I feel like I have been spending money left and right this last week. I know it was all budgeted for and all things that were necessary (school supplies, school clothes, medications, groceries, and gas). It just felt expensive. Gas jumped 25 cents this week at the cheapest station and more at the pricier ones. I'm not sure why as I'm not aware of anything blowing up but then I've not been following the news this week either. OH, wait, it's a holiday weekend. Duh. Hopefully it'll drop back down again tomorrow. I have half a tank though so should be okay for a few days. I have to go out to the house on Tuesday though which will use 1/5 of a tank.

The kids and I are taking DH to the airport in a little bit and then we are going to go swimming and grocery shopping. It's been in the 80's all weekend. Now that summer is practically over it decides to arrive.

Last night after working at the house all day I seriously did not think I was going to be able to walk today. I took one of my heavy duty painkillers and got slathered in Mineral Ice and I was achy but able to move okay this morning. I am hoping if I start swimming again it will help my back muscles feel better. Not sure anything will ever make my knees feel better.

But the day was perfect. We ended up getting done early at the nutritionist's office so DH and I were able to drop DD off at her friend's house (DS was with grandma already) and make it to the theater for the 2:15 showing of Fright Night instead of the later 5:20 showing. So we got matinee prices, but since it was in 3-D we had to pay for the glasses rental so not much savings there. Tickets were $11.75 each so $23.50. Then DH and I ran over to the driver's licensing place for him to renew his license, which is $25 now (ouch) but is also now five years instead of four.

Then we went out to dinner at the pricey steak house. We did some things we rarely do, like ordering drinks and appetizers. We each had a non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri and I got barbecue wings and he got teriyaki wings. He got goulash and I got salad with bleu cheese dressing, which the meals came with along with Texas Toast. He had a 10 ounce medium New York steak, loaded baked potato, and green beans and I had a 6 ounce filet mignon, rare, Bavarian potatoes, and green beans. No dessert as we were full.

We brought home half each of our appetizers (so will have those for lunch tomorrow). I brought home a third of my filet, some potatoes and the Texas toast. My son ate the filet and the toast and my daughter put in a claim for the potatoes if there were any left before we even went.

Dinner came to $79.80 and we left a tip of $15.20 based on the pretax amount of $73). Our waiter was excellent and he even remembered us from when we used to go more often last year.

So all told $143.50 was spent today. It'll be a long time before we splurge like that again, but it was worth it this once as a combo celebration of DH's birthday and our 21 years being together anniversary that he'll miss next month.

I thought the movie was really good for that sort of movie. The acting was top notch, the story was intriguing enough, and we had the theater to ourselves. It was nice not to have people talking around us or have to smell the stink of movie popcorn (I find it smells sickly after all these years not eating it). We had great seats with no seats in front of us so we could stretch out our legs. My back is doing better, too, and it didn't lock up so that was nice.

Okay, now I'm off to balance the checkbook.

Oh, oops, I forgot, DD had to pick up her schedule from school this morning. We paid $35 for an ASB card and $40 for a yearbook (it is $60 if you wait until spring), so that was an additional $75 out for spending.

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.

Frit-o-lay (TM) has decided in its infinite wisdom (insert massive amounts of sarcasm here) that it will no longer cooperate with the Feingold Association in figuring out if their products are safe to eat for those chidren with food and chemical allergies who must follow the Feingold diet. All this requires from the company is for one person to fill out a couple of forms on a limited number of products, and after years of cooperation they no longer want to do it. Or maybe can't be bothered to make sure a few hundred thousand children don't have bad reactions to their food.

It makes me think they are wanting to hide something, or that they are about to make a massive switch in food ingredients that they don't want to admit to. This is of course simply my opinion, but if they don't have something they want to hide why have they suddenly quit cooperating?

Smuckers did the same thing earlier this year. I guess these companies don't get it that not only will we stop buying their products for our children, but that we won't buy them for the non-affected members of our families either. So bye-bye Frit-o-lay. You've just lost two adult customers who has been using your products for at least 36 years, and a couple of kids who will finish growing up without your products.

I've already switched to organic jams and jellies that use lemon pectin and are made locally or by family. Now it's time to let go of the plain potato chips, plain tortilla chips, and all natural Cheetos for the other safe and cooperative brands we've found. It'll be a little more to our bottom line around here, but I hope it also affects these companies bottom lines if enough Feingold families stop buying.

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.

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.

My mom has been a member of a travel club for about 20 years now. I guess some people might call it a time share, but instead of it being one condo and a week of the year that is fixed in stone, it's a choice between any of about 200 condos scattered across the U.S. (including Hawaii and Alaska), B.C. and Mexico. They also have a couple in Austrailia. It's completely paid for and has dues of $500 a year which gives you enough credits for five days a year. You can borrow from the past year if you didn't use them and the next year. So if you wanted two weeks somewhere you could use three years worth of credits to get 15 days.

