Friday we went shopping at Costco. I picked up a few items for my mother while we were there. It cost $67.11 and she paid me back today. I kept the $65 in my purse, but added the $2.11 to the coin jar.

We spent a good $230 at Costco ourselves, mostly because I did not want to go back there again any time soon. I may be walking almost normally now, but after a trip there I was limping and had to ice for several hours afterwards. It is just too big a place to try to manuever through when you are disabled.

So I doublestocked on some stuff, toilet paper, Ziploc bags, medicines, etc. Most of the cost was that, though I did get a big bag of precut broccoli, some hamburger patties, pancake mix, a case of oranges (after opening the box and checking every single orange for mold), and some chicken thighs as they were .99/lb. Since they come prepackaged in family sized servings, I prefer to buy them at Costco if the cost is low enough, so I don't have to do any extra work. It had been running $1.59 for the last year or so, so it had been cheaper for me to buy it elsewhere in bulk at .98/lb and package it myself.

I wish I had realized we were nearly out of brown sugar though or I would have bought some there. I have about a half cup left after making the marinade today. Now I'll need to wait for a sale and it's not really baking season so I may have to pay a higher price. We use it too much to go too long without it. I should root around and make sure I don't have any in the cupboards. I had quite the stockpile at one time.

DH had to run DS's viola down to the school as he forgot it today and then he is to swing over to the one CU and get the amount of last year's interest for our taxes. He needs to get those done this week so we can get them sent in before he leaves on Monday.

The closing date on DH's grandparents' house was moved from January 30th to February 20th. Even though the people had put in an offer and had the inspection done, they then had to have the bank approve and do it's own inspection, which is taking a while. They were preapproved before the offer and figured that was enough, hence the earlier closing date. First time homebuyers.

Hopefully it will actually close on the 20th. I don't know how long it will be from that point until DH gets his share of the inheritance. Not too long, I hope. No one has contested the will and it was divided fairly with 5% going to each of four grandchildren, and 40% going to each of two children. The family is more or less amicable.

I got the book I put on hold from the library today, The Feast Nearby by Robin Mather that someone here on the blogs had gotten not too long ago. I am really looking forward to reading it. The author lived on $40 a week for food after her husband divorced her and she lost her job. That's about $160 a week for a family of four if I extrapolated it out. We spend about $150 a week for the four of us, so it's pretty close and I thought maybe I could find some actual useful ideas in this one. So far I'm liking it, but haven't got too far yet.

All right, I've procrastinated my bills long enough. Time to grab the bull by the horns.

Is it normal to feel exhausted after losing a parent? I am barely doing anything. Just the bare minimum to keep the kids going to school and fed and throwing in a batch of laundry. Otherwise all I really want to do is sleep. I am getting plenty of sleep, but I still just feel like I need more. I'm not even particularly sad anymore the majority of the time, just sort of bland. I have to force myself to eat, because it'll be two in the afternoon and I'll realize I've not eaten anything all day.

I was never like this when my grandparents died. I was sad, but I wasn't useless. Dad and I weren't even that close for most of my life. I feel like I should be bouncing back faster than I am. Grief can be so strange. My mother seems to be handling things so much better than me and they were married for 54 years. She always has been very strong.

My son has his first orchestra concert tonight so I have to force myself to go out and be the proud mother. I would never disappoint him by not going. Maybe being around other people, happy people, will help.

I am so glad finances are on autopilot right now. I will have to do some stuff on payday Friday (or at least on Monday), and I think I can pull out of my funk long enough to do so. Life goes on and bills must be paid.

Last night at midnight my father died. Even though my head knows it is for the best, he had Alzheimer's, MS, was blind, and was mostly deaf, it still hurts. We knew it was coming. We weren't blind-sided. I was prepared for it. But it still hurts.

At least the snow has stopped falling. That doesn't do anything to get rid of the heaps of snow already on the ground but at least it isn't being added to. Today is another snow day from school, the third one this week, and of course, the fourth day off from school since Monday was a holiday. The kids are bouncing off the walls. They did make snow ice cream, but that took all of five minutes.

In case anyone wants to know how to make snow ice cream, take eight cups of clean snow, and mix it with one can of sweetened condensed milk and some pure vanilla extract. The recipe called for a tbsp, but that was too much. I think a teaspoon or even 1/2 a teaspoon would suffice. Tastes a bit like and has the consistency of the ice milk they used to have when I was kid.

