I wish I could share more what we have done to keep food costs down, and why we barely notice a dent in our budget with rising food prices. But, that is not my department. That is dh's. He does his job well. The better he keeps our costs down the less I care if he ever works again. But I think that is what a lot of people don't get. Though he doesn't bring in income, he has much more time to work on cutting costs. Which is the same in the end. Upping our cash flow.

Anyway, all I can share is what we are eating. I actually am very bad at eating fruits and veggies so every morning I take a small cup of apple sauce. Dh buys the giant containers of apple sauce and I pour a small amount into one of the kids' portable cup (with flat lid) to take to work. I used to drink juice in the mornings. I find this to be a healthier way to get some fruit in my system.

The kids are snacking on graham crackers before preschool. They'll eat a proper breakfast there. (Included in tuition. Which to be fair, does include a fair amount of meals).

The kids will also eat lunch and snacks there all day. I guess to keep in mind that the kids have 2 lunches a week over there, which I am sure impacts our grocery bill somewhat.

For lunch I will eat leftover burritos and rice. I find burritos to be the "perfect" leftover food. I actually requested that dh cook a good leftover meal this week since we didn't seem to have any. (Insert that I am a picky eater - we have lots of leftovers - but I also like things that are easy to pack). So he made them last night.

Dh will eat some leftovers most likely. HE doesn't eat breakfast.

I am not sure what dh has up his sleeve for dinner.

I have a couple of things of yogurt at work in case I ever get hungry. I never seem to lately.

We have some snacks at work (kind of rare - but I know I will probably have a free cookie with my apple sauce today. )

The only other thing I can say is I am a pepsi fiend. BUT I find $1-$2 for a serving of pepsi to be quite insane. I used to keep cans at work, but I tend to over drink them. So I have taken to getting my pepsi fix in the morning. I usually just take a giant plastic cup and pour a small amount of pepsi in there (1/2 can at most) and get my fix in the morning. That way I can take it to work, and not over drink pepsi. (I keep 2 litres at work sometimes, but then I just drink too much. So this is where I am at for now).

Anyway, when I finish my pepsi then I fill up my giant cup with lots of water. Water is free at work. At home we drink tap water (mostly filtered through the fridge).

I have also in the past, reused smaller pepsi bottles and poured small portions in, so I could keep it fresh and fizzy for lunch.

That is how we keep our soda costs down.

I really like the 1/2-sized cans, but we stopped buying them because they are rather expensive. I find those to be perfect serving sizes.

I am toying with the idea of going on a soda diet to lose these few pounds. It will be REALLY hard. But part of the reason I have been losing weight is I have been so sick these last few months and I can NOT drink soda when I have a cold. It is the only time I can not stand soda. So I think the 3-4 weeks I was too sick to drink soda made a difference.

I am trying to warm up to the idea.

-------------------------------------

In other news, I had been wanting to save up enough money to invest the kids' UGMA a little more aggressively. Right now I have $1k each (abouts) in Vanguard Star. BEcause it had a $1k minimum. But overall would prefer something more aggressive.

Anyway, I have heard a lot of good things about T Rowe Capital Appreciation. I heard it touted as a balanced fund, and when I look at it, I don't see it. But then again, it like has never had a down year (until now). It looks like the kind of aggressive thing I am looking for. A little more aggressive, but rather "safe" all the same. IT has some bonds I guess which makes it balanced. Though it is much more stock heavy than something like Star.

Anyway, I heard the idea on the radio and am considering it. When I looked up the fund it looked rather promising.

Yesterday Thriftorama was asking about education savings and I was looking up Coverdells a bit since I don't know much about them.

I am more confused than ever! LOL. Honestly, none of my clients are saving for college or ask about it. Why I haven't a clue - I just don't deal with this area of the tax code much.

I thought 529s could pay for transportation and room/board, but everything I read yesterday said no. I honestly think those were old articles because I did have a client who used their 529 for this stuff last year and I remember double checking all the rules. So I share that as a caveat to be careful what you read. The rules have changed much over the last few years. Though it leaves me feeling I have MUCH brushing up to do.

I also was reading about ESAs (Coverdells) and thought they looked pretty darn appealing. I do not like how 529s are so limited (in investment choices). ESAs are much the same, but with dollar limits. But can be used for more expenses and can be invested just about anywhere. I was just about sold until I read they expired in 2011, though it took me a while to research if that was still true.

Yes.

Most of their benefits expire anyway.

But they can be transferred into 529s.

Anyway, I also read something new that I did not know. With the Coverdells, if the oney is not used for education because your child gets a scholarship, there is no penalty. I had not realized that. That had been one of my beefs with college savings plans all alonog - what if your child got a full scholarship? I know a lot of people who have. & as my kids are rather bright, I don't think it is a false hope that they may have a paid-for education.

Anyway, so this is much of what I learned yesterday.

From what I could glimpse, and considering how little ESAs are given any credence in the investment community, I think the writing is on the wall that these will probably get phased out. Kind of a shame. I always prefer to invest in things like ROTHS where you can invest almost anywhere, as opposed to 529s and HSAs which are VERY limited.

I am leaning towards funding an ESA for the kids this year, keeping in mind if my prediciton is right we can roll it to a 529 in future years (maybe when there will be more investment choices). The minimum is $1k at T Rowe. !!!! Perfect. The kids will probably get $1k each for their birthday and that is what I am thinking for now. I already have a T Rowe account, so will be easy to add those on.

I am also considering if I will resume $50 monthly contributions for BM, once he is done with preschool. That money only has so far to go and I wanted most of it to go to ROTHs. BUT I always go back to as long as I am getting 10% retirement contributions from my boss, as long as I am saving, it matters little where it goes. It probably is more useful towards college than towards our retirement, while we have such a retirement windfall. Plus the more we get in college earlier the less we will have to save later.

I am thinking of diverting $50/month for BM, and then the same for LM when he is done with expensive preschool.

Well I have a couple of months to think on this.

Not a lot of time online this week. !! I guess since less time working and less time online? OF course, beyond that, just in spring cleaning mode.

I cleaned up my office today and I feel SO relaxed.

OF coursed, having the time to take a breath probably has more to do with it than anything. Though cleaning up a little does calm me.

Oh yes, and my last client came in with her e-file signature today. I think this is a stellar new record - I have no clients on extensions - none that I sign for anyway. !! Woohoo!!!! Tax season is officially over for me. Though I have one for my boss that is about done, and one that I am waiting for info on. But still, no more for me to sign. & having 2 in limbo in April 30th certainly is not bad (I am sure I had way more last year, at this time).

I also got all my April 30th deadlines out, but now I have a slew of 3/31 financial statements to work through (behind with all the deadlines) as well as a couple of 12/31 and business tax returns that have not been completed. I think I will be pretty busy before my vacation.

In other news I keep reading about food and gas. To be fair, I *get* how this affects the lower class. But am I The only one sick of the middle class going on and on and on and on? Though I notice a slight increase in our food bill, it is not much at all. As far as gas, it has been inching up. It affects how often we drive to San Jose to see our family and stuff like that. But if we were going broke over a $300 monthly line item in our budget, that would be kind of sad. I probably under-estimate the benefit of us only having one commute, and a short one at that. & I admit gas prices have affected our habits. Likewise, I am trying to brace myself for the worse case scenario. (Which is probably much farther down the road).

But I keep reading about people who have doubled their food budgets. I haven't a clue what you all are doing. Ours has gone up 10% tops, to date. We just don't spend that much on food to begin with. I expect it will get worse, yes. That is why it's kind of scary when people are freaking out so much, so early.

Is it just me?

I also have to admit that part of the reason our food costs have been down is we have been shifting to more eating out. The amount in our budget has not gone up - for dining out - but with these coupons (& desparate restaurants) we have been eating out twice as much on the same budget. We are certainly taking advantage where we can.

In other news, we did run the A/C 2 days this week, already. Today was considerably cooler, so we'll see. But, ugh - the heat!! IT got to about 83 upstairs so we flipped on the air for a while before bed - to make it comfortable - the last 2 nights.

We haven't turned on the heat in well over a month. But A/C season usually does not hit until late May. Though certainly it is a fluke - today was much cooler.

Finally, the medical bills are starting to roll in from BM's ambulance ride in early February. I Received a $200 emergency room bill (mentioned before) which was nothing, but yesterday the ambulance notice arrived. $1500. !!!!!! His deductible is $1500 and we already paid around $500 in doctor visits, lab tests and with the emergency bill we already received. So... IT wasn't the bill and I expect the bill will be $1k.

I was talking to my mom when I opened the bill and she offered to pay the $1500. It REALLY stressed me out though it really shouldn't have. I was clear that our premiums were $3k lower this year and in the grand scheme of things it wasn't a biggie. I am used to paying out the nose for medical insurance/expenses.

But my mom was quite insistent and I Was in little mood to argue.

