I asked someone on the blogs about a recipe they made, cornbread with fresh blueberries added and I completely forgot who it was who made it so I can't figure out whose blog to check to see if they answered me. I do have a box of Jiffy cornbread mix I could pour some blueberries into, but I do not think it would be quite as delicious. Still might be pretty good though.

I am glad payday is almost here. Not because I need it, I still have money left, but because it means I can send a payment to debt and some money (at least $100) to the EF. It also means I'll get a look at what the new raise will look like and adjust my budget accordingly. Some of the bills I was hoping would arrive before payday have not arrived yet. Like the car payment, which is due on the 19th.

When we had Toyota as the owner of the loan we got our bills a whole month in advance. BoA, not so much. It wouldn't come out of this check anyway, it would come out of the next one, but I like to have them ahead of time. I am always afraid they will get lost in the mail and then I'll forget about them. Although I can pay it online or in person so I guess I'm just splitting hairs, really.

I may have to go pick up meds at the pharmacy. Seems like all the antibiotics (I've been on them about six weeks straight for different things pre and post surgery) are causing a yeast infection, even though I'm taking acidophilous bifidus and eating live cultures yogurt. What a pain. Like I needed another thing right now. Oh, well, despite everything I am starting to feel better. Far less faint when I'm on my feet for longer periods, so I think I'm starting to get my strength back a little. Still going to be spending most of my day resting. I am so glad someone created laptops. It makes partial bedrest so much easier.

I need to figure out what is for supper. Maybe spaghetti tonight. I can sit at the table and chop an onion and the kids will cut up the tomatoes so we can make the good sauce. DD knows how to do it, she just won't chop the onion. A couple of the tomatoes need to be used up badly so I think this is a good plan.

Six hours in the car is a long time, even if it is divided by three hours of appointments plus lunch in the cafeteria. I had my follow up appointment at VM today. It was a very long and spendy day and I almost fainted twice at the hospital. They made me use a wheelchair, which was just as well, as I exhausted myself walking from registration to the cafeteria. Things are going pretty well with the healing. Did have a small skin infection around the drainage tube so got a topical and an antibiotic for that. I go back in a week to get this last tube out.

I picked up my blood pressure meds while I was at the pharmacy getting the other two meds and had them order the other med I have to take and am almost out of but they don't keep in stock. I spent $65 on prescriptions today.

I had to fill up the van to the tune of $61.89 for 17 gallons. Normally a gas tank lasts four weeks, but not with a round trip to Seattle. And I'll have to do another one this month so gas is going to be much higher than the usual expenditure.

We ate out three meals today. I probably could have planned it better, but I didn't. Spent around $50 for that. I paid for Mom since she was doing the driving.

I ended up with a ton of ones and change, $15.35 worth, that went into the coin jar for the EF. I have $25 left, but $20 of that will go for my last prescription. Hopefully that other $5 will go to the EF if nothing comes up.

Tomorrow cannot come soon enough. Even though it will be spendy (2 meals out and $20 for parking in the garage next to the hospital), it means I'll have some more freedom afterwards. At least if all goes well. I'll be glad to be able to hang my dresses back up and get into trousers and shorts again, that's for sure. They will still have to be loose fitting, don't want anything tight against the insicion site, but still. I should be okayed to drive. Then I'll only have to come back one week later and have the lost follow up and then I'll be done until November.

My first appointment is with radiology and is at 1. It shouldn't take more than 45 minutes. My second appointment is at 2:15 with the doctor who will read the results of the test and then do an exam and make sure everything is healing. I hope it doesn't take more than an hour because then we can get out of there before rush hour hits Seattle.

The cafeteria food at the hospital is quite good and reasonably priced so one of our meals will be there. We will also be filling up the gas tank on the way down. It is half full right now, but I never like to risk anything but a full tank in Seattle traffic. The kids will be taking plenty to do with them since they are going to be sitting in the waiting room with my mother for a fair bit of the day. I have a book I have just started so I should be fine with just that.

Part of why I overdid it yesterday was that I did have to go to the store. I needed cloth medical tape and it has to be a specific kind or I will have an allergic reaction (though even this kind itches a little). I thought I was doing okay enough that I could walk all the way to the back of the store as long as I was leaning on a grocery cart. Well, by the time that I did that and got back out to the car (Mom was driving me) I thought I was going to be sick. It passed, but I definitely should have ridden the little scooter around the store.

Anyway, I needed the cloth tape to hold on the gauze for wound care. Still had plenty of guaze, just been going through the tape like crazy, so I did end up with some money for the coin jar after all, $1.22.

I thought my follow up appointment was on Monday, but they just called to confirm and it's on Tuesday. Fortunately that works with my mother's schedule, but it also means I have to wait an extra day longer than I thought to get this drainage tube out and it itches!

I am fighting a very strong craving to order a pizza delivered, but I won't do it. I won't spend the $27.18 for that. Not this week anyway. I am going to go and have my daughter put the dough ingredients in the bread machine right now and we can have homemade pizza with leftover ham, leftover ground beef, onions, tomatoes, two kinds of cheese, and chicken sausage for dinner tonight. Which will taste even better than Round Table. It always does. Oh, and we had the ham and tater tot casserole for lunch instead of dinner. There is some leftover for tomorrow, too.

I got a bill from the place I went to have an EKG before surgery. For some reason they billed it to my old insurance instead of to the insurance card I gave them, so I had to spend a few minutes on the phone today listening to Muzak (really loud Muzak) before I could get that mess straightened out. Fortunately I could give the lady all the information over the phone and didn't have to go down in person to sort it out. She's going to rebill it and hopefully they'll do it right and then I'll only have to pay 10% of $97.60. I am glad that I have been really paying attention to my bills lately. This is the second error I've caught this year.