I do want to try to get to the store today. We are almost out of bread and milk. I suppose I could make bread if I had to, but I'm really not up for it. Mostly, I'd just like to see a new set of human beings. They've plowed the roads, so it's just a question of driving very carefully on the ice that's left.

Weather enforced frugality is not nearly as much fun as frugality by choice, I'm noticing. We haven't had mail delivery for a few days either so no enticing seed catalogues to look through while I dream of spring. Oh, well, we have power and plenty to read or watch as long as Netflix streaming doesn't go down.

I imagine there is going to be massive flooding again this year when the rain comes and this stuff begins to melt off. At least we are uphill from any bodies of water near us, though I imagine the basement pump is going to be running non-stop anyway.

It started snowing last night and it has continued to come down all day with very few breaks. I'm not a big fan of snow, especially snow that sticks around. I mean, it's pretty and all, but it's a bear to drive in and right now we don't know what the status of DH's flight is going to be. Sometimes they have problems with keeping the runways cleared and the plane de-icers going.

I suppose it is better to go today though, than tomorrow when the chances that stuff will partially melt then refreeze and turn into an icy mess or that the planes will freeze to the runway like they did a few years back.

I just really hope he can get up there, because it's already going to be four weeks without a paycheck. I still have money in savings in medical and there is the emergency fund of course, but I would hate to touch either of those things. I have about $500 that isn't allocated to anything else for use between now and the 27th that I was hoping not to touch at all.

At least I am feeling a lot better today. Still have a stuffy head, but the stomach stuff is gone, the sore throat is gone. Still coughing a bit, but with cough syrup that is under control. I think I might be capable of driving soon, though Mom has volunteered to take the kids to and from school this week and take DS to tae kwon do. I do have physical therapy tomorrow and that is up at the top of a pretty substantial hill so I hope they clear the roads.

So DH's grandparents' house will be closing at the end of the month. The buyers ended up getting the in-laws to come down to $172,000. I'm not sure what the realtor's commission is, but I ran the numbers with both 5 and 6% which seems to be standard around here. That means DH's 5% inheritance should come out to right around $8000 give or take a couple hundred. That will take a big bite out of what's left on the credit card.

The exercise challenge is going well. I've done 20 minutes twice a day for the past two days and then physical therapy today was 45 minutes. So that's six popcorn kernals. Yeah, I ran out of pennies so I switched to popcorn kernals. But they represent dollars anyway.

I really need to get a handle on my food again. I've been eating more carbs than I want to be because they are easy and I hurt and I'm tired and I'm sick again or possibly still. I've been getting really dizzy for the past two weeks. At first I thought it was just a side effect of the muscle relaxant, but I think it's actually the sinus stuff. DS is sick again, too, poor baby.

I transferred $1000 from ING to my regular checking account today. That along with what is left in the checking account should cover everything between now and the next time DH gets paid which will be on the 27th.

I think that is it for today.

I got a prescription for sinus infection/bronchitis. It cost $26.20.

An offer was put in on DH's grandparents' house pending inspection. The inspection has been finished and they are now at the talking stages. The house is free and clear. We had thought maybe they'd have to pay the government back some money from when the grandparents were in the nursing home, but I guess between rental from the house and social security, it covered their nursing home bill as they went.

Anyway, the will stipulates that each of the grandchildren will get 5% of the estate. The house is the only thing left of the estate so if it does sell, DH will be looking at about $7000 to $8000 in inheritance. So will his sister, which will help her immeasurably right now.

It's been a long time since they died, but the house has only been on the market since October. There is a second offer on the table if the first one falls through. I like those odds. The house is move-in ready so closing would be as long or as short as the new owners want. A fast closing would be great, but I'm certainly not going to count any chickens before they hatch.

I'm not sure what we'd spend it on. I guess it depends on how much is left on the credit card after we pay the bonus money and the tax return money to it. I would like to put in new carpets and doors out at the house and do a little touch up painting so we can get the dang thing on the market finally.

I still haven't heard whether or not the HOA was dissolved or not. I've been setting the money aside each month for dues. Normally half year dues are due at the end of January. I haven't gotten any bill yet and it usually comes around Christmas time. We'll have to ask the neighbors next time we go out. It's not much, $100 every six months, but if we don't have to pay it, it can go elsewhere.