I know you will probably never believe me but these are NOT the parents who raised me. My parents don't go handing me money for no reason. This would be the second biggest windfall I have ever received from them. (Largest windfall being a cash gift they gave me last year).

On the flip side, I have said it before, and I will say it again. This is the way parents should do things. Don't give you a dime and teach you to take care of yourself. LEarn to expect nothing from others. Then when you are old, wise and figure it out, share the wealth a little. Sounds good to me. IT has much to do with their unexpected windfalls in recent years as their elderly relatives pass on. VEry unexpected they would get anything from my father's poor family. Instead they have received well over six figures. IT just happens to coincide with me getting my financial affairs extremely in order. I think I appreciate it more than I even would have 5 years ago.

On the flip side, it makes me feel bad to an extent because if my parents decide to give me $1500 and I get $1800 from the IRS, well geez. It's easy to make progress with these sorts of windfalls. Chalk this one up to another easy year.

I'd bulk up my mid-term savings with both. I want to get it to $5k before I consider using some of that money for stuff around the house. This would get me to $4k by summer. (& since the medical bills are well covered).

We'll see. I am not going to ask or anything, but if I get a check in the mail, I won't have any qualms about cashing it.

I will admit we are spoiled by our parents.

I am proud we are where we are mostly of our own sweat. But I admit that this kind of cash infusion makes the upward climb 1000 times easier. IT also makes me think often how different our kids have it from us. Whereas our parents were intent on us learning to take care of ourselves, they seemed to have lost their minds and want to spoil us and the kids, now that we have kids. IT's kind of strange. HAlf the time I think, "who are these people?" Then I go into my own worries if our kids will be too spoiled and really get things on a level dh and I do. OTher days I think they will have ALL the opportunities in the world. If they have 2 generations ahead of them who do things right and have some money to spare. LUCKY kids - for sure. I'll try my best to make them understand how lucky they are. That's all I Can do. Our family tree was changed by our parents. No one before them had any wealth. IT's amazing to see what a difference it makes as it starts to trickle down.

Though I know anything can happen. Our parents can use all their cash up in nursing homes - who knows. But for now they seem to have some abundance and they want to share. For that we are VERY blessed.

Well, we had a blast yesterday.

In the morning dh took BM to the grocery store and I took LM to Kohls to look for shoes. I realized this was not a great choice because we were in a hurry and the store was big. LOL. Dh wondered what took us so long - I said "little legs, little legs."

Likewise, I have mentioned this is a pet peeve of mine, but people use strollers WAY too much. Lazy kids. LOL. The thought popped into my mind when I read an article about how people were prolonging stroller use with their kids. I guess I may be an evil parent but we took LM to Six Flags LAST year, when he was barely 2, and did not use a stroller. I do not expect to use a stroller on our 3 days in Disney. LM has legs; he'll be fine. He's almost 3 now.

We bought a double stroller when BM was 2 and LM was born. I don't think BM has hardly ever used it; certainly never needed it. (Mental note; need to sell that sucker).

Anyway, I saw a bunch of very old kids in strollers yesterday so it was mind boggling. I mean I Saw kids who looked WAY older than my 4yo in strollers. So that just bugged me. I admit LM is more borderline. But there is no doubt that my 4yo can walk as well as we can.

But I digress.

I didn't have any luck with the shoes, but picked up a couple of cute pairs of sandals for $10 and 2 pairs sunglasses for the kids for $10. I think it was a good run, though admittedly not what I had gone for.

Then we packed up and went to the Scottish Games festival.

The only bad thing I can say is that it was just about 90 degrees. Considering we had a freeze last weekend; it was quite an adjustment. I am obviously not ready for summer. (Our summers are very hot).

Well, at the games we watched hammer throwing and "Shot Put" type games as well as the Caber Toss.



"The caber is a long section of tree trunk, tapered so that it is noticeably smaller at one end than at the other. The man who essays to test his strength by tossing it raises the pole to a vertical position in his hands, smaller end down, and then throws it into the air and away from him. he must make the large end of the pole hit the ground and the pole fall in such a way that the small end will describe a half circle.
The prize goes to the man whose caber, having been thrown in the manner described, lands on the ground with its small end farthest away from the throwing point. Considerable skill is required to make the throw, as well as considerable strength. The caber is likely to fall over sideways instead of straight forward when the large end hits the ground, or it is likely to fall at an angle or even fall back the way it has come. Therefore, everything else being equal, the longest throw is always that which causes the caber to fall straight away."

We actually saw a few good throws. (Looked insanely difficult). The logs were 18-feet high and weighed 110 pounds.

OF course the professionals made it look rather effortless. When some of the less experienced really struggled you realized what an amazing feat this was.

They also had a historic section which was fun to see.



Don't ask me why but I got no pictures of the bands. I could have sat all day and watched the drum/bagpipe marching and drum majors (I used to be in a marching band) but no one else was very interested. So we didn't get to watch much and I didn't get any pictures. Bummer.

Oh yes, there were also lots of dogs there and we watched a dog herding ducks for a time. During the duck herding, LM Was far more interested in the map:



Finally, the kids section was awesome. They had a cute magic show and all that, and then later balloon animals. We had left and done other things for a time, but when we came back they were having a TP contest which BM participated in. (HE is in the orange wrapping a bigger kid). They had a second TP contest later where BM wrapped up daddy. They had SO MUCH fun. Dh worried that this would give him bad ideas. LOL.

They also had water balloons and other water games, so the kids just had a blast.

Oh yeah, reminds me we saw a pile of whiny/snotty kids. YEesh. I am grateful my kids can behave nicely in public. I think actually I was by far the grumpiest of the bunch (with the heat). LOL. Kids had little issue with anything; nor did I Expect them to. Which made it a nice day.



We spent about $50 on the day (mostly admission; and some lunch). They actually didn't take cards for anything (thought they would for admission) and we didn't really plan well. I Was surprised we had $60 cash honestly. So we really limited what we spent money on likewise. Which was probably a good plan. The lunch was expensive but we didn't eat much due to lack of cash.

On the way home what we really wanted was some ice cream to cool off. We decided to go home and clean up and the kids and I headed off to the store to pick up some ice cream for after dinner - it was getting rather late by then - hard to justify eating the ice cream first, since it was dinner time.

In theory, this was a nice plan, but I got sidetracked and bought some donuts for today, and some soda since it was on sale, etc. Spent $15 at the store. But was preferable to stopping somewhere for ice cream. We spent $7 on some ice cream treats that will last a while in our freezer instead.

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As I pulled the pictures off my camera, I realized that I haven't taken any pictures this year. Yeesh. Why I have shared none.

I did have some from our hike a few weeks back.





& I also saw the funniest picture of the neighbor cat:



She apparently likes our cat statue. LOL. She is very friendly and we don't mind her because she is a great mouser. (Has helped us out; saved us an exterminator, as we had mouse issues last year). BUT I can't say my cat agrees. Does NOT like this cat hanging around, of course.

Finally, we have no idea how, but BM got a cat toy stuck in our chandelier. We figure our ceilings are 18-feet high. & I honestly thought this was going to be a permanent fixture in our house. Dh figured out how to get it off eventually though, with our inadequate ladder...

Just kind of funny. Yeah my kids can behave in public; but I didn't say they were perfect. LOL.



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YEsterday was my day to recover. No responsibilities.

Today I have MUCH to do around the house. A lot of cleaning. Making up for my lack of attention to the house during tax season. I started this last weekend and did not get very far at all. I hope for some progress today.

Dh and I also have a date planned for the movies. I honestly do not remember the last time I went to the movies - it has been a LONG time (to see a grown up movie anyway). So, woohoo!

--------------------------------

Oh yeah - foreclosure across the street. I blogged about it a few days ago. Saw LOTS of people going through this weekend.

It's probably one of the smallest homes in the entire community. These small homes have taken the BIGGEST hit over the last fews. Few have sold, some have been on the market for years. (The bigger homes still sell rather fast; have been all along). So it will be interesting to see if things are picking up or if this one will sit. I am not sure if all the traffic means anything, though I think it would mean something.

I guess practically living next door to this one we shall see. I will see more what is going on. The yard looks like hell. Ugh. I don't look forward to the prospect of this house sitting on the market forever. Of course, also scary if it is an example of things to come...

I noticed Kohl's is having a sale on shoes, and I also have a $10 off coupon. So I will go over there and give it a whirl.

The funny thing is I think I have come to prefer online shoe shopping for shoes. Because it is so hard to find shoes that fit my big/wide feet. I know, doesn't sound like it makes sense, but zappos.com has wonderful customer comments for their shoes and lots of talk how which ones run narrow, etc. So I got may last pair of walking shoes on there and they fit like a dream. If I don't have a great shoe I have a tendon or something in my leg (I don't even remember any more what it was) that gives me a lot of trouble. But my shoes fit great and have held up quite well.

Since they are holding up okay I think I will keep them for walking. BUT they are also getting tired. I would like to get some cross training shoes for aerobics and such. The walking shoes don't seem so great on the gym equipment. I wonder if the cross trainers would be preferable.

