An excellent and relevant post at MyMoneyBlog, today.

Life Planning Exercise: Creating My Perfect Day

http://www.mymoneyblog.com/life-planning-exercise-creating-m...

I have so many thoughts about this, I wouldn't know where to begin.

Of course, this exercise was an idea from Guillebeau's book, "The Art of Non-Conformity"

"The underlying message of Guillebeau's book, based on his popular blog, is that "You don't have to live your life the way other people expect you to." Those who are open-minded, ready to challenge the status-quo, hard-working, and personally responsible can lead lives of rare authenticity through radical goal-setting..."

Okay, so I have GOT to read this book. My curiosity is definitely piqued.

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Anyway, my perfect day? That is an exercise that needs some thought and care. Something I will definitely meditate on some time after tax season.

I think this is a GREAT exercise and one that should be done often. I can't help but notice that life changes rapidly and humans have a tendency to think the grass is greener. As much as I feel in touch with what is truly important to me, I have found over the years that sometimes I was wrong, or things changed very quickly. Instead of making New Years' resolutions, maybe it makes sense to reflect on what our perfect day is, and how much that ideal may have changed from the year prior. Food for thought.

I was thinking about it because what I have been wanting more than anything is just some down time at home. Interestingly, I got that opportunity after my surgery. I felt great for about 100% of my time at home, recovering. But, I did not feel like there were enough hours in the day. I just felt like I more easily wasted more hours in the day. Suddenly, instead of planning summer vacation at home, not doing anything (which I always TRY for), we now have 2 vacations planned. Time home sounds nicer than it really is, to me. In more recent years when the kids were little, it meant more and I needed the time to accomplish more. But, the kids are at school and I have plenty of leisure time. I don't really need MORE.

Likewise, I have tried to warn other women about the lure to be home with their kids. Never felt it with my eldest, but had a harder time with child #2. There was a year or two in there that I felt a strong pull to be able to work part-time and be home more.

Those times? Dead and gone. My kids get home from school about 4:00 - I get home at 5:00. I am the type person who is far more productive and happy with a schedule and a job to go to. More time at home means little to me at this point in my life.

Just, don't turn your lifetime upside down for a pull that will only be there a short time, is all.

On the flip side, dh and I are very practical hard workers. It was only once we were ready to have kids that dh could put aside a well-paying job to pursue something lower paying or less "responsible." Between this mind shift, and all we have gone through these past few years on the medical front, we have come to a much deeper understanding about what is truly important to us. By the same token, when he first stopped working, we had a very limited income. As my income has grown over the years, we have made an effort to reflect on what was truly important, and how to best allocate that money. I honestly can't tell you what has made us think more - finite resources, or more time. Both, I guess.

As such, though I haven't sat down and planned out a "perfect day, hour by hour," my spouse and I have spent a lot of time reflecting about what is important to us, and how we want to live our life, these past 10 years or so.

Things that are important to me and that I do keep top of mind:

**Sleep - I value my sleep so much. Nothing gets in the way of a good night's sleep.

**Exercise - I know regular exercise elevates my mood. Exercise in the a.m. will improve my day ten-fold.

**Weather - I prefer to live in a mild climate, with lots of sun. My work schedule kind of works around the weather nicely. (i.e. summers are by the pool after work - many perfect swimming hours. Mornings and evenings usually pleasant for exercise/walks. The days are hot and suck, but then I am happy to be inside with the A/C. Winters are not my favorite - but that's when work is busy - so just kind of works).

**Quality of life - I don't do traffic and I don't do crowds. I think I have made that abundantly clear in my blog.

**Work - I prefer NOT to work at home, but somewhere close to home. This may seem idealistic, but I have always lived a few minutes from my office, and spend many lunch hours at home. These days I get nice lunch dates with my husband - with the kids in school. LOVE it. I personally can not stand to mix home and work. Work is work. Home is home. Completely separate. I do better at my job that way. I do better with my family that way. The boundaries are clear.

I prefer little supervision, and I'd be happy to not talk to anyone all day.

That said, being self-employed does not appeal to me in the least. (I have been self-employed and I hated it!)

What I really like about my job, besides all the numbers (which I LOVE), is the feeling of appreciation and really helping people. (Even if I have to talk to people more than I would like!)

Though my current job is amazing, this would describe most any job I have worked. I have many positive work experiences, and so know clearly what I want and what I don't want.

I am fine working 8 hours a day. 4 days a week might be nicer than 5, but I think it runs a bit "the grass is greener." Not sure it would actually make me much happier. I actually find since I work extra during tax season that 9-5, 5 days a week, feels very leisurely to me the rest of the year. When it is light out until 8pm, I am happy as a clam. I wake up early, hit the gym, take the kids to school, work, and have 3 hours daylight left to enjoy at the end of the day (lounge by the pool a few hours, go for a bike ride?). That's when life is good!

**I don't want my life bogged down by chores. So I hire out chores that I absolutely can not stand (yard work) and dh and I share in the other household duties - to our strengths and preferences. Thus, neither of us spends much time doing things we don't want to do.

**Kids - spending quality time with our kids is everything. When they are grown, that time will be replaced with more time to volunteer, grandkids (I hope), etc. As much as our kids are everything, I know that there has to be something else, for the long haul. This may be one reason working less doesn't overly appeal to me.

**Pay Day Today. I actually usually forget it is pay day and am surprised to get a check. I remembered because I had some other checks to deposit. Asked dh to just run them to the bank (had some cash, too), since I can easily scan my paycheck. So, became front of mind. BEfore this scanning thing, I just held all deposits to pay day.

The credit card is due the 31st, as is the mortgage. I will probably set the credit card to pay once my paycheck is deposited. Since I am adding extra principal to the mortgage - I will just pay it last minute. See if we can drum up more principal in 2 weeks time. It has a 2-week grace period, so no biggie. With no extra principal, I always pay it the 30th. But, I will likely pay it later with the extra principal factor. I'll decide exactly what to pay around the 31st, anyway.

Anyway, with 2 weeks before any bills due, no wonder I forget it is pay day. I just figured out this month with raise, tax cut and piano lessons, that I can pay everything on the 1st, transfer everything to savings, ROTHS, etc., and then nothing else to worry about until the end of the month (mortgage & big credit card). I like the simplicity. It doesn't always work out so easily...
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I had awesome news for a tax client. Couldn't have planned it better if I tried.

$50k taxable income? How much was his tax?

Um, $350???

That is an effective tax rate of 0.8%.

Is a low income tax client that came into some money. So, all he had was investment income - taxed at 0%. Tiny bit of tax on social security and disability. A whole $350 on that.

I sent him on his way and figured it was right, but couldn't wrap my brain around it. I had forgotten (or not known?) that capital gains rates were 0% up to the 15% tax bracket. I knew for 10% tax bracket. But not 15% tax bracket (up to $68k tax-free income for married couples).

I told him to enjoy it while it lasts - maybe 2 more years. I said "Welcome to being wealthy - the wealthy get all the tax breaks."

Not very many people can manage that kind of scenario (no income but loads of investment income). BUT, some can.

**Track practice was canceled, so we might have an impromptu movie night. Had wanted to do that over the weekend (popcorn/movie at home) but ran out of time.

**I love daylight savings, but not much enjoyment here. It's just raining cats and dogs. I thought last year was bad. Good lord. Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain. That's all I see in the 10-day forecast.

**BM had such an excellent report for school, that I announced he could go wherever he wanted for dinner. Probably tomorrow night. I don't think dh was pleased with that. BUT, he chose McDonalds. I think we can swing it.

Of course, I told him we were so impressed that it would be separate from his brother's celebration (presuming he also does well). Little brother just wants to do McDonalds too. Easy to please, I guess.

Heck, I think we have $10 in Gift Certificates still, from Christmas.

Well, Saturday and Monday were pretty good.

Saturday:

**Made it to aerobics (2nd time since surgery?)

**Worked for 3 hours

**Finished parents' taxes

**GIL treated us to lunch.

**Took a nap

**Played tennis/enjoyed the nice weather

**Read some of my book

(Interesingly - now that I bought last book for nook - it is now available at the library. Probably for the best - there is no way I can finish it in 3 weeks! Way too big. Dh checked out 2 ebooks - all was fine but no renewal, which makes checking out giant books kind of useless).

PERFECT day. Put me in a very good mood.

SUNDAY:

**It rained, I worked alone all day. Not too much exciting.

**That said, MIL made us a St. Patty's day dinner - corned beef and cabbage.

MONDAY:

Monday was shaping up to be hectic.

Tried to re-arrange piano schedule around track schedule, and realized we had a parent/teacher conference.

**Crazy day so we all went to BM's track practice. Dropped him off and was running to Taco Bell. Dh suggested grocery store for sandwhiches. Ended up with sushi. YUM. Just kind of a nice spontaneous evening of sorts.

If it was crazy hectic like that all the time - wouldn't be my thing. But I suppose was a nice change of pace from our usual "plan ahead - plenty of time to cook/eat dinner" schedule. Just, a little spontaneous.

**Spent 1 HOUR chatting with BM's teacher. Telling each other how great we are. Have got to enjoy these parent-teacher conferences. IT seems to be how it goes (he is a great fit for BM and thus absolutely no issues since he is so happy). That said, went better than expected - if that is possible.

HE also has AMAZING things planned for next year. I am more excited about it than I was.

Since I know BM is a brain, I am always more impressed with behavioral praise than academic praise. We got some of that too, and an insight into how the teacher was rewarding him for that. I kind of presumed it was an "everyone gets a turn" thing, and was pleased to hear BM had been singled out for extra praise and as an example the other kids should follow.

What more could a parent ask for?

Was able to fund 10% to 2010. Woohoo!

Maybe 9.6%, but close enough for me.

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Background? We always put 10% gross income to retirement. Since we graduated college at age 22.