On Tuesday we are going to run $2500 through the HSA account and then we will pay $5000 to BoA VISA. It will be nice to see that number drop so substantially. I'll also be making a mortgage payment, paying the AMEX, the electric for the old house, and the tae kwon do payment. I've got a couple smaller medical bills to pay as well. I need to balance the checkbook first though and see exactly where we stand right now.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After not sleeping for 48 hours I got about 9 hours of sleep. I still feel quite tired, but much more alert than yesterday. DH's sister was allowed to go home, even though she looked like death warmed over. I haven't seen that kind of pain on her face before, and I was there when she was in heavy, unproductive labor with her first child, so that is saying something.

According to all the tests her heart is healthy and she didn't have a heart attack. And they don't know what she did have. It was possible there was a blood clot and they just couldn't find it. A lot of other things are possible, too. I really am kind of annoyed at the hospital for sending her home without finding what caused enough pain for them to give her four doses of morphine in 18 hours time.

I had physical therapy in the pool yesterday morning. It seems to be improving my knee, but it is killing my low back and left hip. I've been alternating heat and cold on it, but the muscles will not relax. I think I'm going to call the doctor when he gets back from his lunch break and ask him about a muscle relaxant, because this hurts far more than I want to cope with and the hydrocodone makes me sick to my stomach and it's not a medicine I want to take very often, especially when it was prescribed for my knee pain, not my new sudden back pain, which started with the first pool therapy session and has not stopped.

DH finally got home late yesterday morning and then we spent a fair amount of time at the hospital to see his sister. After that we did some banking. The bonus check had fingerprint security requested so it didn't get deposited until yesterday after all. But they said there was no hold on it, as they've been taking that company's direct deposits for a year with no worries.

I am tempted to send $5000 to ING to sit in that account for the twenty days earning interest before transferring it back to pay on the debt it is earmarked for, since that bill doesn't come due until the 21st of January.

It's like a roller coaster around here. Up and down, good news, bad news. I could really use a level playing field right about now. I never really believed that old saw about bad things happening in threes, but this is the third time this has happened to someone in the family in two years.

My sister-in-law was admitted to the hospital last night. Mother-in-law called at ten last night. So far today they've run three MRIs, an EKG, and something else...CaT scan, maybe. I don't know for sure. They might be looking for blood clots. I got it second hand from DH who talked to his mother right before he called me. They gave her nitroglycerine.

I feel so bad for SIL's kids. Their father is the one who had two heart attacks last month. Now their mother goes in to the hospital for chest pains? Everyone was hoping it was just an anxiety attack, but underneath it, we all know that FIL had a myocardial infarction just two years ago (which burst, fortunately, while he was in surgery or he'd be dead) and heart problems can be genetic. So we are all pretty freaked out. But what are the odds? FIL, Ex-BIL, and now SIL? I know they say bad things happen in threes, but seriously?

I do not know how SIL is going to afford all this. She has no insurance. She barely makes above minimum wage and of course has no sick pay. She's already not getting child support this month and last because ex-BIL can't return to work until January. We've been helping where we can, but we can't give her that much money. A couple spare hundred dollars helps with groceries and elecric bills, not major tests in a hospital. She may lose her house (which is a subsidized mortgage and in-laws were already helping pay the mortgage) and have to move in with her parents.

DH is going down to the insurance office when he gets home and taking out both short-term and long-term disability insurance. I've had it with all this business. Life insurance is not enough anymore for me to feel secure. Not with those genetics. I'm hedging our bets right now. And darn it, but he is going on a diet and starting an exercise program whether he wants to or not. He's already got high BP. I am not going to lose him to a heart attack.

Also, DH's plane from Seattle to home has been cancelled, because the weather here is bad. *looks out window* No, it's not. Something about a low cloud ceiling and the plane from Hawaii circling the runway and not being able to land, so the plane from Seattle isn't even going to take off and try. It's mildly overcast. Come on, planes, this is why you have technology. So you can land even when you can't see the runway. Urgh. They are offering them ground transportation, which means, traffic permitting, he should arrive here right around the time I am starting physical therapy. I guess he can sit at the airport for an extra hour. They have wifi, so he'll be fine, so long as his sister doesn't up and die while he's sitting there.

Okay, so the bonus check came and though it's not as high as rumored (which was 10% of yearly income), it's still pretty high at 5% of yearly income.

