Lately I have been experiencing stress yet relief at the same time...crazy huh? Having the Flu and my car being broke down during a time where our hours have been cut and my paycheck looks terrible has brought much stress to my life over the past week. Today I find some relief...ahh! I am relieved that it seems my car issue is the timing chain and hopefully that is it, and it will be back in driving condition Monday. However it comes with a nice little cost, right now we think about $650.00, but that is better than the $1,100.00 the Honda dealership wanted. I hope it isn't any more than that, but we won't know for sure until the mechanic is finished. Still that's a lot of money for our extremely tight budget. Luckily we got our tax money back this week so the money is there to fix it. That is a stresser because we had several things we needed to do with our tax money (fix the roof on the screened in porch, make some repairs we have been putting off on Marks truck, put a new liner in our swimming pool and a few other things) but I guess those things will have to wait now. Another thing that is taking the last chunk of our tax money is my part of Winston's (my brother) truck for when he turns 16. Originally the plan was for him to take my car and I was going to get a new car this year, but that is not going to happen, so I have been stressed over what Winston was going to have to drive when he got his license. At the same time a burden has been lifted...it just so happens that Marks dad had decided to sell his Dodge truck and he asked if we were interested (knowing we needed something for Winston). He is selling it to us at a unbelievable price so after talking with my Mom and Sister we decided we should jump on the offer. Winston wanted a truck anyway. We know it has been taken care of and it solves our problem of him not having something to drive. So the rest of our tax money is going toward my share of the truck. It's good that I don't have to worry about that anymore and bad that all of our tax money is gone....so I feel stressed and relieved at the same time, if that is possible. I thank God that I have such an amazing husband who doesn't mind us using our tax money to help pay for Winston's truck!!! I am also thankful that I have such amazing in laws who agreed to sell the truck for much less than what they were asking to help us out. My in laws are wonderful!!! I haven't had a car in a week and Marks Mom handed over the keys to her Pilot so I would have something to drive until I got my car back. It comes in handy since I have to go back to the doctor tomorrow and run some errands. Not to mention while I was sick over the past week they brought donuts for me and also made some fried chicken and fixins for us for dinner one night :)

After having the Flu for the past week I am finally starting to recover a bit. It has been a hard week working while I felt so bad. When we came home for lunch I would have to lay down and then as soon as we got home I was back on the couch for the evening. Today was my last day this week and I am thankful it is over and thankful I am getting a little energy back! My house was dirty, laundry needed to be done and bills paid...I got several things accomplished this evening. Most of my cleaning is caught up, laundry is finished and I have sat down and got all the bills paid so I am satisfied. Tomorrow I am going back to the doctor because I still have an awful cough that is keeping me up all night and since taking the medicine I have a rash on my arms and the top of my hands (weird). So with my Asthma I figured it was best to get back to the doctor to get those things addressed and just make sure the Flu hasn't left any problems that might cause my poor little body harm. So I have doctor, lunch with friends, grocery shopping and a ton of errands to run tomorrow so hopefully I can get everything done. I would like to enjoy the weekend since last weekend I was stuck inside on the couch :(

Everything works out some way and some how. With all the stress in life I often forget that things aways manage to work out. I have been so worried that my car was gone for good and I knew we wouldn't be able to get another, but God always provides for us. The budget may be tighter than ever but it is manageable. As long as I have my amazing family and good friends life is good :)

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!