It's mostly non-negotiable. 10% to retirement. (Usually we put in more, but that is the minimum).

Then 2010 came along. We maxed our our medical deductible in both December 2009 and January 2010, with dh's brain tumor stuff. & then I got a 10% reduction in compensation around that time.

We quickly decided to put $0 to retirement in 2010. Was just a crappy year. We needed a year to just regroup.

I was not happy about it, but kind of felt it would work out. When we first had kids and neither of us was working for a time, we decided to put $0 to retirement, for the short run. In the end, we were able to put in about 12% every year since my spouse stopped working. So, I remembered back to when I had my first child, and how we were able to meet our retirement goals even when we chose to temporarily put them aside.

I didn't expect the answer to fall out of the sky, this time, but I did know that I had about 16 months to find more money for retirement, and that something would probably work out.

& so it has.

So how did we do it?

$1000 in mid 2010 - deposited into a new IRA I had to open to roll my work retirement plan into.

$3000 in December 2010. Transferred $3k from cash Efund to ROTH cash efund. Might as well not give up the contribution. This portion doubles as efund for now. I did have to be creative. But this made me feel better - at least I set 5% away in retirement accounts. Without depleting cash.

$2000 tax refund - all the medical bills gave us a nice tax refund. I was able to milk an extra $500 by depositing the refund in my regular IRA instead of a ROTH or savings. (I had kind of counted on the tax break, all along - knew this would come through. A very small return on all the medical bills).

That is $6000, and I was pretty happy with that. About 8% gross income for 2010.

I also felt so behind (another surgery - another maxed deductible 2011), that I gave up on putting more to 2010. In the past I just cram all my retirement into the last year (before April) because I want retirement to be all maxed out if some windfall comes along. Though we've had some lower income years, there is no doubt we could max (this year, last year, whatever possible) the minute dh returned to work, too. So, bigger income/windfalls are always perpetually on the horizon. We try not to give up retirement contributions, accordingly. Maxing out in more recent years - even if it took 16 months to do so.

It was probably stupid to give up on 2010, because dh and I have even talked about him returning to work this year. But after a not-so-great year financially, and being so "creative" about that 10% I think I was just DONE. I gave up. I Was tired of finding $1k here and there and not thinking I was going to do much better.

But I had a change of heart. In one of my last posts I said I may get $1300 (for taxes and piano lessons), from dh's family. Entirely unexpected. & so I start thinking I should finish funding 2010. Suddenly it seems actually doable. Max out 2010!?! Hard to believe...

I went ahead and put $500 to 2010 ROTH, which was just what i Was putting away this month in dh's ROTH. Vanguard apparently makes it really easy to switch your year designation (before April, anyway). I was able to switch last month's ROTH contribution to 2010. With the click of a button.

If I earmark next month's $500 ROTH contribution to 2010, that will get our grand total to $7500 for 2010.

10% - DONE.

I think I am done with 2010 though. Still, exhausted. Ready to move on and stop thinking about 2010.

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I know. I don't want to have to do that again. Blech!

This year I am just setting aside $700/month. Which is a little more than 10%.

Since I moved $1500 to 2010, I have to find another $1500 now. For 2011. That's the only thing. (I already had to find $1500 to max out).

I'll work it out in December, or next April. Coming up with an extra $3k is much less daunting than feeling like I could put away $0, one year ago.

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2010 was actually much better than expected. About $3k less medical bills than initially expected, plus a $1k break on our flood insurance. So, phew!

Unexpected cash is going to cash savings, for now.

I hear almost on a daily basis how home prices are rock bottom throughout California, and the "deal of the century."

????????

Honestly, I've read enough articles and talked to enough people to know that the majority of home buyers around here are outside investors (other cities, other countries, other states), and buyers with little-down loans (FHA?). That's what is keeping the home market from collapsing in Sacramento, specifically. People who know nothing about the local market, and more creative lending.

Oh boy!

I know a handful of people who got off the fence and bought - maybe with some decent down payments and fixed rates (but I wouldn't know for sure - the terms of their purchases). But, that's rare. I know far more broke people buying because "it's a good investment and no money down required."

The more I talk about this with people, the more disconnect I see between their lofty "get rich quick" schemes and the real estate reality.

I even went through zillow and examined historical home prices in several cities I am familiar with because there is such a huge disconnect between what people are spouting about home prices, and reality. As I expected, home prices are largely higher today than they were in 2001 or 2002. Zillow backs up my impressions. (Zillow runs pretty accurate here because home sales are so constant. Home sales prices are a good indicator, and there are tons of sales).

Sure, prices are lower than the peak, but any year before or since about 2005-2008 would be lower than the peak. That doesn't MEAN anything!

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Anyway, in 2004 or 2005 I saw a graph of Southern Cali Home prices compared to median incomes. It was a historical graph with a HUGE and sudden spike around 2002-2004.

I had seen similar graphs in regards to Sacramento real estate. Back then, it seemed obvious that home prices were unsustainable.

So as I hear all this nonsense, in recent days/months, I was poking around to see if anyone had updated any of these graphs through the year 2010 or so. I'd mostly expect home prices to either have leveled off, or still be quite high. I wouldn't have expected prices to have dipped down to some historic low. Because they haven't. Not from the long historical perspective.

To the next person who tells me I am a crazy investing know-nothing about real estate:



Courtesy of econintersect.com

http://econintersect.com/wordpress/?p=4487

Look at all those graphs on this blog post. Beautiful!

"And the irrelevance of interest rates to home prices during a housing market depression is obvious when one looks at the ultra-low interest rates of the 1920s and 1930s accompanied by home prices one standard deviation below the historical average."

"There is no way that a thorough look at the data can lead one to rationalize that the housing market is poised for recovery."

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If you are wondering why I am not running out and investing in real estate, this would be why...

**Shopping shopping shopping

Bought BM a jacket for $15 at Target. Wasn't my choice, but he really liked it. Looked like it would last 5 minutes. (I don't buy adult clothes there generally, but the kids' stuff usually holds up well enough for the rock bottom prices - all their $4/$5 shirts, shorts, pants). Anyway, I will keep my eye out for something better. This one will do for now.

Kohls - had no jackets (we had gone there first), but I had expiring coupons. One was $5 off. So, I bought some earrings. Full price $16 - I paid $4. I LOVE them.

My ears are sensitive so I usually get silver earrings, or apply nail polish to them. I try to avoid the cheapies, that said. BUT, those cheap earrings I got at Payless have been very nice. No ear irritation, etc. Go figure!

Kohls - one final shopping trip. After first track practice. I felt dumb about how unprepared we were (since we signed up ages ago). Went to look for some sweats or more appropriate track wear. Plus look at the shoe sizing there (didn't expect to find wides or half sizes, but was able to get a better idea how the Nike shoes fit BM - the zappos order was way too small).

Got the info and ordered up a full size from zappos again - will see. IT was $10 more, same shoes. IF these fit, I will call and ask to treat it as an exchange - can maybe get $10 back.

Anyway, we scored gold at Kohls, this round. Track pants on sale for $4. I got about 4 pairs (LM wanted one too - whatever for $4). Got a couple of pairs of shorts that were reasonable, and the kids wanted these matching t-shirts. I chose Kohls because I had a store credit from a gift exchange. So, was feeling generous.

Full price for everything was $120-ish. (I know - who pays that???). I had a $45 gift card and ended up paying about $5. I could have used a 15% off coupon, too, If I had planned ahead better. Didn't have it with me. Oh well.

Once we get track shoes, BM will be SET.

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**Track? I think track will be great for BM. They were torturing him yesterday by going around the track with the slowest person in the lead. BM Was second and I wouldn't be surprised if there was pushing and shoving. He ALWAYS has to be first. I was thinking, that was genius - he needs to learn some patience. That said, I think they will quickly see he can easily outrun his age group. He was pretty bored because they were mostly walking, but I told him he had to stick with his team and work together to get everyone's stamina up. So, will be interesting. He liked Monday much better since he was able to run a mile full speed. Whoever was in front the second half was a little faster, anyway.

Likewise, one of his school friends was there. They are probably both the top of their class - nerdiest of their age group. I was kind of surprised. What is it about track that attracts the nerds? That said, I liked the parents a lot more than the soccer parents. Track is a thinking person's sport? Who knew? The school librarian was there too (her daughter) so people were reading instead of yacking on their cell phones and talking about all their stuff. A VERY different dynamic. Hopefully BM likes track. Seems right up his alley - he loves to go to the track and time laps, so I think he will enjoy it. That is why I signed him up. I liked that I could read my book without appearing extraordinarily anti-social.

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**Had a thyroid blood test and everything came back normal. Absolutely no surprise (I feel great - better than before), but is nice to have the solid numbers. I personally think my thyroid is functioning better than before. From the second I had surgery my body acted like, "Good Riddance!" So any feelings about surgery being way overly aggressive have gone out the window.

I suppose "normal" thyroid levels are very subjective. I've had hormonal issues since 2006 (last baby), so wonder if I have had this growth since then. When my body kind of went whacked. As such, I may feel better than I have in 5 years. I didn't feel bad before, and most of that had worked out, but I definitely seem to have slightly more energy. I also believe my metabolism has sped up a bit.

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I may come into a little money this month.

Close relative insists on paying me $300 for tax help. For the most part, EASY money. Will just put to savings. Dh and I discussed it - will somehow get it back to this person or use it for family stuff.

MIL insists on paying for the kids' piano lessons. She had mentioned it before, BUT FIL is retiring this year and she has been kind of wishy washy about this kind of stuff. I think dh and I feel more weird accepting this kind of help with our parents not working. IT's one thing when they are working and have all this disposable income. But, particularly with my parents (unexpected early retirement), I feel weird when they offer to pay for this or that. I suppose dh's family had a little more planned retirement. But, they will take a large income hit - that they have been open about.

