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Archive for January, 2018

Standing Desk! Car spending/saving, Etc

February 1st, 2018 at 03:47 am

Back in August? a co-worker and I approached the main boss about getting standing desks. He approved the idea. We had two vendors come out in September and make quotes. A vendor was approved in November. The purchase order was made.

Finally, yesterday the installers came! They were late - it took them 3 hours to install mine and co-workers. Coworkers is a simple attach to the desk model. Mine is not a simple one. Smile I got the one where they attach legs to the bottom of the desk that rise and fall via motor.

I was willing to go with the cheaper model, but asked if the one I got would be possible. Smile I love it!!

I'll be getting an anti-fatigue mat (employer) and I am going to look for a small step stool to help with position changes.

Already my fitbit is showing increased active activity. I made 7 of 10 250 steps in an hour. Usually my average is 3 ...

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So last night we dropped my car off at Brakes Plus because it had been having increasing squealing issues.

Today they called my DH and told him it needed a new belt and a new battery. DH emailed me the info - I told him that I thought that was strange, since I was pretty sure I had some kind of belt put on just a few years ago there.

So during lunch I called them to find out what belt they were talking about. Yep, it was the serpentine belt, and it was the one replaced by them 2 years 2 mos ago.

So in the end, what would have cost $114 for parts and labor, cost $38.95 after a $25 coupon.

Guess what is being added to my bujo (bullet journal)?

You guessed it - A page for recording auto maintenance!

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So now he's wanting his log in info for his ROTH.

You can probably guess why.

I can't exactly say no. (I'd actually given it to him previously.)

I'm thinking a compromise I am willing to live with is that as long as there is an increase of 6500 each year, I don't care what you do with the rest. Or say I'm ok if you put half of it in index funds or bonds - safe steady investments, and then the other half in more speculative stuff.

It's not like you can really do day trading within a ROTH, at least not quick trading. Though I did lose most of the $1k I bet on Fitbit ....(bought second day at $42 .... now is at $5 something. Yech. So yes I know it is basically gambling. (He throws the electric car stock at me - you have all those shares of the car stock - isn't that gambling? Well, yes, and I've been trying to convert them into less gambling type stuff. But the stuff in the taxable account has to be done carefully and slowly...)

It isn't like I can tell him what to do with the money in his retirement accounts ... because then he could do the same with mine. Oy vey. The one money issue we never really discussed before marriage. (Other than him being totally floored when he found out what my networth was after we were engaged.)

I might bring up the idea of consulting with a 3rd party financial advisor again. Because I'm not really sure what to do.

I mentioned to him that the ROTH money has been growing pretty well - he says back, well, yeah, the stock market overall has been growing a lot, so of course the ROTH would. UGH@

I really thought we had all the money stuff ironed out beforehand.

2017 Taxes, other updates, Bullet Journal pics

January 30th, 2018 at 02:04 am

So I finally got my W2 today, plus a form from the second bank we use.

We'd gotten the form from the railroad retirement place too, but it's confusing. On the top form it says RRB-1099 and has info for both 2016 and 17. The next 3 slips are RRB-1099-R - the amount listed is different, and nothing is said about 2016.

Of course, I entered the new info (plus seeing what would happen if I put 1400 in my traditional to max it out.)

The only form that matched the available forms for the railroad was the RRB-1099-R. So that's all I entered.

Somehow we just barely squeezed past the saver's credit. Frown

Even so, once my retirement contributions from work were entered correctly, it shows us a refund of $825 federal and $166 NE! (with maxing my IRA - otherwise 625 and 66.)

I still need the form from Vanguard before I can file, but I think we may be getting a nice little boost after all.

Whew!

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Thanks all for your comments on my last post. We had another discussion last night that didn't go well. Either he thinks I'm being controlling (You make all the decisions anyway!) or he's upset because I didn't roll over backwards trying to figure out how to do what he wanted. (Which is what happens mostly ...)

I tried to start off the whole thing by showing him how much our networth had grown since August - from 237k to 262k. He of course has to nitpick what I'm including in networth (not house or other non actual dollar figure assets - the house, because I don't think we would be able to sell it for what we paid for it, and the rest are depreciating, so what's the point?!)

UGH!

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In other news ...

I got my bullet journal Sunday. I had a little time to work on it that night, and then spent a lot on it today at work. Smile

So, here are some pics.

The cover.

The Index / Collections

Feb Spread

Habits / Tasks

Master Grocery List (part)

Here's the cover of my morning pages journal - I wish I could have found a similar cover for my bjournal, but it's better than most.


