After my doctor's appointment I went through the post office drive-thru drop off and mailed 4 bills. Then I went to the Bank of America drive-thru and paid $1000 on the credit card and made the car payment. I don't have to worry about anymore bills now until the first of the month. Hmm...may have a hard time figuring out what to blog about. Maybe I'll go back to making meal planning posts as I haven't calculated daily food costs in a while.

I need to go to the store to pick up more pseudoephedrine and nasal spray and also stamps. I never buy stamps at the post office as the lines are too long and they have taken out the vending machine due to vandalism.

I am trying to figure out dinner tonight. Maybe I can make a picnic ham in the crock pot. Then there would be protein to gnaw on for the rest of the week. Oh, my diet is still going well. I have not cheated once in 35 days, so yay, me. I did my measurements and I have lost 11.5 inches, so that's nice. I knew I had to be because my clothes are getting so baggy and I've had to switch to some smaller sizes in the closet. Weight loss is setting at 42 pounds. The cortisone shots do make the weight loss slow or halt, but it will wear off in a couple days and resume losing again so long as I don't go on a carb binge or anything.

Chris went and ran the money through the HSA today and we have officially maxed it out through the year. For some reason the CU had put a 22 cent dividend into the HSA. It was my understanding that the HSA was a non-interest bearing account. Interest deposited in it could really screw things up if you are maxing out. If there are dividends then they need to be added to our interest bearing savings and not the HSA. Anyway, they got it sorted and we've hit the $6150 allowed this year.

I've gone through all the medical statements that we've gotten since March when we switched to this plan. I still have to go back to the ENT and see if I can get a copy of the statement I accidentally shredded or at least a dollar amount, though I don't think there should be any trouble getting what I need to get. We've spent well over $6150 in medical bills since March so I just have to have the paperwork to back it up.

I am going to the doctor again today for me knee for another cortizone shot on the other side. I wish he had done them at the same time to save me the trip. There is something funky going on though when I raise and lower my knee. You can actually feel it moving above the knee cap and it's making a crunchy sort of crackling thing go on, which is new and very weird. I will have him feel it as it might make a difference on what he advises me to do next. I think I should get an x-ray and then if needed an MRI. Some things show up better on an x-ray, like ACL tears or miniscus tears.

I really hope next year is a better medical year than this one has been. This one has been just crazy.

So I sat down with my stack-o-bills and wrote out checks for everything. I won't have to pay anymore bills until the 28th. I have two bills that are due on the 31st, but they are local so if I mail them on the 28th, they will get there in plenty of time. Otherwise there are no other bills due this month, though all the autopays save one come out the first week of November. Nothing is due before the 17th and we will take that one and a couple others in in person anyway, since the BoA drive-thru is very close to the high school.

It will be nice not to worry about any bills for the next 19 days. I did a major grocery run today and I now have $282 to get through until the 28th. That should do me just fine. $120 of that will go to physical therapy, but all I should have to buy between now and then is milk and some produce. The gas tank is almost full. I do, of course, have money in savings I have set aside in case DH has to take an extra week off at Christmas, but if I had to, I could tap it. I don't think I will have to. We won't be eating out at all between now and the end of the month anyway.

Tuesday we will run money through our HSA and then dump it back in our checking account. We will do this before mailing any bills. We are definitely maxing out this year. We've actually spent more on medical bills this year than the max for the HSA but not enough to be over 7.5 percent of DH's income. But we can still deduct the entire $6,150 and our property tax without having to itemize and it would still be a bigger tax return than itemizing.

We will have quite a hefty return because of the HSA and I am hoping that it will wipe out our CC debt once and for all, though that depends on what is going on with my knee right now and whether or not I have to get it fixed. I'd like to do it this year if I have to since we have already far surpassed our deductible.

The only thing left for me to do now for finances is figure out the new budget for 2 weeks on/2 weeks off as opposed to 3 weeks on/3 weeks off. It's been so long since I've had a budget for the 2/2 that it's going to be a little weird. But I'll get it figured out and then I'll figure things out for the rest of the year. I have to go through and remark my calendar since the paydays won't be quite the same as before. It's a pain, but 2/2 is well worth it.

We've had some takeout this week because I was so sick (pizza and McD's), but I am now back on the no eating out challenge. I am feeling a little bit better, but still a little out of it. Still, I can cook now. I am trying to do a little extra when I do. This morning I cooked 4 chicken sausages and put three away in the fridge so that I can just warm one up each morning. That sort of thing, just so I'm not repeating effort. We have a lot of leftover pizza so I don't have to cook for a couple nights unless I am able.

DD has gone back to school today and DS is home for his second day. DH seems to be doing pretty well though he's still sniffly. Mom has not caught the cold so that is good. She is progressing nicely with her healing, but she really does not want to do her physical therapy exercises, so I have to do a lot of cajoling to get them done twice a day.

I cleaned out my purse last night and I had $6.14 to go into the coin jar. I still haven't balanced the checkbook.

I am doing well on my controlled carb diet. I have now lost a total of 41 pounds since my surgery July 15th, 14 of those since starting the diet. I may have to invest in some new clothes. At least jeans. I can get by for a while with baggier shirts, but I also have some that were too small and are now fitting nicely so maybe not.

I picked up two prescriptions today for a total of $29.27 and went to the doctor.

I wish this thing would pass. Aside from the sinus infection/bronchial infection, I've managed to pick up a nasty stomach bug. What the heck, body? I am just hoping that I don't get my mother sick as she really can't risk any infections right now recovering from the knee replacement surgery. Hard when I'm the primary caregiver right now and have to help her do her physical therapy exercises.

I've been washing my hands so much to prevent infection they are starting to chap and I had to take off my rings. On the bright side I've dropped two pounds in two days, though that will likely rebound back on.

