I've been keeping pretty darn busy.

Updated Quicken. Hadn't paid attention to the stock market this week. Yeesh. Hot hot hot.

My retirement and savings is doing well. Checking, not so much. I have no idea what kind of spending dh will be doing this week. The trip is "paid for," but you know how that goes. Food adds up and so on. I see about $100 of charges on the card thus far. Will see when all is said and done. Will come from savings, since there is nowhere else for it to come from.

There is family drama, of course. I think dh is going a little batty. I am extra glad I sat this one out. Though no doubt the financial side will drive me batty. I don't enjoy being forced into a trip I don't want to go on, or being stuck with bills to appease my MIL. I would GLADLY pay our own way if I had any time to prepare. We had talked about going next year, before all this. Before MIL stomped her feet and demanded we all go this year. Anyway, all I can think of is the serenity prayer. & glad they went without me this year, anyway. Guess it will be MUCH cheaper in the end. & better for my sanity.

I think part of the thing is they are ALL sharing a hotel room (suite) too. I would just go nuts, personally. We all went to Hawaii, but we all had our own rooms on different floors, and our own cars, etc. Well, we had less kids to drive around, so no one was stranded if one person took one car. Sounds like the car situation is driving dh nuts.

Though I did have a nice chat with dh tonight. He broke away from the pack to spend some time with his grandfather. The reason is he is working on personal documentaries for our parents. (Would for the grandparents, but with all their friends and relatives mostly passed, it's not as easy. With my dad's sudden health whoas, he decided to get started on our parents' videos. As their friends have been starting to pass on, etc. Time is a ticking).

Anyway, I had a nice chat with dh on his apparently "long" drive over. & a nice chat on his way back to the hotel. Though he did some filming, in the end he just had a nice time with his East Coast relatives. Said they chatted for hours. I think he appreciated the break from the rest of his immediate family too. The rest of his family seems to have little interest in spending time with their relatives. Which I guess was REALLY pissing dh off today. Because if nothing else, he has some videos to do. So I think in the end he got something special out of the trip. Something special that the rest might miss!

I guess it's the bane of living in Florida. Remind me not to retire in a touristy spot like that, if I ever want quality time with my family.

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Anyway, in other news, I went shopping and spent too much money. Too much retail therapy!

I feel like we should just hole up inside the rest of October and November. & not spend any money. I think it's doable.

It's been a little jekyl and hyde. I feel like I am spending more than I should. That we are spending more than we should. Though we saved more money than we have in years. But I don't think the savings excuses the spending. Was okay for summer, but I could go for a no-spend quarter about now. We will work on keeping October and November rather low-spend. I think it will be easier with the weather turning colder. With work getting busier, etc., etc. It seems we can go the entire tax season without spending a dime sometimes.

Anyway, truthfully, most of the purchases I made were rather pent up - stuff I "needed" or had wanted for a long time. Saw some good deals. I hope I scratched the shopping itch good. This time of year it is easy to put things on Christmas lists. Dh's family demands lists. I will start obliging. It does make it easy not to spend much at the end of the year. Our Christmas shopping list is small. I think it will be a record low this year. Dh already has free gifts galore for the kids (Scholastic buys and such - video games scores in dh's business of buying and selling, etc.). SIL no longer wants to exchange gifts (cousins). I don't think we are exchanging gifts with anyone in particular this year. I don't remember the last time we bought each other gifts. It will definitely be a record low year for us.

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Today I didn't get much done. I talked on the phone all night and internet-ed. Warmed up the laptop so I could update Quicken. Next thing I know it is past my bedtime. Too tired to read. Yeesh. I actually was awake enough to read the last few nights. Apparently I am WAY more well rested than usual. It's usually hard for me to stay awake much past 8pm. But tonight, no reading for me. Too tired. My day caught up with me.

The work day actually went pretty fast. I am just amazed how quickly the evening went. I was much more productive being anti-social! Working always exhausts me a bit more. More than cleaning house all day, apparently.