I am piling up some nice bank & credit card rewards to finish out the year:

**No sooner than I mentioned that I need to pay more attention to checking rewards (now that we have direct deposit), we got a $300 cash bonus offer. Woohoo! We will set that up next weekend.

**Dh is getting a $200 bonus for spending $500. It was a direct mail offer for a brand new credit card offering.

**We bought an appliance from Best Buy a couple of months ago and Citi sent me an e-mail about Price Rewind. I guess they monitor the sales prices of the same item online for 60 days and refund you the difference if they find a cheaper price. For most of the 60 days there was a $5 refund showing, but I just checked on Friday and now it's $85. !!

The thing that is extra sweet on this is that we went with Best Buy because it came with free installation. In the end, I don't know that we paid more than $5 than anywhere else (as evidenced by the first month or so of the Price Rewind - we bought on a sale weekend). But in the future, we could make the decision to pay more for free installation and still get a Price Rewind if the product is sold cheaper elsewhere without installation. A strategy to keep in mind...

This $85 is not in the bag. I have to upload my receipt and they have to check that the $85 refund they found is legit/comparable. But I am excited about the potential snowflake.

**Yesterday I received $70 auto insurance refund, for dropping the full coverage on our older vehicle.

**Oh, and the biggest snowball of all...

Dh was hired for 7 months out of the year, per his offer letter. He had to ask a few times to get a Holiday schedule. Once he got that he started asking more questions about the seasonal schedule. I was guessing he probably would not work Thanksgiving week. He had been told there would be no work in December or January. But this was apparently not true. !! So I am glad he asked. It's a bit of a bummer since we thought he would really ease into things more slowly. But since he asked far enough ahead of time I think he is mostly okay with it. It's the summers off that are important to us, and for now they won't give him any specifics but said that they do get the summer off. Oh, and as to winter they are VERY family friendly and flexible. So he gets the holidays off with the kids regardless, and it shouldn't be any problem to get their other winter break off. They were just kind of like they work those months, but he can take whatever time off he needs.

It would be nice if they had been more clear. Dh already moved his dentist appointment and jury duty to December, thinking he'd be free, so he will ask for time off for those things as needed.

It seems he will probably be working 9-10 months out of the year, which is more money than expected. For now it's actually complicating our taxes quite dramatically and is giving me a headache. I will figure it out in January. Will see where dh's head is at and what our incomes will be at that point. & I will have to run the numbers. The reality is far more complex than any cookie cutter advice on the internet. I don't think it would be so complicated if I had a crystal ball. But we have to balance what we want/need now and what we guess the future will look like. I can't even muster up the mental energy to figure it out until I know for sure dh is working next year. & so we figure it all out in January.

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Spending:

**Dh ordered a new cell phone. Is kind of his working splurge I guess, though honestly he'd buy it anyway. I had just told him earlier in the year that it would be easier to wait until December. (Basically, let his parents pay for it, with the Christmas cash they will give us).

Of course he couldn't wait, but since it wasn't to ship until next month I was fine with it. Won't have to pay for it until December.

Anyway, people are saying online that they shipped early. Dh doesn't think it will ship until after Tuesday when our credit card cycle closes, but I am betting money it will ship Tuesday. It's not that it really matters - we have the money - it just messes up my flow!

If he likes the phone then he may give his old phone to my dad. Thank Goodness! He keeps hoarding phones and driving me crazy. I think this is the only way I can get an old phone out of the house. (He's otherwise hoarding them "for the kids some day").

**Speaking of hoarding electronics...

I got a new kindle yesterday. I guess Kindle is one of those things you already have or you don't want. So this is an easy raffle or auction item to win.

We put a $150 bid on a whim, for an ads-free paper white Kindle + $75 Amazon gift cards. The total value of which was basically $200.

We didn't really expect to win, but figured what the heck.

{Dh already won a FREE Kindle Fire this year in a raffle. We noticed no one was putting their tickets to that so we just went "all in" for the Fire, and won. We have never paid any cash for any of our Kindles before; one raffle and credit card rewards otherwise}.

In the end, we did win.

I suppose the plan is to phase out my Nook. My Nook does not have the backlight so this is an upgrade I did want eventually. Dh has been wanting me to switch to Kindle forever. The new Kindle has fixed everything I didn't like about the original, BUT it's still less compatible with our library system. So I like the idea of having the Nook around to easily borrow library books (without dh having to do all this stuff to get it to work) and we will probably keep it a while in case BM ever wants an e-reader. (BM isn't interested so far, and dh already gave LM his old Kindle).

I also have to check the balance on my B&N gift card and should probably use that up. It was a credit card reward I just had on hand for e-books that I couldn't find at the library. I don't remember the last time I used it or what the balance is, so should probably just use it up and be done with it. When I initially got my Nook the library selection wasn't even a small fraction of what it is today; I haven't been buying any e-books in recent years.

Update: I have $25 to spend at B&N. I will try to find something useful to spend it on.

Since the monies received from in-laws covered our entire trip, I just forwarded those monies to the credit card this week. Paid and Done!

A Rough Breakout of costs:

Airfare $2,000 (paid for a while ago)
Eating Out $450** (9 days)
Zip Line (2) $380
Car Rental $ 230
Kitty Hotel $ 180
Private Surfing Lessons (1) $150
Snorkel Gear/Boogie Boards RENTAL (4) $150
Hotel $82 (charged taxes/fees, which was unusual - we used "free" timeshare)
Souvenirs $40 (Hawaiian shirts for kids, candy)
Parking $25 (2 state park type places)

Total = $3,700-ish; $1,700 balance paid this week

**Generally tried to eat out lunch every day and eat dinner in (we had a condo/kitchen). Lunch was never under $40, even at the Taco stand or deli. Spent $200 total on two meals - neither was worth it.

Groceries ($200) and gas ($30-ish) will be absorbed in our regular budget.

Tried to be frugal by not checking bags, getting a ride to airport, not paying for hotel, etc. Good airfare deals never materialized, and I didn't end up jumping through the credit card hoops to do better. Splurged on most the rest. It was easy to splurge on excursions since BM was really the only taker. I think we easily could have kept the trip to $3,000-ish and would have been just as happy (left to hike, snorkel, beach). But we have one daredevil in the bunch and were able to appease him.

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Payday was this week and I had $2,500 for savings.

Dh has received 2 small paychecks, which we have done nothing with, since we seemed to have over-spent last month. He should also receive $500-ish in a couple of weeks and I will add that to savings this month.

I expect to just tread water the rest of the year. $5k due for property taxes, and lots of insurance due the end of the year. Plus we seem to have a lot of big expenses popping up.

I am hoping that by Jan. or Feb. that we have cash savings where we want it and IRAs fully funded. I am hoping to really avalanche our investments next year. (Hoping to stop throwing so much to build our cash savings up or to cash flow splurges, which leaves more for investments. Plus dh might be working, which will just add to the avalanche).

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It's crazy hot here. We've yet to turn off the AC this year, which is insane. It's a little cooler today and so I hope we can turn it off now.

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This week I canceled the collision/comprehensive insurance on the van. I probably should have a long time ago, but have been dragging my feet. I Feel confident about this today though because the value of the vehicle is in the range of our deductible anyway, and we are starting to think seriously about replacing it. This will help offset some of the higher collision/comp. costs on our newer vehicle. (We had dropped these coverages many years ago on our older vehicle that we replaced).

Historically we mostly drove low-value cars and had a general rule not to even bother insuring cars under the $5k range (which would cover our first couple of car purchases). I guess dh's 2001 Ford was probably the first car we ever had full coverage on, since we bought it in 2002. & then we got full coverage on the van when we bought a 2005 model in 2006.

Anyway, my dad can be crazy cheap but he was in an accident a couple of years ago and they gave him enough cash to replace his 2002-ish vehicle with like a 2010. It was just a weird situation and he made out really well. (This was post retirement, and he got a free significant car upgrade out of the whole thing). I asked him why on earth he even had full coverage on his old car and he told me he had been using a lot of rental cars (traveling a lot) and found it easier to keep coverage on their newer car. Fair enough. I guess we have been thinking along those same lines.

It was probably overkill for us both to keep full insurance on both our cars for our vacation, but I knew we'd both be driving the rental and I figured I'd just drop the insurance when we got back. I remember feeling nervous when we dropped the coverage on dh's car (not that it mattered financially but just didn't want to jinx it), but we waited so long this time I feel very "meh" about it this time around. It helps to be in a space where we are already ready to move on from the minivan anyway. If it runs good for 5 years, that's great, and we haven't identified a replacement yet. But if we saw a good car we may be ready to ditch it.

Our vacation has gone pretty well. Downsides... I know I promised dh we could go to DC next year (last year that kids have a fall break together), but I am so DONE with flying. That's it! Just one more trip. I just find the security to be ridiculous and useless and I just can't stand it, but on he way here we encountered a nasty TSA agent who tried to break our laptop. I am not much for traveling anyway and I think TSA just seals the deal for me. Just icing on the cake on an experience that I do not enjoy anyway. D.C. 2016, and then I don't care if I ever fly again. The other thing is that, "Maui not that crowded" is relative and means "crazy crowded" by our own standards. For reference, when we went to Kauai the same time of year we hardly saw another sole on our entire vacation. So I suppose I was not prepared for how crowded it was. I understand it's 10 times worse in summer, but I don't enjoy fighting for space everywhere I go, even if this is relatively "not so crowded".

Those were the downsides, though everything else went pretty well.

By some miracle, we squeaked by and in the end don't have to pull any money from savings to pay for the trip (was planned to). Unless I am forgetting something! Will see... For now, we are coming in at about $3,600 for the entire trip. The airfare was $2,000, and so I did already pull $500 from savings to pay for that. ($1,500 is our annual vacation budget and I had to pull another $500 out to cover airfare). That would leave me about $1,600 to cover, that we spent in the past week. BUT the in-laws had given us $1,500 for our anniversary and also slipped us $200 cash for the trip. So even if I forgot something, I think we are pretty well covered. Didn't really plan it that way, but it's just how it worked out!

The food has been absolutely divine. Definitely the highlight of the trip**, and we ate out more because of that. (In the end, not even one fast food run to stretch our dollars. The food was just too good).