So, I was pretty surprised about this.

Again, will just put to savings. For the short run, will build up future piano lesson savings. One of the reasons I resisted the idea initially is I don't want to turn off piano lessons if something happens to their finances. If I signed up the kids I wanted to commit to it. So, I think it is best saved for future years when MIL may not be so generous. In addition, I told dh that maybe we should save it for travel with MIL, since she always wants to travel everywhere and we can never justify the expense. Then she insists on paying, and it can get a little weird.

So, all in all, another $1300-ish to savings this year that I didn't expect. I presume MIL will just give us a $1k check. She knows we manage our money well. Getting a monthly check wouldn't be my choice, but will see. Beggars can't be choosers...

A lot of this comes from the fact that MIL and GIL babysit SIL's kids for free. So MIL feels a strong need to make this more fair and give us money. Which always has annoyed dh and I. It's like, "You don't need to give us money because SIL can't afford her own daycare. We don't want that kind of charity and would never ask that of you." But, it is what it is. In past years she would sometimes mumble under her breath that dh should get a job. Particularly when we couldn't afford a last-minute Florida vacation. Interestingly, that was before SHE retired and took over most of the SIL daycare. I think she has come to prefer that we don't ask for free daycare, over the years.

Likewise, $1k here and there wouldn't come anywhere near the cost of full-time daycare. But it makes her feel better, so, lucky us.

**Dh got called in for a focus group. Pay is $65 + dinner. (Dinner? that's a new one!)

Unfortunately, carbon monoxide detectors went through on the February credit card (didn't expect that) and I paid $60. So that will be taken care of.

**I don't expect to put any extra to the mortgage this month. I bought some school shirts for the kids (should last a LONG time) and they both needed new shoes. I Was short $100 in the checking account and took me a while to narrow down. I just left it since I have about 30 more days to come up with the money. (Or can try to make it up next month). So basically, any extra will go to the kids' school clothes, this month. I could pull it from short-term savings (one thing that is for), but rather not.

**Bought BM new shoes for track. Found some for about $30 on zappos (wide size and everything!) so I was pleased. Should arrive Monday - which is also awesome. Love zappos!

**For Kohls I have a $5 off coupon and a 15% off coupon. We may go tomorrow to buy BM a jacket for next year. He's outgrown his Kinder jacket which we will give to LM.

I had to take some of the online reviews with a grain of salt. (Was looking around online - no extraordinary deals - but rather buy before the selection dries up). Anyway, lots of complaints about useless lightweight jackets. Sounds like it would be fine for our purposes (in California).

**Today the weather was gorgeous and we got a tennis game in. With the weather it has been sporadic. Like, last time we REALLY sucked. Today we actually played pretty darn good. Not so much running after the ball, anyway. Certainly tons of room for improvement. LM has taken to pretending his racket is a light saber or something while the rest of us play. If he's happy...

Oh - but the mosquito situation is ATROCIOUS this year. Mental note: invest in mosquito repellant. I know - stupid me hasn't got around to it yet. Mosquitos in January was a horrific red flag. We usually only see them in summer?

**Reminds me, I broke LM's bike. I broke the tire while trying to fill it with air. Since it is our smallest bike, dh had the grand idea to sell it. We will sell or donate it, and just give him the next bike up.

He has NO interest in riding it, but that is another story. It's there if he changes his mind.

**Next week will be CRAZY.

3/15 is a big deadline at work. 3/15 - 4/15 is just CRAZY. & so it begins.

To top it off, dh has a focus group and a couple of volunteer nights at the TV station.

BM's track practice starts. 3 nights a week??? Oy vey.

Dh was smart and thought ahead. Told BM he had to get his homework done over the weekend since he had practice every night + a dentist appointment on the one day no track.

What have we gotten ourselves into?

I just figured the stars aligned at crazy for next week.

I'd be happy to bring a chair and read my nook, during practice, but will have to entertain LM while dh is busy with all his stuff.

**I finished my 1100+ page book. Book 3 in series. Starting book 4. Book 5 was announced to release in July. Game of Thrones series. I feel lucky I didn't start reading it until now. Going much faster than I expected. Hard to put down. I peeked at the end of Book 4. There was a note, dated 2005 or 2006, about how the next book would come out in ONE YEAR. 5 years later... That said, I still have to wait for books 6 & book 7!

Lunch Challenge:

Lunch In: 21
Lunch Out: 3

I did better than planned, BUT was extraordinarily anti-social. So, I probably should have ate out more. With friends. One of those lunches out was alone - fast food.

I always see a direct correlation between my eating out and the scale. I didn't eat out at all the last 10 days or so, and the scale knows. I've been kind of a lifeless lump and haven't gotten back to the gym post surgery (nothing regular) but the scale was nice to me today.

I am in no mood to eat out, even after such a dining out fast, so that will bode well for my waistline.

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I suppose there is some new law where we have to have carbon monoxide detectors in California. I believe one per bedroom and one per level?? Starting this summer?

I had perused them a while ago, and yesterday amazon e-mailed me that they were 50% off (a lot of them). I still had some gift card balance from that groupon deal, so I picked up a couple of them. A great deal in the end! Will see. Was thinking one for the hallway upstairs (would be right outside both kids' bedrooms, and between the furnace and all of the bedrooms). I was thinking one for downstairs hallway (just inside house - next to laundry room and garage). Now that I think about it, may not be the worst to put another one in the main living area - kitchen and living area is just one big room. The kitchen is right by that one hallway, though, so maybe it is fine. I think for the most part this is pretty ample.

Will see.

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The kids' middle school charter was approved. Woohoo!

There was no legal ground to deny the charter, but the district is not known for sane decisions. They could have really made this process much longer and more difficult than it had to be.

Anyway, it might not bt the *best* choice for my kids, but their "assigned school" just got a lot better - moving up the ranks considerably. Phew! I feel great about that aspect. (Doesn't mean we won't seek out other options - lots of other charters in the city).

I am presuming that all 5th graders get first choice. I am not 100% sure on all the details, but since they need the support of the parents to get everything rolling, that seems pretty given. In fact, I am not sure how much this will be a different school or just an extension of the current school. All the parent support has been for an extension so our kids get priority.

There is a LOT to figure out. I am glad it will be several years before our kids hit the 6th grade. Likewise, I hope it doesn't cause too much turmoil to the lower grades, while they get it all panned out. Will see. They do K-5 excellently, so I can only hope we can say the same for 6-8.

In addition to all that, this speeds up the moving process. The current school location is VERY temporary. We are well aware. But looks like they may send half the grades elsewhere next year, etc., etc. So our nice easy walk to school will come to an end very soon. Oh well. We knew that day was coming, anyway.

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That is not the awesome news. The AWESOME news is that BM's techer is looping up ANOTHER grade.

So he gets to keep him for 1st, 2nd, and now 3rd grade.

O.M.G.

His class and his teacher is a spectacular fit for him. Plus, the teacher is just plain awesome.

I am just over the moon with this news!

I admit it, BM hit the LUCK machine when it came to his schooling. We've done what we could, but BM seems to get all the luck. He is very blessed to have had so much time with Ms. Preschool and Mr. Loop. Just two of the most amazing people I have ever met and such wonderful influences in his life.

No Snow!

The news went on and on about how it would be the first big snow in 35 years. (big snow = anything that might stick! 1 or 2 inches?) IT was supposed to snow overnight. When I drove home, it was beautiful and clear, but COLD! BRRRRRRRRR. Maybe there was something to this snow thing. I don't remember the last time it was 29 degrees at 5pm. Ouch. Maybe at 5am? Not 5pm.

The night was CLEAR and beautiful as can be.

Needless to say, NO SNOW.

Which is why we never get snow. IF it's cold, it's not wet. If it's wet, it's warm. What a big disappointment after all the hype though. !!

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It's supposed to be sunny for a few days, so will warm up. The heat is working HARD today though. Too hard for practically March.

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I suppose I have my project for this year. I want to get more proficient with the house work.

With finances, I probably dilly dally with it a bit because I LOVE to do so. But, that said, I have a pretty efficient, fast system which takes little time.

I want to be the same way with the house.

I just took that career color test thing (see last post) and it says I am an ORGANIZER. Yes, I know I am very organized. So, why can't I be so organized when it comes to my stuff. Why is my house always a mess? Probably because I don't care so much about my stuff.

Anyway, I have been trying to do nightly chores. A little bit at a time. Problem #1 - I can't do a little bit at a time. Everything with me is all or nothing. If I spend 15 minutes picking up, I have a list of 10 more things I Want to do. I can't just clean one mirror - I have to clean them all.

As such, it has been exhausting, and I have spent hours cleaning, but I think a lot of this is the catch up factor. If the house isn't filthy, maybe I Can just clean one mirror at a time. Maybe I won't find 10 new things to do every time I tackle a project.

So I tell myself.

I was perusing flylady again, after a comment suggestion. I liked FlyLady and am aware of the site, but at the end of the day I just could care less about most of it.

But, I checked it out. For whatever reason I thought FlyLady had good cleaning tips. Which is my #2 problem - just not knowing what to do sometimes. My mom was not much into house cleaning either, clearly.

I decided to check out her shower tips.

Buy a loofah, and scrub down every day with soap or shampoo. That's it.

That's it??? Does this sound too good to be true? HEavy bath cleaner is one of the only things we buy because we tend to tackle it a few times a year (if that). As far as cleaning supplies. Something we don't spend money on...

This simple advice was life changing. I just happened to run across the advice of baking soda/lemon juice as a shower scrubber. I had also read the tip of hydrogen peroxide on white tile. AND flylady reminded me how handy a toothbrush is for cleaning (I knew but had forgotten in the months between cleanings).

So, I bought a loofah.

