Last night I googled myself. Not me, but LuckyRobin, just out of curiosity. Wow. And of course, all of it related to stuff from here or some other blog sites that had cherry picked a couple posts. Never had any kind of presence on the web before. Certainly not with my real name.

I got caught up in an old forum post about ING vs. Emigrant Direct. It took me 5 hours to read the whole thing. So much good information there. Now I have to go read the one about ED vs. HSBC. I am a long way from making any decisions, not without more information.

The money from ReadRevenue showed up in my paypal account today so transferred that to my credit union and with any luck it will show up by Friday so I can add that $3 to my savings account. I was hoping to hit $800 in savings by the end of August, so after tomorrow's automatic deposit will be $7.15 short. So I think I will go on over there and add ten bucks more in since I will be in town anyway.

The closer school gets, the more my kids are fighting, it seems. I only have to get through 6 more days of that. Less, if I can talk Mom into an overnight with them. Here's hoping. I think they just may kill each other before that. I miss my good kids and wonder when they plan on coming back.

Soccer starts next week, too. I've heard from Rose's coach but not Tobias' coach yet. Hopefully, I don't have to spend a lot of time tracking that info down like I did last season. It is a pain in the neck to do. I'm not looking forward to the extra gas spent shlepping to practices but I think the exercise will wear them out and help them sleep better on the new change to school sleep schedule. Because I haven't had much luck trying to adapt them back off the summer schedule even though it is getting dark shortly after 8 right now.

I can't wait for next Tuesday!

We recycled just over 5 pounds of aluminum cans today at $0.36 per pound and got $1.86. They paid all in change so I just threw it in my change jar. Rolled coins today and have one roll of quarters, one roll of dimes and a another Sacajawea dollar, a total of $16 ready to deposit into savings next time I go buy that CU, which is probably tomorrow.

DH and I talked about it last night and we are going to approach BIL about trying to sell our SUV for us and we will give him 10 percent of the sale price. He sold his own SUV, which was also a Chevy Blazer and was one year older than ours, had 50,000 more miles than ours does and was not a luxury model just before Christmas for $4000. We figure trade in value would only be around $2000. BIL has a good network of car people so chances are he could get a better price and with a ten percent commission as motivation he will get the best price he can.

Plus, BIL is around. DH is out of state 16 days out of every 28 working. Kind of hard to show a car that way and I don't want to do it, there are too many kooks out there for a woman in the boonies home alone with little kids to be dealing with.

Then that money could go in the bank and start earning interest for us while we save up the rest we need, and we could also not be paying insurance on two vehicles once it sold.

Still not 100 percent sure what we will do with the Crown Vic. I am quite partial to it and I can get 20.6 miles per gallon average with it, but we just don't need two cars. Not with DH having an out of state job that provides vehicles when he needs one. Well, we still have awhile to think on it, anyhow.

DH and I drove down to Burlington today to do some shopping. Well, we did a lot of looking, but not much buying. We spent a little over $5 at the Target there, but we might as well have just gone to the one in Bellingham. It has a better selection.

We visited one of the hardware stores they don't have in our county but it was so poorly laid out, badly lit, dirty, and smelled like kitty litter that I didn't want to buy anything there, let alone stay in the store.

We looked in one of the stores at the outlet mall, the kitchen one, but they did not have the hard anodized cookware that I want. At all. Even Target has it. Just not in anything bigger than 10 inches and I need a 12 inch pan. I do not want to buy the entire set at Costco just to get the one pan that I need.

DH and I went to Outback for dinner. I had an appetizer for my entree, kukkaburra wings with celery and bleu cheese dressing and a baked potato on the side. Oh, and the rye bread they serve. I still have five kukkaburra wings so they will be for tomorrow's lunch.

The girl gave me an extra loaf of the rye bread to take home free and also a big tub of their bleu cheese dressing. Also free. I normally hate bleu cheese, but this is the only place I really like it. They make it from scratch. I asked, as I was hoping to get the brand name so I could buy it and she said she'd just get me a big old tub of it. It's at least a 4 ounce container. Might even be 6.