She asked me if we would like her to put it in our names. She had planned to leave it to us in her will since my eldest sister does not want it and my older sister already bought one. But she doesn't forsee anymore travelling at age (almost) 72 and we are wanting to take a road trip every summer now that we have a comfortable travel vehicle.

When I consider how much it cost us to spend the night in hotels on our last vacation, $500 a year maintenance dues is about half of that. Because we have both a boy and a girl that are older, we needed to have at least three beds. Pull out beds are very uncomfortable and lead to very whiney kids and we actually stayed in a hotel that did not have rollaway beds. I have never heard of a hotel that did not have rollaway beds.

The condos have the options of two (twin beds in the second room) or three bedrooms, full kitchens, and two bathrooms. They have washers, dryers, and dishwashers and provide the detergent. They have pools and hot tubs and game rooms (with pool tables and ping pong tables, as well as a few video games). One of the ones we stayed in even had a Pizza Hut Express on the 7th flood. At least with the condos there is at least some privacy for me and my husband. And even if the kids had to share a room, at least they are separate beds.

We have used the condos over the years (for free, Mom gave us the credits when she didn't use them) to stay in Anaheim, CA, Victoria, B.C., and Birch Bay, WA. They are goregeous, clean, and well-maintained properties.

We are strongly considering taking her up on this offer. Since we spend at least double on hotel rooms for the same amount of days it feels like a bargain to take it over. Not until we are out of credit card debt next year, though. Mom is in no hurry so we have plenty of time to think about it.

Back in October when DH was hired at the new company it was mentioned he would likely get a raise in April. April came and went and nothing more was ever said. His paycheck from Friday had that raise on it. It'll be a difference of about $4730 gross a year. That might even be enough to get us back on track after all the new medical spending we'll be doing to get our credit debt paid off by year's end like we originally planned, instead of March or thereabouts. That would be nice.

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.

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.

DH and I went out to work at the house today. Yard work, which I used to be so good at and now I just loathe it with a passion. Because of my knee I can't just sit on my knees and weed, which is really the best position for it. And one of our neighbors walked off with our little sit on rolly cart thing, so I can't use it either. I end up sitting on my backside with one leg stretched out and there is only so long you can do that for before it kills your back. Still, I managed to pull out a good amount of crab grass.

I also took and hacked down the clematis and honeysuckle vines. It had taken over that entire area and run way out of bounds. I'm sure it'll come back just fine as those four plants have been virtually impossible to kill for ten years.

I think we may end up using weed killer. I spent a lot of time being an organic gardner when I was healthy, but now I'm not and the weeds are just so rampant I think I'd rather spray and be done with it. I feel guilty about it, but at this rate I don't think we'll ever catch up. I have enough newspaper to maybe smother 3 flowerbeds, but since there are five and there are six garden beds as well, I just don't know.

I dunno, we might be able to hire someone to come in and just do it all organically, but that could cost an awful lot since there is so much to do. And because it is in the boonies. I kind of wish there was some place where you could just put it up for sale as is and buyer could deal with it all. It's not even like we want all that much for the place, really. Just enough to pay off the under $21,000 mortgage and enough for a good start on a downpayment on our next one (which will have virtually no yard at all, I swear). *sighs* I miss being able bodied.

At some point I'll have to go out with Mom and her truck to get all the plant material we tore out and weed eated today. I think we could fill the truck bed and then Mom could take it to the greenery recycling center for $2.

I am exhausted. Long story short, they came through for us with the red vehicle, knocked five more thousand off the price of the Sienna, threw in a bunch of free perks (free maintenance for two years), discounted offers like attaching a trailer hitch for cost of parts if we wanted one. And a warranty that covers all the electronics in the car at a discounted price.

They entered the information into the computer at 2.9 percent and sent it into whatever database that stuff goes into, and they get a phone call one minute later (not an email or an instant message, but an actual phone call) from BoA asking if we would agree for them to buy the loan. Considering how much BoA already owns my soul, I was hesitant. They offered a 2 percent interest rate if we would let them buy our loan. The lady we were working with said they wanted it bad because we were such an excellent credit risk. We went ahead and agreed to it. At least all of our debt is in one place now, with a very user friendly internet banking site. The Toyota one is not so much.

Our salesman said that all the other salesmen kept coming over and petting the car all morning and took a poll saying it was the prettiest Sienna in five counties. I had to laugh at that. It is gorgeous, I'll admit.

When we were in with the lady doing paperwork she was talking to us about what our salesman had said about us, that we were the nicest customers he'd ever had (and actually we were his first that he did the whole test drive through sale with in 2008), so he was very happy when we wanted to work with him again. Of course we did. He's such a nice guy, low pressure, good at his job, is extremely thorough in explaining things, and a genuinely good person.

