It was one of those mornings. Brandon was screaming for a half an hour, because he couldn’t find his backpack. No one could find the backpack, and I was asking him to move on, “Make your lunch.” He’s in first grade, his backpack is empty. We have other bags. Seriously. But it was super important to him. Important enough that he screamed for a half an hour, kicked everything he could find and went to school with an apple for lunch, because I handed it to him on the way out the door. And he still didn’t have his backpack.
He’s cute when he’s not screaming.
I could have made his lunch, but the rule in our house is “Nothing good comes when you’re screaming.” We don’t negotiate with terrorists, ever. That was hard. Right now his class is eating a decent lunch and he’s hopefully munching an apple. I’m praying for him and hoping his teacher doesn’t bail him out. I want him to see that actions have consequences and if he can learn it now, the rest of his life will be better.
Right now, my brother-in-law (45) is in ICU after suffering a massive stroke. He has 2 sons and a loving wife and has been active and fit his whole life. In a few hours they have scheduled a surgery to remove part of his skull to relieve pressure on his brain. When I think about that situation the other decisions I’m dealing with don’t seem relevant, but they are. (Just throwing that out there in case you might say a prayer for Greg and his family Gayla, Jordan and Brayden.)
I went to IKEA yesterday. Our local store has been open for 12 days and I was hoping I waited long enough for the crazy crowds to be over. It wasn’t too bad. The show room was mesmerizing. We only set aside an hour to shop (definitely not enough) so went home empty handed. This sounds random, but it relates, bear with me.
I had a garage sale last week and sold the rest of my baby stuff and everything else I could put my hands on. I cleared over $600 and still have a generous pile to donate to Disabled Veterans and clothes to pass on to friends. My plan for the garage sale money was to buy a rug and an Ektorp love seat and chair (now on sale) for the attic sitting room in Dub’s new bedroom. Right now the room has a cedar chest in it–that’s it. I threw some pillows on top to make it more of an inviting seat, but it’s not awesome.
With Brandon’s outburst this morning, I’m thinking the money might be better spent building an organizational system for backpacks and such. Like this: ⇓ And a working garage door opener.
Decisions. Decisions. Darren said, if I could scrape together a bit out of our budget, he would start building our bathroom. That is very tempting too. (How soon I forget the pain of no kitchen for 9 months and no flooring for 12….and am ready to start a NEW project.)
AND–if you follow me on Facebook, you already know I found a doctor to treat my strange illness. She confirmed it to be adrenal fatigue, plus food allergies, plus thyroid stuff. We are waiting on test results to pinpoint how bad it is and exactly what to do to make it better.
For now, I’m on an allergy free diet. Which is mostly protein free, since most allergies are to food proteins. It’s a 180 turn from the way I’ve been eating for years, the way I’ve felt the best. I have toxins coming out through my skin, my tonuge and other places it isn’t polite to talk about. She said I would feel even worse for awhile, and she was right about that. After 4 weeks of this, they will reintroduce one protein at a time and see what happens. I’m hoping eggs end up on the ok list. But I digress.
The bottom line. I can spend my garage sale money lots of ways: garage organizer and opener, beautiful sitting area for the kids in the attic (and it’s on sale!), one project in the master bathroom, or beef up the emergency fund for the medical bills that are likely to come in.
What would you do?
That is a tough call! Maybe for the mud room, you could get an inexpensive wire closet shelf and some hooks? I put one of those shelves up in the playroom for certain toys that have lots of pieces, like blocks and puzzles that I got tired of the baby dumping but they are still accessible for me to get down for the older children when they want them. I think I would save the money for medical bills and then see if any is left over after that. If so, then I would probably start on the bathroom. The sitting room sounds good, and I love Ikea, but maybe you could sew some big floor pillows for that??Ikea probably has the inserts at a good price.
I pray you feel better soon and prayers lifted up for your brother-in-law.
Thanks for the tips, Lisa!
I vote for the garage door opener and your master bathroom.
Interesting about the allergies causing problems with your tongue. Please describe symptoms? I have many digestive issues and after I eat certain foods my tongue reacts.