Dh thinks I am crazy to spend so much on shoes but he just doesn't understand. I really do notice a difference depending on the type of show I wear. I figure spending a chunk of change is better than being in pain and paying and unable to workout, visiting the doctor more, etc.

Anyway, so Kohls is having a big sale on shoes. I'll go check it out. I doubt they will have much in my larger size, but I will give it a try. Could be considerably cheaper than zappos. We'll see. I could theoretically get a $80 pair of shoes for $40 at Kohls, with my coupon. So that is what I will try.

Ugh.

April & December are our spendy months. April was insane. Life insurance, property taxes, $1k to IRS, on and on and on and on. Mostly prepared for most of it, though the IRS got me. Still sucks no matter how prepared.

Anyway, May and June tend to be our calm months. No bills are due.

So what do I have in store for May:

Vacation - $1500 range

Yosemite - $400 - Apparently due May (I had wanted to charge it in June for extra rewards - Bah).

Medical - $600 - I just got BM's emergency room bill. Well, part of it anyway. Due May. It's trickling in. I figure at this rate we may be getting bills for it in a year, still. I have never received a medical bill in my life, before this. Just the way my HMO is - they take care of it. We pay big premiums, we pay little out of pocket (besides co-pays anyway). Anyway, now that we switched to HDHP, they decide to send us little bills every few days. They are driving me mad. I had to sit down and stare at the thing for a good long time yesterday to make any sense of it. I finally realized it was a "physician bill" which was completely different from our almost identical looking "hospital bill." I figure one of these days we'll get the "ambulatory services" bill.

Plus they keep sending me all these statements that don't include half of what we have been in for. The paperwork is maddening. & yeah, hard to make sense of.

Good news is that BM's emergency room physician only charged $220. Though like I said, I assume more bills to come there. Maybe a hospital bill to go with that?

Dh was charge $400 for a hearing test. Egads. & I was worried about the emergency room visit?

I was rather taken aback, but dh reminded me it had been like an hour long ordeal. I then start to see - 5 minute visit with doctor isn't so bad (little $50 charges here and there for our numerous visits this year) but that yeah, a more intensive screening costs a wee bit more. At least that makes sense.

So - $600 there.

All that is suddenly $2500 in extra bills for May. Eeks.

I told dh that as I tend to be more "big picture" that I haven't been doing so well with managing cash flow. It all fits in the budget, but our cash reserves are rather on the low side until our stimulus check arrives. I think we're okay, but it really couldn't come too soon... If you look to the left, and consider my $600 medical bill (haven't adjusted yet), you see our cash reserves are pretty shot. I haven't even subtracted out vacation yet - egads. Though I have to remember all of these are charged and the cash won't be due until June. Phew. We'll probably save up $2k in the next 2 months for this kind of stuff, likewise.

But today, not a lot of room for more bills...

Yeah, we have our lovely efund, but a chunk of it is sitting in my ROTH. So doesn't help me feel great. I don't want to touch that thing for nothing.

Mostly we just have to get through June without Murphy knocking on our door. I am sure we will be fine, but I am wondering what happened to my fine planning skills.

Of course, we now have a good $2k in our mid-term savings fund, which was $0 for the last 2 years or so. So that's something. We have a lot of catching up to do though.

The stimulus check will pretty much wash out our IRS bill and add a good $1k to our mid-term fund. We're making decent progress.

Just feel a little cash tight in the interim. Hopefully to feel quite cash flush come June. Which also coincides with freedom from daycare costs for BM. Woohoo. Yeah, end of June I should be feeling pretty darn good. (That is when our stimulus is due to arrive, as well as last month of paying for 2 in preschool - will be good times).

Anyway, I hadn't updated my Quicken all week (I guess since work was so busy, I don't even know why). I just did, and was actually pleasantly surprised with our $200 Yosemite deposit and a some $500 in professional dues (most to be reimbursed) that our credit card bill looked quite reasonable. How on earth? I finally pulled up a monthly report and realized we didn't really spend much on groceries this month (maybe $250 to date?) and our gas was pretty reasonable ($200 of $300 budget to date). So left us a lot of wiggle room elsewhere. Phew...

Today I worked quite late and got way more work done than I imagined I would. I decided to take tomorrow off as a reward. I am so stoked. Tomorrow was to be my last Saturday, for the rest of the year hopefully.

I even thought I wouldn't mind going in for a couple of hours and cleaning up my office a bit. I left work at 6pm and got the last deadline (April 30th) off my desk. I was absolutely thrilled.

I am sure I could have justified working (still lots of catching up to do) and we had even talked about me working one day and taking Friday off.

BUT I felt accomplished and decided it would be quite a treat to take the weekend off. Say la vive weekend work.

I love this time of year as well because working 40 hours a week suddenly feels so simple. 5-day work weeks are suddenly quite divine in comparison to 6-days. So life is good. I intend to enjoy this weekend.

I do have MUCH to catch up on around the house.

BUT dh wants to go to the Scottish Festival and I admit it sounds quite fun.

Of course, I saw 90 degrees for tomorrow.

90 degrees??!!??

I also read in the paper that last weekend there was a freeze. I think why I have been so sick this week. We went out Saturday and Sunday and I Was freezing my buns off. I thought maybe I had been jumping into spring a little too heartily.

No, it was so cold that there was a freeze and a lot of crops ruined around here. Craziness. I remember being out, being surprised it was so chilly, and then just being sick all week. I can't help but wonder if it was the cold and the wild weather fluctuations. Certainly didn't help. I didn't quite have a grasp how insanely cold it had been. Our house has stayed rather moderate in all this.

On the flip side, I think I would usually need a little more warming up to 90 degree weather. One extreme to the other. I'll probably be miserable.

But I think the Festival will be fun.

Dh had also been planning a date this weekend. Matinee movie.

So I was pleased to see room in the budget for all this, with dh's wonderful grocery shopping this month.

Oh, and I did find a hike that I wanted to go on this weekend, but not sure we'll have time. Dh rarely wants to go out, so since he wanted to go to this Scottish Festival, I figured it was fair. Maybe we can hike next weekend. Though it was short and close so hope to squeeze it in.

I was so miserable all week I completely gave up on the gym. My aerobics instructor is in Yosemite anyway. I will try again next week. I would love to work out this year without coughing up a lung. This seems an impossible feat this year. Sick sick sick, and more sick.

I am losing weight anyway. I have pinned it on 2 things. I moved offices late last year and I walk MUCH more now. I am on the complete opposite end from the kitchen and the bathroom now. & the copier and everything really. Lots of walking. I am thinking this makes a difference.

I also primarily eat home-cooked meals and eat lunch in. BUT I have been skipping my little $1 junk meals more to save up more cash for more date nights with dh. I really usually don't order much or eat that much grease, BUT I am noticing a difference. I think it is more to it than that. But when I eat less junk I seem to crave it less at home too. I just overall seem to be eating less. It could be much of just being so busy too - too busy to eat/snack/munch. Somehow I am losing weight with no effort. Go figure.

Reminds me, I have been noticing my new office is quite warm. I have one wardrobe for work - my old end of the office is FREEZING. I have been quite warm this week and I start to remember part of the reason we were always so frozen out is the other end of the office gets so hot. I just hadn't thought about it. First summer in my new office. I think I may actually need to buy somewhat of a summer work wardrobe. Imagine that. I just wear my winter clothes all summer, seriously. It is just that COLD usually, inside. Well, it's more like a fall wardrobe - as it doesn't get that cold. But summer is anything but moderate.

I am thinking this will actually be nice/preferable. Though I may invest in a nice fan to help. I don't enjoy the heat, BUT walking outside into the 100 degree heat may be preferable in more summery clothes. I wouldn't know. LOL.

In other news, BM's preschool teacher had a malaria scare. She got the flu in February with us, but has never really recovered. (Though I can't say we have either).

She had been in South America awhile back so they thought maybe she had picked up something. For a while they thought maybe mono. Latest was malaria.

Anyway, she just found out it was actually "just" the flu. The nasty nasty flu.

I am so relieved that she doesn't have malaria, though I really don't know what that it entails or what the ramifications are. Just sounds nasty.

Second incomes: twice the work, half the return:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/Loveand...

I actually came across this article yesterday and thought it was quite EXCELLENT.

Probably all of my thoughts/experiences in a well written article. I mean seriously, I could have written it. Though maybe not so well.

It was just on theme with my post yesterday so had to share.

Of course this article was in terms of families with one high wage and a low wage. BUT we found much to be true with 2 mediocre wages. Dh and I made equal wages when he decided to stay home.

So though the logistics were a little different for us, we came to much the same conclusion.

I particularly like th last paragraph:

"Also on the bright side, discovering that a second income really doesn't contribute much financially can free a spouse to learn new skills, go back to school, pursue an unprofitable dream career or launch a home-based business that may pay little during the first few years. If you're going to work for free, after all, you might as well enjoy it."

