**Kids went back to school. Our return rate on lost items is officially 100%. A lunch box that disappeared last year (a long time ago?) showed up over the summer. So it got returned to us yesterday (because had our name in it!). Woohoo. OF course, when kids first started school we were way more broke and always made me nervous if they would lose things or whatever. They've both been pretty responsible, but LM does like to misplace his lunchbox. IT's just they always usually turn up much faster. This one had been bought on clearance for Christmas so I wasn't sweating it. In fact, BM had been the one to buy it for him. But, is nice to have it back, for sure! (I had already stocked up on some extras on clearance, so are well stocked for a while).

**Got to check out the new campus situation for older kids, and it is GREAT. It is about 5 miles away, so that part is not so great. Kind of on the way to work, so it's the afternoon pickup that is really a pain. Still plan to work out some carpooling. But anyway, the "parking and walk in" situation is GREAT over there. The last location I basically refused to go over there ever to pick up child. There was ample space to park and walk in, but was just a very dangerous kind of situation. If I had to drive there every day, probably would have been in an accident (or two or three). Having so much room was a bit of a problem because the cars were just pure chaos.

Oh, and in addition, we actually have time to pick up other child. (Allowing more time due to the distance). So, PHEW!! This year should be *much* better. Since it's a normal school on a normal street with normal traffic rules, the chaos factor was significantly reduced. Not that I don't still feel my odds of accident are 100 times higher by any of the schools - those parents are totally insane. !!

With these school situations, it becomes crystal clear that the most basic of thought and planning can improve quality of life very significantly. We arrived a little early and strategized a bit on best place to park. It seems that literally 99% of parents chose to partake in traffic hell. We turned around and parked on the exit side of things. (Everyone parking on the other side of the street got trapped by the massive traffic jam). I only saw two other cars park where we did, which was about 5 feet from the school. If history repeats itself, no one else will *ever* figure it out. (Because getting in and out very quickly, using your own two feet, seems to be too much hassle for the vast majority). I don't understand people.

Oh, and then there was endless ranting online about how horrific the situation was. I thought it was quite pleasant. But, I don't think you could pay me to ever go through a school pickup in a car. I'd go postal.

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**We redeemed a free AC tune-up with our service contract (bought to reduce plumbing costs). They recommended $1200 of work discounted to $1100, on our heating and air systems. $800 AC and $300 Heater.

So, we called out our HVAC guy. He agreed with the AC assessment, but was able to fix it for $600. Phew! In fact, he initially said $450 (same as quoted over phone) but he had not realized we needed some extra parts for this repair. He was able to just fix it while he was here though, so back to 100% function on the AC.

Not surprisingly, he told us the heater repair was completely unnecessary. Heck, he didn't even look at it. So, that was $600 saved with one phone call. I don't even know if it was worth calling out the other guy.