It is kind of depressing when no one wants the things you paid a lot of money for. *sigh* HEck, I'd be happy with $5 at this point.

I will probably slash prices Saturday, and if nothing sells this weekend, move everything to the free pile.

In the interest of anonymity, I don't want to disclose what I am selling. But I will whine about it at a later date.

"Free items" were taken off our hands within minutes. Literally. So I am hoping if I can't sell, they will go fast in the free pile. I haven't freecycled in a year or 2, so was shocked and overwhelmed by the response. The last piece we gave away (a year ago?) was an OLD chair. I bet that would go a lot faster in this economy, sad to say. It was a very sad piece of furniture, but hey, it was a free rocking chair and priceless with our babies. We just covered it's hideousness with a blanket. Was an OLD hand-me-down. I listed that for several weeks, and got a couple of e-mails from people telling me how ugly it was. LOL. (Why did they think I Was getting rid of it???) But someone eventually took it. I can't help but wonder how fast that chair would go, today.

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Weather is still hot here. I just wondered when we would end up turning up the water heater. Our bill was $7 for August. We used same amount of gas as last year (exactly) but prices are still coming down. So, $7 is probably some record.

At this rate, we can keep it turned down through September. I am sure some more chill will be in the air by mid-September. But as long as the garage is a million degrees, the gas water heater doesn't work very hard. (I looked it over and determined it is a regular old tank water heater. I couldn't find anything special about it except that it is covered with insulation. Because of that, I don't have a brand or model. All I know is I probably wouldn't waste my money on a tankless heater. & supposedly they make them more efficient these days? This one is circa 2001).

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I am sad to start to say good-bye to summer!

Summer has been hard to get used to, in our low-cost-of-living haven. I come from "70 year round" territory. It's just HOT here. But it's been a rather mild summer, and I rather enjoyed it. I also acclimate a little more every year.

Reminds me, I once read weather was lowest on the list to consider when relocating. Yeah, whatever! I think it's like #1 on my list!!!!!!! We talked so much about moving to Oregon/Washington. LEt's face it - I wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes!

This year I will have a new adjustment. I usually just don't go outside in winter. Which is fine. (Same for summer, really - which made this summer unusual). Funny enough, the winter average is only 5 degrees colder here. No kidding? I Was worried I wouldn't ride my bike in December or January. Interestingly, the winters are more in line than I realized. Maybe it won't be so bad...

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This weekend we have a bike ride and a trip to the water park planned. Guess it's our last summer hoorah (besides our beach weekend getaway, after).

I believe we each spent $40 on our season passes. This would be 4 visits, or $40 a visit, for the entire fam. Not great, but not bad. I am impressed how many slides we were able to get LM on. & BM is in water slide heaven. At least next year he won't have to be measured on every ride. He is just right on the cusp, for now.

I expected dh to take BM a bit more, but it's just been kind of hectic.

IT will be perfect to splurge on pre-season tickets, just as tax season ends, for 2010. Definitely a worthwhile investment. We are buying next year. It helped that besides the $6 city parking every visit, that we didn't spend a dime inside the park. Makes it palatable.

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Work has been interesting. To say the least. I was feeling rather "caught up" (first time in YEARS) and worried the summer would be a bit slow. Ah, what a silly worry!

As everything was winding down, I even started to feel a bit bored. For like a minute.

But no need to fear, it's just been a little crazed since. We have some new tax deadline on 9/15. (Which is good, but a bit of an adjustment).

Reminds me, I have 3 clients who are apparently in no rush to file their individual tax returns. Procrastinators drive me batty! I will be babysitting them the next 30 days or so. Like asking for their info 5 times hasn't been enough...

I've been working on all sorts of random stuff though, for the most part. I am trying to enjoy my "freedom" since December - April can get pretty hectic. I have a few random Fridays off work, as well as some seminars to attend for required education, etc., etc.

I shouldn't get too used to the slow pace.

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I probably can't spend any money this month. We have $500 set aside for our weekend getaway. & we did a ton of pent up shopping last weekend. The rest of the month is "groceries and gas." It's all we have room for. Which is fine (We don't need cash for our weekend plans).

Dh is itching to buy Rock Ban Beatles. Ugh! We waited this long to buy Rock Band, and he CAN'T WAIT to buy it? He gets that way about some things - drives me nuts.

I am lobbying hard for him to put it on his Xmas Wish list. Will see! His family will buy him whatever he desires. I think that's the way to go. Like RB1 & 2 isn't enough to occupy him? We just got it!

With Pepsi points, he has been snatching up a ton of Rockband songs. (I do love Pepsi, but these were mostly swiped from the garbage. Dh has been dumpster diving!). He just got some Dr. MArio game with the pepsi points too. I must admit, it was pretty fun. Some sort of 4-person mode with the kids. Oh boy - is that one bad addictive game. Think I played it 2 hours last night. At least one hour was with the kids? Dh was telling me about this 4-person mode, and I was totally uninterested. But, 1 hour later... (Dr. Mario is tetris, essentially. I got hooked on it in th 1990s. I try to stay away from it... But we have like 10 versions between all of dh's dang game systems. Ack!).