I am just now getting around to do a quick update.
I am inundated with news, social media, work, texts, calls. Everyone telling me what I need to do and giving advice. It is hard for me to keep up. People want to help but I don't know how. I don't like asking for help and I like to do things on my own and be independent.

Today is Day 14 for me and I finally got into the house! I opened all of the windows. There is still power even though it was shut off for awhile. It took some time to get the front door open! The refrigerator was toppled over. The water line outside measures 28inches and when I opened the garage it was 54 with the condensation to the ceiling.

In the house the mold is past my shoulders and I'm 5'4". Downstairs consists of living, dining, kitchen, 1/2 bath, garage and hall closet. All appliances.

We are staying at my moms now but I really don't want to be there for 6mths. Her house is in need of repairs and I just overall don't really like the living conditions but how can I swing a mortgage and rent elsewhere, right? Plus we are about 1/2 an hour from my house so I'm driving to three locations because I work downtown, mom lives in Houston and my place with DD1's work, DD2's school is in Katy.

For my 2013 Honda Civic they are giving me $10,443 and its totaled out. I have a few numbers from people at church that I'm going to call to see what they have available.

I have co workers and my stepdad that are coming tomorrow to demuck the house. This is all I have time to write for now but will update everyone later.

Please keep us in your prayers! It's going to be a long process.

I made it in to work today and brought DD2. She's busy watching Hannah Montana on her phone while crocheting. We will only be here until 10:45.

I'm am ready to go home, put on my stretchy pants and hibernate. We have all supplies we need except for a battery powered radio. I have a ton of books to read and movies to watch.

My roof was repaired on Thursday. Since it is 16yrs old and the last time it rained I had a very small leak the size of a quarter but no water actually came down from the ceiling it just bubbled. They came out and did some touch ups and said the roof should be good for another 5 years. The repair guy told me it will be around $7K so now I know the number to save for.

I had my garage repaired yesterday. The chain came off and the rollers and springs needed replacing with some other things. I added a keypad to the outside which is really nice and they added a lock to my other garage door that has a broken handle on the outside. They don't repair the handle but that door is the one that is opened to take out the trash cans and I park on the other side.

I am so impressed with the companies. I found them on Angie's List and both had a worker at my door in less than 24hours after placing my call and the work done was great. Those reviews really help!

Now on to my neighborhood.

The subdivision is located between a watershed (the bayou or drainage channel) on the north side and the levee on the south side. The Barker Reservoir land borders the eastern side of the community.

Keep in mind that when designing Canyon Gate, the engineers made it so if the subdivision SHOULD flood, the streets are considered part of the drainage system would flood before the homes (which are elevated) do. All streets flow to Canyon Gate Blvd. and then to Mason Road to funnel water away.

Here is a YouTube video taken last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rHebkVdorc

I did a little online shopping today and got the following...

White House Black Market
I picked up a cute white t-shirt with ruffle short sleeves. It cost $58 and I used a $50 coupon. Shipping was free. Total out of pocket with tax was $8.66! I got a large but I do not like things tight on my chest or stomach so if it doesn't fit I will save it for a Christmas present for my sister.

Home Depot
I also picked up a 7.5ft led pre lit Christmas tree. Shipped free to the house. Original cost was $149 and it was 75% off with tax I paid $39.95!

Tomorrow is payday and I went ahead and did my budget since the money hit my account today.

I have the evening free tonight as DD1 will be at work until after 8:30 and on Thursdays my mom picks up DD2 and she spends the night then I get her Friday around noon after I get off of work. My mom is keeping my nephew and niece this summer (during the week). They have a good time playing together. Since DD2 is the oldest my mom says she helps to keep the little ones entertained.

With my free time I am trying to fill it with things to do so I don't get sucked into Netflix or Pinterest which can be dangerous for a single gal like me.

I'm going to run some errands..

I have sandals to return to JCP.

I'd like to pick up mulch from Lowe's. It's $2/bag! My yard desperately needs mulched. While there I am going to look for some fruit trees. Some things are 1/2 off right now.

