I wrote 2.5 articles yesterday - woohoho. Just means I need to whip out one more before our cruise. (Well, 1.5). I was thinking of maybe taking the week off, but I feel caught up.

HAd a very nice day with parents. They took us to Mimi's which is a divine little place, but I think they pared down the menu. I remember going and the menu was like 10 pages long, and impossible to decide. Yesterday was kind of a small menu. What happened?

Dh made meatball sandwiches for dinner - one recipe I haven't shared yet - should post it. Divine!

Showed them the Little Miss SUnshine while I worked, and they loved it.

By the time they left I just collapsed exhausted. Oh yeah, we went to the park and grandpa snapped off a ton of pictures with his fancy camera. I'll share when I get some. Another reason why we don't really do the professional picture thing. Grandpa gets plenty of fancy shots and the ability to print any size.

But that does remind me the kids do need a haircut and also we will probably take them to Sears or something for a few pictures. IT has been a long time. Hmmm, I am remembering now that grandma took them for pictures with their cousin last summer in their matching outfits. It feels like it has been longer...

I cut both kids hair the first 2 years, but I am officially out. Ugh. My goal is just to chop it as short as possible and then let it grow for 6 months, but BM has monster hair. It's not very long as a whole, but the top just grows so thick and sticks straight up. LOL. & I butchered LM's hair last time so I figure just like with BM it is time to go pro. Sames me much time and hassle and saves them embarrasment.

Now that I think about it I wanted a haircut before the cruise too - has definitely been a few months for me. Maybe we'll all get haircuts next weekend.

Anyway, thinking about all this stuff as their birthdays rapidly approach. I cleaned out the cupboards a short while ago and noticed we have a ton of "Cars" plates and napkins still, from last year. I was kind of thinking of just making it a Cars birthday - would be easy. So anyway, we were discussing it and I asked the kids what kind of birthday they wanted. BM said he wanted CARS again. Well, sounds good to me. We settled on the weekend after July 4 & I am taking most the week off - so phew.

I told dh we better get out invites before our trip. Like it is sneaking up on us! Anyway, this will be nothing big. We are still so overwhelmed from Christmas that I really don't have much of anything in mind to buy the kids. Dh wanted to get a couple of things so whatever - fine with me - he can do presents. Will send out evites. Will make a box cake. Will invite family and a few friends. Wala. Asking for no gifts too. So a very simple party. I may buy a few party supplies/favors on ebay and will definitely go get balloons the day of - that is our special thing. & BM is old enough this year to maybe go along and pick some out! Overall I don't really expect to spend much money on the whole affair. I'd be surprised if we spent $100, gifts and all.

Last year we got Round Table Pizzas and my mom paid for it. I told dh we should compromise. We love the raley's pizzas so much but was not sure how to keep them all warm (only can bake 1 at a time). So I told him maybe we should just order like 2 big RT pizzas and then get a couple of the $5 pizzas, when cut the cost down significantly. I am sure Grandma would be glad to pay, but rather not put her out either.

Which reminds me, I am sick of useless party favors so I am trying to think of a useful party favor for small kids. I'd rather buy them all McDs gift certificates or something, and maybe the parents would appreciate. Better than little useless toys. Any ideas appreciated...

Anyway, dh was nice and ran my paycheck to the bank yesterday. I transfered $800 to short-term savings. If nothing else I am well on par with that. No big bills due until August I believe... So will have about $3k in there before the next bill is due. Will help my net worth in the interim, but not the long-term. I called my bank and there is no maximum on the 5.70% CD But I can't set it up until my money is in the bank. So anyway, I transferred it over and hope it will be there Mon/Tues and I can get the CD set up.

I also updated my pages. I have all these goals that keep getting revised, so found it easier just to lay it all out. I can revise it as things change then:

http://monkeymama.savingadvice.com/goals.html

Today I have to get some significant work in, and I also have to clean the ENTIRE house. LOL. Oh well, I feel a little motivated. I had wanted to take Friday off to kind of catch up, but work is so hectic. So I figured if I have to work my ass off from now until next weekend, it doesn't seem so bad with vacation on the horizon. Regardless of money I kind of wanted to enjoy some excursions and see some sights at the places I have never been (Mexico) but dh and I decided that frankly we really want to just do NOTHING. & that is a lot cheaper. I think I can go for it. I also have to hit the library before we go - need some good reading... Have any good book suggestions? LEt me know. Staying away from financial ones, just some good old lazy books...

Soon enough we have to pack and register all that.

OMG I just realized I don't have my passport yet. EEKS!!!!!!!!!!! But I have my original birth certificate and I guess it will do. Well wasn't that a waste of money. Oh, I've got a few more days but don't feel very optimistic. Of course the cruise papers I have now say an old passport is fine. Well if I had known sooner...

In other news our ice maker has been broken for about 2 years. We survive but we FINALLY asked my dad to look at it. He looked at it, fiddled with the switch, and said it looked fine to him. Today we have a bucket full of self-made ice. LOL. Go figure. It works. We are all excited. Kind of thing not really worth ANY money to fix since we can make our own ice and we can still dispense our ice from the fridge door. But it is cool to have it working again all the same - woohoo! & believe me we have done the same fiddling numerous times. Guess my dad had the magic touch!