Money out today on autopay:

$142.00 to storage (a day early, hmph)
$-32.70 Life Insurance (me)
$-35.90 Life Insurance (DH)
--------
$210.60 Total

I'm a tad bit miffed that storage came out today as it is supposed to come out on the 5th. I hadn't transferred the money out of savings and into checking yet, had planned to do that today. So I have a $2 transfer fee because the CU did the transfer instead of me doing it. I knew I should have done it last night, but I was so tired and it's just not supposed to come out today. On the bright side is that I had money in savings to transfer to checking so I didn't get a $13 overdraft.

I am going to make sure I transfer the money for security and cell phone at least three days in advance. Although Verizon has never jumped the gun on taking things out, security has, and there's a first time for everything.

I need to write out and mail the check for the power out at the old house. It's $23 something. It's usually $19 something, but we spent a lot of extra time out there last month, packing and cleaning, so had the hot water tank on.

The meeting with the dietician went well yesterday. It's a radical change in thinking and diet. DD can only have 1400 calories a day arranged over the course of 3 meals and 3 snacks. Each meal can have no more than 45g of carbohydrate and each snack can have no more than 15g of carbohydrate. And she has to have protien at every snack or meal. Which is harder than it sounds when you are keeping calories low. Protein is the high calorie food.

We sat down and filled out some index cards with calorie and carb counts so we could figure out some meals and then have the cards for quick reference. It takes a lot of planning, but once it's done that makes it easy to just flip through the cards and calculate the meals we want to make. She's also keeping a meal log, so some of these meals will repeat and be even simipler to figure out because the math will already be done.

I don't think it will affect the grocery budget too much. The only major changes are a different type of peanut butter, spelt tortillas instead of flour, and flourless sprouted wheat berry bread from Trader Joe's. I'll have to figure out how to make that eventually because it's $4 a loaf, but for the time being I'll buy it. Both kids like it and it's not got any allergens in it that my son has a problem with.

Once I've got my daughter firmly on track (probably a week), I think I will try to go on the same diet. I've got insulin resistance, too, but mine's never been as bad as hers. Still, I could stand to lose weight and eat even healthier. And I think it will help her to have someone doing it with her. (Dietician said I could have 1800 calories, though, because of my exercise schedule).

I added 78 cents to the coin jar.

I paid $500 to AMEX today. This is the card that I buy gas with and the occasional meal out and gets paid off in full each month.

I thought the life insurance was going to come out today, but that must be tomorrow because it hasn't been taken out yet.

I added $4 in ones to the coin jar and rolled up one each of quarters, dimes, and nickels. I will take it over to the CU tomorrow and deposit it along with the 50 cent piece and the Sacajawea dollar, for a total deposit of $23 to the emergency fund.

I'd forgotten how much satisfaction I get out of dragging my EF up higher and higher with a bit of money here or there. Probably how some of you feel about your mortgage chips.

Very little going on today. Car insurance of $95.61 and house insurance of $41.00 came out on autopay today. Tomorrow or the next day life insurance will come out for both DH and myself. On the 5th storage autopay will come out, and then nothing until the 12th.

I will mail off the electric bill tomorrow and pay the AMEX online.

I paid out $90 for physical therapy today. DH gassed up the car before I took him to the airport. It was $3.99 per gallon at Costco and he got 8 gallons for $31.92. We also put a smidgeon over 4 gallons in his dad's truck last night, but that was at $4.03 a gallon and was $16.20.

I went to the grocery store and got milk, strawberries, and medication from the pharmacy. Altogether it was $71.17.

We are making up strawberry/banana/orange/pineapple smoothies and freezing them in rocket shaped Popsicle™ molds so that DS will have some dye free, artificial ingredient free, homemade Popsicles™ after his tonsilectomy. Mom is also going to make some homemade ice cream for him to have.

The new chicks are growing so fast. They already have distinct personalities. The cuteness factor is off the charts.

I received $2.58 interest for the month of April from ING.

$627.36 beginning EF
+--2.58 interest added
---------
$629.94 new EF balance

I received $7.07 interest for the first quarter at my local credit union which also goes to the EF.