The most important thing of all is the comfort level, though. With my disabilities it makes getting in and out of low to the ground cars difficult. This one makes it so much easier and the seats are incredibly comfortable. Everyone has enough legroom and I didn't hurt when we got out of it. It is everything we could have hoped for and it fits nicely into our budget. I'll miss the Matrix, but I have no regrets for getting a vehicle we can afford now when such good offers are thrown at us.

Oh, we drove away with a full tank of gas from them, too. I didn't feel so bad about having so much gas in our trade in after that. Especially since it is a 20.9 gallon tank as compared to a 12 gallon tank.

While we were at the dealership yesterday getting the oil changed and the brakes checked, tires rotated, and a new rear windshield wiper put on, the guy in charge of used car sales asked us if we would ever consider trading it in. We said yes, but not until next year when it was paid off and we bought a Sienna.

He then offered us $2000 above what it is worth as a trade in (according to KBB), which is also about $2000 more than we still owe on it. He said that people are wanting our particular model really badly right now because of gas mileage and also because of the paint color. Our paint color is really popular, a gorgeous, bright metallic blue, but they can't get it anymore because the paint factory that made it was wiped out in the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami. He said he could probably sell it within the week. So if we were to accept his offer it would be paid off and we'd have $2000 as a downpayment on something else.

So we decided to go see if "our" new car salesman was there and we could test drive some Siennas. He was. They had one certified used and the others were all 2011's. We test drove the 2007 and it was in really nice condition. It had been owned by some grandparents who rarely had kids in there, usually about once a month. It had been maintained at that dealership so they had all the records of it, too, and our salesman was the one who originally sold it. It was a really sweet car. I just didn't like the interior wood paneling which was sort of an orangey tortishell color. It was also just gray on the outside and I don't like that.

Then we went to test drive some of the new ones. We really loved the way they handled. All of them, not just the new ones. But all the colors were really bland, pale blue, silver, gray, and white. The white was actually very pretty, but we've had a white car in the past and they just show dirt at a tremendous rate. I want a red one, and I'm willing to wait for one, because when we buy this next car I want to keep it ten to fifteen years and I don't want to be unhappy with the color.

Well, they must be really hungry at that dealership because they were all, "Is there a number we can give you so that you'll buy one today?"

I was all, "I'm sure there is," but I wouldn't name it. They offered us the 2.9% financing for five years. I said I wanted the weekend to think it over, and we needed to come back and test drive with the kids, make sure the legroom thing was going to be a good fit for them. I'm sure it will be, but I'm drawing this out because I don't want to be rushed. The kids are not getting any shorter and legroom has become a real issue in the Matrix.

Turns out the payments for the Sienna would not be terribly much more than we are paying now and it would be a five year loan that after the first year we could throw more money at, probably pay it off in 3 if we wanted to. I'd just have to adjust our debt repayment by a couple hundred dollars a month. Our car insurance would actually go down because of the massive amount of safety features. It's almost a wash.

I'm still not convinced, though. They said they could get a red one down for us with the stuff we want within 24 hours, so if they actually have it there today when we take the kids, I'll believe they are really, really ready to bargain. I just wish we hadn't just filled up the gas tank in the Matrix a few days ago. I wonder if we have enough gas cans to siphon most of it out?

We cleaned out the car on the off chance we go for this, and if we don't, hey, we have a clean car. The kids are a little sad about trading in the Matrix, but they knew it was coming next year, so they will deal. We get to keep our vanity plates, too, they will just transfer them over.

We'll see how it all falls into place. I know with all the driving to Seattle we'll be doing with the surgeries and follow ups, having a more comfortable vehicle may be important. Especially right after when I have to be somewhat reclined to be in less pain.

I still think we should wait until January, or at least December, but I am getting really tired of fighting with my daughter of legroom in that car. And DH thinks we should just get it now and be done with it for comfort's sake. My mother thinks we should, too, since it's mostly a wash. We will see, I guess.

The older car is all charged up but it won't start. It is making that ugly clicking sound that means, in my experience anyway, that it needs a new starter. *sighs* Still, we need to do this. That car has much more leg room and is easier to get in and out of with my knee. The Toyota is fine when I am driving and can have the seat all the way back (because my son is still little and he sits on that side) but in the front passenger seat it's not very comfortable, because my long-legged daughter sits behind it and it can't be all the way out. DH does all the driving when he is home because my knee aches if I can't stretch it out all the way so I don't drive anymore than necessary.

I wish we could get that Sienna now. *sighs again*

DH put his airline ticket on the wrong credit card. I went to go pay off the interest that always comes through after you pay off a credit card, which was $40 and some change and noticed he'd put it on the paid off Master Card instead of the air miles reward VISA. The two cards look very similar, both black, both from BoA.

It's an easy mistake to make. *sighs* But now it's got $355 on it, so I can't pay it off again until May 13th. It's not the end of the world, I was just looking forward to seeing it zero out again, and at least it means that the VISA is still under $20,000 which it wouldn't have been if he'd put it on the air miles card. He's going to take it out of his wallet and stop carrying it altogether.

