Three Weeks and Counting

It's been a nice week mostly off - though I did work a bit on Friday and a bit today...better to over-prep for the busy week ahead then to assume I will be OK this week and get it all done.  Sure, I will...but I prefer to skip all-nighters when possible.  It's a massive board prep week for me and it feels good to have spent some time getting some things off the list in advance. Also a week of many, many meetings - 1/2 day meetings three of the days and not things I can bump or skip.

Three work weeks ahead before Winter Break.  In my 3AM ruminations, I contemplate maybe taking off some time the third week to start the break early - but I know it's not likely.  I have a meeting on the last work day that I don't want to miss so....vacation days will have to wait.

We have no big trips planned - a trip to Disneyland in April is all that's on the agenda for the foreseeable future.  I've checked out airfares to Paris but haven't purchased yet.  All cash in reserve for the upcoming car deal - still in process.

B. called on Thanksgiving day and had no plans - not many folks on the base since most took time for Thanksgiving given that all have been told Christmas is a 'no'.  B. is still hopeful his 4 day pass will be approved - but it's still not official.  We asked if he would be OK with us transferring him some $ to host him and a friend going out for a nice dinner - he said he'd love that and then promptly apologized.  ??  He's trying so hard to not 'need' help from us - so we reminded him that we would really like to buy him dinner; that we offered - so no apology needed.

It's hard to shop for him when we aren't sure where he'll be - and we know he won't have a lot of room for 'stuff'.  H.'s big gift is purchased and that's pretty much 'it' for him this year - it's pricey.

We had a really nice week - yesterday, we gave some thought to going out and looking at houses.  As J. said 'it's getting us out of the house; it's something to do together; it will help us get ideas about how much space do we want in our retirement home'.  Ultimately, I had no inertia - mainly because looking at houses makes me covet something we don't want to spend money on at the moment.  We've decided to stay here absolutely as long as we can - it's the most financially responsible thing we can do.  So we didn't go look at other places to live since we don't plan to go anywhere else.

I've had a relaxing series of days off and it's been lovely -

With Thanks

For each morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, For love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Never Too Old

I am pleasantly inebriated - I know I shouldn't admit that but it's true.  Three Blue Moons in a casino which I could only indulge in knowing I wasn't going anywhere tonight.  I would never do this in front of my 22 year old son....well, there was that one time with the wine on a work night -  but for the most part, I don't over-indulge often or with my kids around.  It feels really good to 'let my hair down' (well, it's short but looks a little tousled) and have a fun night -

I'm not winning so that's the only not great thing.  But losing is helping me 'let go' - I'm winding down my gambling and this will be the last trip anywhere with slots for awhile.  I've got better things to do with my time (not to mention our money).

It's approaching 11PM and dinner was at 10:20 - a great cheeseburger, fries and pumpkin pie milkshake.  A pre-hangover cure, I hope.  (I really don't feel that 'under the influence' but you never know).

My only regret may well be that I did not bring any meds with me - so a heartburn filled night awaits. Time for sleeping with big, cushy pillows to prop me up - and sleeping mostly on my left side....

I have a noon check out time so will sleep in, get some work items going, play a little more (watching for machines with set progressives that hit by a certain amount - if I can catch one that's close, it could be mine...) and then head home.

It's been really fun to have this early-week get away.  I needed it.  But I've sure missed hubby.  And son.  And other son though he's far away.

Time for sleep.

This Feels Strange

It's Monday evening and I am technically now on 'vacation' for the rest of the week.  However, judging by the stack of stuff I brought home to work on and my plans for also being in the office F-Sat-Sun (hopefully not all but we'll see) make it feel not all that vaction-y.  It feels weird to have a Monday evening be 'vacation-eve'.

