Still confusing with the Medicare but we're down to a waiting game now. Jon's waiting for confirmation of it showing in his account and so am I. I am also waiting for confirmation from Sharp that I qualify for having them. I do remember having to close my previous account with them because I couldn't pay it on my own. Hope that doesn't impact that because I don't have to pay for anything with them. Medicare and the state are taking care of costs.
Will see what happens, email said it would be ten days for it to show on my account. Still trying to pay down the electric bill. I used most of my birthday money to make a minimum payment on that last month and did $90 this month, which was more than I wanted to pay but it covers my current bill for this cycle.
It is Santa Ana conditions down here right now, been hot and dry as a popcorn fart with hardly a cloud in the sky for four days. Cold enough to want an extra blanket on the bed at night so it's 'desert' weather. Makes for difficult gardening because it's too warm during the day for seeds to do well. All that info is over on my garden blog of course.
I knitted a handle cover for our small fry pan. I saw a quick video on someone who took a cheap pot holder from Dollar Tree and glued three of the edges together for making one. I looked at that pan then at our pot holders and thought, 'What the heck? those are way too big even for a standard cast iron pan handle. And they glued it together with strong fabric glue... no way. I looked at all the spare yarn that I was given and remembered a technique for making an open tube using two needles. Took me about a week with everything else going on and having to rip it back twice but it works fine. It's all wool yarn and we have electric burners so no flame damage. Tested it out and it is still a bit loose but works great. Easy enough to wash it in hot water to shrink a bit.
This is a batch of refried beans I made in the crock pot and transferred to my dutch oven. Followed a recipe on pinterest and I think the only thing I'd change is not put onion in and use onion powder after the fact. Jon loved it though and that's what counts. I still have plenty of dry pintos left for sure so will try again another time. The other picture is some quick spanish rice and spicy fried chicken I made the same night. It was all quite good so I'm happy getting the hang of cooking in our small place.
Every time Jon says, 'when we get our dream house' which we both know is just that, a dream, I start running through the listings I've saved for the PNW Oregon primarily and the mobile/manufactured homes specifically. Doing calculations, scrutinizing any potential problems, neighborhood, all the things you do when considering a move somewhere.
I once again realized that in order for us to actually take that dream seriously and make it happen, we have to start doing something serious and not just hoping the money we need will drop in our laps. Still can't figure out what though. I have to sit him down and ask what are we willing to do in order to make it happen. How badly do we want it? Every time I've sort of broached the topic he says 'I'm thankful for what we have' and we both know that means, 'we have to tolerate this because it's all we can afford'. Now that California has hit the most expensive place to live, it kind of drives it home that we need a change.
Let's say I find a place in a good neighborhood, structurally sound and affordable mobile home and it's wonder of wonders, just under $100k. In Oregon. I've looked around here and even the space lease is more than our rent. Okay so let's say I find a great place to move to in Roseburg Oregon, 3bd/2ba with porch, small yard and deck as well as washer/dryer included (which is rare) here's the breakdown I came up with:
So, that's just the cost of actually purchasing the house. We would need at least $5000 for moving. If we use a moving company (with all the stuff we have, yah, we need a huge truck) which I saw one estimate of $2000 since it's an out of state move. The remainder of the money is making sure the car is fit to drive that far, paying out any utility bills left over, associated costs on the trip up there and getting groceries and any other supplies we would need when we get there.
So, rounding things up to make it easy, $150,000. I may have missed a few details like if we have to fly up there to finish the paperwork as a done deal, we would need that cost plus staying in a motel for one night and flying back.
So yeah, I've worked out the rough idea of how much it would cost because the more I do that, the less likely it's going to happen. It's been my curse all my life. The more I plan on something the less likely it happens or happens the way I wanted it to.
I just wanted to show that I am not just dreaming, I'm making myself aware of what it would entail and it's kind of frightening.
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