**I guess the scenery wasn't so bad either.

The one thing we did that saved us the most money and that I am happiest with is that we skipped the luau. Technically the kids have been to one when they were babies. I kind of felt, "They need to experience a luau," but I let it go. I know the food would be crappy and expensive and for whatever reason felt an obligation though the kids would probably just be bored. So we let it go and saved $200+. Looking back, I am so happy with that decision. More money for what the kids really wanted to do.

**I did a small de-clutter this week. Found a $5 Starbucks gift card (I don't drink coffee) and so gave it to a co-worker who has been going through a really rough time.

I have no idea where it came from but I am sure I was just saving it for Christmas. (It might have been a Ting reward?)

As to the co-worker, it just seems to be crazy insanity this year. I wouldn't know where to begin with that, but it's the story of my circle this year. Death, near-death, natural disasters, etc. I am exhausted just thinking about it.

She was SO appreciative.

**We ran through all of our Ting credits so I guess we will have to pay the rest of the year. I would guess that we will probably pay about $180 for cell service this entire *year*.

**So, I wasn't really sure of the odds that we'd adopt this second cat (a stray we found). But it's been a couple of weeks? I think they odds are looking pretty good. The shelter is full and they are offering all pets for $0 for a while. We will have to go see how he was medically evaluated, etc., but if it looks good the final hurdle is getting two cats to get along. They are both pretty mellow and friendly and so I think it should be okay. But any tips are greatly appreciated. Growing up we always had 2 cats and none of them EVER got along. But in this case it's 2 indoor cats (less cat turnover since they don't run away or get hit by cars) and they are both of similar age (best that the shelter can guess anyway) and have similar personalities. They did meet when we found the stray and were surprisingly mellow with each other. I don't know how much I should read into that though. For my cat it was curiosity that took over. The other cat was just starving.

Received $40 bank interest for the month of August.

Snowflakes to investments:

Redeemed $50 credit card rewards (cash back) from our gas/grocery card.

Redeemed $33 cash back on Citi card.

Redeemed $3 cash back on Visa/dining card.

Redeemed $50 AmEx rewards as a ROTH contribution.

Other snowflakes to investments:
--$ 30 Ting credits (no cell bill this month)

Savings (From paycheck):

+$200 to investments
+$300 to cash
+$900 to IRAs

+$1,500 cash gift (to savings)
-$1,500 to pay off medical bills

I suppose that last part was a wash.

Short-Term Savings (for non-monthly expenses within the year):

+$1,300 to cash
-$ 385 auto insurance (other vehicle)
-$ 325 Life Insurance
-$ 120 School Lunch for 6-12 months

{I'll be draining the "short-term" part of our savings in the next month or two to pay property taxes}.

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LM has hit $500 in his savings account! I can't tell you how motivating the 7% accounts have been for the kids. Now that they both have $500 that is the max that can earn the 7% interest on.

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Dh did receive a $125 focus group payment this month but I didn't snowflake it. We seem to be in the hole this month. Spent more than we should have.

FIRE UPDATE: After two entire weeks, relative has been allowed to return to his home. !! What an ordeal! I am sure there are some trying times ahead for him. His town is a complete disaster.

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**I've never been able to take advantage of most bank account bonuses because they require "direct deposits." We did get around that for one bank account bonus that we did last year, but I was never really sure it was going to work and it depends on the bank (you can just make a transfer from some banks) and what works or doesn't is always changing. Just way too much of a PITA.

It just hit me that I no longer have to rule all those bonuses out since dh will be getting direct deposit checks. Woohoo! I'll look around what bank bonuses are out there right now and will have to remember to keep a better eye on that. I'm so used to just ignoring all those type offers.

We did get dh's direct deposit set up. I am happy that it's all online and I can just adjust his W-4 and change bank accounts (if we do some sign up bonuses) easily online. So that's another plus.

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HOUSE UPDATES

I've been meaning to do a house update. I went through the problem areas of our house and cleaned up and did some purging. Since the end of April we have been cognizant of clearing clutter every single week (no matter how little).

I can't believe it, but I am *finally* seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We've been purging for over a decade, but I guess I needed to focus more than a few weekends per year to really get the job done. I am glad all the work is paying off. !! (It's only paying off so quickly though because all of the work we have done the decade prior. Just to be clear).

So now we are entering Phase 2 of our de-cluttering. I have sold and cleaned up everything big and obvious and bulky. Phase 2 is to go through every drawer and closet and nook and cranny through our house and do one final sweep. I expect that I will still find a lot of things to purge, but since we've been through everything before I don't expect this to be an overly big job. It's just the little stuff (the easy stuff) that should be left.

My goal is to be *DONE* this year. No more of this endless de-cluttering. & I am confident about this because most of the work we did this year was the really old stuff. Going through a lot of high school stuff, for example. We've always been on top of the kids' stuff and dh and I don't buy that much stuff any more, and if we do are more likely to sell the old to afford the new, etc. So I have high hopes that “de-cluttering” won't be much of a time or energy suck in the future. We do have good habits in that regard.

Here's a list of what we have accomplished:

**Re-thought and re-organized kitchen office space and adjacent storage. (A project for next year will be to work on some kitchen organization; my problem areas are the pasta/lentils and the spices).

**Bought nicer furniture for living room and created storage space for sheet music and kids' piano lesson books. This room looks immaculate now, with no effort. I have a love-hate relationship with this solution though because I did just throw a big mess in a chest of drawers. (It looks nicer but is not any more organized). That is another future project. I'd like to eventually digitize most the sheet music but it will be a BIG project.

I suppose I've learned I'd rather "be" organized than "look" more organized. Not a solution I will apply to my whole house, but it is nice to have a tidy room with some nice and functional furniture.

**Cleaned up BM's room (which was a hoarding mess). He seems to have matured beyond his hoarding and agreed to empty most his room out, and I don't see him bringing much back in. In this case, procrastination paid. We just had no idea what to do with it. Dh wouldn't let me clear out the trash without BM's approval but he had no better ideas so we just let it sit for a few years. But I couldn't believe BM let me throw most of it out once I tackled it head on, and helped me so that it was a quick cleanup. I saved myself a lot of headache just waiting it out. Phew!

**Went through LM's room and sold the large items he had outgrown. (Sold a toy box and an easel).

**Went through my closet and got rid of bulky items. Off the top of my head we had a hamper we never use and some bulletin boards and white boards. I also got rid of a lot of frames.

I realized with this part of the purge that we no longer will be holding onto things "just in case". We have the money to buy what we need and I think this is the cause of a lot of our clutter. Which is fine since we had the room for it and made sense in lower income years, to hold onto things and accept any random hand-me-down, but no need to really hang onto some of this stuff at this point in our lives.

**I recycled lots of trophies and eyeglasses

**I had never gone through our taxes but it was getting to the point where it needed to be dealt with. So I scanned all the old years (just because I am a numbers nerd; no real need to keep them) and out of laziness will keep 10 years of paper files on hand. I had already scanned the last couple of years and will probably have less paper over time. Going forward it will be so easy to toss the oldest paper file every year, and I am already storing new years digitally. The paper file is mostly a backup, but then I also don't have to scan every single paper as I am sure there are some I didn't scan and don't need to keep forever.

{When shredding I found all sorts of other people's tax returns, that I prepared in the distant past. Those were so old I was just able to shred them all. All of the above fit in *one* box - I had no idea there was so much stuff in there and that I had so many other tax returns!}.

**I went through a big box of photos and also eliminated that box. I ended up tossing the bulk of them. I kept a handful of odd shaped keepers in a small box and put the rest in photo albums. I was planning to put them all in a flat photo album (space efficient) that I found, but didn't realize most the photos were too large. So I put them away in other photo albums, but this is another “future project” to keep in mind to consolidate more and make more space.

Like most everything, this was a "clean up the old stuff" chore as we keep all our photos digitally any more and rarely print out pictures. A future project would be to maybe purge some of the old digital pictures and create some sort of index of photos. We went digital around 2002 and it's easy to manage but I think for the long run we probably want some sort of index to find things as we won't always remember when everything happened or where so and so picture is. 10 years of pictures is one thing, but 50 years will be another story.

Well, today I have to control myself. The stray cat I found is going up for adoption. I am feeling surprisingly level headed today. If he went up yesterday I might have brought him home! Will see...

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Today we ran the errands that piled up from a busy week.

In the morning I went to Kohls to make a return and no one was there. So it was very quick. I think even if dh does get more bogged down it doesn't really matter since I am an early bird. We can still live a very "off peak" existence. (I noticed the grocery store is open at 6am, for example. Sounds perfect to me; can do that chore on a weekday with no discernible difference to my schedule).

I did end up spending $20 (net) at Kohls while there. There was a vest jacket type thing I have been coveting for well over a year and I was able to get it for $10. I just bought the bullet and bought a few cheapie shirts to wear with it (they were so soft and pretty but general not the kind of thing I'd wear by itself because just kind of cheap and not flattering). & I remembered another shirt I have that will go great with the vest - I am sure I have others. It will significantly spice up my cold weather wardrobe. If it ever cools off...

As to the $500 in gift cards that we were planning to blow... Our external hard drive is giving us issues and dh wanted to replace his 20-year-old (or older) razor. I had thought we could get Amazon gift cards but I guess we could not. But these items were in stock at Best Buy and they also price match. So I had gotten $275 in gift cards specifically for those items and picked them up today. I paid $10 out of pocket and I put both this and my Kohls charge on my credit card that already closed for the month. We spent enough this month already, so just kicking the can down the road a month.

I had also redeemed $100 in Target gift cards which would cover a month of our grocery spending there. We discussed if we should or should not get some snack food ahead of time since it is so expensive in Hawaii, and I realize I should have just gotten $225 in Target gift cards and could have covered most of that spending (grocery spending and whatever else we nee while in Hawaii). I didn't think that far ahead, but we can use what we have left of the $100 and I am more willing to just buy snacks there if it will just be "free" anyway. (Dh for whatever reason didn't seem keen on packing food but once I get packed up I may run to Target and pick up a few items. Will at least need some food for the plane. But I will wait and see how much room we have).

We popped by Target today to buy laundry detergent and toothpaste. It was free with gift cards and we earned a $5 gift card.

{That leaves us with $125 gift cards to redeem and I am just meditating on those. I have a large purchase in mind but I want to research it more first. Target gift cards are fine if we don't think of anything else}.

