7th? Really?

I just said to my sweet husband 'have you looked at the living room lately?' and he replied 'you mean our 7th bedroom?'.  I would be laughing hysterically if it weren't so true - Typhoon B. has claimed that room as his own and it's a cross between a bedroom and a landing zone.  Stuff scattered everywhere - including old textbooks that we think he removed from a backpack he decided to use for something.  Plus camp chairs, etc. from either fishing or the tailgate party at the Oakland A's game yesterday.  Or both.  It's looking pretty shabby and I notice it most when I get up to go to the bathroom in the night and see all these 'unidentifiable' things (in the dark).  Typhoon B. is everywhere.

I worked most of the day yesterday and accomplished a lot - back to do more today.  Hoping for a final wrap up on the nuts and bolts of the report and then will spend some time trying to make sense of it all.  The amount of funds that 'fall out' of our budget annually is always a challenge and this year is exceptionally amazing - the new initiatives we've planned haven't always happened the way we'd hoped so...it's going to require some careful explaining.  I booked time with my boss tomorrow - and that action - the actual booking a meeting with him to talk through where we ended up - requires prep as well.  I could leave it to chance - we do see each other all the time off and on throughout the day - but there are some things that need to be decided about some of the mechanics of closing out the year and I can't make those calls in a vacuum.  Well, I could - but I won't.  Team approach is always best.

Tonight, we are feasting on prime rib and lobster tails - a celebratory evening since we know B. won't be home for Christmas.  I splurged on lobster tails from Maine - I know - you're thinking 'geez, they have way too much money if they can afford to fly in lobster tails'..but I just happened to see an email about a sale and procured the lobster for 55% off.  It wasn't inexpensive - more than Costco lobster - but these tails are HUGE and fresh frozen off the boat - so the celebration was reason enough to splurge.  We don't eat this way very often.  We'll be back to sloppy joes and orange chicken after the feast.

Have I ever mentioned that my Dad worked as a food broker?  He worked for a very large frozen food company that supplied high-end restaurants with food.  This was in the days when 'frozen food' was in it's infancy.  We frequently had steak.  Always had luxury desserts (I can still taste the raspberry 'ice' (sorbet) that he would bring home).  I didn't know the other kids in the neighborhood didn't eat steak very often.  So I guess I acquired my love of food from him.

J. recently requested 'more latitude' about what to cook for dinners which I'm fine with.  He does most of the shopping - however, I still wake up daily and have to ask 'what are we having for dinner tonight' and the answer is silence.  So I nudged (as only a wife can) about 'doesn't do any good to shop for food if you aren't making a plan of what we're going to eat.  You said you wanted to 'decide' so do it'.  So he made an inventory of what we have on hand and will hopefully be able to stick to a menu plan for a week or two.

Our budget is like most family budgets - I get paid once a month and J.'s checks come in mid-month (Social Security) and the first of the month (his pensions) and towards the end of the month, we are low on cash for groceries.  There's plenty of money - but we don't want to dip into savings to buy bread, you know?  'Cuz savings is there for longer term than milk and eggs.  Having B. home adds 'stress' to the food budget - not to mention feeding H. .  I dream of it just being 'us' someday so we can watch our food budget shrink drastically.

For now, I work ...and will continue to work for the foreseeable future - and I'm slowly wrapping my head around the number 7.  Seven more years.  Sounds like forever.  But I hope I can do it.

The stock market dropped like a rock this past week - and I'm relieved to say we're only down around 3-4% - but those drops sure are scary.  J. didn't want to look - but I said 'we have to'.  It could have been worse.  :-)

OK - off to the Sunday races.  Which are a lot like the M-F races.  Just a lot quieter.