I started scrubbing the shower with soap, during my showers. (I decided to dump the loofah until I got it all clean. was getting nasty stuff all over it).

I did it over the course of a week or so. Then I went over the entire grout with hydrogen peroxide and a toothbrush. Just a section at a time. Took a week. Then I tackled the grimy/grey floor with the baking soda and lemon. Glass I went over with windex.

My shower has never looked so shiny.

I will wipe it down every day with the promise to never have to clean it AGAIN. Hallelujah.

Dh had been cleaning the shower, because it's one of those things I never have time for. You know it's bad if he will clean it.

The only thing I couldn't get clean was the shower drain cover (cheap plastic thing). I asked dh to buy me a new cover, and I would probably never ask him to clean the shower again.

Why is this such a success? I figured out how to erase my most hated chore with a simple, efficient, chemical free plan. Double score! No more bath scrub!

My work is not done. I bought a loofah for the kids' bath and have been scrubbing it down after baths. No biggie. But the tile needs some work and the tub could use a baking soda scrub too. My plan? USe their shower and go over the tile a little at a time. That will work.

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What next? I don't know, but I want to add one little habits like that.

I cringe at the idea of dh going back to work, and this is one reason why. My chore list is incredibly small. Day to day I don't do much around the house. I am worried about taking on a lot more household chores/duties. But I am starting to get more optimistic that I can do a lot more without too much more effort.

There's something you don't see every day - snow in the forecast. Snow and record breaking lows. So much for spring! Needless to say, any unusual warmth we had early in the month has been replaced with COLD!

Snow is unusual enough as is. Snow at the end of February? Yeesh.

Will see...

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**Received a bill for the rest of my medical deductible.

Timing is okay. I can card it in March, and pay it in April. I have the money in savings. I expect an overtime check in April (for all of tax season) and had planned to replenish the medical fund at that point. For next year. So, in the end, should be a wash.

**Received my state refund yesterday. My credit union would not take on online scan of it - since the format was unusual I guess. So, when the Fed refund comes, will send dh to the bank to deposit both.

That said, I had the money in checking, so just transferred the money to my IRA today. Stock market had been on the lower side - figure might as well get it in. In fact, I hope the market drops even further before I get my Fed refund.

I put my refunds to my traditional IRA because the tax break was too good to pass up. IT was $1500 to savings OR $2k to IRA. I chose IRA.

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**Kids have the week off. BM has a big project to work on. They all went to visit family yesterday and go hiking with my dad. Since my dad was laid off again, he wants to do all this fun stuff, but it's hard to work around the kids' school schedule. So, we obliged him. It was kind of a last minute thing - I stayed home and work work worked, of course.

**Since dh was gone, I had to fill up my own gas. With my surgery in particular, I hadn't filled up in ages. I thought my coupon wasn't working when it came up $3.30 per gallon. I squinted at the sign in the distance. Sure enough - $3.55 per gallon. Ugh! $3.30 with my grocery coupon. Thank goodness for that. I don't usually pass many gas stations, but I kept an eye out the last couple of days. Didn't see it over $3.69. (I live and work by a Chevron so is all I ever really see. We get our gas at Safeway and Bel Air - both of them grocery stores).

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In other news, the foam part of my ear buds came off at the gym. On one side, anyway. I was bummed, but eventually asked dh if he had an extra pair laying around.

I hadn't even thought about it, but since he is now deaf in one ear, I think he told me he could spare a spongy cover from him - he didn't need both sides.

But anyway, as I mentioned, he had started clearing out his rooms/junk. In the process he found the earplugs that came with my current MP3 player. Never thought to give them to me? I don't know. Was just kind of funny. I figured dh would have something laying around. He just didn't know it until he cleaned up a little bit.

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So, last night I went to the gym with my new earphones. Aw, divine!

I had tried to go to the gym the night before my surgery, I believe. I had never seen it so crowded and there wasn't a spare piece of equipment. I threw up my hands. I HATE January!!!

Anyway, I hadn't made it back until last night. The fam was gone and I thought I really needed to hit the gym. Need to get back into it.

Hallelujah - the gym was rather empty. Better than I could have hoped - February is usually pretty bad too.

I can't help but wonder, every January/February, how many people sign up, and pay into eternity, but never show up again. IT's predictable and extremely annoying to us regulars. The rest of the year? The place is kind of empty. Phew! But, what a waste of money. Then again, I guess it keeps the membership dirt cheap for me.

Lunch Challenge:

Lunch In: 14
Lunch Out: 3

Lunch Thurs - leftover manicotti
Lunch Fri - PB sandwich @ home
Lunch Sat - OUT

No lunch dates this week (dh or otherwise). Work is crazy, but I generally allow fast food once a week - especially when I work weekends. Today I just wanted something really crappy. That said, it wasn't very fulfilling. I ate too good the past week (lots of good leftovers).

I've taken to choosing my work days by the weather. Today was supposed to be rainy, so I chose to work today. (Weather is not so bad, in the end, but should be nicer and warmer tomorrow).

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After many frustrations with ebay/paypal, we switched to Amazon selling, last year. Wow, it's been about a year.

Anyway, I don't have any complaints about Amazon. It's been so much nicer!

That said, dh got some negative feedback yesterday. He was super aggravated because he is trying to sell a bunch of stuff. The negative feedback might hurt his bottom line.

What was the feedback? That dh charged someone $1000+ for a $30 game.

For one, the buyer never said anything to dh (this was a month ago?). Secondly, Amazon does the billing. We have absolutely no control over that.

Anyway, that in itself is somewhat "whatever." BUT, Amazon refuses to remove the feedback.

In the end, I don't think it's that big of a deal. Amazon is still so much nicer than ebay. But, it's kind of back to the same old, same old. Buyers get away with everything - sellers can't do squat to protect themselves. IT's just step one down that road again...

& no - we did not receive an extra $1000!
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In other news, had to share a music artist that dh discovered on Pandora:

http://jeremymessersmith.com

Jeremy Messersmith

Not only is this guy so GOOD, but he has some interesting marketing. "Pay what you want" for some songs, and some other things along those lines.

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Breaking Bad - does anyone else watch this?

I am still hooked on this show. We just finished seasons 1 & 2 - getting through season 3 quickly. Well, they are airing 2 episodes a week, leading up to the premier of season 4.

I had warned it was pretty macabre. But, that said, the writing and the acting is superb. Beyond that, I can't figure out what I like about it so much. It's a step away from being totally stupid and unbelievable. But the writing is so clever and the actors are so great on this show. Somehow, it works.

If we drop cable - will just have to wait for netflix or Blockbuster. No biggie.

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Which reminds me - Game of Thrones starts on HBO in a couple of months. Dh has asked his dad to record those episodes for us. I am proud of dh because it's the kind of thing he would buy HBO for. He knows he's maxed out the entertainment budget though. Cable is $100/month + $30-ish for all his movie subscriptions (so we don't have to pay for HBO, etc.)

If we drop cable, will have to add Breaking Bad to the FIL request. He has a DVD burner we bought him a while back. The DVD burner was not bought for any selfish reasons, but has turned useful.

Game of Thrones - I whipped through Books 1 & 2 (around 1000 pages each) during my surgery recovery. My dh was just teasing me for my slow progress on book 3. I am about 700 pages in.

Medieval war saga? SO not my genre, but it is hard to put down. I have to admit I am pretty excited to see it come to life on HBO.

I gave the book/series a whirl because wherever dh took it, people would come up to him and tell him it was the best book series EVER. Since I have been reading it on my nook, I haven't got much feedback (no one can tell what I am reading).

Needless to say, I haven't had any lack of entertainment lately.

I got a rebate check for my disability premiums, today. This makes the cost the equivalent of $150 per year for good disability insurance. (Sounds crazy but it is true). It is through my professional association, and so I suppose accountants don't get disabled as often as other professions. Accordingly, hard to beat these rates. I suppose my membership due would also sway those costs, but my employers have always paid for that part.

Short-term disability is actually mandatory to have in California (paid through payroll taxes), so I also have a one-year waiting period for the long-term policy, which significantly decreased the cost, as I recall. Short term disability pays about as well. (maybe $3500/month versus $4k per month).

Anyway, I hadn't looked at where I was for the end of the month. Dh took out $40 for some game buying/selling, but I got a $70 amazon deposit today (game sales). What a day, huh?

I needed to buy another set of aerobics classes ($30) and I ended up being about $50 short in the check book, after all that. At face value, the school charity dinner came from cash flow (which is impossible) so instead of transferring the money from savings, it will come from my insurance rebate.

This leaves about exactly $60, which I added to the mortgage payment.

As it stands, I want to come up with another $2k for the mortgage, this year. IT will be interesting to see what else we can come up with. During summer we tend to splurge this kind of stuff (rebates) on outings, etc. BUT, this time of year - we are bloated on stuff from Christmas, the weather sucks, and I am working 6 days a week. To the mortgage. Where else would it go? Usually cash savings or retirement, but this year we have mortgage front of mind.

IT is working well because dh is more motivated by mortgage pay down. I will have to meditate on that next year when the mortgage might not be my primary goal. I don't know why I didn't figure this out sooner. If I want him to get a job, I just have to talk about the mortgage a lot. Hmmmmm... Talking about IRAs is just not his language, for whatever reason. HE is crazy debt adverse, but he is also a huge saver. I have said before, I think not working just doesn't make the IRAs that much of a priority. I just wish he cared more about me being able to retire some day too.

I can just see it now - when he returns to work we will agree 100% his income to mortgage. You will all tell me that's crazy, and I will say, hey, we SAVE more this way. You got to play the psychological angle once in a while.

Interesting article today in WSJ:

Banks Push Home Buyers to Put Down More Cash

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870331290457614...

Gee, when people had to put 20% down, they didn't default so much? Really?

