I think I'm getting into a pretty good routine now. Most days 70-80% of my food consumption is whole grain/fruit/veggie/nuts/low-processed. Now at over a month without soda.

I saw something on the YNAB forum today called a My Soda Pop (or something like that.) For $75 you could get this reusable kit to make your own carbonated water/juice/soda. Same idea as the soda stream machine, but more environmentally sound. I was interested in it til I saw the price ...

Step Bet - Week 1 (ends Tuesday)
1/2 stretch days, 2/4 active days

---
I went and looked at my American Express card offers after seeing what CCF posted. I had the Boxed offer a cable/internet offer. These will help me get to the $25 cash out (currently sitting at $16.)

At boxed I bought toilet paper and Madras lentils.

---
Our poor kitty Baby, the oldest of the brood, doesn't seem to be feeling too well. Thursday night he lost his lunch, and then wasn't interested in the wet food dinner. This never happens. He's a true chow hound.

I made a vet appointment for Saturday morning. I hope it doesn't take too long, because I'm supposed to be doing an announcement for my Sabbath School group at the beginning of service. (Not looking forward to ... but am not going to have to say a word - just be moral support to my teammate.)

I'm wondering if we are saving enough towards the vet category ...

----
DH and I both had dentist appointments this week. DH didn't think he'd have any issues since he's not had a cavity in 50 years ..... So, when it came time to renew dental insurance this year, I dropped it for both of us.

Wishing I hadn't now.

I had a clean bill of teeth health. My DH on the other hand has a receding gum line. He'd mentioned this to me, but I hadn't realized that was the same as gingivitis.

So ... at his appointment they wanted to do what is called a "deep cleaning." Something which would take at least 2 2 hour appointments and cost $150 after insurance. And this is only AFTER he gets clearance from his family doctor (blood pressure) and his orthopedic doctor (shoulder replacement.)

He feels it would be way too stressful to accomplish this before October 31 (end of plan year.) So ... we are going to hold off on it til next plan year. Hopefully he'll have his blood pressure better under control by then too. Sigh.

---
DH and I had a long discussion Thursday night. It ended with me saying that IF he found a vehicle that just absolutely SINGS to him, then I would be willing to move a certain amount of money out of the fence fund. (Also, IF he'd commit to keeping the vehicle meticulous so good resale value later.) I did also make sure he realized that it *could* mean that the fence wouldn't happen right away next spring - unless he sells some of his electronics.

This coming week we are going to be going on a short excursion for car hunting / short get-away. Either to Chicago or Denver depending on which area has the most possible cars to look at.

It'll be nice to get away even if just for a short bit. (2 days) Hopefully we'll come back with two cars so the car search will be over for a few years... (This is why I prefer to buy newer models, so that I can buy once and not have to deal with the search again for a LONG time.)

---
On Sunday we are going to be signing our wills! Also, our DNR statements. It will be good to have that all done. And for free too. (My church's larger organization, called a Conference, has a trust and wills department that does this for church members - all they ask is that the church is remembered in some small way in the will.)

---
I've borrowed a bunch of books on DIY foods, "easy" vegan cooking, etc from the library. So far 3 books into it, and I'm not terribly impressed ... I am thinking of getting a nut milk bag to make my own milk and butter. DH may roll his eyes a bit ... we'll see though.

I went shopping at HyVee tonight - picked up bananas, apples, brussel sprouts (at Dh's request!), chia seeds, and a couple other things I don't remember. $22.xx

---
Oh! DH gave me a nice surprise Thursday. When I got home, I found out that after his dentist appointment he had stopped at the local ABC (Adventist Book Center) to see if they had my fave Wham. They didn't, but he brought home some other TVP product for us to try.

I was really surprised because I wasn't sure he'd really heard me when I'd asked him if he'd stop by there sometime if he was awake and out during their hours .. because I was really craving me some Wham. He heard and he remembered.

Still doing pretty well getting my daily dozen in most days. (At least about 70 - 85% level.) Still holding strong on no soda.

I'm working on my meal plan for this week, and plan to get some Kale to try out Ceejay's kale chips, and try out Kashi's idea too.

I found a recipe for making baked apple slices in the oven (rather than the dehydrator) so might try that too.

My grocery budget for the first week at least is going to be helped somewhat by a generous gift from my church's ladies group - a belated housewarming/wedding gift. My walking buddy brought it over last night - two kinds of ravioli from Trader Joe's, organic marinara sauce, veggie meatballs, salad mix, can of black olives, two baguettes, a set of measuring spoons and cups, and a silicon spatula. All in a container which can be used as a serving dish.

Pretty neat.

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Okay, September wrap up:
Mortgage - 526
Extra Principal - 25
Natural gas - 26
Electricity - 139
Phone - 52.27
Water/Sewer - 86.82 (bi-monthly)
Internet/Cable - 54.95
Netflix - 10.71
Groceries - 296.91
Car gas - 274.49 ($50 or so for MN trip)
Tithe - 130
Giving - 30
Car Maintenance - 129.48
Clothing - 23.45
Phone/Garmin replacement - 25.93 (new Garmin warranty, back-up phone DH)
Household - general - 46.95
Pets - cats - food/litter - 70.95
Pets -cats - medical - 24.39 (felliway dispenser)
Pets - non-cats - food - 13.49
Fitness - 41.85
Laura birthday/entertainment (trans siberian) 108
Date night / eating out - 63.85
Catifying - 15.87 (materials to attach cat tree to wall in living room)
Laura fun money - 19.39
Student loan - 51.38
Medical debt - 178

Money was set aside for multiple categories not shown above .. because nothing was spent in them for now.

---
We had our October budget meeting on Thursday night. It was kind of fun due to my 3rd paycheck and overtime hours. We put $200 into each of our spending money categories (been getting about $40 each), an extra $300 into repaying medical debt (actually have enough to pay half of it in full right now - just need to find a card DH would qualify for with a $1k spend and good sign up bonus, or even a $500 spend with good sign up bonus ...) We also allocated extra to some other categories.

DH agreed to do a $100 extra principal payment to the mortgage after I explained to him how making the little boost payments would save us huge amounts of interest / time in the long run.

---
DH made the commitment to only one 20 oz soda per work night, and I have made the commitment to not taking more than one servings worth of chocolate/junkfood into the office at a time. This will be helpful to both of us.

Ok, I need to get my walking clothes on and get out there before it's dark. May go ahead and do some grocery shopping tonight too. (Since I did some cleaning last night before my walking buddy came over ...)

Still going strong on no soda.

The light duty person has been diagnosed with per-diabetes and high cholesterol, so we have been doing a lot of talking about diet, etc. She's a big meat eater, so I suggested she may want to try cutting back on meat by using it as a condiment to her meals, as well as cutting out/back on dairy and eggs.

I've been doing fairly well with the DD. The one item I'm having trouble with is getting my greens.

That's partly why I'm thinking about getting a dehydrator - so I can make Kale Chips (maybe spinach ones too?) Then I can use them to dip in my homemade hummus. Taking care of greens and beans!

I'd also like to do dried apples like my dad's friend Pete does. Every time I go out to CA, I come home with bags of died apples. So addictive.

I found one on Amazon for $50 I like, but plan on checking Craig and FB first. DH thinks that's a good idea in case I end up not really using it.

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I got an email from the Achievmint app today telling me how many points I'd earned. I've been ignoring them because I thought that I'd earned the max number of rewards. But today I decided to see why they kept sending me emails.

Well, I guess they restructured their program so that even people like me (who earned $200 from them) could continue to earn rewards in $10 increments. I'm halfway to the next $10! Guess I'll start tracking my water again.

--
Also last night I decided to look at the Bounts store ... and was able to snag a $10 CVS card! I tried to get a second one, but it wouldn't let me add it to my cart.

---
I stopped at a Dollar Tree yesterday (Tuesday) and was disappointed to find that most of their frozen vegetarian selections weren't available anymore. At least they had a good selection of frozen fruit.

I also bought 4 plastic canisters to put rice/beans/quinoa, etc. in. I need to buy some more, and also find my sharpie so I can label them.

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I got a reply back from N e l n e t. They didn't answer whether they accept 3rd party checks or not, but they told me here to send a payment ... So, I guess we can try and see?

DH needs to recertify for the IBR plan. If it's based on 2015 taxed income, he should be okay still. By next year when it'd be based on both of our incomes together, we'll already be in student loan repayment focus so it won't matter. Right now we are focusing on the medical debt.

(Citi gives the option of sending rewards money to either a student loan or a mortgage. Otherwise, I'd send it to the medical debt. The medical debt has no interest, but the interest on the student loans is negligible, and the mortgage isn't bad either. I just want the medical debt gone first. Even if it doesn't totally make financial sense. )

DD 20 (Saturday) was a bit of a wash. I had my regular morning smoothie and toast ... but then had a craving for pizza and chocolate ... and gave into it. Didn't get much other of the DD (daily dozen) foods in.

Today is a new day.

-

I spent a little time updating the budget last night. I was thinking that we were going to be getting kind of close to the limit on our groceries, but even after double checking that all receipts were entered, I found that we had nearly $140 left! No way we would need to spend that much in the next 7 days.

So, I moved $70 of that to paying for the Trans Siberian tickets (my birthday category only had $15 in it ... the tickets were $108. Needed to whack some moles ...) I found a few other places I could WAM (move money) from, and fully covered that category.
I would have waited to buy the tickets until I had them funded normally, but by buying them when I did, I saved $40.

I can hardly wait for November 17!

I've had a pretty lazy start to the day so far. After DH woke me up coming home this morning (4:30 a.m.) I managed to go back to sleep til nearly 9. I love Sunday mornings. The cats weren't so happy about my staying in bed til 9 ...

In a little while I'm going to go to the gym to do my initial weigh in for the Vegas Trip Contest, and then go do some grocery shopping. Probably Aldi's, HyVee and SuperSaver.

Then I need to clean/bleach a couple of the litter boxes, sweep, vacuum, clean the bathroom, mop the laundry room ...

