$1400.00 BoA VISA
__100.00 Emergency Fund
___19.00 Dues Fund
___72.56 Internet
___72.00 Water/Sewer Holding Tank
__757.82 Van Loan (plus extra to principal)
__100.00 Property Tax Fund
__100.00 Propane Holding Tank
___40.00 Allowances
__200.00 Laptop Fund
__100.00 College Fund
__100.00 Vacation Fund
__109.00 January Money Fund
__100.00 Moving Fund
__100.00 Appliance Fund
--------------
$3370.38

$700 of the payment to BoA VISA was the $700 I had set aside for Christmas presents. Since they were bought with the VISA I used that money to make the payment. I will make another payment next week to cover the other half of the travel expenses for DH.

Also had 3 Medical Bills:

$90.00 Physical Therapy
$10.62 Doctor
$13.70 Sleep Doctor
----------
$114.32

I am putting a copy of my Funds totals here in case something goes wrong transferring stuff between laptops. This is the first time in my life I've ever had so much money saved up. Almost $14K and it will be over that by month's end.

After our next mortgage payment on Friday we will have more money in the Emergency Fund than we owe on the mortgage. That feels incredible.

$2024.84 January Money Fund
$7687.86 Emergency Fund
___76.00 Dues Fund
__100.00 Property Tax Fund
__100.00 Propane Fund
__300.00 Vacation Fund (Hawaii 2018)
__600.00 Appliance Fund
__300.00 Moving Fund
__900.00 College Fund
_1200.00 Laptop Fund (using to pay off same as cash)
__700.00 Christmas Fund
------------
13988.70 Total in Savings

I spent just under $60 on take away today. We will get several meals from it. I just know this weekend is going to be a little stressful and I may or may not be up to cooking too much. We have 2 litters due and the temps have dropped to freezing which means an awful lot of checking on the rabbits will be done on Saturday and Sunday to make sure no kits are born on the wire, but are born safely in a nest or at least promptly put into one if they are not. I have been lucky so far in that all of the kindlings so far have resulted in only one kit born on the wire (on Phoebe's first kindling) and I was there within five minutes of it happening so we were able to save it.

I'm not too worried about Lola, but this is Serenity's first litter, so I pretty much will be doing hourly checks for the next two days. Which means a lot of walking and since my physical therapist had a migraine today and I cancelled last week due to illness, I am not in the best shape for that right now. I've had to use the cane twice this week. But it needs to be done and I'm sure the kids will take their turns at it and alert me if I need to go out and take action.

Anyway, today was payday so here is the list of money that went out:

$225.00 Monthly Chiropractic Family Plan
_100.00 Emergency Fund
_100.00 College Fund
_100.00 Property Tax Fund
_100.00 Propane Fund
_100.00 Moving Fund
_100.00 Christmas Fund
_100.00 Appliance Fund
__19.00 HoA Dues Fund
_200.00 Laptop Fund
__72.56 Internet
__47.52 Phone Old House
__41.94 Garbage
_500.00 BoA VISA
_757.82 Van Loan (plus extra)
------------
$2463.84 Total Money Out

I managed to get $50 worth of gift cards from Swagbucks again this month. This is the second month running. I also hit my daily goals every day again this month, so that bonus should hit in a few days. I also lucked out on a big survey that should be credited in another 2 days.

If November goes this well, I will have over $300 in Amazon gift cards to spend on Christmas, along with the cash I've been saving each month. It's really nice to know that Christmas is taken care of and I won't have to last minute scrimp and save. Starting to save a set amount early in the year really does make all the difference.

Today is payday and here is an accounting of what was paid or put into savings.

$1500.00 Bank of America VISA
__100.00 Emergency Fund
___19.00 HoA Dues (Old House)
__100.00 College Fund
__100.00 Christmas Fund
__100.00 Moving Fund
__100.00 Appliance Fund
___40.00 Allowances
__100.00 Canning Jars* and Rabbit Supplies**
__100.00 Cash for the Week
___25.00 Garbage
-----------
$2284.00 Total Money Out

*2 cases of quart jars and 1 case of pint jars
**Water bottles, a hay tunnel, and a bottle of Vetrimycin eye wash ($27, ouch)

I also spent $50 on gas yesterday. I will be buying a 25 pounds of organic carrots to can and a whole salmon to can.

Left to pay for the month of October is the water/sewer bill, half of which has been set aside already, and the property tax for the half year, all of which has been set aside except $25 and the propane bill, which is $80. Those will be paid next Friday. I will also pay the mortgage then instead of waiting until the first and will also put $500 into the January Money Fund. All the rest of next payday's money is allocated for November bills.

Today was payday. Everything has been paid. Nothing is due until the 21st and after that nothing will be do until the 1st. DH ended up doing all his overtime work in five days time, so it won't be a full week of overtime, but five days is still pretty nice. I'll be able to put $1000 to the EF next week, but will have to rethink the other things I was thinking of distributing the extra money to.

We've gotten a lot of food this week. Not take out, but prepared food from the store deli. I've been out of it with my constant headache and mild nausea. Getting hit in the head with that pitchfork handle on Monday morning did me no favors. I have had no inclination to cook and with DH doing the overtime work at home, neither did he.

I'll try to get my act together this weekend. DH leaves on Monday and I can't keep letting the money fritter away when I could be cooking.

Anyway, the distribution of things today comes from a combination of this payday and last and is as follows:

$757.82 Van loan (plus extra)
__90.00 Physical Therapy
__58.00 School photos
_168.00 Storage
1000.00 Loan to Mom
_400.00 Utilities to Mom
__41.88 Life Insurance Me
__45.30 Life Insurance DH
__47.17 House Insurance (Old House)
__66.65 Car Insurance
__27.28 Electric (Old House)
__72.56 Internet
__50.22 Phone (Old House)
__55.25 Garbage
__19.00 Dues (Old House)
_225.00 Chiropractic Monthly Family Plan
_227.66 Laptop Payoff (from Laptop Fund)
_100.00 Property Tax Fund
_100.00 Vacation Fund
_100.00 Appliance Fund
_100.00 College Fund
__41.16 Security System (Old House)
-------------
$3792.95 Paid Out

We also bought gas and groceries and spent around $500. We are all stocked up on staples and aside from some vegetables and lids for canning and some milk I shouldn't need to go to the store or a farm again for a week.

I've been paying things in dribs and drabs this week, but thought I should do a full accounting.