For one, when you have no skin in the game, what possible motivation do you have to hold onto a house that loses value? If you put money into the house, you at least have some motivation to hold onto it.

Regionally, it has been interesting though. As much as "owning was cheaper than renting" for us, when we bought, that wasn't the case in the bubble, where we ended up.

As such, I couldn't see any logic whatsoever to home purchase choices.

IT was literally like, "I am renting a house for $1k per month, I want to buy a house, but I could never afford to save the down payment. The mortgage is $3k/month, but I better buy before I am priced out forever."

This would be the average example.

What I could never get is how on earth you could afford a $3k/month house payment if you couldn't even save up a down payment on $1k/month rent (save the difference for a few years? Hello????)

I don't get it.

Clearly, the math made no sense, and almost everyone I know is back to renting again.

I suppose I see the 20% down requirement would have kept home prices from skytocketing. No one could have played the game.

As such, putting back that requirement will definitely lower home prices. I say, "Good!," even as a homeowner. Because all I See is another bubble forming right where the last one left off. For the short term it hurts. So be it. For the long run, I would like to avoid this mess again and would prefer my neighbors had more of a chance of actually being able to keep their houses.

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On a somewhat related, my young, naive, sister has just bought another home (it's her third).

Her M.O. is to put every dime towards the mortgage, and at some point her goal was to pay off her home lightning fast. Her last home, bought with her current husband, was a modest townhome. Smart girl!

Oh sure, I Was definitely the same way at her age. Well, sort of, but not quite so extreme. She literally doesn't save much or put much of anything into retirement. She's got the rest of her life for that, right?

Needless to say, my parents were telling me a lot of the details of her recent home purchase (I didn't even ask) and I Was rather flabbergasted.

They put 0% down.

?????????????

I have no idea what is up with that. Except that she quit her job before the last home even closed escrow, and has been out of work for 6 months. Heck, they may have spent all the equity. Lost money on the home, and no job for 6 months? I suppose maybe they burned through it - that could be a possibility. Her husband hasn't worked in ages, either.

Or, the experience made her appreciate the importance of having a decent savings cushion? Maybe?

That said, seems so one extreme to the other. The house they bought is pretty extravagant for their income.

They don't have steady jobs, make minimum wage, and have a mortgage that rivals my own, at this point. It doesn't sound very smart. I hope it works out, for their sake, but it just doesn't sound good. Another 0% down statistic, perhaps. I don't see much change in the lending industry. Where is everyone getting thse zero down loans??? (In this case it is military, but my mortgage broker friend thinks we should buy a rental property - he tells me we don't need any cash down - The loans seem to be abundandt!)

Lunch Challenge:

Lunch In: 11
Lunch Out: 2

Lunch Sun - Frozen Pizza
Lunch Mon - Leftover Jambalaya (GOOD!)
Lunch Tues - chicken nuggets & ramen

I actually brought leftover spinach manicotti today (cheese, spinach, salsa, YUM). But I was hungry on the early side and decided I probably needed more protein. OF course, I may need some of the manicotti to get through the afternoon - ate closer to 11:00. Will see.

Dh tried a new jambalaya recipe over the weekend. Yum!

Finally got my tax return e-filed.

California is filed and no talk of IOUs at the moment. Phew!

IRS hasn't accepted my e-file yet - they will be slammed this week so may take some time. Is the bigger refund, but state is the one that I worried about as far as solvency. IRS will be fast once they catch up.

I usually file Jan. 31, and I usually don't have any refund to speak of, so this has been super annoying! Technically I should have been allowed to file state, but my work software wouldn't let me until IRS started taking returns (today).

I have a $2k refund (mostly due to all the medical bills last year) and I've committed it to my IRA for 2010. Just eager to get my refund and fund it!

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Is it true what they say that the first $100k is the hardest to save?

I'd say, yes and no.

We saved up $100k pretty easily before we had kids. Most of it went into our house. (Income was about what it is now - net - but no expenses to speak of. Now its kids, insurance insurance insurance, kids, etc.). Take it from me - save while you are young!

The market has been so blech the last decade, it's been slow going, but our retirement hit $100k right about 12/31/10.

The market has been on fire, 2011, and soon I will have another $2k to add.

I see what is meant. Even if we don't put in a dime, we should earn an average $5k-$10k per year with our investments, as they stand now.

The other thing for me is that my boss controlled about half of our retirement funds, before the end of last year. Though it is true that he was putting a LOT away for me (tax free income!), the fact is I have more aggressive and lower cost investments than my work plan had. Work retirement plans are notoriously expensive (administration, accounting, etc., etc.) and the investment profile of my office was geared to the mostly near retirement demographic.

I can't make up all that difference ($8k per year contributions), but I feel better seeing I can make up some of the difference with better returns and less fees.

This was a really cute article in the paper. Makes you feel better to know everyone can be an idiot.

Local Execs Share Mortifying Moments:

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/12/3396810/bob-shallit-local-e...

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It's not super embrrasing, but reminded me of a similar story. When I interviewed for my current job, I was brought tea during the interview. It was this really fancy tea set, and it looked like the lid of the hot water was secured to the container. IT was glass or something that looked very fragile. When I poured out the hot water the lid came crashing down. Somehow it stayed in one piece. I was pretty mortified at the time. But I got the job anyway.

Reminds me, just last week, none of us could get the projector to work. Culprit was the lens cap. I said something like, "This is why we are not engineers." I suppose I am probably not the first one who couldn't figure out the tea logistics. I am good with numbers and stupid with basic mechanical functions - as any good accountant probably is.

**Dh had a poker game, and won as usual. Well, second place. Won a whopping $22. Like last time, he told me he could have probably won first place or won more, but it was getting too late. Maybe next time he should just crash with his friend, and stay to the bitter end???

That said, he spent $17 on gas and the bridge toll, so it wasn't a huge win. He guessed he may be up $5. But, hey.

Obviously they are not huge rollers!

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Yesterday morning we picked up the downstairs. IT was one of those times where it took no time at all and I wondered why we didn't do it sooner. (It's either that or "OMG it's been so long and it took forever" - hard to tell how it would go - I was expecting the worst since we hadn't picked up in months).

I scrubbed the little half bath from top to bottom. I could do some dusting/vacuuming, but at least the house is presentable again for guests.

I was thinking I should probably scrub the kids' bathroom real good too. Maybe my chore for today.

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Oh yeah, I went to aerobics yesterday. It's probably been 2 months. 5 weeks or so since I even hit the gym. We played tennis last weekend and I was surprised by my stamina, but aerobics really surprised me. Sometimes it just REALLY kicks my butt, but my heart rate was very low and I had far more strength (& flexibility) than I imagined I would. I am relieved I don't have to start over from 0. But trust me, my abs are flab. I am obviously far from 100%. I guess I am mostly surprised how strong my heart is after neglecting cardio for many weeks.

All that said, I had done a fair amount of walking. I suppose that was helpful.

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Since dh was gone yesterday, playing poker and all, the kids and I had a nice night to ourselves.

We went to McDs since we had $20 in G.C.s from Christmas. (Dh hates it - I can tolerate it - I at least like the fries - can't say I'd eat anything else there). The kids ran full speed for about 45 minutes (through the play structure) before I carted then out red and sweaty. I think they'd *go* until they passed out if I let them.

It was really funny, but most of the kids there were wearing identical outfits (down to the shoes). I Was kind of laughing to myself - I didn't get the memo! I saw 2 sets of girls (clearly not the same age - so not twins) dressed up to the hilt in identical outfits. Then 2 little boys came in with matching jeans, shoes, shirts. Strange, to say the least!

Anyway, as the kids put on their shoes, I remembered there was a Payless right down the street. BM was well in need of new shoes. LM's shoes were also borderline. Lord knows what they do to their shoes! We went to Payless and I told the kids just BM Was getting shoes unless there was a sale. Was Buy one get one 1/2 off, so ended up getting them both a pair of shoes.

After that we went home, watched a movie on the DVR, and snacked on popcorn. They are easy to please.

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While at the shoe store I bought myself some earrings. I actually had run to the store in the a.m. - to get milk - and bought some tulips (they were gorgeous and only $3.99). So I had myself a nice splurge. About $11 for a few pairs of earrings - so $15 treat for myself. I am easy to please!

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V-Day is tomorrow and I can care less. It is a non-holiday to dh and I. Absolutely nothing planned - no purchases planned.

We had leftover V-Day cards from last year, so didn't spend a penny on the kids. Last year I missed the after sale, so tomorrow night or Tuesday I will stop by Walgreens and snatch up some Valentine cards for next year - after they get marked down. (This seems to be more cost effective than printing out *free* cards on our color printer - with the expensive ink - I think I paid $1 for holographic Valentines last time - they are really cute!).

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In other news, dh shocked me when he vocalized his intent to go through all his boxes and crap. Woohoo!

The story on that is I have been in de-clutter mode for a while and have little left to de-clutter.

The kids came along after this, and so we have done pretty good with them. Sell/donate/give away old toys and clothing as soon as it is outgrown. I am sure it could very easily get out of control, but that is something we have never had issue with.

Dh? He is another story. It's kind of funny because he freaks out about clutter in the garage and closets, etc. I generally believe we can fit 10 more times as many things in these spaces - 10 more times as much as he does. So, he can be a little particular about not hoarding too much.

BUT, he likes *stuff* far more than I do. He is also more sentimental. This means he just has a lot more crap than I do.

That said, I think a lot of my de-cluttering came from being forced out of one of the bedrooms when the kids were born. I took an office in a nook in the upstairs hallway. Dh on the other hand, gets 2 bedrooms - an office and a media room. (Don't ask me how this worked out - except he had more *stuff* to begin with). Anyway, he hasn't had much motivation to downsize his crap.