I took some returns to a shoe store (all my returns were online orders that didn't fit well) and dh ended up finding some sandals for Hawaii. I need to remember to donate his old sandals (barely worn; he wasn't happy with them). His shoe purchase was a wash with my returns, so no money spent there.

The only errand we didn't end up getting to was the CU to deposit his focus group cash. I have a couple of days off next week, so we decided to just take care of it during the week. If it doesn't get done, I don't need the money right away. It's just if I forget about it, but I should have plenty of time.

Oh, and I do have one return by mail. I suppose that will actually offset all of the spending I did today. That works out pretty well thought I didn't plan that part. (It's too late to get the return for this month, but the return can then offset those purchase I made on the "next month already" credit card).

We do have to set up dh's direct deposit this weekend. That will be nice.

**We have a cat that is trying to adopt us. The timing couldn't be more terrible. *sigh* I did take the stray cat to the shelter and so I hope that resolves itself. If he is still up for adoption when we get back from vacation then we will probably becomes a 2-cat household. (Though dh is not a cat person, but he is also a softie). The cat is very sweet and friendly, which is good, but on the flip side he is around 5 years old and I know they can't give away adult cats. We paid $5 to adopt our beautiful Siamese because he was estimated to be about 12 months old (they lower the adoption fees on the older cats). Everyone asks if we bought him from a breeder; they clearly haven't been to the shelters recently.

So, I don't know... It's not the kind of decision I am capable of making. I just have to let it sort itself out. I think it's best if he finds another home and I hope that works out. Our impending vacation is giving me some space and logic in regards to the situation. I am sure dh appreciates it.

**Dh started his job Monday and things are going well with that. It's been a crazed week and he definitely regrets signing up for that focus group. The job is somewhat physical. It will take him some time to adjust. But I think October will be pretty low key and I expect the first week to be the hardest adjustment.

His family is completely psycho about it though. I wouldn't know where to begin with that... (I won't get into all the psycho stuff).

I am relieved that overall his parents are supportive though. It took his mom a solid decade to get over him being home with the kids (even though clearly our kids and marriage have only thrived with this arrangement, which is probably why she did eventually get over it), so I was worried she'd maybe freak out about him returning to work. I had no idea how she would react.

One of the first things they did tell dh was basically he should blow his entire income. Don't ask me! Might make for some interesting blog posts later. For reference, I'd classify his parents as frugal savers. Like I said, don't ask me!

**I commented on my last post (I think) that I wanted to fund lunch the rest of the year but could not. BM refuses to buy the school lunch food at current location but LM has been content with it. So I tried to pay the whole year and the max I could fund was only about half the year.

So like literally the day after pay school lunch for 6-ish months, LM tells me he is just buying lunch for the chocolate milk. Well, he can buy 240 chocolate milks now. HA!

It was the funniest conversation though. LM told me that the "main currency" (his words) in the lunch room is chocolate milk. I think he perceived it to be so valuable that I blew his mind when I told him he could just buy it for 50 cents. But anyway, not that I would do this, but I am tempted to just let him buy milk every day and barter his lunch. He is so fascinated by economics on some level, and so he has been really taking note of the lunch room bartering. & I am sure he could do quite well now that he knows he can just buy the milk for 50 cents.

Well I had waited 6 weeks to make sure he wasn't as disgusted by the lunch as his brother. I should have waited 6 weeks plus one day. The plan is he will no longer be buying whole lunches just to get the milk. I don't know if that means he will ever buy again. Sounds like maybe not.

**I mentioned in FT's blog that we had a relative who lost home in fire. He was at work when the fire started, and it happened so fast. He was not able to retrieve one single item from his home. Anyway, by some miracle the whole town was not destroyed as initially reported, and he has received photo confirmation that his house is still standing. !! He's still evacuated, one week later, so his ordeal is far from over. It's just sounding a lot more hopeful than it was a few days ago.

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There's no way to transition from that, so I guess I will just jump into our own minutiae.

**Payday was this week. I transferred the entire check into savings.

I already paid all the bills around September 1, so dh's check will go into savings too. That I Was not expecting. More below...

**LM ran through his lunch money (from last year) and so I funded that today. I usually fund both kids for 6 months at a time but since BM is on lunch food boycott I thought I'd just fund LM for the rest of the year. But I guess there is a max I can contribute (per kid). It's annoying because I will probably have to fund him 3 times per year (since I am letting him buy lunch more with BM not partaking) and they do charge a fee each time. On the flip side, maybe good not to over-fund too much in case he changes his mind.

In this case, I think if I can do the max one more time that should take him through the school year.

**We have our 15th wedding anniversary this week. I don't know that we will make any plans. We had discussed not doing anything *big* because we just did our So Cal trip and we leave for Hawaii soon. I think Hawaii is it and I don't know if we will do anything otherwise. We'd usually at least meet up for lunch but dh is working all week and eating out doesn't appeal to me much with vacation right around the corner. (I just get sick of eating out so much when we are away from home).

Who knew we could sink to new levels of boring... Dh has a busy schedule this week and I don't know that we will do absolutely anything. (He's volunteering all weekend, has the focus group, and seems we had some other stuff going on).

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Dh did get an official official job offer and is starting work next week. Will see how it goes.

Of course, money is raining down from the sky and he also got a big focus group next week ($125). It's been a long time, so the timing is interesting.

As to the job, the only immediate change to the schedule is that I will pick up the kids on short days. We had ditched the carpools this year because other parents are too flakey. Anyway, dh thinks I should rely on neighbor to pick up kids on short days. No thanks!! I'd rather take care of my own kids (leisurely, on my lunch hour) and not get phone calls interrupting my work day. It would happen a lot. (Don't ask me! It's epidemic).

Anyway, I look forward to the change up in schedule. I used to go home for lunch every day but then gas prices got so high and the kids were in school anyway. I should have probably done this all along, but we have just been in such "gas conserving" mode in more recent years. With gas prices a little lower I look forward to the change up in schedule. It's once a week that they have short days.

I just happened to notice that a gas station close to our house has cheaper gas than Costco. Is about what we pay with our grocery coupons (even closer to our house), but we usually only get those deals for the minivan (bigger gas tank). As long as these gas prices are relatively unknown (it's a small station but I haven't seen a crowd there) we will get gas at the other station. I think it makes sense to fill up there whenever driving out of town and it's also a convenient stop on my way home from work. With dh potentially working I may take more responsibility for filling up the van on the way home sometimes, and he can use the grocery coupons on the gas sipper when he is at the grocery store. The cheap gas station is probably a little more out of his way, for the most part. Plus he is at the grocery store a lot anyway and can pay the same price there.

------------------------------------------------

So... My in-laws usually slip us $1,000 when we go on bigger vacations. I kind of was expecting that for our Hawaii trip but didn't particularly want to rely on that. I didn't expect to know for sure until they took us to the airport.

BUT... Our anniversary will be before we leave and they slipped us $1,500 yesterday for our 15th wedding anniversary, since they didn't expect to see us again for a few weeks. Woohoo! I feel so much more relieved about the Hawaii trip. I'd estimate off the top of my head that we will spend $2,000 on excursions, food, and car rental and other rentals, and I think that's being generous. But I like the idea of pulling $500 out of savings (if we go hog wild) much more than potentially pulling out $2,000. So I am very happy with this turn of events.

I expect this trip to end our year of splurge. We were doing very well financially and decided to take advantage of a trip abroad that came up, but we had already planned this Hawaii trip, and dh spent a few thousand dollars upgrading his home theater. We figured this is the kind of spending we do once every 10 years or so. It was 10 years ago that we spent down some of our maternity leave savings because I had two healthy pregnancies & babies and we never needed any of the money we had saved for the worst. So I don't know if there's anything magical about every 10 years, but just seems to be how it has panned out so far. We just kind of wanted to stretch and let loose a bit before we get back to hoarding cash for my eventual job change (just lots of unknowns there) and figure we will be saving for college and paying down our mortgage and topping off our retirement in the next decade or so. We feel very "noses back to the grindstone" - or is the plan anyway after Hawaii. (& Dh and I can go to Hawaii whenever, but it's just adding the kids increases the cost significantly. It's not like we won't do anything fun. Maybe one ridiculous luxury a year is more feasible or more our style).

In the meantime, we've had an exceptional year financially. I don't know that the splurging will set us back at all. We planned all this before we knew that both our parents would give us large checks in a 12-month period (unusual and completely unexpected on both counts) and that dh would find a job.

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As to the job, dh has a formal offer, but still waiting for red tape to clear. If if works out and they will work around our planned vacation, I expect he will start later this week.

I can't tell you how *perfect* this job is for our lifestyle. Or how good it sounds on paper anyway, though I am wary to get too enthused until he officially starts and we find out if it really works out for the long run.

The job is very part-time, during school hours, summers and winters off, walkable commute, no professional clothing, very low pay. The last part might not sound so nice, but it means a low-tax situation. So... Basically a job where he can actually keep most of what he makes. !! & it's so non-intrusive to the rest of our lives that I don't really expect anything to change. Will see, but it sounds workable for keeping our low key/low stress lifestyle.

Of course we will save 100% of whatever dh brings home, as we always have done.

I don't expect him to be happy with minimum wage work for the long run, but this is what he needs to move forward again. It's a step in the right direction.

My plan right now is just to put it all into savings for this year. I Expected we would spent it on Hawaii and a couple of planned appliances purchases. But now that Hawaii seems sorted out, I will just hold onto it can re-allocate whatever we need at the end of the year. This will make it easier to reach my goals of adding another $1,000-ish to the mortgage and adding $1,700 to our investments.

I don't expect that any income taxes will be withheld from his check the rest of the year; not enough income to matter.

I'd say that dh is the bigger saver of the two of us, and so I don't think he cares at all about working with no immediate personal financial benefits. BUT... I do have $500 in credit card rewards (gift cards) to redeem next week. There was nothing we particularly needed and so I had already earmarked this $500 for "fun money". I think we will both enjoy the extra psychological boost of a little extra splurging, and I think it means we will probably more likely keep every penny he makes this year. (I don't know that we will splurge it all ($500), but I just know I won't care either way).