I've been quiet for a few days. Had a little bit of a setback with my recovery from surgery, in that no food was staying down for a few days. Left me drained and weak as a kitten (and definitely unable to formulate real blog posts). I am 27 hours into keeping my food down on a mostly liquid diet (do peas and carrots in soup count as non-liquid when they are tiny?). So mostly soup, a bit of pudding or Jello and water. I am off the narcotics completely, they were making me too ill. I am using ice packs and Ibuprofen for pain. It isn't much, but it's enough for me to get through the day with food digesting so that is what I am doing.

I need to have DH balance the checkbook and see where we are. I probably need to transfer some money out of savings into checking. I know the CU will do it automatically but they charge $1 every time they do it on their own and that's a bad habit to get into. I need to make an ING transfer as well to get the money for the first week of the month bills into the account. I figure two weeks at 1% interest is something, anyway, even if I am transferring stuff around a lot. The budget is basically on autopilot right now, otherwise.

I am tired. I want to sleep all the time, except night time, apparently. Then I'm wide awake staring at the ceiling or the laptop screen. I am forcing myself to stay awake today so that maybe tonight I can sleep. I am off caffeine and off sleeping medicine (both good things if I can stay that way, since they will be less output of money for things I shouldn't really need to buy).

I go back to the doctor on August 2 for a test and follow up and then am supposed to have a check up at 3 weeks as well. But since the two week check up is happening 3 days later than 2 weeks because the doctor isn't working on that Friday, it will probably put the second follow up at 3 and a half weeks to 4 weeks. DH won't be home for either of them so Mom will be driving me down. That should be an experience. At least I shouldn't have to do any over nights in Seattle again so that should keep the expense down.

After that it's just healing until November and then deciding if the second surgery is necessary or not. If so I want to get it done before years end, otherwise we'll have to face the $2500 deductible all over again. UGH.

DH was told back in October when he was hired at this job that he would likely get a raise around April, which would be the six month mark. Then we never heard anything about it again. He's not one to push and since it had never been set in stone he never asked about it, either. Well, on Friday's paycheck that raise finally showed up.

It's an increase to his day rate of $25 a day or about $550 gross every pay cycle, or $4730 gross a year. It's not a ton, but it's far more than I was expecting (which was nothing) and with all the forthcoming medical bills it will help a lot with providing some breathing room. And maybe we can get him started sooner on his next degree via correspondence college. We were planning on that as soon as the credit cards were paid off, but the we thought by next summer because of the medical debt coming up again.

This might even put us back on track for the getting the credit card paid off by the end of the year again instead of by March or so. I'm not really planning firmly. I'm just sort of thinking out loud in print at the moment. I'm too out of it on painkillers from the surgery to really plan anything, but dreaming is good.

My surgery went very well, and was a best case scenario according to the doctor, though I had a rough recovery. I threw up four times despite being on three different anti-emetics and only started keeping my food down about ten p.m. last night. No matter what, the chicken broth and apple juice would not stay down. But the unhealthy bright red food colored Jello did. And the toast and pears this morning and I've been eating fairly normally since. Well, normal if you call four chicken nuggets for lunch and half a can of TJ's chicken noodle soup for dinner normal.

I've been itching like crazy though from a reaction to the anesthesia. Feel like I could shed my skin and be happy about it. I'm in a fair amount of pain, but the medicine is making it tolerable and the ice pack is helping a bit. Hopefully the sleeping pill will just make me pass out tonight. I didn't sleep well last night as I threw up the sleeping pill and they didn't want to give me another one.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who prayed for me. I really appreciate the good thoughts sent my way.

Does anyone know what is going on with the Bank of America website? It's not allowing me into the CC payment page for about 2 weeks now. I know they revamped it, but it was working for a couple of days and now it's not again. Is anyone getting in?

My check in time for my surgery is in less than 8 hours so of course I have insomnia. And I keep thinking about how much this is going to end up costing us. I just hope it works, that everything is successful and that insurance will cover the majority of it.

At least we had a great time this week on our vacation. My kids will have great memories just in case. Oh, my that's maudlin, isn't it? But I always get so nervous beforehand, thinking about all the worst outcomes that so far have never happened.

Prayer would be appreciated from those of you that pray.

I made my coin jar deposit at CU#2 into the safety net portion of the Emergency Fund. The exchange rate was excellent as between my $41 in American and $20 in Canadian, I had a deposit of $60.62. That's almost at par! Anyway that brings the safety net up to $307.03. I also transferred $100 to ING into the Emergency Fund there so my total EF between the two is now $1545.51, so I have hit my goal of $1500 in the EF by the end of August, and a whole month early. My next goal is to hit $2000.

I also paid bills today for the rest of the month. There is nothing else due between now and the 1st.

$__33.08 (4 prescriptions, medical)
$__90.00 (physical therapy, medical)
$___9.38 (walk in clinic, medical)
$_100.00 Cash Out
$__44.89 (phone, old house)
$__37.68 (garbage, new house)
$_125.00 (laptop, 18 months same as cash)
$__65.56 (internet)
$_100.00 Emergency Fund
$1000.00 Holding Tank for Medical
$_757.82 Car payment with an extra $250 to principal)
$_500.00 Holding Tank First week of August bills
------------
$2863.41

The remaining amount of this paycheck will be spent on our road trip for hotels and food and $100 to clothes and toiletries. $1000 of next week's paycheck will be set aside for medical and $200 for groceries.

I'm really starting to feel like we are getting ahead of the game, paying bills early and setting aside money for future expenses. We are still a bit paycheck to paycheck, but I think we're pulling ahead now by a couple of weeks worth of expenses.