So, I'll be eating a lot of celery to use it up over the next little while.

So we spent $39.35 for dinner and an $8 tip. DH had no leftovers.

Oh, and because we had too, according to DH, we bought a dozen doughnuts at Krispy Kreme. So not a needed expense at all, but I give once in awhile, otherwise it is just discouraging to always, always scrimp. And it was all planned before we went, anyway. It was not an unplanned expense.

My daughter's birthday is coming up and I did not see anything in the store for her at all. She'll be ten and that is an awkward stage to buy for. I'm thinking about a used Game Cube from Game Stop. A couple of books. And maybe some clothes that will double as school clothes. Not too crazy about the looks of the clothes right now. Kinda raggy ratty. This is a fashion?

She wants to get her ears pierced but I said she has to wait until she turns 12 for that. She only wants them now because her cousin got hers done when she turned ten. Most of her friends had them done as babies, but I have always been of the firm opinion that my daughter's body belongs to my daughter and I didn't feel I had the right to put holes in it without her consent. Just my opinion, I know other people do it all the time.

She can have the holes when she can take care of them well on her own. I'm not dealing with infected ears. Hence age 12. And hope she doesn't wear me down.

Filled up the gas tank in Sedro-Wooley on the way home. $2.95 a gallon. Saw one place that had $2.94 but DH didn't want to go across all the traffic he would have had to go across to get there. The best price in my county is $2.99, which is why I saved our fill up for today. It's always a bit cheaper just across the county line.

I decided to work out how much money I will have in long-term savings, which is our car fund by the end of April of 2007.

With just the $10 deposit every Thursday, the amount of our usual tax return, and the the amount of my DH's annual bonus, all of which we will receive by April's end, we will have $5312.00. We are assuming a low trade-in value of $2000 for our 96 Blazer, so that is $7,312 right there.

This doesn't count any of my click-thru earnings or trial offer earnings at all, since I won't know what those will be. So far my earnings have been anywhere from $100 to $30 a month, but it'll definitely all go into that fund. I think I'll put the freezer money account on hold for now and deposit my rolled coin and recycled cans money into the car fund, too. Our old freezer is adequate right now for our needs. It is not as energy efficient as the new ones, it is at least 32 years old, but we keep it full so it runs at peak condition.

This really gives me new heart. I'm going to try harder to see where I can save money. I'm not sure how much longer the 96 or the 92 will last. But I'm banking on the 92 lasting longer than the 96, based on past performance.

If I could save $8,000, plus the $2000 trade-in, we could be looking at actually buying in a year instead of two. We'll have to see how long the other's last and I'd prefer not to finance at all if we don't have to, again, depending on how long the other vehicles last.

I wonder if the car place would take two cars for trade-in? Do they even do that? Hmm. I'll have to find out. Anyone on here a car salesman or married to one?

Today we had a car appointment to see why the check engine light never went off after our last repair and also why the cruise control stopped working at the same time. And to get the wiper blades replaced, which technically we could have done ourselves but its a big hassle for me and DH doesn't like to do it as he always manages to crack a fingernail or pinch a finger or cut himself when he does it.

We only ended up having to pay for the wiper blades because the reason the cruise control wasn't working was because they had forgotten to tighten something and they couldn't see any reason for the engine light to come on. They took it for a drive and it didn't come on for them. They said it was safe to drive now.

So we spent $25.99 there. While we were waiting we ate lunch out, which is something we weren't going to do, but did anyway. We went down the highway and across at the big light to Shari's and I haven't eaten there in maybe 10 years because it always used to reek of smoke the minute you opened the door. My allergies couldn't handle that so I didn't go. Well, the anti-smoking law passed and at the first of the year you could not smoke in any restaurant or bar, so we decided to go there, and well, I didn't miss anything by not going there so long. The food was unremarkable. Spent $30.89 for food and left a seven dollar tip, because the service was very good despite the food.