I still have not done last week's budget. I've got all the bills together now at least, but I need to balance the checkbook and see where we stand. It is just so hard to focus. Maybe I'll have DH balance the checkbook for me, as I might just be too out of it to do math.

I am supposed to go to the doctor tomorrow for another ultrasound treatment on my knee. The one I had on Tuesday did seem to help a fair bit. I am hoping that this one will do the trick and I won't have to do a cortizone shot. At least the swelling has gone down.

Both kids are sick, too, but just with sinus infections. DD has missed three days of school and DS missed just today, but he thinks he can go back tomorrow. So does DD, so hopefully they will go back and I can get a bit more rest. At least DH is only got a mild cold and feels pretty decent so he is helping as much as he can with Mom and the kids. I am grateful he is home.

I had some pretty serious withdrawal from this webiste while it was down. I don't think I realized before how much I depend on making daily posts until I couldn't do it, or how much I like to keep up with all of you. I am glad it is back on and hope the guys can sort it all out soon.

After 3 weeks of fighting this thing on and off I've finally succumbed to it and so have the kids. DS was okay enough to go to school today, but wanted a doctor's appointment after school. DD was too sick for school. We are taking them both in to the doctor at 4. My doctor prescribed Biaxin for me for sinus/bronchials.

I managed to do the first round of physical therapy exercises with Mom this morning before my appointment. The chickens got out though so I had to chase them down and put them back in their pen so was a little late getting there.

The in home physical therapist is here right now, and she will do the second round of exercises with Mom so I don't have to do them. I don't have the energy so it's just as well.

DH will have to take the kids in to the doctor as Mom shouldn't be left alone just yet. He's not so good at stuff like that, but I don't think I can drive again today. Not sure I should have done it earlier. I have another appt tomorrow. This one for my knee. It's swollen and full of fluid and needs to be drained.

I haven't done the budget yet for Friday. I haven't really had time or the ability to focus that well with my head so full and achy. I did send $600 to the AMEX and I know the insurance autopays will come out today, tomorrow, and the next day. And storage. Nothing else is due until the 17th so I can take a couple more days before dealing with the budget if I need to.

I am going to put the no eating out challenge on a bit of a hiatus. I want egg flower soup from my favorite place and might as well get protein and veggies there, too since I probably shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a hot stove at this point. I also want ice cream so I can freeze my throat, but that's probably not a good idea for my diet. I can balance Chinese food. I don't think I can balance ice cream. *sighs*

I hope I get better soon. Too many people need me right now for me to be this sick.

Today was payday so I did bills and then ran around doing errands this morning. I had an irritating time at the CU (see previous post), but otherwise everything went smoothly. I will be glad when DH gets home Wednesday so we can take care of the irritating things.

$1000.00 to savings (possible Jan. extra week off)
___17.00 HoA dues savings
__100.00 Property tax savings
__100.00 Propane tank savings
__100.00 Emergency Fund
___37.68 Garbage
__215.00 Chiropractor
__754.24 set aside for HSA
___33.00 DS's school photos
$1000.00 Loan payback to Mom
___13.56 Electricity old house
+_183.91 Master Card (paid in full and put away)
_______________
$3554.39

I have about $400 leftover. I took out $50 in cash and will pay $60 on Monday for physical therapy which leaves me about $290. $100 of that DH will get for his allowance. I am buying a new bread machine which will be less than my allowance, but not by much. That leaves $90 for food, but I think we can get by with only buying deli meat for next week's lunches and some milk, especially since we are still on the no eating out challenge. Whatever is left will go into the EF.

Speaking of the EF:

$2223.18 Starting Amount
+_100.00 Deposit
_________
$2323.18 New EF Amount

$2323.18 EF Amount
+__37.30 Coin Jar savings
__________
$2360.48 Total EF

So I've met my goal of $2250 in the EF. Next goal is $2500.

When we signed up for the HSA the lady at the credit union told us that there would be no problem with me depositing money into DH's HSA account, I just couldn't withdraw it. Well, guess what? They were wrong. I can't deposit it into his account either. I can deposit it into his savings that is attached to the HSA, I just can't do it to the HSA itself and neither can he unless he goes in in person. And he has to fill out paperwork every single time he makes a deposit. I specifically asked about this three times. Every time the lady assured me I could make the deposit.

Now I have to wait for him to come home from Alaska before I mail off these bills. He comes home on Wednesday so it's not that bad this time, but it is frustrating. These people need to be properly trained so that they tell you the facts when you sign up and not just random wrong things.

I think what we will do on the next paycheck (he'll be home for this), is to just run $2000 through the account and take it back out again. Then I can just keep track of things on a spreadsheet until I hit that $2000 mark. I might do it with $3000. I just need to add up the stack of paid medical bills from earlier in the year and see what they come to.

I spent $30 on medication this morning. I woke up feeling nasty. I had one day last week like this, but it followed a night of no sleep and then it was gone. This time it feels like the onset of a full on virus. Ugh. So I bought a jar of Vick's vaporub, some nasal spray and some plain white pseudophedrine, so at least this way I can breathe. I don't like taking regular cold medicine because most of it is colored with artificial dyes or has sweetners and fillers that affect my weight and make me bloat. I don't want any of that on top of being sick.

I used some of the money I was going to put into the HSA. Well, it was medical, but it's not deductible medical. Still, I'd rather feel good right now than pay a bill a couple days early.

I might go over to the club and sit in the sauna and try to bake this thing out of me. Sometimes that helps. Of course that requires effort so maybe a nap instead.

I also spent the last ten bucks in my checking to buy 20 cans of green beans. The store had them on sale and I was almost out and we eat them several times a week. This was a good deal anymore (20 cans for $10, so .50 each. There's like $1 left now. Well, there's more, but not everything has been processed yet this week. I still have $5 in cash in case I need to buy milk before Friday.