$700.00 Mortgage
__90.00 Physical Therapy
_100.00 Emergency Fund
_100.00 Moving Fund
_100.00 Laptop Fund
_100.00 Christmas Fund
_144.00 Water/sewer Old House
__49.91 Propane
__28.52 Medical
_175.00 Medical
_853.09 AMEX
__40.00 Allowances
_200.00 Cash (groceries, OTC meds)
---------
2680.52 Total Out

I added $100 to the Emergency Fund so it is now at $6044.92, so I have met my goal of $6000 in the EF by the end of August.

New Fund Totals:

$565.61 January Money Fund
$505.21 Appliance Fund
1800.00 Laptop Fund
$600.00 College Fund
$500.00 Hawaii 2018 Fund
$400.00 Property Tax Fund
$500.00 Christmas Fund
$100.00 Moving Fund
$000.00 Propane Fund

I had the money set aside for half the water/sewer bill and the propane bill, but I paid them directly out of this paycheck. Then I transferred what I had set aside to the January Money Fund. That was $121.91.

And I think that covers it.

$400.00 Property Tax Fund
__19.00 Dues Fund
_300.00 Propane Fund
_500.00 Hawaii 2018 Fund
_505.21 Appliance Fund (Freezer)
_444.11 January Money
_600.00 College Fund
_700.00 Laptop Fund (DH Replacement)
1000.00 Laptop Fund (DD)
_400.00 Christmas Fund
-----------
$4868.32 Total Funds in Funds

And I also have $19 and $72 set aside for garbage and water/sewer which are paid every two months.

I paid the majority of the bills for the month from this paycheck and sent money to all of the funds. I need to create two new funds though. One for the transfer fee when we sell our house (in case we are the ones who have to pay it and not the new buyers) and one for the Thanksgiving turkey. Don't laugh. Organic pastured turkeys are expensive.

We went down to the ranch today and bought meat. We ended up with 4 beef chuck roasts, 1 pork shoulder roast, 8 pork chops, 1 bottle of their seasoning (which they threw in for free) and 18 pounds of hamburger for $300. They had some stewing hens for $7 each and I was really tempted, because old hens make the best broth, but I decided I'd rather spend that money on hamburger. And I knew I'd be making rabbit stock on Monday anyway.

We also went to a family reunion for a few hours before going to the ranch. It was okay. It's DH's mother's side of the family. Not too many people showed up this year. I got to see how big some of the babies have gotten and one of the cousins is pregnant. I was kind of bored because the people I usually talk to weren't there.

We swung by the house since it was sort of on the way back home. It's rather gorgeous inside, but...but, but, but, the stuff that was supposed to get done today did not get done. The new gutters are not up, the shed and play structure still have not been painted and the touch ups on the porch and on two of the outside walls where other paint colors show up haven't been done. I don't even think any of them worked today. *sighs* I will be so glad when this is really over. It was supposed to be done today. Not even close.

Anyway, here's the money out for this payday:

$1000.00 to BoA (will pay more next week)
__300.00 to Mom for August utilities
___24.05 Electric (Old House)
___44.87 Phone (Old House)
___72.56 Internet
___19.00 Garbage (Holding Tank)
__100.00 Hawaii 2018 Fund
___19.00 HoA Dues (Old House, Holding Tank)
__100.00 Property Tax Fund (Holding Tank)
__225.00 Monthly Family Chiropractic Care
__100.00 Propane Fund (Old House, Holding Tank)
__100.00 College Fund
__100.00 Appliance Fund
__100.00 Christmas Fund
__100.00 Laptop Fund
__300.00 Beef Fund
__100.00 Cash for week
___40.00 Allowances
__757.82 Car payment (plus extra)
------------
$3602.30 Total Money Out

I feel like we are really staying on top of things right now. I will still need to buy some produce, but we shouldn't need to buy meat for 6 to 8 weeks. I don't envision any other spending this next week.

Funding Update on the Funds

$127.00 Dues Fund
$300.00 Property Tax Fund
$200.00 Propane Fund
$400.00 Hawaii 2018 Fund
$405.21 Appliance Fund
$400.00 College Fund
$400.00 DH's Laptop Fund
1000.00 Daughter's Laptop Fund
$300.00 Christmas Fund (Plus $155 Amazon GC's)
----------
3532.21

It took longer than usual for the mortgage to hit this time because I mailed it. Only a couple of days, though. I had too much going on at the time to swing by there and wanted to make sure it arrived on time. So the new mortgage total is $11,264.80. $10K is getting closer and closer. Only $54.59 went to interest. I can't wait until it drops below $50 a month.

I sent for and received another Swagbucks cashout of a $5 Amazon gift card. I now have $150 in Amazon gift cards earmarked for Christmas. I also have $200 cash saved for Christmas, so a total of $350 so far. Not too shabby.

We built more rabbit tractors and now have enough for every rabbit to be outside on nice days unless they are more than three weeks pregnant or nursing young kits, in which case they will not leave the rabbit shed, until the kits are 4 weeks old.

Phoebe's litter is still doing great. They are five days old, fur is coming in, and they are nursing well. We can't tell which bunny was born on the wire, they all look healthy and strong.

We spent $169 on fireworks. This is the last year that it is legal to let them off within the city limits, although we did sign a petition to reverse the city council's arbitrary decision that they made with no input from the people of the city. We probably didn't need to spend any of it, considering what our neighbors let off, including multiple aerial fireworks that were already illegal as of this year in the city limits. After watching what they set off we moved to the end of the driveway and watched the fireworks over the bay from the city. Then we let off our fountains and went to bed. This is the first year I didn't hear fireworks after midnight.

We hope to have a house outside the city limits next year. The county is far less intrusive into your life than the city. But who knows if that will ever happen, since they are still not done fixing up our house. Middle of June, my eye. At this rate it won't be done until summer of next year. I just hope they get the new gutters on before the rainy season starts this fall.

Today is payday. I will do a payday post later when I have everything figured out.

So out of this paycheck I spent:

$225.00 on monthly family chiropractor plan
$650.00 to BoA VISA
$442.00 on groceries
$144.00 on water/sewer old house
----------
1463.00 total spent

Not all of this was from this paycheck actually. I had $400 left from the last one.

I also put $70 into the Emergency Fund bringing me to officially over $5000 at $5061.62. So I've hit my June savings goal. I wonder if I can get it to $5100 by the end of the month? Quite possibly if I don't buy anymore groceries.

Found a penny and put it in the coin jar. Nothing else to report.