Then we walked back across the highway and down to the Barnes and Noble and spent an hour there. I picked out some work books for Rose. Her teacher said she should practice her cursive and her printing over the summer because she can be very sloppy when she doesn't try. And then picked up some math practice books on her weak areas which are place values and division. Also got multiplication and division flash cards.

For Tobias we got some early reader, very simple books and some printing practice, then some number games and puzzles, too. These were planned purchases out of what was left in my homeschool money envelope that turned up last night. I had misplaced it quite awhile ago and it had $100 left in it from a year ago when we last were homeschooling. We spent $108.39. Sales tax put us just over.

We then went to Exxon to use the last of my Exxon gas cards only the machine said it was accepted but then after we put the gas in, it said it wasn't. So the clerk came out and tried to get them to work and they wouldn't. Well, we'd already put one card's worth in the tank, which was $10 so we had to pay that in cash. I was miffed because we never would have gotten gas there without the card because it was $3.09 a gallon at Exxon and the Arco across the way was $2.99 a gallon so we would have gone there without the card. In fact we did go there and put the last $13 of cash I had in the tank.

Then we went to MIL's where the kids were playing in the pool, looked at the new sauna and hot tub that they'd put in and chatted for awhile. Then home. Well, we drove by a fruit stand selling cherries for a dollar a basket and I scrambled to count my change, but only had 92 cents, so we couldn't stop. They sell the best cherries there.

We also stopped at the IGA and I bought a few things. I got 4 chicken hindquarters (which equals 8 pieces), a bunch of scallions, 2 pounds of shredded cheese and 18 hormone free, antibiotic free, free-range chicken eggs for $10.69, but minus ten cents for using my proud card, so only $10.59. Everything but the scallions was on sale, and the scallions were only 69 cents.

So we spent a good bit today, but it was $200 less than we expected, because we figured the car would be a lot more. But since the problem was their error, it wasn't. However, the check engine light did come back on again, so grr, argh.

Yesterday we went on our big run for the month. We plot out each store we need to visit and then the shortest drive distance to get to them and drive it in order. We started at Haggen grocery store because we had bought stamps there earlier in the week but hadn't been given them, so took the receipt in and got them. We also bought a watermelon and 10 bottles of soda for a 7-Up promotion. It had 10 2 liter bottles for $10, with a $10 rebate. Flavors allowed included A&W root beer and cream soda, orange crush, and a couple of the new flavored 7-Ups. We hardly buy pop anymore, but for this we'll end up having only paid the 8.4% sales tax. And it should last all summer.

After that we went across the street to Wells Fargo and paid the Medical Mortgage $1000 and then on to our main CU to get money for gas. We then went to Sprawl-Mart (WalMart)to get water socks for Rose (will her feet ever stop growing? She's just gone to a nine and she's only nine! Also got Sudafed at their pharmacy after signing in blood and taking a retinal scan to prove my identity. Okay, I'm only slightly exaggerating, I only had to show photo I.D. and sign electronically. While we were there we picked up nasal spray and eye drops that are safe for contacts (DH just got them.) And we bought 2 gallons bubble soap because it allows the kids endless entertainment. All purchases planned and no extra items snuck into the cart when I wasn't looking.

Then we went to Costco, which is across the highway from Sprawl-Mart and I am very happy that we only picked up what we planned on there, also. Kleenex brand tissues, Charmin brand toilet paper, the big bag of chopped romaine lettuce, and 2 pounds of King crab legs. Then we walked to the other end of the parking lot to Bed, Bath & Beyond and used my $20 in g.c.'s from a trial offer plus spent an additional $23 to get a good digital food scale. It goes up to ten pounds, and it is what I will use to weigh my e-bay packages. Since most of what I will be sending is going to be used dance shoes and leotards from the past seven years, that should be a good limit.

Then we took the jog over to the cheap Arco and filled the tank. $45 almost but it's gone down to $3.05. I forgot to buy Costco cash at Costco or we would have got it there four cents cheaper. Then to Fred Meyer for organic milk on sale and the cheap 2% for DH on sale. They had an unadvertised sale on turkey legs at .79/lb so we got some of that and some .88/lb chicken thighs and legs. Then we walked next door to Baskin Robbins. I had coupons for buy one get one free kids cones for the kids, but payed full price for mine and DH. This is a rare thing, we do not go there often and it was also planned, not impulse.

