It was a good weekend after all. Went to San Jose after all, for the kids mostly. They had so much fun. Their 'cousin' had a birthday and he has a TON of cousins from the other side of the family so the kids all had a pile of other kids to play with - had a blast. All that and our gas is way under budget this month still - crazy - with FOUR trips to San Jose!?!. Ah, it all ends this week as Big Monkey returns to preschool. & more gas...

Anyway, we left the party around 8 or 9 and went to MIL's to put the kids down. I don't know if you have noticed but MIL is interesting. She drives me nuts but spoils us too, there is only so much bad you can say I guess. She has treated us extraordinarily well these last weeks with Christmas and babysitting, etc., etc. BUT at the same time I just could not believe her going on and on and on about how many toys this baby cousin has and how SPOILED kids are these days. I just had to hold my tongue. HELLO????? & who bought 99% of the toys my kids own? Grandma! & she was just going on and on and on... On the other hand the kids received a gift that I had not heard about or seen except Big Monkey told me all about it. When I mentioned it she said she was going to keep it because little Monkey could not play with it. ??? LOL. I said well, um, Big Monkney wants his toy and I want to see it so I can write a THANK YOU!!!!!!!! Plus he has many toys that he can only play with away from Little Monkey. I was imagining all these small parts and in fact they were quite large - she said Little Monkey was throwing them so he just could not be near them. (??? LOL still). So we finally confiscated and brought them home. I find it amusing she wanted to keep the BEST gift by far he received - something we had asked for - a cool magnet building set (big pieces for little kids - so as not a choking hazard). I have piles and piles and PILES of toys if she wants to keep some at her house - I think I Will bring her a pile our next visit.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but changing gears, I helped my neighbor set up her Jan. 1 balances in Quickbooks Saturday and it went rather well. But we came across a time-consuming obstacle so I left her to deal with it until we got back in town. Went over tonight and she is officially up and running for 2007! I was going to send her an invoice later but she was eager to pay me today - woohoo. So I received $400. I am going to put $200 to the e-fund, and with interest will push it to $6k even by 1/31. Woohoo!!!!

The other $200 just putting in short-term savings, mostly with income taxes in mind - should cover the 4/15 bill.

This month is a little bad in that I put way too much money aside last month - LOL - like $200. I don't know what I was thinking, I am like $200 short to pay all the bills this month because of this. I am starting to think I should institute a rule that I can only hoarde cash every other month. I mean it is great and all, if it is gone I won't spend it, to some extent. BUT at the same time I am sitting here wondering how much to push to next month and hoping for a raise to cover the difference. The stress isn't worth it - hehe. Actually, it is okay, but I am putting everything I want to save to ST savings instead, not the e-fund, this month. Except all of the $400 because it is such a windfall, some of it must go to e-fund. & next month I will once again hoarde too much in the e-fund, and so the cycle will go. Plus MIL have dh about $60 as a reimbursement for something and he didn't tell me until AFTER I made a deposit Saturday - GAH! I was so annoyed, not expecting $400 today and not wanting to go to the bank just to deposit $60 cash, I decided to start our cash emergency fund. Not planning to keep much, so it is a good start. & I was impressed dh does keep a $20 in his wallet for emergencies. I did the same and stashed $20 in the house. It's a start, and I don't envision saving much beyond that. If we decide we need more than maybe $100 down the road, I wouldn't say anyway. That is the kind of thing you tell NO ONE. Home invasions are a big thing around here which is probably why I am hesitant to even save much in the first place. But having $60 stashed is a good start - beats nothing!

& that is how it's been - I better get some sleep! The fun of staying at Grandma's - Little Monkey was wide awake since about 3am. I am EXHAUSTED!