I was looking up an article a friend was in and came across this little city by city comparison on best places to retire. Kind of interesting but figure I Would share a snapshot of the city I live in now.

But first I have to shock you with the city where I Was raised. You read it right - median house price over $600k. But then look at the weather - sigh. IT's about all I miss about good old San Jose these days though. A little further out from the ocean and the big cities now, but closer to Tahoe and the mountains now. I Feel pretty central. I wonder if someday Sacramento will be as crazy. IT is getting there fast. But probably will never be quite as popular without the super nice weather and high tech jobs that San Jose offers. Besides that, eh, Sacramento has served us well/.

San Jose:

Bunco night and I LOST. What the FOO? LOL.

IT's okay, we actually had all completely different winners tonight. I think I Earned cash to pay all year so I Can be patient and let someone else win - it is nice for different people to win once in a while. I think I will skip December too because work is too crazy next month.

In other news, this week is a budget buster. Ah, tomorrow is the 30th. But the credit card will close the 4th, that's my month end. We had a pretty good month EXCEPT the stupid wii purchase. Almost $300. I can almost squeeze it in so it is a good month, but that is $200-$300 less to our e-fund then. Bah. Only saved $100 in November when all was said and done. We have a lot to sell in the following weeks so we'll see how it goes - looks like we can maybe fetch $400 at this point - a $130 gain - I am ready to take it. I do have some CASH I Can not deposit into my e-fund either. I just know once I convert the cash to a check and sell the wii we will reach our $6k goal by 12/31. I think we will get lots of cash for christmas too - so we'll see how it goes. Not many expenses for December so we may get to $6500 in December. Perhaps... We generally take cash as an extra and spend it, but we are accumulating so much (I just spent $100 on that San Frnacisco trip - extra cash). I want to not spend any more - we need to save some.

Anyway, lots of stuff coming up the next few days, so though the budget looks good today, and tomorrow is the 30th. Eh, who knows. Eating out Friday for work. Eating out for my birthday. Groceries perhaps. It will be close.

I think December should be easy not to spend much though. A little on the christmas front, but not much. With all the gifts. I think it should be easy to step back and say we don't need anything, what a month of windfalls. But who knows. I can hope I guess.

I just had a novel idea. Since we have a local bank, I can go deposit the cash - and send it on over to the e-fund. OMG! I am too dumb to figure it out - my mommy has been my bank for so long - LOL. She is a good reverse ATM for me - I am always giving her cash for checks - hehe. I feel like such a dummy - hehe. YEah - I am going to deposit all our cash tomorrow at lunch or something. OR sturday morning. WOohoo. Why did I not think of this SOONER????? I know I Could deposit ATM too but I don't know - that scares me. Woohoo - I Am all excited now - the benfits of local banking...

Well I Can update my e-fund balance to $5700 then - woohoo. I have $75 easy to add. Actually since I get paid tomorrow I should do that at lunch - go make my deposit AND deposit the cash too. That would be fun - a novel experience. I am not sure if I have ever walked in to do a deposit before.

Gosh, next time I get cash I should go straight to the bank!!!!! I don't do well with cash - it disappears. I like to deposit it and track it - the accountant in my enjoys that much more. Cash - no one has to know where it went - LOL - so I am not very responsible with it. I Feel like such a ditz for not thinking of this sooner.

I am just curious. I know a lot of the talk of car replacement funds and collission and all that is a totally different story to me with 2 perfectly working cars at home and a family that only needs one car. It wouldn't even really put us out that much at this point to go to 1 car. Dh mostly leaves the house when I am home from work. So if a car breaks down or even was totaled I really wouldn't sweat it. Though I guess it is possible something could happen to both cars, eh? Flood?

But, I Was just curious because a coworker has not been ALL week because she had car problems. ??? IS it just me? You seriously can not find ANOTHER way? Strange.

When we first moved here and I had no one I had some car problems and took my car in. & then promptly called a cab. The car shop owner looked at me like I Was crazy when I Said I Was waiting for a cab - he had an employee give me a ride to work. Being young and cute helps I guess. Sure a rental may be cheaper, but I just needed a quick ride to work. Whatever. If I Was really desparate I could have taken a bus though. Light rail. Train. Lots of options, my office is right by the light rail. Cab fare for one day so I Can complete my responsibilities at work, no biggie to me. Those were in the days we were making big dough though. Convenience won hands down in those days.