I can't remember the last time I was this tired. At least DH is home now so I can sleep in tomorrow morning. I'm afraid I might have the warning signs of a migraine coming on. I hope it is just a simple headache, I only get migraines when I eat something with MSG or other nasties in it and I didn't do that. It has been so long since I've had one (about a year) that I've forgotten what the start of one feels like, but I full well remember what a raging one is like and I don't have the time for it right now.

I added $2.17 to the coin jar today. I bought more milk, since DH won't drink non-fat like the rest of us, he likes 2% and I also got some nectarines that were actually ripe. I can't take my vitamin supplements right now because they are blood thinners, so for two weeks before the surgery I am not supposed to have them. But there is vitamin C in nectarines and they are in season so there you go.

I am trying to get in fifteen minutes of sunshine for vitamin D. Now that summer has finally arrived and is cooperating a little too much (in the 80's) that isn't much of a problem. Not sure what to do about the loss of fish oil and vitamin E, though.

So I didn't make it to CU#2 to make a deposit today. I totally spaced it. I had to have a fasting blood draw today and I had to wait a half an hour after I got there because it was busy. I was starving by the time I got in the back. No up front money there, but insurance never covers 100% of labwork so there will be a bill sent.

Then I went to physical therapy so $90 there. I was able to walk up the entire flight of stairs and back down again with only one foot per step instead of two, which is major as I haven't been able to do both in a long time. Maybe there is hope for this knee yet.

We are going through the homemade lemonade like crazy because it has been so hot, so I bought more lemons and sugar today and ended up with money for the coin jar, $4.18.

I had to get gas today as the little warning light had come on, so I didn't quite make it until DH came home, although I could have. I had more gas than I thought because when I filled the 20.9 gallon tank it only did 16.812 gallons. It was $3.479 a gallon so I paid $58.49 for that. Not bad for 3 weeks (DH filled it up on a Monday so technically 22 days).

I got a bill in the mail today for a medical thing I have already paid. They cashed my check two days before they sent the second bill out. Um...way to be on the ball people, does your accounts receivable not talk to your accounts payable?

I was quite annoyed by this bill because they wrote across it in all capital letters about how it was past due and were all vaguely threatening and used exclamation points. They mailed this bill on the 27th (supposedly) but it didn't even arrive until today and the place is in town, so it's not like it was coming from California or Texas or Virginia or something. Mail turn around is no more than 2 days if it is a local mailing.

I paid that bill two weeks after I recieved it. There is certainly no need for antics like this. If it had been 30 days or something I could see them getting a bit antsy, but it was sent and cashed well before the due date listed (which was actually the 30th so they sent out the past due bill before it was due) so I do not get this. I am going to call them tomorrow and tell them what I think of it, though. I don't appreciate this sort of thing at all.

I decided to go back to January and see how much progress has been made with debt repayment, because sometimes it seems like we are only treading water and sometimes it even seems like we are going backwards a little bit. But the numbers tell the real story.

$38,323.87 owed on personal loan in January.
Paid in full.

$29,133.45 credit card debt in January
$19,976.81 credit card debt owed now
--------------
$_9,156.64 debt paid off since January

$22,326.63 mortgage in January
$20,386.38 mortgage now (guess as it hasn't hit yet)
----------------
$_1,940.10 debt paid off since January

$93,000.00 medical debt (no interest loan from Mom)
$89,000.00 medical debt still owed
----------------
$_4,000.00 debt paid off since January

So grand total is $53,334.61 paid off in the last six months. And even if I take the personal loan out of the equation, because paying that off was a one time windfall, we have still paid off $15,010.74 worth of debt this year, $9000 of it on credit cards, while at the same time paying $3000 to new medical debt with more to come. I need to remind myself of this on occasion when I feel burnt out or like it's not worth it. Putting the numbers in front of my face like that makes me actually see that we have made a major leap forward.

Yes, we still have the van loan which I have not included with the rest of the debt. I look at it in a different way than other debt, as an investment against my disabilities, and it will have lots of money thrown at it in the future when our credit card debt is gone, but it's not something I'm concerning myself with at the moment other than to pay the monthly payments. We plan to keep this car until it falls apart and it can be easily adapted if my knee gets to the point where I'll need to use a wheelchair, which I hope never happens. I still hold out hope for rehabilitation.

If I can continue to pay $2500 a month to credit card debt it should be gone by the end of February. But I still have no idea how much my surgery is going to cost me in the end. Right now I'm guesstimating $5000 based on how much my gall bladder surgery and appendectomy cost, each with one overnight stay. They were around $3000 each for my portion and it's been several years ago. I am guesstimating on the high side because it's been several years and it's at a fancy, name brand hospital. Normally I put $4500 to debt repayment each month, about $3000 of it to credit cards. A part of me is still hoping to do it by year's end, but the more practical, sensible part of me says February/March is a more realistic goal.

Well, today was payday and I did some major debt repayment as well as taking care of quite a few of the regular bills. The MC's are all paid off again and the VISA is firmly under $20,000. I feel completely back in control again, both with the credit cards and with the no eating out. Day 4 on that challenge is going well.

I went to the grocery store and picked up a few items. One of them was gnocchi. One of the things my son really misses about going out to eat is going to olive garden and getting chicken and gnocchi soup so I got him a package of gnocchi and a box of organic free range chicken broth. We still have a couple of leftover pieces of chicken so tomorrow I will make him some chicken and gnocchi soup. My chicken soup is almost gone so I don't mind making another soup so soon.

