Not much going on financially; too much going on otherwise. Maybe that best explains my absence of late.

Dh called the shop that we decied to go with and they are ordering a new door for my van. That's all I know. That, and we will be a one-car family for a few days, very soon. I can't imagine it takes long to order a door though. I assume the repairs will begin this week. For now I am trying not to drive it too much anyway - the door seems to rattle more every time I drive it.

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Back-to-school is rather uneventful here. Last year was a flurry with kindergarten and all that. This year is rather quiet. Plus, I am not sure what it is - maybe the fact they shortened summer for a month - but we haven't heard much. We haven't been asked for school supply and field trip money yet. We just found out class assigments (last year we knew a month in advance).

Dh is driving me nuts - and his mom. We were at her house over the weekend and she was telling me about ALL the sales. I told her that was nice, but we didn't need anything. She just kept going on and on and on... So yesterday dh is telling me he is picking up some shirts for BM, per his mom's advice, since there will never be sales so great again!!!! (MEanwhile, I didn't notice anything spectacular about said sales). We argued much about it yesterday - I insisted BM didn't NEED anything. So this morning I looked in his closet and held up the various sized shirts to his frame. Um, he has EIGHT shirts, they are mostly on the large side, and he prefers to wear 1 or 2 per week. I told dh very strongly how I Felt about spending money on shirts. What a waste! I think I won this one, but who knows. He also wanted to get some white shirts. Is he out of his mind? Children don't need white shirts. Hell, I Would never wear white (I am too messy!)

That was our battle of wills yesterday, but I brought up the 8-shirt thing today. To help get my point across!

Anyway, both kids could use some new shoes and last year we just bought the most cheapo backpack we could find. Main reason being we needed something "plain" - plain as can be - and it was really hard to find. When we found one for $5 we snagged it. But no surprise, it is falling apart. We now know the backpack part of the dress code is completely ignored and so anything should really be fine. I told dh not to go too cheap - I don't want to buy new backpacks every year.

The kids could probably use haircuts too, but that won't be done in time for school. Oh well!

Overall, not much back-to-school shopping. The school buys supplies in bulk and just asks for $25 per family.

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Speaking of haircuts, I try to cut mine 2-3 times a year and that is plenty. But last month I figured at about 6 months out that it was getting well past time. I was going to get my haircut some weekend, and I saw my mom and she raved about how great my hair looked (she might have even asked if I just got it cut). So I pushed it to the back of my mind. I prefer to have it shorter in summer though - so it's kind of silly to have ALL this hair in the heat.

Anyway, it works out, I got an ad for a $8 hair cut - the ad sais "put us on your to-do list." It was like the ad was made for me - LOL. YEs - that is something I need to do. So hopefully this weekend I will remember to do that. Dh will take the kids to the beauty school sometime during the week. Their hair is much easier! Do I trust them with my hair? No. BUT fact is, my coupon is cheaper anyway - and will likely be a much better cut.

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Market is frustrating me. When the kids get $3k "officially" in their accounts, I can transfer them to about any other fund at Vanguard (the $3k minimum thing). LM had $2995 in his account for a couple of days. I could probably call and ask if I could send in $5 to round it out - but online I couldn't execute it without $3k. So I am a little frustrated.

I am wary to add more money in case I do and then the market falters. Funding kids' accounts is pretty low on my priorities right now - though $5 is fine if it is a sure thing.

Anyway, in the interim it feels weird waiting for the market to rise so I can buy high. But it is what it is.

It may be a few months...

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Real estate is moving. Well, more in the BAy Area I guess. Not that it ever slowed down much there. It's still "insanely expensive" and far more expensive than when we fled about a decade ago. BUT, I got lots and lots of friends calling and e-mailing me for tax real estate advice. Yeesh. Like, it's endless. The real estate bug is going around. What amazes me how many first time homebuyers are excited to buy WAY TOO MUCH house. I often feel no one's learned a thing from all this mess!

Some of the locals ask me for advice, but none of them understand we bought down in price with the purchase of this house (we sold our condo in the Bay Area for more than this house cost) and I think most of them think our mortgage is about double what it is, from comments made. Thus, any advice I give on taking it slow, and starting smaller, is taken as a personal insult. They think I am looking down on them when in fact they are stretching far further than we did for our home. That whole thing is just irony I guess. I am giving the advice I followed myself. They think I am putting them down for suggesting a "smaller home." You can't win.

Our house cost us less than any of them pay in rent. They just haven't a clue. Appearances can be so deceiving.