$629.94 beginning EF
+--7.07 interest added
---------
$637.01 new EF balance

I found 83 cents in change out at the house today so that went into the change jar and will eventually go to the EF. I keep expecting not to find anymore coins, but I swear they are everywhere. These ones were found on the floor by the piano under a pile of stuff we packed today. DH used to empty his pockets and leave his change on top of the piano, so I guess it shouldn't be that surprising of a location.

The house is pretty much done. We've got packing boxes and some rubbermaid bins that need to be brought in to storage and of course a major cleaning job to do. I'm debating on hiring some professionals to do it. There is a company that goes in after renters move out and do a total deep clean thing, which is what I want so I'll have to check into that and see if they just do it for landlords or if they'll do it for regular property owners as well.

I discovered today that only the backsplash behind the kitchen sink needs to be replaced and not the actual counter top behind the sink so that will save some major dollars. Oh, shoot, I just remembered I forgot to start the last load of dishes in the dishwasher before we left. I guess I'll have to do that first thing when I go out again.

I need to balance the checkbook tonight, but from a rough estimate, I have about $800 for the next two weeks. Which will more than cover everything that comes up.

I can't believe it's May already. Where has the time gone? Does anyone else feel like this year is just whizzing past? Certainly feels that way to me. Maybe it's because we are accomplishing so many financial goals this year. Does time drag on when you are dreading your debt payments instead of looking forward to paying them off? I think it probably does. Making progress speeds up time or something like that.

DH told me that there is a possibility of another job on the horizon. It would basically be the boss of the position he's in now. And it would come with a 33.3% or more raise. I'm not going to count that chicken until it hatches, but of course my mind couldn't help dreaming a little. It would put him back on 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off which means even more than the wage increase.

I hate 3 weeks on, three weeks off with a passion. It is hard on the kids, hard on me, and hard on the budget because I have to budget on a six week pay cycle and not on a four week one, so some bills get paid twice in one pay cycle and if I'm not tightly organized it messes up everything. To not have to deal with that and go back to a monthly budget would be awesome.

The only problem I can forsee is that though this job is the boss of his current position it is with a different company subcontracting to the main company, which means a change in benefits (again) and a possible Cobra. He's not sure how far in the future this would be but if we're lucky it would be after I have my surgery.

I don't want to try to do a pre-existing condition thing there. I want it over with before, so hopefully it'll work out like that. I don't know. It depends on how soon Virginia Mason can get me in for surgery after the initial consult at the end of May. I guess though with the dramatic income jump we'd at least be able to afford the Cobra payments and the medical payments.

I know it's a little early to be planning, but please Santa, all I want for Christmas is a healthy body, kay? Thanks.

DH and I went out to the house today and finished cleaning out the laundry room and the one kitchen cupboard that hadn't been packed up. We did a load of big dishes that will get packed tomorrow when we go back and then just under the sink in the two bathrooms and everything will be packed. We will have FIL's truck tomorrow and should be able to get the house completely empty and everything but the piano taken to storage. We will move the piano first thing at the end of May. I don't know if the dump is open tomorrow or not, it being Sunday, but if it is we will do a dump run as well. If not we can keep the truck and do it Monday morning.

This will set us up to start ripping out the carpeting the next time DH comes home. Once the carpet is ripped out and disposed of we will paint the walls of the rooms that need to be painted, which is three of the bedrooms, one of the bathrooms, one wall in the laundry room and the playroom and living room. After that we can start putting in new flooring (linoleum in the bathrooms and wooden flooring in the other rooms), put in two new toilets and one new sink, and by then it should be warm enough outside to paint the two sides of the house that need it and the porch.

I think we are going to have to hire a landscaper to do the yardwork, though. I can't get down on my knees anymore since the surgery and DH has never been one for yardwork beyond mowing the lawn and weed eating the ditch.

I know the roof has gotten mossy so that will have to be taken care of. The carport roof needs to be taken down because it is collapsing in the middle (it was built out of wood and not to code by the people who owned the house before us) and the shed needs new shingles because the repair we did left it with part black and part brown shingles. The shed needs to be painted as well.

There's a lot to do but hopefully we will be finished by the end of July and can get it on the market by August. That would be nice. If not, oh, well. It's not like the mortgage payments are breaking the bank at under $400 a month.

We found $2.25 in coins in the laundry room, including a 50 cent piece and a Sacajawea dollar. Most of them had to be cleaned with Comet just to get the gunge off them. They went into the coin jar with the eventual destination the emergency fund.