I had a chance to sit down and see where I Was, financially.

I transfer $2200 to savings the first half of every month, but I hadn't sat down and decided how much I needed to pull out of savings. The $2200 includes $1200 for short-term (within the year/very expected) expenses.

Wouldn't you know, I needed to pull $2200 from savings. No transfer this month; was a wash.

Sounds worse than it is. Included a little over $1100 in airfare. I knew that would hurt. (+ swim lessons, auto insurance, dh's present, etc., etc.)

But it's paid and done. TV, house paint, airfare, medical bills, check. All paid in cash. Now maybe I can actually move forward on some cash savings goals...

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I am not very happy with the extreme last minute RSVPs rolling in for the kids party. Blech. I am still crossing my fingers that there are some no-shows, so I don't have to pay the $10 per child extra.

A week before, I had the perfect 15 RSVPs that I had room for. Then I got 3 more yesterday.

In other news, everything is so hectic because of the "family party." I made the party simple as pie, and now we have to feed and entertain dh's family. OF course, we just did it all the same day. Because they live out of town, and some would want to go to the kid party, too.

Minor annoyances. I will get over them. I will gripe a bit, though I know in the end we will have fun. Even before the events of this year, I have been a little better about putting aside all they annoyances and just being grateful we still have all of our family. It's easier to stay on the mindset, with all the health problems of the past year. It isn't easy, and it isn't all fun, but a birthday party full of parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and GREAT-grandparents is a TREASURE. So though I have been a little gripey with all that needs to be done this week, deep down I don't really mind so much.

Symbolically, Saturday is the 1-year-anniverary of my dad's heart attack. So, we have a lot to celebrate (with him still being alive!).

Thankfully, dh is handling most of the shopping/cooking. We were going to get pizza, but dh remembered that we would have pizza at the kids' party. Pizza is the go to food. What else could we possibly serve 20 people? We decided on sandwiches.

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Speaking of birthdays. IT's birthday party central around here. Two of BM's best friends also have July birthdays. So he has two parties the week after his. One of them is cute - it is a party for 2 kids with the same (unusual) name. It's probably a good idea to team up with some of them, next year. It's been birthday birthday birthday, lately.