After what can only be described as a weird day (that will leave me feeling unsettled and unsure for all the upcoming days off), I was able to head home just after 2PM.  I trekked to the bank and Starbucks on the way home only to realize that I had left my wallet in my desk drawer at home - so I had to just head home.  J. and I headed straight out together and went back to the bank and Starbucks, then across town for Winco shopping.  We'd synced our lists, checked our pantry, adjusted our lists and got the shopping done in record time - have everything we need to get us through the week and all the fixings for Thanksgiving.  Glad that to-do item is crossed off both our lists.

Tomorrow, J. and H. head to Modesto for H.'s swallow study...and blood work here in town soon, too.  His oncology appointment is next Thursday.  I think he's lost more weight.  :-(

I'm probably going to bed pretty soon and will get up when I wake up around 6ish or so.  It's better if I just get up when I first wake up vs. going back to sleep - going back to sleep leaves me groggy and fuzzy for most of the day so I'm trying to just get up, even on weekends and days off.

We got Chloe's 'burrow bed' off the garage shelf today, thinking she'd jump right in and snuggle into the warmth - but no.  She won't go near it!  Reminding myself that she wouldn't get in it when we first got it so maybe she has to just think it over.  I'm not covering her up in her day-bed like I have been, trying to encourage her to get into the burrow.  I even put a dog biscuit w-a-y in the back of the burrow bed - but she just slinked in headfirst, grabbed the biscuit and backed out as quickly as she'd gone in.  She'll do anything for a dog biscuit.

Tomorrow through Thursday will definitely be down time so I'm just going to focus on that for now and enjoy it.

Happy Heaven Birthday to my mom - she would have been 91 today.  Miss her.

Sticking to a Budget

Lively discussions have been held about the new car.  We sketched out our taxes and realized, sadly, that the withdrawal we made from retirement savings the first part of 2015 has nudged us up - it wasn't even 1/3 of what J. made when he worked and we did have them withhold - but not enough. So our thought of maybe withdrawing more this year to make a nice down payment on the car is now 'what can we cash in to scrape together a down payment on a car?'.  (And I acknowledge with a grateful heart that we are blessed to have options such as these).

I'm on a frugality kick - which I promptly almost blew upon seeing a Facebook link to specially packaged Oreo cookies - winter theme - you 'customize' the packaging and they make it and add Oreos.  I had $40 worth of cookies in my 'cart' when I stopped myself and said 'this is what you do at Christmas ever year.  Buying two for 'the boys' isn't enough.  You have to buy one for every person unwrapping under the tree and before you know it, you've spent an absolute fortune on Christmas'.  So I stopped myself.

I've also stopped myself from ordering one or two cases of our favorite wine - it was 25% off AND free shipping so the deal of a lifetime - but I looked at the notepad by my desk where we've been writing down what we've spent this month (so far) and said 'no, not going to do that, either'.  Yes, I really want that wine because I love it - but no, I don't want to spend $240 a case for it - not now, and probably not ever.  (Well, maybe when I'm sure there's no young adults looming around that finish a bottle off really quickly).

Yesterday, H. performed meaningful chores in exchange for money we'd advanced him - and I have to say that if he worked this hard and diligently every time we've tried him earning money through chores, I'd do it weekly in a heart beat.  He took the list seriously and worked constantly and well for hours yesterday - got some things done that needed doing.  His 'getting the place all sparkly' gave me inertia to also do some things.  We've been piling up boxes and packaging materials in the garage for awhile 'cuz I have gifts to ship for Christmas.  I decided to tackle the box graveyard and started breaking down boxes to put out for recycling this week.  Sadly, I couldn't actually find the box of gifts that was also out there and I mis-judged the size of boxes I would need to ship them - so I broke down a lot of 'right size' boxes before realizing (upon finally finding THE BOX) that I now don't have boxes to actually ship.  Grrr....  .  And also grrr - the gifts are 1 inch off from every box I can find that's close - thus necessitating using a larger box.  More packing material.  Oh well.  We still have plenty of shipments coming in so we'll see where we end up in a week or two.  I hope we can figure out something vs. having to buy boxes.

We were supposed to be brunching with H. and his new girlfriend today - but she got called into work so had to cancel.  Hoping for a dinner sometime this week -

We're also heading to Gallo today for a mid-afternoon show - Jeanne Robertson is in town!!  Ready to laugh my head off.

