Oh phew, finally have new on preschool teacher. She apparently has some fybroids in her uterus. I am very aware of all this kind of thing because both my mom and aunt-in-law have gone through a lot with this, resulting in hysterectomys. So apparently she is having a hysterectomy next week. I am relieved it is nothing more life threatening, though going under the knife is never a great thing either. She called us all last night and laughed when she found out how dire her assistant made it all sound. She said oh she didn't mean to keep it a secret - wish she had told us. I think she got the point when we called that we were all extremely worried about her!!!! The downside - she is closing the daycare until January!!! Ack!!!!! Of course my usually pleasant son was behaving like a banshee this week - I think dh had about the worst day ever yesterday, just to top it off with this news. I felt that no doubt part of his behavior was missing the regular routine with his wonderful teacher. He was pretty upset when we told him he'd have a couple of months off. Wish us luck that he doesn't drive dh completely insane. He is at that terrible 3 age which for the most part hasn't been as terrible as I hear (neither was 2 really but he could speak so well I believe that whole terrible 2 thing really has to do with lack of communication. Sure he had his moments but don't remember the tantrums and stuff so to speak since he could always tell us what was wrong). 3 is frustrating because apparently at 3 they just completely tune you out. You can repeat yourself 1000 times, say it nice, yell or scream, no matter what - they have a knack for completely ignoring you. Talking ot my friends this sounds pretty usual - the frustrating part of 3. & throwing toys - oh my. We were going to get him a Kid Tough digital camera for Christmas but now we rethink. The way he throws and drops his toys he does not deserve anything so nice. & the best part is the baby is now a copycat. Now when he is done, he throws his sippy cups across the room. Of course that is what you do when you are done with any object. Oh my, a long 2 months ahead...

The silver lining to this cloud is that I will probably get $150 refund for this month and will save $300 next month for preschool. I am kind of excited about that. I Also made clear to dh that did not mean he should not look for a job. Every little bit extra helps right now. I was kind of thrown off by our huge property tax bill, and still have to pay off the estate attorney, so this will really help. I don't have a huge hold on where we will be at the end of the year, but if we have a surplus because of this I will apply it to our personal loan. Would like to knock it down a few hundred extra - woohoo. & gee, I am so gald we don't need preschool and are not scrambling to find alternate care right now. It's got to be tough on those daycare kids.

Bird guy came this week and for $150 re-birdproofed front area of house. Their little alcove which the birds love so much. There is a lot of bird poop he didn't get - the way up high stuff. I imagine we may go up and work on it ourselves one of these days. BUT I have not seen a bird on our house since. Woot. So far so good...

Yesterday I lost a dime. I think that is a bad sign - LOL. I was going to pay for a $1 meal at BK, and I dropped my dime when I Was sitting and waiting and playing with my change. LOL. Bummer. I have been finding money and getting lots of little windfalls so I just have to wonder is this a sign of things to change. Of course I lost a dime around noon and found out at night I would save $450 this year. I guess I am still on the good side. Dime was just a fluke!

I figured I would start documenting my meals. I feel we eat pretty good on our grocery bill. Breakfast - applesauce & wheat thins, hot chocolate, lunch - BK bacon cheeseburger & soda - Dinner: homemade chicago pizza bake & garlic bread, milk. Not the most gourmet day, but dh feeds us pretty well overall!

Just did my training call for financial literacy. It was kind of dissapointing because it sounds like they have too many volunteers. It's good, but it's bad. I am not sure if I Will even get a chance to go out and speak. Oh darn - LOL. But I will try.

Of course they did say if we worked out something on our own they would support us with materials and such. So I am thinking I will have to try that perhaps. Or start thinking about how I could do this on my won completely.

With tax season coming up I don't plan to spend much time on this, but maybe a project to figure out next summer.

Anyway, we got some really great ideas though through this training. They said one thing they did was "build a budget" - either as a class or in groups. Start with an income and put together a budget. Then re-evaluate the wants and needs and how to pare it down. I guess they have a lot of materials on compounding and saving $1 million, etc., the angle discussed here in the forums.