So I added the $40.50 in the coin jar and the $31.96 leftover in checking to the EF. Along with the June deposit of $100, which I made today even though it's not June yet, bumps the Emergency Fund to $3844.78., so the normal goal would be to scrape up enough to get it to $4000, but since DH has overtime, June's goal is $5000.

I went ahead and funded my funds as usual today, even though I know that eventually that money will probably be wiped out for the Wisconsin trip. But I'm keeping it in the funds sections anyway until we know either way what is going to happen there. Available fund totals are now $1300 ($1000, if I don't count the meager college fund). This does not count the property tax fund or the propane fund, or any other fund that is a bill paying fund for bills not paid monthly. We'll only be taking from the non-essential funds like Christmas, Laptop, etc.

Here's what came out of today's paycheck:

$300.00 to Mom for June utilities
__90.00 Physical therapy
__39.53 DH Life Insurance
__32.70 Me Life Insurance
__66.62 Car Insurance
__45.67 Old House Insurance
__41.16 Old House Security
_168.00 Storage
_600.00 Mortgage ($224.14 extra to principal)
_100.00 Cash for week
__30.00 Kids Allowances
_620.64 AMEX (gas and eating out)
__72.00 Water/sewer Fund
_100.00 Emergency Fund
__19.00 Garbage Fund
_100.00 Hawaii 2018 Fund
__19.00 Dues Fund
_100.00 Propane Fund
_100.00 College Fund
_100.00 Laptop Fund
_100.00 Christmas Fund
------------
3165.77 Total Paid Out

I have $241 in checking, msot of that will go for groceries and over the counter medicines to restock up after the three of us were ill.

When the mortgage payment hits the remaining mortgage will be under $12K. I am excited. $10K left seems closer than ever

Oh, I forgot, there was also a medical bill of $157.41 for my daughter.

I added $36 to the Emergency Fund today. It was what was left in checking when the new paycheck hit. That brings the EF to $3642.32. I'm going to bump my May goal up to $3700.

I also funded some funds today, which I'll put the amounts in my payday post, but I thought I'd post my fund totals.

$1000.00 in the Mac Book Fund
__200.00 in the Laptop Fund
__200.00 in the Christmas Fund
__200.00 in the College Fund
__100.00 in the Appliance Fund
__200.00 in the Hawaii 2018 Fund
__100.00 in the Property Tax Fund
__305.00 in the Propane Fund
___89.00 in the HoA Dues Fund

We've got a long way to go on some of these, especially the College Fund, but we will be putting the Christmas Bonus in, as well as most of the tax refund next year (which is ridiculously big because of our HSA that we always manage to use all of).

The Christmas Fund will be augmented by the Amazon gift cards I get from swagbucks. DH's Laptop is limping along and hopefully will continue to do so until I've got the replacement money in place. DD will be getting her MacBook (or equivalent laptop) in August. She's taking some graphics intensive classes next year as a senior. The Appliance Fund is currently earmarked for a chest freezer. Property tax was just paid last month. Propane Fund is just a holding fund until the bill comes and I pay it.

All in all, things are going along pretty smoothly in the Funds department.

I can't believe how close I am to finally paying off the BoA VISA card. At the beginning of January it felt like it was going to take so long just to get to this point, but now it's almost here. It feels so good to be almost out from under it.

DH bought a one way plane ticket $457.40 and one of our autopays went through $105 (for some reason I thought this one was $120, but I guess not). So total BoA balance is now at $2562.40. We will still be able to pay that off on Friday and then we are starting over with this card, using it only for DH's plane tickets, hotel overnight in Anchorage, and travel food. Oh, and anything DH might need from the commissary, like cold medicine or cough drops No more miscellaneous purchases.

After this month DH can go back to buying round trip tickets, instead of one way tickets. That'll make it more convenient for him.

----------

I cashed out for another $5 gift card for Amazon from swagbucks. I think I'll be able to hit five of those this month. I have one that should hit my account in a day or two. I think I am going to save these gift cards for Christmas. My friend who was doing so bad didn't want me to use the Amazon cards for her, so I have a balance right now of $75 in my account.

If I can add $25 a month between now and Christmas I should have a total of $350 in gift cards. We spent about $600 on Christmas this year, so that covers over half of it. We ended up buying a lot of stuff on Amazon, too, so that will work out really well for us.

----------

I didn't end up driving down to the farm yesterday. I've just been too exhausted lately and a drive like that with two bickering kids (they have been nuts this week) was more than I thought I could handle. The money is still set aside though. We will go next Saturday when DH is here to do the driving.

I wasn't sure quite how it was going to go when SIL and her daughters didn't show up until 3 hours late and then elder neice walked in with an attitude and an angry outburst with her mother. I talked to her the way that I always talk to my own chldren when they get upset, and managed to soothe her down into agreeableness for the rest of the night. I honestly don't think that most of the adults in her life actually talk to her, ask her about what's going on in her life and then listen. She has always seemed to appreciate the fact that I do take that time with her.

Younger niece is just as gorgeous as ever. I think she's 5'10 now and she's really got the looks for modeling. She wants to be an actress though. She's been in quite a few local productions and she hasn't even turned 14 yet. She's super smart though, taking a couple high school classes in the 8th grade. I'm sure she'll go to college. Not sure about her sister.

Everything went pretty well. We ended up using our bird after all as making it earlier didn't work out. This was the best turkey I have ever tasted. It's miles above even the organic ones from the supermarket. It was a heritage breed, sustainably raised on organic feed and allowed to free range and graze for bugs and worms and grass. We got it at the same farm we buy our beef, chicken, and pork from, Skagit River Ranch. We got a 14 pounder. Next year I think we will get two turkeys and aim for 17 pounders. We'll be saving up for it, that's for sure.

I can't wait to make stock with the bones tomorrow and then turkey noodle soup and turkey vegetable soup the next day. It is going to be so good. Stock made from their chickens is excellent and since the turkey had such good flavor I know it will be even better than that.

We sent quite a bit of food home with SIL. She says she ought to get a week's worth of meals out of it for herself. The girls don't eat turkey though they both tried this one and proclaimed it better than the other ones. And we left quite a bit with FIL and MIL, too. But there is still plenty for us to have a few more meals out of it. We shouldn't need to do any grocery shopping this week at all. In fact I'm hoping to extend that to the New Year.

