Keeping It Frugal

So with my new job it'll be easiest for me to walk 4 blocks to the bus stop, take the bus downtown, and then walk two blocks to work. I have sneakers and snow boots for walking. But my winter apparel isn't great for possibly standing for ten minutes in blowing snow or freezing wind ... It works for a quick walk from car to building ....

So .. I was wondering what should I look for in a good jacket. I'll want a hood of course. Do they make hoods with detachable face masks?? I'm okay with spending a little $$ on this because I don't want to have the excuse of being cold ...

Also, I have several decent pair of warm leggings (tights without feet??) but hate how they don't seem to stay up. With a 4 block walk I don't want to get to the bus stop with them halfway off my backside. So ... any ideas on how to get them to stay up while also being able to pull them down easily when needed? (i.e. not having to practically get undressed to use the toilet.)

Help please!

Well you won't hear me make another complaint about my job I'm in now. Because I only have to do it for ten more days!!

That's right folks, I've gone and gotten myself a new job!! My first day will be November 14.

It's definitely going to be a challenge, with lots to learn. But ... I'm up for it!!

Just a wee bit excited.

Hi All,

So ... I didn't get the job I interviewed for at the beginning of October. Sigh. In asking for feedback, I was told that all 3 (THREE!) of us scored high, but that the one had the highest score. They also told me that I might want to focus more on current experience - I had focused more on previous places/experience because I was trying to target management skills.

I also had brought a sheet of paper in with me with notes, and was told that I might have projected more confidence without it. I'd never brought a sheet in with me before ... and won't do it again.

Thankfully, the same day I received the disappointing news, I also got a different interview scheduled! That happened this past Tuesday.

This job is working at a city agency which helps seniors. They really have an amazing breadth of resources they offer. My job would be a lot of data entry, data verification, data reports, and also helping to put out fires at different centers (the agency covers 8 counties.) It would be one step up from the position I am currently in - which obviously means not a huge pay increase, but I would go to the next step in pay, so *some* increase AND the ceiling is higher.

I should know about this by the end of this week. Sigh. I was a whole lot nervous going into this one - didn't use a skills reminder paper, and made sure to emphasize current related experience.

They had completely different questions than what I was expecting. Mostly directly related to the required job skills. None of the usual - what is your strength/weakness, tell about how you handle a conflict, etc. They did have one very different question - tell us about how you are amazing. I was pretty stumped on that one ... but did come up with something which I think worked (the person who would be my boss said "that is amazing!")

In other news ... I am SERIOUSLY contemplating taking a trip to Ireland this coming May with the community college I'm taking classes at. It's from May 18 - 28, and cost $3200. That covers airfare, hotels, ground transportation, breakfast and supper, costs of entrance to various sites, and something else. The only thing it doesn't cover is the cost of the 3 credit class you have to enroll for as part of it.

I looked up airfare to Dublin, and found the cheapest flight is $1200. So ... 9 days of hotels, probably another $800 (sharing rooms), and the rest the cost of food/entrances/transportation.

I have $1600 that I had set aside for going to France when I thought my brother/sil were going to have a formal wedding ceremony there (doesn't look like that's happening ... they just bought a house - $623k!!) So, that is about half the cost. The total is due in April, so that gives me about 6 months to come up with the other half.

I haven't done the BOFA credit card bonus for $200 yet, so I could do that. Then I'll keep my eye out for more checking bonuses - I just got a $300 bonus from BOFA, but need to keep that open a couple more months with direct deposit. Otherwise I'd go for the Chase Bank checking deal and get up to $600 bonus (can't split my direct deposit unfortunately.)

I'll just have to keep on the lookout. Plus just will have to really be careful on my spending. Plus if people as me for gift ideas ...

My DH thinks I'm silly to be spending so much money on a trip. I agree, it's a lot of money ... but IRELAND?!

I have a couple more weeks to make the final decision. But I really think I'm going to do it! (I am waiting to hear if I get the job first too - would need to run the vacation dates by my new boss first to make sure that's not a bad time to leave.)

This afternoon I went out with some others from my church collecting money for a local charity here which helps people who have been vicitimized by domestic violence. The woman and her two boys who are my partners (and have been the past 4 years) were actually helped by this charity. So it brings it really home.

After I was done with that, I stopped at the mall and found out that JC Penny's does still have a hair salon. (I wasn't sure .. it had been years since I'd used it.)

The hairstylist and I chit chatted away as you do. At some point she had mentioned that she was from Utah and that she had been Morman. Later on in the conversation I mentioned that the transit manager here is Mormon.

Guess what? He's her bishop!!

Whew! Glad I didn't say anything negative about the job. (Goes to show that you JUST NEVER KNOW.)

She was emailing him as I left to tell him about this awesome customer she had today.

This afternoon I received an email with my scheduled interview time. Monday at 1:15 p.m.!!!!

I really hadn't been expecting it to happen so quickly, but I am glad it is kind of ... pull the bandaid off ... hurts less?

Hopefully they'll move just as quickly with making their decision??

If I get it, in less than a month I could possibly have a completely new job! And be working on finding a replacement for me. (Too bad the woman doing light duty wouldn't want to do it, she does a great job. But makes a LOT more as a bus driver.)

I told my aunt about it, and she asked me if I had a cute outfit picked out. I told her I hadn't really figured that one out yet. She then offered to pay for one, so I could get something new.

With my weight gain this year, my options in my closet which would be appropriate for a higher level position interview ... well ... not much there. So, I took her up on it.

I stopped at Lane Bryant after work, because even though they are on the expensive side, I figured I had a better shot of finding *something* decent in my size quickly. (rather than the billards shot in the dark of going to other department stores or thrift stores ...)

I ended up getting a blue dress and a blue suit jacket. (I also bought this brown skirt I fell in love with, but the jacket which would have gone with it was $100 alone ... I did buy a turtleneck that looks really nice with it.) It was a buy one get one 50% off. Even so, I spent WAY too much money. (Especially considering I had just declared a moratorium on spending for two weeks. Of course, I hadn't expected the interview to happen so soon either!)

There is another job posting which is closing tomorrow - I need to finish my cover letter for it. Then I need to focus on figuring out answers to interview questions.

The lady at LB kept saying something about unbuttoning my jacket when I sat down. Is that customary?? I never did that before when interviewing. Although, I suppose it makes a better appearance when sitting, and then rebuttoning when standing up.

Hopefully I won't need a second interview (the position closing tomorrow) but the outfit I got today will work for that as well. Also will be a nice church outfit (with or without the jacket)

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I am sad to have lost several months of blog posts. Although I haven't been that active here the past year or so, so not that many posts of mine lost.

On another forum I'm on, someone figured out a way to download posts. Once I'm past this interview stuff, I will see if I can find out what that was, and if it would work for a site like this. 15 years of blog posts would take a LONG time to copy and paste.

I have been blogging here since January, 2005. There have been a few times the blogs were down, but thankfully so far, they have always come back!

This latest round though has made me want to do two things: 1. figure out a way to store all my posts somewhere else as a double safe-guard; and 2. Create a backup place for us to gather in case something more permanent ever happens. (*Please note, this isn't anything against James, the current site owner. I just feel it would be good to have a backup.)