Another idea was to bring in some of our credit card offers and analyze the interest rates and fine print, etc. Kind of like saying - hey doesn't this look great at face value, but let's really dig down and figure what this means. With real world examples. I think that is a GREAT idea.

Suggesstion for generating discussion - if someone asks a question, pose that question to the rest of the class first.

Also bring candy as a reward for participating in the discussion. I went to a professional presentation where that was done - for adults - and it REALLY worked. Kids probbaly really eat that up - literally - hehe.

I also got a link yesterday about the American Institute of CPAs new ad campaign and savings push to the 25-34 year old crowd. HEre's their new website.

---------------------------------------
www.feedthepig.org

"Benjamin Bankes is not just your average pig-about-town; he's a piggy bank, all grown up. And Benjamin has a message to share: Feed the Pig. In other words, take small savings steps today to build a solid financial tomorrow.

Benjamin is the star spokespig of a new national public service campaign from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and The Advertising Council. The goal of the campaign is to encourage the 40 million Americans age 25 to 34 to take control of their personal finances. The campaign, Feed the Pig ™, is a new component of the 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy effort which aims to educate Americans about how financial issues affect their lives. It features a Web site, www.360financialliteracy.org, offering free tools and resources to help Americans manage their finances through every stage of life.

Become a friend of Benjamin! Check out his MySpace page!

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is the national professional association of CPAs, with approximately 330,000 members in business, industry, public practice, government and education. The AICPA sets the ethical standards for the profession and the auditing standards for private companies, non-profit groups, and federal, state and local governments.

The Advertising Council has produced thousands of PSA campaigns addressing the most pressing social issues of the day. The Ad Council aims to foster tremendous positive change by raising awareness, inspiring action and saving lives.

For more information about this campaign, please contact feedthepig@aicpa.org.

Thanks. Now go Feed the Pig."
------------------------------------


They have a lot of work to do. But look out for Benjamin Bankes - coming soon to a t.v. near you.

Frankly, I think the pig is creepy. We'll see how it goes. LOL. For now I think this site is doing a lot better, and much more appealing. We'll see all they have up their sleeve I guess. I think an online community like this makes all the difference in motivating people to save though. OR keeping up interest, vs. somewhere where you just read articles.

Many topics to post - I Can never be short and sweet - LOL. & the amazing thing is some of you still read my long ramblings. WOW!

I have horrible horrible luck. Just did the drawing for the work guft exchange and for the 3rd year in a row I got a MAN!!!!! Aaaarrrrggggghhhh. I once again have NO IDEA what to buy. You can't appreciate how unlucky this is until you know right now there are only 3 MEN in my office and 9 women. This is probably about the same ratio for the last few years. What gives???? LOL. Oh well, any good manly gift ideas?? My coworkers have helped me out, I will ask around again for ideas this year - hehe.

I am also super super bummed and wanted to ask for prayers and good thoughts for my son's preschool teacher. *sigh* He only goes M & W, and I noticed her assistant was there in the morning AND the evening. I usaully never see her now that he goes full day. HE also told me they watched something on t.v. which they NEVER do. I put 2 and 2 together than she was sick, and was surprised not to see her yesterday either. Knowing this cold has been nasty and long-lasting, didn't think much of it. But another parent came in as I Was walking out last night and asked how she was doing, & "did she just have that nasty bug?" HEr assistant and husband replied, "oh, we will be filling you all in later." What? OMG! So I really pressed my 3-year-old for more details. HE said he saw her because she took herself to the doctor, that she has been going every day, and then came home and went back to bed because she wasn't feeling well. Who knows how accurate any of this info is - he is 3. But I have been really WORRIED about her since. She is simply the nicest and most amazing person I have EVER met. What in the world could be going on? I told dh when we got home and he asked if she could be pregnant. Hmmmm. I doubt it, but she is on her second marriage and though probably 40 or so I just had a 45-year-old friend on her new second marriage - she just had a small child. You just never know, huh? I have the feeling that is not it, but beats her being really ill. Gah, it's really bugging me now. I am going to e-mail my friend who has her son there every day and see if she has any more info.