I was happy with the gifts they gave me, 4 albums downloaded and an additional 5 songs to my ipod. This kitchen gadget that makes cake balls. It's sort of like a George Foreman grill. Kind of weird but it might be kind of fun to use. And the book Surviving Off--Off Grid Living: The Decolonizing of the Industrial Mind by Michael Bunker. I've been wanting it for a while and the library doesn't have it.

Everyone liked the gifts they were given as well and we had a really nice time. We even told the Christmas story which I don't think has ever happened at MIL's before. AND FIL said grace. Wonders never cease.

As is our custom, my immediate family (me, DH, DD, DS and my Mom) opened our Christmas presents today around noon. It was nice and laid back, everyone got what they wanted and there were no surprises. I had a nice roast in the crockpot going for dinner and accompanied it with French fries and tater tots for the kids and some green beans. Simple, easy, and a peaceful dinner was had by all. Tomorrow we will be going out to spend the day with MIL, FIL, SIL, and 2 nieces. It will probably not be as peaceful, but the food will be more traditional.

----------

I've been thinking about the short-term future, about 3 months down the line. By then we should have our BoA card paid off which will just leave the Chase card. That is our 0% interest card for 18 months. We have been paying $100 a month on it while throwing everything else at AMEX and BoA. It will have $5000 left on it come March.

Our tax return will be quite substantial again this year. Part of this is due to the fact that we will be able to claim the maxed out HSA for medical once more. The other reason why we tend to get back so much has to do with how DH works. Even though he only works 15 12 hour days straight out of every 28, each pay period is taxed as if he was getting that same paycheck every week. There is some payroll law responsible for this and there is nothing we can do about it. We've tried. It's been this way for the last sixteen years.

Anyway, so the tax return is going to be more than enough to pay off the $5000 on the Chase card. I am just wondering if it would be wiser to do that or to dump the money into the Emergency Fund and then continue to pay off the Chase card at a rate of $1000 a month, which we will have available since the other cards will be zeroed out.

I don't really like the idea of keeping that debt until August, yet at the same time it's at 0% until 2014 and the savings account is at .75% interest. Running with a low Emergency Fund has always bothered me. DH is on contract for another 3 years in an industry that is, despite the economic depression, booming, so job security is high. I know we will be able to build the EF pretty quickly once all the debt is gone.

Still, debt is debt and I hate it. We've been under is so long. I guess I have a couple more months before I have to make a decision.

----------

I have finished up my course of antibiotics for the UTI and it feels like it is gone. I have been back to eating protein and vegetables at each meal with the one fruit at one meal for 3 days and I started the high cholesterol drug today. I've lost 7 pounds. I am also pushing the water. I am generally feeling better than I have since my tooth forced me to stop eating right last August, though I am still tired. The newly crowned tooth is still sensitive to cold, but it doesn't hurt to chew at all now.

Tomorrow may be a draining day for me and difficult to handle regarding food, but I am planning no fruit tomorrow and instead 1/2 cup of potatoes and gravy and 1/2 cup of stuffing with my turkey and green beans. The potatoes will be real, the gravy will be homemade, and the stuffing will be made by me, so I know exactly what is in everything. I don't care for pie so that will not be a temptation.

If there are cookies or fudge I will just need to keep firmly in mind how close I am to having diabetes and that this is not an option for me right now. Fortunately I am not a big sweets eater anyway, starch has always been my downfall. Although I do like my ice cream, but that's going to have to be a once a week treat with a balanced meal from here on out.

----------

Happy Christmas to everyone!

DH and I finished off the Christmas shopping last night. The mall wasn't nearly as crowded as I thought it would be. We kind of stuck to the outside wings of the mall though without venturing too far into the heart of it. We picked up season one of Bones for elder niece and an imitation leather jacket for younger niece that was 35% off. The gift card for SIL was picked up this morning. So now all we have to do is wrap. DH said he'd go out to storage and get the paper, bows, and labels tonight after rush hour had cleared out. We still need to buy tape.

Last night I also took DH out to dinner with some of my saved allowance money. Left a big tip for the server as he was excellent and it is the holidays. It was lovely to be able to eat steak again. I love being able to chew again on both sides of my mouth. The crowned tooth has settled right down and there has been no pain since I woke up Friday. I still have a bit of sensitivity to hot and cold though, so I need to be a little careful of temperature.

DH's parents got some money from one of the investments originally held by MIL's parents and they passed along $100 each to DH and SIL. Not sure what we'll do with it. I'd like to put it towards the credit card, but DH might have other ideas.

DH ordered his mother's gift today and got free shipping from B&N website. It came to $39.95. His father will be getting a $40 gift card to Lowe's. My FIL is notoriously hard to shop for. He should be easy. He collects nutcrackers, but every year he goes out and buys them for himself, so even if you've perused his collection and then go to look for something unique, he's already bought it and just not put it up. Extremely frustrating. So we're not even going to try this year. And FIL will definitely use the Lowe's card.

I also ordered my Christmas present, a hard ice cream machine. I'm down to one brand of ice cream that DS and I can eat due to recent ingredient changes, and Haagan Daas is expensive. It's got a built in refrigeration unit and makes 1.6 quarts at a time. It cost $250.93 and I got free shipping. This also counts as my birthday present in February. I just combined the two budgets together. There's just not that much that I want or have space for. And if there was I have $154 of my allowance saved.

We still need to buy Christmas presents for our 2 nieces on DH's side. He's getting an updated list from his sister today. We will be doing the same thing as we did last year for his sister, getting her a $200 Target gift card.

$200 seems like a lot for one person outside the immediate family (actually, it's a lot for a person inside the immediate family, too!), but SIL has struggled mightily since divorcing her cheating ex-husband and getting custody of both girls a few years back. She works a minimum wage job and is on food stamps.

The Target card allows her to get toiletries, socks, underwear, shoes, school supplies, or other needed items, but also groceries when the food stamps are not enough. This helps her to get by easier and last year she stretched it out for several months. We ususally fill her car with gas a couple times a year, too. You have to help your own when you can.

Hopefully tomorrow we can pick up the gift cards and the presents for the girls and something token for my mother (who does not want to exchange gifts but still manages to do something token every year) and be done with it. We'll need to get our wrapping paper and bows out of storage and buy some cellophane tape. We still need to set up and decorate our little 2 foot tall tree. We don't have room for a full-sized tree in our area, but we like to have a little something.