The no eating out challenge is going fine. It's nice not to be wasting money right now. I'm making a pizza tonight for dinner based on what we have on hand, instead of getting one as takeout.

The refund from the oral surgeon was $151.02. That was quite a bit bigger than I was expecting. I thought maybe $50 or less. So what I did was I deposited $101.20 into the Safety Net portion of the EF, and kept $50 which will go into the HSA when I go to the other CU. It'll cover the smaller bill from Virginia Mason I got the other day. I thought that the Allstate bill and my dollars were in my purse, but I guess I took them out so I wouldn't be carrying them around all weekend. So that didn't get deposited yet.

$421.03 Beginning Safety Net
+101.20 Deposit Amount
-----------
$522.23 Ending Safety Net Balance

$1,700.95 ING EF Amount
+__522.23 Safety Net Amount
------------
$2,223.18 Total EF Amount

I have hit my goal of getting the Safety Net to $500. My next goal for the Safety Net is to have $1000. I think that is a good amount to have ready locally to get through an emergency with the rest on tap within 3 business days from ING. It would cover a few nights in a hotel, gas and meals.

My next goal for the EF itself is to hit a total of $2500.

Well, it took some serious number crunching, but it looks like if we are careful and are a little more conscious of our spending between now and the end of the year, we will be able to set aside $1000 a month, which will give us $3000 extra if DH has to take an extra week off in January. It's about 3/4 of a full week's salary. There's a possibility of more, but I decided to do it with setting aside $1000 a month for medical (and $500 a month for next year's deductible). If there are no more large bills to arrive from Virginia Mason then that money will be there if we need it to get through an extra week off. And if we don't need it for medical, I think I'll put it into the Emergency Fund. It's nice to know we can swing this without dipping into the emergency fund.

I've calculated in the costs of Christmas presents and another trip to Virginia Mason (a half tank of gas @ $30, a meal in the cafeteria @ $7, parking @ $10) in December. I may do an overnight in the hotel ($119 plus tax) as well if I end up having to go down by myself, so I can split the drive into two days. I'm confident enough now to do the drive by myself at that time of day, but that many hours driving in one day makes my knee hurt and my back hurt. If I do stay in the hotel I will also have to plan two more meals there (approximately $15 total in the cafeteria) and additional parking time ($12).

It'll all work out. Definitely won't be able to pay off our CC debt until the end of March though. *sighs*

So another bill from Virginia Mason came, but this one is only $45.07 and is for a couple of the follow up appointments.

But the good news was Allstate sent us our Safe Driver Refund. If you go your six months without an accident they give you a partial refund. It's just $20.30 but it's something. It was too late to go deposit it when I received the mail so I will do that on Monday along with the $13 in the coin jar. It will go into the Safety Net portion of the Emergency Fund at local CU#2. Step by step, bit by bit.

I think I spoke too soon. The mail just came and in it another medical bill. I was sure I was done paying for all the surgery stuff. Guess not. Though this seems to list every date of service I had except the time in the hospital and the surgery itself (which is paid for already). Well, it's $978. So I guess that $1700 that I was going to save up for the other surgery that it turns out I don't need after all, is going to have to go to medical anyway. I'll put the extra $700 into the HSA when I get it and leave it there. I just don't want to take the chance something else might pop up. Anyway, so I'll pay this bill on the 23rd.

I had just sat down and figured out what to do with all of the paycheck coming in on the 16th. This bill won't affect that at all and the nice thing is I'll be able to put $2000 on the VISA this payday. About $1000 of that goes to cover the plane tickets and the hotel overnight that is part of DH's expenses to get to work and back. About $300 goes to interest and only about $700 to principal. I will be able to send another thousand on the 23rd that will all go to principal. I will also start repaying my mom $1000 a month on the 23rd.

I think I will have DH put the next ticket on the MC because of the lower interest rate. Actually, he should stop using the VISA altogether for a while. That will give us a chance to get the VISA with the higher interest rate down. We won't get the miles for it, but we will get cash back rewards. I just want to get the VISA down to $10,000 by the end of the year. It makes me disappointed when I thought we'd have it paid off by the end of the year and I know that's impossible now. But I do think when we get our tax return in March we will be able to finish paying everything off and be out of credit card debt.

I'm going back on a no eating out challenge for the rest of the month and maybe for all of October, too. I can then squirrel away that money for debt repayment. When I don't focus on not eating out, it happens way too often. I've probably spent $300 on eating out in the past month. I need to stop. I have plenty of time to prepare for meals with the kids in school. Not doing it right now is just being lazy. Plus eating out is not conducive to my diet.

I would really like to go one week without getting knocked on my butt. I know we are much further ahead than we were at the start of the year and I know that medical bills can't be helped, but sometimes it just seems like it never ends. I am grateful for the EF I have of over $2000, because we didn't really have that before.

I think I need to go listen to my theme song (Tubthumping by Chumbawamba, at least the chorus) and adjust my mental attitude again. It can often help me get my head on straight.

I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down. I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down...

Despite the fact that I slept from ten to seven, I am totally wiped out from the trip to Seattle yesterday. I could seriously take about a three hour nap right now and just might once the youngest is off to school.

The trip to Virginia Mason went well. My healing is coming along on schedule and I won't need to have the other surgery in November. He's not saying I won't ever need it, but now he's saying maybe five or ten years down the road and possibly not at all. That would be wonderful. My next follow up is in December.

Not having that surgery means that $1700 I was going to set aside for medical can go elsewhere. Not sure where yet. Maybe to build up next year's $2500 deductible or maybe to debt repayment. Maybe I'll split it in half and do a little of both, or maybe I'll throw it at the mortgage and bring that down to $17,000 left. I'll have to think about it.