I made a payment of $1000 on the interest free medical debt loan I owe my mother, which brings our balance to $89,000, with seven years and six months and 89 payments to go, $21,000 paid off so far.

This was the little payday, it only has two days wages on it, so the rest of the money, plus what I've put aside, is going to stretch over the next two weeks of no paychecks.

I didn't take any cash out of the bank as I still have $52 in my wallet. I think I can get by on that for the next week.

A racoon got into Mom's chicken coop last night as she forgot to do the locks. Racoons are very capable of opening simple doors and it did. It killed 4 chickens. What really gets me is that it only ate one of them. It killed the other three just for sport, I think. Racoons are just such nasty creatures. So we are down to zero ducks and two chickens.

I kind of wish she'd give the chickens to this lady she knows on a farm. I think it's just too much work for her and that's why she's gotten so lazy about things. But her laziness has lost her one duck three days ago and now four more chickens. She started with 10 chickens and 4 ducks. Only one animal death was not due to her being careless about something. I'd rather see the chickens go than have to listen to that inhumane screaming in the middle of the night as a racoon kills a chicken. It's one of the most awful sounds in the world.

The plumbing in my mother's house decided to blow up last night. And Mom being Mom (i.e. cheapest woman on the planet at the moment) didn't want to pay for it to be fixed. It would be one thing if the money wasn't there, but the money is there and I'm sorry, but seriously, we need to be able to flush the toilet (and use the dishwasher and wash clothes), so yeah, things do need to drain out through the pipes. We did eventually convince her to get someone out.

Turns out the problem is between the house and the road. So someone else (i.e. someone cheaper) is coming out tomorrow to locate exactly where and then dig and fix (hopefully.)

At least DH, DD, DS and I can go to the health club to shower. And I have lots of paper plates, cups, bowls, and plasticware. And we can go wash clothes at DH's parents' house if it comes down to it. So we are putting as little impact on the pipes as possible.

We cancelled the trip we were planning to take to Seattle this coming weekend to spend the day at the Science Center. I know DH is disappointed, but with DS's tonsils as big as hockey pucks, he is just not going to be well enough to go. The Star Wars exhibit will be gone before we have the chance to go again, and not gonna lie, I'm glad of it. Wading through the Harry Potter exhibit was really tough last time. It was overcrowded, hot, and smelly. And we had to pay extra for it. So I wasn't looking forward to a repeat performance with Star Wars, even if I am walking now and don't need a wheel chair again.

It was a lot of expense that we just don't really have the money for at the moment. I had to squeeze hard to pay off the Master Card, what with both income taxes and property taxes being paid off this month, so it was just a bad month for it. Throwing a long day trip on top of that would have been expensive. $45 for the tank of gas for a round trip, $12 for tickets into the exhibit (we have free membership to the center but special exhibits are extra). At least two restaurant meals for a family of four, so $60 or so. We packed our lunch last time we went, but no one wanted to eat it. We were all so tired and a cold lunch on a frigid day just didn't pan out, so I won't fool myself on saying we could pack a lunch. But anyway, it's saving over $100 that we didn't need to spend to not go.

I had to cancel my physical therapy yesterday to take DS to the doctor. We are waiting on the 3 day strep test results to come back. The instant one was negative, but sometimes it takes a few days and the doctor didn't like the way his throat looked. Anyway, I saved $90 by not going. Of course, we will have to pay the pediatrician in full instead, but that bill won't come until next month when things are way less tight. At least this should be the last super tight month we have.

I finally received a bill from the specialist that I saw on February 15. I don't think I've ever dealt with such a slow to bill doctor's office before. It's $148. It would have been $168, but at that time we were on the medical that had a $20 co-pay. Anyway, the $148 will all go to the deductible. I am debating whether or not to pay it now or wait until the end of the month. It doesn't have a due date on it.

I am still not getting the information I need from them regarding Virginia Mason and the referral which is more than ticking me off a little. I will call again tomorrow. I should not have to call them once a week. This runaround is terrible. I am tempted to withhold payment until they've done what they were supposed to do. I mean that is supposedly part of what I'll be paying for, right?

I am tempted to go see a new specialist from scratch and start over. It might well be worth it, especially if this one doesn't see a need for me to go all the way to Seattle for a surgery. Of course that would mean a new patient fee all over again (that's why the other bill is so high).

DS is sick right now. His tonsils are swollen up and bright red and covered with pus, so majorly infected. Plus there is blood when he coughs up phlegm (which might be from a broken blood vessel from blowing his nose too hard). We are taking him in to see the on call doc in a little bit. I've got to get going on finding an ENT because they want to take his tonsils out and I think it's time to schedule a surgery.

My allergies are driving me crazy, but at least I am over my cold.