Ah, so I just got the message she won't be in tomorrow again because she has no one to get a ride from. I thought of offering but I thought if she really wanted to be here, she would. Maybe it would piss her off if I offered - LOL. I don't know. She lives far out - 20 miles east of me. But um yeah, I Could give her a ride - I live closer to her than anyone else around here.

I just find it strange. Is it just me? Oh well, just extra strange because not someone I Would imagine is hard up for a few bucks for a rental or something. We are always talking about how crazy it is people live beyond their means. I guess it sends a message that work isn't that important and that isn't a message I would want to send. There are people here where the message would be - "I am too broke to do otherwise." Public Transportation can be pricey around here. But I am afraid she is sending a completely different message. IF it was me I Would just call in sick I guess - LOL. If I was just going to throw up my hands in findig a way to get to work, why would I admit that???

Or maybe I just read too much into the whole thing.

Ah, it is not terribly often I buy stuff for myself. But if I do - oh yeah - it will be CLOTHES. (well that and jewelry).

I told dh not to buy anything through the end of the week - it is tight with his stupid Wii purchase. Credit card will probably cut off monday so trying to defer defer defer. Then I got another wish list e-mail from his grandma so I thought - bah - and looked up some slippers for the list - to get her a better idea.

& then I came across the shoes - I fell in love with them. They even carried my size. I am not much of an online shoe shopper because my feet are such a weird size but I figured I'd give it a whirl.

I guess the upside is these were from Land's End and they have an overstock store that had jeans for $7!!! I didn't see anything near my size, but interesting to keep an eye on - a lot of deals.

I was good and checked Ebay before purchasing and then I laughed - oh yeah - plenty - but none in my size of course - nowhere near. Thank you big feet. You are useless for ebay shoe shopping. Oh well, who wants to be average.

It is good - spent $30 on those babies. I love them and just what I need. I don't have any casual shoes - just my walking shoes which I have been feeling self conscious with of late. I Wanted some cute black shoes or something. & these will be a little sporty but nice too. I got all black. OF course - black is my color!

I also bought some grey tennis shoes because they were on sale - $25 or something. I don't even know. With shipping I spent $70 or so. Most of my birthday cash. So it is okay. I just have to hold out for christmas money for work clothes which I probably *need* more. SO I feel a little bad. Very um, impulsive. Well now I own 2 cute pairs of shoes. Long overdue really. No more just high heels or walking shoes - something in between - woohoo.

I usually shop Payless but lately all they are good for is work shoes. Even that is hit and miss. I think I am getting too old. They have all the hip shoes, I just want some good old DocMartens or something like that! Plus my big feet don't help with the selection, I usually just hit a few of the stores around here every once in a while and stock up if I see something I like. So I rarely spend more than $10 or something on shoes. Nice to splurge once in a while. Anyway, it has been a year or 2 since I found anything but a few black shoes for work - LOL. I just dread going to the shoe stores - Payless is cheap and carries wide sizes. I thank goodness for them with the kids and their square feet too. THey have wide sizes for the kids which is awesome. Impossible to find at such reasonable prices otherwise. Well, I get so frustrated I haven't really shopped around in years - maybe it's gotten better out there...

But knowing all these cute shoes exist online is very bad. Must not look...

I am really pleased with the quality for the price though, believe me I will wear these forever if I can!!! We'll see how they fit...

Well, first things first. I got some more ideas for my wish list. Slippers and books. I saw fleece slippers (like $2.97) in the mail ads and thought that would be a good gift for the wish list. I have some super warm socks which when I wear, I can survive with the heat at 60 or something vs. the usual 68. They are amazing. So I saw these fleece slippers and thought - aha. I Will put some fancier/good quality variety on my wish list. Any suggestions on super warm slippers?

Then dh mentioned books - I think that is a great idea. I am a book fiend and that is something easy to shop for, hard to get wrong, etc. If they like DVDs and games and all that, books should be in the same realm. Well, you would think anyway. We'll see how it goes. SO help me if my book choices are criticized - hehe...

My friend wants to meet at IHOP tomorrow and I am not so keen on it. But then again my birthday is friday I wonder if she will buy me lunch. Who knows. Will probably go for it.