As the rest of us have de-cluttered so efficiently, I have lately asked if he really needed all those boxes - if he even knew what was in them. Some of them haven't been opened since we moved.

As far as movies, music, games, etc., I know we are very different. I don't like all that crap everywhere, especially when it can all be rented or digitized. I find with technology I own less and less *stuff.* Anyway, he loves all that stuff, I know that, and it's fine. It's the boxes that are never opened that have bugged me over time. & that is the stuff he is thinking about going through. Woohoo!

Particularly his office/bedroom - seems there is a lot of crap in there that no one ever uses. I don't have any other use in mind for that room at the moment, but would be nice if it was cleared out a bit in case we needed it. Could make it a guest room of sort (just needs a futon).

With the kids (& technology) we have mostly abandoned our respective offices. I prefer the small/portable netbook. Dh does most his video work in his media room - more central to where he can keep an eye on the kids. My *office* has been taken over by the kids. OF course, I no longer work from home and prefer not to! Funny how quickly things change. When we bought the house, we both wanted our own private space. Technology really changes things. I just make my private space wherever I can find it - and am happy with that since I don't have so much *stuff* to keep track of.

Lunch In: 8
Lunch Out: 2

Tues. Lunch - Leftover potato soup
Wed. Lunch - Frozen Pizza
Thurs. Lunch - salami sandwich
Fri. Lunch - OUT - buffet

Dh and I had our lunch date today. I forget that buffets aren't the best *Dates* - we seem to spend so much time up and getting food - less time with each other. Particularly last week anyway. This week we timed our food trips a little better.

Anyway, it was rather disappointing. A lot of cold and stale food. Not near as good as last time!

For one, they have the most divine red velvet cake, usually. I was more in a chocolate mood, and got chocolate cake, but it was hard and stale. I didn't realize at first it had just been sitting out too long. I just thought it wasn't very good. I asked dh to grab me a velvet cake instead, but it was even worse. Instead of trying again, I grabbed a cookie that was fresh baked. At least I got a decent/fresh dessert.

Probably for the best - less inclined to eat there again, any time soon.

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Not much planned for the weekend.

Work work work.

& I really need to do some long put off chores around the house. REAL exciting stuff.

Dh wants to buy an apple tree and February is the month to plant. Anyway, that is one thing we need to look into. I can't help but feel it will get put off another year!

**Yes, I Was definitely very much extra Kumbayah when the question was asked, "What Would You Change?" Lazing around the house a few weeks will do that to you, I guess.

Anyway, as I am thrust into "crazy busy" at work, one thing I wish I was better at was doing small chores on a daily basis. I LIKE financial chores, so those are always done. But most other household chores, I am not a fan of, and I rarely do.

I've shared my philosophy of cleaning before. IT's the pyramid structure. The dishes, trash, laundry, bathing are ALWAYS done, but everything else can wait. Just, nothing else is quite as important. The less important it is, the more rarely we do it.

I probably feel a little extra buried after surgery and not lifting a finger around the house for a few weeks.

Will see how long it lasts, but for now I have been committing to one small chore every night. Of course, I haven't gotten back into a workout schedule, so I think I usually spend more time working out. BUT, that's still not an excuse to not spend 5-10 minutes every day keeping the house neat.

So far this week?

**Cleaned most the mirrors upstairs, and wiped down all the door knobs while at it. (I noticed the kids' mirrors were covered in finger prints - so started with that - but then noticed how filthy the other mirrors were - might as well do them all!

**Clean bathroom while kids are in the tub. They no longer need that constant supervision, so might as well be productive. Sometimes I file papers at the top of the stair (where I can keep an eye on them), while they bathe. Sometimes I clean all the toilets.

**Wednesday I dumped the extra cat box we put in our bathroom when we went to Hawaii. (We've only been home 4 months???). Not a good long term solution - cat litter in our bed all the time now. Blech!

So, finally got around to that. I also cleaned the vacuum because I realized it was completely filthy (the bottom part).

Other ideas?

-Dusting sections of house
-Vacuum sections of the house
-dust/vacuum stairs
-clean car interiors

I keep on the downstairs a little better due to frequent guests. Not that I do well with the daily clean, but we tend to hit the downstairs more often. I NEVER have any motivation to clean the upstairs. So I am thinking this might help us keep on top of the house as a whole.

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In other news, I am disgusted with society. I was really terrible and slow with the Christmas/Birthday Thank Yous. But the only feedback I ever get is that everyone else is too busy to be polite. "How do you find the time?????" To write a thank you note? Honestly, I am embarassed it usually takes me so long. I think I sat down for a half hour and wrote off a pile of notes.

Just leaves me kind of disgusted.

The funny thing is, I don't think I would necessarily notice or care if we didn't get Thank Yous from everyone, but it's that statement, "I don't have the time," that just annoys me. "You won't make the time," is the truth of it. It's not important to you. Apparently, society mostly agrees. Kind of sad, don't you think?

Regardless of all of the above, the truth is my kids are at an age where they can mostly do their own Thank You cards. Which is more the point - not to make the adults suffer - but to teach our kids to be polite.

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Our latest cooking mag had this Pistachoi cake recipe:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Pistachio-Cake-2

Usually their new recipes are not public, but this one is kind of sort of... You can see the entire recipe if you really want to?

It looks very similar to another cake recipe I have - that one is more of a streudel - but uses a yellow cake mix and some oil and sour cream to make it extra moist and divine. Anyway, this one is a similar concept with a pistachio theme. It looks YUM. Hopefully I can make time to bake it this weekend.

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P.S. I finally got $150 awards redeemed from my AmEx to my Fidelity IRA. Woohoo!

Lunch In: 4
Lunch Out: 1

Breakfast - granola bar
Lunch - Leftover pasta casserole (from last week)
Snacks - TBD

Dinner - TBD

I know everyone thinks I am super organized and I plan plan plan. Well, organized, sure, I guess. But I think my life philsophy is more *keep it simple* than *plan plan plan*.

Anyway, as usual, I just grabbed something to eat on my way out the door. This works just fine for me. All that I really saw in the fridge was leftovers from last week. So that was my lunch.

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TV was interesting over the weekend.

**SUZE - What a great episode Suze did. Did anyone watch? Did you love that letter that realtor wrote to Suze? Berating Suze for telling viewers they can't afford mortgages. The realtor said that you don't need a good FICO or more than 3.5% down for a mortgage - and so many people profit from these mortgages - brokers, appraiser, realtors, etc., etc. People need to take on these mortgages to keep the economy afloat! The letter was so self serving, and Suze said to consider the motives of those who encourage you to buy things.

Seems like basic common sense, doesn't it? Consider the motives of others when they give you financial advice.

Likewise, I have commented many times on this blog how absolutely insane the real estate market here is (Sacramento). While just about everyone I know has foreclosed or is on the verge of foreclosure, people all over the world are swooping in to snatch up real estate at *rock bottom lows.* Let's back the truck up here. Real estate may have feel 50% overnight, but it went up 100% overnight, immediately beforehand. The thing is, Sacramento real estate has never been particularly valuable, except when people were taking on mortgages worth 10 times their income. The people who are buying don't understand the market at all. They think prices are super low, when they are actually on the high side, really.

All I see is a new bubble reforming before the old one had even finished deflating.

Likewise, the VERY FEW people I know who did not foreclose, are all running out to buy their first homes, or real estate investments with little money down. EVERYONE. So I have said quite a few times, "Has anyone learned a thing?!?"

Anyway, Suze touched on this. She is the first person I have seen vocalize those concerns. She specifically used the word *bubble* in regards to the prevalence of 3.5%-down FHA loans and the real estate market.

Again, seems like basic common sense, doesn't it?

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**'Til Debt Do Us Part

I watched the episode with the guy with the $700/month truck payment.

Boy, I thought Gail was awfully nice to that guy!

When she told him to settle for a *gasp* $400/month payment (very generous, don't you think?) he literally cried and had a little hissy fit about that. He blurted out that truck was the ONLY thing he had bought for himself since having a family (resentful, much?).

Gail told him to live in his truck for a weekend (hey - you love your truck so much...). That was probably genius. BUT, she caved a bit and told him to rework the budget while he was in the truck, if it meant that much to him.

I think that was an important move to get him on board. The point of frugality is not being deprived. BUT, I think her caving in a bit glossed over the point she initially was trying to make that his truck seemed more important to him than his family.

Of course, the very end was warm and fuzzy, he kept his truck, and they did well enough to get the full $5k from Gail.

I can't help but wonder if a large percentage of these families don't learn anything and start back at square one. I'd find it more interesting if they actually followed up on some of these families.

I think it is possible for some people out there to prioritize, and even lease a $700/month truck while being fiscally sound. But, I just didn't see it with this family. The truck was a very big emotional symbol for some deep seated issues between the husband and wife. I just don't think he really *got it*.

**Friday night was the big *cooking school* fundraiser. O.M.G. I had worried the menu didn't seem that exciting, and dh told me at some point, "they are still learning - I wouldn't have high expectations."

Boy were we off the mark! One of the best meals I have EVER eaten.

They had never done anything like this before, and did not accept any money for food, etc. Said they just needed the practice. I think we need more fundraisers like this. Cost of fundraiser = $0. We paid $50 and got more than a $50 meal in exchange, for sure.

Only downside was they were really slow, so childcare ended up costing $35. Ouch! If we can do this again, will have to arrange cheaper childcare. (& will show up an hour late?)

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Yesterday was Free Museum Day, so we hit the museums.

Holy Cow was it CROWDED.

We spend $2 or so to park downtown and $20 on a fast food type meal. We decided to skip the buffet after that childcare bill.

Art museum first, which was probably smart. It was plenty crowded, but enjoyable.

We stopped by the city cemetery and ate lunch over there. It is a historic cemetery with some historical figures there. IT was very peaceful compared to the rest of the day. Not very many people and just, peaceful.