Okay, so bills paid are below:

$1457.40 BoA credit cards
__500.00 Amex
__300.00 Mom's utilities
__100.00 Emergency Fund at ING
___16.70 Electric Bill Old House
___37.61 DH Life Insurance
___32.20 Me Life Insurance
___41.00 Old House Insurance
___83.98 Car Insurance
___39.37 Security System Old House
__155.00 Storage
__375.86 Old House Mortgage
__200.00 Cash
__100.00 groceries
__193.20 Dentist
__106.94 Medical


Car insurance has gone down with the Sienna by $11.63 a month or $69.78 for a six month term.

Of the cash $90 is to pay for physical therapy on Tuesday and $100 is for fireworks. Not sure what that extra $10 is for but it will likely end up in the coin jar. I have $62 left in checking if I need to buy milk or anything else this week, but since I already went grocery shopping I don't think I'll need anything besides milk. Maybe some hot dog buns if we decide to have a cookout on Monday and I am too lazy to bake some myself.

Bills left this month (other than the first new car payment) are pretty minor. There is just phone for the old house, internet, and garbage for the current house. Everything else is paid. That leaves almost $3000. So the majority of the next paycheck and the one after that will go to pay first week of August bills, to savings for upcoming medical, and to pay for our little trip around the Olympic Peninsula before we go to Virginia Mason for my surgery.

I am trying to make the gas left in the Sienna last until Wednesday when DH gets home. I have about 1/8th of a tank, but only have 3 minor driving excursions between now and when DH comes home. I sort of hate pumping gas with a passion. Well, it's more waiting in the long gas lines at Costco, but close enough. There is half a tank in the Crown Victoria so if I need to use that car one day instead I will.

I had my pre-op appointment this morning and everything went well. I still have to get a fasting blood lab done (maybe tomorrow morning, maybe Tuesday) and an EKG preformed Wednesday, which no one told me about and my doctor only happened to notice on the form he had to fill out. *sighs*

I went ahead and added the $15 I had left in my wallet to the coin jar. Payday is tomorrow and I have $16 left in checking which is enough to cover the milk and lemons I need to buy at the store today. That way I won't be tempted to buy more than I've determined I need to get. I wouldn't even get the lemons but DS is begging me for lemonade and because of his allergies it has to be made from scratch. Since he can't have apple or grape juice, lemonade is one of the few drinks he can have that isn't milk or OJ.

I am back on track with the no restaurant eating. The kids really want pizza this weekend so I said I would make one on Saturday. I'll have to buy cheese and pepperoni, but that still comes out far cheaper than the same amount of pizza from anywhere (except maybe Little Caesar's Hot 'N Ready) and it tastes better, too. I have some leftover onions, tomatoes, peppers, ham and chicken sausage I can put on it, as well. We like our pizzas loaded.

I put $1.27 in the coin jar today. I've got $15 left in cash until Friday and if I don't spend it between now and then it goes into the coin jar, too. I can't forsee spending it at the moment. I've still got $16 in the checkbook which is enough to buy milk, which is the only thing we are low on.

The payment I made yesterday to BoA credit card posted. After I make the next payments on Friday I will officially have the credit card debt under $20,000. Even though it seems like I've made little progress the last two months, we have made some and that is a good thing.

Just when I thought I'd have a breather another medical bill and another dental bill have come in. Darn it. $106.93 for a visit and strep test back in April for my son and $193.20 to the dentist for me, DS and DD. That should seriously be it. I can't think of any other medical/dental that should come in now. I guess that's $300 less to credit card debt this month.

Since the BoA website was still being stupid today--I could get in a bit further but I still couldn't make a payment--I went down to the actual brick and mortar bank and made a payment of $900. That makes a total of $1500 so far this month and I will have another $1900 at least to put on debt next week. Not all of it goes on the VISA. We did use the MC to pay for our stay at the Inn at Virginia Mason because it gets extra points for hotels, so that one is getting paid off in full. Amex is also getting paid off in full as it is each month, around $500. Also $500 will be set aside for our trip back to Virginia Mason for the surgery to pay for the hotel.

Then the following week I should be able to set aside $1000 as temporary holding money for the end of the paycycle when DH makes no money for two weeks, and put $2000 aside for medical, using the remainder for the few bills left for this month, including the car payment. The paycheck after that will go in with the temporary holding money. Anything left over after all payments are made in that two week cycle will be put in the Emergency Fund, with the idea that if I need it for medical I can use it. I am hoping $2000 will cover the cost of my portion of the surgery, but it's possible August money will have to be set aside as well.

It is complicated but I forsee us getting back on track with debt repayment by September.

DS went out to the house today with my mother and they collected all the aluminum cans. Between what was there and what was here they had 87 pounds, so DS got $28.50. He has enough now to pay for the 3DS except for sales tax, which will add an additional $24 that he still needs. He says he will work extra jobs to try to earn it before we leave for our trip, and I've agreed to let him try, but he really will have to work for it.

I can't believe I forgot to post yesterday. I am like Posty McPosterson of the Clan McPostsalot and I totally spaced. Anyway, yesterday was day eight of no eating out challenge. Unfortunately today was not day nine. I don't actually feel bad about it though. I got the manager's special from KFC, which was seven pieces of dark meat chicken, 2 large sides, 3 biscuits, and a mini chocolate chip cake for $15.85 (that's the with tax price).

That was actually enough food for two meals so we had it for lunch and for supper. I added a can of green beans to dinner for veg. The biscuits we are saving for breakfast tomorrow and half the cake for another day. I don't feel too bad about this as breakfast was free today. So $15.85 for the day plus food leftover seemed like a good choice when I woke up with a head full of congestion. I am so sick of allergies right now.