I'm planning on doing a simple dinner tonight I think. A Chef Boy'r Dee pizza with a side of broccoli and beans. That'll make DH happy and me happy too. (And won't take 3 hours of prep time.)

I'll bake some sweet potatoes for my work lunches this week, and portion out some of the beans I made last week. (How long are cooked beans okay in the fridge?)

---
I read an interesting post on the blog No Meat Athlete about how to really make lasting habit changes.

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/limitless

I don't believe personally in meditation/mindfulness, but I would like to get back into the habit of spending time daily reading/thinking about the Bible. Usually when I go for my walks, I listen to the podcast Brian Hardin's Daily Audio Bible, but it's easy to let my thoughts wander (especially when he's on the chapters with long lists of names ...)

Ten habits I would like to incorporate in my life:
1. Daily Bible reading (physical book) Start with 5 minutes, and slowly increase to 30. (Read Sabbath School quarterly??)
2. Memorize one Bible verse a week. (Use Memorise?)
3. Play the piano daily. (Start with 5 minutes, and work up to 30.)(Purchase iPad piano app?)
4. Practice Spanish. Start with 5 minutes, and work up to 20 minutes using Duolingo or other sources.)
5. Wake up an hour earlier. (Start with 5 minutes ...)
6. Daily flossing (much better about this, but could be even better.)
7. Practice releasing stress through other means than chocolate. --Say "Oh Well" -- Chew gum --- .....?
8. Spend time daily doing something to make the house more home like (other than daily cleaning the litter boxes) Start with 5 minutes, work up to 20.
9. Average 7,000 steps daily. Or, 30 minutes of movement daily. (Start with average of 4,000 / 5 minutes movement and work up.)
10. Make contact with one family/friend (other than Grandma) 2x a week. (Start with 2x a month, and work up.)

Habits 1 and 2 kind of go with each other, so I think I'll make those my focus for September/October.

What are some habits/small changes that you might like to focus on?

I'm still managing to stay away from soda. I'm finding out again, like other times I've managed to go more than two weeks avoiding it, that it gets to where I'm not sure why I wanted it in the first place. I'm at that point now - where a sip of DHs Cherry Coke doesn't even tempt me.

As far as the Daily Dozen - I'm still doing fairly well with it. I think I may modify it a bit ... such as making beans a 1/2 cup per day UP to 3 servings. Eventually I may work up to 3 servings daily, but most nights all I want is something simple like a bowl of cereal and maybe some fruit. When it gets colder, it'll be easier too ... soup or a sweet potato w/beans, etc.

DH didn't like the spaghetti squash too much. We have 3 mo I'm going to try making a spaghetti squash "pizza" and see if he'd go for that. I had lots of leftovers to eat this week because DH wasn't too keen on any of what I made on Sunday. I'm going to have to toss some of it, because I couldn't even eat it all.

One thing going to work on this weekend is coming up with a meal plan mainly using what we already have on hand, but using it in a different way (to make it more palatable to DH.) He was mentioning to me that he thought we shouldn't be buying more perishable items until we used up what we have. (I didn't say that if BOTH of us were eating them ....)

*Exercise - Fallen a bit short on this this week, due to 2 days of evening meetings and a road trip. Got in a 30 minute walk today though!

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DH may have found his winter vehicle - just an hour away! Thursday when I got off work DH called me and asked me if I wanted to take a road trip to O city to see the car. Although I was pretty tired and really wanted to get a walk in, etc., I said yes.

It's a 98 Subuaru - not sure how many miles - $1400. Needs new tires and a driver's side mirror and the windshield replaced. DH was supposed to call the dealer today to talk to them - I forgot to ask him if he did or not.

I really hope this car is workable. A 1 hour road trip is much preferable to a 12 hour roundtrip!

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One of our local gyms is running a contest starting on Monday for a trip to Vegas. You enter as a team of 4, and earn points based on exercise, tracking food, weight loss, participation in nutrition events, etc. You get free access to their gym for the duration of the contest.

The winning team of 4 gets a 3 day/2 night trip to Vegas. Airfare and hotel only.

So ... I got the light duty lady to agree to partner up with me - we'll be assigned two more people.

Doubt we'll win, but it'll be fun anyway.

(This contest is mainly a marketing gimmick to get people to join their gym - it's a new company taking over the locations a defunct gym.)

It's free. (Although you can earn more points by buying stuff at some place, or also by scheduling a chiropractic consultation / visit (sponsors).) I may go ahead and do the chiropractic thing - check to see if a visit would be covered under insurance.

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I ended up getting 6 hours of overtime this week! Two meetings from 5 - 7, and then a 3rd meeting I wasn't supposed to be at initially, from 3 - 5. Due to my union contract, that 30 minutes of OT HAS to be 2 hours.

2 of the meetings had about 125 people each, and one had 49 .... lots of twiddle the thumb time at that one.

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I received my signup bonus for the AE Charge card - 25000 points plus another 1000 for my "purchase." (paid medical debt) Let's just say I'm underwhelmed at the choices.

Most likely we're going to go with using it as Amazon credit. 26,000 points translates into $182 at Amazon.

Or we may keep it around in case we do some traveling, and then we could use it on a more dollar for point basis at hotels com.

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I'm going to try contacting N e l n e t again tonight to see if they accept a 3rd party check. I've already sent them two emails through my husband's account (that I set up for him online ...) with no response. (student loans)

DH and I agreed that if we don't get a response within two weeks this time, that we'll send the $600 in rewards from Citi to the mortgage instead. That'd be more than a one-month payment. (The mortgage company responded to my inquiry within about 6 hours!)

Once that finally clears out the rewards points, then I'm going to check into having that card changed into the Double Cash back card (that doesn't have an annual fee.)

Day 11 of no soda consumed.

Chocolate was consumed, but only one piece. (a Hershey Nugget - so very small piece - leftover from yesterday)

Was hungry waiting for DH to wake up (still waiting ...) and had an apple and some triscuits w/hummus.

Had Little Ceasar's for lunch ..($10). DH wanted it, and I felt like going for it since he hadn't eaten in more than 24 hours ... I have two slices left for either dinner or lunch tomorrow. Mushrooms and pineapple (my usual toppings)

Depending on what we end up doing for dinner, I'm at about 60% today. I'm okay with that since it wasn't a normal day.

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DHs appointment - His colonoscopy went well. It was pretty quick overall once they took him back. The nurses were great - one of them was someone he went to high-school with! DH was a little embarrassed to have her see him in the procedure.

My appointment - For some reason the lady who usually sticks me in one shot, had to really dig around today. Ouch.

---
So between the two appointments, I went to work for about 2 1/2 hours.Busy busy busy. Wow.

Our new route maps came in, and I got to help move out the old boxes and move in the new ones ... in my dress work pants with my hair down.

So, even though I didn't go on an actual "walk" today, I think I probably burned as many calories. Sure sweated enough!

I really like the lady who is doing light duty. She's really trying. She used my computer a little bit today (I'd shown her the basics yesterday.) She told me that I need an assistant..

The phones are pretty busy due to the new routes. Complaints, people wanting to know when they can get the printed schedules, people wanting help figuring out their kids new routes, etc. etc. But lots of complaints. Plus the normal calls of course.

Today I scored 91% on the daily dozen.

Mainly lost points due to only walking 30 minutes.

I also ate chocolate. Mainly because I had some left from yesterday's purchase.

Must only buy single serving sizes. Must not keep extras in house...

I finished listening to the book this morning on the way to work. After work I stopped at the library and picked up the hard copy. I plan on taking notes on it tomorrow while I wait for DH's procedure to finish.

I tried a cup of water with ginger and a bit of honey tonight. Not too bad. I might buy some ginger to keep at work in case I feel one of my bad headaches coming on.

Someone told me that possibly they *could* be migraines, even though they don't last more than 6 or 7 hours (the worst part at least) and are helped by sleep, dark and a cold cloth.

---
I'm kind of looking forward tomorrow - most of the day I have off from work. In the morning accompanying DH to his appointment, then go to work for two hours, then go to my own doctor appointment (getting my iron retested.)

I'm really curious to see what the retest is going to show. I still am not a ball of engergy, but I do feel like I have a little more energy than I did before.

---
DH found a car he thought he wanted (winter delivery car) in Minneapolis. He decided since he was going to take Wednesday night off from work anyway (knowing he was going to need to be near a toilet ...) he decided to drive out there to check the car out.

So, this morning around 4 a.m. he headed out. He hadn't asked me to get cash out for it, and was bemoaning how frustrated he felt not having cash on hand to just go buy a car if he found one.

I told him I'd be okay with taking out a certain amount of cash that was already budgeted for car replacement to keep in the house. It wouldn't affect our interest earnings *that* much.

He seemed happy with that.

However, we still had to figure out how he was going to pay for the car.

I didn't want him to put it on our daily use card, because that would put us close to 60% utilization. So I tried to set up the new Chase card which actually has a higher limit than our Citi card. ???

The phone activation system didn't recognize the card number. The website activation didn't recognize the card number. Finally, I called the customer service number and got the car activated.

DH got on the road. He got back home about 6 p.m. and told me that he ended up NOT getting the car.

Sigh. (of relief partially ... wasn't looking forward to driving to Minneapolis and back on Sunday ...)

So, he's back on the hunt.

Friday I'll probably go ahead and take out the balance of the car fund to help alleviate DH's frustration.

It's a small thing to compromise on.

Going on 9 days of no soda! I almost gave in to temptation today, but told myself that no, I didn't need it. It was just habit - in CVS, get a couple of sodas ...

Day 8 I had about 79% of the Daily Dozen, and today I had about 98%.

I tried adding a 1/2 cup of oatmeal and 1/2 cup of black beans to my smoothie ... Hmm... interesting. I will have to experiment with how much liquid (was too thick.)

In listening to the book when I went on a 40 minute walk in the rain this afternoon, he was talking about the health benefits of ground ginger.

Headaches/Migraines, Menstrual cramps, PMS symptoms, etc., etc. I'm wondering if it would help me with my sinus headaches ... Doesn't hurt to try, right?

