I did see a 70+F on May 1st. The warm up is sooooo close now!! 

What do we have planned for today/Saturday? 

Gym - I need to lift some weights 24 minutes and will come home to do a mile on the cross ramp. I have to start doing this every day as it only takes 12 minutes. Not much time at all. Plus, do my daily plank/weights at home. The reward is always a chair massage at the gym! 

We will wait till the warm up today to sand the deck, or maybe we'll just get rid of the branches? I've stopped the inside home projects for now. Even though we could do more purging! It will be outside stuff for a few weekends. 

Also saving money. We didn't go out for dinner or drinks Friday night. I actually had purchase a $4.?? Rotisserie chicken at Costco and made some fried rice with leftover veggies from the frig, peppers, onion, broccoli, garlic and ginger root. It was delicious and we have left overs for today. The rest of the chicken, I'll go thought to feed Zoey a little all week mixed in with her veggies and ground turkey. This way it's not wasted. We've been trying to not go out for dinners since it really adds up every month. During our vacation we splurged a bit with going out to eat, but not as much as we thought we would. 

I tried to figure out exactly what it cost for our 10 day trip and with food, gas, misc stuff, eating out, camping over night costs it averaged about $100 per day or maybe a little bit more. The most expensive part was gas! We had quite a few nights where we stayed with friends in Texas that were free. The most expensive camping location was next to Lake of the Ozarks at $38 plus tax per night. I'm sure I missed a few purchases since we paid some with cash too, but in all a cheap trip!! There is no way we could have done it any cheaper unless we didn't do the camping at all and didn't get out or have drinks out. That's part of the fun of the trip and without camping it would have cut our trip 5 days shorter. I love taking a more adventurous trip. The hip camping is the part I love the most. It's just so different in all these cool locations. We get a true adventure when that's hard to do these days. It's the part I look forward to the most. If I could do it all year round as adventure I'd do it in a second. Feels like you are truly living when you are closer to nature and the elements of course, I'm more of a fair weather person. It wasn't bad in the rain, but obviously you are limited in the exploring part. Its still do able. I'd skip all 30 or below temps too. That's just too cold, unless you have a heater, but would rather be in warm areas. I don't think I could do a humid place either like Florida and camp. That seems miserable. I think Spring without scary storms are the best time to camp/car camp/road trips. We'll continue to do a spring trip every year and fall too! 

I finally figured out what I did wrong on the FASFA for Logan. Ugh! Should have said no instead of yes to a weirdly worded question on the on line form. Once I clicked no, there was other info to fill out for the parent income and the IRS info was able to transfer. He should know in 3 days what kind of aid he will get for college his senior year. Guess this year more kids qualify for money so we shall see what the amount is as it's supposed to be even more funds? Not sure if that is true or not? Any help is great help in paying for college and less loans. We do pay as we go for his apartment/food/supplies etc. So at least that will help long run keeping up with the expenses. Logan will have student loans of at least $15 to 20K. My father had put money into a college account before he died in 2002, but found out from their financial adviser that my mother took out all the money and closed the accounts. I have no idea of when she did this as the advisor couldn't disclose that info with out my mom's approval which she didn't give. So crappy of her to do that, but it still is her money, just was left for my other two kids. It sure would have made it possible to not have student loans for them, but it is what it is and I can't do anything about it. I just can't imagine doing that to be cruel. They did nothing to her, only exist which they don't for her by choice. She wanted me out of her life and I complied. I'm not 100% innocent in the situation and take full responsibility for my actions. I see where I was wrong, but just because I decided to speak out a few times, should I be exiled for life? Guess so because that's where we are at. It's all for the better as I always felt harshly judged and treated. Why surround yourself with people that want to bring you down. Why do that? Are you that miserable? I sure don't want to do that to my kids. Build them up and be proud of them no matter their faults or differences. We all just want to be happy and live how we see fit. I try to forget the labels they put on me, not responsible, a lier, a pain. I am responsible, I might be a pain sometimes and might tell a few lies here and there like everyone tells a few lies, but I've learned admit when you lie/and its always easier to remember the truth then a lie. More than often the truth is always sounds better then making up a story that you won't remember. Just because at 5 years old I had a good imagination I'm forever called a lier. I got pg at 18 so I'm forever irresponsible, I've always been called Lorraine the pain by my sister so that's what I must be to everyone. The damage is done, but I can rewrite my own names. Carrying, giving, responsible and generous. I might still be a pain but isn't everyone sometimes. I might still tell small lies but I sure try to be honest and yes, I'm a very responsible person with work, life and commitments. 

I was going to delete that last post, but this is my thoughts and I'm okay with posting.