I am going to try to finish out the next week without anymore eating out though. Just because I gave in one day does not mean I need to give in every day.

Meanwhile, I balanced the checkbook on Friday and then sent out the bills.

$522.90 Anesthesiologist
$172.37 to ENT Doctor
$144.00 Water/Sewer Old House
$100.00 6 weeks allowances (plus extra jobs money)
$100.00 propane holding tank (ING)
$100.00 property tax holding tank (ING)
$_17.00 HOA dues holding tank (ING)
$100.00 Emergency Fund (ING)
$250.00 Groceries
+_90.00 Fringe
-----------------
1596.27

I have $986 left. I was planning to put $900 onto the credit card, but the stupid BoA website has not been working all day. I just keep getting Out of Memory at line 612, which is usually code for update your fricking flash player, but since I just updated my flash player I doubt very much that that is it. I will try again tomorrow and if it isn't working than I will go down to BoA in person. Nothing is due before the 4th and this was just an extra payment anyway, but I really wanted to make it and I'm bummed.

As for allowances, DD got her $60. That's $10 a week for her and she has to make it last for the next six weeks. DS got his allowance of $36 or $6 per week, plus $2 in tooth fairy money and $2 in extra jobs money. He picked up 200 pinecones and he gets a penny a pinecone, so a total of $40 for him which we promplty went and deposited into his bank account. He's now got $220 saved up for the 3DS he wants to buy.

My allowance was buying seasons one and two of Fringe (which was $90). DH will get his the payday after he comes home. He gets $100 for six weeks.

I got back four ones and 15 cents in change from KFC so that is going into the coin jar for the EF. I am hoping to go out to the house tomorrow and mow the lawn and weedeat. Hopefully DS will gather up all of the aluminum cans and bag them up. We had a bin in the shed that was full of them but something or someone got into it and now they're all over the floor. I told him if he does it he can have the money for recycling them.

And of course anymore pinecones he picks up at a penny a pinecone. He really wants to buy the 3DS before we go on vacation on the 11th but he doesn't quite have enough without doing extra jobs. And I've already told him we won't loan him money again. It's not that he doesn't pay it back, because he does. But we are trying to teach him that sometimes you just don't qualify for a loan, not even from Bank of Mom and Dad. Sometimes you just have to save up the whole amount on your own.

He seems to really get it. DD, not so much. She's already spent $15 on makeup and is planning out the rest of her purchases. I suggested, like I do every payday, that she at least put $10 into her savings account. I may have to make it more than a suggestion. She's almost 15 and resistant to saving in a big way. But she also thinks that credit card debt is stupid, so at least she's got that going for her.

So I emptied out my purse of all the money that was left and added $13.26 (over $3 of it was coins) to my coin jar. Then I rolled dimes and pennies. With my ones and a five I'll have a deposit of $28.50 to go into the local part of the EF (my safety net) at CU#2 tomorrow.

I received the bill from the dietician yesterday so that will be 3 medical bills to pay tomorrow. Not bad. We may have one more bill coming from them (less than $25), and one bill from the local walk in clinic (I forgot to ask DH if he paid up front when he took DD there for her ear infection, but it would only be 10%). Feels like we're getting our heads above water now in the medical game again. So, yay.

I balanced the checkbook. I was supposed to do that last weekend, but I procrastinated a lot. I have nothing left in the attached savings account (which isn't part of the EF) of the money I set aside for medical, but I used it for the oral surgery Wednesday, so that is okay. That was what it was put there for. So I'm right where I am supposed to be, on budget. I just wish I could eek out a little more to go to the EF. Oh, I know I'll send $100 sometime this pay cycle. Just not sure when.

Sometimes I skate the line pretty closely, but this time I had $300 left in checking. Of course, it's earmarked for debt repayment or medical, but the point is it's there.

DD had her two lower wisdom teeth taken out this morning. She doesn't have any on the top (neither did DH) so it was a little cheaper than it would have been if she'd had all four. They also cut the gum away from the back molars that had been growing up over them because of the way the wisdom teeth were pushing. We had to pay $399.60 up front before the surgery. Considering their original estimate for our portion was closer to $700, that really isn't so bad. I also paid $10.95 at the pharmacy for 3 prescriptions for DD, a painkiller, an antibiotic, and a anti-nausea to take with the painkiller. Thank goodness for generics.

On Friday I have 3 more medical bills to pay from DS's surgery and then that should be over with and we'll only have to worry about my upcoming surgery in July, which will be more expensive since it is invasive and will involve at least one overnight, they think. So far I have not had to touch my meager emergency fund. I keep hoping that will remain the case. Still, better to touch the EF than to reach for the credit cards.

I've got two appointments next week for medical. One is DD's follow up from the oral surgery and one is my pre-operative appointment. So a whole week without anything medical (unless you count physical therapy, which I sort of don't). I don't think there's been one of those at all this month.

Last night before I went to bed I was nosing through the freezer figuring out what today's lunches were going to be. The kids and I couldn't really come to a consensus of what we wanted so I turned to my stash of homemade TV dinners. I make these up when there are only enough leftovers for one person's meal, as opposed to enough leftover from dinner for everyone to have lunch the next day.

DS happily claimed the little chicken pot pie, DD was thrilled to find a turkey, stuffing, and veggie combo leftover from the turkey we roasted in April, and I discovered a chicken enchilada that was calling my name. It fed our need for variety without having to make up three different things for lunch today.