I haven't quite figured out #1 yet (really should be working on another job application right now ...), but I do think I have come up with a solution for #2. It's not perfect by any means (though it does have some neat features like a real time chat box) but it would do in an emergency.

I have it set so that I have to approve any new members - so hopefully that would limit spam. There's two sections, one is a general one, viewable by people not logged in, and one for the Journals, viewable only by members who are logged in. Again, hopefully this would help keep the spam (and rude commenters) down.

Anyway ... if you are interested in joining as a placeholder (i.e. in case of emergency) then please leave a comment down below. Please make sure to use the email in your comment with which you would register - that way I know it is you when I go to approve registrations. (###Please#### Do Not Post Your Email IN the comment.)

This is a free forum (and one that has been used by another forum I'm part of - in anticipation of our current forums demise) so as long as the host is around, this could be an option.

If you'd like to be a moderator (i.e. at this point, just someone to be my second - in case something happens to me, a second person who has some access authority to the forum) please let me know.

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Okay ... in other news ...

I have declared a moratorium on purchasing anything other than food, gas, or medically necessary items for the next two weeks. Looking at my spending the past few months ... not good. The money WAS in my budget/spending category, but I've just been a little too free with it. Not really thinking through purchases.

HealthyWage - doing ok. Not eating til noon was *really* hard the first couple of days, and then again on the weekend. But overall, it is getting easier. I need to work on the stopping eating at almost comfortably full. That would probably help the weight loss.

RunBet - I have completed 2 of the 3 required runs for the first week. I have to do the 3rd one tomorrow or else.

StepBet - I canceled (refunded) out of the first one I joined, and then switched to a different one. We're still in our warm-up week. The bet really starts on Monday.

***I might possibly be having a job interview next week!!** GULP

What books/sites would anyone recommend for current information on how to be a good manager/supervisor? I know the website Ask A Manager, but am not sure what would be some other quality resources.

I'm also applying for another position which closes on Thursday. It would be a step up in position, but not a pay raise initially - eventually it would be though, since the ceiling is higher than my current one. (government jobs have pay ranges - you start at the bottom, unless you're in the middle of it or something, and then the yearly merit raises stop once you reach the ceiling - though you still get cost of living raises.)

SO READY to do something else.

Okay, I really need to stop procrastinating.

Just checking in. Not really too much to report. The most interesting? thing going on recently is all the flooding in my state (NE) and Iowa.

The immediate impact has only been felt as water restrictions - which were mandatory for two days, and then voluntary for 3 days. Seeing all the pictures of the animals who were stuck in the water or snow for days - their flesh eaten away at … All those homes and people's livelihoods GONE. So sad.


The longer term impact I think will be felt much further away than just the Midwest. I expect meat prices to go up, and probably wheat/corn too.


Being so close to so much devastation, and yet not really being affected by it, makes you wonder how that happens. How do people move forward after losing everything but their lives?


We work so hard to be financially smart. To work towards financial goals like retirement or being debt free or paying off a house … Yet all that work and effort could be gone in an instant through no fault of your own.


I was talking to my insurance person (the company that has our home insurance and auto is pulling out of NE) and she was telling me that the majority of the people don't have flood insurance. So FEMA is their only hope.

Then you see what is happening in Africa, and our flooding issues become insignificant.

Sigh.

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In other news … I finished my second class - an A+ of course. I start my 3rd one in a few weeks - Business English. Not particularly looking forward to that - but a refresh of grammar probably won't hurt.


DH and I took a road trip to Des Moines plus 2 hours last Sunday. He wanted to attend a fish swap and buy a huge tub thing from some guy out in the country. We stopped at Bennigan's for dinner - so DH got his corned beef meal. That was a LONG ten hours of driving.


DH is really getting going on the fish thing - has been breeding like crazy. He has a contact at a local fish store that is buying some off of him. There's fish tanks all over the basement …


He's lost 70lbs since his heart attack (Oct) and just got his most recent bloodwork - cholesterol under 100!! Blood sugar was back in normal range. He's done it completely by just losing weight - not by eating healthier … just less.


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A CD that paid 5% for 12 months came due this month. I had them put the money back into cash. I'll be moving it into our checking which pays 4%. (The renewal rate was something ridiculous - around 2%)


I haven't filed our taxes yet. In no hurry since we owe.


I got back to my highest weight … sigh.


Am trying a method espoused by a book titled Mini-habits for weight loss. I picked four super small habits which I religiously try to accomplish - 1. Do one (wall) pushup. 2. Walk/run/dance for one minute. 3. Eat one salad. 4. Fill water bottle and drink it all.


I also added two more mini-habits - 1. Clean something for one minute. 2. Open a French app.


About 9 days into it, and I only missed 100% on last Sunday with the marathon drive. Most days I'm doing way more than the minimum. It seems to be working - I'm back down 3 lbs and I'm getting things done at home.

Anyway, this is pretty long now. I will try to check in more often. I do read everyone's blogs, even if I'm not leaving many comments anymore.

I got my W2 today, as well as the last two tax forms from banks. I had entered in my stock sale info based off what I could find on Vanguard's site.

I had fully expected to not only not get the tax saver's credit this year, but to have to pay 3 or 4 thousand in taxes.

I guess this tax bill worked in our favor this year....

Not only do we not have to pay anything in, but it looks like a $554 Federal refund! I am flabbergasted.

The money I left sitting in the account to cover the taxes can now actually be put to use!

I'm going to test this on a couple other tax prep sites just to be sure …

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One thing I'm not sure about. I paid for one class in 2018. I'm being reimbursed for it in 2019. Do I claim it on my 2018 taxes - because the reimbursement will be on my 2019 taxes?

I was playing SwagIQ tonight and not really listening to the guy rambling about the winners, when all of the sudden I heard "creditcardfree!"

Was that you CCF?!

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I stayed home and vegged all weekend. Finished Season 2 of Handmaid's Tale. Got myself a week and a half ahead in my online class. (You're allowed to work ahead.) Not much else really.

DH and I went out to eat Sunday night at Hacienda Rael. I got the veggie fajitas. I ate 1/3 Sunday night, and then had some for breakfast and dinner today. Yummy!

I'm 8 days out with no added sugar! (Partly why I holed myself up this weekend - my sweet tooth was saying go out and get something …)

Tonight I made something that might be very dangerous. I soaked 8 mejoodl dates, and then pitted them. Put them in my small food processor, added a Tbsp of cacoa powder (the non-sugar kind), about 1/4 cup of almond milk, and 2 Tbsp of natural pb. OH MY YUM!!! I could have eaten the whole thing right then and there.

But I put it in the freezer to set (after scoring it into 6 pieces.) I'm going to try to restrain myself to one a day.

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I cashed out for another $50 SBs PayPal. It was a payout from a focus group I did a bit over a month ago. I'm glad I was patient - was getting ready to email to find out what the delay was about.

I made over $500 in spending money this month! $200 from signing up for Doordash via Swagbucks, and then a couple other offers credited, plus CC cash rewards, etc. If only I could do that every month!

My plane ticket for France is fully funded, and now I'm working on funding lodging/travel expenses.