---
I hadn't spent any money this week since Saturday (ok, did buy some stuff from Amazon yesterday - silicon baking mats, a cookbook for the InstantPot and Miso)

This afternoon though I had to stop at CVS to pick up my DH's prescription for preparing for his colonoscopy. $50. Ouch.

I'm really trying to keep myself out of there unless there is a *really* specefic reason to be in there (like picking up a prescription)

I managed to get out with just buying a *little* bit of chocolate (which, yes, I ate ...)

I'm almost finished with listening to How Not to Die and now am waiting for the hard copy from the library. There's so many things I want to take special note of, but he goes so fast sometimes, or my "person" who tells me how long I've walked, etc. cuts in for 20 seconds+ ...May end up buying a copy ... (if I can find it used)

+++
No soda consumed
2? servings of fruit

Checked on Google to find out what Dr Greger's Daily 12 consists of - had heard him mention it in the book, etc., but I'm not there yet. Only on Chapter 12.

Apparently there's an app to help you track it too ...
The Daily 12 is a list of things he feels important to get in ... daily. (Dr Gregers Daily Dozen)

Beans (3 servings) ...........0/3
Berries (1 serving)...........0/1
Other fruit (3 servings).......2/3
Cruceferious Veg (1 serving)...0/1
Greens (2 servings)............0/1
Other Veg (2 servings).........0/2
Ground flax (1 serving)--------0/1
Nuts (1 serving)---------------1/1
Spices (1/2 tsp Turmeric)------0/1
Whole Grains (3 servings)------1/3
Water (5 servings)-------------3/5
Exercise ......................10/45

Saturday Score: 17/67 ~39%

Not my best day to start scoring ... wasn't feeling very good and didn't eat terribly good for me stuff, other than at my first meal (cereal w/banana, watermellon, whole wheat toast w/pb)

We won't talk about my "dinner" .. except to say that chocolate and pizza ...

---
I went to a local grocery store tonight (partly to get a Totino's ...) but also picked up some more hummus, snap peas, oranges and ground ginger. Spent about $15

--
Sunday we are *finally* meeting with my church's wills and trusts guy. This is our third appointment - both of the previous ones were missed because of me ... (spaced the first one, was during house buying process ... had to cancel the second one due to coming home from work early sick)

I'm realy curious to see how this works. DH and I spent some time discussing who we'd want our executor to be, and who'd be an alternative, etc. We both alreaady know what we want done if we die (cremated and ashes spread to the wind) but probably need those wishes written down somewhere in case we both go at the same time.

I'd like to set up a trust of some sort for animals, maybe have it go to the local no-kill cat shelter or something. DH probably would like that too (this is if we both go at the same time.)

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I got my Chase Rewards Unlimited card in the mail today. Just need to activate it now, and send a $500 payment to DHs medical debt. Then probably by next statement will have the $150 cash back. Which will then be put towards the medical debt as well.

Anyone know how long it should take for a mortgage to show up on your credit report? My credit scores all still say "No recent installment info" ...

I've had the mortgage since June...

I'm also looking for a good sign up bonus for a card DH could qualify for. He has some dings on his report in the last few years (before we got back together)

I probably need to wait awhile before opening another card (looking at the Citi Double Cash back card ... though I wonder if they'd switch my current Citi card (with an annual fee) to the Double Cash card (with no annual fee) ... Hmmm.... with no credit pull.

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I was reading something on the MMM forum on Friday that got me intrigued about some of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I checked a few books out from the library, and have put a few more on hold. None of them though seemed to deal with what happened in the stadium those few days - the rumors I heard about that seemed the most horrific ... so was kind of curious to see if anyone had written about the reality of it. Will have to see though.

So last weekend I saw the book How Not to Die (by Dr Greger of nutritionfacts.org) mentioned in a couple different places. I put the audiobook on my library reserve list, and picked it up on Saturday.

Wow. I have to say I'm super impressed so far. And I'm only about 6 chapters into it.

One thing I already plan to do is add 4 brazil nuts each month to my diet. I also am adding a teaspoon of tumeric to my smoothies - I'd already been using tumeric on the roasted veggies, etc., but after hearing all the things it can do ... Yeah, a teaspoon in my smoothies! Probably will add cinnamon too.

My mom and my brother have both agreed to read/listen to it and then we can discuss it together. DH is a little bit more reluctant ... though he did somewhat patiently somewhat listen to me talking about it this afternoon.

So.. I am officially giving up soda. 100%. Not even a little sip of DH's at a restaurant. I also am limiting myself to no more than $2/week on any kind of junk food. Been spending way too much fun money on it/ eating WAY too much of it.

This is Day 1. Maybe I'll try to update a little like CB - though probably not daily.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in preventing the top 15 diseases that kill you ... And saving money on medical stuff.

---
So DH called me tonight and let me know that he got into a fender bender. His fault. Low speed. He's fine - but the person he hit (beater of a truck) appears to be claiming injury. Sigh.

This will be interesting to see what happens.

Now to figure out where the $150 ticket/court costs will come from.

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Almost forgot! I actually got ALL of my thank you notes written tonight!! Some of them are even addressed!

Now they are on the counter waiting for DH to add his signature, and a short note of his own on some of them. Then I'll get them addressed and stop at a post office.

Woo hoo! Finally will have that albatross off my neck!

August was a spendy month in a number of categories - due to car repairs on DH's vehicle, and changing some grocery habits (i.e. buying more fresh produce since DH is actually eating it now!)

So ... the numbers: (expenses only == lots of money was put in various holding categories)

Mortgage/Extra - $0 (Was a month ahead in payments, so decided to distribute this money elsewhere.)
Natural Gas - 41.86
Electricity - $0 (paid August's bill in July ... )
Phone - 60.67
Internet/Cable - 55.35
Groceries - Fast Food - 8.86
Groceries - 347.30
Car Fuel - 223.09
Tithe - 130
Giving - 30
Car Maintenance - 474.04
Clothing - 85.71 (mostly DH replacing jeans, shoes, belt)
Household General - 263.69 (bedframe, misc., piano bench)
Medical - 139.38
Pets-cats=food/litter - 59.10
Pets -cat-medical - 102.26
Pets - non cat - food.shelter - 70.34 (chicken cage, food)
DH birthday dinner - 40.84
Date Night = 17.30
Student loan - 53.51
Medical Debt - 1000

---
DH requested that for the next budget meeting if it could be done on the iPad laying down he'd appreciate it. So thankfully YNAB's iPad app has much more functionality than the iPhone app..

We did our September budget meeting on the iPad while lounging on the bed. We had about 500 more to work with this month due to DH not having any nights off for packing/cleaning his old apartment, etc. Still ... the money went fast!

We may be purchasing a vehicle for DH this weekend. He needs something that is good for delivering in the snow. The car replacement category and the car repair category got the most money for September.

For the medical debt, I'm looking for another credit card offer with a good sign up bonus. I have about 600 available in that category to make another large payment. Are there any spend $500 get $100 deals out there?

We also bought DH a new phone - he found a used replacement for $10 on eBay. He currently uses a Keocera flip phone ... He joked that he wanted an iPhone. I told him sure, if he could wait a few weeks til the new model comes out, then the iPhone 5's will be an absolute steal. Would be a good starter smart phone.

---
Ok, so bank account interest is weird.

In July we had just slightly less money spread between two accounts. Both qualified for the 2.5% interest. We earned a total of $28.50 between the two accounts.

This month all but about $1.5k was in one account. Only one account qualified for the 2.5% interest. We earned $41.86 in interest.

I really don't get how we earned nearly $12 less in interest having nearly the same amount spread between two accounts (maybe a difference of $900 in ending balances)

The amount we earned in interest this month is about what I'd figured we should have earned last month. So ...???

So it's been a busy week.

Interesting tidbits...

DH and I worked together Thursday night to make stuffed bell peppers. So yummy! I meant to take a picture but forgot. The filling we made actually was enough for me to use on a sandwich the next day, and still have enough to stuff maybe 3 peppers.

Friday night I had a big scare. I was sitting at my computer relaxing, when all of a sudden I heard Kari and Sunny fighting right next to me. I put a book in between them to break it up, and Kari went off into a corner. The way she was huddled made me realize she was hurt.

So I went over to her and picked her up, and had some blood drip on my leg!!! Her eye was all scrunched up.

I panicked. I called DH and he told me to call the vet and see if they thought I should bring her in or wait and see.

I called the Vet and they told me that I should bring her in if she was got in the eye.

So I commenced trying to get her in the kennel ... Ten minutes later, and multiple scratches later, I had her in the kennel and in the car.

Then DH called to say he was five minutes away. I waited for him to come so he could look at her eye too. By the time he got there, Kari was opening her eye again.

We could see then that it was only the corner of her eye (the 3rd eye??) that looked a little bloody. So ultimately we decided to wait and see.

This morning she seemed fine, and the scratch looked healed.

We are discussing what we are going to do about Sunny. She is the only one of our cats that uses her claws to hurt the other cats (namely Kari) or destroy furniture (my office chair ...DHs speakers)

We see maybe 4 options. 1 and 2 - let go of one of the two cats - Kari or Sunny. 3 - Get Sunny declawed or 4 - try something like Soft claws?? to see if they would stay on Sunny and actually work.

I also ordered some Feliway spray today. I've had mixed opinions about whether it really works or not, but I'm going to try.

I don't like options #1 -3 at all, but if #4 doesn't work, then I'm not sure what else to do. We can't keep having Sunny take pieces out of Kari (she took a piece out of one of her ears a few months ago.)

Sigh.

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In more positive news ... today DH let me cut his hair! I'd bought a clipper set from Aldi's about a month ago and he kept putting me off, or when he had time I didn't.

Today though we both had time at the same time. It took me about an hour, and I think I did a decent job for my first time. Definitely need to watch some more videos about how to cut the top part.

Today's haircut basically paid for thee clippers. Any future cuts will be money saved!

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A new Dollar Tree WITH a freezer section opened up less than 1/2 a mile from our house on Thursday!!!

Color me ecstatic! They have the frozen fruit! They have the chicken nuggets DH likes. They don't have any of the frozen vege options of the other store ... yet. I will be letting them know they need to get those in there ASAP.