Breakfast:
Blueberry Muffins (.49)
Scrambled Eggs (free, from chickens)
Beef Bacon ($2)
Milk ($1.50)

Total: $3.99

Lunch:
Leftover pot pie (free)
Leftover turkey dinner (free)
Leftover enchilada (free)
Salad (free, garden)
Dressing (.25)
Strawberries ($1)

Total: $1.25

Dinner:
Cheeseburgers
--hamburger ($1.37)
--cheese (.50)
--1/8 cup tomato sauce (.13)
--1/8 cup onion (.25)
--condiments (.12)
--homemade buns (.50)
Milk ($1.50)

Total: $4.37

Grand Total for Day: $9.61!

I love it when the cost of leftovers really lowers that daily amount like that. It'll definitely help balance this coming weekend's picnic ham. Today is a no spend day, as well. Tomorrow won't be as I have to get a prescription for DD who is having her wisdom teeth out and I have to pay up front for our portion of the surgery. At least the money is available and it won't have to go on a card. Even last year we might have had to charge it so I am very glad about where we are right now even if it does seem we keep getting battered with medical expenses.

Today was a good day. Although I feel like I had to run a lot, it wasn't so bad. I started off at physical therapy and so that was $90 out. Had a visit to the chiropractor but the month is already prepaid so no money out there. Went to Trader Joe's to get the cheaper Clam Chowder to have on hand for after DD's wisdom teeth get removed so she'll have an easy choice that has plenty of protein in it. I also picked up peanut butter and two packages of nitrate/nitrite free all beef hotdogs. I spent $32.47 there.

I stopped at Link's Optical (because it was across from TJ's) to pick up a couple packages of the glasses cleaning wipes, so that was $11.50, but we'll be stocked for a good while. Or a while anyway. When you have four people in one household wearing glasses they don't last as long as when there was just two.

After that I went to Bank of America to pay on the credit card. I only paid $500 today, but I will pay another $500 on Friday which is payday. Normally I pay $1000 in one go, but with the medical bills everything is off kilter a bit and I have to pay up front for DD's oral surgery Wednesday and that will be $400 so I just did half for now.

Then I went to the store and got some Icy Hot Naturals to put on my back. It's not as good as Mineral Ice, but I wasn't going to drive around looking for it when my back was starting to lock up. It cost $7.99 for a big tube (8 ounce, I think).

Okay, so still no temptation to eat out which is nice. I thought this was going to be tougher because I am so tired, but we are all into the planning and the making of meals so it's working very well.

Breakfast:
Homemade biscuits with strawberry jelly (.50)
Bananas (.80)
Homemade Lamb sausage ($3)
Milk ($1.50)

Total: $5.80

Lunch:
Beef Quesadillas made with--
--leftover beef potroast (free)
--spelt tortillas ($1)
--shredded cheese blend ($1)
Cucumber slices (.79)
Water

Total: $2.79

Dinner:
Cornish Game Hens ($8)
Leftover potatoes (free)
Leftover gravy (free)
Can of green beans ($1)
Milk ($1.50)

Total: $10.50

Grand Total for day: $19.09

So under my daily goal of $20, not too bad. I was guessing on the cornish game hens on what they cost, based on what they are selling for now, which is $4 a hen. They've been in the freezer for a while and probably cost less than that at the time. I can't imagine I'd have bought them at full price. But it's close enough.

Tomorrow will be at least partially a seafood day. I've got some Langastino that needs to be eaten and while I was rooting around in the freezer I also noticed there was a two pound bag of prawns so those will go into a meal later in this week. There was lots of frozen salmon as well so I think we will have salmon for dinner tomorrow. I should take some out to thaw now. Or maybe I should save the salmon for when DD can barely chew. Hmm...well, I'll figure it out this evening.

I need to balance the checkbook. I skipped doing it this weekend so really need to get to it.

I've been quiet for the last few days because I totally messed up my knee again. I didn't even do anything to it. It just suddenly swelled up and started hurting. Well, it may have been getting in and out of the Corolla loaner car. Not really made for a person with disabilities. That is the only thing I can think of and I do remember it twinging then. I finally got in to the doctor today and he drained 15 cc's of fluid out of it then shot me up with cortizone. I feel like it's always one step forward, two steps back with this thing. Will it never really heal?

I haven't done anything productive since Tuesday, but neither have I been spending wads of money so I guess it balances out. Laying in bed with my leg elevated and with ice on while reading is at least free, yes? Tess Gerritson continues to entertain even if I am reading her Detective Jane Rizzoli and Dr. Maura Isles series backwards (I don't know if it has an official name or not for the series). Doesn't matter though, each book is a treasure on its own, although I still wish there weren't so much hard swearing. I am currently reading The Apprentice. I should be reading The Surgeon first but it was checked out and besides, this is the one where Jane meets her husband and I want to read that more than I want to read them in order

I got my doctor to call in new prescriptions of my high blood pressure medicine and my sleeping pill. I will need the sleeping pill on vacation with all four of us staying in the same room and the various levels of noise my family makes from outright snoring to sleeptalking. I can't afford to get sick from lack of sleep on our vacation since my surgery immediately will follow it.

Today was the last day of school and I am so glad it is out for the summer. No more 7 a.m. drop offs. No more having my life dictated to me according to the school district's schedule. No more making endless sandwiches for school lunches. Just nice lazy days ahead of us for the next week and afternoons at the pool.

Before DH and I took the vehicle down to have it Scotch Guarded, we filled up the tank. It cost $56.19 for 15.358 gallons at $3.659 a gallon. I have found Scotch Guarding to be worth its weight in gold over the years. There are stains I never thought we'd get out of the couch that came out because it had been protected. We got melted wax crayon out of the back seat of the last car even. I will get it back late tomorrow afternoon. They gave us a Corolla as a loaner. Not impressed, but at least it wasn't an itty bitty little Yaris. I can feel the difference in my body after driving it.