Before taxes the bonus was $7203. After taxes it was $5297.81. And we should get most of what was taxed back with our federal tax return since DH has already hit the cap on income tax withholding for the year in early November.

Our tax return is going to be huge between this and our medical stuff. And all of that will go to debt repayment, just like almost all of this.

DH gets home tomorrow, but I will deposit the check without his signature. They will let me do that if I don't try to withdraw money right away. I'm sure the CU will want to hold it for a few days anyway to make sure it clears, so the sooner it's in, the sooner it clears. Also, I don't like keeping anything of value at home as it is always at risk for a break in.

...or near hit if you want to be technically accurate, since it nearly hit our wallet, or actually missed it, not nearly missed it, but if you go by how people actually use the phrase... It's a lot like thaw and dethaw. People mean thaw, but when they say dethaw it would actually mean to freeze. But I digress.

We rented a movie from one of those boxes at the store for $1 and DH couldn't find it today. Turns out he left it in the shopping cart last night and the employees set it aside so when he called it was there. Yay. That could have been a $25 mistake, which is the replacement value of the DVD. Or what they charge anyway. In reality it'd cost more like $15, but whatever. Point is we didn't have to pay it and if it isn't too long a movie we might even get it watched before 7. Still if we have to pay $2, it isn't $25.

Please pray for my neices' father, who had a heart attack yesterday. He is only 46 years old, and they are only 16 and 12. Ex-BIL may have been a jerk to my husband's sister, but the girls still need their father in their lives.

...what are you going to do with your Thanksgiving leftovers? I've got plans in place for pot pies, soup, noodles, enchiladas and quesadillas, as well as a few TV dinners with leftovers as is.

Found out today that DH's sister is in a precarious financial position. Worse than we'd ever thought. And this week is a breaking point. Her work isn't depositing her paycheck until Monday because the bank is closed on Friday. Her mortgage company took the payment out early because the bank is closed on Friday. Unfortunately she wasn't prepared for that and her account is $90 short, and now she has an overdraft fee as well. And she simply can't afford it.

This is yet another thing in our lives that points to the importance of having an emergency fund. We are going to give her some money so she can get through this and then we are going to try to give her $100 a month in grocery store gift cards. DH is also going to take her to fill up her gas tank. It'll make some things tighter for us, but she'll at least be able to feed her kids.

...and it's not over yet. I had an appointment this morning with a deep tissue masseuse because my quad muscles are all locked up again and my hip is totally screwed up from all the limping. It helped quite a bit and I am walking a lot better. That was $90.

I also went to the doctor and had an ultrasound treatment done on my leg. Because I'm having an allergic reaction to the tape he's been using to wrap my knee, he suggested I get a regular Ace Bandage (the cloth type and not the rubbery self-adhesive type). I had to look a couple of places. Finally found it at Walgreen's. It was store brand. They didn't even have Ace brand.

And they didn't have it in the First Aid section which is where every other store in the entire universe, including the other Walgreen's in our town, puts it. They, for some unknown reason, put it in the feminine hygiene section. I told the cashier, when she asked if I found everything all right, that I did but it took some looking that it was a stupid place to have it. I can't find what I did with the receipt, but it was $6.31, I believe.

I added $3.50 to the coin jar today. One of those was a found penny. I also had enough quarters for a roll. I've hit $31 in the coin jar so I will try to deposit that in the CU tomorrow. Looks like I'm well on my way to hitting my November goal of $2750 in the EF by month's end.

I nearly wiped out an idiot on a bicycle today. When a van is slowing down to turn right onto a street and has their blinker on, you DO NOT come flying up behind them on your bicycle and try to pass them on the right. That is the height of stupidity and guess what? You will not win. You will also be at fault. More importantly, you will be squashed all across the pavement. Also, your idiocy does not give you the right to then flip off the driver who was obeying the traffic laws and call them a b*tch. You are very lucky you are not dead, Mr. Idiot, because I had no way of seeing you, so get over yourself and go get a book on bicycle safety because you are not smart enough to be operating anything with wheels without a little remedial training. /rant

So DH said there are rumblings going on about end of the year bonuses. What he's hearing is anywhere from 5% to 10% of the yearly salary depending on what your job is. He's not sure where he falls. And me? I'm not counting on anything. It just seems off to me because before when DH got a yearly bonus in a similar company, it was around $800 after taxes. A bonus of 5-10% of his gross seems like a fairytale to me. And rumors are always just that, rumors, until I have the money in my hands.