All in all it was a very good shopping trip and the kids were good. By plotting out our course ahead of time we were able to spend the least amount of gas getting places and we didn't back track at all.

Just a little spending this payday, its just the little one with 2 days on it. So $48 in groceries, mostly produce but $18 on turkey for lunches and turkey ham for breakfast, $15 for allergy meds, $9.21 for lunch at my favorite Mexican place with a $3 tip and enough leftovers for one more meal for me, and enough rice for both kids to have a serving, also. $44.01 for gas and the tank actually had an F on it, that's been awhile. Was over on the right side of town so went to the cheapest Arco at $3.13 a gallon.

On the way home I stopped by the berry farm which started selling strawberries yesterday and got a full flat for $15. The same amount in town at the store from the same farm would cost $32. I'll keep a couple boxes in the fridge for eating fresh and then cut up the rest and sugar them. I'll freeze a couple of Ziploc quart bags full for later use.

I had the massage therapy appointment this morning so that was $50 and I have one more appointment for Wednesday and that will be another $50 and then I should be okay and not need anymore physical therapy, here's hoping.

I still have to pay the cable bill, most likely the last one, depending on when I can get the tech out to pull the box. Other than that no other bills until next payday.

Okay, maybe it was a spendy day after all, LOL. But it was small amounts spendy, not big amounts spendy.

I used to save my MyPoints points for Christmas time and get Toys R Us gift certificates, but the one in our town went out of business, and though I could order from them online, when I do my Christmas shopping I like to really see the toys up close and personal.

Anyway, I decided to cash out my points for gas cards instead, so I should be receiving 4 $10 gas cards from Shell. There's one halfway between here and town and its right off the highway, so easier for me to get to than the Exxon that is by the airport or the Exxon in the IGA parking lot, which can be very hard to get back on the highway from, even turning right.

So those should show anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks, but I usually get them in about 10 days. With this and the 2 Exxon cards I have in my purse from one of my trial offers, I'll save $60 off my gas budget.

I did a product evaluation this morning, well it is in two parts, I did the first part, and have to wait for the product to arrive before I can do the second part. It pays $23 but part of that covers S and H, so really it is a net of $13.50. It's already in my account. I have had a lot of luck with product evaluations, more so than with trial offers. This one is for something that if it works I would actually buy it.

I also found $2.19 when I cleaned off my computer desk. Courtesy of DH, who likes to plop his change in various nooks and crannies around the house, even though he knows full well where the change jar is located. Sigh. Oh, well, it makes for nice little surprises from time to time. Better a surprise like that then the ones my kids like to leave me (half eaten hot dog behind the couch that has mummified, for example).

I had my massage therapy appointment this morning and feel so much better. I have one more on Friday and then I think I can put this muscle strain behind me. I can walk without pain and I can sit without pain, but the getting up from lying down and the getting up from sitting and the trying to bend down still is painful, though not the excruciating pain of when I first did this. So the total hit of all four appointments is $200. Insurance will reimburse half if they decide it was justified. I'm not holding my breath.

I was able to hang laundry. Yesterday it hurt a little to do it, today it wasn't that bad. I did five loads, as that is all my clothesline will hold. We are still behind badly from all the rain. It's a good thing we have so many clothes, although it takes forever to get them all clean and then I feel like we have too many. Admittedly, I'm also washing all the spare bed linen as I just put fresh on everyone's beds and washing the winter blankets so I can put them away until October.

Put $20 worth of gas in the car when I was in town. I went to the Arco closest to where my appointment was, which was $3.15 a gallon. The cheapest Arco is $3.13 a gallon, but since I was only getting $20, I would have spent more than the amount I saved, driving the five extra miles. At least its not $3.29 like the vast majority of stations around here, though the Citgo is at $3.21.

