I think I have completed most my financial chores. They didn't take long at all. (Printed year-end statements, stuff like that). My list might have looked long, but it took little time. I am too efficient to waste a lot of time on chores. Much better things to do!

Next weekend I will finish my taxes (not much to do) and file with the state to expedite my refund (before we get into IOU territory again - I can hope).

I hear now that IRS will accept my tax return Feb. 14? Which is sooner than expected. OF course, that is where the bulk of my refund will come from.

As the refunds arrive, I will put them into my IRA.

May just do the same plan for 2011. I can put $8k into our ROTHs this year (if all goes well) and can maybe put $2k into our regular IRA, helped heavily with 2011 tax refunds.

Will see how the year goes though. My overtime bonus is earmarked for our 2012 medical deductible, but I am kind of tempted to put it to the mortgage instead. As a compromise, no decision will be made until the end of the year. It just depends how the year pans out. The mortgage motivation is to get to $199,999 by year's end. I could admit it is purely psychological, but we borrowed a few thousand dollars in our last refi (closing costs) and feel in a good position to repay those. I don't expect to keep hitting the mortgage quite as hard after that is repaid. IT was a good decision at the time (knocked another percent off our loan), and we had no cash to spare at the time, but would like to at least get that part paid off now that we are better able to. IT may seem silly, but we didn't get where we are at current, borrowing money for closing costs. It's something we normally wouldn't do and would like to pay off if we can.

Unfortunately, both our windshields were cracked in the last month. It's not a huge deal (we can get them both fixed very cheaply), but I can't help but feel it might be a bad omen. Just a reminder that there always seems to be something. More than the usual, lately.

As long as dh needs frequent MRIs, I expect we will max out our deductible. & we seem to be in the habit of maxing out before January even ends, with all these surgeries. So, I am not going to rush to put all that money to the mortgage, just yet. IT's an idea for December 31.

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I don't think I fully realized how stir crazy I was. Every time I feel my neck swelling more, I just limit myself to the couch. As such, I've mostly been a big couch potato during recovery.

Yesterday, we went on a long drive to the dentist, visited with my folks, and went out to dinner (YUM!)

& my swelling went down considerably.

I have had my doubts about returning to work in a couple of days, but am feeling much better about that. Phew! Maybe being a lifeless lump hasn't been the best thing for me. Everyone freaks out when I do anything, though. Can't win!

I also under estimated how stir crazy I was. The weather was just GORGEOUS yesterday, the landscape more beautiful than usual. Usually I am a home body but all I could think on the beautiful drive was how I Wanted to get out and go on a hike and go to San Francisco some weekend, etc., etc.

Anyway, it felt good to see some different sights and sounds besides the ones inside my house.

We have also been on a very unusual and long rain streak, and it could just be the sunshine. I believe it was 75F+ degrees yesterday. Nothing but sun in the forecast. Phew! My body was not used to not having sun for so long, that is for sure. Maybe I just needed a good dose Vitamin D.

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My dad sent me this article the other day (& to some other relatives).

WATCH OUT FOR THESE INVESTMENTS

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/198...

I was telling him about Tobias' book "The Only Investment Guide You Will Ever Need." My dad doesn't much care for books, generally, but it piqued his curiosity.

Since we got another $40 in Amazon gift cards, I decided to just ship it to him (depending on the cost).

I had never bought used through Amazon before, but dh has certainly sold his fair share of used items on there. So, I gave it a whirl.

The cost + shipping wasn't much less than the current sale price of the book, BUT I would have had to pay more shipping otherwise. We usually never buy anything until we can congregate $25 of purchases for free shipping. In this case, I found a new book from an amazon seller, and the book + shipping cost $6.

If he doesn't like it or care for it or want to keep it, I'll just ask for it back. I borrowed it from the library when I read it, but I probably something worth having on hand. Unfortunately, the ebook prices weren't very appealing. But, it's one of those books where I might prefer to have on hand to flip through. Might be for the best. If he likes it, I might just have to borrow it and skim through it again.

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I decided to buy book #3 in my Fire & Ice/Game of Throne series. Ebook is $5.99. Dh told me it was not on sale still - but not that it cost about half as much as the others (the others I bought on sale for $5).

I picked up the book (dh has it), looked at the 1200 pages on fine print, and thought, "uh uh." I suppose the other perk of the ebooks is you can take any ebook and make the font as large as you want. I doubled the font size for the last 1600 pages, and would like to do so for this super monstrosity book. Not only is the book 1200 pages, but it would be more if it was the size of an average font.

I value my eye site, but also have a gift card balance, so the book will be free to me, anyway. Returning to work, busy season and all, lord knows when I Will finish it.