Next year we will re-evaluate. Next year will be a bigger tax hit, and we will have to figure out how to most efficiently allocate the extra income. I don't see putting any mental effort into that until I see how the job shakes out and how we end the year financially. Will cross that bridge when we get to it. I suppose I will also know my salary for 2016 before dh returns to work after winter break. He will get a 10% raise next year due to minimum wage increasing. It's kind of good timing in that regard too. There's talk of raising minimum wage quite substantially in both our city and state. Either way will bode well for dh in the short run or for my kids when they turn 16.

https://z181d126bt4.ting.com

I am sharing my Ting referral code because I saw a good deal for the rest of this month. $50 in credit if you sign up with a referral link.

They are also selling GSM SIM cards for $5 + free shipping, to activate a phone you already have or buy elsewhere.

Recent Ting story:

**Dh's relative recently switched to T-Mobile, though dh tried his best to sell him on Ting. Anyway, this relative is always very proud about having the fastest and latest and greatest. So, poor dh... This relative went to the family cabin with my in-laws and my "Ting" in-laws (with one Sprint and one GSM [T Mobile coverage] phone) had like 4 bars at the cabin and this relative had NO bars. !! So he called dh and discussed this with him for like an hour. ?? He wanted answers. Then MIL called him later asking all the same questions. So there went a couple of hours of his life. Of course he didn't have a clue as to why that would be. We've experienced phone antenna differences when we've had the same service, but never to quite that extent.

Of course, I am sure there are many places where the opposite might be true. But this may actually get relative to switch to Ting. I presume in-laws will take that referral though. & though it's one isolated incident, it is probably somewhere they spend a fair amount of time.

**I suppose dh and I should have compared phone service when we drove down to So Cal last week but I don't think we ever did. He's on GSM (T-Mobile network) and I am on the original Ting (Sprint network) service. We figured it's probably nice while traveling to have different services. IF we can spread out our coverage a bit that way. I don't know that we will ever travel enough to test it much. "In the middle of nowhere" is probably mostly the same either way. We didn't look when we were in the middle of nowhere.

Ugh, I hate it when I don't blog much and I have a million things in my head and don't know where to begin. I have some catching up to do!

We did our So Cal trip and it was fine and lovely and lots to blog about that. It would be better if I could share pictures! But the trip went well. The short version is we got to swim with otters and pet and feed exotic animals. It was awesome! Dh had an LA meeting about his script, and it went as well as realistically expected. Nothing immediate is coming of that, but he got lots of encouragement to pursue his dream. As a realist, it's the most he hoped for. So yeah, that was one crazy trip! GOOD crazy!

I will share more later.

As to my dh's job situation, I am used to people presuming a lot and not having a clue. I married someone with a huge work ethic, who had never had any problem on the work front, who mostly saved every penny he ever made. I am always amused by the perception that I am supporting him. We wouldn't have half of what we have without his financial contributions to this marriage, and lord knows his parents are very generous and pick up a lot of the slack. & of course, I don't know if I could have married anyone else so financially supportive. Even if it's not in a traditional way at this very moment in time. But that's the thing. His current unemployment status means nothing to us as to the long run. It's just where we are at in this moment in time.

Anyway, my dh has had a rough time of it since we moved to our low-cost haven. Maybe that's the trade-off, but he's never managed one single job offer here. Since 2005-ish he's only looked for minimum wage crap work. Still. Nothing... The economy is the most of it. Overt discrimination was a lot of it early on. Over time it's gotten more complicated. With a disability that limits his working options, and not needing the money anyway, it's clearly evolved into more choice than circumstance. Even so, he'd like to work while the kids are in school, but even just a couple of years ago he couldn't get a job if his bff was hiring because 1,000 more qualified people would have applied for the same job. He's been referred to jobs or found jobs where he knew people or volunteered, but the feedback is always, "You have a hole in your resume and 1,000 other people already applied." Literally. The unemployment here is intense. & I can never get across what a star employee or volunteer he has always been.

All we can do is be blessed that we've absolutely never relied on his income and we don't need the money. My mom never worked past 25 (like dh) and we've since watched my parents retire VERY comfortably, on the early side. So over time we just let it go and move on with Plan B. Which is the irony of it all since I don't know that we ever would have been this efficient or on such an early retirement track without dh's lack of employment. We could be better off in the long run, strangely enough. OF course, Plan B is that *I* have been extremely lucky on the employment front.

With all that, I never expected 13 years of unemployment to end with a job offer basically falling out of the sky. ?!?! It's not official, but it seems pretty certain dh has a job. It's very part-time and with the school year but is absolutely *perfect* for the here and now.

Will see...

Oh I have lots more to blog about that, but I think that's all I can say until we know for sure. The past 13 years have trained us not to hold our breath. I didn't even want to blog about it, but then I couldn't not blog about it. It will probably just drive me crazy until it's official! It's just so unbelievable.

With that, I hope to have more details later about both the job and the wildlife trip.

As to the job, the pay is absolute crap and it's hardly life changing, BUT, it's the stepping stone he's needed to get back into the work force. Crossing my fingers!!

Received $39 bank interest for the month of July.

Snowflakes to investments:

Redeemed $25 credit card rewards (cash back) from our gas/grocery card.

Redeemed $52 cash back on Citi card.

Redeemed $1 cash back on Visa/dining card.

Other snowflakes to investments:
--$ 30 Ting credits (no cell bill this month)
--$100 Random refund (from a developer fee paid to city like 15 years ago)

Savings (From paycheck):

+$200 to investments
+$300 to cash
+$900 to IRAs

Short-Term Savings (for non-monthly expenses within the year):

+$1,300 to cash
-$ 540 auto insurance
-$ 200 Back to School Expenses
-$ 160 Spending during So Cal weekend

Got a random snowflake in the mail today. Aren't those the best?!

$100 City refund for some tree fee they charged the developer 15 years ago.

Random!

I will throw it at the stock market while it's down a bit. Is where our snowflakes go anyway, but gives me a little extra motivation.

Having a lazy weekend here. Enjoying the peace and quiet.

I thought maybe I should start booking Hawaii stuff. I have the flights, hotel, and rental car arranged. If that's all we get worked out I am sure we would have an amazing trip. I thought at the least though I should maybe book a luau. But everything I looked at today (luau, surf lessons, zip line) was not booked up in advance and so that makes me happy. We will probably just take a laptop along and see how we feel day to day.

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I watched the most amazing documentary on Netflix: Tig

IT is about a comedian who gets sick out of nowhere, barely survives, and then loses her mom suddenly and is diagnosed with breast cancer, all in like the course of a month. She also hits a professional peak and becomes famous in the middle of all that.

Amazing!

So yeah, my mind is blown. Still trying to wrap my brain around how something can be so deep and funny all at once. I highly recommend.

I took last week off work. I really didn't do much of anything. It's probably been a while since I have had such a relaxing vacation. Aaaaaahhhhhh... & we leave for San Diego soon and then Hawaii not long after that!

One thing I did was work through some recipes. I've been wanting to try baking a wider variety of vegetables. That was when I stumbled upon the most amazing cauliflower recipe (see last post).

I also found another website that was very much my style. I salivate just looking at the blog. Definitely will be trying many of this site's recipes. Anyway, it all *looked* good, but we tried the first recipe last night. It was simple and delicious.

Balsamic Chicken:

http://damndelicious.net/2015/08/14/slow-cooker-balsamic-chi...

This weekend I am going to make Teriyaki salmon with sriracha cream sauce, also from the same website. (Dh doesn't eat fish, so why I frequently make salmon. Dh cooks most the rest).

I will probably also make the cauliflower again (the most of it is the smoky paprika to spice it up). It was one of those recipes we have everything on hand usually.

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Back to school. A big change up in schedule this year since both kids will be together at other campus and no more walking to school. I am sure dh is delighting in being able to sleep in every day, for the first time since having kids. !! The only big change is for LM, who has to leave an hour early (with BM and I). We are early birds so it's not been a big deal. Our calm mornings remain calm. I think a lot of it is honestly that we don't use alarm clocks. I was never a morning person in the slightest before we ditched the alarm clocks. (Admittedly, I was never a night owl either).

Dh and I have been working on getting walks in the evening, since dh is losing his 2 miles a day or whatever of walking. We haven't been consistent, but walk once in a while. It will be easier when it gets a little cooler. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. It cooled off before we went outside, and we saw a breathtaking sunset.

BM has been a challenge on the lunch side of things this year. He is not generally picky, but has gotten awfully picky about his lunch. Firstly, he refuses to buy lunch any more. Thankfully LM seems to like the food at this campus and he's just been buying more to offset BM. As school starts, BM will only eat a PBJ sandwich. That is it. ??? I decided he should just pack a snack on Wednesdays because they get out of school super early. Then he can eat a full meal when he gets home. Then Dh bought him a thermos so he could take hot leftovers. I can't tell you how genius that is. Dh is always good for solutions like that. Between the two of us I think we figured it out.

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So with all the school stuff going on our little "end of summer" celebration was mostly postponed. We had decided to go to the big pool (inflatable obstacle courses) on the first day of school since they got out of school before they opened. But then I saw that was the first day they closed the inflatables for week days. (Or maybe the day before they had closed it down). UGH! So we planned to go on the weekend and were resigned to more crowds.

On Sunday, dh mentions to me that it was supposed to be 105F degrees. OMG. We both would have preferred to postpone, but the kids were pretty set on going and I couldn't push it off any more. (In any other situation it would have been an INDOOR day). In the end, I am glad we went. The facility was really nice and the kids had a blast. We got there early enough to secure a comfortable shady spot. & there was even a breeze so it wasn't half as bad as I imagined. The water was also really cool, which helps. (Could have been cold simply because the air was so hot).

I told the kids we could go again this weekend. It should be much more pleasant. Unfortunately, it is about 30 miles away, as these places always are. It will be the last time for this year.

P.S. I'd share pictures if they worked!

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Oh, and we had the most amazing dinner the other night.

Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Cheddar Beer Sauce

http://joythebaker.com/2014/12/whole-roasted-cauliflower-che...

O.M.G. So Good!

**Well, the kids were off with Grandma for a few days. Dh and I went out to the movies and to dinner. The weird thing is I don't remember the last time we went to the movies without the kids. ??? So that was a nice treat! I guess we have been so focused on lunch dates in recent years (easy and far more frugal), that we just haven't done much else.

As to where we are at now? The kids are past "babysitter" age and so maybe more evening dates in our future. Though we've probably come to prefer our lunch dates for most of the time.