What I would really like to see is a 2 for that first number. Wildest fantasy would have a 1. My parents talk about when candy bars were a nickel or a dime and buying their two story house and 1/2 acre property for $23,000. I wonder if I'll be telling my grandchildren (not yet born, oldest is only 9) someday about when you could use a 20 dollar bill to fill an 18 gallon tank and get change back and when a starter home could still be bought for under $100,000.

Okay, that got tangential (and that probably isn't actually a word).

Vehicle expenses for this payday.

$34.67 Oil/Filter change and maintenance check for the Blazer
$40 gas for the Crown Vic (@ $3.13 a gallon, it has dropped 4 cents since last time, averages gas stations around here have dropped from $3.29 to $3.25, so its going down all around, looks like)

Today was payday. Payments made today:

$800 Bank of America Visa
$400 House Mortgage ($375.86 + $24.14 extra principal)
$104 2 month water/sewer
$175 Medical
$50 Physical Therapy (with an additional $50 PT on Monday)
$115 Eye Doctor (DH), but most will be reimbursed through insurance
$34.67 Oil change and maintenance check on the Blazer
$12.45 Library Fines (need to keep a closer eye on this, utterly unnecessary expense)

Today I put the wheels in motion to refinance the house. We want to put the current mortgage of $37,500 and our credit card debt of around $32,000 all into a new mortgage on our house. We will change it from a 15 year fixed loan to a 30 year fixed loan. By doing this, it will free up $200 a month for us to start saving for a new car. Because I don't know how much longer we can limp along with the two we have. I'm hoping a year or two, so we can save up as much as possible. One of the vehicles will go as a trade in, probably the Blazer as I don't think anyone in there right minds would buy it if we did a FSBO. It just costs too much in gas right now. Hopefully, we could get $2000 as a trade in. Its in great shape inside and decent shape outside.

Then we could keep the car as our back-up car. Although we went for a long time with only having one car and we did okay with it. So maybe we will sell it, too. I'm just not sure at this point. We have to be able to refinance first, which I don't think should be a problem, as we have a great FICO and no one knows about the mortgage on my parent's house they took to pay my medical bills, as its in their name. According to all of our stuff, we should have an extra $1000 of disposable income. Obviously, we don't as we pay that each month on that mortgage, but it doesn't really matter. We still would be fine.

I hope this is a quick and painless process, as I've never really dealt with internet mortgages before. But the guy I talked to seemed pretty straight-forward. I should have a quote by no later than Tuesday. Possibly by Friday, but I won't count on that, and wouldn't be around to get that call anyhow.

Doing this would make things so much easier, so I hope it all pans out.

I had the car in the shop again today. My so-called $145 part and $55 labor turned into a total of $374. And the check engine light is still coming on, only instead of coming on after the car has been driven for a minute it is coming on after about five minutes.

They said it would be ready at 1:30, it wasn't. They said it would be ready by 4:30. I had to borrow my mom's car to come home in time for the kids to get off the bus. At 4:30 I called the shop. It still wasn't done. They close at six. Was it going to be done today or not? Because I didn't want to drive all the way back to town only to be told it wasn't done.

The answer I got was they were 99% sure it would be done and fortunately it was. But I still don't think they even bothered to diagnose the check engine light.

I have had such a good relationship with this shop but I think I may go back to the dealership instead to have this done. I am so tired of throwing money at this car. Almost $600 this month and that doesn't include the price of gas.

I am going to redouble my efforts to get us out of debt and increase our savings. Especially because I had to charge this. I will have the money to pay it on Friday and we will pay it online immediately. It really made my stomach upset to pull out the old credit card for this.

If it hadn't been after five when we got back to town I would have taken the money from the long term savings and freezer account and then replaced it on Friday over putting it on the card. That was psychologically devastating to use that card after consciously not using it for a few months.