Raise! Used Apple Pay for First Time, Bullet Journal brain dump

January 27th, 2018 at 02:55 am

I met with my supervisor today for my 3 1/2 year check-in. My score was higher than last year (whether that means anything really or not ...) but the end result is I got my next step raise of 2.5% That puts me at ~$16.28/hr if I'm figuring it correctly. It should go into effect by my 2nd February paycheck.

Once I see the first check with it, then I'll figure out how much I'll up my 457 contributions. I currently do $100 per check (26 checks)

I'm now making about what I did my 4th year of teaching ... My 8th year I was in the 40k range. Sigh...
I miss the paycheck, but not the hours or dealing with parents of perfect kids.

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I forgot my purse at home this morning, so I had to stop by home to get it in order to make my weekly deposit of DH's tip money. That meant I went to the 84th st location, which made stopping at Aldi's a no brainer.

Right now Chase is doing a promotion where they pay 5% if you use one of 4 mobile payments systems with the Freedom card. I usually use our Citi card once we've maxed out the debit card transactions (for our accounts that pay checking interest) but for the next few months where Apple Pay is accepted, I'll be using that.

After Aldi's I stopped at Walgreen's to pickup a fedex package I'd had held there. (love it!) It was my blackstrap molasses, iodine supplement and Amla powder from Amazon.

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My bullet journal stuff should arrive tomorrow.

I plan on having
An index
1. Monthly calendar spread
2. Daily habit tracker spread
3. Bi-Weekly Chores tracker
4. Monthly chores tracker.

2, 3, and 4 are kind of the SHE system all in one place.

5. Anything Goes page - a place to record phone #'s of places I need to call w/acct info, etc. Essentially one place for all the scraps of paper this stuff normally goes on ...

6. Dailies Pages - Record anything that needs to happen / remember on a specific day

7. Memories - Things I want to remember that happened that month

8. Gratitude's - Things I'm thankful for

Info Pages -

9. Swagbuck offers Info / how to cancel / when / crediting info

10. Items I want to sell - where listed, how much, when did they sell, etc

11. Library books - title, when due, etc

Collections

12. Books I want to read

13. Movies I want to see

14. Recipes I want to try (use post it notes - include info about book, web, page etc.)

15. Memory Verses Learned

16. Books read with short reviews

17. Movies watched with short reviews

18. Recipes tried and liked (post it notes so easily moved to new journal or to daily page for planning)

19. Master Grocery List - A cumulative list of common items purchased each week. Use a pencil to mark the items you need the current week - mark in pencil unit price to track when its on a stock up price

20. Spice Index - list of spices owned - mark in pencil when running low

21. Wants List - Write in pencil things you think you might want - research, wait at least a few weeks ...

22. Home repairs list - big list of things that need to be done

23. Medical appointments (all in one place)

24. Vet appointments /vac records, etc

25. Car Maintenance

Other things I haven't thought of yet. Smile

The index makes it easy to find what you're looking for so you don't have to worry about pages being in an organized order.

The journal I bought has a pocket where you can keep photos or other items.

There will be little artwork in my book - drawing isn't my forte. Smile

This journal will go with me everywhere. It'll become my second brain.
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Morning Pages - I have a tendency to be wordy sometimes, especially when upset ... The idea of the morning pages is that you write out by hand 3 pages (1 1/2 sheets) of unedited, unfiltered thoughts every day. It's a way to process thoughts which may not be good to share with others, or just get the creative juices flowing.

It's suggested that you don't reread them at all for a few months - in order to build your confidence/desire to keep up with it with no judgement

Crisper Pan, Bullet Journal, etc

January 26th, 2018 at 02:26 am

The past few months I have seen the Crisper Pan in various stores. Essentially it is something that turns your oven into an air fryer.

I've debated and debated about it, but didn't pull the trigger. Mainly because I couldn't find anyone "live" to give their opinions.

A couple days ago I encountered a "live" person! She enthused about it.

So yesterday I stopped at Bed Bath Beyond and bought it, plus a huge copper/non-stick frying pan (to replace ours that is warped ...)

I used our gift card from our wedding, so no oop.

I probably will use it tomorrow to roast some veggies. Can hardly wait to try it!

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Something else I've heard loads and loads about for a number of years ... bullet journals.

They always seemed way over complicated and expensive with all the artwork and stickers and and and ...

But this week I read a discussion on the YNAB forum about them, which made them seem much less intimidating.