BM has/had a bunch of tests at the school, Friday and Monday. Still sorting out the red tape. Is cutting into what little fun time the kids might have this summer. We couldn't do anything Monday/Tuesday after all since they have to be at school on both days. They start school next week (Wednesday).

As to "Back to School" I've got nothing to do on that front. The school is very much my style in that the provide all supplies and just ask for a donation in return. Sounds good to me! No shopping on my list for this month.

I am trying to talk the kids into haircuts. I suppose that is my BTS chore. I also need to fund LM's lunch for 1/2 year but will wait and see if he likes the school lunch at this campus. BM is on strike from the school lunch. (5th grade was okay, but 6th grade became inedible. Not sure what happened and if 5th grade is still better than 6th). In the meantime, I might not have to fund for a while since I transferred BM's school lunch balance to LM. One less thing I have to worry about right now.

The school lunches were a great deal and so it's too bad. I am disappointed they aren't buying as much.

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LM had his acting performance Monday night and was absolutely on Cloud 9. I think he was still kind of ho hum on the whole thing (trying to hate it while loving it) but the performance night pushed him over the edge. He LOVED it. I think he's hooked now.

The kids' piano teacher also just retired. The timing is good because LM will have some freed up time to pursue more theater activities. Musically, I think he will be a casualty of the lack of music in the schools. I just can't get him interested in learning another instrument. (I am sure he would absolutely LOVE to play in a band, and his biggest complaint about piano lessons is doing it on his own time, versus being able to do it on school time). But he is open to taking voice lessons now. I honestly don't know that he would have open to much of anything 2-3 weeks ago. Talk about timing! Or, we may just leave his time open for other theater classes and opportunities. Will see. I mentioned vocal lessons as a musical compliment to theater, and he does seem interested. (He has a good voice and loves to sing).

{BM will quit piano lessons. I just wanted them to have a music foundation for if they ever want to learn in the future. I taught piano for many years and it's pretty much impossible to learn as an adult, without any music foundation. IT's definitely not the same! I think BM has been there for a while, but we knew LM would revolt if we let him quit. We've kind of struggled with what to do with that, but this is an easy out for both kids. They've got some foundation and I will probably work with them a bit more, maybe through the end of the year}.

Speaking of acting... Dh has had some interesting developments with one of his scrips. It's slow going with endless letdowns, so not exactly holding our breath. But he has some opportunities on the horizon and the LA meeting he has this month is starting to look more promising than we expected. It's hard not to get a little excited. & as dh says, he feels like he isn't completely wasting his time. Which is maybe what he needs more than anything at this stage in the game. Motivation to keep at it...

Received $38 bank interest for the month of July.

Snowflakes to investments:

Redeemed $50 credit card rewards (cash back) from our gas/grocery card.

Redeemed $50 cash back on Citi card.

Redeemed $2 cash back on Visa/dining card.

Other snowflakes to investments:
--$ 30 Ting credits (no cell bill this month)

Savings (From paycheck):

+$200 to investments
+$300 to cash
+$900 to IRAs

But... Took out $800 for medical bills.

Short-Term Savings (for non-monthly expenses within the year):

+$1,300 to cash
-$2,000 Hawaii airfare

**Dh got our internet bumped from 18mbps to 100mbps. Same price. He saw some promo for "new customers" and called and asked. Which was initially annoying me, but then he reminded me it was probably almost time to call and haggle our bill anyway.

In the meantime, dh may really annoy me when our deal expires in a year. I figured maybe he'd get it out of his system and not find it worth the extra money. But so far everyone in the house is over the moon with the mega fast internet. Then again, dh is too cheap if they triple the price on us. He will only keep it if it is worth it to keep it. So, will see...

Who knows, maybe we can get google or Ting fiber next year?? (Probably not, but expecting for cheaper/better options in the long run).

**Speaking of "It never hurts to ask"... BM didn't particularly care for the fitbit (birthday gift) and then it stopped working this week. It was from dh's parents but dh had ordered it and had been reimbursed. He checked online and the return period had closed a few days ago. He called Amazon anyway and they already issued us a complete refund to our credit card. It's Amazon, so I am not surprised. We have 30 days to return it (which I am sure dh already did).

BM hasn't decided how to spend the $80 yet. We will figure something out.

**Our third free month with Ting just closed (I had referrals galore). I noticed when looking at the bill that I had received another referral credit. Woohoho! I almost wonder if it was a mistake because dh never received an e-mail about it. How random!

We probably have two more full free months.

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**I am working on some staycation plans to bookend the kids' summer. (We started their summer break with camp and will do some fun things before school starts). Otherwise it's been summer school and medical stuff here. Not a very exciting summer.

I don't want to spend money because our vacation spending was crazy this year (like 4 x our budget) AND I want to save some money for Hawaii!

--I saw that a local pool has an inflatable obstacle course. O.M.G. The cost is similar to the kids' favorite indoor play place, BUT, the adults have to pay at the pool. Which makes it twice as pricey... I think it's worth us all going to check it out. This looks like BM's version of heaven. If they have fun, we can take them one adult at a time in the future.

--We will redeem some free museum tickets from our library (a trick I saw on SA a while back). It will give us some free entertainment and will try something new.

--They are also going to spend a few days with Grandma and hang out with the cousins.

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Today concludes our month of CRAZY. Phew!! No more summer school or medical appointments. Dh filled up his gas tank 4 times, we got one free tank of gas, and he said he will probably need gas again Saturday.

I don't know if August will be much better. We are driving to the Bay Area twice and to San Diego as well. But is a lot more "fun driving" than "crazy commuting."

----------------------------------------------------

One of our favorite musicians did another "house show". The first two we went to actually ended up being in more like warehouses or businesses and so this time we got the *real* experience. It was in someone's backyard. IT was a potluck but the food was phemonemal. It was SO FUN!

Recipe I need to look up or try to get: salmon cheesecake. It was more of a spread for appetizers (not an actual cake). YUM!

I am enjoying a quiet weekend. I am feeling relief on many fronts this week.

Dh is done with his medical treatments. Woohoo! Now it's just wait and see. & wait and wait and wait. We will know in a year or two if it is working at all. *sigh* But in the meantime, glad to put that crazy medical commute behind us.

Last week I also got over a big hump at work. We are doing a big project and had a training last week, for which a lot of pressure was put on me. Glad that is done and I think it was helpful for me starting to feel positive about the project as a whole. Maybe it will all work out alright. I wasn't so sure before.

Of course, I think it was stupid to hold this training the week before a big deadline, but I am also relieved that worked out well too. I foresee finishing my deadline work on Monday and still being able to take Tuesday off as planned. Phew!! We are going to a concert on Tuesday and I had warned dh there may be a 5% or so chance that I won't be able to get the time off. Seemed like I could probably make it work but sometimes when it rains it pours. If everything went wrong I wanted him to be forewarned. As is, deadline is Friday and I am probably more ahead of the curve than usual. Don't ask me how that worked out!

LM also started his acting class last week. We signed up ages ago for an early bird discount and he had agreed (which is so unlike him!). In the meantime he had a lead role in the school play and kind of got burned out. "Too much work!" Though he is so naturally talented. Anyway, so he was for sure a complainypants about having to go to this class after all. He tried with all his might to HATE this class but in the end he LOVED it. I think we have found the place for him. I am so happy on so many levels. Sure, I am glad I didn't waste my $400 or however much it was, but also so happy to see him in an extracurricular that gives him so much joy.

That said, it was a bit of a trying week. I thought he had outgrown some of his extreme mood swings. He mostly refused to go the second day. But when dh picked him up it had been the "Best Day Ever!" I guess we still have some of those days in store for us though they are extremely rare and few between. He's dramatic, what can I say.

So that is a lot of relief I feel after this past week.

------------------------------------------------------

Still lots going on.

Still working through school red tape madness.

We've got some repairs to tend to around the house. Putting off no doubt until things settle down a wee bit.

Next week both the kids have classes every day so one more week of mega commuting here.

On the flip side...

Our wildlife encounter is in 4 or 5 weeks. Woohoo! I am sure I will share way more information about that once it's done or even as it approaches.

I did also buy our Hawaii airfare last week and so I guess that trip is official now. I also booked the kitty hotel and a rental car. The hotel is a free timeshare thing we booked a while ago. It's the airfare that is our big financial commitment on this one. Gosh, I guess we leave in just two months. Hard to believe!

I got around to a "big picture" post, earlier. Hoping to have some time to do a "minutiae" post now.

**I didn't mention but we dropped off old car with an empty tank of gas and they gave us a full tank of gas on the new car. If there was ever a month we needed a free tank of gas! Phew! Nice how it worked out since we did not plan it that way at all.

Dh's dad also drove him to one of his medical treatments. That helped too! (Otherwise his family is out of the country so no in-law hysteria. Thank Goodness! You never know with them. I've just bracing myself for the craziness, but it never came. ??? They believe everything they read on the internet and so I'd expect them to be shipping off dh to Mexico for experimental treatment, or just something along those lines. Is how they are. Nevermind that some of the best medical worldwide facilities are in our own backyard. So... Phew!).

**I guess with all the summer family movies dh really wanted to take us to several movies. We found out in the last year that it's $5 at local theater on Tuesdays. (I gleamed this from Facebook. Dh initially disagreed with this information, but it turned out to be right. You think he would know his discount movies!) So I think it's the combo of the discount and all the summer family movies. I'm personally not much for wasting hours on movies (rather waste hours reading books!) But, I've been very open to it to make dh happy. Anything to make him happy during all this medical stuff! We spent $20 last week to see some movie. This week dh's dad had slipped him a gift card with a ? (leftover) balance on it. In the end the gift card had $12 and so we only paid $8 for us all to see a movie. Dh had also earned a free popcorn. That was a nice treat! I think next week they are going without me (though I could probably be swayed) and the week after that we are going to a concert.

Dh had already taken BM to see Jurassic World and Terminator. Dh is clearly in movie heaven. He's never really stopped going to the movies but usually just goes to matinees alone during the day, or is more inclined to wait and watch on our own home theater. I think he has enjoyed dragging us along. I don't know that BM is that much into the movies, but I think socially he likes saying he has seen the latest movies. (Dh is always trying to get us to watch older movies at home and for the most part no one else in the house is interested).