Today was a humid 73, which is in a lot of ways worse than a dry 87, but no kind of day could have made me not be a little cranky today. Woke up with a sore throat. Not the kind that makes you want to scream every time you swallow, but the kind that is there all the time, kind of in the background, but it still hurts, just not the type of hurt you can't function with. What we call a "summer" cold, onset with weird weather swings. Even ibuprofen didn't dull it down, but fortunately ice cream and popsicles did help freeze it out. I hope it is better tomorrow.

We had two big thunderstorms tonight. One came through at 8 p.m. and dumped so much water on us that it was coming over the sides of the gutters as well as down the downspouts. I ended up taking photos with the digital camera because DH doesn't believe me when I say water goes between the house and the gutter as well as over the free-standing side of the gutter. He's never home when it happens! Digital camera has the ability to record small bits of live action, too. Now maybe I can get him to put up the new gutters I have been whining for for 2 years. He has a Home Depot gift card he got from work as some kind of thank you for something, so it won't even cost anything, the card will more than cover it. I think he just wants to buy a miter saw, but honestly, we don't need a miter saw. We can borrow one from his Dad. He isn't even a tool guy, but sometimes he wants what he wants. I suppose we all do. But the freak storms are fading the paint on the side of the house and so the gutters are a need.

The other storm came through at ten. This one went through in about ten minutes instead of a half hour like the first one. The thunder wasn't as loud, either. Didn't see lightning with either one.

Did spend some unnecessasary money today, but less than $20. I was feeling too lousy to cook so for lunch we drove up to Lynden. We got food from the dollar menu from McD's (with enough for dinner, too) and ice cream from DQ and I took a different route home than we drove there, so we had a lot of nice scenery to look at. We also went by a gas station that was at $3.16 a gallon so we filled up there, so that cost $45, but that is a planned gas expense that I would have paid out tomorrow anyway. That is 3 cents cheaper than the cheapest one in Bellingham. Going for the drive helped us all with the stir crazies, too.

In the afternoon we cleaned out my son's room and took out a bunch of toys he has grown out of which we will either garage sale or freecycle, depends on how much work I feel like doing. Today's attitude would say just chuck it on freecycle, but I sure wouldn't mind getting a little cash out of it. Or I suppose I could list it on almostfree, might actually get a bit better than garage sale prices for it then.

Some time in the evening my son's friend R came over for about an hour and a half, so they were happily occupied for a bit so I could catch up on my emails and keep my crankiness to myself.

Not much else happened tonight, other than watching a series finale of my favorite show, that really should have been 2 hours long instead of one. It deserved that, but I at least enjoyed the hour they did have. If this show were still on next year I'd have a heck of a time giving up cable next month.

Tomorrow my son has his last class before the recital and maybe if I go put the rolled coin in my purse right now, I'll actually take it to town with me and deposit it in the freezer money account. Here's hoping.

Today was payday and I didn't have as much time as I normally do since I started off the morning with that massage. She even gave me an extra 20 minutes over the hour (free) because we were having such a good conversation that she lost track of time and realized when the hour was up she hadn't gotten done all that she wanted. Gotta love that. She said I was in pretty bad shape and should probably come in again next week. I'll see how this plays out first.

I went to the CU that I keep my freezer money account in and made a $25 deposit, bringing that up to $138.58, must have earned some interest on that odd change. I had already paid back the money that I'd borrowed for gas the one week. I still managed to not only forget to grab the aluminum cans to cash in, but the rolled coin as well. I swear, I don't think straight in the mornings. I'll have to take them out to the car the night before I go in next.

Then I went to the CU that has my long-term savings and deposited the $10 that I had set aside previously and an additional $15, total deposit of $25. That account is up to $240.52, so all I need is $15 more and I can open an ING account. I have to leave $5 in the account to keep it open.

After that I went to the cheap gas station, since it is near the CU and topped off the tank. It was at $3.19 as compared to $3.29 everywhere else in the county. Gas costs more here than it does in Seattle. It's because of all the border traffic, we get a lot of Canadian shoppers, so they up the cost to sell to us. It annoys me, because the refinery is in our county so shipping costs are virtually nothing and yet they squeeze us. But that is a rant for another day.