I found 33 cents at the hospital yesterday. As I told Baselle, I think people in Seattle just throw their change away. It went in my coin jar. FIL had to borrow a ten off me yesterday and when we got back to town he paid me back in five ones and a fiver. I put the ones in the coin jar. I am going to try to hold on to the fiver until payday and if I don't spend it, it will go in the coin jar, too. I have $15 left in checking, a fully stocked fridge, and no reason to spend any money. Aw, heck, I'll just put it in there now.

So the teacher's struck on Friday while the negotiations were in progress. Apparently things got settled so school will start almost on time. Wednesday instead of Tuesday and this is because all the stuff they were supposed to be doing on Friday did not get done so now they have to use Tuesday to do it. Honestly, I am a little irritated over it.

I know that I should not be irritated over one day, especially since they got what they wanted and needed (and I support that part), but I selfishly am. It throws off my entire week's schedule. I have appointments on Tuesday and Wednesday and I will have to do some rearranging because of this. I can't call my Tuesday appointment on Monday because of the holiday and she is out of town for it. So I may get charged for changing that appointment because I can't call in 24 hours in advance.

We still need to buy school supplies, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I am so tired. We spent the day filing and sorting through paperwork and shredding and shredding and shredding and shredding. Honestly how much paper is wasted in this world? I shredded 12 Chase Freedom and 10 Chase Slate offers alone. That's not to mention all the Citi, BoA and Discover card offers. DH and I swore we would never do business with Chase again, but seeing all those offers for free cash makes it hard. Still, Chase royally screwed us over and we refuse to be tempted into it.

I've got my new HSA Medical file set up and found most of the medical bill statements that I've already paid, though I accidentally shredded the big one as I was on a shredding roll. I think I can go to the office and get a copy of it though.

Tomorrow we are going to go out and work at the house. That front flower bed needs to be tackled. I think I am just going to have us dig out several of the plants and throw them away. I can't maintain it or water it and having ratty perrenials coming up makes it look bad. I'll leave in the lilac bush and the lilies but pull out the rest of it. Then we'll put down black plastic so it doesn't grow over with weeds. I just hope my back can deal with it. And my knees.

Today was a no spend day at least. And the kids cleaned their rooms. They sort of had to as I said no TV, no video games, no computers and no reading until they were clean. They could choose not to clean, but they couldn't do anything fun until they did. So they did.

I want to go swimming right now. Maybe tomorrow after the house.

It's DH's birthday today (42) and he and I are going to a movie. The two things don't really have anything to do with each other. The movie is more a date that we have pretty much been postponing for the last year. We haven't been to a movie in the theaters in...I'm not sure when. When was Order of the Phoenix in theaters?

I know it's a big expense, but it's rare one of my favorite British actors (David Tennant) is in something besides TV, and since I generally like vampire movies (as long as they don't sparkle or mope) we're giving Fright Night a try. I also like the girl in it, Imogene Poots and I've heard all kinds of good about the teenage male lead and then of course Colin Farrell is a great actor so even if the plot bites (ha ha, sorry), I figure the acting will still be spectacular.

There are a lot of movies I actually want to see right now. The Help. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Franco has come miles and miles since Freaks and Geeks hasn't he?) But this is probably the only one we will see. I want to see it this week because I'm afraid it'll be out of theaters if we wait until the weekend. Stuff does not stay long around here if it isn't a franchise like Harry Potter.

We may or may not go out to dinner. It depends on time. We're going to the 5:20 showing. I'm not sure if that is matinee price or not. It used to be shows up until 6:00, but I don't know anymore. So we'd get out by 7:20 or so, and that is probably when we'd have to pick up DD from her friend's house. DS is staying with my mom.

There's this steak house I really want to go to but it doesn't open until 4:00 and that really messes up movie times if we go early. Maybe we can do it another day. It's been about a year since we've gone there.

DD has an appointment with the nutritionist at 1:00 and we are going to hit a sports store while we are over there on that side of town for DS. He has outgrown the young boy sizes but is too short still for the young men sizes so we are hoping to get him some sweats and swishies that will do. Anything we've found with actual number sizes are about a foot too long.

We are seriously thinking of taking him to the Mens Warehouse and getting him measured and having some trousers tailored to fit him if this doesn't work. It would be a little expensive but he'd at least have a couple nice pairs of pants. I don't know what clothing companies are thinking here. My daughter went through the exact same thing in the switch from girls to juniors and it was an annoying couple of years where she ended up wearing a lot of boys clothes. DS doesn't have the option to shop in a different department like she did.

And that's an hour of our lives we'll never get back. My gosh, the rules are stupid for an HSA account. Since the insurance is through DH, even though it is a family plan, only DH can withdraw funds for it. Only his name can be on the account. No spouse or co-signer can be on it. I can, however, deposit funds and be a beneficiary. Gee, IRS, do you not think a spouse might need access to this account?

And since the account can be accessed online and transfers can be made online, and they don't know who is in front of the computer screen, I can technically still access the account and be the one who moves the money around with DH's account number and password. Can you say giant loophole?

We set up an HSA savings account only since if we had done an HSA checking account or debit card, only DH would have been able to use it. Since he is in Alaska 3 weeks out of 6 it would be very inconvenient to have to wait to pay medical bills until he was home.

So we transferred the money I had saved to pay Virginia Mason into the HSA savings account and then we will transfer it back to our personal checking account so that I can still be the one to write out the bills. We just have to keep a carbon copy of each check and keep a copy of each medical bill that is paid. I will set up a folder to keep these in.

The lady setting up the account said that we could also do it retroactively on medical bills we have already paid this year, but that we would have to consult our tax adviser to learn how, because she only knew we could, not how. Umm...we don't have a tax adviser. We've never itemized because it has never been worth more than the standard deduction and it's a waste of money to have a tax adviser do your taxes in that case. So I guess that's going to be a lot of boring reading to figure it out on the IRS website.