EDITED. Friend e-mailed back - she said that preschool teahcer is going into the hospital for more tests TODAY - she has been goiing every day it seems. They told her she is having "issues" and will fill us in later. *sigh* I even played detective and checked her daughter's MySpace page - she had set it to private since I last looked. Darn. In the dark for now, but sending lots of positive thoughts that all is well.

Well besides all that, my wish came true. I think I blogged last week that it would be nice if dh could even bring in $50. After looking at last month and the $200 or so I brought in besides my paycheck. I was thinking time he helped a little too! Well he brought home $50 the other day - woohoo. Of course, he sold my guitar, ahem, but he is getting another $50 for it soon - installments I guess. A good deal though, I think - though who really knows - so long ago - I think I bought it for around $50 from my old friend. It is not the prettiest guitar, but easy to play and sounds good. I really like it. Last time I played it? Who knows. I don't know much - I just play a lot of instruments so can pick up the guitar and play a little easily. I never got past the bar chords though - too hard for me - hehe. But dh borrowed it for a movie shoot, and they drew on it - a fake signed guitar for the movie I guess. Then someone liked it so much they offered to buy it for $100. Black sharpie ink and all. I didn't really want to let it go, but being relistic, I have another guitar (looks pretty but not as nice overall - LOL) and dh probably has 4 or 5. I just think it is funny he is out selling my guitars and not his. Hmmmm... But whatever. Makes it another $100 this month. Yay! I know I Am going to use a little of it to splurge when we go to San Francisco next weekend.

I just noticed my bill was only really $25, because I volunteer to pay an extra $6/month to support green energy. I rounded a little, so in the end it was REALLY only $25.

I Was just looking at my electric bill which is separate from my gas bill. It was $20 including a $5 servie charge, $2 or so in taxes, and the $6 voluntary green energy payment. Gas was $11. I don't have the bill online to look at the details. But just amazing how low the bill is with that $6 - don't think I Was paying that last year.

Hmmmm, I have really no idea why it was SO low - the electirc portion was 1/3 of last year at the same time. I am thinking overall weather. We had the heat on for a while a day or 2, but the house has reamined steady between 68 minimum at night and 74 maximum during the day since. Pretty pleasant and no doubt unusual for late October and November. It is raining today and warm overall.

I am starting to worry if they read the meter wrong - hehe.

Oh yeah - and another interesting article from the state CPA society today - on shady credit card companies:

Well I am honored you are so impressed with my low energy bill - hehe.

I Was driving to work today & heard an ad for energy efficient lightbulbs.

Reminds me that is abig thing for us as well. Plus the house has a lot of open space and windows so we rarely use lighting during the day. It's probably often assumed a big new house is an energy hog, but not the case at all in mant instances. They put extra insulation in teh walls and roof, dual paned windows, more natural lighting, etc., etc.

BUT one huge factor is the compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Our has came with light fixtures in each room, with these long-life CFLs. I am not even sure we realized we had such fancy lightbulbs until a year or 2 out and not having to change 1 lightbulb. We are coming up on 5 years in our house and we have replaces one bulb. One went out in the kitchen - probably the most used room - and I thought "oh no!" Are they all going to die at once? Will I have to buy 50 new bulbs? & how expensive are they anyway?????? I was a little frightened, surely lightbulbs that last upwards of 5 years are VERY expensive????

So I looked them up and they really didn't cost that much more than regular lightbulbs. They certainly cost more, but not what I had imagined. & I saw they were rated for 10,000 hours+. !!!!!! NEedless to say the one that went out is a fluke. & since we had 6 lightbulbs in the kitchen we haven't even replaced it. Maybe when 3 or 4 go out it will be time. For now we are just using less electricity than we were before. I should probably go throught the house and take out 1/2 the lightbulbs, probably wouldn't make much difference...