It would be nice. And I can dream about it. But I don't believe it just yet. I sort of wish I could stop thinking about it entirely, because in my head I can already see how fast it would bring down the credit card debt. And I want that so much.

I called my doctor's office this morning to see if they'd make the appointment with the surgeon. They hadn't. The doctor hadn't even remembered to tell anyone to make it. *sighs* Anyway, now I'm waiting to hear back as to when it will be. If I haven't heard by 3:00 I will call again. I want this to move forward.

So last time I got excused from jury duty because of my upcoming surgery they said they would reschedule me for 11/9 though 11/23. Well, time was going by and going by and no official summons had appeared for the new time. Well, it finally came in the mail yesterday. Do you think it was for the days they said it would be for? Of course not. I set up my life around the dates they gave me and now I have to go and change at least 3 different appointments, including a surgical follow up, because they couldn't actually stick to the dates they had given me. I am more than a little annoyed by this.

They have also scheduled it during a time where I don't have optional child care to get my kids to and from school in the dark if I have to serve the new dates. And I am not having them walk a mile in the dark on such ridiculous busy streets. We are considered too close to have bus service where we live even though the people three blocks away from us have it.

I still haven't been able to get a hold of my doctor. I have been calling all morning and getting a busy signal, which may or may not be better than an answering machine (since it doesn't take messages). When I go pick up my daughter after school today I will swing by there and see if I kind find anything out. It's been a week and a half since my MRI. I should not have to wait so long to find out the results. They should have called me.

Maybe if it's bad enough I can get excused again or at least postponed again until summer when I don't have to worry about getting my kids to school. I hate having my life up in the air.

DH called me from work a few minutes ago to tell me his schdeule has changed yet again and that we know now what he will be working in January. It's not pretty and it won't be easy, but I think we will have enough money to cover it without touching the EF, thank goodness because of how it all lines up. But now I will have to redo the calander yet again and the budget yet again. I only did this last night. I wish I'd waited now. Ah, well, hindsight is 20/20.

So instead of coming home on Wednesday like he was supposed to he will work an additional 2 weeks for a total of 4. He will come home on the 16th of November and be home for 3 weeks, so he will be home for Thanksgiving after all. Then he goes back on December 6th and works until the 21st (2 weeks) and then he will come home for four weeks, so we will get him home for Christmas after all. Then he'll go back up to work on January 16th after no work for four weeks straight. After that he will supposedly work 2 and 2's, but I am not holding my breath. It'll end up being whatever work needs it to be.

I guess I should consider us lucky. They let some people go (but DH was assured he would not be one of them, supposedly he's good for another four years). They will probably hire the others back by February when they ramp up again, but it's got to be hard for those other families. I've asked DH to ask his boss about maybe getting unemployment for those four weeks since this is unpaid time off that he'd work if he could. It wouldn't be much, Alaska comepensation is worse than Washington. But it'd be maybe $1000 for 4 weeks. He's certainly paid enough into it. Then again, I'd only want him to claim it if we can't make it without it.

I should be able to bank two full paychecks if all goes well. I hope all goes well. I'm probably going to be stressed the entire time. I know we will be very careful about our spending for the next few months.

Today was a bad day. Just a really bad day, the sort where you just keep coming across people that are downright mean for no reason that a sane person can see. It's nice to know when days like this happen, I can come here and find like-minded people who have kind hearts and good intentions. Not financially related at all, but I am definitely grateful for this site.

His work just asked him if it was possible for him to work an extra week. That doesn't necessarily mean he will be asked to do it, but he wanted to know if it was okay with me. *sighs* I told him to go ahead and take it, even though it means working 3 weeks on, one week off. It's a whole extra paycheck and we can bank it for that extra week in January he might have to take off. I was trying to scrape up enough to save an extra week's pay between now and the end of the year anyway without having to wipe out our EF, so that just makes things easier financially.

It is a little frustrating though. He already is going to be missing Thanksgiving and Christmas when originally he was scheduled to have them off and now he won't be coming home when he was supposed to or for as long as he was supposed to. I seriously hope they have the rumored huge bonuses (that I am not counting on for anything at all) because he has gone so far above and beyond the call of duty it would be nice to be rewarded for that fact.