I have all of the medical bills, or at least the portion we keep from this year, and I think I have all of the check carbons, too, so it'll just mean transferring some money back and forth and figuring out how to do the rest of it. I really wish we'd gotten around to doing this in March instead of waiting until now. Ah, procrastination.

Whatever I did to my back on Friday has not gone away. Usually it'll take a couple of days and then it is gone, but not this time. I've even been to the chiropractor and gotten a massage, tried ice packs, tried heat packs, have used Mineral Ice ($10) on it and finally called the doctor for some hydrocodone ($10). That has offered some relief, but not enough. If the pain continues through the weekend I will get x-rays done on Monday.

I have finally been cleared to start exercising after the surgery. I just hope my back won't prevent me from it. I am starting with some back stregnthening exercises in the hope it will help.

I wrote a nice long post earlier today and since SA has been behaving itself lately didn't bother to copy it first before hitting post and of course it disappeared into the ether. I really need to do it every single time.

Today I added $116 to the Emergency Fund. I added it to the ING portion and not the Safety Net portion. I have now met my August goal of $2000 in the EF by the end of the month.

$1884.96 Total EF
+_116.00 Amount Added
__________
$2000.96 Total EF

I added $5 in ones to the coin jar today. That is what I had left from my Fair budget. DH still has some money left from it, too, but I didn't get it before he headed out to the house today to do some yard work.

I put $1600 in the holding tank for the bills that come due in the first two weeks of September (it's a few dollars more than needed, but thought a cushion was a good idea0 and transferred the medical money (or $1750 of it) into regular savings that will go into the HSA as soon as we open it on Monday.

I just need to pay the water bill and take care of the allowances and DH's birthday money and then set aside a bit for groceries and some for physical therapy (I paid the chiropractor already $215) and then I will know how much extra I can send to debt repayment.

The HoA got really snippy and sent out a note that basically said I know you are dealing with ongoing medical problems, and we don't want to make things worse, but get your butt out here and mow your lawn. Yes, HoA, I love you, too. I know they have a point since it has been seven weeks, but they knew we were going to not be able to go out there for a while (and one of the neighbors had volunteered to mow it at least once every two weeks, but apparently didn't) and this is the first weekend since DH got home so we were planning to go out there anyway. Or at least he was.

One of the neighbors complained and I am sure I know which one, too, he is such a busy body and always has been. Of course he also lets his dog run wild and doesn't clean up after her when he takes her for walks, but since he has always been on the board complaining about it never helped anyone. (He does keep his lawn impeccably mowed). The thing is, 90 percent of the people out there do not mow their lawns during the summer. And 50% of the people out there do not pay their dues. We have always paid our dues on time and they waited to send out their note until after we had paid them (so it couldn't have been that urgent).

When I was healthy, of course I would keep it mowed, but they knew I was having surgery and they knew DH wouldn't be able to leave me right after and that he also would be gone an additonal 3 weeks in Alaska, and they said it was okay. Guess it was only okay until someone whined about it. I swear we will never own a home in an HoA again. I still remember when they got after a cancer patient who was undergoing chemo for not keeping her lawn mowed. Sometimes I really dislike the people on the board. They irritate the "heck" out of me.

At least DH will be able to go out every Saturday for a couple weeks and then I should be strong enough to mow the lawn again and it will be September so the grass will start going into its dormant cycle by the end of the month probably unless we have an Indian Summer. I have a little push mower that is very light that I can use once the tall grass has been chopped and it won't hurt to push around at all. Or if it does, it's light enough for the kids to use.

Yesterday was a fun family day at the fair, but it was fun because we were together more than anything else. It was one of the hottest days we've had this summer so far, if not the hottest. I was glad for my hat. I was really underwhelmed by the fair itself. It has become less and less about people entering art, collections, quilts, and foods, and more about the commercial booths.

I mean, really, does there need to be 3 different satellite tv providers and a cable one at a county fair? Does there need to be four different gutter companies who are sure they can keep the gunge out of your gutter? And the junk they sell? It took a long time to find souvenirs that did not cost too much but were nice enough they wouldn't break down the minute you walked off the fair grounds.

My son got a tree frog (carved from wood) where you rub its back with a stick to make it croak and a thunder barrel for $15. My daughter got a hat that looks like a polar bear for $20. DH got these cushy orthopedic insoles for $35. I tried them but did not like them. It was a texture issue. I did not end up spending my souvenir money at the fair so I will put it with my allowance, with an eye towards investing it or something. Still working that out. I think I may open a spousal IRA if I qualify. If not, I'll just open an investment account or something.

The music was excellent. We heard 3 different groups, one Celtic, one South American panflute and guitars, and the other standard country/bluegrass. The food was great, too. We got everything on the list except the ice cream so stopped at Baskin Robbins on the way home. I am currently reading a book by John Baskin, the son and nephew of the founders of BR called The New Good Life, so found that a little funny. Anyway, I don't think we will go to the Fair again for a long while. It wasn't worth the expense, though I will be forever grateful to the Lion's club for providing power wheel chairs.

The walk back to the car afterwards, though only three blocks, just about killed me, though. The pain was pretty bad, I was almost crying and that was with my cane and holding on to Chris. It wasn't in my abdomen or my knee. It was in my lower back. I was not expecting that. It hurt so bad I wasn't sure I'd make it back to the car, but we were not in a place where DH could run and get it and be able to pull over and let me in. The town's main street is not conducive to that.

I took some ibuprofen as soon as we got there and stayed in the car while DH and the kids got the ice cream and brought it back. As soon as we got home I put ice on back. That helped a little. DH put mineral ice on it once dinner had been gotten and then I ended up taking a hydrocodone. I wanted to take one of the pills leftover from surgery last month but was afraid I'd not keep it down and I didn't want to jerk the painful area of my back if that happened.