Spent $30 on ice cream and egg flower soup for DS. It hurts him to eat anything else right now.

Major falling down on the job here, as I forgot to go shopping for deli meat for sandwiches for the kids' school lunches. DS will just take a peanut butter and honey sandwich, some fruit and some chips. DD doesn't really care for peanut butter (unless she happens to be in the mood) and doesn't like tuna fish or egg salad (yet likes deviled eggs) which would be easy and what I had on hand so I gave her $5 to get lunch at school tomorrow. We ate any leftover that would have worked for lunches this weekend.

I can't believe I forgot to do that. I was just so out of it today. I'll do it tomorrow after I pick up DD from high school and well before DS gets out of school.

I found 62 cents so that went into the coin jar. I told myself when we moved here that all coins would go into that jar and not be left in piles about the house. Well, I've been pretty good about keeping to that rule, but DH just still tends to empty his pockets wherever he is at the time, so when I was over by the closet hanging up clothes today I noticed the little pile of money on the cabinet outside the closet door. So in it went.

I just noticed that this was my 1000nth post. Guess that's another milestone for this blog.

On my way back in from dropping off my daughter at high school this morning, Mom stopped me to tell me she was redoing her will. She's needed to do this for a while. Ever since she drained the IRA and put Dad in the nursing home. She still wants me to be executor (which, ugh, but I agreed to it, with my older sister as back up if I can't).

Anyway, she said that if she dies before I am done paying back the money I owe her for the medical debt, that the debt is free and clear. Before it was expected that I would either continue making payments to my sisters for their part of the inheritence (which I don't think could be legally enforced as I never signed anything, but I still would have done it) or give up my third of the house. But since I've been here taking care of her since the fall she's decided to just make the loan void on her death.

Quite frankly I don't think she'll be dead before we finish paying her off. She's in pretty good health. But it's nice to know that if she were to go unexpectedly, that that financial burden would be lifted.

Now DH and I just need to get around to making our own will. We've been putting it off for too many years. Even if we just do one of those form letter ones and take it down to the CU to have it notarized, that's better than what we have now, which is pretty much nothing.

One of the ducks has gone missing. He was there this morning, but there's no sign of him now. There's also no sign of an animal attack of any sort, no remains like we've found in the past. One of the neighbors reported seeing a racoon so it's possible that's what happened. Hopefully he's just out wandering the neighborhood and will show up again soon. If not, well, that leaves us with one duck and seven chickens. And I suppose if we had to lose an animal it's better to lose a boy duck than a laying hen. I feel sorry for the last duck though. He's going to be lonely.

Today was a no spend day though I was still sorely tempted to get a pizza. What's up with me wanting to buy pizza when I am sick? I made one for dinner instead because even though I didn't want to put in the effort I figured that at least it would kill the desire to buy one. It's in the oven right now.

There's not much going on financially. I've no money coming in and no bills due until the first of April and those are on autopay, so I guess it's mostly the same old same old treading water and trying to get through until then without spending an exorbitant amount on groceries or anything else. I've got one fill up budgeted for gas between now and then and still have over half a tank so I may not even need it. I've got $200 to get through the next 8 days and I can't see spending more than $30 on groceries between now and then. Everything is just more or less set on autopilot.

Today is a slight improvement in how I am feeling. I got seven hours of sleep last night and then a 2.5 hour nap while the kids were in school. My brain fog is lessening. Still have dry mouth, slight cough, lots of drainage, low level headache, and fever. Everything exhausts me. I unloaded the dishwasher today and refilled it and then I had to go and lay down because I was short of breath. I hope that goes away soon as I want to get back to my old self again.

Today was gorgeous, though it started out at 32 degrees with frozen over car windows, it ended up in the low 60's. The sort of day where you want to go out for a walk and look at all the beautiful blooming trees and shrubs, but just making it to the end of the driveway is a chore. I really want my strength back. Will this flu ever leave?

Sixteen years ago today DH and I got married. Wow, that seems like a long time. We've been together over 20 years, half my life. It's been a good marriage and I consider myself very fortunate to have found such a good partner in this world. We've had to cancel our plans due to my having the flu though. We were going to go out to a nice steakhouse for dinner. DH is almost never in the same state as me for our anniversary, so having the chance to actually go out on this date was really nice. Oh, well, I guess it wasn't meant to be this year. It saves us around $60 to just stay in though.

We got a refund check from Allstate today. If you go so long without accidents they refund you part of your payment for that six month period. So we got back $26.41. We've been with them for two years now and we've gotten a check each renewal period. Also they have a deductible reduction for each year you don't get into an accident. So our original $500 deductible has now dropped to $300 with no increase in how much we pay for insurance.

In fact it's gone down about $9 a month. (Because we have it automatically taken out of our checking each month we don't have to pay a monthly fee for installments, otherwise we'd pay it in a chunk every six months). I have to say that getting money back and them lowering our deductible are very nice perks for safe drivers like myself and DH.