I also saw at the time that CFLs use 1/3 - 1/4 the energy of regular lightbulbs.

No doubt this helps the bottom line of our electricity bill.

We have really found that investing in the newer energy-efficient appliances and all this REALLY pays off. This is probably our lowest bill ever, and all I Can think this is maybe our first no-heat/no-air month since our new washer/dryer. We had a 30-year-old model before and recently upgraded to the super energy-efficient. Doing laundry every day with kids and cloth diapers and such, we see a huge difference I guess.

Well - check out the CFLs:

Opting out of collission insurance on your car does not make you uninsured in the least. Gah. It is opting out of one type of a whole lot of auto insurance.

When you buy a car for $1k, have $30k in the bank, and the annual premium for a $500 deductible collision policy is $500, why on earth would you pay it????? Collission only insures the replacement value of YOUR car. If car is totaled, insurance company would likely value it $500, even if you just paid $1k. & if that is your deductible, then you are not insured anway. You get to pay the deductible, plus you just wasted $500/year on worthless insurance premiums.

End rant. LOL. I actually came on tonight because I Wanted to veg out and read other blogs. Just a little frustrated.

Insurance is clear as mud, ain't it. I've been trying to re-evaluate our health insurance and I feel like you have to be a rocket scientist to undersatnd it all. Luckily I think I got auto insurance figured out, but I am trying to be patient with the whole rocket-science aspect of it all.

But seriously, if you drive an old clunker, OR if you have a car that you have driven for many years and is long paid off - stuff to think about. I encourage everyone to UNDERSTAND their insurance policies. knowledge is power. Peace to you all.

So help me if anyone replies to this blog and tells me that it is illegal that I don't have collission coverage on my husband's absolutely worthless car. Or why this owuld have any bearing on liability insurance, personal injury, uninsured motorist, etc. - all necessary coverage if you ask me. & yes which I have!!!!! My newer car is fully fully insured. But I will be reevaluating it in a few years no doubt. Very case by case of course. So learn more about what you are paying and why.

Oh yeah - and with having 2 cars and only *needing* one car at this point, affects my decision as well. sure, if you rely on your car and something happens it may be nice to have some coverage and maybe a rental in the meantime while it is squared away, etc. IS that part of comprehensive of collission??? I Don't know, but regardless, I could take the loss on an entire car and it wouldn't affect me much. When dh gets a day job and relies on the 2nd car more, something to consider I guess. For now, not much to consider.

& NOW I am off to read what you are all up to...

Oh well, my Tuesday update.

Got the electric & gas bill - $30 for last month. Woohoo. You don't know how refreshing it is to come to a site where this is the norm. I have been appalled on other sites I frequent - when gas/electric comes up - people's average bills are $500/month. Seriously. You hear how bad utilities have gotten and I wonder if this is somewhat norm BUT most of these people admit to keeping their house 72 degrees day and night in the winter, etc. The idea of conserving energy has apparently never crossed their mind. As for us, $30 is about as low as it gets, I can mostly thank the weather. We turned on the heat a day or two this last week, and right now it is 73 inside and no heat on for a few days. Next month will be a lower bill than usual probably too - yay. But overall with a new baby we tended to conserve a little less. This year so far I haven't been too quick to turn on the heat - the kids are running around like banshees, keeping warm, and the baby is a lot tougher now and can handle the cold a little better. We'll probably set it to 68 during the day and who knows at night, maybe 60 - it rarely turns on at night at 60 I believe - trying to remember. When the kids are a little older we'll just turn it off altogether at night like we used to!

I just renewed my AAA membership and was surprised looking through all the discounts available. I remember looking through in years past thinking it is all stuff I never use. But I noticed supercuts, payless shoes, a lot of restuarants, and even Pier 39 in San Francisco where we were going to go next weekend. I'll have to check that out. I am bummed though my not too smart with money friend who was going with me might bow out because she can no longer afford it. Am working on dh to come with me. Oh well, maybe it will be a little adventure with just my son and I. You know, just looking at $10 for the train and maybe a lunch out. So it is nothing huge.