The Sienna is definitely better for my disabilities. Apart from comfort of seating it also allows for easier entry and exiting. In the smaller car I have to use my cane to get out and it's a real struggle. They say the Corolla and Matrix are virtually the same car, but they really are not. I can really tell the difference there. There is also ten times the lumbar support in the chair (of the Sienna) and my low back does not ache while driving it which is great because once is starts to lock up and spasm, I'm pretty much no good for a week.

We took DH to the airport today. He is supposed to text when he gets up to work safety, but usually forgets.

I had my physical therapy in the middle of the day and am pretty sure the therapist was trying to cause permanent damage a few times. It was probably the most painful session I've ever had. But the walking was easier this evening so maybe it is worth it all.

Before DH left he empited out his wallet and had $3.28 for the coin jar and five dollars in ones, all to go to the EF eventually. Bit by Bit it grows.

My mother managed to fall again, tripped face first into the chicken coop. Her glasses dug into the bridge of her nose and her nose itself is an ugly shade of brown, all puffy and swollen. And she managed to sunburn herself something fierce. She's doing okay, but I really wish she'd be more careful. When we move out we will definitely not move too far away if we can help it. If she's going to keep falling (it'd been months since the last fall) than she needs people around to make sure she's safe. *sighs*

We'll get our car back tomorrow afternoon after the kids get out of school. I am glad we do not live too far from the dealership.

I want to sign up with MySurvey and was wondering if anyone here had a referral link, since I might as well help someone else out at the same time. I've been doing two survey companies, but am wanting to get a bit more serious about it. I used to make about $50 a month doing surveys, and it would be nice to have that again going into the EF.

I went to the dentist yesterday and now he's thinking it needs a root canal, so he's referred me to a dentist that does that. Unfortunately insurance will only cover 50%. I also took DD to the oral surgeon yesterday and her wisdom teeth definitely need to come out since they are starting to push on her molars and after all that orthodontic work we don't want it getting wrecked. Plus she's in pain a lot. Insurance will also only cover half of that. She only has two with no sign of any on the top so at least that makes it cheaper. She'll be getting them out on the 22nd.

I haven't decided what I will do about my tooth. It only hurts when I chew, but it is kind of exhausting to only chew on one side of your mouth. I'd like to wait until after my surgery in July but I'm not sure that will be possible. I should probably just go and do it. It doesn't rain but it pours. I'm forecasting our credit card debt payoff as end of February now. It's still less than a year away. We are still making progress, just a bit more slowly and I can live with it.

I added $1.29 to the coin jar yesterday and $4 in ones and 66 cents to it, today.

Today was a very busy day. We went to the insurance company and got the insurance switched over to the new car. It will be $110 less per year. We got an in person estimate for having the Crown Vic detailed. Only $200. I was very surprised, I was expecting double that, but apparently we've cleaned up the worst of it ourselves. We do need to try to replace the gaskets on the door, though. May not be possible to find them as it is a '92 and obsolete despite the fact that I see dozens of them still driving around all the time. We may just have to buy a car cover to put over it so water and snow melt don't leak in during the cold season.

I scheduled an appointment with the dentist for Wednesday morning as that filling is still hurting me when I chew. Put a call in to schedule the scotchguarding of the new car, but ended up on voice mail. I called the billing service for DS's surgery because for some reason they had billed it to my MIL who was the emergency contact instead of me or my husband who are actually responsible for the bills. Got that all straightened out. That bill is $522.90 so I will send that off tomorrow now that I know it will be credited properly to the correct account.

I still need to schedule an oil change for the Crown Vic. Will do that after the detailing though, which will be done on Thursday. Probably should just schedule it for Friday then. So a lot of vehicle expenses this week, but we knew that.

DD and I meet with the dietician tomorrow and DS goes to the dentist with DH for a filling. I am glad he is home for it as I have a hard time with my kids getting needles poked into them. Then DD meets with the oral surgeon on Wednesday for a consult on her wisdom teeth which are pushing against her back molars and causing pain. They are also preventing the dentist from getting at a couple of tiny cavities he needs to seal, not fill, I think he said. So dental will be spendy this week, too. We may need to dip into the emergency fund, but I will try my best not to.

I put four ones and 19 cents into the coin jar today.

ING paid its interest on my savings account today, a whopping .70 bringing the total of my EF there to $828.06. I finally made it to CU#2 to deposit my coin jar savings. I added in a spare twenty dollar bill to my rolled coins and ones. The deposit was $66.50. This brings the part of the EF there to $285.91.

$828.06 ING EF
+285.91 CU#2 EF
---------
$1113.97 New EF Total

We got gas today at $3.62 per gallon. It's really dropping. We got 11.172 gallons for $40.54.

I paid $90 for physical therapy yesterday and $25 for a prescription. This is the medicine that cost $150 before we hit our medical deductible. Much, much more reasonable.

We are taking the car down on Friday for an oil change and to check the brake pads and see if they need replacing since last time we took it in they said the next time the pads might require replacing. What with how many times we will be going to Seattle in the next several months I want to make sure we stay on top of that. We also need to change the back windshield wiper. It stuck to some ice this winter and it got pulled free unevenly and it's stopped wiping properly since, leaving massive streaks every time we use it.

We may test drive a Sienna while we wait at the dealership. Still a year off (at the very least) from buying one, but I'd like to see how it handles.

I added $200 to my Emergency Fund today, bringing the new total to $1042.27. $827.36 is at ING and $214.91 is at local CU#2. I will be adding my coin jar savings tomorrow at CU#2 since I didn't make it over there before we went to Seattle. I've figured out the budget through June 24th and balanced the checkbook. I have $500 in savings for medical bills as they come in. I will be able to set aside $1000 next payday for that as well. I sent $500 to AMEX today and set aside $100 for property tax and $17 for dues.