I am also going to swing by Petco. I printed a coupon from their website for free cat food (Whole Earth Farms brand) with any purchase. I'm going to try to see if they will honor it if I get a $2 cat toy. Looking at the fine print there isn't a specific dollar amount that you have to spend.

I might pick some flowerbed weeds and then do laundry and pack for the trip!

I need to pick up trash bags, t-paper and litter but I might order that on Amazon depending on how I feel.

I almost forgot but I need to swing by the bank to pull out cash to fill my envelopes.

To top off the night I will probably watch a movie and relax with a bubble bath.

What is something that you like to do to relax?

Has anyone else jumped on the LulaRoe bandwagon? I've been buying pieces here and there for awhile now.

Today, I'm wearing a solid black Perfect T. I love this shirt because it isn't form fitting on my stomach area instead its nice and flowy. It's slightly lower on the backside to cover your business and has slits on the side that you can tie into a knot if you remember the 80's trend.

So I've got that on and some jeans cuffed and my new Tieks that I got for Christmas. $175 shoes that I absolutely love. It did take me about 3 days to break in but now they are my go to shoe. I want another pair.

Last night I bought another LulaRoe dress. It's been on my watch list. It's a solid emerald green. These aren't cheap but some investment pieces and are timeless in my opinion.

I tend to wear the same thing every week and spice it up with accessories. Today I've got on the cutest scarf with foxes on it. When I wear this scarf I like to think ...'I'm foxy'. Bwahahhahaaha

Below are a few pictures that I had on my phone (I'm cleaning out pics!). The 'when pigs fly' leggings are soft material and the band around the stomach is like that of yoga pants. Super stretchy! The TC size fits 12-20 something. These have replaced me wearing yoga pants. By the way, I only wore these out in public once and boy oh boy did I get some stares. LOL! I like them and they are fun. I wear them around the house to lounge in. My girls love it!

DD2 has been taking tumbling classes. I got an email saying that if we swapped out the payment info from being on a debit/credit card and changed it to auto withdrawal from my checking account we could get 2 Parent Night Out passes. This is great! DD2 will be thrilled. Parents Night Out is on Friday from 7:30-10:30. She has been only once before so I know that they charge $2 for half a slice of pizza (they cut them in half) and they sell drinks and candy. The gym is open and she can get in some extra practice.

DD1's 21st birthday is coming up next month. For the past few years now I have been taking her on trips. Last year it was Dubai. This year it is Iceland with a few days in NYC because that is where we are catching our flight. For fun in Iceland we will enjoy the Blue Lagoon, go inside of a dormant volcano and snorkel the Silfra. One day will be driving the Golden Circle. Talk about crossing things off of the bucket list! I am so excited for our adventure. The food there is expensive so I am planning on bringing some things, going to the store and having hot dogs. We will receive some light snacks when doing the volcano and silfra tours. There is also a tomato farm that I want to visit and they have a small café there where we will eat. Other than that we will have one nice dinner. Oh, I almost forgot. We get free breakfast at our hotel.

We have both been to NYC a few times and have done most of the touristy things. I imagine we will sight see and get some exercise. I know for sure she will want to go to Soho and I will want to grab a bite to eat in Little Italy and there is an oddities shop she will want to visit called Obscura. I went there last time I was in town. We will spend time in Central Park and having adult beverages in the RLounge looking out on Time Square. We will probably see a Broadway show.

I saved $100 by cancelling a Viator reservation and booking directly with the tour company. I also saved $31.38 by using Viator on another tour and not booking directly. How silly is that?

I've got my garden ready to replant. I just need dirt and seeds.

DD1 is working on her thesis. She graduated high school just two years ago! She is also working two jobs and helps with her sister. I have great kids!

I decided to move the $2K that I had in my Vacation Fund over to my Car Fund along with the refund that I received from the Travel Agency for the China trip that they had to cancel.

I've given some thought to the mission trips and the single parents cruise and we are not going.

I'm going to have to channel my love for searching for great travel deals into something else to keep me occupied.

Imagine what I could do with no house payment. That sure would be nice!

I will not be meeting my goal this year for paying down the house mainly due to child support. I have received it twice this year.

It is not a matter of not having the money either.

Thank goodness for the Dave Ramsey plan!