DH got gas last night for $38.71. The tank was running on fumes, I think. Costco price was $3.51 per gallon.

With the doctor's permission, I decided to try splitting my 10mg pills in half (the ones that cost $125 for 30 with the coupon) and see if I did okay on 5mg, but it's a noticable difference in symptoms after two days so I won't be able to save that way after all. I guess we just have to absorb the costs.

It probably means cutting my physical therapy sessions down to an hour a week instead of an hour and a half to have that extra money. I am starting to walk normally now so maybe it's time anyway. I'd rather do that than take it away from debt repayment. We are so close to paying off the second Master Card I can taste it.

Eleven years ago today I gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. Today he's still bouncing, though it tends to be off the walls, off the ceiling, off the bed. My husband managed to lose one of his presents last night. He only bought it on Friday, it shouldn't be that hard to remember what he did with it. Wouldn't have been that big of a deal if we had gotten more than two things. It was a used video game that DS wanted desperately, so it was one of those tiny ones for the Nintendo DSI.

So DH made an unexpected trip down to Burlington to a Game Stop there and picked up another one. The first one cost $22. The second one cost $43. Both were used. Needless to say I am slightly annoyed with DH. I took the money out of my laptop fund, because we'd already used up all the birthday money I'd budgeted. Then DH decided it was okay to use the leftover money from the $50 I gave him to buy modeling glue! So I didn't end up with any of the money back.

DS and my mother made cupcakes tonight to take to class tomorrow. A lovely homemade chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting made from cocoa. I was jealous, but we'd already had homemade yellow cake with homemade white frosting for his birthday. Anyway the ingredients for the cupcakes were $2.

Tomorrow is going to be a difficult day to get things down to the school. 28 cupcakes and a science fair project. Oh, well, we'll manage.

My friend Katie in Japan reported in to the US Consulate who called her sister. She's safe! She's been in a shelter and was finally able to get word out. I am so incredibly grateful for her safety.

First, my friend is still missing in Japan. There has been no news, but communications are seriously damaged in her area, so I hold out hope. I have to. I don't want to think about what it means to not.

DH and I went out to the house today and we cleaned out the top floor of the shed and half of the bottom floor. We ended up filling up the garbage can. Rats got in at some point, probably back when DH was always forgetting to shut the door and lock it up after putting the lawn mower away when we still lived there. He had a box of MRE's leftover from his Civil Air Patrol days that he had stored in there. I did not know he had stored food in there or I wouldn't have let him do it.

Anyway, they got in and they chewed through those suckers. If you've ever seen a MRE you know that their packaging is pretty darn heavy duty so it took a lot of effort on the rats' part. Fortunately they were not on the top floor at all. It would have been very hard for them to get up there.

We took a load to storage and I still think everything is going to fit. We've got about two loads of stuff left to pack up and take there. And DH needs to do a dump run very soon. We also need to find out if there is a recycling fee on old microwaves, because we have a couple broken ones. Hmm...I wonder if I could donate them to the technical college? They have an appliance repair class.

We ran out of checks yesterday. I had ordered some but they haven't arrived yet. On Monday I will go to the CU and get some free temporary checks. They will give me 8 and they print all the information on them so they are just like regular checks. Then I can send out the rest of the bills. Thankfully nothing is due before the 22nd so plenty of time to get them sent.

Everyone ate leftovers today for all meals so I'm not doing a meal plan for today. Basically it was leftovers and $4 worth of milk.

Tomorrow's meal plan was picked by my son who will be turning 11:

Breakfast:
Pancakes with jelly ($1)
Eggs (free, from chickens)
Bacon ($2)
Milk ($2)

Total: $5

Lunch:
Leftover pizza (free)
Leftover spaghetti (free)
yogurt ($2)
bananas (.50)

Total: $2.50

Dinner:
Beef Pot Roast ($5.89)
Mashed potatoes with gravy (.25)
Green Beans ($1)
Homemade birthday cake ($1)
Milk ($2)

Total: $10.14

Total for day: $17.64 My mother will be eating dinner with us, so dinner will feed five instead of four.

It's hard for me to focus on finances right now. All updates from my friend's family have her still listed as missing. I did find her facebook page (didn't think she had one), but no news yet and google's people finder has her listed as missing. But I do know that I can't allow myself to slip up on finances even though there is a giant knot in my stomach.

So...turns out that new prescription isn't covered by my insurance. They didn't deny it, they just don't cover it. Weird. But it's very expensive. $150 for 30 pills. I do have a $25 off coupon, but still. Ouch. And I can sign up to receive more coupons from the company, but still that only brings it down to $125. I am hoping I won't have to be on it very long and can stop taking it after the surgery and also that I can get samples of it from my regular physician since it is so pricey. The pharmacy doesn't even have it. They will have to order it. I'm glad I have samples.

