All Entries

I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season!!

It has been way too long since I've written anything! I was working on two things:
- a fire station (turned in the drawings on 12/20)
- a Christmas Advent Village (made of cardboard) for me and my daughter. We each wrote stories about each building, too, and gave them to each other each day. You can see them here: https://www.instagram.com/every_.little_.thing/?hl=en

I have work to finish later this week, but I am taking...
[ Read More ]

& just like that, we are a 3-car family.

Where in the heck did the time go??? How on earth is that wee little baby old enough to learn how to drive!?

I will back up. The in-laws told us 2+ years ago they wanted to give their old car to MM(15) for Christmas. He turns 15.5 next month and will be getting his learner's permit. Our ideal world would have been buying a very used car from a friend or a relative, someone we knew who took good care of their cars.

I don't...
[ Read More ]

Merry Christmas to all those who work retail. After the pre holiday rush and before the January sales, may you have a stress free celebration surrounded by nice people. Worked retail for years myself and always enjoy a quiet day with no fuss and not too many people.
[ Read More ]

The granddaughters spent the night again, along with my daughter and son-in-law. Their friends live near us and it was my son-in-law's birthday. He was totally surprised so that was great. He turned 32. The girls and grandpa watched Mickey's Christmas and The Grinch. I popped them popcorn to munch on while they watched. I stayed busy until time to rock Pyper, the 4 year old.

DH took the leftover T-bone steak from Sunday night's birthday dinner and turned them into barbecued...
[ Read More ]

Total sales for this week were $368.00 which I was very surprised by as I hadn't been posting as much since I got through all my Christmas and winter items. I also sold a lot this week for my Mom which is great to help her out too.

Sale #1083 (FMO) $3.00
For my Mom: Kitchen Shears $3.00

Sale #1084 (TYP) $20.00
For my Mom: Victoria Secret Bras (2) @ $10.00 each

Sale #1085 (CB) $6.00
For my Mom: Boys Christmas Shirts (2) @ $3.00 each

Sale #1086 (KW) $3.00
For...
[ Read More ]

FYI, this is not a $$$ related post.

This morning, my kids and I were debating whether it was appropriate to say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. My son told me that one of his public school teachers counseled a classmate for saying Merry Christmas. I thought the "counseling" was probably exaggerated but it prompted our talk.

I have always wished friends and others Merry Christmas. I say it and accept the wishes out of wanting to express general love and respect...
[ Read More ]

I did a load of laundry yesterday, but otherwise, no spending.

I unpacked quickly and went to bed early. I slept a long time.

My Celecoxib prescription needs to be refilled. I responded to a refill email from Walgreen's when I saw that they will charge the same GoodRx price I got last time. But that got me curious, and I looked at GoodRx and saw prices at Kroger, Meijer, Jewel, and Walmart that were cheaper. I'm on the fence as to whether to switch when I've already requested...
[ Read More ]

I took over my moms finances 20 months ago...she lives on a pension and is raising a teenager ( was 11 at the time) had a bunch sof appliances that broke and had to "rent to buy", never had savings as things always came up etc...we talked and set up a budget for her and I paid her bills online and she took cash for her groceries/chiro/fone.

This november she was completely debt free, she has her christmas shopping done (bought her great grandson a laptop ready for high school)...
[ Read More ]

It's a Christmas miracle! I went to buy fresh veggies for tomorrow and the price hadn't shot way up, 1.99 for a lettuce, 2.99 per kilo for tomatoes and 2.49 for 3 avocadoes.
[ Read More ]

MIL is going to be giving us $6000 before the end of the year. I am going to put it into the medical account so that we will have the money to pay for DD's surgery. It will be nice to start the year without having to worry about having to scrape up money for the deductible and out of pocket max.

I will continue to deposit money into the account each payday as well, but with this money, I don't have to worry quite so much that we will have enough in there to meet our needs....
[ Read More ]

Hi friends!

I had an absolutely crazed December; working nights and weekends trying to get through a mass of work that suddenly hit me all at once. I did all I humanly could, so now I can take my two weeks with a clear conscience if not a clear plate. I'll have a lot to do on Jan. 7 so I'll need to hit the ground running, jetlag be damned.

But until then, I have some time off, so I'm going to try and rest my brain as much as possible.

I want to do a detailed end-of-year...
[ Read More ]

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes. Today is actually my first son-in-law's birthday. He turned 32. My daughter decided to surprise him with a party. She threw it together pretty fast. They have a nice group of friends. So I rocked the 4 year old, Pyper, to sleep while 10-year old Ally went on her own. My stressed out husband was asleep by the middle of The Grinch.

We started Bird Box on Netflix before the girls got here, so I am finishing it up before I go to...
[ Read More ]

Ok, it may be raining right now, but what a lovely time we're having.
We arrived Wednesday, found the airbnb with no problem, got settled in, went for a walk by the Regents Canal and got some groceries. It's quite a spacious two-bedroom in a nice area of London, but I do mss the "old neighborhood."

Thursday, I had lunch with a study abroad friend, we did a little stint at the British Museum, than a dinner at home to recoup a bit.
We tried to see the WinterWonderland...
[ Read More ]

Got home today around noon. It was a good trip, nice connections and conversations with both my brother and P. Had fun playing games with my niece and her husband, and wonderful meals, as usual.

The whole cost of the trip was $17 for gas and $3 for food on the way.

I decided, while there, to vacuum my car. I haven't done it since I bought it this summer, and the grandsons have done a number on it. Me, too, tracking in leaves and debris! I found a place to do it, but...
[ Read More ]

I planned a quiet Christmas at home with DS, but today we got a last minute invite from a church couple. Now I don't have to cook on the 25th.
[ Read More ]

I'm 61 today, figure I have about 29 good years left. I spent the morning doing laundry for my daughter's family and then went to town to have lunch with my daughter and family, my husband and the new widow. I am so glad she came. There were tears, but not an overwhelming amount. My granddaughters are a nice diversion. The friend paid for the meal for all of us.

I ended up bringing the 4 year old home with me as my 10 year old granddaughter, daughter and her husband were...
[ Read More ]

Made the first mortgage payment the other day, I only added an extra $25 to the principal. When it comes to this debt thing I have to do what makes me happy. The process maybe slower but t works for me.

2019 goal is to pay off CC9 by end of March. I’ll be adding extra to the CC next Friday. I realized that I can’t get this card down because it’s the only one I have not taken out of my purse, so out it goes.

Other news Christmas is my least favorite holiday, it’s...
[ Read More ]

Like many people, my family and friends are at a point in our lives where we have all we need and don't need stuff. Of course, that means thoughtful gift ideas are hard to come by this time of year.

Given my terminal cancer situation, my family has hinted that they'd like me to make them things so they can have something personal when I am gone.

Today, I obliged.

I made Star Wars Christmas ornaments for my sister out of salt dough and think they turned out fairly well!

I...
[ Read More ]

Hi all,
I've been lurking for sometime now, commenting when I felt I could add to the discussion. Otherwise, I was a silent member of the audience.

I'm hoping to use this blog to document my trials and tribulations. I am the primary breadwinner in the family, and I have a good job. My job does require me to travel, so the downside is I miss out on evenings home with the kids. But, my husband would say, on the upside, you miss out on evenings home with the kids. It's all...
[ Read More ]

Because next Wed is a public holiday, my benefit has been paid already. But I'm not planning to withdraw any money until next week. The payment due on Jan 2 will also be paid early. So technically I have 5 paydays this month, but I'm budgeting for 5 paydays next month.
[ Read More ]