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I'm starting my 4th book of 2019 - Atomic Habits by James Clear. It has to be back to the library by Thursday - it has holds on it. So, I'll have to read quickly. My first non-fiction book of the year. (I'm going to try to do 1 non-fiction per month. Not counting cookbooks …)

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I won another Stepbet - it looks like a $10.50 payout ($50.50 altogether.) If we get a treadmill, then I'm going to do the Runbet again.

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Right now we have spent the least on groceries in nearly a year! There's still 9 days left of course … but I don't need anything for this week, and won't need much for next week.

So DH found an insurance company that will cover him (did I mention he'd been given the pink slip by Farmer's??) His current liability only for 3 vehicles is $332 for 6 months. As of February, liability only (with slightly higher coverages) will be $882 for 6 months.


Ever since August I have been saving more than normal for his car insurance renewal - but nowhere near enough for this.


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The vehicle which he has been dragging his feet on selling is $349 of that. I'm of half a mind to tell him he can pay that portion out of his spending money - then when he actually sells the darn thing, he can be reimbursed for whatever portion they reimburse.

But in reality, it probably is a good thing he hadn't sold it yet. Since his CRV developed bad suspension issues. We were quoted $1700+ by Brakes Plus. The husband of a lady who I go to church with, did the labor for $285 and DH ebayed the parts for another $230.

Of course, it now desperately needs new tires - to the tune of $500. We have $440 in our car repair fund.

A couple of times DH has mentioned that we really should have at least $1k in our car repair fund. Um … yeah, we would have that - if his cars weren't needing repairs all the time!
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The property appraisals came out last weekend. Our house had a $25k increase. Um …. There are also rumblings about increasing property taxes.

That's about a $55/mo increase - which isn't terrible … but when you couple it with the huge hike in insurance premiums, increased ROTH contributions to max out, and other piddly increases in various services … Ugh.

We're going to have to seriously reconsider how we do the budget. And I know he's going to hate my suggestion. Not that I'm going to like it much either. But the money has to come from somewhere, right?

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Oh, we still are deciding on if we are getting a treadmill or not. DH is worried we'd get shocked when using it since our plugs aren't grounded. So .. he's looking into joining a health club.

That's fine - it's just it only benefits him, and it'd make it easier to not do it.

So if he decides to go the gym route, that's another monthly expense to add.

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Some of this is mitigated by a 3rd paycheck this month. That will cover the increased insurance premium and the shortfall in the tires. I had other ideas for the money … but what can you do?

I also received a very generous check from my aunt for Christmas. When she told me about it, it almost sounded to me like she wanted it to all be for me only. I did not tell DH this, because I didn't want him to feel bad.

It's not his fault that he basically has no family left, nor that my family is pretty generous. I feel when I'm given money like that - that it belongs to us equally. My mom has sent me $100 for my birthday before - but none for him on his birthday. I split it with him (again, he doesn't know it was meant just for me.)


I have 3 family members who could quite possibly pass on in the next year to two years. Cancer, old age and Parkinson's/defeated attitude. I have travel money set aside for this. 2 of the 3 I'd probably be reimbursed at least plane fare.


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I have not done any shops for Shipt. I have tried, but it really doesn't seem to be busy in my area.

I kind of have given up on it.


I signed up for Door Dash through SBs when it had the $200 bonus. I actually kind of like it! I have done 10 orders over 4 dashes and made about $72 + the $200 bonus came through early from SBs.


When it stays light out longer, I might do a few hours during the week, and a few on the weekend.


I was going to dash last weekend, but decided the weather wasn't something I wanted to deal with in my car. This weekend could be a repeat of that unfortunately.


I managed to finish reading/read 3 books in one day … thanks to being snowed in. (2 by Tracie Peterson - Embers of Love/Hearts Aglow, 1 by Petersheim called The Divide) I started the 3rd book in the Peterson series - Hope Rendered.

I had read about half of Embers of Love while on … Jury Duty! Yes, last week (and this week) I was slated for jury duty. I actually got further than Ii ever have before - into the courtroom and sitting in the pews to listen to the voir dire (sp?) After 2 hours, all but 12 of us were dismissed.

I learned one thing though that made me glad I didn't get on the jury - if we were sequestered, not only no tv, no Internet, etc. But NO books!! Sorry, I'm not down with that.

I'm curious to find out how much I'll be paid for my time. For work, I just had to keep track of my time away, but got paid normally.

So I've been doing some banking today.

First, I decided to transfer the funds from my Brink Mastercard account back to my credit union. My CU is paying 4% now, so the hassle of the Brinks card for 5% isn't really worth it anymore. Done.

Then I paid my gas bill. (I have to do this manually each month to pay via my US Bank Cash+ card for the 5% back.) It's on budget billing. I decided to look at our energy usage - it was pretty obvious that we've been using a lot less energy the last 6 months or so. (I would have to check to be sure, but I think it might correlate with the installation of our new water heater.)

So … I looked at our most recent bill. Yep, we have a $120 credit. That means that whenever they readjust our budget billing amount, our monthly amount will go down. Sweet. (I much prefer the budget billing method, even if it does mean there's sometimes a credit or a debit. Makes the budget much smoother in my opinion.)

THEN … I created an account to pay the bill for DH's first part of his hospital stay. The one where I had called to ask about any adjustments for paying in full.

The paper bill said $1289. The online bill said we only owed $59!! Say what???

I did some more sleuthing, and it appears that they adjusted the balance to where we only owe $59!!

This is going to make getting the spending bonus on the new credit card a little more difficult .. but I'm okay with that!

Now if the ambulance balance will do the same thing … wouldn't that be marvelous? (We owe $1001 - the city sent me a remimbursement for $982 to pay towards it. Not sure why, but I'll take it.)

Oh, I also opened a new checking account due to doctor of Credit - Elements Financial CU. It should be a $200 bonus after a couple direct deposits.

Looking back at 2018 financially …

We increased our EF by $1200.

I had a goal to increase by $3000, but we had several weeks where DH was off work due to his heart attack, plus lots more medical costs. So I'm ok with it only increasing that much.


We fully funded both of our IRA's to the tune of $12k. ($1k of that funding did come from selling non-IRA stock the month after DHs hospital stay.)


We sold all of the electric car stock at $350/share. It went up to $369 a few weeks later, but is now at around $300 … so I'm glad to be off that roller coaster ride. All the funds were put into an index fund - either in the taxable account or our IRA's.


DH successfully raised and sold his first batch of angel fish. Fish are his main hobby right now (he owned two pet stores when he was younger.) This hobby comes from his fun money so it doesn't really affect our finances.


I paid for my cruise vacation with my mom fully out of my fun money - earned via Swagbucks, Earnably, Earnhoney, YouGov, credit card rewards, etc. etc.


Our medical fund was pretty much wiped out this year … but we had the money set aside for it. I'm putting it all on a credit card which will give me $500 cash back. So … a small win there.


DH has lost 45 lbs+ since Oct. I have gained 30lbs since January ….


At work my employer added 9% of my salary to my retirement, took 6% of my salary, and then I added another 11% or so. I increased the amount in February when I got a step raise, but since the new contract hasn't been signed yet, I haven't gotten my cost of living raise yet (usually in August) so that's all I increased it.