The payment I made to BoA VISA posted this morning and it's back under $20,000 at $19,687.44. So there was a bit of progress made there. I made a payment of $1300 to the BoA Master Card today which will bring it down quite a bit. $84.23 went to interest so subtracting that out should bring the balance to $3260.27.

$24,238.69 previous BoA credit card balances
-22,947.81 new BoA credit card balances
------------
$1290.88 went to Bringing Down the Evil Empire

From now on there will be a lot more progress made each month, though. I thought I would have to wait until May to pay off the MC but I'll be able to get it paid off in April, so only one more month. Yay! Then the whole amount can go to the VISA from May on. That means I should have it paid off in November and not December like I thought. Although I don't know what the surgery is going to cost, but it's probably at least the amount of one VISA payment. So maybe I should stick with December.

I still need to do the rest of the bills for this paycheck, and will probably get that done tomorrow.

Money spent on prescriptions today was $60.25. We got a XL pizza from Round Table for $27.11. DH picked up DS's big b'day present for $65.43. I think that's it.

I am worried about my friend Katie in Japan. She's been teaching English there for the last couple of years and she was just getting ready to come home this month. I haven't heard from her since before the last tsunami and earthquake. She was fine after the first earthquake, but no one has heard from her since the second and it was really close to where her apartment is. I really hope she is okay.

I did finally hear from the doctor's office at 4:55 yesterday. I got an excuse to get jury duty deferred until after surgery which I have to go pick up today. They called in the prescription. Now I just have to wait on the Virginia Mason stuff, which will supposedly be taken care of on Monday.

Made an appointment for my daughter at the doctor's office. Pediatrics was full up even though we called right at 8, so she'll be seeing a physician's assistant. We think she has strep throat and an ear infection. I swear this kid has been sick since October. She's so miserable. And I just got on antibiotics for the sinus thing again two days ago and I woke up with a miserable sore throat. I so do not want strep throat. I can feel one of my ears starting to ache just a little.

I'll be picking up three prescriptions of my own today for my lovely medical cocktail and then if they give something for DD those, as well. I'm not sure how much that is going to cost, but one of them is pretty pricey so I doubt I'll walk away for much under $60. Plus the $20 co-pay for DD at the doctor's office.

I've got to sit down and figure out today's paycheck and get everything going where it needs to go so I can do the BoA Master Card payment. And we need to get gas. Costco is on the way back from the doctor's offices so we can just stop and do that then. That'll probably be around $38.

I scheduled a payment last night of $400 to the BoA Master Card for today. I had to take the money out of savings, but I will replace it on Friday, which is payday. It was due tomorrow and I wanted to send a decent chunk, not just the little scrapings that were left in checking. It didn't come out of the EF, it came out of the money we set aside for property tax, so that has to be replaced no matter what. If the due date had fallen one day later I just would have gone to the bank on Friday and paid it in person, but this way works, even if I am temporarily juggling a bit of money.

My husband and I decided we were actually going to be more aggressive on the BoA VISA for the next few months instead of paying off the MC. The BoA VISA is an airmiles reward card and it's only got about $1000 of available credit left. We need to get it down so that there is about $3000 worth of available credit so it's further away from that upper wall. We've never gone overlimit, but I would just have more peace of mind this way. This is because this is the card DH uses to pay for his airfare to work and back every six weeks.

Once we get some breathing room, then we will take the extra money and get that MC paid off. We will also then be able to move the last autopay off the MC and onto the VISA. The goal for the VISA will then be to pay the autopay, the airfare, and the interest and about $50 more than that each month, while we throw the rest of our debt repayment money at the MC. The MC should then be paid off in three months time. The interest rates are the same so it doesn't matter too much how we do it, except once the MC is paid off it'll be one less payment and one bigger snowball.

Actually I should check with the health club. If we can take the monthly fee out of checking instead of having it on a card, then I wouldn't have to worry about moving it from MC to VISA. Most of our autopays are out of checking, but I have Netflix on the AMEX, because that is paid off without fail every month. We usually only buy gas on that one. Health club might do AMEX. I'll have to check. I don't want to be charging anything on the the VISA or MC that I don't have to, since the goal there is to pay them off, cancel that MC as it's the non-rewards one, and then only use the airmiles VISA for DH's work travel expenses.

I met with my son's school counselor today. We talked for over an hour. She wants to Vanderbuilt him. I called the doctor today and they'll be sending out the paperwork for that. I don't think he's ADHD, but I know he's OCD and there's other things the evaluation looks for. Bi-polar runs in the family on both sides and though I haven't really seen signs of depression in him, I've definitely seen signs of mania. Combined with his food allergies and his difficulties with peers, she thinks he probably needs therapy regardless of what the test says. I agree. I've suspected for a long time that this is the road we were headed down with him. I put a call into DH to see what our new medical insurance covers in the form of counseling. I can't find where he put the medical booklet.

