...would you consider buying a house where the carpets are completely ruined by paint and possibly ground in food and soda stains, the majority of the doors had been kicked so they had holes partway through them, every interior door needed to be reframed, and both inside and outside needed to be painted but was otherwise sound? Now...what if it was selling for half of it's assessed value? The owner's are selling as is and don't want to put in any more effort at all (was inherited and they don't want it).

It is not something I am considering (we are not handy), but I am wondering what people in general would do. It is a 4 bed, 2 bath, 1600 square foot rambler selling for $50,000. Good roof, walls, and foundation. I guess I am just shocked that no more effort is going into it, but then again, maybe someone would still want to buy it. It's assessed at $97,000 and in an okay but very remote area.

I added $4.78 to the coin jar today. Things are moving along nicely for my December/end of the year goal.

Also, we finished the movie on time so $1 instead of $2. Silly thing to be happy about, but, yeah, I'm a goof, so I am. Cute family movie, too. The Zookeeper, if anyone is interested, and rather a minimal amount of bathroom humor for an Adam Sandler production (he's not in it, though, it stars the guy from that mall cop movie).

We got an hour of free music today. DS's friend (the girl he went to the dance with) had a recital at the library so we went to that. I finally got to meet her and her mother. They seem like good people. Never thought I'd meet anyone who had a higher energy level than DS, though, but A does. That should prove interesting.

...or near hit if you want to be technically accurate, since it nearly hit our wallet, or actually missed it, not nearly missed it, but if you go by how people actually use the phrase... It's a lot like thaw and dethaw. People mean thaw, but when they say dethaw it would actually mean to freeze. But I digress.

We rented a movie from one of those boxes at the store for $1 and DH couldn't find it today. Turns out he left it in the shopping cart last night and the employees set it aside so when he called it was there. Yay. That could have been a $25 mistake, which is the replacement value of the DVD. Or what they charge anyway. In reality it'd cost more like $15, but whatever. Point is we didn't have to pay it and if it isn't too long a movie we might even get it watched before 7. Still if we have to pay $2, it isn't $25.

I had a medical bill come in today so I paid that, $215.00. Ugh. I sent $500 to AMEX and paid the mortgage, $375.86. The mortgage is now officially under $19K now. I won't know the actual number until the payment is reported in the next day or two, but it should be around $18,900 or so, give or take a few dollars.

Interest hit the ING account today, so I added that $3.89 to my Emergency Fund. That brings the total EF to $2809.73. After looking at how much extra I had, I decided to go ahead and put some of it into the Emergency Fund, too. It was $480.88 extra, so that brings the total EF to $3290.61.

My goal for the month of December was originally to hit $3000, so I've blown past that. So I am making a new goal of getting the EF to $3500 by the end of the year. $100 of that will be the monthly deposit so I need to scrape up $109.39 extra to hit that goal. I think I should be fine to do that.

I had originally thought I'd put the money into the January/HSA money fund, but I can hit my goal for that without it, so the EF made the most sense.

I've been sort of at a loss lately on what to do about dinner. Meat prices have skyrocketed so I am trying to make do with poultry as much as possible. We have a lot of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the freezer. By a lot, I mean 32 pounds. And I've been trying to come up with alternate ways of making it than just grilled with seasoning on the George Foreman or in stir-fries.

I was perusing some of my old recipe files and came up with something I haven't made in ages, a recipe I made up several years ago when I first started eating controlled carb: Chile Cheddar Chicken.

It's so simple I can't believe it has skipped my mind all these years. So I'm making it for dinner tonight. And the best part is the leftovers are great in a bun or shredded up and rolled in a tortilla.

Chile Cheddar Chicken Recipe:

1 4 ounce can diced mild green chile peppers
1 pound package of boneless, skinless chicken parts
As many slices of cheddar cheese as you have chicken pieces (I slice my own off a brick or sometimes use shredded)
Olive oil

In a medium sized skillet put in enough olive oil to cook the chicken. Dump in the can of peppers and saute for a minute on medium high. Arrange the chicken pieces evenly and turn heat down to medium. Cover with lid. Turn after five minutes and cook another five. Check for doneness by slicing into a piece and cook longer if necessary. Top each piece of chicken with cheese and let melt. Remove from pan. Spoon green chiles on top of the chicken pieces. Voila. You are done. Jack cheese works well, too.

I guess the sweaters were a good investment, because I've at least not felt chilled to the bone since I started wearing them. I still don't feel completely warm and I'm keeping my bedroom heater on 72, but I did have it up to a ridiculous 76 before, so it's an improvement. We had a very hard frost last night. It looked like it had snowed, it was so thick. Guess I'm lucky not to have woken up feeling frozen over myself.

I'm sick again which may be why my internal thermostat seems so wonky right now. I think it's just a cold though and not an infection. At least I hope so. I've got too much to do this month to be sick on top of it all.

DS is going to his first dance today after school. He is "meeting a girl" by their lockers and they are going to "hang out" together at the dance. I don't even know what that means. He's only 11 so it can't mean too much, right? They seem to have become best friends this year. I don't know if it's more than that. He's excited though. And according to the girl's mother, so is she. The dance starts right after school so I packed him an extra half a sandwich in his lunch box. With his allergies he may not be able to eat the provided refreshments.

DH is on a plane to San Francisco today. He'll be back around 8:30 p.m., though. It's going to be a long day without him here.

I've got bills to pay today. So far I have dealt with deducting the autopays of life insurance, car insurance, house insurance, storage, and the security system from the checkbook. I've paid the electric and I need to do AMEX and the mortgage on the old house. I believe that is all until the 16th. I'll have to double check my spreadsheet after I pay those two things.

Oh, yesterday we wrote a $35 check for DS's next belt test at tae kwon do which is next Thursday. I also spent $65.32 at the grocery store. They had turkey thighs and necks pretty cheap so I stocked up. Beef prices are so ridiculous and nothing was marked down for quick sale. We're going to be eating a lot of chicken and turkey until the prices decide to get reasonable again. I also bought milk, oranges, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. I also picked up a copy of Clean Eating Magazine and have already found a couple of recipes I want to try this month.