I woke up twice to put more stuff on my back and switch ice packs. We ran out of mineral ice and switched to biofreeze. It's not as effective but it does help. By morning I no longer felt like I was going to die and was actually able to get up without whimpering. It still hurts but it's much better. I did notice that I ripped the scab from my incision open at some point because it was bleeding a little bit so put a bandage on it. I definitely overdid it. Today will be a day of rest for me for sure.

I do have stuff to do today, but it can all be done with my laptop while I am resting. I've got to finish up all the payday stuff I normally would have done yesterday.

I've received two bills from Virginia Mason now. One is for my appointment in May and those radiological tests and is $108.04 and the other covers the surgery and hospital stay which is $1296.04. I still need to be billed for the followup radiological tests and appointments.

DH and I are going to set up an HSA on Monday. We should have done it a while ago, but it's been a crazy summer and it just didn't happen yet. Hopefully it won't take too long and I can get these bills sent in right away.

I ran the numbers and figured out how much money I need to set aside for the first two weeks of September when there is no paycheck coming in to meet the bills that come due then. $1574.77, so I'll just round that to $1600. I also need $722 to meet this week's needs and wants (allowances for me and DH, a trip the fair, DH's b'day presents, water/sewer at the old house, and groceries). That'll leave about $1000 to send to debt. I will pay off the MC (again) that we put some money on while we were on vacation and the rest will go to the VISA. I had hoped for $2000 but I always forget things when I try to figure

The next paycheck will be the little one that is usually around $1200 for two days (might be a bit higher with the raise). I think we will likely spend about $500 on school clothes and I need new shoes, too. I've figured out what the kids have outgrown and what they need. I am pretty sure we won't spend all $500, but I'd rather overbudget for it than not.

Out of that $1200 I will send $116 to the EF to hit my goal of $2000 by month's end. I will probably keep out $200 for random expenses (prescriptions, groceries, b'day dinner, one movie, ASB cards, yearbook ($40 now or $60 in June). That should leave an additional $500 leftover to send to the VISA. So a total of $1500 extra this month to debt repayment.

It may not look as good as it actually is since the cost of airline tickets has gone up and we have to absorb that, but we still should have this all paid off by year's end.

Oh, shoot, I always forget something. I left out chiropractor and physical therapy. So...$400 or so for that. Only $1100 extra. Bummer. But still good.

I need to sit down with my budget spreadsheet and figure out exactly what I need to do with the next paycheck. I'd like to send $2000 of it to debt repayment and then make sure that I have enough money set aside to cover the bills until the start of the next paycycle. There will be one more paycheck after that, the small one with two days on it, and that one I'd like to bank in it's entirety, part to the EF and part for future medical savings, but I might only be able to do one of those. One way or another though I am getting my EF up to $2000 this month.

DH's b'day is coming up and I know what he wants and how much it will cost so that is included in there, also. And his allowance has to come out of next week's check, too. I have been debating what to do with my allowance. DH gets $100 every six weeks.

I usually don't spend that much, usually getting a season or two of some show I want on DVD or something like that and using the rest on cooking magazines, but right now I don't want anything so I am thinking about setting it aside in another savings account. I've been toying with the idea of getting an Index Fund through Vanguard to generate some side income (the one I am looking at pays dividends). It costs $3000 to buy in. So it would take a while to save that much up, but what else am I going to do with it on the months where I have no interest in spending my allowance?

Today has been a slow day. I had to use the heater again last night and this time I left it on all night. Today is cool and about 65 with a breeze. I'm convinced we're never going to see any true summer weather here this season. I had physical therapy so $60 out for that.

We picked about 3 gallons of blueberries last night and there's still just so much more to do. I can't believe how much two six foot tall bushes can produce. I'll make another batch of cornbread blueberry muffings today, but that only uses about a cup of blueberries. We'll make jelly with about half of what we picked and freeze the other half for later use.

The two new chickens are finally old enough that they should start laying eggs soon. I keep hoping to go out there and find three or four instead of the usual one or two. The fun part is that when they start laying often times they will produce double yolk eggs for the first six months. The kids love having a fried double yolker.

Someone remind me why it's not a good idea to start up any kind of dialogue with a troll, and then whack me with a copy of the Complete Tightwad Gazette if I do. I don't even know if this person really believes what they are saying or is just trying to start arguments, but this person can't respond to anything without insulting the person she is talking to/and or making inflamatory comments in general. Very wrong inflamatory comments.

Oh, well, I am done with them. I am so used to friendly disagreemets on all the boards I'm on, that this person just threw me for a loop and I totally don't need the drama. I tend to hang out at nice places online, where people discuss things respectfully, so it always surprises me when a troll shows up and doesn't abide by the unwritten rules of niceness. It shouldn't but it does. I will just ignore this person in future.

I cannot believe it got so cold here last night. The middle of August is usually quite warm at night, but this year has been anything but typical. While the Eastern and the middle states have been sweltering in heat waves, we've been lucky to have the thermometer touch on 70 and even then there's a breeze that makes it feel like 65.

Last night was just downright cold for me. I added a blanket to the bed and when I still couldn't get warm added another one. Finally about an hour later, I got up and turned on the heater. This is just a small, energy efficient ceramic heater I keep in the bedroom. I only ran it for ten minutes, but it was enough to warm up the room so I could then fall asleep. I had hoped to beat the cold without it, but it was not to be. Still, ten minutes is not that much time so I don't feel bad about it.