I also found that they have those organizing fabric bins that you would normally pay upwards of $5 each, for $1! (For those cube organizers.) I bought two to try out the quality and usefulness.

So DH did go to the doctor, and we got the bloodwork results on Tuesday (last week.) High blood pressure, diabetes and another issue.

Sigh. He had been worried for awhile that he might have developed diabetes. His mom died of diabetes complications in the late 80s. One of his sisters died of complications from it (juvenile onset) a few years before their mom.

Right now he is refusing to meet with the diabetes lifestyle counselor. He says that he knows enough about it, and any questions he has can be Googled. He has agreed that if after 30 days of doing it his way, if he doesn't see improvements, that he will see the counselor.

He does seem to be a little more willing to eat veggies ... and is cutting back on soda a good bit.

I'm really, really trying to not butt in and tell him what to do. To let him set the pace. It's really hard though - especially when he started out by doing 90% protein calories ...

I spoke to a CVS pharmacist about a blood pressure cuff and an glucose meter. They told me that I should contact our insurance to see what was covered.

I did that today - found out that both the meter and strips - of any brand - are 100% covered, but the bp cuff would count towards OOP and deductible. I need to contact one of the local medical supply places here to find a cuff with a large enough extension piece.

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Work ... Sigh. The last week and a half has been extremely busy, hectic, stressful. Last Friday there was an incident where I had two people in a row come to the window asking for route info, logged off the phone, and still had 5 different people call and be placed on hold (then hang up) while helping the people at the window. Then had someone call moaning and groaning about being on hold for 25 minutes.

I kind of vented unwisely to my supervisor ... Usually there is at least one other person there who can help handle an over load of phone calls, but my supervisor was in a meeting and those present in the office weren't ones who generally answer the phone ..

We both left quite frustrated Friday afternoon.

I nearly got sideswiped on the way home which definitely did not help my perspective. Thankfully DH was home and was able to give me some much needed respite so I eventually felt calmer about everything.

Then yesterday my supervisor asked me to come back with her to the conference room.... One of the things she talked about to me about was Friday. We agreed that I should try forwarding more calls to the information line when I get swamped like that.

The other thing she talked to me about though really threw me for a loop. Apparently people have complaining about my area smelling bad. Sometimes about ME smelling bad.

I practice good hygeine - teeth brushed, hair washed, clothes washed, etc. The only things I could think of would be my shoes (which I leave at my desk overnight so I don't have to walk too much in them outside.) Or ... my clothes.

Yes, I always wear clean clothes (or at least clothes that still pass the sniff/smudge test after a wearing or two) But ... I think the issue could possibly be the cats. The smell from the cats.

When you have many multiple litter boxes throughout a home, it seems impossible to NOT have it smell. The chickens in the basement sure don't help either.

I asked my supervisor to alert me when she smells something off, so that way I can possibly pin point the cause better. (Such as - that top was hanging in the laundry room for the past week which is next to the workshop with the chickens and also in a room with a litter box. Or, that was the third time I wore those pants - maybe I was wrong about them passing the sniff test.)

I wasn't upset that she told me about this - in fact I appreciated it. However, at the same time, I'm now feeling mighty awkward around my coworkers wondering who had been talking about me behind my back.

Ugh.

I'm thinking it might be worth it to try to find a few hundered dollars in the budget to have someone come in here and help me figure out what to do to eliminate / alleviate the smell factor. (Supervisor's suggestion was get rid of most of the cats and all the chickens ... Yeah, that's not going to happen. Though maybe I can spur DH to get the chickens outside with the idea that their smell may be affecting me at work!)

(Shoes - I am planning on putting baking soda in them, and also maybe dryer sheets, and a few other ideas I found. Maybe also get some footies to wear with them. Probably also try to take them home with me each night.)

(Litter boxes - I use the scoopable kind with baking soda for multi-cat households. I completely scoop them ALL out daily. I have air fresheners in every room of the house, plus a couple of those things that are supposedly supposed to "refresh" the air ... I also use carpet freshener when I vacuum. The only other thing I can think of to do would be to completely clean out the litter boxes .. but I have done that a few times, and it is nearly an all afternoon ordeal and completely zaps any energy I have for the coming week. And that's only with doing half of them. *and no way would DH help with THAT - he's just barely agreed to take over scooping the basement boxes this last week.)

Speaking of energy ... I thought I was on an upswing and maybe the iron supplements were helping. Maybe I just way overdid it Sunday, but I am beyond wiped Monday and Tuesday. probably the busyness / stress at work isn't helping either though.

*I did see the counselor Monday. She basicaly told me that I'm doing a pretty good job of setting boundaries, but need to work on making DH take care of more of his responsibilities (like how he is eat) hour was barely enough time to scratch the surface. But it definitely was helpful.

The last few days I'd been noticing that my cat Kari had been in a litter box every time I turned around - and not just in and out quickly, but squatting and squatting and ...

I mentioned it to DH, and he also observed the same thing.

I'd noticed also that for about a week or so she had seemed to regress quite a bit in her acceptance of the other cats. Screaming at them and attacking them if they dared look at her ..

So I called the vet before work on Monday and got an appointment for her after work.

I walked her in her kennel (the vet is about a block from us) and took her in. The vet tech reassured me that it wasn't an urinary blockage, but said that they needed a urine sample to test for a bladder infection. They could keep her overnight (at no charge!) and take the sample in the morning, or I could try to collect it myself ...

With multiple cats and multiple litter boxes ... I chose to let her have an overnight away.

I got a call this afternoon letting me know that she indeed did have a bladder infection. My poor little girl.

The vet suggested strongly that I put her back on her old more expensive food (Purina One Beyond) and see if that helped, as well as the pills they gave me.

One 3 lb bag of this food costs almost what 3/4 of the 16 lb bag of Purina Complete which we've been feeding the cats since moving in here. DH probably isn't going to like this too much. Oh well. I have to give her her pills twice a day - only way to do that is crush them up and put them in some canned food. They cost 2x what the Friskie's costs for 1/2 the amount. Oh well. I'll be able to make one can last for 3 meals, so it wont be SO horribly extra expensive.

The vet visit and meds cost $102. A 3 lb bag of food and 4 cans after coupons, $16.xx My Kari hopefully feeling better in a few days? Priceless.

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I spoke too soon about my allergies being better/no more sinus headaches ... had a doozy of one yesterday. Of course starting the day with an argument with DH probably didn't help matters ... We probably won't see each other again til tomorrow night thanks to our schedules. Probably not a bad thing...

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My aunt texted me today telling me that grandma had gotten some form in the mail telling her that my dad had $100 coming to him from something. She's going to mail it on to me. I'm guessing it will be something like a defunct bank account or deposit refund on something or the other.

If it really is something, I plan on offering my brother half of it - although I doubt he'll take me up on it, because he's now making 5x? what I'm making per month ... and doesn't know what to do with all the money.

Those of you who've met him won't be surprised to know that he had been given the goal of making $250k in sales by the end of this year ... and he surpassed $300k in sales a month ago ... He truly could sell ice to an Eskimo.

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The next two nights I'll be working overtime at open houses - selling passes, answering questions about the school booster buses, and probably also fielding questions about the new routes coming in to effect in October. I've already got a little snack stash ready to go so I am not tempted to stop at the local grocery store near the school ... I just hope my energy can hold out and that I don't have a sinus headache either of the nights ... Will just have to power through come what may.

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I've reached out to the counseling services provided by my employer and made an appointment for Monday. DH and I have had some issues I haven't mentioned here, as well as some of the ones I have ... I'm at a point where I feel I need a 3rd party (disinterested) to bounce the issues/thoughts off of.

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Is it reprehensible that I haven't written the thank you notes for the wedding gifts yet?? I keep putting it on my to do list, and it keeps not getting done ... almost to the point where I'm embarrassed to send them ...

So I have a Credit Card that gives me 5% back on gas purchases. It was nice to have before when was only purchasing one or two fill ups a month. But now with DH filling up every few days, it is worth almost 3/4 of a tank of gas!

A few weeks ago I tried to start the process of changing my name on the card and getting DH added on to the account (so we each could have a card - right now he has it most of the time, and then gives it to me when I need to fill up.)

First, it was nearly impossible to figure out HOW to start the process. So I wrote to customer service.

A few days later I got an email with a link to a form I needed to print out and send back, along with a scan of my marriage certificate and another form of id.

So I managed to get my scanner function to work again, and scanned in the documents requested.

A few days later I get another email telling me that what I had sent wasn't enough. That I needed to send in a "certified copy of your driver's license." Say what?!

Another couple emails, and it was clarified that yes, they require this, and yes, they know that it is more than most places require - but they are a conservative organization and very careful.

Ugh.

So... yesterday after work I stop my credit union (where I get the 2.5% on checking) and asked about getting my driver's license notarized. Of the two notaries there, neither one had EVER heard of such a thing, and couldn't find any kind of form on the notary's website for NE.

So now I'm waiting for another email back from customer service to tell me if there is a particular form the notary can use, or what else they'd suggest I do!

Have any of you ever heard of such a thing??

If it wasn't for the 5% on gas, I would just forget this card! I guess I could just keep using it with my maiden name ... I still have my old driver's license to prove that was my name at one time.

Ugh.

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Dh's birthday was on Wednesday - the ol' 50. He worked that night, so we celebrated on Thursday. We went out to eat at this nice local Mexican restaurant -Tico's. It's been here in L town since shortly after I was born. Really good food (lots of veg choices) although a bit pricey. Their dessert - Ponzaneita (sp?) is utterly scrumptious, and their chips are addictive. (I don't normally eat the chips at a restaurant, but these looked so different, I had to try them ... ate half a basket!)

Once DH gets to Walmart, he's getting a new electric razor for his birthday.

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I think I've been spending too much money at CVS .. I got a postcard in the mail this last week telling me I was in the "top 4%" ... Then I proceeded to stop there Friday afternoon and spend $23 - after about $30 in a variety of coupon savings and a blanket 15% off. I also got back $8 in ECB. I just need to spend another $7 on P&G products to get another $10 ECB. I'm debating about it ...