Final stop was to be the science museum. I figured it may be too crowded to enjoy (this place is a really SMALL museum). So our backup plan was the aerospace museum down the street. Anyway, we saw hundreds of cars at the science museum (was insane) and I told dh I Was surprised if they could fit 50 people inside, so I though we should move on! It is very inexpensive and a convenient location - we can go there any time.

Unfortunately, the space museum was a bit of a mob too - by then it was getting pretty late. They have a really cool playground, and somehow the kids didn't get trampled in the playground mob. We figured we'd peek inside. We had just been there for the Star Trek exhibit - which has since moved on. Inside, there wasn't much different since last time (just more room to spread out all the exhibits), BUT since the weather was nice, all the planes outside were open to look inside, sit in the cockpits, etc. Thus we stood in lines for an hour or so checking out some of the planes - it was really neat.

I think yesterday was a success. Lesson learned - next year pick one museum (that is usually on the more costly side) and get there early.

Dh is always really into all the science museums, but going to the art museum reminded me that I need to take the kids to the DeYoung and the MOMA in San Francisco, one of these days. Particularly LM, who is much more artsy (while BM is very scientific). Anyway, was impressed by the Sacramento art museum, and was a good introduction for them.

As dh and I discussed all the things we want to do with the kids, yesterday, I felt very overwhelmed. There are not enough hours in the day to explore all of the art, culture, museums, nature, etc., that our region offers. Yesterday we were reminiscing about some of the museums we had gone to on field trips (that the kids won't since we moved 100 miles out). We added quite a few museums to our list that we should *really take the kids too.* I think it's twice as long now than it was last week. Oy vey!

Once tax season is over, we will sit down and come up with an action plan for what is more important to hit while the kids are this age - what should wait until they are older, etc., etc. Start knocking some things off the list...

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I was just clearing some pictures off my camera - not sure if I had shared these before. Just a pretty sunset:

Lunch In: 3
Lunch Out: 1

Breakfast - apple sauce, cereal
Lunch - Leftover chicken enchilada casserole
Snacks - chicken nuggets, banana

For Dinner, we have a gourmet dinner out (fundraiser). The menu wasn't that impressive, but will cross my fingers. We had this most amazing dinner in Hawaii and I was thinking something more along those lines. More courses and more unique dishes. Maybe I have just been watching too much "Top Chef."

Well, will see how it goes!

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TGIF - merely since this is my only Saturday off for many weeks.

As such, I can go to aerobics. I have done some walking since surgery, but that is about it.

I KNOW this is pushing it, but the weather is so gorgeous, I want to fit in some tennis. I KNOW I should ease in more, but oh well. I will be careful and take both activities slowly.

Tomorrow is also "Free Museum" Day in Sacramento. We have absolutely never gone. Maybe because it is smack dab in the middle of tax season. As my only Saturday off, maybe we usually collapse at home, or go visit family. I don't know, but the weekend is wide open, so we are excited about it.

The aerospace/science museum are close together and a good fit (LM And dh haven't been to this science museum). However, I have never been to the art museum here, and since it is more expensive generally, that is my first choice. Some that we talked about that looked interesting by name were the city cemetery and the medical history museum. Obviously we have to narrow it down.

Oh, I just had a thought, too. That YUM buffet is right by the science and aerospace museums. Maybe we could hit the art museum and downtown stuff in the a.m. and then go to the buffet across town and hit the others in that vicinity.

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In other news, last time I visited my mom, she was shredding old documents from the 80s.

She even had some paperwork re: a house they had not owned since 1980!

I thought about it, and decided that since it has been 9 years since we sold our condo, that we probably didn't need all our old closing documents and refinance statements (refied twice, at the least!)

I might wait until May, but that is a shredding project I must tackle. I would keep the closing statements and anything nostalgic, but can probably dump a box or two of paperwork!

I also have tax filings going back to 1992 or whenever I first started working. Um, yeah, it's time to start shredding. I'll be keeping 1040s and certain paperwork, but the bulk of it is no longer necessary to keep. Shred shred shred.

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I am relieved to say that Fidelity credit card reward redemption got deposited to my account. Took 2 days instead of the 30 days in the fine print. Phew!

& then, today, I had another $100 to redeem (due to medical bills).

So, I added the $150 ROTH deposits to my side bar. Pretty genius, huh? The income is tax free to begin with - then into the ROTH where it stays tax free.

Anyway, I had trouble redeeming, initially, so I am glad those kinks seemed to be worked out.

For February Lunch Challenge:

Lunch In: 1
Lunch Out: 1

Breakfast - granola bar, apple sauce
Lunch - Sushi buffet

For dinner, heart cheese soup (with hamburger instead of turkey):

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Hearty-Cheese-Soup

YUM!

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Anyway, dh and I had a marvelous lunch date.

That said, regardless of the economy, the buffet that we ate at is usually jam packed. If you eat at the traditional noon hour, I have seen them run out of plates. We try to go on the early or late side.

Imagine my surprise when I got there closer to noon and the parking lost was mostly empty. "This is interesting," I thought. Of course, the restaurant was chosen because I had received a really good coupon in the mail (a rare find).

In the end, the place was empty. No idea what was going on. To find a restaurant deader than dead is not rare in this economy. Probably more the norm. But, at the same time, some places are just always jam packed. People are so fickle. One day it's the most popular restaurant - the next day it's suffered the fate of the rest.

Anyway, we spent about $17 for 2 lunches and a soda - so not a bad deal. In addition to sushi galore and some other food, I got some baked salmon as well. A very good deal.

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Weather here is spring-like. BM told me the groundhog saw his shadow. Last year we got a really early spring. Looks the same, but who knows how long it will last. The kids wore shorts and we didn't run the heat today. Obviously this is polar opposite of most everyone we know! I was writing a note to dh's Grandpa in Florida and remarked that maybe they had as much sun as us - no one else seems to.

I hope everyone is keeping warm and safe!

First off, I really like the idea to have a common blog theme from time to time. Thanks Ceejay, for the idea and the topic!

I am having a hard time answering this question. (Now I wish you asked last week when I had more time to ponder! This is a good question to meditate on).

Though it's been a rough few years on the medical front, the truth is I am in a VERY good and happy spot. So much so that I am not really working towards anything in particular at the moment. I am extremely content with the status quo.

I suppose my #1 wish would be that my family and friends lived closer. My #2 wish would probably be that I did not have to live in a flood basin to live in such an amazing place. But these are not things I dwell on much since life seems to be give and take. These are things we have chosen to make other areas of our life more easy.

I think I am just in a space where life is VERY GOOD. At a different time I couldn't answer the same way. Life is full of ups and downs. I feel like I am in a little valley at the moment, catching my breath before the next mountain climb. I don't know what life has in store for me as far as my next challenges.

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To elaborate, some of the topics mentioned were home, work, relationships.

HOME - Home is our haven and we have made our home our home exactly how we want it. There is nothing I would change. (But that we were above sea level, as I mentioned. We could move, but the trade off is more traffic, etc.).

Our neighborhood, community and region is amazing. We live minutes from downtown (a big city), but we can walk to the local farms. We are surrounded by open space and nature. It's really the best of both worlds.

The weather is great, our community is like a resort, and many spectacular vacation destinations are within a relatively short drive for our home.

OF course, we moved about 100 miles from our home town, to considerably cut our living expenses and to be able to slow down (& afford much more luxury as far as our home). Ten years in - it is a move that has paid off very well for us.

WORK - Work. I suppose I wish I could work less without a huge pay cut. Don't we all?

As far as my job, I work close to home, have a great boss, work with great people, am paid well, am definitely appreciated, hours are good, and my schedule is flexible. Oh yes, and I like my job. So, no complaints. I get a little burned out during tax season, but the hours I work are nothing compared to the industry. I get paid overtime, anyway, so welcome the opportunity to make extra money part of the year. (Though I wouldn't be happy if I had to work so much all year round). It's a good balance. A little hard work is good.

MARRIAGE - Marriages certainly have their ups and downs. This year has just been a pretty good year. With the kids in school, dh and I have far more time together than we have had since the kids were born. & we have gone through a lot lately, so the relationship front is pretty awesome at the moment.

This leaves me with nothing I would change, though on a different day my answer would be different. I'd say the past decade has been some of the most trying times of our relationship, but we've just come out the other end stronger than ever. I know there will be many more challenges down the road, so will enjoy while things are good.

RELATIONSHIPS - I am not very social, and being very close to my immediate family I sometimes feel I have little else to give to anyone. I suppose I know I should invest in other relationships for the long run, but don't feel much motivation at current. Maybe I miss working with younger people and cultivating more relationships. Through school and work over the decades I have made some amazing friends, but people grow and move on and I have had far less opportunity to form those same relationships with age. I suppose I wish I could be more patient and tolerant with people. I just find that friendship, with age, seems to take more effort than it is worth.

This is clearly the area in my life where I struggle. Of course, I know many of you are the same way. The internet attracts similar personality types.

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I probably feel a little extra Kumbaya, but what can I say. It's one of those rare times when everything seems to be going good. So I will enjoy it while it lasts!

I decided to do my taxes today. Last year I filed around 1/31 and bypassed the State IOU mess. I got my refund within a week, probably.

Was my plan again for this year, but when I tried to e-file the state tax return, my employer's software wouldn't let me. IT seemed the problem was the kids' investment income (small beans and not taxable). I didn't even have to file this info with the Feds, but appeared maybe I had to for state. I decided to just take that off and try again. Still no go. It wouldn't take it simply because Fed wouldn't take it (they won't take my return until 2/14 because of all these last minute tax changes - many are in the same boat).

So I decided to paper file. After I got it all ready, I looked up the turn around time. I honestly think they greatly exaggerated to discourage paper filing, but the state website said 8 weeks to get paper filed refunds.