I sewed a button on one of my nightgowns today. The buttons on it are star-shaped but the new one is round and a little larger. It might not match in shape but it matches in color, being opalesent. It's one of my warmer nightgowns and I've had it for several years, but the top part kept popping open after I lost one of the stars. If it doesn't keep them from popping open I will replace the rest of the star buttons with more round ones. We have the big bin of buttons my grandmother collected to search through to find similar sized ones. I don't really care if they match much as it's not like I wear it out in public.

We saw some meteors from the Perseids last night and the night before. This is the first year since I've started looking that I've seen them. Usually there's a cloud cover, but the sky was empty and bright. Moon was gorgeous, too.

I spent $27.18 getting takeaway for lunch today for me and the kids. It will last us about three days worth of lunches, so a total of nine meals (3 each). Put that way it is $3.02 per meal per person. Which isn't that bad. It still puts me under budget for the day if I watch what I make for breakfast and dinner.

I paid my daughter back the $3 I borrowed from her the other day while we were out and I'd left my cash at home. That leaves me with a $10 bill for cash for the week and enough money in the checking account to pay for physical therapy this week and still have $60 left (for milk and probably bread as I am not up for making it right now and maybe some fresh Udon if they restock the flavor the kids like).

Speaking of physical therapy, I am down to one hour a week instead of an hour and a half. That reduces the amount I pay each week from $90 to $60. With not going at all for five weeks, I saved a fair bit there, but I think the muscles around my knee atrophied a little with so much time in bed. PT thinks we can get it back in about six weeks, but doesn't want to overdo it because my abs are still quite sore.

Speaking of the abs, the incision site has now closed completely and scabbed over. My bandages have had nothing on them for 12 hours so I don't have to use them anymore. Which is great because I have been having a skin reaction to the tape (doesn't matter what kind, plastic or paper, they itched like crazy and caused a rash). It's less itchy already.

DH went onto our insurance website tonight to see if any of the claims from Virginia Mason had processed yet, since I haven't seen any bills. Well, they have. And apparently my insurance company and VM have a very, very good contract between them, because for each visit so far (discounting the one on the 9th which has not been processed yet), all of the radiological tests, and the surgery and the hospital stay, we will owe a little under $1750. I was sure it would be somewhere around $5000, but it's not. I have already set aside $2000 for medical expenses.

This puts us back on track for having our credit card debt paid off by year's end! Even if I set aside $2000 for the next surgery in November, we will still be able to pay the credit card debt in full. Which means starting in January we can start putting all of that money towards a downpayment on our next house. We should be able to save $60,000 in 2012 and if we sell our house (just under $20K left on the mortgage) for even just what we paid for it, we would still have over $100,000 for a downpayment.

I can't believe our goals are this close to coming true. When I started this blog I never thought this day would come. I hoped it would and I dreamed it would, but I was never really sure. I think I'm almost out of the tunnel.

I did the major Costco run and now my pantry and toiletries are fully stocked again. I should be able to go a month without going there again, and then only for toilet paper and lemons (we go through a lot of these to make DS's lemonade). It is nice to see the shelves full. The only thing I did not get was potatoes because they only had the 20 pound bags and they looked like they were starting to sprout. We might be at the point where we can start digging up potatoes, but I still have 1/3 of a 5 pound bag left and several packets of organic potato flakes so it's not the end of the world and I can pick some up (hopefully on sale) at one of the grocery stores soon. I did impulse buy a package of English cucumbers ($3.39), but everything else I bought was on my list.

I also paid bills today. The majority went to BoA. We used our MC on vacation and to pay for the Inn at Virginia Mason which is why I'm listing it again when it was paid off before. This doesn't pay it off, but I will be putting more on it next Friday with that as my intention. I will also be putting more on the VISA.

$1862.10 BoA VISA
$_500.00 BoA MC
$_757.82 BoA car payment ($250 extra to principal)
$__10.56 Medical
$__43.70 Garbage (old house)
$__65.56 Internet
$__44.89 Phone (old house)
---------------
$3284.33

I spent the rest of the grocery budget and close to $100 for toiletries and the megapack of paper towels (18 rolls, I think).

I decided to keep the $40 I still had in my wallet from last pay period and not get anymore cash out for this week and see if I can get by on it.

I did roll a thing of pennies and I had $25 in ones and two fives that I'd squirreled away in the coin jar so I went to CU#2 and added $25.50 to the safety net portion of the EF. That brings the safety net to $389.03 and the total EF to $1884.96. That leaves me $115.04 to scrounge up by month's end to hit my goal of $2000 in the EF.

My first goal for the safety net (which is my easily accessible portion of the EF) is to hit $500 and my second goal is to hit $1000. I figure I probably would not have an emergency bigger than that, and if I did that would give me the time for the transfer from ING back to a local account. I don't have four wheel drive anymore so if I blow a tire I'd only have to replace one, not all four. That was my biggest foreseeable expense before we got this vehicle.

Oh, I bought a Christmas present for DS while I was at Costco today. It seems too early to be buying presents, I usually don't start until October, but this was a good price and something he has wanted for months so I was happy to see it and it can sit in my closet for the next four months. I really should finish knitting his scarf as well.

Starting on the first paycheck in September DH will have hit the point where they stop taking out social security for the year. That should give us an additional net of $650 a pay cycle. This on top of the raise which gives us an additional $550 a pay cycle means we'll have an extra $1200 every six weeks to pay on either consumer debt or medical debt until January. I am really, really hopeful that means we will be out of credit card debt by the end of the year like our original plan before my medical issues raised their ugly heads again.

I haven't gotten any bills yet from Virginia Mason. I am really wishing that I would start seeing some so I would know how to plan. I get anxious when things are unknown or up in the air. I started going down there in May so I feel like I should have gotten something unless there is going to be some sort of lump sum at the end. But I don't know if this last visit yesterday qualifies as the end or the follow up in a month does. So far I have $2000 set aside for it, but I really want to know what it is going to be.