The local grocery store had whole chickens on sale so I went ahead and picked one up today. It cost $5.15 and is between five and six pounds. We will roast it tonight, make chicken quesadillas and chicken fried rice with the leftover meat, and make soup stock with the carcass. I love getting 3 or 4 meals out of one base item. It's a pretty large chicken. Without DH here, I might have enough leftover meat to make enchiladas or Tex-Mex chicken and rice as well.

I love making roast chicken. I have a very simple recipe for it. Rub it with extra virgin olive oil, then sprinkle it heavily with basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Simple, but so good! For variation I will rub it with crushed garlic before rubbing it with olive oil, but I only do that when I'm not planning on making Mexican based dishes off the leftovers. I don't like the way garlic clashes with Mexican spices.

Today was definitely a spendy day. We spent $40 for the Harry Potter exhibit at the science center. We spent $90 at Red Lobster, but will each get a second meal out of it and this was only one out of two meals out for the six week pay cycle. And my daughter got two pairs of jeans and a really nice set of boots. I hadn't planned on the boots but they were on sale marked down to $19.96 from $49.50 and since she has no dress shoes and they were in her size, 13W, it felt like a really good choice to make. She needed new jeans in a smaller size because she's lost some weight and her old ones were literally falling down. In total we spent $81 on her clothes.

Also a tank of gas to drive to Seattle and back so that was $28.09. Will have to fill it up again tomorrow.

For the new pay cycle my goal is to eat out only twice during the six weeks, but have the amount spent be $60 which will be half of this pay cycle's amount.

I still feel pretty awful today. I don't think this cold is going anywhere fast and that's annoying because we are going to Seattle on Sunday to the Pacific Science Center to see the Harry Potter exhibit. It leaves on the 31st (I think) and we had to reserve a time and everything, plus pay $10 per person ($40) total. It would be more if we weren't members.

I don't really care all that much for HP. I mean, I liked the books and everything and the movies are okay considering how much they leave out, I guess, but I'm one of these people that read each book once, watched eash movie once, at least up through five, and then let it go.

My family on the other hand is obsessed. So mostly I'm just going for them. I'm much more interested in the upcoming King Tut exhibit. I saw that as a child on a field trip and it made such an impression on me that I want my kids to see it, too. That'll be around sometime in the spring. We are eating breakfast at home, packing a lunch for the road, and having our one fancy meal out this pay cycle (six weeks) at Red Lobster.

I did yield to temptation yesterday and order a pizza but I had DH go pick it up instead of having it delivered, so $27.11, no delivery surcharge, no tip. We made it 17 days without eating out, which is pretty darn good for us. We ate the leftovers for lunch today, including sending cold pizza in lunchboxes to school. Both kids had yogurts ($2).

DH made French toast with real maple syrup and milk for breakfast so that was $4.50.

Dinner tonight is leftover homemade chicken noodle soup which I already put the cost in for the day I made it so basically free this time around. DH is making a two pound meatloaf ($6) and we will have a can of pineapple for fruit ($1) and milk ($2), so $8 for dinner.

We found a couple boxes of toaster waffles when we did our inventory earlier this week so that will be for tomorrow's breakfast. We get a gluten free one from TJ's (not because we have gluten allergies, just because it's the one type that doesn't have other ingredients in it that my son is allergic, too). We'll eat a whole box of eight so that will be $4. We'll have it with apricot jelly (free from my aunt) and powdered sugar (I dunno, 10 cents worth, maybe), and milk ($2). I also have some sausage patties that need using up. ($1). Total $7.50.

Lunch will be homemade cheeseburgers because we have four buns that need using up.
Homemade buns (.50)
1 pound organic hamburger (2.49)
4 slices Tillamook cheddar (.50)
Chopped onion (.05)
Condiments (.25)
Baked french fries ($2)
Pickles ($1)
Water
Total: $5.79

Dinner will be leftover meatloaf (free)
Potatoes($1)
Carrots ($1)
Broccoli (1.69)
Milk ($2)
Oranges ($2)
Total: $7.69

DD was talking about making a batch of homemade brownies which generally costs about 75 cents if she makes it with cocoa or $1.50 if she makes it with Baker's chocolate. We don't tend to eat sweets more than once a week (unless we're sick and needing ice cream). We also don't tend to snack much. If we do it's on things like air-popped popcorn sprinkled with organic cheese powder, and comes in at around 50 cents.

I signed back up with Global Test Market. When I was doing them before I was making about $50 every six weeks. I don't know how well I'm going to do now that I'm 40, though. I seemed to screen out of everything, when before when I was 37 and 38, I did almost everyone. Guess I'm not in the market they want anymore. Oh, well. I'm going to look into that watching videos for money thing Laura was talking about the other day. I'd like to add to my new laptop fund a little faster.