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I have made a really huge decision.  I can't believe that I am doing this, but I am.
My boss is on vacation this week, so next week I will tell her that my last day will be Friday, Sept. 1.  I am wrapping up my life here and moving to Carbondale.
There is still much up in the air, but each kerfuffle will be dealt with as it arises.  Just like life, right?
I will have my health insurance through the end of September.  I can buy a silver plan on Covered California...
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Yeah, I'm being flippant with my title, but I think I am allowed to be, and I thought it was more appropriate than Total Eclipse of the Heart, which was a strong contender.  Today is my heart procedure.  My check-in is at 1:30, so less than twelve hours.  My procedure should start around 2:30, but will probably start later, since everything always runs late at any hospital procedure or surgery I've ever been to for myself or anyone else.
I don't know how long I...
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begin - beginning checking account balance
pr - my net payroll check
SB - my contribution towards our joint living expenses
sf - automatic sinking funds transfers scheduled for 7/11/23
cash - cash for the next 2 weeks
Citi MC - the balance this time includes a tank of gas and some eating out
CarMax - a payment towards my car loan.  The new balance is $21,008.23
house DP - a contribution towards my house down payment.  The new balance is $2,002.92.
end - ending...
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Wow.  I just read the most recent financial samurai post about FS's wife losing her passport.  She said it was full benefit, meaning she learned a lesson and turned it around.  That was good there were benefits to what she did.
But I guess what stood out to me in the whole post and I read Financial Samurai all the time, that she used task rabbit to hire someone to stand in line for her.  Yes she paid someone to stand in line for her $134 actually.
So why am...
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Yep, I did. And I was caught by a red light camera, so I have to fork out $100. I wouldn't have believed it, but they have video proof. In my defense, it happened during the time I was so worried about my son, so I really wasn't in my right mind. I had no idea on that day what I had done.
On the same day I got the notice, I got my payout from the Google class action lawsuit. It was $95, so that almost pays for the ticket.
I just noticed that my July statement shows no change...
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Today is my last day with minor children.  🤯
This is bringing up a lot of chores that I need to tend to.
Lord knows if DL(17) will ever get paid.  I don't know how much the city and state are exempt from some labor laws, and how much they are just flat out ignoring labor laws.  Ugh.  (MM worked for the state when he worked for the college.  DL is currently working for the city).  
I have been helping DL(17) work through a lot of (city) red...
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MM(19) got out of jury duty.  Didn't have to go in, and was freed Wednesday afternoon.  He bought train tickets the second he got the news, and headed to LA.  The prior weekend he went re: school club and had most expenses paid for.  Last weekend he visited the girlfriend, who has a job down there.  The train was pretty fast and it was cheaper than gas.  I gave him $40 for food.  Because the GF watched our cat while we were out of town, and refuses...
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I work for myself now.  It's fun, interesting, and I really like it. I don't think I'll ever go back to working for a company.  It's harder in some ways and easier in others.  I'm fortunate to be married to a person who has a company job that provides benefits.  Would I be doing what I'm doing if I had to buy insurance?  Maybe yes still. I don't know.  But if I had to provide insurance, the question would be why is my husband not working for a company? ...
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I never thought it would happen. But it finally has happened to us. 
WE ARE DEBT FREE!!!
Hallelujah!
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I looked at my airline ticket for next week's trip to visit my son -- I realized that the plane leaves at 6 am, which I apparently didn't think was a bad time when I booked the ticket, but I forgot I would have to be there two hours earlier, plus the airport is about 40 minutes away. WHAT WAS I THINKING? I am not at all comfortable with taking an Uber in the wee hours, not to mention I'm not sure I would be able to function at that time. So I decided to book a room at the airport...
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My daughter sent me a link to a house.   It is SO cute.  It needs some work, but mostly cosmetic as far as I can tell.  It has good bones.  In addition to the pictures on realtor.com, my daughter sent me pics from Google Earth, and my son went to the house and sent me a bunch of exterior pics.   It is a foreclosure, and it is listed at 24.9k.   It has been on realtor.com for a month already.  I have spoken with the listing agent...