Thank you!
Dorie, I’ll have to clarify that I didn’t notice stuff on my tongue until I stopped eating those foods. It’s more like there’s stuff coming out of my tonuge (white stuff–TMI I know) It makes everything taste different. One meal I love the dish, the next meal I can’t stand to eat the same thing. I chalked it up to detox.
How much more money do you have to scrape up to do the bathroom? Is the $600 just a drop in the bucket which will start an addition that could take months if not years to complete? If that’s the case, I’d use the money on something to improve your day to day life right now. Regarding the garage backpack organizing system, I’ve tried this and here is what happens…..the backpack lands in the correct spot and then we all forget about homework (don’t judge) or the backpack is not placed back in the spot after homework. So, unless the designated area is somewhere in the house, the likelihood of them getting back to the garage without having to remind them is slim (my opinion only – not trying to be Debbie Downer). Last thing – this medical issue – is it only caused by and corrected by a diet change? Just curious – my mom is strangely tired ALL THE TIME. I read her your post and she was interested in the details and google revealed some information but lead to more questions. Good luck with everything. I love your blog and FB updates…..I think your fabulously creative and hard working!!
Hi Kristy, Those are great things to think about. Yep it’s just the $600 for now towards the bathroom, but then $300 a month after that. We could start a few things like moving doors, but not big things like putting in the shower. The rub is we’ve already demolished the area (almost 2 years ago) so I’ve been looking at studs, pipes, and insulation since then. So any progress in the space sounds like a good idea.
Thanks for the feedback on the backpack area. I was wondering if it really worked. We are such a mess here right now, I’m really searching for organization solutions. The good news is I could build the organizers and do the garage door opener and still have about $200 left for another something.
And about the health things–it’s likely the change in diet won’t fix this. Have her go to Drlam.com and read about adrenal fatigue and see if it sounds liker her. Right now it isn’t widely recognized as a real thing and is often treated with anti-depressants or as fibromyalgia when there’s some hormonal stuff that needs to be corrected. A good functional MD can tell the different and will know what tests to run.
And THANKS for being a loyal reader. It’s readers like you that keep me from giving up on the whole blogging endeavor.
How about a three week long nap? It sounds like you could use one, and it might be more fun to spend the money when you’re rested. Just saying… Hope you feel tons better soon!
Gallimaufry Grove–that is the best idea yet!
It seems to me that you are trying to make a lot of decisions at once with a lot of stress going on. Prayers to your brother-in-law and his family. I pray he makes a complete recovery. As for the other, here’s what I would do: decide on one thing for now and focus on that and let the other items hang out there for a bit. I think when they do they will clarify themselves, but if not, make the next decision. So maybe for now, focus on an organization system for bags/backpacks. I don’t think organization systems have to be things, they may be processes. It may be just as simple as identifying a place (even without a hook or a cubby :)) that backpacks and bags will go as soon as the kids get home, and work on making that a habit for everyone. Then, as you are focusing on this one thing, I think you will be able to come up with the best system for this one thing – maybe it is something like you included a picture of, maybe not. But focusing on one decision rather than 5 is just so much easier, and I think yields a better result. That’s my two cents anyway!
Sheila, that is very wise advice. Tt will save me a bunch of money if I can come up with a free way to organize in that space and test it’s viability before spending a lot of time and money on something that might not work. Maybe just hooks and laundry baskets for now and then see if we want to build the bench system at all…..phooey though. I like to steam roll ahead too much. It is a stressful time, but could be so much worse.
Wow, hard choices. I’d probably look for less costly ways to address some of the things, and lean toward seeing what the medical bills look like. Regarding that, I’m a bit curious about the protein bit (eggs and dairy I understand). My understanding (just from info I’ve been reading) is that meats, etc., from grassfed and pastured animals is generally healthy and nourishing for autoimmune issues in general. Also, I’ve been allergic to eggs most of my life, but recently found out that I seem to tolerate duck eggs OK. Have also had trouble with dairy more recently, but goat milk is working for me. Best wishes for you and your loved ones.