**I guess we've been going out more often than usual, but in our usual in-budget/frugal way.

The other thing is that the kids had their birthdays this week.

For LM's birthday the in-laws took him to lunch, took BM to dinner (well took us all out but each kid got to choose one). The kids both wanted pricey gifts this year and the in-laws were happy to oblige. Often just one of them wants something big and it's never been a big deal. But maybe with age it was nice they got more equal gifts.

Well, I should back up. Dh thought that BM would LOVE a Fitbit and I could certainly see why. BM's response was, "Why would you think that I would want that?" I'll have to ask him if it is growing on him. IT just seems like his kind of thing. He likes gadgets, data and exercise. Well, anyway, his brother saved the day. LM got him a giant exercise ball. Dh told me that he thinks that is probably the best gift BM has ever gotten in his life. Is using as a chair and otherwise rolling all over the house with it. (What can I say, he is easy to please).

He also has since asked for a new skateboard (bigger) which I will probably get him. He never asks for much of anything. For example, he did not ask for anything for his birthday. Just nothing he particularly wanted.

We got BM a used video game for $4 (something he really wanted but dh scored a deal on). & LM some nerf gun he wanted.

Dh took BM to the movies and out for sushi a couple of weeks ago. Kind of on the early side but made it a birthday thing. (While they were out I took LM to his favorite deli for lunch).

We invited LM's friend over to celebrate his birthday on Friday. His friend can't do sleepovers, or weekends. On Saturday we invited BM's friend over for a sleepover. In the morning I took them to their favorite indoor play place and then out for Mongolian BBQ. I don't know if that was ideal but the place is rarely open on weekend and I noticed it was open Sunday a.m. Since his friend had come straight from another sleepover I was not sure they'd be awake enough for that. But they are young and they powered through with their boundless energy. No one fell asleep on the long car ride.

For the sleepover birthday I was kind of stumped on food. We had pizza twice that week already and I couldn't take any more pizza. Plus the in-laws had taken us out and it was a lot. I told dh that salmon wasn't really any more expensive and so I would just make a nice salmon dinner. (Dh doesn't eat salmon). I got hamburger as a backup. BM's friend is so sweet and nice anyway, but he kept telling me I was the best cook. The hamburger was a waste because he was more than happy with the salmon. (Well, my kids liked the double dinner because they are bottomless pits, so not a total waste. I just don't know I would have had the backup otherwise).

**On the grocery front I felt that our grocery bill was going to be insane with the kids home all month. But I guess maybe some of the eating out ended up offsetting that. I think we have $100+ left in grocery budget for the month and several meals dh shopped for but that I did not cook.

**Today dh will be 90% done with radiation treatment. Phew!

The medical stuff alone has been fine, but it's just so much else going on.

We also squeezed out the kids' birthday parties last week. It was a crazy week and I did not agree on rushing it (BM could have certainly waited until after dh was done with treatments). But, that is what dh wanted to do and it's done.

As is, last week was pretty crazy. This week has been a little more calm and dh seems to be feeling better accordingly. I wish he could relax in a calm oasis, but it doesn't seem meant to be.

**Among other things, I was also shopping middle schools last week. We've had a million meetings, so it feels like, with the school. But it came to a head last week when dh had a short phone meeting where they were just, "No we won't do that". No explanation, and just the polar opposite of the spirit of the school and why we choose to keep BM there for middle school. There is another middle school (that just opened) that looks like a better fit on paper, but also lots of unknowns. Instead of looking forward to a unified campus and schedule the next two years for the kids this would mean the polar opposite. It gives me a headache just thinking about it. But if it is the better school for BM...

Dh has since had an hour phone conversation with the executive director (current school) who is our friend and neighbor. At least with him there is reason and compromise. So as of today I think we are probably going to stay. Thank goodness. This is still the last thing dh needs right now and is so frustrating. We tried to resolve things the last week of school. As thankful as we are to administrator friend there is no reason he couldn't have replied to our e-mails a full month ago, and it felt like he never read e-mails. Of course, he is probably expecting the principal to do her job, which she is not doing at all. Just so frustrating!

It does look likely we will end up in a compromise and this probably means red tape hell. BM will likely take a class at the community college this year. IT's red tape hell if you are in high school so you can imagine if you are in middle school. I'm at the point where I'd probably throw my hands up and give up. We have math people in the family who can tutor him and he can take a college class for credit next summer. It really seems the easiest route. I guess that is what I would do. (He could take a youth summer program at local State college but it just was like our last choice because it would be so rushed. But the plus is that it gives him high school credit for his transcripts AND would be a class with peers). If we have to rely on family help for one year out of twelve then we will have made out extraordinarily well. (BM is an extreme outlier academically. His school has always catered to his needs and kept him challenged. I think in almost any other situation he would have had to have been homeschooled. I know we have been very lucky and if this is the worst of it... Timing just sucks!).

But anyway, if I had to sum up the theme of 2015 it would be "Red Tape Hell". It's just been something at every turn this year.

**I can't talk about all that without talking about dh's job situation. Since we live in a culture obsessed with "paid work". (I have no idea. I think humans have much value beyond their paid work). But whatever, it's where our culture is at. We had been talking about next year being a time to actually consider going back to college or looking for work. My dh has often worked nights and he will be able to sleep in next year; I can take both kids to school. Maybe he has any chance in hell of getting a night job? (Day jobs don't exist, for the most part. Too much unemployment here). The thought of investing a little money in college isn't quite so horrifying with more time and money. (If waiting out the economy we'd probably still wait, but you know, it just doesn't feel quite as futile and useless as it did a few years ago). So anyway, that is where we were at. But life has 100% been a full-time job this year for dh, we are now taking a step backwards on the medical front, AND our parents want to give us all kinds of money. The last part just erases any minimal financial motivation we might have had on this front.

As of this very moment in time, the very last thing my spouse needs is a job. That is where we are at.

I don't know why this bothers other people so much. But since I am on track to retire by 50, I am not losing any sleep over it. *shrugs* It's something other people have problems with. We are perfectly content.

**I guess that plays into a financial update. Our net worth is up $42k this year and so we have achieved our net worth goal.

Payday was this week and I was able to put most of paycheck into savings. Nice to have a little boost in such a spendy year. I still have to buy Hawaii airfare and will have some medical bills next month. (I think I can maybe charge most of that up in August and pay off in September, but means I probably won't increase savings much the next two months).

We have enough assets to pay off our mortgage and keep $100,000 on hand. How awesome is that?? We had enough assets to pay off the mortgage in 2013 and I just wanted to get "well on the other side of that goal". Since then we have paid down the mortgage about $20,000 and increased investments by $80,000. I think we are well on the other side now?

I know there will be some crossover point where we just pay off the mortgage. I think we are a LONG ways from that crossover point, but we are getting there. (Assets are earmarked for college and retirement and all that jazz). We might not get there until kids are done with college. I don't see the point in being mortgage free and borrowing for college. So don't want to be too aggressive on the payoff. Life goal is that the mortgage is our only debt ever and when we are done we will be DONE. As I have kids nearing college and driving age we are playing it safe and bulking up savings and investments instead. Hoping to eventually redirect a lot of that to mortgage payoff. Of course, if the stock market keeps on a bull run for another 5 years or so... We can revisit this conversation. But I expect for it to adjust at some point in time and don't expect every year to be this good.

Tons of work to do so will try to update more later. But I guess this is kind of a big picture post of where my head is at these days.

Received $38 bank interest for the month of June.

Redeemed $25 credit card rewards (cash back) from our gas/grocery card.

Redeemed $83 cash back on Citi card.

Redeemed $1 cash back on Visa/dining card.

Other snowflakes:
--$200 (no piano lessons July)
--$300 sale of piccolo
--$ 30 Ting credits (no cell bill this month)

In the end, I added all the snowflakes to savings. Savings got drained a bit for the car purchase and mortgage pre-payments. So I felt all the windfalls were better used to bulk up savings a wee bit.

Savings (From paycheck):

+$200 to investments
+$300 to cash
+$900 to IRAs

But... Took out $2,600 for summer school, medical bills, and wildlife vacation. OF course, after that drained savings further for car purchase/mortgage paydown.

Short-Term Savings (for non-monthly expenses within the year):

+$1,300 to cash
-$60 Medical
-$385 Auto maintenance/repairs

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Current cash position:

Still have about 8 months of expenses in the bank, so am happy with that. Plus a 9th month in taxable investments.

Upcoming known expenses:

--Medical, medical, medical

--Still have not paid anything for Hawaii yet

Whatever the opposite of "buyer's remorse" is, that is what I have!

So you go buy a car on a HOT day, and no one tells you the car comes with solar glass? What the wha?? I have died and gone to heaven. I see mixed reviews online, but when you upgrade a 14-year-old car you notice differences like this. IT was 108F degrees the other day and the black steering wheel was not even hot to the touch. I don't even believe it was really that hot... It just doesn't compute.

Financials:

**Insurance on new vehicle will cost us an extra $400 per year. Mostly for adding comprehensive and collision. But we will drop the full coverage on our 10-year-old van. (I'd historically drop it sooner, but it seemed easier to at least have full coverage on one car. I've been ruminating on it for a while but I guess I don't have to any more).

The net increase in cost will be about $240 per year.

**I checked with the DMV today and expect our annual fees to go up by $100 per year. It's worse early on and will drop over time.

Of course, we won't have to get smog checks for a long time ($$$) and I expect to have reduced repairs expenses in the short run. In the grand scheme of things, probably pretty breakeven. Not much change to our annual expenses.

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Since we primarily drive the gas sipper, we just determine who drives it by who has the longest to drive any given day. I don't expect much to change. I got a couple of days in this month. (It will take me a long time to get used to it). But, that was it for me. Dh gets it hands down the rest of the month.

First and foremost, our medical people are working all this week on calibrating stuff for his radiation. They needed 5 full business days to get everything ready. I wouldn't be surprised if radiation is more expensive than surgery. Since his brain surgery was $500k-ish, I am expecting some interesting insurance statements. But yeah, the technology of it all is kind of blowing my mind.

So this week is calibrating. Then dh goes in for a procedure every day for 10 days. It's a lot. We are blessed that we can do this locally. Is still a 50 mile roundtrip commute. So he will have a bit of a medical commute for a while. The other plus is he can probably just take himself. (If he has any issues, my employer is extremely supportive).