Which sums up our thinking beautifully. Dh hated his job, and he wasn't going to stay. I think financially this was much preferable to getting used to a second income that could not be sustained indefinitely.

I realize with time that I don't think we could have timed having kids any better, or that we would have ever been in a better spot to have one of us stay home with the kids.

We graduated college at age 22/23 and worked a few years, saving considerable dollars. Never lived up to the second income, as we didn't expect to have one forever.

We had our first child at 25/26. Dh just turned 32, and he has been home almost 6 years. He will probably return to the workforce, maybe go to college first to update his degree, in his 30s. Plus he already has a degree and a decent amount of experience, which is worth something. & yeah - so he returns to work at 35 or 40 - still has a good 20-30 working years left. (He actually worked 12 years before kids and is eligible for social security benefits as well - so kind of sweet timing there).

I can't imagine establishing myself in a career and working hard many years, and then trying to have kids. I think that way is a hard road, though it is now the norm. I also can not imagine having a kid much younger or before having a degree or some savings. So I think somehow we hit some sweet spot, in he middle. Took some planning, but also quite by luck.

So anyway, I don't think dh would have had the guts to really examine his career otherwise. I remember before we had kids he talked much of going back to school to get an emergency teaching credential (the state of education at the time meant desperation for teachers). I encouraged him many times to QUIT his job and pursue teaching. I told him if he was going to make a move like that, then was the time. When we were young. He just never could do it, no matter how supportive I was.

I remember he was concerned about teaching wages too and I asked him if he was out of his mind. I said, so we'll save $30k/year instead of $40k. YEah, I am really worried about it. (Not).

Anyway, so old habits die hard. Dh said something the other day about pursuing some high wage job. If he wants to because it is something he loves, then sure, I am all for it. More money is good. But his parents have it pounded into his head that you hate your job and make more money. (I find this ironic since my dad loves his job and makes more than the 2 of them combined. Obviously I prefer my parent's philosophy - do what you love). There is a lot to be said for not being miserable AND having money too.

So anyway, he said something just the other day along those lines. I said, huh? Honestly, I prefer he make less so it doesn't all go to the IRS anyway. I think ideally he would make a smaller wage. & that fits in great because he wants to be an artist. So go for it. I wonder how many struggling artists out there wish they had a sugar momma like me. & instead dh struggles and struggles with what to do.

Plus, if he is going to work full-time and make a comparable wage, hell if I'll see the point to work full-time. But when I say this out loud, we fight. He has it somewhere in his head that we need to make a ton of money, though mostly he knows better.

Well, we'll work it out. I was actually surprised the other day when he said he wanted to pursue a $70k-$80k job. I said, great, I can cut back my hours then. & I was surprised when he didn't like this. I did point out that would put us at an insane tax bracket. IF he was happy and wanted to make money, great. But that then I didn't feel as much need to myself. But I know when the time comes if we have this debate we can run the numbers.

I have no desire to live in a 2-full-time-working-parent household. BLECH. Talk about stress.

--------------------------------

Of course, on the flip side, we are entering a time of great transition. Of course we have agreed it makes no sense to work with small kids and with insane daycare expenses, etc.

But the playing field is completely changing for us this year. Big Monkey starts public school in the fall. I am already paying full-time daycare in total dollars for the two to attend part-time preschool. So in theory, dh could get a full-time job and we could save his entire take-home pay, with no changes to our budget.

I have to say it is incredibly freeing.

Of course, we have no desire to put our child in full-time daycare. But I have brought up the subject, that we could put him in M/W/F and dh will be incredibly freed up all of a sudden. From having had 0 free time a year ago (well beyond nights and weekends, which are always very exhausting to both of us), suddenly dh can easily have the potential to have 3 free days a week.

Of course, on the flip side, we received BM's school calendar and there are a million days off. On one hand, I have a flexible schedule and I was prepared for some of it. But they decided this year to shorten summer by a month and take like every Friday off for the year. I looked at this calendar thinking, you have got to be flipping kidding me.

& as usual, though most of the year I could share much more in the care of kids, I have greatly reduced time and flexibility during tax season. Which is the bane of our existence for now (will be incredibly freeing in the long run as I could feasibly only work part-year, etc. But with kids it complicates things GREATLY).

So, we decided to kind of just bide our time and wait and see how things go.

I say this will be transition time for the next 5 years. Where care of the kids is still of great concern, but at least we can move pass this 24/7 care thing.

& in 5 years at least the kids won't need a babysitter every second of every day. When I think much of this becomes moot.

Dh's worked on a very promising movie project and made some great contacts, but has kind of hit a wall when it comes to selling the movie. He is quite confident he could sell it and recover the costs, but the screen writer/brainchild has already turned down a good offer, which would have recouped the costs (doh) and doesn't seem to have any true desire to sell it. Plus he moved out of the area. So dh is very frustrated. The other promising contacts he made are dropping like flies.

Anyway, don't ask me how he made these contacts. I think he did a lot of this when I was on maternity leave with LM. So I told dh the other day. I said, you know, you have 2 free days a week now. Get out and meet some new people, work on some NEW projects.

He just seems to need that push sometimes.

So he is. He really wants to work on writing his own screenplay so he can do his own movie and then have control over it. But he's kind of stuck on that. Anyway, he is considering taking screenwriting classes at the community college. He is also looking into a group that meets weekly on screenplays, though he is finding they focus much more on plays than movie scripts. However, he thinks he will give it a whirl and practice on a play.

The other funny thing is he is getting some attention for his writing abilities. He writes a lot of skits and some professional group just performed one of his skits - he won some contest. So I have been encouraging him to go that angle.

I think dh's biggest problem is he likes to live in a bubble and he doesn't want to leave that bubble. I have told him many times that I would be willing to move closer to LA so he could more seriously pursue his dreams. I brought it up again because with house prices on the slide, it may actually be doable. I have always wanted to live in San Diego, and look at those home prices slide. !!!!!

BUT he is just dead set against it. I remember back to how it is amazing I got him to move to Sacramento. He is extremely adverse to change.

So, that's his thing. He has to figure out how to make it work then. I guess there is a fair amount of work in San Francisco, and a budding local film maker scene. So it's not a lost cause. At least we don't live in the middle of nowhere.

But yeah, we will enter a time of transition. I think he will take a year or 2 to pursue his hobbies more vigilantly, now that he will have considerably more time.

I think from there he will seriously pursue going back to college, if not much comes of it. Get a major in film (update his minor) or maybe even pursue teaching. For now he doesn't seem to have much more direction than he did 6 years ago. Which worries me a bit. BUT I understand he hasn't been able to make a lot of progress with full-time charge of the kids. That I *get*

So I am hoping this is the catalyst for change...

I just want him to be happy. Which seems a very impossible goal at times. *sigh*

I am not sure what more I can do though. IT's in his hands at this point.

I am also optimistic that my income will be pretty sustaining in 3-4 years time and that I could really care less what he does at that point. Ideally. I expect to be maxing out our ROTHs and have all of our bases covered, really in about 3 years. LEss depending on more income, more thinking that I will pay for less childcare. If I paid $0 for childcare we could max out today. So I really expect overall to be in a good spot in a couple of years.

For now, life is still a little stressful on one income. But we are definitely moving into a whole new realm. & that is rather refreshing. Phew.

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2008/04/10/advice-from-the-top...

I came across this post and found it very relevant to my experience. I left a comment - for now the last one on the page.

I wonder how much more money I make in my career because I have a house hubby and don't have to worry about a lot of the household crap. Probably a lot.

I think I get the best of both worlds in a sense. Because I am a woman, no one blinks when I demand more flex time to spend with my kids. When my kids were younger I would often take time off during the day to do activities with them. No one blinks at that. I think a man would, in most cases, be harder pressed to enjoy that same freedom.

Of course with promotion and responsibility I find it harder to take advantage. I find I prefer to work hard 9-5 with the least interruptions so I can enjoy my nights and weekends. So I don't necessarily take as much flex time as I did when the kids were newborn and when they were small toddlers.

On the flip side I have a tremendous advantage that FEW working moms do. I stay-at-home spouse. The benefits there are both financial and non-financial. You can't put a price tag on it. But my life is tremendously easier. I know on these boards and in real life I leave an impression of "doing way too much." The thing is I don't have a lot of responsibilities at home. & I find few people really understand how freeing that is to me.

Like yesterday I Was changing the cat litter when I realized we were completely out. It was actually around 9pm and I had just enough to cover the bottom of the box. I asked dh to run to the store in the morning and get some littler. In any other scenario I would have had to wake up a 1/2 hour earlier and run to the store and fill the cat box before work. Little stuff like that just adds up big time. There is always someone home to take care of household stuff and the mundane. Which gives me a LOT more time to focus on my career.

