2 weeks old

Hello everybody!
  
Again, it's been a while since I've posted and again I'm sorry.  Luckily, We've been busy at the store. We are officially 2 weeks old!  Ahhhh, just a baby!   So far it's doing pretty well, especially since we haven't really done any real advertising yet.  People are slowly finding us and even though it's been a little slow lately, we are sure things will pick up soon.  We contacted our local newspaper and they put in the business column that we are open and what we are about... thankfully the cost was Free!   Next week will start a paid advertising in the paper.  We added a coupon to it, so we're looking forward to seeing just how many folks actually use the coupon.  We have a festival coming up in just a couple weeks that we are really looking forward to doing.  We really think things will take off once we do that festival.... lots and lots of people come to this festival. 

On the home making side of things, My house is actually clean!  :)  That's always good news!  I made up that schedule I had talked about and it is working so far.  I'm totally exhausted by the end of the day, but hey, I sleep well!  One thing I do have to change is how I mow the yard.  Usually I just do the front of the house and the sides and do the back another day.  (I don't have the privilege of having a ride on mower, I have an old push mower.... not even a self propelled!)  But lately, I fit mowing in when I can, so I've been doing EVERYTHING in one sweep and end up, well, embarassingly sore.  So, I'm gonna have to stop doing that.  Luckily though, when the summers get hotter, the back yard tends to grow at a much slower rate.... so at least my neighbors won't hate me too much! 

The garden is coming slowly but surely.  I'm sad to say though, that my onions just aren't doing that well this year.  Last year I had so many that I had onions up until February, but this year... I'll be lucky to have a couple months worth.... I moved them to a non raised bed at the top of the yard (we have a slight slope) and after some hard rains the earth was pushed away from them leaving their tiny shoulders exposed, I tried to fix it, but they just haven't been happy since.  I definitely need to keep things in beds here for all the critters and eroding rain. 

Food wise, we are on a strict budget, but I'm shopping as healthy as I can given our budget and doing better.  This past week I've alternated between meat and beans as a protein, and it's going ok, but hubby is still getting used to it ;)  

On the financial front, we are plugging along.  We still haven't sold our car we wanted to sell.  Our neighbor said he would help us with changing the oil and things like that to get it sold, but he has been busy, slowing down the process.  We have not seen the inside of a restaurant for 2 weeks now and that was on the company dime.  We took out some folks for dinner that had done some graphic work for us for the store.  I feel a little out of control when it comes to our financial life right now.  When you have no money going into the account and only money going out, it gets scarey.  When I talk about it to my husband or ask questions, he thinks I'm doubting him, but I'm just being a girl who needs to talk about my fears.  He looked at me just baffled when I told him all he has to do is encourage me when I get like that.  Tell me everything will be fine.  That simple. 

I have felt the need to re-read America's Cheapest Family : Gets you right on the money written by Steve and Annette Economides.  I read this book about a year ago when we were in the home stretch of paying off all our debt and for encouragement and freshen the ideas I'm reading it again.  It's great and if you're a money geek like me, you'd enjoy it. 

Well, guys, thanks for hanging in there with me during my update.  I know I need to take pictures- I really need to take the time to do that.  Let me know what's going on with you. How's your financial life?  Are you a full time working homemaker too? 

Until next time friends!