Working tomorrow because I was asked to participate in an interview committee and if I'm getting up early and dressing for work, I might as well make a day of it.  No one else in my office there so should be able to make steady progress.

Tuesday, I'm heading up to Thunder Valley (not Jackson!  Surprise) for a free hotel night and some play time.  I am taking work items with me - reviewing and writing what needs writing for our annual audit as well as some other projects I can tackle in the quiet.  The room is free so why not?

J.'s car shopping is stalled - they found a car that's what he wants but 'it's 300 miles away'.  (I'm not entirely sure why they aren't moving heaven and earth to get that car here 'cuz if they want to make a sale, they should).  They are discussing ordering it but I foresee the 0% financing offer will not be available when the car arrives and though they may insist it will be, they don't control their financing company so....  we can make it with one car, honestly - very few days I actually need a car so J. can just use mine.  Though I know he's excited about a new car (so am I even though it's not 'mine') -

J. took the french horn to the music store in Modesto that accept consignments and they encouraged him to put it on eBay - so we're going to go back to trying to do that.  Today, maybe, now that our morning is unexpectedly free.

That's all the news here....it's cold and time to either get moving or get dressed.  I think I'll try moving.  Making a recipe for dinner tonight that my cousin shared with me and there are some prep items I can start on to get the dish completely ready to pop in the oven when we get back from the show this evening.

Scion is No More

H.'s car is confirmed as a total loss.  The insurance company has a department that handles everything.  We sheepishly admit we were shocked at the amount - and no, not because it was so little.  It was considerably more than we ever imagined recouping and though they said the 'total loss department' was very backed up and to expect a delay, the funds for the car are already pending in our bank account - so start to finish, it's been about 10 days.  Not bad considering -

H. paid for 50% of the car but we felt he should pay the full deductible since it's his fault the car is now junk - still, he got a boost to his bank account which will get him through many weeks without drawing on his long-term savings.  We got a boost in savings too - and my sweet hubby gave the OK to also move some to my fun $ account, which makes me happy.  Very happy.

The insurance company also has a department that helps policy holders replace their car - so now J. has to tell them what he wants (a fully-loaded Honda Accord hybrid) and they will find it, negotiate a price for us and arrange financing.  Yes, really.  That's full-service insurance right there.  Not a 'name your price' policy.  I don't think we would ever insure our cars through any other carrier besides AAA.  They have been stellar through this entire process.

I was sort of hoping to put off the new car purchase until January - to avoid an annual registration payment in the same month we have Christmas - and to give us until the next tax year to make a retirement savings withdrawal - but whenever it happens, it's fine.  We'll manage.  I think this car buying process has produced sort of a 'break through' with the two of us - 'cuz all I really want to know is how much can we withdraw annually and be comfortable about the money lasting the rest of our lives.  No one wants to commit to giving us said number - they always ask a zillion questions about our expenses, etc. - and I'm at the point where I want to say 'no, you don't need to concern yourself with the outflow we need to cover - you just need to tell us what is a comfortable, safe withdrawal number and we'll figure out the rest'.  And then I want to withdraw that amount every year - even in years when we don't 'need it'....to start building up after tax cash.  That's a critical component of the 'Majah isn't working anymore' scenarios - having adequate cash to cushion unexpected things that we all know happen in day-to-day life'.  I felt like J. finally 'got that' - we keep avoiding withdrawing and technically, he's been retired for a few years now and we should be able to withdraw annually - and hopefully not need it.

J. and H. and a friend of H. ventured to the body shop where the Scion was towed and took out the stereo - I was picturing the dash unit and arrived home on Friday night to find a HUGE (really, I don't know how they ever fit in the car) set of speakers that had been custom installed behind the back seat of the car.  J. says H. wants to store them in the rafters of the garage in case he ever has a car where they can be re-installed.  I am suggesting he try to list them on Craig's list and sell them - if/when he gets a car he wants to customize again with an over-the-top stereo system, he can do that then.