So there is that, and I will share more on all that later. (Well, maybe, if I have any time).

The kids are also both signed up for summer classes. Which maybe we would have rethought if we knew all this was coming. LOTS of driving. They are both taking classes consecutively in entirely different places.

I usually pride myself on simplicity and a leisurely lifestyle most of the year. But work is totally crazy right now and I am not quite sure how I will survive July. Dh is mostly expected to be fine, but tiredness is a common side effect. So I am mentally preparing to take over the domestic duties (most of which he does) and maybe I will have to get the kids out of his hair as much as possible. Whatever it takes to get him in a positive restful mind space so he can kick this thing to the curb once and for all.

I just don't know why when it rains it pours!

& am so glad to be done with that chapter. HATE car shopping.

I know everyone probably thinks we meticulously research these things, but historically we trust our gut, stumble upon deals, and most our decisions tend to be pretty rash. (Usually lots of thought ahead of time, but when it comes down to it we make quick decisions).

We went out just to look but they were desperate to sell used cars for month-end sales. There was no one else at the dealership and we had no plans to buy a car and so we haggled fiercely.

We ended up paying about $14k for a 2013 Hyundai Elantra, fully loaded. 15k miles. (It was in total immaculate condition). They wouldn't lower the price any further on one car and I doubt we were going to come to any agreement, when some manager brings this beauty around. I liked it better than any we had looked at. We walked away for a while to be sure. But I think we both just wanted to be done with the least amount of time and hassle.

As much as I dread car shopping, I do admit they know our type. No one tried to over-sell us anything or throw too much BS at us. I was ready to go through the contract with a fine-tooth comb but there were no fees to argue about.

{It was a car dealership. Don't get me wrong. A very painful experience with lies lies lies. You just kind of tune it out and let the car and internet speak for itself}.

I think my dh was stressing more about it than necessary. I looked up trade-in and it was $12k-ish. When you pay cash for used cars you don't sweat these things. What's the worst case? We HATE the car and we trade it in later? *shrugs* (Clearly we don't want to do this, but I don't see the point in worrying about all the long-term worst case scenarios).

Oh, and I am so happy with the size. Dh has only been considering teeny tiny cars. In the end this is similar in size to our Ford Escort, but feels a lot more roomy inside. (& admittedly is a wee bit bigger). It is so roomy that we have discussed making this the long-term van replacement. A roomy car you can fill with people and camping gear and get 40mpg.

We had our eye on the 2016 Chevy Spark, which has not come out yet. We looked at an older model and I am so relieved dh admitted it was too small for now. I think maybe a used Spark in a few years will be a fine second car. But not as our main driver. 2016 should be vastly improved and we prefer used cars anyway, so would have to wait a while for that one.

I think what we wanted more than anything was something small and very fuel efficient (like we already had). BUT... Dh had to make some (size) concession for growing boys. He was driving me nuts looking at SMALLER cars. We share cars because the van is such a gas guzzler we never drive it anywhere. This is why I couldn't see ending up with a too-small car and a too-big car. We need a just-right-car for the here and now.

Oh, and could care less about anything the car came with. (I don't see us ever needing heated seats. This is California! & our cars are garaged). BUT... I think we maybe paid another $1k or so just to get the integrated blue tooth. We have after market blue tooth in our old cars, but the steering wheel controls are so nice (in new car) and we knew we'd have to pay a lot to get any of that after market. We could have got a much better deal otherwise. The premium package was so "all or nothing". Now we have all this stuff we probably don't want to get too used to.

Three thoughts on price parameters:

1 - We save $100/month endlessly/each for car replacements. So we had about $16,000 saved up for car replacement. (Had 13+ years to save).

The thing about doing this is we have never increased our car spending/budget. Waiting just gives us more time to save, and nicer cars with age. Lots of added luxury without *ever* increasing this line item in our budget.

2 - We've seemed to increase our budget $5k with every car purchase. First cars cost $1k. Second cars cost $5k. Last cars cost $10k. This time we have had the time and the means to amass much more. So $15k is the next logical step. Which of course goes in line with #1 since we bought newer cars that last longer and gave us more time to save, last round.

I think we'd both be happy with something in the $10k range again (our last cars were $10k - 1-year-old/15k miles). But there has been a fair amount of inflation, and with age and means you do entertain the fancier cars. Size was also more of a concern than in the past. (We bought the Ford long before we planned to have kids).

3 - I don't know that we would have bought a car this weekend but for my parents' generous gift to us. Let's face it - we got a free car. & it was more than we were expecting to buy. So I know that number heavily influenced us. Otherwise we may have been more inclined to save a couple of thousand dollars.

I was pleased though that (with taxes) we did not spend any more than the gift. (IT would have been easy to talk ourselves up a bit). I really thought the taxes would push us up further as we kept ruling out the tiny cars.

Another note:

We did just trade-in old car because it was worthless and saved a lot of hassle. Would be different if I thought we could actually sell it for more than dealership offered.

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Reasons we sold dh's car:

**It actually had absolutely no mechanical issues, but was just getting kind of loud and rattly. It was a 2001 that we had paid $7,800 for in 2002. It has 170k miles. It's not even leaking oil or anything (like any car I have ever had in the past with so many miles has). A random part did fall out of the engine recently, which is really weird, but I feel was probably a random/isolated event. The car is in such good repair otherwise.

But my spouse is half deaf and the noise was really bothering him. He is very cautious of the hearing in his good ear and puts a huge premium on QUIET these days.

We had decided 100% to junk this car this year but wanted to wait until next spring or winter when we were in a better cash position. We were maybe 90% there but went up to 100% when we recently took the car in. They looked over the whole engine trying to find where that part fell out and we talked to them about engine noise. We confirmed it was age/car quality and there wasn't much we can do. So we decided to close the chapter on that car.

In the meantime dh's car started to get louder again. I don't know if it maybe needed a repair or if that is how loud it was last summer in the heat (I think it was).

So then we get a cash infusion. & we car shopped more seriously. & here we are.

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Edited to add: We don't finance cars. The primary reason at this point in our lives is the PITA factor. I just don't want to deal with all that (not getting title right away, loan application, getting insurance involved, AND worst of all the endless monthly payments). That's really all there is to it. When we were younger and felt we couldn't afford car payments it was more about living with a $1k or $5k car and not tying up any of our potential wealth in car payments that we didn't really have the money for anyway. I guess there is still some of that as we have never spent more than $15k (including taxes) on a vehicle. Anything beyond that is taking away too much from our future. But at this point in our lives we could certainly finance $10k or $15k at a great rate. The reason we don't is the PITA factor.

I do find that people greatly exaggerate the benefits of car loans. Maybe this is obvious to me because we've never had a car loan? But I'd had to substantially reduce our investments and redirect to car payments. It's not so simple as you would be better off investing versus paying cash. The money has to come from somewhere and no matter how you slice it it would come from our investments. It's just a shell game, in my opinion. I think the cash method is just largely misunderstood. I don't literally tie up all my cash for 15 years while I save for a car and I've never cashed out an investment to pay for a car. We more manage cash flow in different ways. The $100/month for a car that we don't intend to replace for 10-15 years now? It's obviously going to be invested. & in 10 years I will probably start working towards keeping a cash buffer for a car replacement. It's usually more how it works out. But just to be clear, taking a car loan would be a huge hit to our monthly investment contributions. We could also invest the cash up front and that's not a bad thing. You will just never convince me that is *always* and *obviously* smarter to go the loan route. The truth is that it is flip a coin territory. (It's market timing. I *can* come out ahead by choosing to keep my investments where they are versus a car payment. You can come out ahead by not paying cash up front, but it's going to be a flip of the coin). The PITA factor will always leave us preferring to just pay cash and moving on. I will never again think about paying for this car. That is PRICELESS.

Just got back from annual camping trip in the Sierras.

Life continues to be stressful and crazy. The minor annoyances continue to pile up.

While my dad was here (we camp with my dad and in-laws) he fixed a couple of minor things around the house for us. But we found a new problem that we will have to call the gardener to fix.

Of course, we appreciated the break and our trip went smooth as could be. Phew! (A nice sea of calm in a month of crazy).

Finances:

**Dh has been earning tons of google credits and amazon gift cards for whatever survey stuff he is doing. He ended up getting a new roku for $25. (Our old one has been clunky for a while but I didn't really want to spend the money. In the end he spent a whole $25 and it is 10 times better).

I suppose that is unofficially his Father's Day present.

**I sent a payment to the credit cards today. I had booked summer classes for BM, our random wildlife vacation, and had charged dh's MRI. I had charged that all in June wanting to push off actual payment to next month, BUT the credit card balances were getting kind of crazy. Plus the one card has a low limit and so I think it was best to pay it down before the end of the month.

So much for delaying those expenses...

**I had to deposit my big check in person. For whatever reason (I guess since I was very nonchalant about it) they made it available immediately. Which was nice since I received the check Saturday night and we weren't back home until yesterday. Seriously, they asked me when I NEEDED it and I shrugged. Apparently that is how you get immediate access to large sums in this day and age. (If you haven't had a large deposit lately, they usually put a hold on some of it).

So I went home and took all the money out (online). I didn't NEED it but if it was available I might as well allocate it.

**So... I went ahead and made my big mortgage payment.

Mortgage balance is now $177,999. I project that we will be at $174,999 by end of year. $169,999 by April 2016.

**I had already opened a $10,000 CD (at my credit union) for a 1.50% rate and so opened up a second one. I don't know that I felt entirely comfortable tying that much up in CDs, but... we also expect a chunk of cash in December. I am always way too cautious, anyway. Odds are we will probably never never touch this money. (I consider about $15k of our cash savings completely untouchable but for extreme emergency). Of course, the CD is easy to access and there isn't much downside if I have to raid it later.

**Money continues to rain down from the sky. I had my piccolo on consignment and apparently it sold recently. Received a $300 check in the mail yesterday. Woohoo!

I am putting this $300 into investments.

{It was in disrepair and this was a very easy route to get it sold for more than I am sure I could have gotten on my own. Certainly was far less hassle than FB and CL have been of late}.

It was funny because I swung by that area yesterday and was stuck in the heat and traffic staring at the music store for a while wondering if they would ever sell my piccolo. (It's an area that I do not frequent). The check was, at that time, on a mail truck en route to my home. Ha! (We kind of reasoned summer/fall would be a good time to sell but had left it at the store at some point in the spring. Better than gathering more dust in my closet).

