I really dislike the end of the year.

$3000 to IRS
$1200 to estate lawyer
$1100 to house insurance, which BTW is undervalued - will probably pay more - have an appointment to review next week - BAH!
$2200 property tax
$500 car insurance
$150 bird poop cleanup
& then there is Christmas!

Yes, not all of the end of the year bills - just the ugly and unusual ones. I am sick of Bills!

I REALLY like spring. I work like mad but generally we don't have much in the way of big bills due and I get paid overtime. So yeah I work my ass off a few months, but around may I am generally rewarded with a slight tax refund and a nice overtime bonus. Then summer is super slow - no big bills - and then fall hits and it feels like it will never end.

Oh well, just a few more weeks of this. This was my third try to pay all the big bills, keep getting interrupted - so I just wrote them all. While I Was at it paid all the bills for the month. Still think I can save $500 by Dec. 31. Wow, imagine what I can do without all these big bills coming due!!

Oh the IRS & estate lawyer are just one time things, but it is giving me a hernia - such a chunk of change. *sigh*

I also wrapped a few christmas presents and dh ordered our older son's gift. I think he just has to find something for his dad and leaves December to pay for all the potlucks and gift exchanges. Cash for boss, gardener, etc. Christmas has hardly made a dent in our budget so that is the upside I guess. With a lot of planning anyway!!

Dh got $100 cash for the guitar and we are getting $130 cash for that bounced check today. I took the check out of the equation when paying the bills so that is $230 cash. We are going on a little road trip to San Francisco this weekend so with the cash I think we will splurge a little. Certainly not all of it - plenty left for savings too. Woohoo.

Frankly I hate cash because I can't just transfer it to the E-fund, or track very easily where it all ends up. Was thinking of having dh use it for grocery shopping or something but then we would lose our 3% cash back.

Oh yeah - paid all the bills but also got a $100 cash rebate from our old card. Just a matter of time before we earn $250 on our new one though. I love getting "interest" on our purchases!! Now that is the best!


In the realm of "free entertainment", dh is taking the kids to a tour of the police department today. Think the toddler will like it - planned through the parents' group. They have library storytime thursday too. The world is not ending without preschool - LOL.

& oh my gosh, the baby is starting to talk - so CUTE! He was sitting next to me and kept saying "Ball-y" or something like that when I realized he was saying "Belly." He just kept saying it over and over last night and lifting up our shirts to look at our bellies - so CUTE!!! LOL. This is the time I feel horrible as a parent because I could never pick up on what my kids were saying 1/2 the time - I feel this is a huge disadvantage as a working parent. You know it's bad when other people understand your kid more than you - LOL. & I wasn't sure if my older son would be ruined because the only thing worse was dh was even worse than I and he was the caregiver. BUT my older son turned out okay, in fact he kind of just started out talking in full sentences and everyone says he speaks extremely clear for his age. Probably because that is the only way we could understand what the hell he was trying to say - LOL. He seriosuly completely skipped baby talk for the most part. So I feel less panicky this time around, but it stresses me out not knowing what else I am not picking up on, all the same. I am sure he is saying way more than I can grasp right now. For now, I do a lot of smiling and nodding. Whatever you say - baby!