We paid $2k cash for some yardwork / improvements. This hopefully will reap dividends in ease of maintenance going forward.

I completed one course towards my AA degree - advanced typing, with a 97%. As soon as I get the official grade report, I'll be putting in for reimbursement.
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Looking forward:

I will be taking 2 -3 more courses towards my AA degree in 2019. (Microsoft Applications 1 and 2, and possibly Intro to Accounting)


My supervisor will be retiring in November … so I'm not sure how that is going to affect things at work. She's working on our main boss to reclassify me to a higher level of pay.

I would like to add $2k to our EF.


I want to save $2k towards our medical deductible again.


We will fully fund our IRA's at $13k this year.


We need to focus on putting money towards our car repair fund. 3 of our 4 vehicles are really old and eating up money.


We will either be purchasing a treadmill or DH will be signing up for a gym membership. Purchasing a treadmill may involve getting an electrician to ground some of our electrical outlets - this is something we are still researching.


Hopefully a fence will happen this year. We have the money set aside for it - its just getting someone to actually do it!


DH wants to continue to grow his fish business.


I'm continuing to save towards a possible France trip - once my SIL is able to leave the US again. I have $600 of my $2000 goal.


Some of my usual earnings sites are getting more difficult to earn from. I have signed up with Shipt and Doordash to hopefully make up for lost fun money from those sites. My goal is to bring in $200/month besides what I can manage on the various sites.


I must stop the weight gain. The big culprit is my not avoiding the junkfood - i.e. sugar and chocolate. I have managed to avoid soda for over 2 years now - mainly by not allowing myself even a "sip" of DHs when eating out. I think that may be the only way for me to overcome the sugar/junkfood thing too - just say 100% NO.


This will also help the grocery spending …


I'm doing well overall with a whole foods plant based diet - except when I make exceptions for the junk I crave. No more exceptions! Lets see the power of this way of eating.


I bought a pedal exerciser thing from Aldi, and am looking at one of those bike stands if we don't get a treadmill.

Tonight I participated in an online discussion focus group. It took a little over an hour, and I'll get $50 in a few weeks.

I applied to be a Shipt shopper several months ago. As of today, I am officially one! I should be getting my package soon with my materials. Hopefully this will be a decent source of side money.


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I paid several bills today, and called the place with the largest bill. I asked what kind of a discount they could offer for paying in full. None. When I asked why, I was told we'd already been given a discount. Um … that was what you gave the insurance company, not us!


So … now deciding how I want to pay it. Just min payments for a few months, then pay the remainder at the last possible minute (to take advantage of CC spend bonus) or just bite the bullet.

First, the good news.

I checked on our insurer's site today to see if there was any update to the $42k hospital charge for my DH's 3 day stay. It showed that it has been paid, and we have $0 obligation! (We more than met his deductible for 2018 and out of pocket.)

So … that is a huge relief to not have to fight that.

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The not so great news …

We dropped off our CRV last night at a local auto shop. This morning they called DH and told him that it had some major alignment issues, and possibly bad ball bearings. To the tune of $1400. Plus the vehicle needs new tires.

This may or may not be all that's wrong with it. (The check engine light has been flashing on and off for a month or more.)

We have about $500 in the car repairs fund.

DH has about $1300 in his car replacement fund.

We are discussing whether or not it would be prudent to try to sell the CRV (might get 3 or 400 for it in current condition) or to borrow from the EF and fix it. Hoping that the fix will do the trick.

We might be able to get another $500 or so from the Prizm (which DH planned to sell already.)

A $2000 vehicle won't be great … but spending $1400 + tires when we're not sure it's going to fix the problem …

Ugh.

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We are going out to a pizza place tonight called Mellow Mushroom. I found it highly recommended on the Happy Cow app (for vegetarian and vegan places.) DH can have his meat, and I can get tofu or tempeh plus tons of vegetable options for toppings!

It's a bit on the expensive side, but it is my choice to celebrate the waning days of my 42nd year. Tomorrow will be my last day, then Saturday I'll be a new number.

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My mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday / Christmas. I told her, "Of course, you know you don't have to get me anything?" She responded, "But you know I will anyway." So, I gave her a list of 6 or 7 different ideas.

So far, I have already received: a pedal for my keyboard (sustain sound) and a new piano bench! Now I won't have to worry about the bench breaking in the middle of me playing a song.

She said she's going to send the kitchen items for Christmas - an immersion blender and a food processor (are the two ideas I gave.)

(Our little food processor I bought at Aldi's a couple years ago had the plastic container thing crack. I still can use it, sort of. I asked for a 10 cup one, because more than a few times I could definitely have used a larger one.)

So Friday morning the garage door remote wasn't working. I had to get out of my car to close the door. I wasn't thinking about where I was stepping, or how.

Both feet slipped right out from under me and I landed flat on my back. I don't think I hit my head. (I was wearing a banana clip, so unless I hit the side of my head …)

I was able to get right up with no issues and continued to work. A few hours later I started really feeling it.

My supervisor let me leave 30 minutes early so I could go to my chiropractor. So frustrating because I'd just gotten my back to feeling good.

DH got a strongly worded email suggesting that something needed to be done about the driveway. He did put some salt down when he got home from work.

I bought a couple gel packs from Walgreens that can be frozen or heated, and a thing of Tiger balm. DH says I smell like I'm in a horse barn. Oh well, it's helping.

I've spent most of the weekend icing/resting my back.
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I applied for the Citi Savor card. A $500 bonus after a $3k spend. That will be easy - just pay all the medical bills on it, and will be mostly there.

Lemonade out of lemons and all that.

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Speaking of insurance. I think I mentioned the check we received for $932 from the insurance company. I had no idea what it was for.

We also had received a bill from the ambulance company for $1004.

Come to find out that since the ambulance wasn't under contract with our insurance, they couldn't pay them directly. So .. they sent us the money to pay them.

Works for me - that's nearly 1/3 of the CC spend needed. It just seems really bizarre.

We are still waiting to find out what the insurance is going to do about the $42k bill. I sent an email tonight asking about the status.

I received a check from the insurance company for $936. I have NO CLUE what it is for. I emailed them to see if they can tell me before I cash it.


DH is now down 45 lbs! since October.


My back has been giving me fits the last month or so. Last week it started to seize … So, I went to a chiropractor for the first time in my life. 2 x last week, and 1x so far this week. My back is feeling SO much better!


---

DH met with a lawyer last week - to the tune of $300. OUCH!


Once he heard the backstory, he was flabbergasted because it seemed DH's insurance dropped the ball. He knew the lady's attorney (bicyclist DH hit) and contacted him. Sounds like other attorney was pretty ticked at the ball that was dropped.


So... hoping this is the end of it for us.


----

I found out that my credit union has raised its checking to 4% and up to $40k! Sweet! Pretty soon, I'll have to pull the money back in from the 4% CD's if rates keep going up.


---

I'm being called for jury duty the first two weeks of January. I talked to my supervisor today, and she told me that I'd just have to keep track of any hours spent on jury duty. But I would be paid my normal salary, plus keep any jury duty pay.