Since I've budgeted very carefully we won't have to skip a car payment in June unless the medical bills are just ridiculous. We are still two months ahead and I'd like to save those two chances for a time when I might need them more.

My mother has said we can suspend all further payments to her until all of our medical bills are paid (originally she just said two months) since there will be one more surgery than was expected, so long as we keep doing the $300 worth of utilities and pay the garbage. That will help a whole lot. I wish all these surgeries could have waited until 2012 when our last credit card would be paid off. I'm still trying to be optimistic that we'll get it paid off this year.

The kids want to take a road trip instead of going to camp this year. That will save us quite a bit of money. Three days driving around the Olympic Rain Forest and touring the capitol (overnighting with family) and then we'll end up in Seattle at the Inn at Virginia Mason the night before my surgery, stay there for two days and then come home. I have to overnight in the hospital one night so after I come safely out of surgery they will go and do some stuff in the city center, since I'll just be asleep anyway.

Mom will drive me down for my follow up three weeks later since DH will be back in Alaska then. I won't be allowed to drive myself yet and anyway, Seattle traffic scares the heck out of me. While I am at VM Mom will visit my dad in his nursing home in Issaquah. I'm not sure whether we'll take the kids or not.

I'm hoping MIL will take them overnight which she almost never does. I can count on one hand how many times they've stayed overnight there and they are 14 and 11, so it probably won't happen. SIL would likely do it, but she has to work. They are old enough to stay by themselves during the day, just not at night. If they have to come, they have to come, but Mom will keep them with her. It'll all work out one way or another.

I can't tell you guys what a good experience this was for me, despite the excrucitaing amount of pain the tests caused. I have never had such good doctors, nurses, and technicians before in my life, and I've seen a lot of medical people. The two doctors, nurse, medical assistant, and x-ray tech that were on my team were all so awesome. The one nurse kept me as distracted as she possibly could (she was so funny) and the one doctor held my hand through the worst of the pain, though I thought it might have been better if it wasn't the surgeon's hand that I was squishing the heck out of.

They definitely found the problem, but NO TUMORS! Still, this whole thing is going to be complicated. It will require 2 surgeries, several weeks apart, since I will have to be totally healed from the first one. And the doctor said the first surgery may or may not improve symptoms. It might even make things worse until they can do the second surgery which will make things better. While I didn't like hearing that, I appreciated his honesty.

Funny thing, I saw this specialist because it would have been September before I could even get into the female doctor (his partner) that the specialist here in town recommended. Well, this doctor will be having her assist on the surgeries, which means I'll be getting the doctor that was originally recommended without having to wait to have seen her. Interesting how life works out sometimes. Plus, did I mention how awesome the male doctor is?

I really liked the hotel we stayed at, The Inn at Virginia Mason. You never even have to go outside to get to the hospital. They are built on this massive hill and there's an elevator that goes from the first floor of the hotel down into the hospital and then you walk a long corridor to get to another elevator that takes you to whatever floor of the hospital you need to be. Which was great, because I never woud have been able to walk up and down that steep hill with my knee.

The hotel was very nice. It was old-fashioned, the closet doors had glass ball door knobs! It was very clean, and our room was a bit minimalist decor wise and amenities wise(had no hair dryer or iron/ironing board), though it had a tv with over 20 channels (we never turned it on) and free WiFi. The beds were comfortable and the bathroom was so big you could have fit another bed in there and still had room to move around. If there's one thing I hate at a hotel, it's a postage stamp sized bathroom. The room itself was quite spacious, too. Couch was kind of hard.

They had a fabulous and reasonably priced restuarant that had the best French Dip sandwich made from sliced prime rib. DH and I split one and it's accompanying stuff. It was quite filling. We had brought our own gallon of milk in a cooler with us from home so we saved a lot on drinks while there. Also instead of getting room service, DH just called it in and then went down to pick it up, saving the surcharge.

On our way down there we stopped at the Alderwood Mall for an hour to avoid the worst of Seattle area rush hour and I found a purse with a long shoulder strap that allows it to go across the body and rest comfortably at the hip. We found it at Macy's. I was so thrilled. It was a little pricy, $78 marked down to $58, but after looking through Nordstrom's ($398 for the only purse I liked there and it was only made from vinyl!), I was happy to find one I liked. The strap is fastened on securely through buckles, it's roomy enough for a paper back, it has all the compartments I like, and it is the most gorgeous shade of blue ever. Plus it's leather. And it was $11 cheaper than the one I found online (not including shipping). The purse department at this Macy's, I swear, was as big as the entire Macy's store in my town.

We spent $350 of our medical travel budget on the hotel, food, and gas. The purse money came out of my clothing replacement fund. I have $50 left so that is going into the EF on Tuesday.

We'll head down to Seattle in a couple of hours, sometime after my dental appointment. They are going to fill the last two cavities. Anyway, my appointment at Virginia Mason is tomorrow morning at 9:30 so those of you who pray, if you'd pray that all goes well, that nothing too terribly bad is found, and better still that they can surgically fix me. Also, that I don't have an allergic reaction to the contrast dye, because that always makes stuff extra fun.

Probably going to spend about $400 between today and tomorrow. I am taking $500 just in case. I wish we could afford a rental car on top of this. The trip would go better in a vehicle I can stretch my bad leg out in. Way less cramping.

The doctor said to bring over a temporary handicapped parking permit form and he would fill it out for me and we can hit the courthouse on the way out of town. Since my knee and my quad are acting up something fierce right now that will be very helpful.