I also need to do a photo shoot with DS. Since he is being homeschooled this year, there were no school photos done of him. I can do as good a job with him as they do, I just need to get to it, so that I can print out photos of him to go with DD's for giving to relatives. We need to pick up ink and photo paper, though. I am hoping to make a trip to Costco tomorrow and can pick up the ink there. Photo paper is cheaper at the office store next door to Costco and also has much smaller quantities, so we'll get that there.

I have almost all the food for our own day at home. We have the turkey we didn't make at Thanksgiving due to illness in the freezer. I have plenty of potatoes from what we harvested this year. I have green beans and corn. I have butter and poultry seasoning. I just need to make the bread for the stuffing the day before our meal. We may need to buy milk as well.

We will probably make our meal on the 23rd. It will be the four of us and Mom, and I will probably invite the Ice Queen as well. I really should come up with an alternate name for eldest sister as since she's come back into the family fold she's thawed quite a bit.

The Social Butterfly stopped by yesterday. I haven't seen her in over a year. I've seen my nephews and my BIL, but not my sister. We visited for an hour and then they were off. They won't be coming down for Christmas at all this year and I probably won't see her again for a year. She doesn't really like family to come visit her, especially during the holidays. Oh, well, at least I got to see her.

I can't believe the year is almost over. 2012 has gone by so fast. I am looking forward to January and the feeling of having a fresh start that that always seems to bring.

DH ordered his mother's gift today and got free shipping from B&N website. It came to $39.95. His father will be getting a $40 gift card to Lowe's. My FIL is notoriously hard to shop for. He should be easy. He collects nutcrackers, but every year he goes out and buys them for himself, so even if you've perused his collection and then go to look for something unique, he's already bought it and just not put it up. Extremely frustrating. So we're not even going to try this year. And FIL will definitely use the Lowe's card.

I also ordered my Christmas present, a hard ice cream machine. I'm down to one brand of ice cream that DS and I can eat due to recent ingredient changes, and Haagan Daas is expensive. It's got a built in refrigeration unit and makes 1.6 quarts at a time. It cost $250.93 and I got free shipping. This also counts as my birthday present in February. I just combined the two budgets together. There's just not that much that I want or have space for. And if there was I have $154 of my allowance saved.

We still need to buy Christmas presents for our 2 nieces on DH's side. He's getting an updated list from his sister today. We will be doing the same thing as we did last year for his sister, getting her a $200 Target gift card.

$200 seems like a lot for one person outside the immediate family (actually, it's a lot for a person inside the immediate family, too!), but SIL has struggled mightily since divorcing her cheating ex-husband and getting custody of both girls a few years back. She works a minimum wage job and is on food stamps.

The Target card allows her to get toiletries, socks, underwear, shoes, school supplies, or other needed items, but also groceries when the food stamps are not enough. This helps her to get by easier and last year she stretched it out for several months. We ususally fill her car with gas a couple times a year, too. You have to help your own when you can.

Hopefully tomorrow we can pick up the gift cards and the presents for the girls and something token for my mother (who does not want to exchange gifts but still manages to do something token every year) and be done with it. We'll need to get our wrapping paper and bows out of storage and buy some cellophane tape. We still need to set up and decorate our little 2 foot tall tree. We don't have room for a full-sized tree in our area, but we like to have a little something.

I also need to do a photo shoot with DS. Since he is being homeschooled this year, there were no school photos done of him. I can do as good a job with him as they do, I just need to get to it, so that I can print out photos of him to go with DD's for giving to relatives. We need to pick up ink and photo paper, though. I am hoping to make a trip to Costco tomorrow and can pick up the ink there. Photo paper is cheaper at the office store next door to Costco and also has much smaller quatities, so we'll get that there.

I have almost all the food for our own day at home. We have the turkey we didn't make at Thanksgiving due to illness in the freezer. I have plenty of potatoes from what we harvested this year. I have green beans and corn. I have butter and poultry seasoning. I just need to make the bread for the stuffing the day before our meal. We may need to buy milk as well.

We will probably make our meal on the 23rd. It will be the four of us and Mom, and I will probably invite the Ice Queen as well. I really should come up with an alternate name for eldest sister as since she's come back into the family fold she's thawed quite a bit.

The Social Butterfly stopped by yesterday. I haven't seen her in over a year. I've seen my nephews and my BIL, but not my sister. We visited for an hour and then they were off. They won't be coming down for Christmas at all this year and I probably won't see her again for a year. She doesn't really like family to come visit her, especially during the holidays. Oh, well, at least I got to see her.

I can't believe the year is almost over. 2012 has gone by so fast. I am looking forward to January and the feeling of having a fresh start that that always seems to bring.

It is a weird feeling to have an empty bill box and to have paid all of the bills to the end of the year already. I know it's been like this for the last couple of months, but I'm still not used to it. I really like it though. Instead of being paycheck to paycheck we are half a month ahead and that is wonderful. I can't wait for that to be a month ahead. And then 2 months and then 3 months, etc., as we build the Emergency Fund back up.

So the last of the bills and some miscellaneous shopping were paid out of today's payday. The breakdown is as follows:

$90.00 Physical Therapy
$41.75 Various cold medicines to replenish stock
$70.56 Internet
$44.87 Phone line Old House (for security system to work)
159.65 Propane bill Old House (was already in savings)
144.00 Water/sewer (was already in savings)
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550.83

I put $2500 into short term savings. That will cover all bills between January 1 and January 11th.

I will have two more physical therapy appointments this year so I have that money set aside.

I took out $215 in cash, but $15 went to DD for her allowance. DS doesn't get an allowance again until January (he got an advance). So that $200 should last us until the end of the year for toiletries and meals out. I have $1300 left of this paycheck, but we still need to buy presents for a couple people. Whatever is left will be sent to the credit card.

Next week's paycheck will be the 2 day paycheck and that isn't earmarked for anything yet. I will need to pay the $505 for my crown whenever they send me the bill so I'll probably set that aside out of it.

I deposited my coin jar money to the Emergency Fund and have hit my goal of $1500 in there by the end of December.

1457.42 Beginning EF
+_66.38 Coin Jar Money deposited
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1523.80 Ending EF

Christmas bonuses should be mailed out today and they usually get here pretty fast since there are so many flights a day between Anchorage and Seattle and then between Seattle and here. It might even be here as soon as tomorrow (last year it came the day after the Christmas party, which is today), but I'm figuring probably Monday or Tuesday.