Sweet!

----

I decided to NOT bite the bullet on an Instacart subscription. But … if there's any money left in the grocery category, I'll put it towards it.


I'm determined this month to not overspend the grocery category!

----
A fascinating article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_godfather_of_fake_news

Last week when I was shopping at Aldi's, I saw that they had launched their partnership with Instacart. That made me quite happy. Aldi's is about a 10 minute drive past my house. That isn't too bad if I'm starting from home, but if I'm going there after work, it then becomes a 30 minute one way drive.

I signed up for the two week free trial of Express where you don't pay any extra fees (other than a tip for the delivery person of course.) I've already used it twice. I had been on the fence about it when they didn't have Aldi's included, because all the other stores are on my way home. But now I'm really considering it.

It's $99 for one year of Express service. That works out to an extra $1.94/week if I use the service every week. Which, I probably would.

I'm still debating on it though.

---
We ended up going to Golden Corral for Thanksgiving. I had planned on making a lentil roast and sweet potato rolls, but DH thought that making turkey for just one person/one meal would be too much effort.


So instead of putting in hours in the kitchen, I put in nearly 6 hours doing yard work. Blowing leaves out of the edges/bushes and bagging them up. I bagged 9 1/2 bags worth of leaves.

After we ate, DH put together the contraption that goes on the leaf blower to clean the gutters. He had to end up duct taping it on - so, no more leaf blower. It did the job of cleaning the gutters though.

---
I've been watching Christmas movies on Netflix, also, the show Sisters. I also watched "Precious" on Amazon Prime - powerful movie.

It's been nice to have time to do that.


-----

It's supposed to snow here starting around 2 a.m. We may get 3+ inches. Of course, DH took our snow blower in to be fixed on Monday …


It's hard to think about snow when we've had highs in the 50's+ the last few days.


----

We got the bill for DH's ambulance ride - the one we were told, "Don't worry about it - it's all included." Yeah … all except for $1k … I'm waiting to see what the real bill will be.


We're also still waiting on the revised EOB for the $42k hospital stay. I have received EOB's showing they are covering the Cardiac Care, so I know they've received the necessary info.


----

DH got a call from his insurance agent this week. They had been sent a form asking for our financial information. We thought that was weird - how would they know what our assets were?


At any rate this has spurred DH to find an attorney to figure out how best to deal with all this. He had been working on it before the heart attack, but then it kind of fell to the side in priority.

(This is in reference to the accident he got into in August - he hit a cyclist while turning right - while on a delivery.)

From what we can tell, his employer should pick up the tab for this - but we're looking into a lawyer to see what, if anything, we need to do to protect ourselves.

Once this is over, we will be getting umbrella insurance!

---
Is it just me, or are others having someone make rude comments on very old blog posts? I responded to one, but have been deleting the others.

This is when it would be nice if we could turn off commenting on posts after a certain time period.

I have today off, so thought I'd check in with my SA family.

We are still waiting on the hospital to send DH's records to the insurance company. I'll be bugging them about it again tomorrow.

We turned our heat on a few days ago when the temp went down to 8 degrees outside. Figured it was time.

Last Sunday DH and I had raked and bagged 9 bags of leaves in our front yard. I put them out for Thursday trash day - thinking we were in the free pickup zone. Found out that's not til December. But our awesome garbage company picked them up this morning free of charge.

Our front yard is covered again in at least as many leaves … Hopefully we don't get a big snow before December so we can bag those too.

I cashed out for a $100 cash from YouGov a few days ago. (surveys) I also cashed out for a $25 Walmart card from ReceiptPal this last week. I'm getting close to the $40 mark in ReceiptHog. I should be able to cash out for $20 from iBotta soon too. In Swagbucks, I've cashed out for over $125 this past month. If my cruise credit ever credits, that will be another $100 or so.

I bought an OXO salad chopper so I can do my own chopped salads. I have been buying the 24oz pkg which includes salad dressing and toppings. I toss the dressing, and the salad barely makes 5 decent servings. So … am hoping to if not save money by going DIY, at least have less waste and bigger salads!

I'm progressing on my piano practice - most days at least 40 - 60 minutes of practice. I want to get a pedal for my keyboard so some of the songs in the easy hymn book sound right. I also need to get a midi connector so the piano app recognizes my notes. Just haven't pushed buy on any of this yet - comes out of my spending money. How badly do I want it, right?

I am not progressing on my French. Somehow I lost my practice mojo. Hopefully it will come back …

DH continues to go to Cardiac Rehab and is losing weight and gaining in how much cardio he can do. We're looking into buying a treadmill for home. (used of course)

I have a couple credit card offers I'm looking at - though I'm hoping to wait to trigger them until more of DH's hospital bills come in. Only a few hundred dollars worth have been billed to us so far. With lots more to come...

Still nothing on the car accident. We're starting to wonder if no news is good news … that would be a major blessing in all of this.

The latest stressors …

On Friday I got home to find a letter from our insurance company stating that they were "pre denying" our claim for Cardiac Rehab due to DH not having a condition that warranted it.

Needless to say, panic ensued. He'd been to six sessions already at $250 a pop. They're getting him to actually EXERCISE. The education part of it is pretty worthless, but the GETTING HIM TO EXERCISE is priceless.

I posted on a FB group with people who've gone through heart attacks (or their SO has.) And they talked me down. I got a plan of action put together - call the hospital on Monday and figure out what the heck is going on.

Then I checked the insurance website. The first hospital's charges of around $16k was mostly covered, except for our out of pocket and deductible.

The second hospital, where he had the stent put in, had $42k+ in charges. And in big red letters - NEED MORE INFORMATION. If we do not receive more information within 45 days, we will base our decision off of what we do have.

My panic level greatly reduced at this point. This explained why they were pre-denying Cardiac Care. If they didn't have the proof to go with the charges from the stent hospital, then they'd have no reason to believe Cardiac Care was needed.

So … it at least was enough to get me through the weekend.

I called today and left a message with someone. I hate voicemail.

---
DH's good vehicle (not great on gas mileage, but the best for his shoulders) may have an engine in the last stages of life. He has less than $1k in his car replacement fund due to having cleaned it out to buy this particular vehicle.

---
Haven't heard anything new about the car accident / insurance. I hate to push DH to check into it.

---
DH's stepdad with whom he was estranged … (he actually wrote him a long letter a few months ago trying to mend fences - no response) … died a couple weeks ago. DH found out because of an email from the guy who wrote a book about a local cave here DH and his stepdad's family were a big part of.

So yeah .. DH is getting a nice stress free time of it while recovering.

And yes, if you were wondering, my stress levels are quite low as well. If you consider Saturn pretty low.

---
DH is doing so well changing his eating patterns. Not perfectly, but so much better than I would have believed to be possible.

Getting him to eat vegetables without me sitting beside him having a big bowl of them, is still a work in progress … but he's reduced his level of SAD diet by at least 95%.

I spent a lot of money on groceries this month trying to figure out dishes that would at least somewhat tempt him, as well as things he can take with him to work easily.

I'm hoping this next month will be more reasonable.

--
We are not contributing to our ROTH's this month from new income. He was off work for almost two weeks. We agreed that this was the simplest way to do it.