I purchased two journals from Amazon - one for the bullet journal, and one for something called 'morning pages' About $20 altogether.

I plan on keeping it pretty simplistic as far as artwork goes. Smile

I've tried using todoist to keep track of tasks, but it just is too much. The SHE system .. never really got it off the ground.

But I think that this may work for me.

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DH got stuck in a snowbank last night. Called me at 3 am to look up 24 hour tow places. He got home about 6 am - just in time for me to have to get up and going. Yawn ... so tired today.

He has towing insurance - reimbursable. So it was a $53 charge which we'll get back - but also get cc points for.

Normally TH night is one of our two nights together, but DH is meeting with a guy who is writing a book about a local famous cave. DH's stepdad's family owned the cave / land until the early 2000's. DH conducted many tours of the cave and his picture was in the paper a number of times in relation to the cave.

Hopefully he gets home soon though - I'm not sure how much longer I can stay awake. Plus he's supposed to be bringing dinner! Smile

5 vehicles and a snow ban ...

January 23rd, 2018 at 04:19 am

So yeah, we have 5 vehicles. 4 of them are basically my husbands. 1 of which doesn't have a working transmission.

My car lives in the garage. 2 of the other vehicles live on our driveway. The other two are parked in front of the house.

Today we had a blizzard.

DH calls me around 7 and tells me he's been hearing that the mayor has declared a snow ban.So all vehicles parked on the street in snow routes or school routes need to be moved - effective midnight to 7 am.

We live across the street from a school ....

DH was going to try to come home between deliveries to play musical cars. He of course was VERY busy - nobody wants to go out and get food during a blizzard / bad driving conditions.

So I said I would do it. Argh!!

There went a very frustrating hour of my night.

I ccouldn't get the darn prizm to start. I got the truck started and drove it (first time ever driving it) into the garage. The garage door wouldn't close because the truck was too long.

So I looked at the map again, and realized that the street running on the north side of our property was not in the school route. So I decided to park the truck there ...

Cue trying to turn around in the street and getting stuck in the snow. Cue the truck blocking the majority of the street.

Thankfully I remembered that the way to get unstuck was to straighten out the tires.

I finally managed to get turned around and facing the correct way. Only to be completely stuck again. Oh well. Its parked near the curb and facing the right way.

So then I call DH and tell him I can't get the durn prizm to start - even with messing with the steering wheel. We figure out that I was using the wrong key.

Oy vey!

I use the correct key, get it turned on and brushed off, and put it in the garage. Of course only after I pull into the garage (with the door firmly shut) do I remember that there is no inside door handle.

I try rolling the window down but it wouldn't go down far enough for me to be able to reach the outside handle. I waited and waited.

Finally I decided to try rolling down the back window and reaching around. Whew! That worked!

Let's just say I'm not volunteering to do this again.

*But I will say that it wasn't that scary driving the truck ... I may actually be willing to do that again.

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When I got home tonight I spent over an hour Getting Things Done!

I went through all the papers on my desk and sorted out what needed action, what could be tossed, and what needed to be shredded. Clear desk!

Then I went into my closet and got the big pile of folded clothes from 3+ weeks ago that I hadn't gotten put away ... and put them all away!

I also emptied out a bunch of different bags of stuff that were hanging off doorknobs ...

I also got my clothes out from the dryer ...

Yeah. I felt accomplished, even though this is stuff that should have mostly been done a long time ago.

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DH has set up an account to do trading. I'd sold $5k worth of our stock in our taxable account for the express purpose of letting him have it to "play" with.

Years ago he did a lot of day trading and really enjoyed it. So, that's kind of what he'll be doing again. He told me about the stocks he's looking at, and his reasoning. Sounded pretty reasonable to me.

I'm interested to see how he does with it.

For him, there's only an IRA and taxable investments really to put money away for the future.

I'm okay with losing $5k if that happens. (Although obviously I hope it doesn't!)

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No spending yesterday or today. Probably none tomorrow either unless the roads are better (was focused on not getting into a crash today ...)

Spending, $Small crisis Averted ...

January 21st, 2018 at 07:22 pm

Last night I stopped at Dollar Tree, Aldi's and Russ's.

I spent a total of $37, although some of that was stuff for DH.

A few dollars were also because Aldi's was out of SO much, so I had to substitute or get it elsewhere.

DH also spent $12 on grocery items last night.

We're looking like our total grocery spending (non-gift card) will be around $150 this month!

This week I need to pick up more cat litter and also refill our water jugs (for cats water dishes)

I can't think of anything else.