Over the weekend I got an email from the travel agency I used to book the China trip that said the trip will not materialize.

I was given three options.
1-Rebook for the Feb trip which is more money.
2-Apply funds towards another trip.
3-Have a refund issued.

I went with option #3. I will be getting back $2,198 and I've set aside an additional $2,000 in a vacation fund for the visa's, excursions, spending money, etc.

I'm debating on what to do with the funds. I could just leave the $2,000 in the vacation fund and apply the $2,198 towards the mortgage or just use all of the money $4,198 towards the mortgage. Or hand tight and see what deals will be available for Cyber Monday.

There is a lady in my neighborhood who dresses up as a witch and walks around in the evenings. The other day I spotted her sitting outside on her driveway in a rocking chair.

She dresses up big time even adding these long nails and she has this walking stick too.

There has been a lot of neighborhood Facebook comments about her and photos posted. Some people think its just creepy to do that everyday.

She posted on there yesterday. She just really loves Halloween and used to do children's theatre. She said if anyone wants to bring there kids by for an after dinner story time she's be delighted.

HAHA! I thought this was neat to share.

Last week I missed a day of work because I had a dead battery. I tried to jump it 4 separate times with DD1's car and it wouldn't hold a charge. I didn't have the tools to pull the batter out. DD2 had work and a exam so I couldn't take her car. I waited all day and my stepdad came to the rescue at 5pm. I am so thankful to have him in my life. He is a busy guy and I sure do appreciate him.

When the car wasn't working I started thinking, I need a new car! I've got 150K miles on my 07 Dodge Nitro. Then I snapped back to reality real quick! Cost of the battery $142.88!

While at home I spent more money on the internet. This was the same day at that the other lady posted about her capsule wardrobe and I was doing the same thing. I spent 4 hours on Pinterest just browsing. It's crazy how much time you can waste on the internet. I went to Everyday Savvy on Pinterest and bought the Fall Target Capsule Wardrobe for 2015. I didn't buy the shoes, dress, or jeans because I have those things that I can substitute and I don't like dresses that have a drawstring around the waist. I used a credit I had and spent about $130.

My neighborhood had a garage sale this weekend and my neighbor had some cute stuff that would fit DD2 including a Halloween costume! Total was $33 but I was short $5 and she took what I had and threw in a free shirt. Woo hoo! DD2 wore her costume all day Saturday and Sunday. Today was picture day at school and instead of wearing a dress she wore her new Monster motocross shirt that is black, neon green, pink and purple. Garage sale $28.

I was sick over the weekend and spent most of my time resting. I took DD2 to a fun night at church on Friday while I window shopped at Target and TJ Maxx. That's about all the excitement we had.

Countdown is on 100 more days until China!

Friday - I took off of work since I only work 4hrs to take DD2 to the Dr for her yearly check up. She is 52lbs and 4'2". The Dr said she is within the 20th percentile for her age group. She is on tract to be 5'2" when she is an adult. I thought that was a neat tidbit of information! She passed her hearing and eyesight test. She had a mark on her forehead where a kid at the YMCA wacked her with a dustpan on accident. She also had two very badly bruised knees where she slipped on water in the school bathroom. The Dr told me that because she is petite and double jointed to be careful and not let coaches make her put too much pressure on her joints. Her arm she can pop her elbow in and out if that makes sense. She's just a cute tiny thing. After I was already to the freeway she left 'Bamboo' her favorite stuffed animal at the Dr's office. I had to turn back around. Dr visit was covered under preventative under my insurance and free.

Later that evening I took her to a school fundraising function. They were playing the movie Epic in the school cafetieria/gym. Adults bring lawn chairs and kids come dressed in their pj's and they bring pillows and blankets. Then spread out on the floor with their friends and enjoy a nice evening. There was pizza available for $2/slice and soda for $.50/can. Candy/cookies and popcorn were 5 Boxtops.
I spent $10 on a pizza and took the left overs home for DD1.

Saturday - I cleaned house! I'm still not done. There is always more! I sold 4 items on the neighborhood FB page and made $20. DD2 and I also went to two libraries that are close by and one was having a sale. DD2 got a Wizard of Waverly Place movie, Judy Moody and the No Bummer Summer movie and a Judy Moody book. Total was $2.50 and they threw in a Harry Potter special effects DVD for free since the movie was missing.