I'm selling $1k of stock (electric car) and then moving that to our ROTH's. So they'll still get their contributions, it just won't be new money. (And that stock seems to be going up again after having fallen hugely thanks to its erratic man at the helm.)


We also had to lower what we normally put in various categories. He even willingly acknowledged that putting money in the date night fund when we weren't putting money in (new) into the ROTH's wasn't a good idea.


So anyway … that was our budget meeting on Sunday.


---

I'm about halfway through my keyboarding class. The first week of it unfortunately fell the week DH was in the hospital. Trying to figure out an online keyboarding class while also spending the vast majority of my waking hours at a hospital … yeah, that wasn't good.


I've got it figured out now though, and am pretty sure I'll be making an A.


I registered for my next class today - Microsoft Applications 1.


---

We haven't turned our heat on yet. There haven't really been very many cold nights yet, so it isn't THAT much of a major thing. Although, we did have our first snow a couple weeks ago.


----

My newish supervisor let me know she's going to be retiring a year from this Thanksgiving. So, I guess a year from now I'll see what happens.


I've taken over managing our FB page, as well as the info email. We're debuting a couple new technologies that I'll be doing a lot with - keeping alerts up to date and answering texts, etc.


So, even if I don't stay here, I'm growing my resume.


---

I made a couple eBay sales this past week. A set of Dr Suess books and a pair of Keds. Now I need to get some more stuff up …

---
OK this was long. I'll try not to be such a stranger!


One more thing - Have you seen Bodyguard on Netflix yet? The one from BBC not Whitney's. I binge watched it this weekend …


I almost forgot! Someone used my Ting referral!! I have a $25 credit from that. (Will have to tell about my phone trials in another post.)

Well, my week has pretty much been spent at a hospital. DH was moved to a heart specialty hospital on Wednesday. They attempted to do a heart catheter twice - once through each wrist. But due to his anatomy, they weren't able to get a clear picture of the issue before the unsafe level of dye had been reached.

So today they did a 3rd attempt - through his groin. They found 90% blockage in one of his arteries and placed a stent.


The 3 procedures themselves were not too bad according to DH - but the aftermath of today's was the worst pain. After he came back, he had to lay absolutely still so as to not dislodge the sutures in the groin artery incision.


The nurses had to apply a LOT of pressure for 15 minutes - then the found a hematoma - which had to be broken up - and another 10 minutes of extreme pressure.


The laying still thing … he was having a REALLY hard time with that. I kept having to tell him not to do things and he was getting really frustrated.


Right now at least I think he may be willing to make a change. He said several times he never wants to go through this again.


Financially we are looking at a minimum of 3 weeks lost wages. Plus of course increased medicine costs, and whatever we have to pay after insurance kicks in.


3 nights and 4 days in two hospitals, an ambulance ride, at least 3 procedures … Then there's the cardiac rehab program and follow up visits.


It'll all be worth it though if we can celebrate our 10th anniversary together maybe taking a hike or going on a long biking trail somewhere.

A few days ago I was wondering if I'd have to get creative to not lose the FSA money other than the $500 that rolls over to the next plan year (starting in November for us.)

Around 8:30 this morning I got a call which told me it wouldn't be an issue.

My DH drove himself to the ER with a racing heart and chest pains. By the time I got there it was confirmed that it was AFIB symptoms.

His heart rate was 180+, his bp was high, and he was having constant chest pains.

After over two hours of meds, his heart rate was averaging 160+ and he still was having chest pains.

So they did something called a cardio inversion - basically reset the heart.

In two tests of his enzymes, it showed the number went from 17.4 to a higher # - which according to my retired nurse aunt indicates that it was a heart attack.

Tomorrow he's having a stress test and a heart catheter. At which point we'll find out if he needs a stent or a bypass …

I am so thankful for our fully funded medical deductible fund, so I'm not stressing about the money at all. (Yet …)

After 3 weeks of being off routine in eating and chores, etc., I'm back on plan today. Yesterday I went to a plant based seminar - no new information, but it did help renew my desire to work towards that lifestyle.

I'm wondering if I'm going to have to do the same thing I did with soda - i.e. say not even a tiny sip, in order to kick the junkfood completely. (I'm at 2 years in 1 week soda free.)

---
I also attended a program where my Sabbath School class has been collecting donations for for over a year - Sole Hope. It's a charity which provides shoes for children in Urugway? so that they avoid Jiggers infestations. (Google it - but not while eating.)

We cut out the parts for 100 pairs of shoes to be made from donated jeans. I cut out two pairs.

----
So … we got a letter in the mail confirming that the lady DH hit was injured and had had surgery. So far the costs are at $38k. (DH has a $50k policy.)

I finally contacted the lawyer hotline via our EAP program today. Unfortunately, they won't touch anything involving a business.

And since the main thing we want a lawyer for is to make sure DHs boss/owner does what he's supposed to …

So I'm now working on finding a lawyer without the handy dandy EAP referral program.

Sigh.

---
I binge watched season 7 of Call the Midwife this weekend. DH assured me a Season 8 will be coming. Squee! (I thought for sure with how the last episode ended it was it - and was so sad. So DH did a little research. )

--
My first class starts on the 3rd! I should have my textbook tomorrow (ordered from Amazon for $50 less than school bookstore price ..) It's one of those you have to have an online code for in order to use some of the material, otherwise I could have gotten it for even less.

I got home Sunday night about 9 p.m. I'm thankful I took today off as well, because the lawn was in dire need of being mowed, plus I needed to do all my usual prep for the week things.


Overall I had a good time.


Saturday night before the cruise a good friend I hadn't seen in years stayed with us at our hotel. We stayed up WAY late talking.


She has two elementary aged children and her husband has a debilitating illness which pretty much puts the whole load on her. Thankfully before the illness manifested itself, he was a border patrol agent and had all kinds of insurance on himself. Including long term disability.


I had to deal with an eBay buyer claiming I hadn't sent their item. Finally they admitted that their son's roommate had taken it. No apology of course.


The absolute best part of the trip was our excursion on Roatan, Honduras. It started out a little iffy - we were following our guide through the neighborhood streets of the city to our van. (We got there late.)


Once we were in the van with the others, we drove for about 45 minutes through the island. We really got a good look at their reality I think, versus how often tourists are given only the pretty version of a place.


Our first stop was an animal sanctuary. Outside where we waited, there were a number of cats hanging around which made me feel right at home.


Inside, I got to hold a sloth!! I also held a mccaw bird and went into a monkey cage. The monkeys were hilarious. I took some videos but am not sure how to share them here.


This one guy in our group got peed on by a monkey, and then later stung by a jellyfish. His wife wanted to go horseback riding - he adamantly said no.


After the animal sanctuary, we went snorkeling near a shipwreck. I've been snorkeling before and feel pretty confident about my swimming abilities. But I am SO glad I decided to use a life jacket.


The shipwreck was in a coral reef which was very near the surface. A former Corneal freaked out and so did my mom - before getting very far. I freaked out too - but mostly because I had been holding back waiting for my mom and was separated from the group. I was worried I wouldn't find a path back to the boat through the coral.