Josie, the duck egg thing sounds hopeful. The protein elimination is just for a few weeks–definitely not a healthy way to live all the time. When my body has a rest from trying to process them all, we’ll test each protein and see how I do with it. I wish I liked goat milk—I think I could get some fairly easy, but all I taste is goat, lol. I used to buy it for my kids who didn’t mind the taste at all. I do like almond milk–but it has no protein.
Hi! I just wanted to mention that I used to have adrenal fatigue, and I had many symptoms that seemed thyroid related and I am still working on food allergies! I have lots of information on health on my blog if you have a chance to check it out!
I am working on paying off debt so I have recently started following your site. 🙂
Thanks, Kristie! I’ll check out your blog. I feel like I’ve finally turned a corner (day 6 on the elimination diet) and food no longer controls me. It’s scary saying that out loud in case food cravings come back.
All goat milk is NOT created equal, I have found. I have bought store goat milk, and the goat taste was too much for me, but, when we lived in CA, we were buying raw cow milk from a dairy that also sold goat milk. I bought a quart to try, and, while I could still taste goat, it was at a barely there level that I know I would probably quit noticing after a few weeks of drinking it.
Hmmm…I would probably do bathroom. I almost said ikea. that’s tempting, and I love ikea, (but don’t have one near me!). But really, you could do the same thing with thrifted furniture.Sorry about first graders bad morning! 🙁
I am just wondering how you are able to stay within your grocery budget with having to buy healthier foods. It is a real challenge for my family, we are a large family trying to pay off debt. When I try to go healthier I seem to consistently go over budget. Have you had to increase your budget or are you able to make it work somehow. Thanks for your time. Praying for your healing.
Kim, It is a challenge for sure. Our budget is at $500 a month right now (food only.) I took some of my savings to buy food this month since the whole new diet took me by surprise and I had spent almost everything stocking up canned goods when they were at crazy low prices. Next month I’m hoping to do it all within the budget. Here’s some things that help: I don’t feed people who can eat anything specialty foods. So my gluten free crackers, almond milk, and nuts are off limits to the rest of the family. I try to eat real foods as much as possible. Fresh veggies, fruit, and chicken breasts aren’t very expensive especially at Aldi. Neither are dry beans, brown rice, and quinoa. I make a big pot of something just for me and eat a serving for each meal until it’s gone. Then make something new. So far that has been eggroll in a bowl; chicken fajitas; and creamy wild rice chicken soup with fresh mushrooms. It helps because I can cook a normal meal for the rest of my family and not have to cook 2 different ones. I really like these dishes so don’t get tired of eating them very quickly. I don’t consider the foods I can’t eat are unhealthy at all–it’s just my body is messed up and can’t process them right now. So I don’t have any problem feeding those good healthy foods (like eggs, citrus, peanuts, whole wheat etc) to my family. Hope that helps.
very informative, thanks so much for your time on that, Angela. Sincerely, Kim
Hey Kristie, make sure that your mom is not drinking diet drinks. A lady I work with is a physical therapist at a local rehabilitation place in our town, and she said so many people are nearly crippled and have such fatigue and so many times it is the junk in the diet drinks. Something about the artificial sweetener. I know I am not a doctor nor have I stayed at a Holiday Inn recently (LOL), but it may be a link if they are in her daily diet. Angela, I think I would do the garage door opener and then throw the rest at the bathroom. You could always buy hooks for the garage wall (Ikea has some cool things) with the bags that hang on them probably cheaper than the whole shebang. If you invest too much in the system, then you feel like it isn’t working, you may feel discouraged that you spent the money there instead of elsewhere. Just a thought! We lived in our house while we added on and for TWO years we had sawdust everywhere. In our bed, on the floors, in the air, yuck. I feel for you! Get them studs covered and put some pretty color on them, that will help your sanity greatly! 🙂
Gina, Thanks for the tip. We were just at Ikea a few hours ago and I didn’t think to look for solutions there. I’ll pop online and see what I can figure out.