& yeah, people say FUNNY things to me as well. I remember I met a lady when LM was newborn and I mentioned I was returning to work in a few months. She told me I would never make it - that working would be miserable. I was like, "Excuse me? I have been a working mom for 2 years - I am sure I will be fine." She didn't know I had an older son (because incidentally he was home with hubby at the time). Anyway, I told her working really wasn't a big deal because my spouse stayed home with the kids and they were very well cared for. She looked at me appalled and then told me how her husband was not fit to watch any kids and I pretty much must be insane to think my hubby could take care of this little infant. I told her again, I Wasn't worried about it, he took care of our 2-year-old quite well. But I have these conversation all the time with people. I have no idea why women delight in telling me that their husbands are helpless morons who would never lift a finger in child rearing. Gee, great for you. Sounds delightful! (Not!) LOL.

Likewise, I have to hear a lot how horrible it is that women work and can't figure out how to stay home. LOL. But yeah, the best was when LM was newborn and I would take him out to the playgroups and such. Dh and I would split up the kids so I could focus on LM's needs, and the women would just say the stupidest things not knowing I Was an experienced mom. I would think, did people say this stuff before and I just didn't know any better? I had many a women tell me they would never leave their kids with their husband. I just think that's sad... & yeah, that I would fail as a working mom. I am thinking, well someone has to pay the bills. They want me to stay home with my husband?

------------------------------------

I was revisiting our Disney budget and whittling it down...



Prices have come down at the amusement parks, a good $30 total since when I last looked. WOW! I will probably buy tickets online soon at these prices.

I also noted that a lot of the food places in Disney have AAA discounts. Will have to remember. I noted on my spreadsheet as a reminder.

In the past BM was so young that we avoided the characters and a lot of the hype of paying extra for character meals or waiting in line for pictures with them, etc. BUT LM is Disney crazy. So I Was looking at the character meal buffet - for dinner. Looks a tad pricey (Maybe $60 for the 4 of us - buffet dinner) but so is all the food there. We'll get 10% off and I think the kids will LOVE it. So something I think we map splurge on.

I also looked at my gas budget. I had already read about $4/gallon gas prices this summer when I cooked this up a few months ago, and my gas budget looked pretty reasonable. We will do a little research for where the cheaper places to buy gas are. Will make a HUGE dent in the budget. When I told dh he said something like, "yeah, but how will we know when we will need to fill up." LOL. Dh is such a dork. I was like, I don't think it is that difficult to plan fill ups. ??????? I think we can figure it out.

Anyway, the trip is 400 miles, straight shot down the interstate. I think we will be best to fill up early in our drive so we can make the last 4-5 hours without a fill up. Gas will be way more expensive in the middle of nowhere and in LA proper. We may look for a Safeway a couple of hours south to fill up at.

Unfortunately, we'll probably have to gas up in LA once or twice. I am not going to waste a lot of time down there searching out cheap gas.

Anyway, I asked dh when he thought we should leave - early or late - to avoid traffic hell. HE said early. I thought leaving after lunch might be nice since it is nap time anyway and the kids could sleep a bulk of the trip. We can get in after night rush hour (6 hour drive, maybe 7-8 hours with stops). Could roll in around 8pm.

But dh says he wants to leave early; at 10 :00. LOL. I laugh because he missed the point. I don't want to roll into LA at 5pm. Is he crazy?

Anyway, but this is where dh had a good idea. I worry that food is the most expensive part of the trip. Food prices always SHOCK me when we travel since we usually feed our entire family on $400/month wit careful grocery shopping and planning. So I just assumed $100/day at worst. I am sure we will spend less some days. But they days we are in Disneyland park? Easily $100/day.

So dh said we should pack a picnic lunch and stop and have a picninc mid way and let the kids run off some steam.

Excellent idea!

I think with this we will keep food costs down considerably on day 1.

Then we can stop for a leisurely dinner somewhere and wait out the traffic, if we hit it bad.

I also like the idea of not having to wake up at dawn and rush rush rush. 10am sounds like a much better vacation-y time to leave.

So yeah, we are saving around $100/month for vacation AND I will get $250 cash rewards in May to pay for our vacation. So overall we have a budget around $1500.

OF course, this does not consider that we will not buy groceries, commute to work, or use much home electricity for a good week. Which kind of offsets the costs. The $1500 must stretch for our camping trip too.

I completely forgot in July I am paying pretty much nil for childcare, so that childcare savings will fund the rest of our camping trip.

Dh and I could always swing a trip to Disney on a few hundred dollars. IT is amazing how much the cost explodes when you consider adding kids (& taking more time; feeding more mouths, paying for more admissions, etc., etc.). We are extremely lucky we have a free room though.

Gas prices don't help either, BUT the transportation will be the cheapest part of our trip. I can't really complain. We're taking the car that gets close to 40mpg.

Anyway, we are going on a weekday because I HATE lines. I worked at an amusement park many years and only went on off hours (perk with the job I guess). & so I have little patience for lines. They are probably good for the kids' character, but mommy is way too impatient. Thank goodness for the invention of fast trak and such.

Anyway, so I told dh I wanted to go for 2 days (have never been to Disney more than one day - always rushed trips). My dream is to take our time and spend 2 full days - Tuesday & Wednesday in May - days I know will not be so crowded. Last time I believe we went in a Saturday in September, and it really wasn't that bad until after dinner. IT was bizarre. But we had left for dinner and we came back the place was a complete mad house. I mean I never expected a Saturday day to be so pleasant.

So I expect a VERY good experience. Don't expect too much in the way of crowds...

My experience when I worked at Six Flags was middle of the week was always dead. Middle of the week when school is in session? Even better. Which is also why we are going. Last year before school schedules dictate our vacation. Blech.

------------------------------------
Beyond all that, kids' birthday is coming up in July.

I don't know, I am kind of birthday partied out. I am thinking of just making it a family affair. We usually don't do much for their birthdays, but this year I feel like doing less than much.

They are turning 3 & 5.

I wonder if just having a small family affair is preferable because BM starts public school in the fall and then that probably takes birthday parties to a whole new level.

Then again, since they have summer birthdays, I wonder how the whole birthday party thing will work. We'll never feel obligated to invite the whole class! Maybe they will always feel gyped in that regard.

His birthday also coincides with his last week at preschool. It may be nice to have a big party and invite all the preschool kids. Kind of a last hoorah.

So yeah, it will be one or the other. There is a bounce house place that I took him to a few years ago - and they opened up one by our home. I know he would LOVE a birthday party there and this is the first year I would consider something of that nature. That he can actually enjoy and may even remember.

Either that or we'll just have a small family party. He has 2 new cousins so it could be pretty fun if all the cousins came. I guess I have to keep in mind the baby cousins would not enjoy the bounce place either. Ugh. Maybe we'll have 2 parties in that case. The more I think about it the more complicated it gets.

Well, staying home and eating pizza sounds pretty good with all the babies. More of what we usually do...

The other problem with their birthday is it is hotter than hades, so no outdoor activities. No matter what day the party falls on it will be guaranteed to be 110 degrees. I have that knack of picking the hottest day of the year, but hard to avoid mid-July. I remember giving birth on the hottest days of the year too. Which makes the whole birthday thing kind of a bummer. I would LOVE to just set up kiddie pools and let the kids splash int he backyard, but yeah, we'd all DIE probably. LOL. So limits birthday party options...

I guess I probably won't give it much more though until after our Disney trip though. One thing at a time. I just saw the thread in the forums and started thinking about it.

I chalk this a benefit of big house. We always just have the parties here, and plenty of room. But the kids are getting older and getting to the age where they probably could use something a little more exciting, once in a while.

They are still at the age where they will share their formal party.

BM will probably get his own party next year. As he'll probably have more school friends that aren't shared with LM. For now they have all the same friends, and not even family would drive up here twice - so shared it is. Logistically that is the only way it works. Until they have their own friends... But for now, makes it easy on me. One party every year.

Their birthdays are like 5 days apart...

I posted just a couple of weeks ago that my FICO had dropped to 701 in late March (though I did not see until mid April). I was really concerned shome shady activity was going on though my credit monitoring says no. Still waiting for my credit report in the mail since I can't access it online after the ID theft. Well great, this is NOT helping me.

So on a whim I remembered my score usually posting around the 20th, (I get it free from WAMU) and so I peeked earlier this week.

Wouldn't you know, my score was 750. ???

HUH?

You know, when they say FICO is a mystery, well, they mean it.

Likewise, I am pleased that all my balance transfers are not completely sabtoging my score after all.

I pay one back in about 6 weeks. After that I don't expect much in FICO problems. Phew.

My score had pretty much hovered in the 750 range since I signed up for my WAMU card, except it dropped down to 685 one month with the whole ID theft mess.

Likewise, my bad credit to limit ratio has really done little to my score. My score is actually steadily rising (quite slowly). Though the whole 701 thing is weird. Which made it that much more of an anomally. IT has been pretty steady for the last 9 months with the exception of the ID theft. So the whole thing is just weird.

----------------------------------

In related news, mortgage rates hovered around 5.5% (I was waiting for 5.25%) much of last week, and then shot up.