It's been several months since DH's grandmother died and today in the mail we got a bunch of legal documents. Apparently DH was named in the will, to get 5% of the estate. We don't actually think there will be anything left by the time the house is sold and the state is paid back for all the nursing home care, but you never know. The house is a five bedroom, two bath, 2 living rooms type rambler on a decent bit of property, but in this economy probably wouldn't get more than $250,000 for it. We were just really surprised to get the documents as it has been quite a while ago that she died.

With no more bills left to pay until the 28th, it's sometimes hard to know what to post about. I earned a small amount of interest on three different CU accounts for the last quarter, but I misplaced the statements so I'm not sure exactly how much for the one. The other two were both .23 cents each. I need to look around for those statements so I can figure out the other one.

Mom had her first physical therapy session not in home today. I took her up to St. Luke's (techinically St. Joseph's, because they bought it out years ago, but it was St. Luke's when I was little and all long time Bellinghamsters still call it that). It went pretty well and it looks like in the future I can just drop her off and pick her up and not have to stay, which will be nice. It'll mean having an hour to myself which hasn't happened basically since she had the surgery.

Meal planning today was a bit erratic because we all sort of had different things.

Breakfast:
$2.50 all natural breakfast sausage
$0.25 oatmeal
$0.25 pancake
$0.25 real maple syrup
$1.50 milk

Total: $4.75

Lunch:
$3 DS hot lunch
Free leftover pizza
.50 apple
$1.00 2 all natural beef hotdogs
$2.57 can of chili
$1.00 milk
.50 cucumber

Total: $8.27

Dinner:
Free Leftover potroast
Free Leftover ptoatoes and gravy
$1 can of green beans
$2 nectarines
$2 milk

Total: $5

Grand total: $18.02 So I'm well under the allotted $20 per day today. I haven't added the numbers up in a while so it's nice to see that I am naturally under the daily grocery budget without trying.

Recently I finished reading the last book in Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series Victory Conditions. I decided to start the series over since it had been years since I'd read the first few books and the library had them (I have them in storage, but I wasn't going to try to find them there), so I checked out the first one, Trading in Danger, yesterday and I'm already over halfway through it.

It was fun meeting some of these characters again for the first time. I also picked up the first three Herris Serrano books in a compendium and a book of short stores by the same author. I am finding much more time to read these days and I love Moon's military in space sci-fi novels with the strong female leads.

Not much else going on. DS has his belt test tomorrow. He's going for his purple belt. Then on Saturday he goes to his first tournament which I will have to miss as someone has to stay home with my Mom and of course no one in the family has time to come stay with her. Not that they have bothered to come over much at all. One sister came over for 2 hours and one granddaughter came over for four hours. My other sister hasn't come at all. DD will tape it though so I can see it.

I am really kind of annoyed at my family right now. I know parental care usually falls on one child, but they could help a little bit. This is an important day for my son and it just irks me that no one is willing to do this for a few hours so both his parents can be with him.

I fell into bed face first last night at 10:15 and was out cold by 10:30. I did not move again until 6:36 a.m. I don't think I've slept that hard in forever. It is exhuasting taking care of Mom now that she is home from the hospital. They really should have kept her in there for five days, but Medicare will only pay for three. It took an hour to get her ready for bed last night. A half hour of that was just going to the bathroom and back with a walker and the other was getting her far enough onto the bed so she could lay on her side without falling off. Very difficult. I will be glad when she can ditch the walker and use a cane, but that is a while off.

I didn't do any of the payday/budget stuff yesterday. I'll have to carve out a couple of hours to do it today. I really need to go grocery shopping, too, but I'll have to have someone here for Mom. Maybe my sister can come over for a couple of hours. My daughter might be able to do it, too, so long as we take her little brother away with us.

I made it to the end of the month with the No Eating Out Challenge but not sure if I will continue that into October. The last thing I want to do is cook, but I know that I should regardless. I need to sit down and make out a menu plan for the week's dinners. It's just hard to find the time right now. Still, I know I have plenty of fixings for just about anything so wasting money eating out is stupid right now. If I have to, I should save that for later in the week when I'm so worn out I can't move.

Mom's surgery went well and she's doing fine. Thanks for your prayers.

I had a close call on the eating out challenge. Today was just very stressful and I wanted junk food badly. But for the sake of my wallet and my diet I managed to resist it. I grilled some chicken instead, but I was very resentful in my own head about it. Still, it got me through to the other side without spending money.

