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My baby is going away to college.  😭
Yeah, that was always the plan.  But this year is the *worst* to apply for college.  The colleges that MM has applied to have all had record numbers of applications this year (I read one college had 30% more applications than last year).  Also, they are holding spots for 'pandemic gap year'.
We were 99.99% sure he should be able to get into our alma mater.  It's an under-rated college that is impossible to beat...
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Hi everyone,
I read your blog entries all the time but it seems that whenever I am busy blogging goes out the window.  So rather than talking about the last nearly two months, it might be easier to just share a daily snapshot from today of the things I have been doing (in the same fashion as MonkeyMama has been doing).
Today I worked from home as I only go into the office 2 days a week and work from home the other 3 days.  (My boss has said that he is happy for us to...
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Following my mother's death 5 years ago, I was faced with the challenge of gifting and/or selling a good portion of the vast art collection I'd inherited.  I donated a ton of art to a local not-for-profit group that ran a public health clinic for people with no health insurance. I thought it was a good choice, since many people would be passing through their doors, and my mother was a compassionate person.
Last year, I began to feel anxious about all the art I'd gifted this...
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So we are 23 days into the month and I'm determined to wait until next Monday March 1st to grocery shop again.  We've already spent this month $1056 on groceries.  UGH.  We have food we just have to eat it.  We have to eat what is in the pantry and freezer and then I can rejigger maybe what we have and rebalance and I'm not sure how we spent so much to not be shopping this last week.  But I did shop on 2/18 about $150 of mostly produce.
I'm thinking of...
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While doing my daily roundup of checking all of my financial apps, I was very pleased to see that my $400 bonus for opening a Cap One checking account was received yesterday!  I wasn't expecting this until the end of April.  
Originally, when I thought this was coming a little later, I was going to send the entire bonus to one of the credit cards I am working to pay off.  Since it came earlier, I decided to mix it up a little bit.  Every year, I am eligible...
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Our 401K contributions were finally added today.  Usually they go in on Friday, but not always.  The new amount in our retirement accounts is $46,084.04.  That is an increase of $833.56.  $770 of that was contributions, so only $63.86 was contributions.  If they'd have put it in on Friday it would have been 4 times that, but stuff fell a lot today.  Oh, well, it will rise again.
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Still no freakin house and we are over it...I just want to put everything into storage and just jump in the car and go...can't do that but want to!! so we continue to look 4 houses we have to look this week...we only have 1 week till we have to be out of here
The stress of this has made my illnesses kick into overdrive so I have been having episodes, feel so sick all the time..no energy so our diet hasn't been great as we just don't have energy...so that doesn't help and we have...
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I bought a plane ticket today.  Finally I will visit my son in Oregon.  I have not seen my DIL or grandchildren for THREE YEARS!!!  The first year I was in my lean, gap year and couldn't afford anything but the most basic things, so I did not do any traveling.  Soon after my finances recovered, my son lost his job.  He did not want me to visit until he found a new one, moved, and got settled.  After a few months, he found this job in Oregon. ...
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Short story, DH's baby mama is taking him to court and it's becoming very apparent that her motive is for money. I don't want to get into full detail because it's not my story to tell, but it angers me how someone can have such hatred towards someone and fabricate a story to ruin their life. 
It's heartbreaking to me because the money we were supposed to use to pay down some debt is now going towards lawyer fees. Currently, we've already blown $15,000 from our savings just...
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My mother's father passed away on Saturday, after a long battle with cancer.  He was 91 years old, lived a full life, and was ready to go.  My grandmother is still alive, but has advanced Alzheimer's.  I would be very surprised if she lived through the end of this year.  I did/do not have a very close relationship with them, but am hurting for my mother.  They retired to Las Vegas 25 years ago, and as they aged/became ill, my mother was going out to visit...
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Wow, we're getting towards the end of February already.  Tempus fugit!
The year to date has been busy, as the first and fourth quarters typically are at my firm.  I've basically been working at home again since Thanksgiving (I was at home mid-March to mid-June 2020, then back in the office from mid-June until Thanksgiving).  The COVID rates in my area are finally getting back to what they were back in October, so I am gradually beginning to go back into the office...
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Hi guys. I got a job.. this is a another contract.. no term limit. .. pays $4 more than my last job. total raise $8000 a year. Capped at 40 hours a week and their entire IT department outsourced so I am managing the vendors who are doing the projects. Managing vendors has always seemed to be lower stress than being in charge of the project and ultimately responsible for the outcome and also handling those last minute issues. problems, deadlines. Now the vendors can do that. I can...
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4th Offer on Previous Primary Residence was a success.  Inspection and appraisal were uneventful and sometime tomorrow we will know the closing date.  I am so thankful that we are going to have the mortgage monkey off of our backs. 
I can now start working on the new budget for April 2021 (Reboot for us will be Quarter 2!).  We will be able to save at least $3,000.00 a month before my pay as a sub is included.
Since we are dwindling down with cash poor and...
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I feel like I'm just going to keep finding things to replace or repair! I discovered that my wood floors are water damaged near my French doors. I've always heard that any damage means having to replace the entire floors. Is it ever possible to just replace a few planks if you can find a close enough match? Other solution would be cutting out the damaged wood & replacing with tile to coordinate with the gray-red fireplace brick that runs along the wall adjacent to the door....
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Tracking spending (in blog) did help, it was a good way to get back into a blogging habit.  But having a calm month was probably the most of it.
That said, now I just want to take a break.  If life is calm whatsoever, I have a million things to catch up on.  So I may end up going the opposite way this month.
{I probably started this blog post 2+ weeks ago.  Clearly I went the opposite way; have not posted much.}
I do have January sum up of spending:
 
Notes:  
This...
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While many across the country have been dealing with record snowfalls this winter, here in my area in Maryland, it's been almost all ice. We were predicted to get snow with the last storm but it ended up being all ice and sleet. I have never seen sleet come down so fast and furious. We were very lucky not to lose power. 
One of the things included in my monthly condo fee is snow removal and the crew that is used here do an outstanding job. They were out numerous times spreading...
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I haven't been posting much as I've been under the weather.  Both literally and figuratively.  We had a foot and a half of snow dumped on us on the 13th and 14th and the extreme cold caused a rheumatoid arthritis flare and a fibromyalgia flare at the same time.  Then I came down with a cold which feels like it might be heading into a sinus infection, because that's just how I roll.
Not much has been happening here, anyway.  I've been planning and purchasing...
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I had a sad, piddly little amount to add to the EF this week, but even so, it was something.  Most of what I would have put in  went towards gardening stuff, including three huckleberry bushes.  I've wanted those for a long time.  I just have to realize that the EF is not going to grow at the rate I had hoped.  There are too many other things on the agenda, including that handicaped ramp.  Still, anything is better than nothing.
$11,322.98 Previous...
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I crawled out this morning to go pick up my car at the city garage.  I had to take the train to get there, and that meant a four-block walk to get to the station.  Once I picked up the car, I went to Midas to get my oil changed.  They weren't able to take me right away, so I scheduled an appointment for an hour and a half later, and I ran some other errands -- I picked up needles and saline at the vet's - $16 - bought lunch at a drive-through for $10, and exchanged...
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It's been a busy day with student zoom conferences and an unexpected vet visit.  Our old dog had a strange episode last night--something the vet called an acute collapse.  She came running in from the yard, and when I turned around she was flat on the floor and not moving.  She stayed that way--though conscious --for about 4 or 5 minutes while I sat next to her trying to comfort her.  There was no sign of injury, so I'm not sure whether she ran into our unforgiving...
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