At this point I don't really expect we will refi. Though I still am all pre-approved with 2 companies, so we'll see. They'll call me if it gets to 5%-5.25% for a rate lock. I don't know how long this pre-approval will last. So far, apparently, indefinitely. I know they are happy to have people apply for a refi, that actually have any equity. They WANT our business. They will just be hard pressed to beat our current situation - which is GOOD.

I think odds are looking pretty slim on the refi front. Our broker last projected it may be a good time around April 15th. Which was when it was low, yes. Just not enough.

I guess I am stuck with 5.75%.

(Yeah, not THAT sad about it).

I honestly have no desire to go through the refi process again, so am rather relieved. We have refied about 4 times already in our young lives, seriously. Don't ask, it's a long story. A lot had to do with owning 2 homes for a time, etc. But our first loan was over 8%, we refied to a 15-year for a time. We could not ignore it when rates dropped another full percentage when I was on maternity leave with my first.

So it was kind of nice to dream of knocking another chunk off of our mortgage payment, but we'll survive. Our payment is a good $200/month cheaper than our first mortgage on our little condo. Slightly bigger loan; MUCH lower interest rate. Little to complain about...

We still would consider refi-ing down to a 15-year loan in a couple of years, when the kids are out of preschool. If rates are good. Though our 30-year rate may be preferable in 2-3 years time. Who knows???????

Well, it was fun to dream about, but likewise, no big loss here.

BA asked me if it was slowing down - the foreclosures here.

Then I saw this article.

The answer is clearly - no. Still crazy here.

http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/882978.html

Looks like a pretty bad year or 2 left for subprime resets.

& then I recently blogged that an "original" neighbor who bought his house in the $250k range in 2001, just lost his home. Which is the beginning of an ugly trend. All the homes that sold for $600k in our immediate neighborhood have foreclosed. But now the people that got in the ground level here? That's the next wave? The prime borrowers who used their homes as ATMs. I have hardly talked to anyone in our age range who is not in this boat.

As for us, we are still fine. My older co-workers and relatives skirt around the issue. I can tell they all assume we are in WAY over our heads. My spouse doesn't work, we have a nice house, and we're young. We obviously are in way over our heads. It's probably a pretty safe conclusion for the area. They will just never understand how dirt cheap our house was to us. The alternative was a $500k mortgage for a complete piece of crap, back home. Not sweating the $200k mortgage. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the value of our home dips below what we paid at some point. We paid almost $300k, but have paid $90 off our mortgage. A little over 20% down, and then just steadily paying down our 30-year mortgage since. Plus paid cash for some improvements when we first moved in. We've never borrowed a dime against our house, so this is the difference apparently between us and everyone else. Putting money down in the first place also makes all the difference.

I know you oldies already know all this, but had to throw in for newer readers. Who may wonder where we fit in, in all this.

I keep reading how the growing trend is to walk away from homes here. Well duh! Put 0% down and the your mortgage payment goes up astronomically. What do you really have to lose? I can't honestly hold these people morally responsible for their mortgages. The banks completely screwed them over, what do they owe them?

I have cringed whenever I have seen advice to put little down on a home, and I guess this is really the true side affect. People just walk away. In the end that doesn't really help anyone. But I don't see the morality in making someone who makes $50k a year pay a $4k/month house payment for a house worth half what they paid. It's just craziness. Of course they are walking away. I would have to say they would be insane to stick it out. Wouldn't make any sense.

Of course, you could argue why they bought these homes in the first place then. Like you couldn't see this coming.

Well, you got me there.

So yeah, it's ugly here.

A BIGGER HOUSE.

LOL.

Keep in mind we are in the middle of forclosure central and I don't think very many people around here really used their brains when purchasing the houses they are in.

Anyway, I have a mortgage broker friend who sends cute little blurbs in the mail at least once a month; maybe moe often. Usually cute little stories and moral tales and such. Just to keep in him top of mind, and somehow links them into saving money or buying a home, etc.

Anyway, I Was quite surprised when I picked up my mail today at work and started reading his latest postcard. I thought it was a joke at first. (I find myself thinking this often when I listen to commercials - yeesh. I think it's a paradoy or a joke and then I realize it is a REAL commercial. Who takes this stuff seriously? Apparently many).

Anyway, so yeah.

"Dissapointed by your Tax Return? A Bigger House could save you More!"

"...Not only do you get a nicer house, but you also get a bigger tax write-off..."

"More expensive Houses appreciate faster..."

Um, okay. Well, for one, I am not opposed to the bigger house thing. We actually bought a bigger home because we thought it was a better investment. & it has been a much better investment than we had imagined (for various reasons). So I can't see the logic as 1000% flawed.

BUT...

Buying a bigger house for a bigger tax write-off is the most insane thing I have ever heard. Spend $12000 to save $3k. THat's what it probably amounts to. (HEck, at our tax rate we would spend $12k and only save $2k).

OF course, "if you buy a $300k house instead of a $200k house, it will appreciate $500/month faster."

So in the end you'll be breakeven cash flow wise.

That's the logic.

Ugh.

I don't think taking stock of the market right now and considering a "move up" is the worst idea. But the logic in this advertisement is deeply flawed.

Likewise, I know few who aren't already in WAY over their heads, so I know few who are really in any decent financial shape to move up to a bigger house. I guess makes the whole thing more crazy. "Can't afford the house you're in? Buy a bigger one!!!" Might as well be the point of this advertisement, when you consider the audience.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot. A good blog post.

YEsterday when we got out of the car, at Walgreens, LM found a penny. He was QUITE proud of this find and proudly carried it through the store and on the ride home until he could put it in his piggy bank. He is only 2 but he knew where to put it. Of course if he asked to spend it I am not sure it would have gone far - hehe.

Anyway, BM of course was jealous. But BM ALWAYS finds change on the ground and puts it in his piggy bank. No doubt why LM was so excited to do such a big boy thing.

Anyway, we then stopped by MErvyns because I wanted to pick up those sports sandals, and the customer service was pretty horrid. Dh was quite snippy with the kids as we waited in line (I think they were fine) but I decided to take them for a walk. BM had been so jealous at Walgreens I told him to keep a sharp eye out at the checkout counter, for change on the ground. So we decided to walk around all the cash registers looking for coins (yes it was a LONG wait). We didn't see any, but as we were walking back to find dh, BM suddenly dived onto the ground and under a clothing display. I started to bark at him to get off the freaking floor, when he came back up with a penny. NO IDEA how he spotted it, it looked way under a low platform. LOL. So I was actually quite impressed.

Of course I told them to keep their eyes open if they wanted to find more change, but I think this lesson was lost on them.

We were sitting at eating at the buffet when LM dropped his fork on the floor. He looked down and suddenly noticed a nickel sitting on his chair. So he holds up a nickel. Dh was off getting some buffet food. But I just had to laugh. I told the kids they were certainly having a lucky day. LM kept saying he found a penny and I kept trying to explain it was like 5 pennies, but was lost on him. Might as well have been a quarter though - he was SO excited by this find.

Dh came back and eventually we remembered to tell him about the find on LM's chair. He winked at me and whispered he put it there. I said, what, did you find it or something? HE said yeah, it was on the floor behind the chair.

So yeah, he wasn't keeping his eyes open like we had practiced, but was still a treat for him.

I actually am not a fan of saving change and generally don't find much change. BUT I have no qualms about picking up change when I see it. Yes, even a penny. IT doesn't take any effort to bend down and pick up a penny. & I usually just hand it to the kids anyway - who just get SO excited by these small money finds.

But yeah, my eyes have certainly been opened as I think there is rarely a day that BM doesn't find a coin on the ground. (Often in the garage and no doubt from dh's pocket. LOL).

But I thought finding 7 cents was quite impressive. LM is 6 cents richer and that's quite a boost to his net worth.

-------------------------------

Anyway, yeah, dh has been feeling fine but work up yesterday with no voice. This made him very snippy. It's actually rather strange.

I have been feeling the allergies a bit more and woke up today with a sore throat and some congestion. I am not pleased. I have to assume it is allergies, but I just don't know. I could not possibly be sick again and this week is insane at work. If I have to take a sick day I will no doubt work all weekend. I woke up early and am sitting up, so we'll see. Feeling better as I sit up. Will just try to make it through the day - too much to do. I never have any qualms about taking sick days at work, but this is getting on the verge of ridiculous. So I am just hoping it is allergies and I can work through it. I also won't be surprised if I completely lose my voice. Ugh!

I had wanted to clean the house yesterday and didn't get very far. IT may help the germ factory to clean a bit. If only I could feel well enough long enough to get anything done around the house. A viscous cycle...

well, didn't spend so much money today after all.

The Big 5 was a bust and I think we'll keep an eye out (the sleeping bags on sale were of very cheap quality - I just didn't like them. Also, no shoes in my size).