My mom is going in for knee replacement surgery in a few hours. I'm a little nervous about it as she is 72. Please pray for her if you pray.

After a year of working 3 on/3 off, DH will start working 2 on/2 off when he returns to the slope after this time home. While this is good news, it is going to screw with the budget I had figured out through the end of the year. And it means he'll be working through Thanksgiving and Christmas this year instead of having them off.

2 and 2's are way better emotionally and financially in the long term, it's just that it would work for our budget so much better if he worked 3 then had 2 off instead of having 3 off and then working 2 for the changeover. I guess I'll see how far things will sretch. Again. Don't know what I'll do about January if he has to stay home that extra week. Maybe we will still be able to swing it. I won't be able to make maximum payments on anything though, which will be annoying.

This will definitely help with the no eating out challenge. We simply won't be able to waste any money at all until the end of November. On the bright side (and I always try to find one of those), DH will be home for my next follow up trip to Virginia Mason. I was going to try it by myself, but now I won't have to.

I think we'll continue eating as much as possible from the pantry and the freezer to try to cut grocery waste. I am really glad cucumbers, cabbage, bananas and lettuce are cheap at the moment. I think that's going to have to be the main produce for now. And pretty soon the cheap oranges will be in as well. And DH is going to have to cut back his milk consumption, too. No more going through 3/4 of a gallon on his own, per day.

I need to do some serious meal planning so we can figure out the best way to save money on that. Today will be spaghetti and meatballs, and then not sure for Wednesday since DH's flight gets in at 6. Maybe I can make a lasanga since I will have sauce leftover from making the spaghetti. I'll just do up extra meat for that. I can always grill up some boneless, skinless chicken thighs on the George for my diet.

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

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

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

I talked to DH last night and we figured out what was going on with the paycheck. They took the full amount of medical out of it instead of just half. It has to do with how his funky 3 on/3 off work schedule falls during a month. But the next paycheck will be higher since there will be no medical taken out at all and there will be no Social Security taken out because he hit the cap this week. We'll have an extra $1000 coming to us this cycle which will go directly to Virginia Mason, really. But having it for medical bills is great because it means we don't have to divert it from somewhere else.

He did say there might be an extra week off around the Christmas holidays as things slow down. I hope not. I don't think we can slide things for 3 weeks with no paycheck without wiping out our entire emergency fund. He doesn't get any kind of paid vacation or paid time off, so there's nothing that would cover it. He could get unemployment for that time period, but I feel like that would be abusing the system and also it wouldn't be very much, especially since he'd have to do it based on Alaska and not based on Washington even though he'd file through Washington. It in no way would come close to matching the lost income.

At least he gave me a few months' warning that it might happen (he just found out and so far it's only a maybe). I will try to channel at least another $1000, two if I can swing it, into the EF between now and the end of the year. It'll be tough but if I stick to my goals of no eating out for health and weight loss, I think I could manage.

Maybe on top of my No Eating Out Challenge, I should add an Eat from the Pantry Challenge where (with the exception of milk and produce and salad dressing) I buy nothing else this pay cycle and we just eat up what is in the cupboards and freezer. I could probably save an additional $300 doing that. I would have to go and get the kids' additive free lunch meats though and freeze them because I'm not going to feed my son something he is allergic to just for a challenge. I'll have to reinventory stuff and see where it all stands and think about it a bit before deciding.

DS is willing to take peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and honey sandwiches twice a week and only have meat sandwiches three times a week. That would cut things down a bit as the additive free stuff is pricey, as well. DD said she'll take leftover cold homemade pizza or if I get her a soup thermos, leftover stews or soups or whatever. DS piped up that he'd take chili if he had a soup thermos. So maybe I'll pick up a couple soup thermoses if I can find then now that rush for back to school is over. I think Freddy's carries them year round.

Thought I'd take a look at my total credit card debt, as I haven't in a few months. There were some charges made last month (more than I knew about) and things went up that should have gone down. I suppose you can only control the spending of another person to a certain extent. Even when you are on the same page most of the time about getting out of debt, there are unplanned splurges that happen. I would rather they not go on a credit card, or worse yet multiple credit cards that I had paid off, but again...there is only so much one spouse can do.