I set it back to e-file and will try again later.

What a waste of time today. I could have looked that up sooner and saved some headache. *sigh*

All that said, with all our medical bills in 2010, I knew our taxes would be lower. We had about $1500 in refunds and so we decided to add $2k to my regular IRA (the one I had opened for my work retirement rollover. I didn't have a regular IRA otherwise, so no real motivation to contribute, before). With the IRA deduction, I had estimated our refunds at about $1950 or so (to fund the IRA). Once I finalized everything, the end result was literally $1990. Thankfully, most of that is Feds, but a chunk is from the state. I don't want to deal with this IOU B.S., so will keep checking the software for updates and keep my fingers crossed.

The best financial wisdom I have picked up for over the years is that there is usually a way to have something virtually identical for much cheaper. Or, the good things in life don't have to cost a lot of money.

Just seems to be a constant recurring theme in the discourse of personal finance. A recurring theme in everyday conversation with people around me.

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Today's Topic? Home Improvements...

Flooring, to be exact.

I suppose owning a small condo before we bought our first house was a good chance to *practice* home ownership.

The condo was remodeled to the hilt before we moved in, and so we didn't have any home improvement costs the two years that we owned it. Like, we didn't spend a penny on improvements.

That said, the carpet was a horrific white color. I am sure it would be pretty if there was no such thing as dirt. But, it became obvious pretty quickly that it wouldn't have been our first choice.

Funny enough, my cat puked all over the carpet over time, and left lovely pink splotches all over the carpet. (Pink from the food we feed her, I suppose).

When we bought this home we bought new construction. When we went to pick out our flooring, I remember looking at the carpet and settling on an almost mauve color. Dh and I looked at each other and said, "I think that would hide any cat puke stains." It was a very neutral/pplain color, but had a hint of that pinkish color to it.

I remember picking out this marble looking linoleum for the hard floors (kitchen/bathrooms) because it had these beautiful grey streaks through it. IT was GORGEOUS, first and foremost. But, we looked at it and said, "That will hide the dirt."

I share all this because today was the TRUE TEST for this flooring. (We've lived here 10 years, by the way). Linoleum is easy to clean, and I don't think the kids have been too harsh on it (as harsh as they have been with other parts of the house, anyway).

But, they were drawing on some white paper on the floor (my idea) with a permanent black marker. It was part of some toy and I didn't think too much about it. BUT, the ink leaked through the paper (I believe). I really don't think they were drawing on the floor, but who knows.

& suddenly my *perfect looking* floor is covered in black marks and streaks.

I tried not to cry as I got out some all purpose cleaner and let it soak for a bit. I didn't notice for about 24 hours after the mess was made! As I wiped it up, it was coming up a little bit. Not 100%, but I could breathe a little sigh of relief.

As I continued at it, some of the streaks and spots turned grey. I sat back and giggled at the genius of buying this floor in the first place. I honestly couldn't tell you what is pen marks and what is natural grey streaks, any more.

Thinking through your home improvements can really keep your costs down over the years. I'd probably rather live with black spotted linoleum than replace a perfectly good floor covering. But, thankfully I don't have to make that decision today.

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All that said, I just have to add that it is also important to consider all options, and to consider the long term costs when choosing different home improvement options.

I share because I wonder how many of you are thinking why wouldn't we buy fixxers and do DIY improvements to save money? The fact is, the fixxer/DIY ROUTE makes little financial sense in the region we live in. Certainly not for the types of housing we searched out and when we bought. Doing the math, we came out ahead going different routes.

I think it's a good example to not just blindly believe that "x" is super expensive and "y" is the only frugal way to go. Over the years, with an open mind, we have found good deals in unexpected places.

I got the news that my thyroid nodule was benign!

Woohoo!

To celebrate, we went out for a way overly expensive dinner.

It was good though.

We took the kids, because a $5 kids menu item was cheaper than childcare.

My mom was appalled and tried to talk me into a date night with dh. I have been sitting home with dh for 2 weeks and we have a dinner out planned next week (fundraiser - no kids). I thought it was appropriate to celebrate with the whole family, anyway.

I can assure you we didn't need a *date night.*

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Reminds me, all of my friends are mourning my return to work. Especially the clueless SAHPs who think I never see my kids. Yes, I will lose that 4:00-5:00 hour with my kids. I don't think anyone will notice or care. They spend most their hours at school.

Beyond that, I can not wait to get back to work. Tax season is not my favorite time of year, but beyond that, I am grateful to like my job and HAPPY to go back!

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I had already committed increased mortgage payment for January, before I got the news. I can't help but feel the timing was to be. February is a short month and so I figure if dinner put us over budget for this month that we can probably make it up in February. Mortgage payments will stay, as is. No spending money left for January (though probably plenty for groceries and gas).

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I dipped my toes in at work. I don't even know where to begin, and I know today I have the potential to be bombarded (I return full-time today - and today is when my clients expect my return - probably LOTS of phone calls).

But, for the most part, it has been much better than expected.

I also got my Continuing Ed. materials, so will either knock that out this weekend or next. Office is closed next weekend so no overtime earned this week or next, but I feel just fine. Probably for the best - a couple of more weeks before I jump in to 50-hour weeks.

At home I have been completely useless, for the most part.

I need to:

*Get taxes done this weekend
*Do my continuing Ed. at some point
*Thank you notes - I put off the whole of the last 2 weeks though I have mostly felt fine

& finally, dh really doesn't do much housework, so the house is a disaster. I haven't lifted a finger, while recovering. I probably could have done a little more.

I could feel more overwhelmed, but am gratetful that I do not have to work next weekend!

My raise barely covered our health insurance increase (if it even did), but this year we get some tax breaks compared to last year.

So, we decided to put $50/month extra to the mortgage.

I didn't for January since my raise was only in effect for half the month.

However, dh has had a good ebay/amazon/craigslist month and so we should get a $50 deposit around 1/31 (from amazon). I was also going to add a $20 gift he got to the 2/28 payment. With the new found money I canceled the initial mortgage payment and will pay it directly on the mortgage bank's website to make sure the principal gets applied correctly. +$70 for January. Looks like I will have even more for February (more expected sales).

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I haven't been big on the mortgage pre-payments. So, what has changed? Well, being able to max out retirement is one (that was our primary goal - mortgage paydown being secondary).

We also borrowed money (closing costs) to refinance the last time, so we feel an extra priority to pay those costs down. We've never borrowed a penny against our home, otherwise (even through many other purchases/refis. We usually pay cash for closing costs).

Then there is the psychology of breaking the $200k barrier. Not only is it a big fat six figure number, but we had paid our first mortgage down to almost $200k in 2001, before we moved. Logically I know our community is very high end, and we have a real house, a garage, a yard, and over twice the space, for a mere $30k more in loans. But, by the same token, we paid our first condo down very quickly (we both worked) and it's a bummer that in 10 years all we have accomplished is nothing on the mortgage balance. Back to where we started... This wasn't exactly what we had planned, anyway. I suppose that is the part that bothers me. Making no forward progress on that debt in 10 years, was not part of the plan. We have more and we work far less, but expected to make more forward progress all the same.

That said, paying down the mortgage is still not a huge priority. If we came into some extra money, we'd consider paying down a small chunk to make up for lost time. Mostly our plan is to resume our old $1300, $1500, or $1800/month payments, once dh returned to work. How much would depend on his income. Last we both worked, we were able to swing $1800/month for a 15-year mortgage (higher interest rates than at current). I think $1800/month would be very reasonable with 1.5 or 2 incomes. I make much more money now than I did in 2001. Our current payment is $1100 - we refied from $1500 to $1100 over the years, with dropping interest rates. We are sticking with the 30-year as long as the interest rates are this low. I don't want to fret over a $1800/month payment in case of a lay off or something like that. I certainly can't afford that on my income alone. But when we are both working, we will gladly pay the extra principal.

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ETA: I received a $20 rebate today for my Visa. I get 1% cash back on this visa - only used for vendors who do not accept my AmEx (3% cash back on that one). The Visa rebate is just deposited to my checking account automatically, every January.

So, I Was able to keep the 2/28 mortgage payment @ an extra $70 as well.

Talk about timing! I took out the $20 I moved up to January, and another $20 *magically* appeared in my account. Too funny! So I added $20 back to the 2/28 mortgage payment. This was in Quicken. I will actually make the payment closer to the due date - see what else turns up.

I was going to work on some Continuing Education from home today. I missed a seminar due to my surgery, but was able to convert it to self study.

On my time card I put about 40 hours sick time and 8 hours CPE (Education).

I peeked at my work e-mail today to find the materials, though I really didn't want to look at anything work related. That I was saving for tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find it so I went through my e-mails one by one. Thankfully, nothing too big or stressful going on.

I finally called someone at the office who was able to find out that the materials won't be ready for another week. Should have been ready a week ago.

Anyway, the whole time I have been home I haven't watched all the TV/movies I said I would with dh. Wouldn't by my first choice, but I feel bad. Nothing else planned today, so on the couch watching TV it is.

My boss already pulled my time card so I can't really change it. No matter since I have little choice but to complete it some way, some how. Need it for my license, and it's paid for.

Plan B: The office is closed in a couple of weekends for carpet cleaning. It is usually my only weekend off during tax season. But since I have been lazing around at home for so long, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get my CPE out of the way during that weekend.

I suppose the worst case is I will have to finish it some time in May.

But it was a tax update and I really would prefer to review the material BEFORE tax season hits hard. It's been hard to keep up with all the tax changes lately. Fed is just the half of it - the state tax situation is a huge mess.

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So, I spent a chunk of the morning clearing e-mails and all that.

Tomorrow I return to the office. Will be working but not really there for 2 half days. Certainly don't want to take any client calls. Will see what kind of a mess awaits me...