Oh but I did buy a pair of sports sandals, since I don't find I can walk very far with a pair of flip flops. I have an old leg injury and if I don't have proper foot support, I pay for it. I am skeptical but the shoes were only $16 on sale. I probably spend a good $10 on cheap flip flops anyway. So we'll see. Love the shoes.

Since I have a difficult shoe size I may just pay a premium and order the same walking/workout shoes again - -online. They have been perfect. (I bought from zappos.com I believe which have pretty good reviews about how shoes tend to run - wide or narrow and stuff - and found it a great way to buy online. First time was the charm). I have no patience to run to 100 stores with the luck a shoe is on sale in my size. No way.

Oh yeah, we didn't get to lunch until almost 2 and the place was jam packed. This is one reason we had stopped eating out in this neighborhood. Many of the restaurants have really died down with the economy, but we walked into the new Japanese buffet today and it was a COMPLETE madhouse. We stuck it out but the prices were a little more expensive on the weekend and the food wasn't so good. Hell, I was impressed they had as much food as they did. Complete mad house. We probably ate around 2:30 and it was starting to clear out. At least we had decent service at that point.

I'd say the place was a hit. Everyone kept pulling up to the restaurant and looking at the crowds and saying, "But it's so good. I think we should wait."

Never again, on a weekend. !!

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Anyway, in real estate news I have no qualms about the long term. The short term I am not so sure about.

I have read a couple of articles that said prices in Sac had dropped to $100k. HUH? So I perused the MLS the other day.

Most of the people who live out here live in the surrounding suburbs. There is not a lot of good property in the city itself. But since we do actually live in Sacramento I was looking at the MLS there, probably where the cheapest houses would be. I didn't see anything in the $100k range except for condos and townhouses. Sure, they are homes, but in this area they are highly undesirable. We started in a condo back home and they appreciated faster than homes for a time, since houses were so unaffordable. Out here whenever I mention starting small in a condo, people look at me like I have a third eye. I know few who would consider it. Likewise, there were plenty of homes with 0.01 acres available for $200k. But that is about in the realm of townhouse anyway. I didn't see much below $200k but manufactured homes and attached homes.

Nothing I would invest in, personally.

So I take the national publications with a grain of salt. Yes, house prices have dropped 25% - 40%. YES! But affordable housing? Not so much. IT had been insanely unaffordable before the drop. Now just slightly unaffordable. I can't tell you where it will be tomorrow. I don't expect any decent homes in the $100k range. But I guess we'll see!

Anyway, when perusing I actually saw our neighborhood had the least amount of homes for sale and the highest prices. Go us. I have always said that my home was not looked at as an investment per se. But if I am going to shell out $200k-$300k on something, well um, it better be something that holds its value. So I certainly look at it as an investment in that sense. I don't think we thought how our house would fare in the short term in this kind of economy. But I am pleased overall with our neighborhood.

There are areas of Sac with hundreds of homes for sale priced under $200k. So yeah, there are some pretty hurting areas. I am pleased not to live in one of those areas right now. I can't say we'll sit so pretty through this whole mess though. who knows.

Likewise, I didn't think any of the comparable homes in our neighborhood were sitting on the market at all (snatched up fast after bank owned). BUT I noticed one for sale the other day. I just looked it up and it is still sitting for sale. Then again the bank is on crack - they are asking $450k after it has sit for 130 days? ???? They've been selling in minutes if priced $350k-$400k.

So I Was surprised to see one sitting. I just hadn't noticed - I think it had been pending sale because I wrote it off as sold way back. & I just noticed the sign again recently.

Likewise, we have an AWESOME neighbor who has apparently moved. We noticed he moved out and I looked up the house out of curiosity to see what he was asking for it; if it were for sale. I didn't see it listed anywhere. I looked a couple of weeks ago when he packed up and left.

I just typed in his address and nothing popped up BUT when I type in our street and "for sale" into google a house on our street, same size, pops up as foreclosed/bank owned. 7 days ago.

The satellite picture of his house (no address). I was just FLOORED.

Asking price $321k - it's the smallest model. These smaller houses have not been selling at all in recent years. Could sit on the market for years, like some of the others. I guess we'll see... I think banks have a pretty short time limit they can own real estate though.

He was the nicest guy you ever met and one of the originals who got in at the ground level.

He paid $245k for the house in 2001. Lord knows where he went wrong from there. I found that to be very sad news. A good guy, but something apparently went very wrong for him.

well, we will really miss having him as a neighbor. He used to be a football player and was just a big teddy bear. I appreciated having almost a personal body guard in the neighborhood. He looked out for us unlike any neighbor we have ever had. & the kind of dude no one would want to mess with. So I always felt very safe knowing he had our back. He was the one who organized the neighborhood watch and instead of calling the police when he saw suspicous people would just go outside and stare them down. Worked pretty well...

He also kept meticulous care of his yard. now it is covered in long grass and weeds. MAkes me sad every time I go outside.

Considering he didn't try to list the house and they are asking $321k, I have to say at face value it looks like another house=ATM story. Yikes!

Likewise, if more of our neighbors face this kind of hot water, it won't bode well for us. So far only the people who bought at the peak (very few) were foreclosed. So it's trickling down. IT will be very apparent who has been living beyond their means, with time. IT could get real ugly from here...

I guess this makes it interesting because it is the first neighbor (in our section of the neighborhood - 1000 homes - maybe 7 sections) - this is the first one to foreclose who bought before the last couple of years. But this will probably be the next wave. People who had affordable houses but borrowed against them a bit too much. !!!! This is just #1 for us...

No, not really. But feels like it.

I noticed yesterday my deoderant was empty. Dh usually stocks up on sale (as with everything) but they stopped making my particular type and he kept buying the wrong stuff. Which is annoying as all get out for 2 reasons. Firstly because I was happy with it but now it's gone. Secondly, because the things I have dh get now I have to go to the store and get. Gah!

Same with my razors and toothpaste. Which is most of my personal regime. Why does everything have to change? Why do I have to choose from 200 types of Crest Toothpaste, but the kind I have loyally bought for the last 3 decades they suddenly don't make.

So I am VERY frustrated with all the manufacturers.

Anyway, I found a coupon for my preferred brand of deoderant and popped over to Walgreens just a couple of months ago, and all they had of my brand and type was a small container. I contemplated because I had bought another brand for sale, and it costs almost the same for a bigger size. Well as I tried to do the math in my head anyway it seemed like both were the same per ounce. I just used the coupon and took the small - looked like a slightly better deal.

So Wednesday or Thursday I ran out. I have a backup of crappy deoderant (one that dh bought) and I keep one at work. So I figured I would freshen up at work and check out the coupons this weekend.

All that and there are no deoderant coupons in the paper. Figures. LOL.

But I have also been putting off razor shopping. I have been also using the same brand forever and they stopped manufacturing my exact type. Now they have all these fancier more expensive razors that I frankly don't think work a s well. So I will go do some careful razor shopping today. I am peeved. I have coupons for a bunch of fancy varieties, but I don't even care - I am going to look for simple looking razors. That actually work. !!

My toothpaste, we figured they changed the name and kind of figured it out, BUT dh got some the other day and tasted weird. I swore he had gotten the wrong thing, and then I realized it was the usual. They had changed something. Blech. I think he got fresh mint gel and I usually get cool mint, but who can keep it all straight. I can't imagine there would be a difference, but yeah, I noticed it. It tastes really off to me.

& yes, I am a very particular person. So dh is sick of my bitchin' and I have to go do my own shopping now.

Life used to be much simpler. Why has it gotten so complicated?

Anyway, I have been thinking I need to replace my tennis shoes. They seem to be holding up okay, but they are getting tired, and I need really good foot support. The shoes are quite old, and wear my feet a bit on the treadmill. So I think it's time for an upgrade.

So a tennis shoe ad caught my eye. I am quite happy to spend the money on a good pair or work out/walking shoes that I can wear for a few years. BUT I saw some of the nicer shoes on Sale for $20 at Big 5 Sporting Goods. It didn't even occur to me at first that I should peruse the rest of the adds. All the camping gear was 50% - 75% off today, so we may go check it out. I had been dreading that we need sleeping bags and flashlights and stuff, but looks like they had some pretty nice sleepingbags in the $10-$15 range, on sale. Yeah, I am sold. Dh said he had 2 sleeping bags but I just thinking ick and disgusting (he doesn't necessarily take great care of his stuff). So I saw a cute black sleeping bag and I think that is what I will get. Out of my allowance. The kids need some as well. They don't need anything fancy as we aren't doing winter camping or anything.

Of course I also came across some sports sandals which I had never really thought of. I suffer greatly with bad shoes and would never consider walking anywhere without my tennies. But I saw some sports sandals on sale and I may try them out.

Reminds me, last night we went for a long walk in the evening. We actually had a really nice night as my life has revolved around work so much lately, and was nice to just have an afternoon and evening with the kids. We all had a blast. We drug dh on a walk, but it was good for him. At one time I knew how long that walk was but I really haven't a clue. Maybe a mile? Walked half way around the lake to another playground. Kids delight in seeing people walking their dogs, and having a change in pace since we go to the other park almost every day.

