I have been feeling run down. It's probably more subconscious than anything, but must be everything with my folks. I thought last weekend would be just as exhausting, but it was a fun weekend, and I returned feeling refreshed. Phew!

I guess the week prior was rather emotionally exhausting.

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Dh and I have a lunch date today. The dates have fallen by the wayside with vacation and all.

We have one free hour of childcare for BM (who needs to go run with some kids anyway) and LM has preschool if we do a late lunch. The lunch dates are easier during the school year I guess (which will be here soon enough - like 3 weeks).

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I have 7 vacation days left for the year. Not sure I will use them all. BUT, talked a friend into going to the San Jose water park on a weekday. Will take a weekday off to do that. A last hoorah before school starts. I really look forward to hitting the place on a weekday. We could go to the one up here, but the kids couldn't ride anything at this one - doh. So it will be a bit of a drive for BM's friend, and I am glad they are open to it. If I was suddenly invited on a pricey day trip - I'd say "no thanks!" These days, anyway. So I appreciate their flexibility.

We are also planning a camping trip for August. I don't think we will get a lot of camping time in this year. Next year we can plan ahead a little better. Last year we bought sleeping bags, this year a tent. Next year we can stock up on some cooking supplies, etc. & I think we are set. We've got a camping stove somewhere (I think it was a honeymoon gift????). I don't expect camping to be an expensive way to getaway. There are so many gorgeous public campgrounds around the state.

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The new home shoppers crack me up a bit - as many of my friends are now first time home shoppers. More than one of them has told me something like they "ONLY qualify for a $200k loan." Said as if this is some badge of shame.

Um, yeah? Our first home loan was $208k and I don't think we qualified for a penny more. IT was 1999; we were qualified for a reasonable amount considering our income. Not like the last few years. Our second home was another story - I think we could have qualified for $1 mil if we wanted to. & I am 100% literal and serious about that (would have been 10 times our income when we both worked - and yes - no doubt we could have bought a $1 mil house if that is what we so desired).

Anyway, so it's nothing new, but I continually find it ironic that people think we borrowed far more for our house. We borrowed $225k for our current home. Obviously people expect we spent a lot more. It apparently never occurs to many people that we might have put some cash down. Most people think we paid another $100k over what we did, anyway. The rest assume we bought with phantom Bay Area equity.

Anyway, I bet you a million bucks all these people whining to me about how "little they can afford" will have larger mortgage payments than we do, anyway. (Higher interest rates, etc. We just refied at $213k). Ah, the irony. It will never cease to be amazed at what people assume. The assumptions about our house are always the biggest doozies. Even some guy who didn't know me from adam (nor that I owned a home) asked me how I afforded a $2k monthly mortgage, simply because I was "young." ??? I don't know - how does one afford a $2k monthly mortgage? I wouldn't know!

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All that being said, limiting six-figured families to $200k mortgages, isn't a bad thing. You can buy plenty house here, for that price, in my opinion. I come from the place of borrowing $200k+ for my first home, and not being able to afford anything remotely single-family home. Here you could buy a slice of SFH in a good neighborhood. So I say, "You be lucky!"