The girls went to my parents Saturday night they wanted to take DD1 to dinner for her birthday. I stayed back knowing that they would want to spend the night. DD2 came back home with SMENCILS aka the new thing for kids smelly pencils.

Sunday - I had the day to myself. I went for an hour walk. It was nice outside but hot after I got to walking. I'm trying to improve my health so that I wont need to be on medication in the future or have a hard time when I am older. I am already pre diabetic and need to lose weight. I went to the grocery store and spent about $70. I walked around Target and picked up pretzels that I forgot to get earlier for DD2's science class project they are going to have this week. Spent $3 on a large bag. Then I watched the Netflix series Zoo which is pretty good. James Patterson book (I think).

Great deal I scored - I bought 2 packs of 36 double rolls of toilet paper for $10 and received a $5 gift card.

...and yes, I am 36yrs old! Last night I was talking to DD1 and telling her to reflect back on her teenage years and just let it soak in that this is the last time she will ever be a teenager. She is entering a new season of life. We talked about goals for the next decade. She told me "mom how do you feel that I'm going to be in my 20's and you'll be in your 30's"?

I just love her so much! I'm very thankful for all of the time I have had with her.

Tonight we will go to The Melting Pot to celebrate with a nice dinner. I was able to snag a Living Social deal for $22 that includes cheese and chocolate fondue. YUM!

Association Fees $1011*
Christmas Account $500*
Emergency Fund $10K*
Property Taxes $3638*
Car/Maintenance Fund $404
Vacation/Entertainment $2K*
BacktoSchool $500*
College $2181*
Home/Maintenance Fund $157
Life Insurance $235*
Health Fund $1K*
Checking $30*

These accounts are kept in an online account. (Capital One 360). I like that you can open an account with just $1.

Accounts with an * behind the number mean that I am not contributing to these and they are funded for the year. I'm working on beefing up the Car fund to $10K and the home fund to $2K. The home fund will be complete this year if everything works out according to plan.

The college fund is almost all gone. Then DD1 who has been paying for some things will be paying for all of her college needs.

I keep very little in the checking and then when I need to pay for something I just transfer the money from the savings category. I do have a credit union that I use for everyday things. This is what has worked for me.

My auto and homeowners insurance is up for renewal. It is increasing by $369.

The auto went up an additional $241 and for homeowners $128.

I have asked the independent insurance agent to research it to see if he could get a better deal. I'm going to do some research of my own.

I lost my post so here I am retyping

Pending FB sale for my trampoline for $40. It's been raining a lot here in Texas and the person who is coming to pick up the trampoline has to take it down and haul so we are waiting for a better day. I have another person interested incase he flakes.

Dental refund update. I over paid my account by $40 and the dentist agreed to give me half of what I paid for the root canal/crown. Now that I have opened an investigation with the insurance company she doesn't not want to issue me a refund for anything. I told the office manager that the $40 was over payment and that it should be refunded and she said she would send it but it might take up to a month. I will have to stay on top of that and on top of the investigation so that I can get the benefits replenished back to my account and see if the dentist is going to honor the agreement of refunding me half of what I paid out of pocket.

Hater at work. SD is a lady that I worked with 10 years ago at another company and I know her well. She is very difficult to work with. She has chased two people away recently and they are looking for a replacement. I saw that the job was paying up to $90K and applied. I told her. She hasn't spoken to me all week. I'm going to withdrawal my application.

For my 5yr anniversary at work, I picked out a Bulova watch. I received it yesterday and it is just as nice as it looked in the catalog. I had planned to wear it today and forgot.

I also received a post to a garden bed that I am building. Over the weekend while assembling the post broke. I am surprised at how fast they shipped it.

Digging through my purse looking for a USB I found a few things listed below that I put in there but forgot about and I'm glad that they haven't expired!

-$2 CVS ECB's
-$10 JCPenny
-Kroger catalina for a bx of free tampons
-$20 Kohl's cash + 15% off coupon

I hope to get a few clothing pieces from Kohls and JCP.