There is also a plane ticket to Portland and a plane ticket to San Francisco that DH had to get. He had to go through Portland on the way up to work and he'll have to go down to San Francisco briefly on the way home. That's an additional $500 or so.

Anyway...

$21,013.23 BoA VISA
$01,655.18 BoA MC1
$00,183.91 BoA MC2
---------------
$22,852.32 Total CC debt

I think my plan of attack on Friday (after making the car payment and the few small incidental payments that are due at that time) will be to pay off MC2, make a small payment to MC1 and throw as much as possible at the VISA. Interest rates have changed recently and now the VISA has the highest one while the MC's have both actually gone down. So I will throw all extra money at the VISA. It's the one closest to its limit so paying it down will have more of an effect on our credit rating for the short term.

Unfortunately this puts us into next year for the final CC debt payoff. I am a little frustrated by that, but I always knew it was a possibility with all the medical expenses this year. I can pay off somewhere around $1800 on the VISA on the 16th and then throw at least an additional $1500 at it the next week.

DH says they usually get fairly large bonuses at his new company at year's end. He didn't get one last year because he'd only been there three months. It would be nice if we got one, and would help immensely on the debt payoff, but I'm not going to count on it. I don't know. Bonuses at the other company were only around $800. Supposedly at the new company they are closer to $10,000. I have a hard time believing that, though. I know he's in a big money industry, but that just seems ridiculous to me.

There should be an additional $1200 in this pay cycle since DH has hit the SS cap with wages. If so, I'd like to put most of it in the holding tank for upcoming medical expenses. Then it can be transferred to the HSA when it comes time to pay the bills. Normally I set aside $500 a month for medical, so together that would be $1700. All of my Virginia Mason bills to date have come to $1750 and I won't have to have more radiological tests with this next surgery so $1700 should cover it. Then the November pay cycle I will put $1700 in to medical to go for next year's deductible and then I think it will be safe to go back to just $500 a month. That would have the money set aside for the $2500 deductible covered by the end of January. Next year shouldn't be too bad for medical, but I'd at least like to have the deductible covered.

The extra $1200 in December will go partly to Christmas and partly to debt. I am hoping to buy a few things over the next couple of months for Christmas presents so I don't need to use too much of that money for Christmas. Sheesh, I can't believe I'm thinking about Christmas when it's been 80 degrees out all week.

I will be glad when this next week passes and I can start making forward progress again.

DS and I went out to do some work on the house last night. While we were there we talked to one of the neighbors. A house way down the street near the dead end sold for $30,000. Now I don't know what kind of shape it was in or anything like that and I strongly suspect it was a foreclosure or a short sale or something for them to just get out of it, but it was the same type and size as our house 1680 square feet, single story, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths. The lot was smaller though by about half and there was no garage or storage sheds and it isn't a fenced yard.

I just hope that doesn't mean that's how low property values have fallen out there. But there are a couple other houses for sale on the street and the selling prices are much higher than that. I just don't like seeing a house go for so little out there because then everyone will expect a bargain. Since I'm already going to be pricing it around $30,000 under it's assessed value, I don't want to have to go lower than that just because some bankruptcy people went under or walked away or something.

Another house two up from ours, the people in it went bankrupt and it was foreclosed on. They bought it as a foreclosure from people who went bankrupt and were foreclosed on. I'm starting to think that house has bad karma. Just so long as ours doesn't.

We do have the distinction of being one of the few cleared lots. A lot of lots are still heavily treed. We also have one of the few fences. There are strict rules at the HoA about fences and cutting down trees, but we moved into a place where the previous owners had gotten permission to fence the yard due to having a deaf child who might have wandered onto the highway without the fence and wouldn't have been able to hear the traffic and then took down a bunch of trees without permission and just paid the $500 fine for doing so.

I am starting to think about using it as a rental property. I am willing to offer a discounted rent if they are willing to fix things up. Like I'd pay for the paint if they were willing to paint. I'd pay for the wooden flooring if they were willing to install it. That sort of thing. Rents go for $800 to $1000 out there, so I was thinking $500 to $600. Enough to cover the mortgage, security system, HoA dues, and the insurance. They'd assume the water/sewer, electric, phone, and propane bills. It wouldn't be a profit making venture, but it would no longer be a drain on our finances and we'd have a fixed up house. Though it would be a hassle to have a rental 25 miles from home. I don't know. I am thinking about it, is all.