Oh yes - and one more thing on saving money - was just paying all my bills and thinking in my head how much I am saving on stamps with online bill pay. I Am sure all you savvy savers use it, right? I used the service through my old credit union and it SUCKED. It was free. But they debited your account immediately even though they just wrote thec check for you - it would often take 2 weeks to clear. It drove me mad. Sometimes checks disappeared and they would want a stop payment fee to cancel it. They drove me mad. Talking to my co-worker who is a bookkeeper she said she worked somewhere before where people with online bill pay were always getting screwed like that. So I thought this was normal. But I was at a very small credit union and I just switched. OMG - my new online bill pay is still free but it is AWESOME. I just set up all my credit cards (before I did not trust the payment would get there in time). A few bills come directly to my credit union, and they do quite a few electronically. For the ones they actually write a check - they don't post it until it clears. HAllelujah. I love online bill pay. I post this because if you have a sucky service, shop around. The difference is probably that this is a much bigger credit union. More resources I guess. Well since I am using it a lot more, not just for the little bills I don't care if are late - LOL - I am now really saving on stamps. The only thing that is annoys me is I run through deposit slips way more than checks. Can I just order deposit slips I guess? I need to.

Oh well, I figured I was good on jewelry the rest of the year and did not intend to spend much this month. Nothing on the horizon, I haven't spent any money in about a week or so. & then yesterday I saw some new cookiee lee jewelry and I absolutely HAVE TO have it. I will probably spend $20 and it is well within budget, but it is annoying me. Darn Cookie and her cute jewelry. LOL. I'll just have to work on sellin gsome to pay for it...

Well, off to vote. Dh was cute when I said I Was going after work - he said - "But the lines will be SO long!!!" Is he serious? Bah. LAst time I went around 5:30 and I was like 100th to vote all day - something pretty dismal for a big city. So he is telling me - remember the RECALL election??? The line was huge. I don't particularly remember, BUT you now, it was the recall election. I think this year will be a little more quiet. I just find it extremely ironic, besides annnoying and frustrating, that Arnold has done everything that his predecessor did 10 times worse. His predecessor took a lot of contributions and had a lot of debt. That was their argument against him. Then Arnold came in and did it 10 times worse. ?????? I tend to vote 3rd parties, and I Was going to this year and thought better. I do not like the democrat in the least and feel he is very budget-responsible. But if I really think about it, I do not foresee him just using billions and billions in future bonds to pay for today's expenses, as arnold likes to do. I want Arnold out. *sigh* Not counting on it, but it will be interesting to see what happens. It would be nice if someone fiscally responsible ran for governonr - but that is just dreaming I guess... Oh well, my political rant for the day.

Well, I feel SO MUCH better today. YAY! Back at work...

I am trying to put all my energy to work so I get a nice raise and or/bonus, and some overtime. I had wanted to work some OT in OCtober, but stuff always seemed to get in the way. Trying for a more profitable November. I brought in a lot of extra income last month through Ebay & Cookie LEe & expect more through some freelance accounting work this month. BUT putting in an extra few hours at work every week should be the easiest and most profitable... So I will work on it.

All that being said I am not too sure of my ability to focus and not pop online more than I should. But I will try - if you don't see me around it is good!!!! PRobably more blogging, but less posting. Bums me I don't have time to keep up with all the threads as is. HARDLY. LOL. But not even work, at home it looks like a tornado hit after being sick all week. I have no idea how I survived while pregnant (and very sick for 9 months). Dh is great in many ways, but picking up and cleaning, not his thing. Cooking, dishes, caring for kids. I guess it beats nothing. But when I Am out of commission I sometimes wonder how they would survive without me. SHould I hire a maid in my will? LOL. We are drawing up wills/trust now. I think I should have a maid clause. I Think he would just live in filth.