I did see some fish, but I'm glad I didn't bother with buying a camera to take pictures - I never was relaxed enough to do that.


It really was a great time overall though.


Our other two ports were Cozumel and Costa Maya Mexico. We only went ashore for a few hours at each of those places - it was SO hot and humid.


After being to a few stores you pretty much saw everything available. I bought DH a t-shirt, and a nice top for myself. Mom bought a bunch of various things.


---

Most of the entertainment was top notch. One of the two comedians was quite funny. One night they had a musical version of Saturday Night Fever which was amazing. Another night they had a Cirque de so lei(sp?) style performance which was phenomenal.


---
The first night mom had a raging fit and we ended up getting move to a room with a port hole …. Loved the room, but could have lived without the embarrassment. (One of her bags had the tag ripped off, so she was sent all over looking for it, everyone assuming there must be alcohol or an iron in it. Neither of us drink.)


The first three days we had some rough seas and lots of rain. It was a very weird sensation to run on a treadmill on rough seas …


I was able to find PLENTY to eat. I had salad for lunch and dinner, plus cooked veggies and fresh fruit. I did veer away from my diet a little … um … chocolate molten cake ….


I don't think I gained anything - but I did make a point to take the stairs as much as possible. Plus made use of the treadmill a few times.


Okay - I made a shared album if you want to see the videos and more pictures. I'm going to see if I can help mom figure out how to add hers to the shared album too.


https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B15G4TcsmGaazwl;F5210E44-4C91-4BF0-96E1-2F1B36A64D9A

Waiting to board ship:


Cats outside animal sanctuary



Selfie with monkey




Holding Sloth



Outside a shop in Roatan

I have a bit of time today (ok, so I'm procrastinating on doing other stuff I should be doing ….)

So in addition to the yardwork drama of this past week, we had some additional drama. I'm not sure exactly how this is going to play out.

It may turn out to be nothing more than increased premiums, or it could be really, really bad.

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My DH got into an accident while out on a delivery this week.

He was making a right hand turn, and at the same time a bicyclist started crossing.

The bicyclist got taken away in an ambulance - but only had apparent injuries to her knee.

DH doesn't want to attempt to report this to the owner's insurance because he's afraid the owner will get angry and fire him for being a pain. Apparently no other driver has attempted to report accidents on the job for a similar reason.


When DH got in the fender bender last year, I didn't try to push it since it was minor and no injuries. This time though there are injuries.


He only keeps $50k liability limit on his cars.


I'm having nightmares of all our assets vanishing.


I called my agent about umbrella insurance, but was told they couldn't do it with an open claim (not surprising) and we'd both have to up our liability limits.


So .. all I can do now is pray that this lady is not litigious, and that $50k will cover her injuries.


I'm also hoping that DH doesn't have another claim anytime soon - because then he might lose his insurance!

So ... I registered at our local community college this past week. It does appear that it will take me about 4 years to do an AAS degree one course at a time. That is unless of course I decide to amp it up a bit and spend some of my own money (beyond the reimbursable amounts) to get it done a bit faster.

My first class will be ... drumroll please ... Advanced Keyboarding! To get an A in this class you need to type 45 WPM. Um ... I tested out of Intermediate, but couldn't test out of Advanced. So .. an easy A to start my adventure back into school.

The other option to start with was Principles of Accounting. Yeah .. I'll hold off on that til next quarter, thanks.

---
There's been some major drama rama this past week or so regarding yardwork - getting someone to do it and do it for the quoted price.

First off I had a guy who was supposed to start on Wednesday of the previous week. It rained that day. Then Thursday I get home expecting to see a good bit done - Nada. I text him and find out eventually that he'd stopped by another job to finish something up that morning, and had twisted his ankle in a hole. So .. I told him, we'll see you Monday then. Ok, he said.

That same day I had some people stop by to pick up some curtains I didn't need that they wanted for their daughter. They happened to be people who did yardwork. The one man was adamant that we needed to do something about the branch of our caltulpa (sp?) tree hanging over our roof. He showed me that it had already dented our gutter.

He quoted me a price to do everything - about $75 more than the other guy, but including cutting the branch.

I told him I already had arrangements with someone else, but if it didn't work out I'd contact him.

So ... Monday comes and goes and the first guy is a no show. I text him around 5 p.m. and no answer by 7 p.m. DH agrees that that's that.

So .. I contact the other guy to find out when he can come by and start. --- The next morning!

About 8:30 I finally get a text back from first guy. He's all defensive about how he'd promised he'd get the job done and he would get it done. That he'd bought $200 of used tools just for the job, etc... After a million back and forth texts I finally told him I was sorry for our misunderstanding, but I'd made other arrangements. Then stopped responding. I felt bad, but with our experience with the fence guy, etc., and wanting to get the dang job DONE ...

Tuesday I come home from work to find that the man and his partner (curtains) HAD come and put in a good days work. So, as agreed, I paid them 1/2 of the quoted price. There still was a lot to do.

Wedendsday I come home and they'd put in another good days work. There were still some things they hadn't done which he and DH had spoken about - so I texted him a list. Part of that was saying that we were "Possibly" interested in him treating the volunteer trees (close to 100 ...) but wanted to know if that included a followup next spring.

Thursday I get home and find out that he had interperted that to mean I gave him a go ahead. I'd also given him a go ahead on getting river rock/dirt for the back/side of our house that desperately needed it.

He tried telling us that he'd put 2 tons of riverrock out, and we'd need at least another 2 tons to finish. DH wasn't convinced of the amounts, and curtains man had no written documentation.

He wanted a check right then. 3 days in a row he and his partner had worked very hard and gotten 95% of the job done. So I wrote him a check.

Friday - he doesn't show up. (And DH royally ticked me off blaming me for this. Since we didn't owe them any money now .. I SO badly wanted to remind him who found fence guy .. especially when he self-righteously exclaimed that he'd be the KING in charge of getting the fence done. -- Fine by me - won't be done in the next century if I'm not spearheading it.)

Saturday he doesn't show up. I texted Friday night asking when he would be here - he said Saturday. I texted Saturday afternoon - where are you? No response.

Today, Sunday, hasn't shown up and no response.

The 3rd check hasn't been cashed yet. If he doesn't show up by Tuesday morning I will be attempting to do a stop payment on that 3rd check.

I'm wondering if I should text this guy and inform him that is what I will be doing if he doesn't show up, or just do it?

Total paid to this guy is nearly $2k. Gulp. I told DH that he better keep up the **** yard now that it is cleaned up again, or he'll be paying for the next clean up out of his pocket.


Some before pics …





You may notice the yard is mowed. Guess who does the mowing? Yeah.

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I've been taking pictures of some of the Lost and Found items that come in where I work. I thought it may amuse you. I know it does me at times.






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I booked a snorkel and island tour excursion for our cruise today. We'll get to hold a sloth, and pet monkeys and tour a shipwreck. Yes - lots of pictures of course.

Less than a week to go!

Not excited at all. Nope, not at all.

So I've posted a few more applications unsuccessfully - not even an interview. It got me to thinking - what could I do to increase my chances?

Well .. I think since it seems as though my career track is in the business world, it might be good to have some business related courses!