I am trying not to be anxious about it. It's just that we are so close. Even if it is 5% of income like last year instead of the rumored 10% of income it will still wipe out the BoA card with a little leftover for the AMEX and then the AMEX will be wiped out by the extra paycheck in January. Our tax return would then wipe out the 0% Chase card with plenty leftover since we'll be getting quite a lot back due to maxing the HSA and spending it all this year on medical. And if it's the 10% then boy howdy it's all gone before the year is up.

I just want it done and gone. It's been so many years. I want that weight lifted off my shoulders forever.

I was reconciling my savings accounts spreadsheet with the bank statements I received in the mail today and I realized that there was $252.01 that was not allocated to any category at ING. Not sure what I did there. I might have paid something out of the holding tank without actually taking it out and just using checking, but I took it off the spreadsheet. That's happened a couple of times. Regardless, I added it to the emergency fund category, so the EF now sits at $1457.42. Almost to the $1500 mark. I think I can get it there by the end of the year.

I received the propane bill for the old house today. The thermostat is set on 60 so that the pipes do not freeze. It is $159.65. That is quite a lot less than I was anticipating. I have $400 allocated for propane in the holding tank right now. So I will pay that and then leave the rest of the money ($240.35) in there and just not transfer any more money to the holding tank for propane until after the next quarterly bill comes. I can use that $100 a month elsewhere during that time.

Tomorrow is payday. I still have $297.82 in checking and $25 in cash. I added $6.48 to the coin jar. I really like this new habit of getting to the next payday with more than $5 left.

I've been saving my allowance since I started drawing one again. I have $154. I haven't decided what to do with it. Maybe I'll save it for Disneyland. I like to buy a sweatshirt or light jacket, a couple of t-shirts, and one of the Splash Mountain towels when I go and they are a bit expensive, so having the extra saved for that would be a good idea. They are so well made that they last for years. In fact I can still wear the Disneyland sweatshirt I bought in 1995 on my honeymoon and it looks great. None of the stitching has come out or anything. So I feel like they are a good investment.

DS's Christmas presents arrived today so he is all taken care of. I need to get on the ball and order DD's presents now that I have her list. I procrastinated last year and a couple of her presents didn't show up until a week after Christmas. 5 more days until DH comes home. It's been a long hitch and I will be glad to have him home.

I find that the closer I am to being out of credit card debt, the easier it is to pay the bills. It feels less and less like money slipping through my fingers and more and more like seeing the summit of the mountain and knowing it's not much further and just a little push will get me there.

I got to contribute $100 to the Emergency Fund this time, something I haven't done in a while. I also deposited the coin jar money to the EF as well, so that was an additional $97.05. The EF now sits at $1205.41. It is good to see it going up again.

I funded my funds, bringing the totals to $85 in the HoA Dues Fund, $200 in the Property Tax Fund, $400 in the Propane Fund, $400 in the Vacation Fund, $400 in the Mac Book Fund, and $200 in the Christmas Fund.

Expenditures for this paycheck were:

$1000.00 AMEX
__100.00 Chase VISA
__300.00 To Mom for her utilities
__100.00 EF
___21.98 Electricity for the Old House
___50.00 to the Holding Tank for garbage (not due 'til Feb)
__39.53 DH Life Insurance
__32.70 My Life Insurance
__59.89 Car Insurance
__45.63 Old House Insurance
__41.16 ADT Security for theOld House
_153.00 Storage
_100.00 Vacation Fund
__17.00 Dues Fund
_100.00 Property Tax Fund
_500.00 Mortgageon Old House ($376.14 plus extra to principal)
_100.00 Propane Fund
_100.00 Mac Book Fund
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$2860.88

I also spent $56.20 to fill up the van. It was 3.39 per gallon. It's a little cheaper at Costco, but I really didn't want to go over there today and as long as it is no more than a 20 cent per gallon difference, I'd actually use more gas going over there and then waiting in the interminably long lines.

And I spent $230.41 on groceries. I stocked up on some things that my cupboards were bare on, mostly canned goods. I also restocked the flour stash and bought some oranges and milk. I am definitely starting to see the higher prices now. Even though I didn't buy any meat since we get it at the farm now, I still wanted to see what the current store prices are, and Holy Toledo are they high. I mean some of them are higher than their grass-fed, organic counterparts. I may need to up the grocery budget once we finish eating the inventory in the freezer. I'm trying to hang on to $600 a month, but half of that is spent at the farm.

I paid out DD's allowance for two weeks, $30. DS does not get an allowance until 12/14 as his was advanced to him so he could buy something on a really good sale. I also took out $200 in cash.

I bought DD a new MP3 player. She was willing to settle for the 4GB one, so it was $40. I used part of the $200 in cash for that. Since it was half what I was expecting it to be, I told her I'd just pay for it if she'd do some extra chores for her grandmother. So she's going to clean all of the bathrooms, mop the kitchen floor, vacuum, and clean out Mom's fridge. She's also going to do all of the laundry this weekend.

DD is going to stay after school one day next week to teach her English teacher how to knit using a loom. They're going to knit some hats for some charity and they need to make 26 between now and the 18th. Knitting goes much faster on a loom. I didn't get the details on what charity, but I think it was local. I find it kind of hilarious that my sixteen-year-old daughter is teaching a sixty-something-year-old woman to knit. It's like, shouldn't that be the other way around?

Speaking of knitting, I really need to get going and finish making DS's scarf so I can start on DD's. It's hard to work on his because he is with me so much since we homeschool him. I am trying to keep it a surprise. His sister has made him a hat in the same yarn.

I almost wiped out a pair of elderly jaywalkers tonight. I guess teenagers are not the only ones to dress all in black and take crazy chances walking after dark. If it hadn't been for the man's white hair and the woman's white shoe souls, I'd not have seen them in time to stop. And they were only 20 feet away from the well illuminated stoplight with it's cross walks.

14 days and counting until the bonus checks will be put in the mail...

Not much of anything, but a little bit of everything. I added $1 to the coin jar. It was in what DH gave back to me before he headed to Alaska.

I balanced the checkbook to the penny again. I love it when it comes out perfectly. I have $419 left in checking until the 30th and no bills due until after that. I shouldn't have to buy anything between now and then except milk and oranges and if I do, I have $105 in cash. I am hoping to send the full $419 to the credit card. Any cash left from the $105 will hit the emergency fund.

I had to send DH to the grocery store with a list before he left Monday because I am extremely contagious. Let's just say he spent quite a bit more than I would have. Total was $115.92 We're over the allotted grocery budget for the month, but we aren't going to eat out between now and then anyway because I am trying to expose as few people as possible to this thing that never ends, so I just took it out of that money.