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I opened up a new AmEx Charge card last week. Received the card on Tuesday? and went ahead and used it to pay $1k on DHs medical debt. 5 or 6 weeks from now I'll get 25,000 rewards points. They can't be used for cash back, and can't be used for statement credits (unless I use the card charge $250 worth of other budgeted stuff ... that actually work out ..) My other option is gift cards - Amazon might be one of the issuers. My card isn't listed on my account yet, so I haven't been able to explore the options yet (other than what the CSR told me.)

I also opened a new checking account. (DH rolled his eyes when I told him.) All I have to do is have one direct deposit of $500 within 90 days, and have some kind of transaction each month, and I'll get $150.

That's $400 to throw at debt! (eventually ...)

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I've been looking for large container to put change in for DH's boat fund. I'd thought about a used/beat up 5 gallon water jug (like what is used on water dispensers) but couldn't find anything like it for cheap. So yesterday I was at Dollar Tree and I found a 3 gallon container similar in shape to an old water bottle I had. That is now here at home and labeled with "DH's Boat Fund" and I already put in a couple dollars worth of change that's been scattered through out the house.

(As a delivery driver, DH has lots of change floating everywhere. I plan on offering to clean out his cars so I can get all the change out from them .. and hopefully he'll put his change in the jar at night instead of tossing his jeans on the floor and letting the change all go wherever ...

I don't really use cash, so I'll probably just add to it whatever money I find on the ground, etc.

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I don't know if it is just coincidental or if there is something there ... but a few days after I started taking the iron supplements, I also switched from Allegra D to just Allegra. I also stopped taking the cold medicine at night to sleep.

Ever since then, it seems like my allergies have gotten better! I haven't had a sinus headache in weeks! I've been getting slightly better sleep (my average has gone up to 5 1/2 hours! vs. an average of 4 1/2 - 5 hrs.)

So ... is it the iron supplements? The switching from Allegra D to Allegra? Whatever I'm most allergic to, getting less? I wish I knew the answer, but at any rate, I'll take it!

DH finally got up Sunday around 7:30 - I was just about ready to go and rouse the dead ... was getting so bored waiting.

It took about 25 minutes total, and I think he was surprised to see just how fast the money went. He told me that he's going to cream me as far as what he brings in for September. I told him I'd love to see it. (A little friendly competition never hurts, right? )

After our meeting was over, DH went to go get our pizza (date night in!)

Then as we were finishing up dinner, I told him that we still needed to spend some time working on the basement. Even if only 30 minutes. We needed to get a path through the living room to the basement kitchen/bathroom. Plus .. the dehumidifier buried in the back of the family room.

(Let's just say that the movers who moved DHs stuff in left a lot to be desired. Or maybe the difference was that I was out and sort of supervising the people moving my stuff most of the time, while DH was cocooning himself in the A/C as much as possible ...)

Anyway ... he finally agreed to at least make a path. So we went down there and got a path made. We came to the area where the dehumidifier was and found out that a subwoofer had been placed on top of it.

I said to DH, "Well, we've got the path. Maybe we can deal with this later."

Dh responded, "No, lets go ahead and do it now. Who knows how bad the humidity level is down here. So not good for all the electronics!"

I just quietly smiled to myself and helped him get the dehumidifier free.

Then we realized that the only available plug was a two prong plug, and the dehumidifier needed a three prong plug. I told DH that I thought I had one more adapter in my tool box. He says to me - "Get it PDQ (pretty darn quick) so we can get rid of this excess humidity!"

Oh DH. I've only been mentioning the humidity level in the basement, etc., for the last month... and offering to help clear a path for at least that long ... Now, it's all PDQ!

Although we've now been married just over 3! months, July was the first month where we followed a joint budget and I completely took over the bill paying. It also was the first full month where we only had one household - although we were paying the final bills from our former apartments.

Whenever DH wakes up, we're going to have a quick budget meeting for August. One thing we've kind of had to hash out this month is the when/how of him giving me the cash tips to deposit. He was used to to just going by the bank once or twice a month to make a deposit. I want to make a deposit every Friday (when the lobby is open til 6.)

He didn't see why I wanted to do that since our account balances have more than enough for our daily expenses. I explained to him that all my money is directly deposited and that helps me be able to guage what the next month's budget will be like. When I showed him how much was available to budget for August from my contributions versus what he'd given me so far ... he started giving me the tips as he got them. (He's a delivery driver - makes a small hourly wage, but averages 2x that in tips/delivery charges.)

So ... since we were putting everything together this month, it is difficult to say what our "income" really was - our budget was based off of all moneys from various checking/savings being put together. Expenses include final bills and deposit charges for new accounts. In other words, this isn't a typical month for us by any means.

So .. expenses:
Mortgage (loan only) $526
Extra Principal: $25
Natural Gas: 69.20
Electricity: 382.44 (includes June bill that got misplaced!!)
Phone: 239.04 (last month of DH needing to use phone as a hotspot for Internet - our bill for August is less than $60.)
Water: 51.43 (2 month bill)
Internet/Cable: 150 (deposit, extra house visit)
Groceries - Fast food: 29.81
Groceries - 265.08
Auto Fuel - 241.87 (delivery driver ....)
Tithe: 130 (DH isn't on board with tithing, but is ok with me continuing my same level as before)
Giving: 30
Car Maintenance: 14.97
Car tax/licenses: 421.69 (Tags for 3 cars, 2 new licenses)
Clothing: 20.40
Computer Replacement: (DH) 249
Garmin Replacement: (DH) 142
Household (blanket, toiletries, paper goods, fan, etc.) 148.36
Medical - Non-deductible (allergy, etc) 64.53
Medical FSA Reimbursed- 80.48 (copays, meds, heating pad)
Pets - Cats - food/litter -$80.97 (a LOT of litter/food)
Pets - Cats - Medicine(flea meds) $77
Pes - Non Cats - Food - 13.50
Pets - Non Cats - Medicine - 16.61
Fitness - 41.83 (my gym membership, hopefully can cancel soon)
Date Night: 14.77 (although will be getting pizza tonight)
DH fun money - 16
Laura fun money - 79.22
Student loan (DH) 55
Medical debt (DH) 372

Whooh! I think that covers it! Besides the money put into the above categories, there was also money put into a variety of other holding categories.

August will be spendy for car maintenance, and I just got approved for a new AE card which I'll be using to make a $1k payment on the medical (get back 250!)

I'm looking forward to what our first month of spending will be like without deposits and final bill fees. (also without needing to replace electronics!)

I have around 6 hours of overtime in August, and I think September will be a 3 paycheck month. DH is working on putting together some speaker sales. (To help fund his boat and tv wishes.)

Mortgage Principal Balance:
Start 7/1/16 - $112,000
As of 7/31/16 (2 payments) - 111,619
Medical Debt:
As of 7/1/16 - 3,668
As of 7/31/16 - 3,296
Student Loan - TBD

So I finally heard back from my doctor about the bloodwork results. My lymphocytes had gone back into the normal range, but my platelets had not. She also said that my ferritan levels were on the low side. So she suggested two options - try taking iron supplements for two months and retest; or, go see a hematologist.

I decided to try the iron pills first. Reading about the symptoms of low iron, it sounds a lot like me. Extreme fatigue, brittle nails, etc.

The problem is though, I eat a lot of foods that are iron rich! My smoothie five days a week has strawberries, etc. in it. Spinach, raisins, pumpkin seeds, and on and on are most of my diet.(outside of my chocolate addiction ...)

So I don't get how I could have low iron.

Right now I'll try just about anything to get my energy back. So .. iron supplements it is. (taken with OJ for now - vitamin C helps the iron absorb better.)

The supplements are pretty cheap - got a 30 day supply for just a few dollars. So .. worth it.

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DH and I had our first date night (just us) Thursday night for July. Ordered out from Ming's and ate in the bedroom with the door shut - to keep the cats out.

I had been supposed to cook, but just had no energy to do so. So DH suggested Ming's. I'm going to do the CC roast on Sunday instead (when it's likely I'll have the most energy, after two days of not working.)

We still have most of our date night budget left - since DH's friend paid for our meal at the Chineese buffet on Sunday.

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DHs friend who we dogsat for and who had indicated he'd reimburse us for the meds we bought for his dog ... well, it looks like he isn't going to follow through on that. Ugh.

I bought the meds knowing full well that we might not be reimbursed, but of course I was hoping! $150 out the door.

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Our electric bill ... OMW! Somehow I missed the June bill (amoungst the many final bills, etc) - that was $99. Then the July bill - $149! Ouch!!!

We had our a/c set at 72 - DH agreed to let me put it up to 78. I couldn't sleep at all at 78. So put it down to 76. That seems ok so far.

Hopefully our next bill won't be so huge!

DH helpfully told me that big electricity bills should be expected in a house in the summer. Really hubby? I had no idea. Doesn't mean I have to like it- or live with it!

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Our checks for our joint account finally came today. We bought them from Walmart - enough to probably last us the rest of our lives. (250 I think.)

It came in some weird packaging from someplace in New Braunfel's TX. At first I thought it was some kind of tourist brochure and almost tossed it without opening ... Glad I didn't do that!

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At work we now have 8 women and two men in administration. One of our men who retired at 53 was replaced by a woman.

I really like her so far. In fact, she helped me out big time with a project I was working on.

We are changing our bus routes and our time schedules completely in October. My boss gave me a spreadsheet with all the time schedules on it for all the routes that one of the dispatchers had created.

The problem with it was 1. All the routes and times were on one sheet; and 2. All the times were written without a colon. i.e. 843P instead of 8:43P

So, the first problem was easily fixed. It was the second problem which caused me a great deal of frustration. How to insert a colon into umpteen cells without having to click on each one individually?

I tried every thing I knew how to do, plus what I could find on Google. Nada. Then TN saved the day by suggesting a V Lookup - and made one for me too!

From there, it was just a matter of around 4 hours of copying and pasting. (There were a lot! of times needing colons ...)

Life is going pretty well overall.