I'm really averse to more junk in the rafters of the garage.

I came downstairs this morning to rain and a dog who would not go out.  She'd left presents on the throw rugs in the family room...so....yeah, it's Sunday...it has cleared up now and is sunny and clear. More wind expected later today.

I am heading to work shortly - thanks to my cousin for the Facebook pep talk.  A few hours of stuff will help cover for the time I will not be in the office this week - all day conference tomorrow.  We are all in pre-Thanksgiving week off mode - actually, I'm not sure who's going to be off.  We have to use paid time off for the M-T of the week - but most will.  Use two days vacation and get 10 days off in a row - it's a 'bargain' on the paid time off scale.

Last night for dinner, J. and I made cheese bread sticks - and the crust was made with cauliflower! Tonight, we are going to use additional 'riced' (just chopped up in a food processor to the size of rice grans) to make stir fried cauliflower rice.  (I actually think I might throw in a little brown rice, too but we'll see).  Last night's effort was pretty good - though I overdid the cheese on top so it was a bit 'heavy'.  Homemade marinara sauce to dunk - everyone seemed OK with it so we might try it again and use pizza toppings like pepperoni and sausage next time, too.

Alright - I'm heading out.  Well, first I have to get dressed..but then I'm really going.  :-)

DVR Madness

Awhile back, Dish Network forced me to swap out the DVR in my bedroom for a new unit.  I didn't give it much thought - which was sort of a breakthrough for me 'cuz I had totally freaked out the last time this happened.  That time, I made Jim put all the things on the box onto DVDs - a process that included him moving the box into the room with the recorder and playing every recorded item to get it onto a DVD.

I have no idea where that DVD is and have lived happily without all those shows I couldn't live without.  So second time around, I was way more nonchalant about it all.  

I lost William and Kate's wedding events which crushes me every time I think of it - but oh well.  J. said he was sure I could find the wedding on DVD - but there was one particular part of the NBC recording where an American there pointed out what was the sweetest moment for her - as Kate and William were leaving the balcony, she stopped for one last look out - and William sweetly took her hand and guided her inside.  Such an endearing moment and I don't think any video will have it.  But I remember, right?  So that's good enough.

This topic of the DVR also reminds me of something else I've been meaning to mention - the new DVR box has a bright blue 'power' light....and after a couple freakish late night moments, I realized that if that light remains on, it casts very odd shadows across the ceiling of the room and when you are trying to go to sleep or wake up in the middle of the night, those shadows appear to move - and scared the crap out of me more times than I should admit to.

All this DVR talk is to get to the issue that surfaced this week - all my timers are gone and I've been neglectful in setting them back up.  I've totally, completely missed this year's Best British Baking Show - the entire event off my radar.  I somehow noticed - maybe a Facebook link - the show was on and the final is this week - then I scrambled to watch as many episodes as I could on PBS - but I've missed one through four and won't be able to watch them until they are on Netflix next year.  

And coincidentally, my cousin loves the show, too!!  I was going to tell her my sad saga of having missed a favorite show and she mentioned that she's enjoying a 'new' show - and it was the same show!

I've had a completely lazy day and while I felt a little guilt and was hard on myself about it, my sweet husband said 'you've worked a long, hard week - so it's OK.  Be lazy today'.  Ahhhh....that's love right there.  

We went to dinner and Gallo last night with friends - Kathleen Madigan was so, so funny.  The evening was very fun and the couple we spent time with our two of the dearest people on the planet. We really need to try to get together more often.  J. and the husband (R.) get together monthly for lunch - I jokingly refer to R. as 'your other wife' 'cuz J. says things like 'I need to go there with R.'...even the boys are like 'Dad, go there with your wife!!'.  But it's all in good fun and they are great, many decades together friends and it shows.  

The many terrorist events in Paris yesterday make my stomach sink - so sad.  So wrong.  I feel like a lot of people - I've just run out of words.  There are no words.