I received a check from ACOP for $14.05 for surveys and sent for another $5 gift card through Swagbucks.

I set up the budget spreadsheet for December and I updated the November one with all of the medical spending.

I ordered a box of checks. It was $16.86. They are getting more expensive but I am using them less and less. I still don't want a debit card. I feel like writing the check out makes me more mindful of what I'm spending. It's too easy just to swipe a card and forget about it.

My kids have decided they want to spend the entire weekend in their pajamas. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. I may join them in that.

Mom is cooking dinner tomorrow. She's the only one not infected and she wants to stay that way. Eldest sister is coming over. I'm still not used to her wanting to be a part of our lives. It is weird. I never thought I'd see the day where I was actually looking forward to having her around again. I am hesitant to think I can rely on her to help out with Mom, but maybe she will.

The day won't be too hard on Mom. I had brought up just skipping it until I'm better (ha!) if she didn't feel like she could handle it, but she wanted to. Since we are only making Cornish game hens instead of a turkey and baking the potatoes and dressing at the same time she says it's easy. Mom has a double oven, which is helpful. Minimal fuss, minimal muss.

We will also have fresh broccoli from the garden. I still can't beleive that I am harvesting anything in late November! What a weird fall we are having.

Let's see, what else? Oh, the birds. Kyri has finished molting I think. Queen and Patricia are in full blown molt so not laying at all, and the pullets continue to lay pretty well, as does Lady who is still bunking with the chickens. There's been no luck on trying to find some ducks her age to keep her company. I think she's happy enough thinking she's a chicken.

There are now four chickens who are laying regularly in the little box on the back porch. Apparently it's the in thing to do. New to the box is a leghorn since those are the only white egg layers we have. Everyone else lays brown, pink, or blueish green eggs. Daily egg count is an average of six eggs. I am glad we haven't needed to put a light in with them at night. We might in December and January just for a heat source if the weather turns and it starts freezing, but it has been so mild so far we may luck out.

And...I think that about covers it. Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow to all of my American friends and happy Thursday to everyone else.

The mortgage payment hit today, with $77.42 going to interest and 303.42 going to principal, with an additional $124.14 going to principal. The new mortgage balance is now at $15,377.85, so after my December payment the mortgage will be under $15K. I know that we will probably sell it before it is paid off, but I still like to see it going down.

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We're still waiting to hear whether or not DH will be working an extra week or two between now and the end of the year. It's a little frustrating because he needs to know so he can buy the appropriate tickets on the appropriate dates. And of course the longer you wait, the more expensive plane tickets are, especially around the holidays.

He comes home at midnight tonight. I will be glad to have him back as I am really worn down at the moment. Both kids are sick again and I can't really tell if I am at the end of getting over a cold or at the start of a new one. It could go either way, but I'm hoping it's getting over the last of one.

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Yesterday I mailed in my voter's ballot and went and made the Chase payment. I also pulled some green onions from the garden. I can't believe we still haven't had a frost. I need to get moving and get the potatoes dug, but I'm kind of being really lazy about that. Without an impending frost on the horizon it doesn't seem very urgent.

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My doctor is retiring at the end of the year, so I need to find a new doctor. And I really don't want to as this guy has been my doctor my whole life. He delivered me and we have a great relationship. I'll have DH get me a list of the doctors on our PPO list that are accepting new patients, and I need to make up a list of the medications I am taking and their dosages. I will probably have Dr. A write me prescriptions for a year's worth of meds to send into my mail order pharmacy so that I don't have to deal with meds right out of the gate with the new doctor.

I also need to make a list of all the medications I can't take due to adverse reactions/allergies, namely penicillin and codeine. And the ones I can't take the generic of but must take the name brand of.

I so do not need this right now, but I knew it was coming. My doc is in his 80's.

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I ordered some Christmas presents for DS and was notified that they shipped yesterday. I ordered them last week so it's good to hear they're out the door. I'm trying not to be last minutey this year.

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The car payment statement came in the mail yesterday so I will write out the check and send that off. I hate dealing with their website or I'd pay it directly. It is nice to see the amount going down substantially now. The first year of payments was like it barely budged. Now I can see the progress being made.

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I've spent some time looking at houses online over the weekend and prices seem to have taken another dramatic drop. I am now seeing houses in the $215K to $245K range that a couple of months ago were in the $279K to $250K range. And ones that were in the $300K to 350K are down as well, about by the same amounts. I see more and more of them are pending sales as well. I'm not sure what that will mean for our prospects when we go to sell. Of course we are not going to be overpricing the house to begin with, which I think may have been going on with some of these other houses.

I just wish they'd get done already with fixing up the house since we can't put it on the market until they are.

We had a blast this weekend. We have spent around $300 between DS's birthday party at the bowling alley, a special meal out at the fancy steakhouse, and his presents. He hasn't had a birthday party since the 2nd grade and he's in 6th now, so I think we did pretty well. Everything was budgeted for as I had been setting money aside for a while.

His actual birthday is on Tuesday but his dad leaves tonight for work so we did things early. I will make a cake for the actual day, though.

I am so sore, though. It's been a year since I've been bowling and my poor body was complaining the next morning. But I broke 100 which I haven't done in...two decades? Usually I am in the 70's and my first game was 73, but my second was 101. I am just so excited that I was able to do this. This is the first non-swimming real exercise activity I've been able to do since completing physical therapy.

Let's see, what else? I made another credit card payment, this one $500. DH had made a few small charges onto this card, plus the health club membership is on there. DH switched it to the other one starting next month, and we have one more switch to make before nothing will be autocharged to that one. It's almost gone and will be soon if I can get DH to stop making these random charges on it.

DH cleaned out his wallet and I cleaned out my purse and we ended up with $14.22 for the coin jar. I really need to go make a deposit now.

It is really nice to know that no more bills are due until April 1st. I have paid everything. It is such a good feeling to know that there is nothing to stress about until then. I had one medical bill come in today for $105.62 and I was able to sit down and write it out on the spot. It feels good to do that. The budget is sure running smoothly right now.

We are having a small, very small, birthday party for my son tomorrow. He turns 12 on the 13th, but his father leaves for work on Monday so we are doing it early. We are taking him and his best/sort of girl friend bowling. My daughter will be taking one friend as well. It is very low key, although it's during cosmic bowling so it'll be glow in the dark. Best/sort of girl friend's mother will be there, too. (I say sort of girl friend because at 12, they are too young to do anything like date, but they are sure sweet on each other to my discerning eye).