I made an appointment with an allergy doctor for August 23 - the only caveat is that I have to stop all allergy meds for 5 days prior. Yikes. Hope I can survive that.

I got my refund of my security deposit from my apartment. They charged me for cleaning the carpet. Huh? It wasn't stained or worn more than normal? DH says that it's expected that you clean the carpets when leaving an apartment. Maybe just in NE? I never did that at any other place I lived, and always got my deposit back.

Oh well, I was prepared to not get any of my deposit back since these property managers have proven to be exceedingly picky ... so, getting back $117 of $415 is better than I hoped for.

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This afternoon I was walking in the park near our local zoo and got a bit lost. So I got out my GPS to get me back to my car. I stopped near a statue and was staring at my phone - when this young teen stopped near me and said, "Pokemon?"

I smiled at him and told him, "Sorry, no."

There were lots of people in the park with their nose to their phone ... assuming most were Pokemon hunting.

I'm glad the game is getting people out and about.

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DH seems to be adjusting to living with a budget so far. The real test will be next month - I've already done some projections, and unless he gets some really good tip money the next couple weeks, we're going to have to lessen the fun money categories. He probably won't like that too much.

I'm hoping I can get him to sit down with me as I allocate the money out, so he can see all the places the money has to go.

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We're having a quasi-date night tomorrow. Going to eat at a local Chinese buffet with the owner of the dog we dogsat for. Hoping he'll reimburse us for the medications ... but not holding my breath. ($150)

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Thursday night we went to Dollar Tree and picked up a bunch of frozen items - vegetarian stuff for me, and chicken for DH. Also, the fixing's for spaghetti. Which is what DH made for dinner. (We've agreed that we will take turns making dinner for each other on Sundays/Thursdays. His two nights he doesn't work at all.)

I'm going to probably make a cottage cheese loaf on Thursday night. Then next week will try out a new recipe.

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I still haven't used my Instapot. I'm not sure why really. Tomorrow though I plan on doing the water test, and then using it to cook a butternut squash and some sweet potatoes.

I am going to be volunteering at our VBS program M - W nights, so want to have something easy to fix for my dinners. (probably am going to make butternut black bean burgers and sweet potato burgers)

I also got some firm tofu, and am planning on frying some of it and baking some of it. Then cooking a cup or so of quinoa and brown rice for lunches. (along with a zucchini and yellow squash and onion - all on good sales.)

Will see what actually gets done tomorrow.

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Almost forgot - I had DHs and I's 3 car registrations/wheel taxes combined into the same month for renewal (August) For all 3, it was $392. That was a good bit less than I had estimated, so that was a bit of money back in the budget. Although DH wants to get a 4 Runner by November, so I need to have money set aside for that registration/wheel tax too. (Guessing $100 - 120.)

(The 4 Runner is for getting around delivering in winter, and also pulling the eventual boat ... He's funding both purchases by 1/3 of the inheritance check, plus 1/4 of whatever sales he makes via Craigslist, etc. We've agreed that 50% of sales go back into a "business operating fund" for purchasing more inventory, making repairs, shipping, etc. 25% goes to his car/boat/tv funds, and 25% goes to the general budget - i.e. debt payments for now.)

So today I took off of work early to go to my doctor's appointment. My boss came out to help someone at the window who'd come just as I was getting ready to go.

Before heading out, I stopped at the restroom. Then I had to pass near the window on my way out. Guess who was at the window being helped by my boss? Let's see if you can guess, "My problem is that I don't agree with the policy about lost passes ..."

As soon as I saw/heard this, I scooted out of there ASAP. Seriously, that lady is back already? Did she lose her pass already? I am SO glad I didn't have to deal with her before leaving, or my blood pressure would have been sky high!

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As it was, I left with plenty of time to get there. You never know how long it'll take ... I got to the turn off about 30 minutes early, but then missed the turn off.... So, got there about 20 minutes early.

They still had me in their system by my maiden name, so got that all updated. Then gave them the bill from the lab with my maiden name (got a call later from their coding department telling me I'll have to get back in contact with the original place. This may be fun ...)

Anyway, when my doctor finally came in to the room she told me that my platelets have always ran kind of high ... really? But that they don't usually get concerned til its in the 600's (mine was 580.) But still combined with the lymphocytes, it was worth looking into. So she's scheduled me for a repeat CBC and a blood smear (where a person looks at the individual cells?) That'll happen on Wednesday morning.

She also is referring me to an allergist. She said that I could possibly take allergy shots for a couple of years, and then be DONE with allergies! Oh joy! If that is truly possible... I'll deal with getting shot up every month for a few years!

She thinks that my tiredness, moodiness, nauseousness, lack of energy etc etc etc can all be attributed to my allergies (and insomnia due to allergies/taking Allegra D.)

All I know is I'd really like to stop putting all these chemicals into my body (especially when they don't seem to be helping all that much) and get my energy back!

We'll see I guess.

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On Sunday I made a recipe from the Stuffed at the Gills blog for Chow Mein noodles. It reminded me sort of of my favorite Amy's meal - Chinese Noodles with Cashew sauce. It was a bit of work ... but oh so good! Even DH approved. (We had a bit of a tiff because he was tired of my "trying" out recipes that weren't turning out that great ... we compromised that I'd limit my "trying out recipes" to 2 x a month. Otherwise we'll stick with ones we know we like already. Whatever. )

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I've started putting FSA eligible expenses on my credit card. I also downloaded the app for the FSA place - already have submitted two claims and been reimbursed for one. Pretty nifty! (Now if I can just find the receipt for the copay DH had back in May ... getting his 1 1/2 year checkup on his shoulder, that'd be another $25 back in the budget ... gotta be around here somewhere.)

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Our associate pastor preached this week. While I'm not too sure what I think of him overall, I did really like the story he focused on and how he related it to today.

He talked about the story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well. His focus was on how Jesus gave a great example of breaking down walls and barriers. Jews and Samaritans were very close cousins, but hated each other. The Jews thought they were better than the Samaritans. Sound familiar?

What I wonder is how can I / we go about breaking down the walls / barriers today? How can we make everyone feel equally worthy of love, equally worthy of a good place in the world, equally worthy of respect, equally worthy of dignity? All of us bleed the same color ... no matter race, religion or sexual orientation. All of us are equal in God's eyes.

How can we get the blinders off of peoples eyes so they can really see this? If we could do this, the world would be so much better off.

Sigh.

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On an unrelated note - I got the iPad working again without having to take it in anywhere. It is now mine. Ha ha ha. (DH is quite happy with his Chromebook.)

What a wonderful first day back at work after a long weekend. Not.

Starts off with a mentally challenged man making rude gestures at me while telling me he's not stupid and that he could do any of our jobs better than we can ... No idea what prompted this - I hadn't even had a chance to say good morning to him before he started off ..

Then multiple calls of complainers ...

Then I realize that I put a $5 bill in the $1 bill section, but got distracted before I could move it to the right place. Guess how much the cash box was off? $5. first time I've been off in months. Ugh.

Then of course ... the sinus headache....

Topped off by the lady who had called last month about losing her bus pass and wanting us to replace it for her for free. When she was told that our policy is that we are not responsible for lost passes, she ranted about how illogical and stupid that ws to me on the phone for ten minutes, and then when I transfered her to the bus driver supervisor, she ranted to him for ten+ minutes - finally ending that she was going to contact the mayor about our stupid policy.

So ... she shows up today just after I finished counting the cash and realizing that I was short $5. My head was pounding. There was 8 minutes left to go.

She asks me if I remembered her calling about her lost pass. I told her that I talk to a lot of people in a month, so sorry, I didn't . Then she says she'd found her pass, so had "let it go." Then proceeds to rant and rave for ten+ minutes about how stupid and illogical our policy is. Acting like she expected me to agree with her.

One particular gem ... someone losing their pass isn't the fault of the bus company, nor is it the fault of the person who bought the pass - it's an act of God. So of course the bus company should refund or replace the pass. I wanted to say - Are you out of your mind? Seriously? On what planet is you losing your pass an act of God?

Finally at 4:33 she says that she has to get out of there. My boss wasn't much help .. just came by as she was leaving to tell me it was time to log out and go. Gee, really? How about telling this lady her ranting time was way past up.

I plan on asking her if I can tell this lady if she dares show her face again, that she needs to buy her pass elsewhere. I do NOT want to deal with her again.

(I'd reiterated multiple times that this is our policy. Did no good. She just wanted to rant.)

Then after work I call back our insurance agent about the plumber claim. She told me that they won't cover it (the broken faucet) because the inspection report said that it needed to be replaced because it was about to fall off. Huh?? We were told it was leaking and might need to be replaced, but nothing about it about to fall off ... oh well.) While on the phone with her I stuck my foot in my mouth and told her that we hadn't liked our realtor C very much - one reason being that we had felt like we'd kind of been pushed along in the house deal - for instance, being told to not ask for any thing to be fixed that wasn't major in the inspection report otherwise the deal might fall through. Not to mention that we'd both felt like we did nearly all the legwork of finding places, and he did nothing until we actually had a house to make an offer on .. Too late, I remembered that she had been suggested by our realtor C.

Oops. I plan on sending her an email tomorrow apologizing - not for what I said, because it truly was how DH and I feel - but that she wasn't really the right person to say it to. We hadn't planned on saying it to anyone really - just not recommending C as a realtor if anyone ever asked us.

Then I get home and in the mail is a bill for some labwork I had done back in February I think. I'd gotten a bill for it previously, and called to explain about the name change on my insurance. Apparently I need to call again - because they are still trying to charge me for the full $270.

Ugh. I hate talking on the phone!

I have a doctor's appointment on Monday. Presumably to discuss the labwork with the high platelet/lymphocyte count. But I also plan on bringing up my sinus headaches/allergies and pushing the doctor to help me get something figured out other than what I'm already doing (which only seems to work some of the time.) These sinus headaches are making my life miserable.

DH has been using miad for the past 6 nonths or so since his 6th used laptop from eBay in 2 years died... So today he comes into the office and tells me iPad is dead - won't charge, or turn on. I test this out too. reaching the same conclusion.