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So ... yesterday I was updating our budget and was wondering why our income was so low. I figured out approximately how much more should be coming in, and it was a good $500 less than last month.

I knew DH has had several low tip nights, but that really only accounted for maybe $150.

So after doing some more sleuthing, I realized that DH's paycheck from the 12th had never been deposited!! That was about $300 (he gets paid a paltry hourly rate, but gets decent tips usually in cash, plus delivery fees to cover gas)

I thought I remembered him giving me the check, but it wasn't in my purse. I was starting to worry that maybe I had lost it!

Before I decided to tell him (major egg on my face) I thought that maybe I should look through all the paper junk on my desk.

After about ten minutes of searching, I found the check! I really need to encourage him again to get his dd info to his employer. Yikes.

Of course, it would also help if my desk wasn't a huge pile of papers ...

New tax documents, spending, etc

January 20th, 2018 at 03:23 am

Today I got the tax form in the mail for SIL's money. The weird thing is that it shows part of it for 2017 and part of it for 2016 on the same document.

Does this mean I'm going to have to amend my 2016 taxes?! I sure hope not - never have done that before. Ugh.

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DH and I ate at Ihop Thursday night. I bought a gift card via swagbucks and got 125 SBs for the purchase.

I ordered off menu Smile my DH didn't think they'd do it, but they did. We used the whole $25 card.

My car was getting pretty dirty and I was worried about the salt/brine - so today was a 50 degree day here and I decided to get my car washed. Along with half of the city ...

I paid $20 for the entire works ... I know, not the most frugal thing, but my car hadn't been washed since August... and I usually do the DIY wash and go places. So .. a splurge. Smile

I have spent more on groceries than I was hoping for, but it still is under what I had been doing. Work in progress.

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I have a 32 oz wide mouth jar of blackstrap molasses - I'd really like to find a pump lid for it. Any ideas?

I cashed out $75 in PayPal so far this month from Swagbucks.

I also cashed out for a $25 Amazon gc from Perk.

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DH is making use of our tv setup. We watched the Viking's game on Sunday (Yay!) and he was watching the news when I came home tonight. So, it seems as though it was a well spent $40. Smile I still need to figure out if we're getting channels from just the converter box or from the antennae and box.

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I'd been noticing that we hadn't been receiving the weekly sales papers in our mailbox - since at least December. I mentioned it to DH and he suggested I call the local paper.

Instead I posted on Nextdoor asking if anyone else was having this issue. Most responses were no, but there was one other yes. I had someone from the local paper pm me and tell me we should have been having a newspaper delivered on Wed and Sun since Thanksgiving!

We'd somehow been selected for a complimentary subscription through February.

Huh?

I wrote back and told him we had not gotten any papers - at least not that we'd noticed - we don't use our front door hardly ever!

He told me he'd talk to the courier and have a supervisor check on it (this was Tuesday.)

Wednesday morning I walked out our back door to find a newspaper there!

I'm anxiously waiting for Sunday's paper full of coupons!

Who knows how long this will last, but I'm all for it. Smile As long as they start delivering our sales papers again once the complimentary subscription is over.

Anyone ever hear of something like this?

Oh boy!

January 13th, 2018 at 08:46 pm

My DH got his W2 form last night. So I decided to input what I could for our taxes.

I don't have my w2 yet, so was going off my last 2017 statement (not sure how to figure out the retirement portion) and also gave best estimates on stock sales. That gave us taxes owed of $5.

Then I added in the $1,038 annuity from DH's late sister. All of a sudden taxes owed went to $638!! Um ... hopefully when I get the actual form it won't be this bad. But seriously, that's most of it!

I'm really regretting selling the non-tax exempt stock this year.

We may have been better off having put our IRA money in traditional rather than ROTH this year ... it looks like we won't get the tax saver's credit thanks to the annuity plus stock sale. UGH!

New Water bill, etc

January 12th, 2018 at 12:50 am

The last few water bills (billed bi-monthly) have been $112, $110 and $90. Around the time of the $110 bill we had a leaky tub faucet fixed. I figured it would make some difference, but not a huge amount.

Guess I was wrong! Our latest bill - $65! That's about what it was when we first moved in.

Will help make up for the gas bill ....

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So ... I've decided to go back to my eating plan I did last January. Essentially eat on target 6 days a week, and then 1 day a week anything goes (within reason.)

Partly this is because my DH is getting more and more unhappy with the meals we can share ... when I told him my decision last night he estatically said - Yay! Little Ceasar's!!