We won't be bringing in a cake because DS's friend is allergic to dairy/gluten and he is allergic to a couple of the ingredients in the gluten free/dairy free cake mixes and I am not a "good enough" mother to try to attempt an allergen free enough cake that will meet both their requirements, though I did find one online. Maybe next year. He'll have a homemade cake on his birthday and that will be that. They seem okay with it. They just want to hang out and bowl. I think it will be fun all around.

So yesterday Mary Ann invited us all to do an exercise challenge with her, sort of based on Denise's quitting smoking challenge. Basically every time we exercise for 20 minutes we put a penny in a jar. Yesterday, I did my physical therapy exercises twice, which takes a little over 20 minutes each time, so I now have two shiny pennies in my jar. For me each penny will represent a dollar and at the end of each month I will take that money and set it aside in savings.

I haven't decided what for, though. I'm leaning toward Christmas. I spent about $500 on Christmas this year. If I manage to keep up with the challenge I should be able to save around $600 in ten months.

Since for me, doing these exercises is more about rehabilitation and being able to walk normally again, rather than just getting fit, I think I already will have the incentive to do this, but adding in the pennies is a nice extra nudge in the direction of not being lazy and skipping a day or only doing them once a day.

First off a Merry Christmas to all my celebrating SA friends and a lovely 25th of December to the rest of you.

I think we had the best Christmas ever with the in-laws this year. We went there yesterday and it was just so wonderful. It was the first Christmas without yelling. Usually SIL and ex-BIL or ex-BIL and eldest neice or SIL and eldest neice would get into and pretty much ruin the day for everyone else. SIL's boyfriend is a very nice man. I hope they make it work.

This is our fourth Christmas post ex-BIL and the first Christmas the SIL and neice did not have a big blow up. There were a couple of potential blow outs that could have happened, but either my daughter or I recognized the signs and acted accordingly.

Youngest neice was teasing eldest neice about being held back a year and not being as smart as her and I jumped in and put a stop to that. The year before eldest neice was held back was the toughest of her life with the divorce and being severely bullied at school. Youngest neice hadn't known about the bullying (she was too young then) and it made an abrupt about face in her behavior. Other than that everyone was happy. It was so nice.

Christmas at home has been nice, too. And the list of loot makes me quite happy, too, because no money was wasted this year on things people had no use for or didn't want.

I personally walked away with a new crockpot to replace the one that cooks everything on high regardless of the low setting, an LED candle, a music CD I wanted, an Alaskan Ulu knife (should make chopping onions so much easier) and a Belgian waffle maker. Then in my non-practical presents (that I still wanted) I got series six of the new Doctor Who and two collectible action figures (yes, I'm a nerd). I got Amy Pond and the Eleventh Doctor in his cowboy hat. They still haven't made a Rory doll, but if they ever do, I want one.

The kids were all happy with what they got, though a couple things haven't arrived in the mail yet. DH was happy to, though again, he is waiting on one thing that had to be special ordered. But we are all so happy that there was no fighting this year, we could have received no gifts and it wouldn't have mattered. It was just a good family time. And that's the best present of all.

Well, we came up with the perfect gift for DH's eldest neice who is impossible to shop for (at least in the amount we are willing to spend on her). It's not one she asked for, but it's something she is dying for. And it's in our price range. Right now, neither of her parents can afford the extra cost for her to take her driving test and then pay for her license if she passes. So I made up a little card saying that we would pay for her first driving test and her license.

I put first in there just in case she doesn't pass the first time, though that's more to tease her than anything else, because by all accounts she is a cautious, careful driver. I talked to her parents first, to make sure it was only money and not them not wanting her to take it yet and using money as an excuse (though I thought that unlikely). She is already on their car insurances so it isn't an issue of that, either. So DH will go with SIL and neice to the DMV the day of the test and pay for it. We won't give the money directly.

Younger neice was easier to shop for (a couple of DVD's and a CD she wanted). We settled on a Target gift card for SIL. She wanted shoes for work and a new top and pants for work. She also needs things like shampoo, toothpaste and general toiletries. Things food stamps don't pay for. So we put on enough for the clothes and the other and anything left over she might use either on food or some other thing she needs or even just wants.

SIL is doing much better. She sounds like she's back to normal over the phone and she was out Christmas shopping today with FIL so she must be worlds better. Hard to believe she was just in the hospital.

I am not doing quite so good. Today during physical therapy my legs just collapsed on me. I was in the pool and it was only 3 feet deep, so not too bad a deal. I've got severe pain in my low back and both hips and then it radiates down the quads and the IT bands on the sides of the thighs (knees are fine, surprisgingly). I got them back under me again and managed to get out of the pool. PT got a walker and I used it to go and change which was horrifically painful.

PT decided to call the session quits and did an ultrasound treatment and then some soft tissue massage and then put a ginormous ice pack on me for ten minutes. I had to use one of the hospital walkers to get out to the car. I am really, really hoping it is just a pinched nerve and nothing horrible like a slipped or ruptured disk.

I made it into the house okay between DH and my cane (though it was pretty excruciating) and put ice on again and didn't move until 3 hours later. We managed to get me to the chiropractor and I had an adjustment (hurt like blazes) and it was really out, but after an hour the pain eased up a little, from like a ten to an eight. My regular doctor called in a muscle relaxant for me and I took that with my hydrocodone. That is helping a little, but not so much as one would think it should. I'm down to about a seven on the pain scale.

I put a call into the specialist who prescribed the physical therapy for my knee, whose nurse was supposed to call me back. I called at one and it is now nine, so I'm thinking I won't hear anything until Monday. *grumble grumble* Physical therapist said to either lay flat or all the way back in a recliner for the next two days. Oh, this will be a fun holiday. I was going to make my Christmas lasagna tonight, but that ain't happening. Oh, well. In-laws will have turkey.

Fortunately the front seat in the van reclines almost fully. DD will have to sit in the third row, but oh, well. At least we can transport me in less discomfort than upright. And then I will go straight to one of the in-laws' recliners. I am taking my icebag with me. It'll be kind of nice to be waited on hand and foot instead of in the kitchen all afternoon, but I would trade it for mobility and no pain any day.

Oh, well. I will still try to have the best time I can. And if I don't get on again between now and Christmas, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate and happy celebratory season to those who don't.