I actually had them double check that they had my address right in the computer when I was there yesterday. They do. I should have DH check with the online insurance page to see if they've received anything yet. That might give us a ball park.

Today was my daughter's 15th birthday. She wanted pizza so we got a Hot and Ready 3 meat pizza and a few bags of breadsticks and red sauce from Little Caesar's. It was $19.52. The .48 in change was added to the coin jar. My mother made the chocolate cake and frosting off the Hershey's cocoa can. It was very rich. I only had a small piece. It was nicely moist but I can't handle too much chocolate. Everyone else devoured it, but there is still over half a cake left. I've had enough sweets for the week.

I'm still quite exhausted. The trip to Seattle really wore me out yesterday and I've not quite bounced back yet. I hope another good night's sleep will help with that.

Our mortgage payment finally posted today and we are officially under $20K left to pay it off! Woohoo!

Also the follow up at Virginia Mason went very well, things are healing as they should be, and I need to go back in a month to make sure everything is on the right track. I also still have half a tank of gas left so no fill ups for a while.

I spent $8 on parking today and just under $17 on food. Far less than the $50 I budgeted. DS and I split an order of fish and chips at the hospital, which believe me, was more than enough food for both of us.

I'm leaving in about an hour to head back to Virginia Mason for my final post-op appointment, presuming all goes well. Then I shouldn't have to go back again until November or so for the second surgery.

I'm taking $50. That should cover the parking garage and one meal. We will probably have to gas up on the way home, but I use my AMEX for gas.

I hope traffic is less crazy this time, but I'm afraid it will be worse since my appointment isn't until three and we will be leaving to come back home at rush hour.

I went to the final grocery store today and got the few processed food items that I buy that are additive and preservative free, two pot roasts and a pack of chuck steak for making beef with broccoli. I spent a little over $40. I left the receipt in the van so I don't remember the exact amount. I was able to walk it today, but when I came home I had to lie down for an hour.

I also bought two bottles of nasal spray as my allergies are bad right now and a container of Tums. Some of the medication I am on (the antibiotic) gives me stomach trouble, hence the Tums. That was around $27 with tax. I had them ring the meds up separately from the groceries because they come from a separate budget. I am definitely seeing a price increase in OTC meds.

The store was out of Motrin. I have about 20 pills left. That will hopefully last another week and then maybe I will have the strength to go to Costco and get the mega bottle.

We ordered a pizza today. I could have cooked (and actually will for dinner) but I do like to get a Round Table Pizza once a month so that was $27.18.

Oh, I sent some money with my daughter to the mall. Mom is taking her birthday shopping and I wanted her to pick up some Paul Mitchell Special Tea Tree shampoo. I sent her with $40. It's usually around $32 for the 32 ounce bottle.

I know it's pricey but it is the only thing I have found that can control the oil slick that is my hair. And it lasts about 3 months. I have tried virtually every shampoo on the market. Most of them are volumizing and moisturizing, two things that I definitely do not need. My hair is thick enough it could have it's own zip code.

Drove by a house today that I viewed a virtual tour of online. It is behind the grocery store we went to. It's really gorgeous on the outside, too. And it is a second house that would really fit all our needs. Enough bedrooms, enough bathrooms, in the right school district, close to my favorite grocery store and within walking distance of two of our favorite restaurants and the library.

It showed me that I didn't have to fall in love with the first house just because it was perfect. That there are other houses and will be other houses when we are ready that will fit our needs. I really am leaning towards the Craftsman style if we get a two story. I'd prefer a one story just because stairs are not my friend, but if there is a master bedroom on the ground level I am fine with that.

Of course I also, and this is more critical than most things, want whatever house we end up with to have an easily adaptable bathroom so we can make it handicapped accessible. Oh, and a big, pretty, bright kitchen. Okay, I guess that is enough rambling from me today.

OH, yeah, and I added $7.07 to the coin jar today.

Somehow or other I messed up on the math on my EF. I'm not sure how, but I ended up with $54.64 more than I thought I had in my Emergency Fund. Maybe I forgot to record a transfer at some point. Still, better I have more than I thought than less than I thought, but I'll try to watch my math better in future.

Anyway, I added $56.50 to the Safety Net portion of the EF. That was the money from the coin jar, plus the money I did not spend in my wallet that I had leftover from the last pay period. That brings the amount at CU#2 to $363.53. I added $100.46 to the EF at ING, bringing the amount there to $1,495.93.

$1495.93 ING EF
+_363.53 Safety Net EF
-------------
$1,859.46 Total EF

I think I will make it my goal to squeeze out enough money somewhere to get the EF to $2000 by the end of the month. I added $2.71 to the coin jar today after grocery shopping, so I'm on my way, bit by bit, step by step.

To my holding tank I added $1000 for medical. I also added $100 there for property tax and $17 for dues.

Bills paid out of this paycheck:

$300.00 utilities to Mom
___9.00 owed son to reimburse for vacation trinket
__36.00 son's 6 week allowance
__65.00 daughter's 6 week allowance
_100.00 cash
_500.00 mortgage on old house
__39.37 security system on old house
_144.00 storage
__41.25 old house insurance
__83.98 car insurance
__37.61 life insurance DH
__32.70 life insurance me
__49.91 propane tank rental old house
_330.57 Laptop (18 months same as cash)
-------------------------
$1769.39

I've got a little over $400 left in checking. Really starting to feel like I'm pulling ahead of the whole paycheck to paycheck thing. It is a good feeling. No credit card payments this time, but almost the whole of next week's paycheck will go to that (and the car payment), so it's all good.

Oh, I paid extra on the mortgage. Like $124 extra to principle. This was because I was so close to being under $20,000 I couldn't stand to not pay the extra to make that first digit a 1.