At first I was looking at the business administration program, but it looked too mathy to me.

Then I saw the Office Professional program - perfect!

I'm meeting with the department head on Tuesday to see what classes I would have to take. I know I'll have to take accounting, but most of the general courses will hopefully be waived.

The whole program can be done online.

The city will pay up to $1243/yr for graded classes - I figure that will equal 1 class per quarter which is a slow pace, but good enough for me.

The next quarter starts in October.

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I have also started back with piano. I paid for a year's access to the app SimplyPiano, and am using it plus some piano lesson books I already had. I'm playing at least 30 minutes most days quite happily.

If only I'd done that when I was young taking lessons …

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I am also working on French. Im using Duolingo and Tinycards apps, as well as Pimsuler French audio lessons.

I may sign up for Conversational French at the community college too - starts in October.

All this is in prep for my possible trip to France.

---
We have hired someone to clean up our yard - remove some structures, remove the dozens and dozens of volunteer trees, clear up the weeds, etc.

When he's done, hopefully it will be something we WILL keep up with ourselves.

He is supposed to start Monday. I really want this done before I leave for my cruise.
---

I've made a goal of increasing my side income to $300/month (to help with saving for France trip.)

One thing I'm doing is getting back to eBay.

I listed 3 items this week, and one sold soon after being listed. ($15.95)

---
Two weeks from now I'll be in Houston!

Mom found a really good rate for us going from Houston to Galveston and back - $100 cheaper than what she'd previously found.

I bought a new swimsuit and dress for the cruise.

I'm really looking forward to 8 days away from it all.

----
I've applied to 4 jobs in the last month. Today I heard back from one - thanks, but no thanks.

Low unemployment my foot.
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We're getting estimates for having some yard work done. 3 summers of mostly being neglected other than mowing and some weeding have taken their toll. If we can get it back to a manageable state, then hopefully DH will keep it up.

One guy who gave us an estimate backed out once we said we'd go with him. A second try tomorrow … Sigh.

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My brother and his wife might be coming in October. I'll believe it when I see them … but that's part of why I am insisting on getting the yard in shape.

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We're having the sneezes run through our cats. DH found a country vet about a 40 minute one-way drive that is very inexpensive. It's helping our pet funds stretch further - even if it's very inconvenient.


------

I'm at a bit over 4 weeks of being back on track with my whole foods plant based, no added sugar, low oil/salt eating plan.


Not much movement downward on the scale, but at least the upward movement is quelled.


---

I dropped the cats bowls on my left foot tonight - I was trying to mix Pepe's meds into a bit of wet food and had the bowls balanced on top of the fridge door. I ended up cutting one of my toes …


---

I sold the majority of my T3sla stock when it was in the 370s. Am in discussions with DH about the remainder - would mean ~$4k in cap gains taxes if we do.


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Ok, going to try to catch up with ya'll.

This week InstaCart came to our town. In the newspaper they had a code for $20 off a $35 order.

I of course wasn't going to pass up
1. Free groceries; or
2. The novelty of it

So, I put together an order and then tried applying the code.

It wouldn't work.

I emailed customer service.

10 emails later out of frustration I decided to try the code again. This time it worked!

However, there was a delivery charge and a service fee? I had thought the code gave free delivery, and there was no explanation for the service fee.

So it ended up being more like $10 in free groceries.

A nice lady delivered what I'd ordered - even brought them inside the door.

If they add Costco, I might be willing to use them once in a while.


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Walmart Pickup


I used a code to get $50 of groceries for $40.


Pickup between 5 and 6.


I got to Walmart about 5:30 and kept checking my email for the notice saying my order was ready.


Luckily I'd picked up a book at the library …


By 5:53 I still hadn't gotten an email, so just drove to the pickup area.


A nice man came over and I told him what was going on - he checked his computer and found my order. Five minutes later I was on my way.


The email finally came around 6:30 ….


There were no extra charges for this, so truly $10 in free groceries.


I might be willing to do this once a month (have a code for two more $10 off.) Can't beat free groceries.


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By the end of this month we are also getting Shipt here. No codes for free groceries, but the are offering a 50% discount on a yearly membership. Won't be doing that.


Man .. if one of these places picked up from Trader Joe's … (about a 25 minute one way drive - a little bit further than Costco.)

It's been awhile...


Passport update - It turned out that the birth certificate I had worked just fine. I had found a bunch of other paperwork to supplement just in case, but it wasn't needed. I should be getting my passport by the end of July.


Brother - Brother is NOT going on cruise. Sigh. He is getting married to French girl tomorrow (July 5) at the courthouse. French Girl cannot go on the cruise due to her applying for green card (or something like that.) Brother doesn't want to leave his newly wedded wife to go on a cruise …


Mom and I are still going.


I have no idea what I should be doing for French Girl who in 24 hours will be my SIL. I feel like I should send them some kind of a congratulations card or something …


I have started a budget line for a trip to France -- a year from now they plan to have a big party/quasi wedding ceremony there. Not even sure how much to save - it would just be me going - DH has no interest, plus I'm not sure we could save enough for both of us to go.


DH sold the Honda without a working transmission! He listed it on Craigslist, and 36 hours later it was sold for $500. So we are now down to 4 vehicles.


*I don't remember if I mentioned this or not, but DH found a new home for the chickens.


*We have fleas... Sigh. DH took in one of his "friends" cats which needed medical attention while said "friend" was away on vacation for 3 weeks. Cat had fleas, but couldn't be treated due to several open wounds (both of which healed while staying with us.) Cat was kept isolated in the workshop (where the chickens were previously) but .. DH found out that Cat definitely had had fleas yesterday after walking around in the workshop. Ugh.


*New job possibility - I think it'd be a super stretch, but there is a possibility of a telecommute federal job which a church friend thinks I'd qualify for. There's supposed to be 26 positions opening up soon. IF I got it … salary STARTS at more than what DH and I currently make together.


That would put us in an entirely new tax bracket.


I told DH that if I got it, I'd want us to continue living with our current budget, but put the extra away in tax advantaged accounts and taxable investments. It would put a big boon to our retirement goals, and give me peace of mind for when/if DH can no longer work.


Plus .. telecommuting! No more traffic or having to deal with office politics. Maybe get a dog … Maybe sell this place and move to the country in a few years ...


This could come at a really good time because I found out recently that my supervisor is going to be leaving for a different position at the end of August. That leaves only one person at work I'd feel semi bad about leaving.


I'd honestly be SHOCKED if I got this job … if was a veteran and/or disabled I'd have a much better chance ….But I'm going to try.


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My weight has been holding somewhat steady … I'm up 20lbs from January, but it's been there for over a month now, so am really trying to NOT let it go up further. Sigh.


I'm up over $23 from my Stepbets - just started a new one this week. I decided to not do another Runbet though while the weather is so hot. Maybe in September after the cruise I could do one before it gets too cold.


I found two more bank bonuses that I'm working on. One is an in branch one for Union Bank - $200. The other one is a $100 bonus for another bank (can't remember right now.)


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I'm enjoying having today off. I'm also taking tomorrow morning off - personal choice holiday time.


Can't think of anything else terribly interesting … will try to come by more often.