In the meantime, next years budget is looking more dismal by the day. TOo many unknowns to freak out yet. I Am trying to be patient. I should get our new health insurance premiums soon. Then I will freak out until I get my raise in january. Trying not to think too much about it until I know my pay and my expenses, which right now are somewhat unknown. But just got our property tax bill which went up $600/year (thank you worthless school bond) and I forgot our AAA membership which I just paid. Expenses are inching up fast. We'll re-evaulate when we have all the facts - more busget slashing I Am sure.

Dh said yesterday he will look for some tempt retail work. Not holding my breath. We figure he could work until mid-December, he has had a month to look for something. He has done squat. Going temp may work out better for us, may even work beyond december, but he has to get on it, sooner rather than later. *sigh* In the meantime I Am the only one bringing in any income, regular and extra and otherwise. SEriosuly $50 would help. HE doesn't need to bring in much.

Oh anyway, cool thing is my cruise is booked for next June - OMG. I am SO EXCITED!!!! I tell you I Could live wihtout fancy vacations and I never saw paying for a cruise in my future horizon. But a free cruise - bring it on. The even better part is the whole 4 days and 4 nights without kids - OMG!!! Sounds like pure heaven. We have had a few weekends away, but 4 nights is pretty sweet. We will probably miss them too much - how it always goes - can't win I guess.

The longer you read my blog the more you will conclude that dh and I are just simply spoiled rotten by his parents. Probably true. They gave us $3k last year AND a tirp to hawaii. & now this year I expected it to be super low-key and frugal, and now I am going on a cruise. Goodness! The funny thing is his parents are so "whoa is me we are poor." (Oh please - insulting to the truly POOR). & think my parents all rich and my parents are always like what the hell, they bought you what????? THey gave you what??? Maybe if they kept their money and stopped giving it to you - they wouldn't be so poor!!! Hmmmm. I think it is extra insulting because my dad did grow up extremely poor and my MIL's attitude is so whoa is me and my parents are lucky or something. Maybe some luck but a whole lot of hard work. Plus at the end of the day they are probably pretty equal financially - just spend their money very differently. The last time my parents dropped $3k on me or took me to hawaii? Hmmm, never. & I wouldn't expect them to.

Oh yes, but I do have the details and our cruise goes from L.A. to San Diego, Catalina Island & Ensenda. I have never been to cataline Island or MEXICO for that matter so I Am super excited.

I haven't even told any of my friends because I know they will just roll their eyes at me all spoiled rotten. I am keeping it low key but just had to get all excited here I guess. You can roll your eyes at me too I Don't mind.

HAwaii was pretty mixed because we had to travel with the kids. IT's like who says no to hawaii. But it was the second time we traveled with an 11-month old and the second time it sucked. Looking back we decided to say no next time. But then this comes along no kids. Our other gripe with Hawaii is we had to spend a lot of money in the end. It was free and MIL even bought us groceries for the condo we stayed at, etc., but it still cost us $500 in eating out, etc. in the end, and it was not a fancy vacation. I fear this cruise may head that way so I am budgeting hard for it so we can enjoy it. Though it is already looking good as the website had all the excusrions and none looked pretty interesting to me. Most of them were in LA and SD - been there done that. So that is good I guess. Mexico I think will be fun to explore on our own, as Catalina Island. For now my biggest worry is if we have to dress up for dinner or whatever. Yuck - LOL. Can't we just wear our jeans??? We'll see... It is nice they have all the message boards with info and I will learn as much as I Can ahead of time to keep the cost down. For sure we will have to pay some tips. I Am not sure what else at this point. But I Will be happy to lay on deck and chill and not spend a lot of money. As will dh.

Ah, I am REALLY looking forward to June!!!

Those rotten germies got me this time. Whatever germies ds brings home from preschool tend to hit hubby the hardest, and have let me be overall, which is strange since usually I am the sickly one. But this time we all got hit and we all got hit hard. This is a nasty one.

