Homecoming

The week has been reasonably uneventful - just work, work and more work for me and work, work and more (home) work for J..  H. is continuing to earn money via a system of promising to do stuff; mostly doing stuff and then getting an advance for the next time he promises to do stuff.  It's working. 

The appraiser was here on Wednesday - arriving shortly after we returned from finalizing our estate planning documents with our lawyer.  I would have loved to make a day of it and been off but that wasn't possible.  I resisted the urge to be here with the appraiser - and unlike the refi in the early 2000 where the guy drove by the house and came up with a number, this appraiser measured every single wall and was here for close to an hour.  There have been some great sales in the neighborhood recently - many going for more than the asking price - so we are somewhat hopeful.  We should know something more 'firm' this week.

The big news is:  B. is coming home for Memorial Day weekend!  He mentioned last week that he had a long weekend coming up and was hoping to be home.  Only he'd also looked at airfares and realized that short notice trips are even more expensive.  He asked us if we would pitch in - and we said a pleasantly toned 'um, no'.  He has a good job now and he can afford to do what he wants - so he debated a day or so and then decided to go ahead and get here regardless of cost.  He arrives late Thursday (almost Friday morning) and leaves mid-day Monday.  I'm hoping to be off on Friday - working at home but here - and then he will have the weekend to spend time with friends.  He'll have use of one of our cars - saving him renting one. 

H.'s 20th birthday is also next Saturday and he wants something 'low-key'.  Probably family dinner and then for dessert - brownies!  His gift will be pitching in for a ticket to Houston to visit his friend - and that was another load of drama.  H. has a job!!  He starts tomorrow morning - but he thought since he wasn't working last week, we could just send him to Houston right now!  Uh - no.  The tickets were close to $1K for a few day trip - and that's not in our birthday present budget.  So we said no.  He was disappointed.  So was I - I know he wants to go visit - and I know it's his birthday.  But I can't justify spending that kind of money - so we said no.  When he's been in the job a few months, he can hopefully ask for a long weekend off - planned in advance - and then we will buy him a ticket to Houston.

He will be moving home next weekend also - so it may come in really handy to have B. at home to help schlep stuff.  H. is currently working on repainting his bedroom.  The ocean blue walls of his youth are being returned to a more 'typical' beige-yellow which matches the rest of the house. 

My lazy Sunday is officially ending after I publish this post - heading in for a long day of budget stuff.  It's going better - I think I've figured out a 'method' that appears to be working and I have things lined up for my team to work on tomorrow while I'm in Sacramento attending a budget workshop.  The last time my current boss and I will make that trek - and we will enjoy a final lunch at Dave Wong's which is our 'tradition'.  I'm already missing him - but the search is progressing and I feel quasi-hopeful. 

What will be will be and no amount of fretting is going to change that - so I'm trying to 'trust the process' and just keep moving through all I need to do.

Some days I'm better at that than others.  

J. and I have had TWO nights out this weekend.  On Friday, we saw Jeanne Robertson at the Gallo Center in Modesto - so, so funny!  Last night, it was dinner and some vacation attire shopping for J. in Manteca.  I have to force the guy to buy clothes!  He did it!  And JC Penney is back to great prices.  We left with a lot of stuff for a reasonable amount of money - J. will be newly decked out for our beach trip in July.

Can't wait to see our oldest son - his list of must-do's include lattes in the morning (made by his Mama); lying on the couch with his dog; chillaxing with his brother; etc. .  He was going camping with friends but there are no campsites available (you think?) so we'll see where they hang out.  They're welcome to chill here if they'd like - we may even heat up the pool for them!

That's the haps for now....low-key and normal.  Here's hoping this week finalizes the refinance (which would be the biggest, most amazing thing that could possibly happen and will allow us to stay comfortably in this home for the foreseeable future - and I don't want to move 'cuz I love this place and we've worked so hard on it and I don't want to have to do it all over again!) and progress on the budget so I can sleep better.