Partly it is because no matter how well or unwell I eat, it seems to have no effect on my energy levels or feeling well/healthy.

Partly I just want to reduce my stress level ... (as evidenced by falling apart in my car after work yesterday when I slammed my fingers in the door ...)

I'm just tired all the time. Feeling blah all the time. No energy. And to top it off, it now seems as though Aunt flo is going to be paying multiple visits per month ... Yay ... 42 .... I think its so unfair for woman who'll never have a child to have to deal with that. At least woman who have a child get something out of the 30+ years of monthly misery.

So .. spending ...
junk at Walgreen's two days in a row - covered by rewards dollars ...

Later tonight ... Little Caesars -~$9

Spending, etc

January 7th, 2018 at 07:55 pm

Ok, so last night I stopped at two stores.

Aldi's - $18.81
Spring mix -- $1.99
Yellow mustard 20 oz - 0.65
Brown rice spaghetti - 1.89
3lbs red delicious apples - 3.39
2.16 lbs bananas - 0.95
6 oz bag of pepitas - 2.19
frozen Brussel sprouts x 2 - 1.78
Veg stock - 1.89
Unsweetened almond milk 32oz - 1.99
4 oz canned mushrooms x 2 = 1.10

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Walgreen's -27.25
razor - $9.99
Airwick refills (2 pk) - 6.99
Get Well card - 2.99
Daytime cold/flu syrup - 6.29
Black cherry water - .99

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Ordered from Amazon
2 pk razors (different type) - 9.99
silicone ice cube molds (for freezing lemon juice) - 11.99

Used a $5 gift card

Cost $18.31 (after taxes)

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This morning I made a 3 bean veggie chili for my lunches. In a bit I'll be washing dishes and some other chores.

Later tonight I'm making barbeque and roasted potatoes for dinner (soy curls and homemade bbq sauce)

Swagbucks is being torturous to earn anything right now. Geesh! Luckily I completed a 50 sb survey on my second try today, otherwise I may have just given up for this month. (getting monthly master bonus)

I really need to get outside today - a balmy 34 degrees! I walked to the library and back yesterday in 22 degrees. Smile

I should finish book #2 today, and start book #3 - The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant Based Nutrition. I saw it recommended in several places, so am curious to see what it may offer.

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I updated our YNAB budget with all of the end of 4th qtr amounts. Our networth went up 4.6% for the 4th qtr. (I only update retirement/investments at the end of each quarter.)

I'm starting to feel somewhat better finally - a little bit of energy even. Hopefully this means I'll get some tasks accomplished. I'm SO far behind on stuff it isn't funny ...



Car Troubles, etc

January 6th, 2018 at 09:45 pm

Saturday, January 6

So I'd noticed my gas light blinking on Thursday when I was heading into work. After work on Thursday I knew I needed to get home sooner than later since we were going out to eat.

So, based on other times where my light started blinking, I figured I'd be fine til after work on Friday.

So .. Friday after work I did my usual stop at the credit union, then I stopped at Walgreen's to pick up a prescription, and headed towards home.

I'd planned on getting gas at a station a block from my house, but since I was passing a Russ's, decided to go ahead and get it there.

I pull up to a pump, turn off my car and get out. After swiping my card and trying to select my fuel, I realized the pump was not working. So I canceled my transaction, and got back in my car to pull forward to the next pump.

My car wouldn't turn over. It wouldn't move. There were lots of scary lights lit up.

Trying not to panic, I turn my car off and restart it again. Same thing.

I try calling DH, but his phone wasn't in the room with him (had been giving him issues) so he didn't hear it.

I try calling my insurance agent to find out how I contact roadside service. Voicemail.

I try looking up the number of my insurance company to see if the roadside service number was listed. No bueno.

I try calling the ins. company ... endless phone tree only to find out they close at 5pm EST.

Finally I call my brother - about 3:20 pm his time. He doesn't answer, but calls me back. He was in a meeting with some clients. (That's what I was afraid of ..)

He listens to me, and tells me it probably just is out of gas. So put it in neutral and push it forward to the next pump.

That's what I did - pumped gas ... voila! Running car!

No more waiting til the last possible moment to get gas for me!!

*My agent called me back and told me my service is where I contact someone to do whatever, and then get reimbursed up to $100. I had Geico most of my adult life, so was used to their system.