I call the Apple store in O town and find out the next appointment isn't till Friday at least. The person did tell me about some local places - but didn't know their schedules.

Just on Sunday I worked through a joint budget. I'd put $200 in computer replacement category. Knowing how both DH and I like to be on the computer, I didn't relish the thought of however long it would take for an appointment to even find out if this is fixable or not.

So ... I told DH - let's get you a Chromebook. We'd looked into them before, but had put off getting one. We bought him a 15" Chromebook at Walmart for $179 plus a $40 2 year warranty. Normally I wouldn't go for that ... but DH is tough on computers.

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I added an offer to my Aexpress card to spend $75 at chewy.com and get back $25. Then I went to chewy and ordered 160 lbs of cat litter and 48 lbs of cat food. The total came to $102.

I then added "autoship" for 16 weeks from now to get $15 off. Which brought me to $87. Once I have the $25 credit, my order will cost a measly $62. This will also add rewards dollars to my account - I ave 14 sitting in Limbo until I reach 25 and can cash out.

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DH took me to see Finding Dory on Thursday. Loved the movie, but loved even more that DH took me to a movie he didn't really want to see in the theater.

We were hit with sticker shock though ... unwittingly we chose seats when asked what we wanted. I thought I heard the guy say that'd be $25.50 but was sure I was hearing things. I wasn't. Apparently we chose premium seats. Shows how long its been since we've been to a movie ... yikes!

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I spent some time today cleaning the hardwood flooring and living room carpet. Most of what needed cleaning was dried cat upchuck. I'd been dreading it and putting it off ... but when it came to it, the swiffer type mop and floor cleaning spray left by the former homeowner, made it pretty easy (relatively). Hopefully DH will notice when he gets home tomorrow ... I need to get some more of that spray stuff!

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I'm in charge of the food drive at work this year. I set up three fundraisers, as well as putting out the barrels. A guessing jar, a team challenge to "feed the pig" and selling casual day tickets. To say its not going well would be an understatement.

Oh well. I tried.

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Did I mention that the dog is gone? For almost a week now. His owner paid us the $300 he'd said he would, and said he'd reimburse us for the $150 in meds. Waiting.

That first day I walked in and was only greeted by cats ... heaven.

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Ok, I'm going to get a walk in before heading to bed. Hopefully I won't run into any fireworks.

Last night I got the link to our wedding photos from our photographer. I'd really tried to be patient and not send too many emails asking for updates.

Some are ones that are similar to ones my family took, but there are a good number of the ceremony and reception that I hadn't had any photos of.

Here's the link if you'd like to see: http://ronhagen.smugmug.com/Scott-Laura/n-6nkHfw

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We've been having some animal issues here. Right now I'm still the only one actually *living* here. With all the cats and the dog we're dogsitting.

DH's cats are adjusting pretty well to the new house / new environment. They also have adjusted well to being fed out of individual bowls (rather than food scattered on the floor with a mad scramble ...)

Kari though ... she adjusted well when it was just her and I. She was okay when the first few cats were added. Still okay, though getting stressed when more were added. Then, the dog was added. And finally, the last cat.

The first few days with the dog went okay. She wasn't eating much because she kept looking out for the dog every time there was a noise. But eventually I figured out that if I fed her away from the group up high, that that would work somewhat better.

That was good - because I had enough to deal with due to the dogs skin allergy. (which while not totally healed, is a whole lot better now - thanks to being consistent with his meds!)

The last 3 or 4 days though, things have gone from just okay, to not okay. She is very stressed. Not just hissing once in awhile at the other cats, but hissing a LOT, growling, and doing this horrible scream that sounds like she's being murdered or something. (while no cat is even touching her - nor is the dog - just a cat getting too close to her space or something) Also, is basically keeping herself sequestered in a corner of my office.

DH thinks it will get better once the dog is gone. (Two more long weeks.) I really hope he is right.

I am afraid though, that Kari won't be happy in a multi-animal family. She was very skittish and aloof with other people even when it was just her and I. Now she's even more jumpy.

I'm afraid that I may have to consider doing something that makes my stomach turn inside out. Something I have always said I would *never* do. But .. if it is either find a new home for her or have her continue being stressed out and not enjoying life ... and stressing me out, which in turn stresses DH out (since I'm a *wee* bit over emotional due to the stress ...) It's also not helping the other cats much to be constantly hissed at/ swatted at by Kari.

Ugh.

I won't make any decision until I've tried just about anything and everything I can think of.

Tonight I bought some calming chews from Petco. Kari wouldn't eat them. Koky (the dog) liked them though. (He also prefers cat food - and his owner just feeds him cat food.)

I also ordered some kind of calming gel paste from Amazon today.

The dog - he is a sweet, good dog for the most part. But ... he has this tendency to charge the cats once in a while when he gets overexcited. He also has the most annoying bark in the world. If you ignore him, it just gets worse.

I'm SO ready for this dog to go. 2 more weeks.

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DH asked me tonight to schedule movers for the 21st. Finally. (He's been working on getting his place packed - lots of electronics/speakers which take a lot of time to pack properly, etc.)

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Sunday I have someone scheduled to come put the coaxial cable through the walls (for cable/Internet). I can also have them make connections in other places in the house, or do outlets. All for the same price. ($40) I'm going to ask them to do the bedrooms, the office, the workshop and the laundry room. May as well, right?

I was just so happy to be able to have someone come out on a Sunday!

When that's done, then I'll be working on my Cook Smart's meal plan. I bit the bullet and paid for a year - at 20% off. $56.

I went shopping for ingredients tonight. I still need to find farro and soyrizo.

Meal 1: Zucchini Cake Sandwiches
Meal 2: Farro Bowls (may sub Quinoa if I can't find farro)
Meal 3: Mexican Hash
Meal 4: Soyrizo and Corn Saute

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Ok, gotta clean the cat boxes, take Koky out, and then feed the gang so I can get to bed. Night all!

So Time warner Cable still had my name spelled incorrectly - after 4 different times supposedly correcting the spelling. Seriously. This time I had the person read back the spelling to me.

Part of the reason I was calling them was to find out if they would send someone out to string the 50 ft cable through our house and get it off my floor!

They're sending someone on Sunday! morning to do that, and anything else I can think of at the same time. Maybe have them string cords to all the rooms in the house?? She said something about outlets too? It'll cost $40, but I think it's worth it to have someone who knows what they are doing to do it. Who knows when we'd have the time to figure out how to do it ourselves .. the cord is unsightly.

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I had a horrible sinus headache yesterday after work. Pretty debilitating, actually. I ended up sleeping most of the evening, then getting up to take Koky out and feed the gang. Then back to bed.

DH came over after work (around 4 a.m.) and I woke up when he came in. My headache was thankfully gone by then.

The only thing I can think of is that the last two times this happened, it was after DH mowed the yard. He came in the middle of it to take a break and laid down on the bed in his clothes. So .. I'm thinking that whatever I'm allergic to in grass cuttings stuck to his clothes and transferred to the bedding.

Hence the sinus headache - no matter how much Allegra D, Nasacort, etc.

I told DH that next time he cuts the grass and wants to take a break in the middle, he'll have to disrobe before laying on the bed.

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We have a couple of very persistent kitites for getting on the kitchen counters. I've covered them nearly completely in aluminum foil and double sided tape. All it really has accomplished is to make it noisily apparent when a cat is on the counter ...

I don't want to use the electronic mats or loud noises (two of the cats are quite skittish already) - I saw the idea of an upside down chair mat. They're pretty expensive though - also saw something called an x-Mat which is a similar idea (and cheaper.)

Any other ideas on how to keep cats off counters? Once we can successfully to do that, then I plan on working on the dining room table ...

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I put up 3 sun window seats for the cats in the living room. Only one cat so far has braved them ... Our own little Pepe le Peau!

Here are some pictures:




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I got my first letter from our mortgage company with our account number, etc. So now I can set up our online account. I'll probably do that when I finish here.

Still don't have a bill from the plumber.

DH got in touch with a fencing guy today. He'll be coming by tomorrow to do an estimate. The fire was fueled by finding a big pile of dog excrement which could only be from the next door neighbors German Shepherd in our yard. Yuck!

It's been a bit.

Sunday will make two weeks since I did the major move in to our home. All but one cat and one DH are also moved in. DH and last cat eta move in tomorrow.DH has been waiting for some eggs to hatch first. So .. two possibly three chicks will also be arriving tomorrow (oh, some turtles will be coming too)

We've (or I should say, (I've) been dog sitting for the past week. That's been fun - getting two sets of cats acclimated to each other and to their new home. while also taking care of a dog. Sweet dog. Sweet dog who unfortunately has some kind of a skin infection which causes him to itch constantly. Which the owner failed to mention to us.


I got the name of his vet only by calling him the night after he dropped the poor dog off and seeing how miserable he was. of course this was on a Saturday of a holiday weekend.

Sunday I spent $40 at Petco on itch relief spray and oatmeal shampoo, as well as a couple chew bones. DH and I gave Koky a bath - which helped some. The itch spray also seemed to help some.

Tuesday after work I called the vet anf found out this was an ongoing issue - mostly due to inconsistency on the owner's part of giving meds.

Wednesday after work I picked up the new order of meds - to the tune of $97. Ouch. But they seem to be doing the trick! He's still itching, but not nearly as much.

We've got him for three more weeks. It will be much easier once DH is here full time so I don't have to rush home from work to take the dog out. I enjoy taking him on walks - it's just stressful when I know he must be desperate to go out and traffic is inching along.

The first week traffic was a dream - 15 minutes give or take. This past week though, construction season started ... 25 - 30+ minutes! Ugh!

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We're in serious talks about privacy fence again. This week we've seen adult neighbors crossing through our back yard multiple times ... but more annoying .. their German Shepherd has been allowed free reign to come into our yard! I *really* don't like this - especially since I am going out in my yard with Koky multiple times a day. Koky would not intimidate a GS.

DH is chomping at the teeth to give neighbors a piece of his mind, but realizes it might not be a good idea.

