Egads.

Well, I am getting a good start to my more personal/travel goals. We haven't taken the kid(s) to the snow since 2004. LM has never seen snow. We talk about it, but we never go. I think mostly we are not a fan driving near snow. We're not as bad as the Southern Californians who freak out when it comes to a light rain. But yeah, we aren't much better. We don't do snow. Hehe.

I've actually been keeping an eye on the weather a bit because November would have been a better time than any, but the weather has not cooperated much. We usually end up going in the spring anyway, which is nicer. Lots of snow, but not a lot of cold...

But yeah, with the craziness at work of late, I hadn't looked.

But one of dh's relatives is coming up to the cabin this weekend (& ties in with another goal of ours - to make more use of the family cabin in the Sierras). They invited the kids to go up and to play in the snow too.

I am not sure how it will pan out, they were going to drive up today or tonight and there is a small storm today. BUT because of the storm they predict lower snow levels at about the the cabin. SO that would be perfect. As long as the roads are cleared when we drive up tomorrow. But then we can just meet there and the kids could play in the yard. They will be in heaven!!! OR at least we won't have to drive too far to find white stuff. The cabin is only an hour from us; Tahoe 2 hours.

So what does this have to do with spring? Well, we went to the cabin a couple of months ago and we inventoried the snow clothes (mostly from the 70s) and there was no snow boots in LM's size. So, I knew I Would have to run out and get some snow boots for him. & Maybe I'd get him a whole snow outfit just because there was going to be 3 other small kids there about the same size and not sure we had enough. We just buy stuff and grow the arsenal as the family multiplies.

So I ran to Target at lunch. Seemed like a good idea. I had seen snow suits there and everything.

WRONG-O. I should have turned around and left the second I got there. I walked in and there were bikinis on display.

What the heck????

The pile of snow clothing that was there like last week, was completely gone.

I wandered over to the shoes and though there were two entire rows labeled, "boots," there was only 2 pair of adult snow boots there. What the heck?

They are clearing winter inventory out for spring already? Huh?

I was just very confused.

I did spot a couple of pairs of gloves hidden in a clearance rack, so I did grab those. Figured we couldn't have too many gloves. But yeah, will just buy boots on our way out tomorrow. In snow country. Yeesh.

It's just extra mind boggling to me because we had rather warm weather up until maybe 3 weeks ago. I don't know, I don't usually shop for winter stuff. There is usually no need. So I don't know the winter clothing cycle.

But yes, I am excited to go to the snow this weekend. Yippee.

As for me, I dug out my winter coat when we went to look at Xmas lights on a particularly cold night. It was a snow parka I bought in Utah, at the outlets, in 2000 or so. I was marveling at what a good buy that was. For the rare snow trip. It's a very nice coat. I'd be surprised if I spent more than $30 on it.

I can borrow boots from the cabin.

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In other news, I worked on my investments today and it looks like we were down about 25% for the year. Investment down 25%, but we contributed about as much as we lost. That is certainly an important piece of the net worth pie.

I've been kind of heavy in cash (before I bought up some at the "bottom" - meaning the lowest I have ever seen stocks) and we were kind of heavy in international. But as of 1/1 we are kind of at a good mix, so we will resume contributing about 20% to cash/bonds, 25% International, and the rest domestic stocks, in 2009.

I entered all our balances in yahoo today. As of 1/1. I usually do that every year just to eyeball performance. Performance without regard to current year contributions anyway. I think Yahoo showed us down 40%. I was relieved it was only 25%. The difference was largely due to stocks we bought in November with our cash reserves.

In other news, GMAC Bank started a new online savings product, but I received a letter initially that there was a $500 minimum. Their MM account offers free checks and no minimum, and I have grown rather attached to it. The letter was on offer to convert to their new "online savings" which offer 0.5% more interest. I decided to pass. Particularly since it was so all or nothing, and the new account seemed kind of crappy with the minimum, etc. I don't have a ton of cash and didn't want to deal with the minimum.

Well, I just noticed they removed all the minimums on all their savings accounts. SO I wanted to open one up and use it for savings, but keep using the MM one for check writing. The alternative is to transfer money over to my checking a few days before big bills are due, which is fine. But I have gotten used to the checks and have gotten spoiled. Now I think I will have my cake and eat it too.

I tried to open the account online yesterday but I couldn't remember the login I set up for dh and it wouldn't let me open a joint account without that. Bah. I will have to call and straighten it out.

I like GMAC because their rates overall seem to be competitive. If nothing else, they really drag their feet on lowering rates. I don't like changing banks every 5 minutes.

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Oh - one final thing. I got notice that our house recorded, with the refi. They sent us a notice that they could file homestead for us for $50, plus the fee of a notary.

What a rip. In California, Homestead is automatic. Don't fall for it!

I understand there are some situations when you should file for protection. Mostly if you have more than one home. So you clarify which home should be homesteaded.

BEsides, it doesn't cost $50 if you just do it on your own.

Just another example of where education/knowledge pays. I wonder how many people just blindly pay it. In this case it was fishy to me. It looked like a bill. Like, "You owe us $50." So I looked at it more closely, and tossed it after that.