**The kids just told me that they have no piano lessons next month and so the snowflakes continue to fall. That's another $200 that I will move to investments. Plus credit card rewards this month (About $90?). Plus $30 to investments since we don't have a Ting bill this month. We also have a REI dividend to cash out.

Possibly a $600+ snowball for this month.

Not much to see here. I'm phased out of some of the $500 rewards until next year and I haven't seen the Sapphire card for a full $500 bonus this year. In addition to that, we don't need the extra boost so much this year and I don't think it's the worst thing to rest the credit a bit.

That said, I could see us each doing a $500 reward per year. Why not??

I took some time today to do some fiscal chores. Closed two credit cards (was able to close them simultaneously online with live chat). I called to get my ATM card renewed (it seemed to have not been renewed) and that phone call took less than a minute. I guess I had been putting off five minutes or so of chores. I like it when things are quick and easy!

I still need dh to close a CU account we opened last year for bonus. At that point I can start my list anew.

As I shred credit card bonus stuff for closed cards I don't care about any more, I figured I'd update and was surprised I've not even started a 2015 tally yet. & so here it begins...

2015 TALLY:

$200 Cash (AmEx Card Everyday, Moi)
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$200 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

Other Rewards:

**Free Prime For One Year

**$40 cash back (Amex Reward for spending $40 at Amazon)

**Various monthly rewards that I will tally at years-end.

I did have a fairly relaxing weekend last weekend. I surely needed it!

As to this week, has been like the last couple of weeks. I wouldn't even know where to begin...

**We did have some good news and scored a free coastal hotel stay in San Diego for our September wildlife trip. Woohoo! (Was not expecting that at all. This trip keeps getting cheaper. I am so glad that we went for it).

Otherwise, Murphy has just been toying with us:

**AC made a HORRIBLE sound. It turns out just some wire came loose and was hitting the blades. Since we took it apart and re-tightened all the bolts it has been sounding much quieter. Nice! Bullet dodged.

**We left for a bit Saturday and when we came home the cat was squinting one eye. All I could see was emergency vet visit in my near future. Thankfully it cleared up. (Probably just got something in his eye and worked it out?)

**Car troubles. Let me just back up and say that yes we drive older cars. In my experience, our cars have always been in better repair than average. Because we can actually afford to keep care of them. So I have absolutely no frame of reference for this...

So dh gets home Sunday from the movies and he hears a CLUNK when he parks the car. He looks under the engine and finds a part. The car seems totally fine and he decides to drive it over to the mechanic on Monday.

Mechanic is totally and completely stumped. They threw out initially that it looked like a transmission bracket but they can't seem to find it. The receptionist is convinced it's a washing machine part (LOL). Their theory is that it fell out of our other car but we assure them that is impossible. If he hadn't of heard it fall out we would have maybe gone that route. We start to believe someone left a tool in the engine that got tore up or something. OR something got kicked up into the engine on the freeway and fell out when he stopped?

Before we even took it in I told myself this is probably "nothing" like everything else. BUT... Since we do plan to replace this car in 6 months or so, I am running through my head that at least the kids don't have school and we can probably manage okay for a couple of weeks if we have to go car shopping, etc. I know this is ridiculous worst case scenario that will never come to pass. Right? Lord knows I don't want to buy a new car RIGHT NOW though I admit in the grand scheme of things it probably doesn't matter. We'd pay a lot of money just to keep the option of driving the car longer. So as long as it's fixable we are probably just going to fix it. We have already reconsidered car replacement as the medical bills pile up. Not the worst thing to put it off an additional year.

This whole thing was a reminder why it's good to "go there" and to have that Plan B. In the end it was a transmission bracket and they figured it out after everyone looked over the car for hours. They were so happy and relieved that they found it because it would have completely destroyed the engine if they did not fix it. They said they transmission could have just fallen out (WORST case) or caused damage to the engine (probably more likely).

So there's another bullet dodged.

{I have no idea why part fell out in the first place... That is a whole other thing}.

So yeah, that is SOME of my week.

I keep thinking it's Friday. (on Tuesday and Wednesday even). It's been such a LONG and exhausting week, on many fronts.

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We were also keeping a bucket list #4 trip (THIS YEAR) in mind because an opportunity came up for dh. We found out Monday night that it was not meant to be. I think we are kind of emotionally deflated because of that.

He's trying to sell a movie script. One door closes and another door always opens. There will always be a million doors, and it is expected to probably have a lifetime of doors slammed in your face. This was just such an exciting opportunity and a bigger risk was taken because of it. & we never would have planned the wildlife trip if it would potentially interfere with this.

The new open door is that he already has a meeting in LA while we are down there for the wildlife trip. Who knows - maybe this is a better opportunity.

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As to dh's medical stuff, we have a meeting next week. Will go from there. Life hasn't given me a quiet moment to even think about that.

Thank goodness for Saturday! Should have some time to reboot after the last couple of weeks of crazy.

**We got our wildlife encounter booked. Could still be canceled due to weather, so fingers crossed we get to see this through! I will share more eventually.

**BM told me he needed a navy blue t-shirt for the last day of school (for teams). This is annoying since they have a million navy blue school uniform shirts, but I understand he doesn't want to wear a more formal shirt for this. Since Target often has t-shirts for $5 I finally gave in. We were going to drop by Target today while in the area. But anyway, BM ended up checking the other team colors and said there was no "black" and he thought black would be close enough. Smart boy! It's not the saving $5 that matters so much to me as just how proud I am that he figured a solution.

I also notice when things get "crazy" is always when we run to the store more. I just don't know if I don't have the mental capacity to figure it out as much when life gets hectic. So I am relieved that I don't have to run to the store at all this weekend. More time for some well needed unwinding. Phew!

**My employer is selling a bunch of furniture. I looked through it since we are looking for some storage pieces and working on organizing our home more.

I picked up a nice shelf for $15. It's more of a short/long bookcase. I was thinking for LM's closet which has nothing in it. We also talked about putting it in his room to replace his "baby" toy box.

So when I brought it home dh and I carried it upstairs, only to find shelves already in the closet. ??? Dh thinks we bought them. I have absolutely no recollection of them. LOL. But LM liked the new shelves and replacing the toy box is still a good plan. (I'd just put the shelves in our closet otherwise. That was sort of s Plan B. I think they'd work best in our closet but I also though LM lacked storage and would need it the most).

**This weekend we have some fun things planned.

--Annual BBQ for neighborhood.

--LM is going to movies and ice cream with his teacher and some classmates. (Some silent auction thing I think I paid $30 for a couple of months back).

--Dh bought 3 Jurassic Park blu rays with free movie passes, so all the boys are going to that this weekend. (He often buys those deals. The movies were on sale, so win-win). I went with dh when he bought those movies at Target. Looking at full price blu rays and all that always astounds me. My dh is a movie collector but just doesn't spend those crazy dollars on it all. Anyway, any time he takes me along I appreciate how little he spends on that stuff.

June is Crazy!

I'll share some tidbits but just imagine 5 other serious meetings and issues that we have been tackling this month. Gah! Last week was one of those weeks and this weeks hasn't been any easier.

Random Tidbits:

**Thank you whoever has used my Ting referral link. We are looking at 5 or 6 months of free cell service. Woohoo!

**We are planning a third bucket list type vacation for this year (versus the 0 that we usually do?). This is CRAZY!!

It's not overly extravagant and is why we are considering it. But dh told me about this wildlife encounter thing. I initially was just putting that aside for later but then he sent me a link and I looked closer. I said, "We have to do this during this year. There is no way they will be able to keep these prices or manage all this as word spreads about this place." We thought it would be $800 for 4 and didn't know how backed up they would be but in the end it's just $600 (4th person in group is free). Woohoo! We will drive and need a couple of nights of lodging. They had slots in September that we are trying to book. Totally booked up through summer. It's a really small outfit.

In the meantime... Some celebrity goes over there yesterday and blows up twitter with how awesome this place is. O.M.G. Kind of what I was worried about but didn't expect that to happen so literally the day after we started the reservation process. Let's just say I am feeling very happy with this decision!

Will pull this from our Hawaii funds if need be.

**I had a skin biopsy that turned out to be benign. I didn't expect otherwise but it's always nice to get that kind of confirmation. I'm trying to rest up and heal. Stitches get removed Friday.

Other Stuff:

**OF course, dh always overshadows me on the medical front. We received the shocking news last week that his brain tumor seems to be growing pretty rapidly. They want to do radiation this month. If we don't do anything it will be too big and he will need surgery again. (He had it mostly removed in 2010, with surgery. Last year we discussed radiation in 5-10 more years, just as a frame of reference what a huge change in situation this is).

For the most part it sounds pretty easy. The procedure itself. It just brings up a lot of questions for the long term.

The procedure itself was not so easy 5 years ago. Waiting has bought us a lot of time and advancements so this thing will be so much easier than when we last discussed, AND the kids are so much older and no longer daycare dependent. Heck, they can help take care of dh if need be, but doesn't seem to be a concern at all. The hospital is doing a team meeting to discuss best options but the Doctor we talked to thought he'd be done with this procedure the end of June, and that he'd prefer to do in our city. Waiting to see if the team agrees and to get a date.

All we can do is one day or one step at a time.

Financially we will have a lot of medical bills this year and next. The obvious to go is our mortgage pre-payments. That makes the whole thing *shrugs*.

It's hard for me to explain given our own personalities AND what it's like to wonder at some point if you would be around to see your kids grow up. It's not the vacations *at all* that matter to us. But it's just when dealing with all this we also can't muster up the energy to care if we pay off our mortgage possibly one or two years sooner. It's that financial stuff that matters the very least of all. (I am so grateful to have a conservative mortgage and to have paid down rapidly in good financial times, for sure, and that is some of it). The wildlife thing came up like the very same day as all this news. I admit it's also nice to be planning something so exciting while planning something so stressful. It's helped. & of course we aren't going to cancel the one big vacation (Hawaii) we wanted to do with our kids and already planned. (I can't say it's something we'd ever plan solely because of this type news, but we also aren't going to cancel it because of this). There's no thought or discussion here. We have an extra $3k earmarked to the mortgage and it's getting moved over to medical expenses. It was a split second decision that seemed obvious to the both of us.