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So I called the tax office back after a couple weeks like they asked me..waited till after the 4th...tried to explain again to a new person what has been going on and to see if we owed anymore...as we had to amend our taxes...she was looking through it and said that the person who did them messed them up and added the tax in instead of readjusting it...they didn't read the notes so she did it while I was on the phone and she is seeing what she can do about the late fees/interest...
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Thursday I was sitting in my living room and I thought I heard water dripping. I knew I had not left any water running so I figured maybe that's just what it sounds like when water is going through the pipes. I live in a second floor apartment. There are three floors. Not fifiteen minutes later I'm talking to my manager on the phone when all of sudden I hear water running inside me apartment. I get up & start walking around my apartment. 
I find water pouring through...
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I see that others have been posting similar things so I'll add mine.
Numbers are as of 6/30/23
Our portfolio is up by $183,259.19. That still puts us $69,454.13 behind where we were on 12/31/21 but at least there's been a decent recovery. Total now stands at $3,232.879.01.
For the first 6 months of the year, our portfolio income came to $30,244.20 (interest, dividends, capital gains). If that extrapolates out for the year, that will be about $60,500 in income, plus any year-end...
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We're now half-way through 2023! The second quarter was a very good quarter.
I'm almost back to where I was at the end of 2021 in my investments. I have about $30k to go to get back to where I was at Q4 2021. That's not including my contributions as I've been maxing my TSP & IRA, as well as contributing to a brokerage account since my personal investment high 18 months ago. I was at $975k in my TSP and I just knew that $1 million was around the corner. Then 2022 came and the...
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I grocery shopped yesterday at Mariano's (a rather upscale store owned by Kroger). Aldi is my go-to store, but I go to Mariano's when I need popcorn. I spent $23. Then I picked up a prescription from Walgreens for $15. 
I hardly ever grocery shop on Saturday because it's so busy, but I was out of some key items and didn't want to wait any longer.
After days of no rain and smoky skies, we had non-stop rain today, and then a flash flood alert. It has expired, so there's no...
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Got two long-outstanding "to dos" done today:
1.  Canceled a magazine subscription that had automatically renewed for a refund.  I like the magazine but have no time to read it.
2. Called my internet service provider (which was also my cable company back when I had cable TV, which I haven't since 2008).  Every year they yank up the price--but if you call them and request a promotional rate, they'll give it to you.  My promo rate had gone from $47 to $65 a...
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Well, this year got knocked off track by Buffy's illness and passing :^(.  Still feeling like the wind was knocked out of my sails.  This next month is the lightest of the year at work and I have already arranged to take every Friday off, and hopefully I will both be able to make some progress on personal goals and get some R&R.
With regard to my 2023 Goals:
Health:  Well, I lost weight from Buffy's diagnosis to passing, then gained it back.  I'm...
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Now that we are half way through the year (how is that possible already??) I wanted to check in on how I am doing financially. One of my big goals for the year was to increase my net worth. Which so far I have accomplished! My liquid savings are down but so is debt and retirement is up.
 
Cash/Liquid Savings:
 $1,364 Animal Fund (-$322)
 $5,720 Escrow Fund (-$322)
 $2,124 Checking Accounts (+$62)
 $20 Car Fund ($0)
 $99 HSA (-$1,020)
 $9,327...
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MOVIES:
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$50  Art House Theater (small balance left?)
 
RESTAURANTS:
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$50 Cracker Barrel (small balance left)
$ 25 x 1 Jamba Juice (Gift)
 
RETAIL:
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$50 Kohls (Gift)
 
REGIFT:
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$25  Starbucks
 
Note: Edited over time to remove used gift cards. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MH and I had a peaceful night (kids gone) and went out for a nice dinner. ...
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