The cost of preschool is far more than $300/month. We'll see if my boss deems me worthy or a raise this year even with all this sick time. Bah. The upside is the last few times I bowed out of work dh was really sick and I Was able to take some work home so I didn't lose a full day of work. We are getting more paperless and all that, which is really cool as I see in the future maybe dh will get a full-time job and maybe I Can keep mine and just work more from home. You know I am an early bird, I could see waking up at 5, doing some work, taking the kids to school, going to the office, picking them up, and being done for the day. I hate working from home having been there done that, but the added flexibility is pretty superb. Thank you internet! This week dh actually suffered all week and I suffered 2 days at work, but friday I just couldn't tkae it - I felt like hell. Even right now I really should be resting...

Oh anyway, I have mad withdrawls from savingadvice.com. HAd to pop by!

Oh yeah, it never really occured to me that there migh be a lot of accounting-type personalities around here, but makes sense I guess. If the idea of a budget doesn't scare you, or even sounds fun, maybe you are the accounting-type. Hehe. Just surprised at the response to my "75% of CPAs are retiring soon" freakout. I need to do some heavy recruiting here I guess. I will do more in the future.

Oh my goodness - this is so creepily accurate. See the link below.

Black is one of the most beautiful of colors and yet is the void of color too. It is the color of detail.
Black personalities want every thing done in detail. They are statistical and make good accountants. Internal Revenue Service agents probably like this color.
If a job needs finishing, these are the people to finish it. These personalities need leaders, though, to tell them what needs to be done.
Under guidance, they are able to get to the crux of the matter and solve very large problems. When put in a position to find the mistakes of others, they are right at home.
Loving puzzles, and finding others' mistakes brings out their tenacious spirits. Black personalities will sometimes intentionally find mistakes just so that they can repair them.
This color is one of holding things inside. When one wears black, they do not want to be touched. Putting a barrier between themselves and others is the purpose of this color.
Keeping their strength inside so that they can better protect their emotions is the effectiveness of this color. Although they want to be part of the world around them, they want no one to tug at their sensitivity.
Black is a relief color for most people, like "Mom's apple pie". It makes them feel comfortable and even, in some cases, makes them feel smaller, allowing them to hide from the sometimes cruel world.

What Color are you???

I have a few random thing to blab about today. First I looked at the budget for october and we were pretty square on. I was a tiny bit over in a few areas, but just a few dollars here and there mostly. Groceries we were over by $60. We still have issues in that area. $560 for groceries when $500 is our average. I am not sure why all this trying to save on groceries has pushed our bill higher except we tend to stock up a lot more on stuff on sale. Hopefully we will see the resulting decline in purchases in future months. I know we spent about $30 to host a get-together in our home AND that I had wanted to make eyeball cookies and try a new granola recipe and dh came home grumbling how I blew the budget out of the water. All he had to do was call me at work and say "this is too expensive." I would have figured something else out. Oh well - now he knows. Oh but we were under budget for gas by $60 so all is well. Even out!

I also saw an interesting - good and frankly scary - that 75% of the nation's CPAs were due to retire in the next 10 years. OMG!!!!! I work in a CPA firm, and I know everyone assumes I am pretty rich as a result, but frankly CPA firms are the bottom of the barrel. They used to get you because you had to work for a CPA firm for 2 years to get your license. The work is great, very interesting, you learn A LOT, BUT overall when I graduated you were expected to work 80-hour weeks for about $30k. When you could go get a $60k job easy out of school. So I did it just for the CPA designation. But shortly thereafter that law was changed, no longer needed, and as a result starting pay has about doubled the last few years. They just can not recruit people to save their soul. & the whole getting a CPA thing is now 10 times easier as well, but still we are not recruiting enough talent for whatever reason.

So I have been in a pretty sweet spot in a way. I have job security like you wouldn't believe, recruiters banging down my door, AND my pay has doubled in just a few years. OVerall I feel like my boss pays me just enough to make a few k more than the new grads, but I also sympathize that his operating costs have about doubled in the process - hehe. But it is downright frightening to think what a shortage there will be when the baby boomers retire. Wow. I don't want to go back to those 80-hour weeks, for sure... But maybe enough power to work how and when I Want all the same - there will be even more begging and pleading for people like me. Man, I hit the jackpot when I picked a career I guess. Who knew. Most of this paradign shift happened when I was in college. I remember the Big 5 frims were like the elite of the elite and you had to be the BEST to get in and get your $30k/year - LOL. Now they just grovel at your feet - they'll take anyone.