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I saw some cube shelving at Big Lots which I thought might work for the bedroom and the office - a buy one get 50% off the second sale. DH and I went to look at them in store on Thursday and well ... I was disappointed with their in real life look.

Budget ... ??? What's that?

I broke the tub faucet last week ... didn't think a pipe was broken. Til the next morning when I heard a dripping sound in the basement. I thought it was new leakage due to some fierce rains. Nope - DH discovered it was a broken pipe. Oops.

We haven't gotten the bill yet from the plumber.

Our home warranty person is going to submit it for us (not insurance, but the warranty plan) to see if they'll cover the broken pipe ( faucet isn't covered)

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The Internet/cable got installed on Saturday. What a fiasco. The guy was here at least two hours. Then there are only two cable hookups in the house - the living room and the basement. I'd bought a wi fi extender which i put in the office. After nearly four frustrating hours I finally got it working on my computer - sort of. The connection kept dropping!

So on Sunday I bought a 50 ft coaxial cable and ran it from the living room to my computer in the office. Internet was back! But now we have a cable cord running through the house ... A some point we're going to have someone come out and run it through the floor or ceiling.

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Lots more .. but at any rate, I'm glad it's the weekend and I can take some time to breathe a little. (and catch up on the net!)

The deed is accomplished. The papers are signed. DH and I are now $112k in debt. Gulp.

In a way it was kind of anti-climatic. I was super tired from work and had a sinus headache brewing. Then I missed the entrance to the building and had to drive around the entire mall to get back to it. I made it to the office with a minute to spare - but offended DH because I didn't call him when I got there so we could go up together. Sigh.

We got our keys and went over to our house to drink some sparkling juice and see the repair work. Both of us were kind of upset with the other, so no teasingly carry over threshhold stuff. {we got over it}

Our realtor came by with an oversized key and took our picture. How to let him know we kind of think he was a real let down of a realtor?

Is it normal to feel more scared than joyful after signing the papers? That's how I felt sitting in our garage and thinking about what it meant - that it wasn't just a dream anymore. That we now are 100% responsible for a house and a garage and a yard ...

Maybe it's just my sinus headache...

Well ... on the bright side. We got back from our honeymoon in Branson Wednesday night. Our time in Branson was wonderful. The condo we stayed in was beautiful - had a balcony we sat on looking out on the lake while eating a couple meals. We took in two shows - The Haygoods and Acrobats of Shanghai. Both were fantastic!

We also went to Silver Dollar City. That was okay .. We hadn't realized it would be quite so hilly, and DH was having trouble with that. He really tried to be a trooper. kind of felt like a waste of money for what we actually did there though.

Another waste of money was Inspiration Point tower. At least that was only $17 for the two of us. (Instead of $130 for Silver Dollar City.)

So ... Wednesday we are on our way to Springfield where we planned to stop at Fantastic Caverns on our way home. I send a text to Realtor asking about setting up our final walk through.

He calls me back. Bad news. During the freak tornado/huge rainstorm that hit the L town area on Monday, our house got water in the basement. The sellers weren't sure where it came from.

So ... we cancel our planned stops and race back to L town and to our house.

We talk to the sellers and see what they are doing to clean up the water (mostly just soaked carpet.) We decide that we don't know enough to make a decision, and ask to have a professional come out to give their opinion.

Thursday afternoon I get the phone call from Realtor telling me that the professional came out and looked (charged us $250) and discovered that the wall where they had cracks before (revealed during inspection, but not told to worry about too much, just to keep an eye on) was bowing. In fact, the person estimated 6 to 8 years before it collapsed.

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Prior to the professionals opinion the sellers had agreed to give us a $2k cash credit towards cleaning up/fixing the issue. Realtor (after professional's visit) estimated $10k to fix wall issue, and around $15k to fix wall and regrade yard/remove part of deck above problem area.

DH and I looked at all our money and what priorities we have, and thought we would set $8k aside now, and then save the rest and have it fixed in March.

Realtor calls me this morning about 10:30 with the written report/estimates. Just to fix the wall - $14k+. To regrade yard/remove deck/remove tree stump - $9100.

Realtor goes to sellers with numbers and they want two more estimates before discussing how much they'd be willing to do.

So, the end result is closing is put of til June 13.

DH and I are back on Zillow looking to see if there's anything else. To say that the pickings are slim, very slim, is an understatement.

I'd already given my 30 day notice .. my apartment is mostly packed at this point. I contacted my property manager and she told me she needs to start showing June 1. I'll need to have the boxes stacked as much as possible and have the place kept clean for showings. Ugh!

Moving in with DH is NOT something I want to contemplate. To say that he is living in an unacceptable place is to put it mildly. Partly why I'm so anxious to get us into a place of our own. (it's a long story as to why he's put up with it)

I called and canceled movers, and the new account orders for gas and electric and Internet. What a royal mess.

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Just talked to loan processor. He told me moving the closing to June 13 is just a pre-caution and that we could close sooner depending on when we get estimates and come up with a plan of action. (And of course based on what sellers are willing to do.)

This is SO frustrating.

I got a letter in the mail this week which made me very sad. As of June 8, the rewards card for Swagbucks will stop.

I'll probably go for the Citi cashback 2% card as a replacement - which in reality is a better deal. Although I'll look for good cash back cards first - as I have the feeling we'll have plenty of expenses the first few months in our home.

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So ... this will be the first really long roadtrip DH and I will have taken together in the same vehicle. When I moved from NM, DH drove the truck and I drove my car.

The longest roadtrip we've been on was about 3 hours. This one is going to be around 6 or 7 hours one way.

Normally on a roadtrip I'd read or snooze or ... whatever (when not driving). That seems kind of rude when it's just two people though.

I found a few joke books on Amazon (free) and a book of good questions for couples to discuss together.

Beyond that .. the A to z game? Slug bug sighting? ????

Any suggestions of good books to read out loud? DH gets bored really easily

The last few days I've been working on getting utilities set to switch over to the house. Today I called the water department and found out that the title insurance place had already put in an order for that to happen?

We are getting the basic Kinetic Internet/cable package. I'd prefer to go without the cable part, but DH really wants it, and since he's willing to go with the basic ... It'll only be maybe ten to fifteen dollars more a month than what I'm paying for just Internet right now.

I also got movers lined up for the 15th (which means I need to get my stuff packed PDQ!)

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DH and I are in discussion mode about possibly replacing the locks on the doors with keyless entry locks. I think since we need to rekey the doors anyway, why not spend just a little bit more and have their convenience? (i.e. you can set a temporary code for someone you need to let in, but might not want to have continual access, like a guest or a housekeeper.)

DH wants us to have a deadbolt on the front door for added security. I need to look into a solution for that ..

Anyone use keyless door locks? What are your experiences?

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We'll be heading to Branson on Sunday! We're planning on doing Silver Dollar City, one of the acrobat shows and then either the Haygood's or the Frankie Vallie show. We also may rent a boat - although the one we were thinking about is much bigger than DH had in mind (the one at the marinia by our hotel.) We may also take in a movie - possibly Captain America.

On our way home, we may be making a stop for DH's first chicken (as an adult at least - his family had lots of chickens as he grew up.) It's a bantam hen - he plans to keep it in the basement in an open cage til we get the chicken coop and privacy fence figured out. As long as I can't smell it ...

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Did you know that most auto insurance companies won't insure pizza delivery drivers? If they get into an accident while on the clock, the insurance will just not pay out anything, and then will drop the previously insured!

I found this out while working with S to find a home insurance quote. DH wasn't too happy with me insisting that he check to see if his employer carried the right kind of insurance to at least cover liability. But he did it anyway - even check with his insurance company ... (I waited with bated breath, hoping not to hear that he'd been dropped as soon as they heard "pizza delivery driver.")

The good news was ... his particular company does not have an exclusion. The bad news is ... most other companies do. He had them do a home insurance quote, and it came in higher than Geico's. So ... no can do with having all of our stuff on one policy. His insurance guy wants to see the home insurance quote I got - he couldn't figure out how we got it so low. ($713/yr.)

I'm just relieved to know that he's covered (only has liability.) I am thinking about looking into an umbrella policy, or see how it'd work to put stuff into a living trust - if that would protect our assets in case he got into an accident where someone got hurt (and he was at fault.)

Pizza delivery is one of the top dangerous jobs - right up there with construction workers, etc. DH is a very careful and defensive driver. But he also is on the road TONS of time ...

Today I took off work at 3:00 and headed over to the Social Security office. That was over in about 35 minutes ... (The actual process took about 5.) I should have my new card in a few weeks.

Then I rushed to the DMV. Got there about 4:05. Was out of there with my new license about 4:40. I'll change title/registration after we move.

About 4:42 I got into the credit union. (Next door to each other almost!) Where I then changed my name on all my accounts there. DH needs to sign the new signature card for our joint account, and then that will be finished.

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I'm planning on calling various moving companies here to check on rates and availability for the 15th. I am SO ready to be out of here! Even if that means I'll be paying rent for an empty apartment, I don't really care at this point.

I meant to pick up a tape gun and a sharpie today, but forgot. I'll do that tomorrow on my way home from Women's Ministry (we are meeting to finish making the flower pens for Mother's Day.) Then, I'm going to start packing.

I'm not going to be too worried about making sure I have *everything* packed by the 15th - just the vast majority. I also think I'll leave Internet service connected through the end of the pay cycle - that way if I'm here cleaning/packing later, I'll have access.

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How soon should I start calling utilities to tell them the date to change them into my name? Should I wait til we've been sent the closing cost document that tells us how much of a cashier's check we need? Or, can I do it sooner?

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I could barely sleep last night - mostly thanks to my allergies. That's with having taken a full load of meds. Melatonin, Allegra D 24hr, generic Nyquil, generic Flonase ... That's what I get I guess for two nights in a row of getting a bit more than 6 hours of good sleep! (Yes, I consider getting 6 hours a *good* night's rest. Mostly average 5 hrs ...) Had a massive sinus headache today too (again, with all the allergy meds in me ...)

Something's gotta give here soon. I don't want to be feeding my body all these chemicals daily forever ... especially seeing as though they seem to be not as effective.