I am quite behind on housework. I had considered going to the gym today, but I think I will focus on housework instead. I have no idea how far I'll get. But should be a good workout as well.

Last night I Was craving Japanese buffet (knew that place was BAD) and I told dh and then told him to talk me out of it. I said we had kind of a spendy month and may be a bit irresponsible. Especially since we were also making our date plans for next weekend. (We decided on the movies, and daycare).

Anyway, to talk me out of it I guess he told me dinner was expensive. Good point. We have a 10% off coupon and he actually liked the idea of going for lunch because BM has been eating us out of house and home - clearly a big growth spurt. He said BM would be around $2.50 and he could probably eat 3 adult-sized meals. We decided this is probably a good plan. He has devoured all of the snacks in our house. So it will be an expensive grocery month. LOL. We did the math and decided if we didn't order any drinks that it would only be $20 with coupon, so we decided it wasn't so bad. If BM could fill his bottomless stomach, could be good too.

I feel like in years past we sacrificed much like movies out and eating out. I guess now we are figuring out how to work them back to the budget. I never would have suggested movies for a date night. All I think is $$$$$$$$$$. But dh took the kids to a matinee a few weeks back and it was only like $14 for the 3 of them. I was kind of surprised. So I decided I really would enjoy a movie for date night. Except date night will be date day. But it works.

I guess it helps to make a little more money too, but yeah, it's nice to fit some of this stuff back into the budget. This was all the stuff we dropped when we had kids. With time we have slowly been adding some of it back in. & it's nice to have some of those luxuries back.

Of course our life has totally changed finding this drop-in daycare place. We now experience some measure of freedom we haven't had in a good 5 years. We can now actually go to the movies on a whim and stuff like that. Very nice! & having both the kids in preschool allows us some measure of freedom during the week to enjoy.

I realize the expensive part of kids I never *got* before was everything we do do when we go out is now multiplied by 2 (the cost. As we pay for 4 instead of 2). So having the freedom to do things without the kids, like when they are in school anyway, is quite nice.

But yeah, it's frustrating that all the fun things I did as a single gal now cost 4 times as much. I can't afford the simple thing I enjoyed as a totally broke college student. It's kind of ironic. But I mostly feel like a ditz for not thinking about this before I had kids. You don't realize in the early years because they get to tag along everywhere free. Well, we are taking advantage this year. LM will get into Disneyland free and his entire camping trip (& 4 days of meals) are free. So we are taking advantage. Last hoorah of FREE. Then he turns 3 and free is over. But he is actually old enough to enjoy at this point, so we figured we'd go "free crazy" right before he turns 3.

& taking a bottomless pit to a $2.50 buffet? I guess it works out in some regards.

I actually went to aerobics class today - it had been ages.

I still feel stressed at work, a bit, so came in today.

We'll see how this week goes. If I had all month to work on this stuff instead of like 10 days, would have been preferable. So just a little busy. Plus I am just so ready for vacation.

An Art Museum had some free toddler art program today. I had put it on the calendar ages ago, wistfully thinking I may be free. Well, maybe next time.

Last weekend was very hectic with the whole wedding thing, so we decided to take it easy this weekend. No plans.

Next weekend I have a hike in mind - if it doesn't get too warm.

I also found a hike along the beach in Santa Cruz. The closest becah to our parent's house anyway. We have never taken the kids over there, but was my favorite spot as a child. I saw some nice/interesting hikes along the beach.

Kind of limited as we keep it easy for the kids. But yeah, I Wanted to go to an Art & Wine Festival there in May. So maybe we will pack up and head over there for the weekend, and spend the day at the beach.

When I was young I would boogie board in that water but I think I Would absolutely DIE if I put my feet in. The temperature is like 60 degrees. Oh, to be young again. Yes, no wet suit. Young and crazy.

Which is fine, because the kids don't need to get into that water. Not the calmest waters.

I also need to do some planning for our So Cal trip. We are spending 2 days at Disney and one day at Lego Land if we feel up to it. We left a free day to relax. We were considering going to the beach or going on a hike. I think it would be divine to go lounge on a warm beach. Thinking San Diego. Oh yes, but also considered breaking up the drive with a hiking stop. I just have to research and see if it makes sense.

I was researching hikes online, the other day and saw this gorgeous valley of poppies (I guess they are in full bloom currently). I had originally thought it was Northern California, and then realized it was somewhere way south. I wonder if the poppies will still be blooming in a few weeks. IT looked amazing. I also know there is some Sequoia Forest somewhere down south. So we have to figure what to do.

After 2-3 days walking around amusement parks I am thinking the beach may be preferable though.

Well, we'll keep our options open!

So yeah, I am busy working hard, and dreaming of all the things I Want to do when things settle down. Which luckily should be VERY soon. Once we pass April 30th. Ah, I am going to have to have a celebration!

Oh yes, and if I hit the gym tomorrow, I will really be on a roll.

I was actually surprised how well I fared in class today. I have been trying to walk a bit and it does help. I am never quite as sedentary in the spring/summer months as I get in the winter. So here's to that. I would like to lose a few pounds this summer and get some muscle tone back now that tax season and sick season is over... So yeah, that entails more than a few walks here and there. Trying to get back into it.

I guess I have a roundabout goal to lose a good 8 pounds (or whatever it takes to get back to a size 12. If I lost no weight but toned up, could be close). The goal weight is just where I was before I had LM. BUT I Wasn't fit at all at that time so I am thinking a fit 148 or 146 may be the same as an untoned 142. But for now I am not sure where I will be happy, so 142 is the goal in my head.

I figure I have all summer and it is a possibility.

But weight loss and eating well and all of that is so NOT my strong point. Debt diets are easy. Real diets not so much. I know, and funny how the principles are so much the same. IT's just my own personality. Money = easy. Diet not so much.

BUT if I actually make it, well, the gym has been really great in helping me to maintain in the winter months (& probably in the super hot summer months as well). So it has served its purpose. Money WELL spent. A tax season with no weight gain? Incredible. I think I have lost a couple of pounds actually.

So ideally, in my head, I want to lose baby weight this summer. LM baby weight.

& maybe next summer I will work on BM baby weight. I got 8 pounds from each of them. It's just where my body has settled. So I don't know, my body may be very resistant to weight loss. But we'll see. I'll certainly try.

I have no interest in rapid weight loss though. I like working out, I want to be more fit. We'll see what happens. But I am a big believer if you lose it to fast, it doesn't stick. So 8 pounds over an entire summer? What is that - half pund a week? That I Can strive for.

I was just perusing the stay home vs. work thread (which was actually quite cordial - imagine that) and I had some insight to share.

I am fiercely independent, so it may actually surprise you to know that my mother was a SAHM. Of course, this is probably why dh and I value having a parent home. We felt very blessed growing up that we both had our moms home with us. Dh's mom worked part-time much of his youth, but my mom has not worked since I was born.

Anyway, so when I read comments that women work because they want to be strong role models for their daughters, I kind of cringe. You don't have to work to be a strong role model for your daughter.

Likewise, since I do tend to be fiercely independent, I thought it might surprised some of you to know I Was raised by a full-time, permanent SAHM. & no I haven't rebelled against that at all. I think it was a good thing. I just know it's not for me.

I have always had far more in common with my dad, and likewise, emulate him much more. Probably why I followed in his footsteps more than my mom's. It just feel more comfortable or *right* to me.

My parents were the types who had me doing chores and cooking at a very young age. Not because they considered me a slave, but because they wanted me to know how to take care of myself. It is very striking the way most people raise their kids these days - the idea that if you give them chores you are just using your kids. Huh? How are they going to learn how to sustain themselves? I will never make apologies for my 5yo or 8yo or 12yo knowing how to take care of themselves.

So my parents have always approached everything as me being able to take care of myself. I have no doubt they would treat me no different, in that regard, if I was male or female. When I turned 16 I learned how to change the oil and the tires on my car. As anyone should really know.

Though my mom never had any desire to work she always made it clear that she was strong because she had a degree. That she could take care of us if she needed to.

These days I look back and wonder how capable she would have been, to take care of us if something had happened. But growing up the message was clear - you have to take care of yourself because no one else will. Just because my dad worked didn't mean my mom completely relied on him.

Anyway, with time as I step back and look at my life I find it funny how much dh has married his mother. I hate to say it since we butt heads so much, but I think much of the reason why is because we are both so alike. I realize it more and more every day.

Of course, dh and I have had our own struggles. It wasn't until we had kids and he stayed home a few years that I start to realize I totally and completely married my mother. LOL. I thought I was s'posed to marry my father. You know, you marry someone like your father. But since I am much more like my father, I guess I married someone much more like my mother.

Anyway, just some insights into my own upbringing.

I find it awfully funny that dh and I have been together a good 13 years, and only now we see how we so totally married our mothers. You don't think about this when you date or marry someone. I guess having kids brings out our parents in us.