Finally, I bought a *new* car in March. What was that - 7 months ago???? 8??? So today I get a note in the mail that they underestimated the cars registration fees and I owe them $60. In fact, it says "we are trying to register your car but we are short $60." LOL. Are they serious? I just re-registered my car a couple of weeks back. I peak at my original registration and they indeed pay $218 when they registered it (8 months ago by the way - none of this "we are trying to register it and can't without your money" crap). & they indeed charge me $160 on my contract. I pulled out the contract because I believed that there was some wording on the contract that it was an estimate, but I Was thinking there has to be a time limit on that. Come on. So I pulled out the contract and well it says nothing of the sort about it being an estimate or you may owe the difference. It's a final bill of sale and they picked the price. Whoever rung it up screwed up, but oh well. I can't believe their nerve. Good luck!

I then called my parents and chatted with them because I didn't want a lien against my car for $60 or anything. But they assured me the car people were shady bastards. I decided to ignore it. If I get another note dh can tell them that we don't intent to pay it - he is good at that stuff. Seriously though, I paid them $15k for a car and now they are coming after me for $60? Boohooo I feel bad for them - not. & honestly if I got the notice 6 months ago I probably would have paid it without a blink. But the whole waiting 7 months thing is just too much. They were assured they wouldn't get any money out of me as soon as they said "you need to pay us so we can register your car." What utter and total BS. I Call them on it. Scare tactics I guess.

I hold car dealers right up there with credit card companies. I will deal with them when I Can get a good deal, but I will hate every minute of it. They are the worst of the worst. Blah. So you know, not that this is the worst incident ever, but I already have so many issues with car dealers - LOL. Just somethng more to gripe about.

I never really pay attention when my paycheck is due - I am usually surprised like - oh yeah - it's payday!! Pleasantly surprised actually.

But today I need to run to the post office at lunch, and since it is payday too I came prepared with deposit slip, envelope, and misc. checks I have been waiting to deposit. I figured I would run it ro the mail today at lunch with the Vanguard stuff.

So it is 10:00, no check, and I just noticed my boss is not here. Strange I think, so I look at his calendar and he is out until the afternoon.

So the ONE TIME I am eager for my check and make plans around depositing it ASAP - it is not here??? Figures. LOL. Oh well, I planned lunch around the post office trip as well, so paycheck will go out in the mail tomorrow I guess. No biggie, just negates all my planning ahead and gathering deposit slips and envelopes...

In other news I finally got my new credit card downloaded into Quicken after much trouble, only to notice that the closing date is set to 11/16. I start freaking out because I am not really sure how to reconcile the budget in my head with a credit card that ends mid-month. I am not happy, but explains why the last customer service chick told me it was closing on the 30th but due date was 13th. I Was SO confused, so now I Realize we were not talking the same language or something - LOL. I want it to CLOSE at the end of the month - so she sets it to the 16th??????? So I called customer support again today and asked for an end date of the 3rd. I thought better of it because that gives time for everything in the month to clear. My current card ends the 4th and is pretty good but usually sneaks in something from the first of the month. So I figure the 3rd would be ideal for budgeting and quicken purposes. I probably should have just made it the 2nd or something - then I could prepay anything that didn't quite get in for the prior month. Well now I am thinking smarter - oh well. So now my due date is the 28th which is the same as my other one. IT matters little but at least I have some time to pay it - more than 13 days from close - hehe. So it sounds like the whole 20 day grace period plus a few days for mailing/preparing statement is pretty standard after all. Both this card and my other card allow 25 days from close I guess - maybe that is the standard. I was just so confused before. Glad to straighten it out and get my first bill in just a few days. Earning 3% - oooh yeah - fun fun fun... I've been earning 1% on my spending for over a year - but 3% is even better - woohoo.