Then went grocery shopping at Fred Meyer. They had beef ribs on sale for .98/lb and Alaska king crab for $6.99/lb, so I got some to freeze. I know I'm not supposed to be buying meat right now, but all we have left in the freezer is chicken, beef steaks, and some seafood. We do like a little more variety. Did not buy any produce but did get milk as they had the Organic Valley milk on for $4.29/gallon, which is over $1 off, so I got two.

I had been hoping to get to Costco today but ran out of time and had to get back for the bus. Of course, I'd been hoping to get there in that sort of I really don't want to go there but need to go there type way. But I always overspend there. I've done better the last few times I've gone and I only need 3 things when I do go, but still the temptations there can be overwhelming.

I'll think about going tomorrow. Rose is going to an all day birthday party/barbecue at one of her best friend's houses tomorrow so it would be a good day for just me and Tobias to go in. Rose always hates that she can't have the samples because she has so many food allergies it isn't worth it for her to try their samples. But they always look so good to her. I can take them or leave them, and usually leave them. My son, however, can make it into lunch time. He'll eat anything, my little bottomless pit. I don't know where he puts it, that kid has a racing metabolism.

Power bill came. Those extra hot steamy showers my son was having when he was so ill and couldn't breathe gave us a hit. But it was still lower than before we started conserving. The next one should be lower again. I'm thinking about getting a water heater timer and we will be getting a water heater blanket as soon as DH comes home this time. We want to keep that power bill down as low as we can.

I just hope the last few days of super heat from the sun that made us have several fans on full time isn't too expensive. At least the weather broke. We had a little rain today but mostly its been a humid, overcast 63 F. So not too much going on on the fan front. Still I shouldn't complain, at least we don't have to worry about A.C. around here. That can get really pricey.

Today my mailbox was full of good stuff. I got the Head and Shoulders sample shampoo and the John Freida Sheer blond samples, both for Rose and my 2 $10 gas cards from Great Fun. Cool. Of course, it won't even fill up half a gas tank anymore, but its something to help cut the cost of running a car right now, which is much needed.

It's not quite as hot today, its at 80 but there is a breeze. I have to go mow the lawn, but most of it is now in shade, so it won't be too hot for me. The grass is growing like weeds. And the weeds are growing like weeds, too. I have to get out the weedeater, too. I think I have to replace the string, but I got a big old roll, so that means handrolling, but it is so much cheaper than getting the prepared stuff.

Have to get the rest of the wash hung up, also. Right now stuff is drying at about 3 hours time, so I should be able to get 3 more loads up tonight.

I took the car into the shop today to have the oil changed and the power steering fluid changed and it cost me $140, ouch. Well, they did top up all the fluids and do the whatnot bits of the 3000 mile check-up and everything was low, probably evaporated in this heat. 90 degrees today. Yuck.

Also got an estimate on how much the next repair is going to cost, which is $145 for the part and about $55 for the labor. Big sigh. But its part of the brake system and it has to be done. I've got it scheduled for next Tuesday. This time I will come home on the bus and then take a bus into town once the kids are out of school.

I love my car. I really do. Despite the fact that it is 14 years old, and seems to need something new every six months or so. It is comfortable, it is easy to drive, it only has 118,000 miles on it, it is paid for and gets an average of 20.5 mpg, which is okay, not great but not awful. But sometimes it feels like a great big old money pit.

I just really wish we weren't so far into debt that we could buy a new (to us) car that was only about five years old. I won't even talk about what our other paid for vehicle is doing, or rather not doing, in our driveway right now.

But this is what we are saving up for, so eventually we'll get there.

Hanging out in town for a few hours can be expensive, potentially. Especially since the repair shop is more or less next to the mall. But all I bought today was a sun hat for me to wear in the garden or on walks. My scalp burns through my hair, despite the fact that I have tons of it, but then I think redheads are prone to sunburn anyway. Even those of us who have burnished auborn coloring and not the lighter true redheads with the freckles, still burn easy.

Now that went off on a tangent, didn't it?