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Daily Dozen - 4 days of 90% completion

Still reading book 2 of 52

No refined sugar since Sunday

Today did first real exercise in who knows how long ... walked to the library to return some books and pick up a few. Smile 22 degrees out .. balmy

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Spending

Thursday - $11.41 Granite City restaurant w/DH
*$20 gift card, left $7 tip for great waiter

Friday - $27.86 gas
Prescription - $37.63

Planned spending tonight (Saturday):
Aldi's (groceries)

Walgreen's - razors, cold meds ~$20

First Day Back to Work, $

January 4th, 2018 at 03:26 am

Today was my first day back to work. I still wasn't feeling great, but not enough to stay home another day.

Went ok, though I definitely was TIRED by the end of the day.

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I weighed myself this morning so I can have a starting weight for a 5% loss. I think it is doable ... if I keep eating well and get consistent with exercise...and don't just maintain for the next 12 months like the last six ... Even if I *just* maintained, that'd still be a win!

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Spending: $0

Daily Dozen - 90% (no exercise)
3 tasks: Cleaned cat boxes, washed dishes, made pumpkin nut muffins (for easy to grab snack)

Book 2 of 52: about 1/2 way done

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We received the $1,038 reimbursement check from the railroad for SIL's funeral expenses. Since it comes from an annuity it's taxable ... bizarre considering it's supposed to be a refund of sorts ...

We'd already been reimbursed from the estate (which we told them) so ... we did the 1/3 to the future (Emergency Fund) 1/3 to the present (fence fund) and 1/3 to past/debt (DHs student loan.) I paid the student loan today - it had $128 at 6.8% interest. It was the smallest of them, but I just didn't like having that interest rate. Smile He has about $3k left. His IBR payment is $51.81 - the other interest rates are 3%.

I'm not too worried about knocking this one out fast .. we have so many other places for our money to go, and the interest rate is less than our mortgage.

I wish I had dallied a bit on getting the paperwork in though ... the check was dated in 2017. I had been hoping for it to be dated 2018 for tax purposes.

Oh well. Who knew this was going to happen when I sold some of my stock earlier this year? We may still be able to *squeak* under the tax savers credit limit, but I have my doubts.

New Year's Blerghh...

January 2nd, 2018 at 12:07 am

I started feeling run down about a week ago, but pushed myself through work til the end of the week. Of course, as soon as I didn't have to go to work, my body completely gave in to the yucks.

I had really been hoping to do a lot of cleaning and making ahead items for the freezer this weekend. About all I got done was clean the kitchen once after making the beefless stew (and then DH makes a new mess making one last rum cake ...ergh!)

I am probably going to take a sick day tomorrow as well. Hopefully my supervisor isn't going to think I'm just trying to extend the long weekend.

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Yeah, about the "beefless" stew I made yesterday. Definitely not a repeater.

The cauliflower recipe I made from the How Not to Die cookbook though was a hit - especially the lemon tahini sauce.

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DH really wanted to see the Peach Bowl.

I had bought a digital converter and antennae for our huge analog tv in case it was showing on a local broadcast channel.

It was showing on ESPN of course.

So ... I signed us up for the 7 day free trial of Sling - I checked off just about everything you can check off for. If I let it go past the free trial, it'd cost $118. Hah!!

Let's just say we are NOT impressed.

I couldn't get it to work on my DHs Chromebook. And then when I DID get it working on my Windows 10 computer, I couldn't record off the ESPN3 channel - so not only did DH have to wake up early to see it, I had to give up my computer for a few hours. (first world problems ...) DH also said the camera angle/video was really crappy. No play by play, commentary, etc.

Of course looking at the schedule, even with a zillion of channels, I'm reminded of why I haven't had cable in so many years. (of my own accord) There's just nothing on the majority of the time that's the least bit interesting.

At least on Netflix there's stuff like The Crown, When Calls the Heart, bunches and bunches of silly, predictable Christmas movies .... etc. I could go to Amazon Prime and find stuff to watch there too I'm sure if I ever ran out of things on Netflix.

Or you know ... work on reading the next book on my 52 books for 2018!

Or, gasp! do some housework!

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Poor DH is having to go out delivering pizza's tonight. The low is supposed to be around -8 F. He won't wear a scarf because it gets in his way, nor will he wear a stocking cap ... He will at least wear gloves sometimes.

I hope people are generous tippers tonight - both due to the cold nobody wants to venture out in, and due to the outcome of the Peach Bowl game today. Smile

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Accomplishments:
1st book of 2018 read - Treasured Grace (vol. 1)
2nd book of 2018 started - Beloved Hope (vol. 2)

No spending.