Oh yeah - bunco tomorrow too. Send me some monkey karma, eh? (yes I Said monkey karma) LOL. I want to win big - there is a pot that is over $100 - send me vibes for that one! LOL. Funny thing is we are having THanksgiving dinner - someone actually made a turkey. Um yeah, sounded like a good idea last month. I have the feeling the last thing anyone will want is turkey and all the stuff that has been in our leftovers all week. We'll see how it goes. I made fudge today for it. Took 5 minutes and was a cheap recipe. Dh had to buy some powdered sugar but that's about it. I will pretend I slaved over it - hehe. The stuff is so good too - usually only make it at christmas orelse I Would be 300 pounds. Butter, sugar, chocolate, and more butter.... My 3-year-old helped me and said we should make it every night. Ah, I wish...

My mom visited today and gave me $100 for my birthday. I need some work clothes - a suit or 2 - some nice shoes - for tax season. This will help a lot. A nice gift!

Oh anyway, the craziness of it all kept me wide awake through the tax update - I could write blogs and blogs about how crazy tax code is - but after about 6 hours today I started to zone out. I Was driving myself nuts thinking different scenarios in my head. Started thinking about my savings goals for 2007. Along the same lines as BA - what is more important - retirement, mortgage, savings, I Don't know. I think I can save $10k in 2007 and that is still my lofty goal - I thought about it in 1 million different scenarios today. I am probably being WAY too optimistic. I know I am losing $3k in car payments and losing any hope of a tax refund this year - even the measly $1k state refund I always receive. Not measly really, but I am a breakeven person. California is just impossible. Federal I can usually do pretty good but with this whole ROTH conversion I ain't getting any money back - I just hope I don't owe anything - for now it is close.

I Also decided the $8k or so in overtime and gifts I usually get is the perfect retirement funding for us. In past years it has been floating us with our overspending. With our latest round of budgets (which has been going quite well) and at least $100/month raise I Assume next year, we can do it! Save a little, not rely on the windfalls, the windfalls can fund retirement - woohoo. I have just had no idea where that retirement funding would come from, so it is a nice revelation. For next year all that will go to e-fund, but one it hits $15k I think I will relax and will be willing to invest all that extra. It will feel good. In the meantime I just have impatience with how slow going it all is. I just got to slow down and relax and have faith things will work out.

Well, I Was bummed to see so many blog posts today. It's awesome but I barely had time to glance at a few. I See less and less time in my future too - bummer. But I am glad to see so many active blogs - just bummed there are not enough hours in the day.

I know there are many worse things in the world than this, but OMG the in-laws are driving me mad - LOL.

I already posted about the christmas politics how when I give them a wish list they scrutinize it and they constantly ask for more. So this year I figure why bother. They will run out and spend $200 on a game system for dh, no questions asked, but everything on my list is up for debate. A wall hanging. Why would you need THAT???? Where would you put it???? Yes, and a game system is top on the list of necessity apparently - LOL. Um I have a house full of BARREN walls - there are plenty of places I could put a wall hanging. Gah.

So I went back to the old way where I ignore them. Well I Tell them cash would be nice or clothes - that is always what they get me. So they are really badgering me as usual, our usual dance. What else can I say - I want cash or clothes. IF you don't want to buy what I Want - be creative. I don't particularly like wish lists - takes the fun out of gift giving. & i am sure they equally frustrated with me because I am not aware of their invisible rules of gift giving apparently. I have no idea what they want from me...

So I as I checked my e-mail last night and saw the 20 e-mails me asking me what I Wanted for christmas (while also poo-pooing any prior suggestions) I was frustrated with dh's stupid wish list and their love affair with it. So I decided on a new plan. He has a pile of DVDs on there which I think is a useless waste of money personally, but I put some of his DVDs on my wish list. I figure in the long run it will save me some cash. LOL. I can even regift them to dh or something, what the heck.

HE told me that was very selfless last night. Are you kidding me? This is for my sanity. LOL. We'll see how it goes. These plans always tend to backfire - hehe. Hopefully this will stem the tide of phone calls and e-mails. It is only Nov. 28 - another month of this!!

I usually thoroughly enjoy their gifts which they usually pick out on their own. I have faith in their gift giving abilities. BUT I will sacrifice that to have a nice, quiet month I guess.