tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 27, 2022 12:22:35 GMT -5
I would like to have more than 20 kid-free hours with my husband a year. Two years in a row, it's getting to be a little much. And I'm over polyannaing that it was so much better than 2020 when DH and I had 10 kid free hours for the year, thanks to Covid.
We need to go about finding some sitters. But, we only have two kids now, that need to be monitored. So, paying for a sitter should cost less than whatever thing we do.
Yes!!! I was saying something similar to DH yesterday! Though we’re starting off with a win (assuming no flight issues) as we’re leaving the kids with my sister and mom from 12/30-1/1 and flying to Phoenix. We used to trade with my sister, but since she got divorced a couple of years ago and is now engaged, she doesn’t really need a sitter. Her kids are 13 and 9, and her ex has them part of the time, so she doesn’t ever need a sitter unless it’s overnight. I probably need to just suck it up and pay one of the neighbor teens to watch the kids, but so far haven’t done that.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 26, 2022 11:40:43 GMT -5
I’ll flush these out some more, but initial thoughts:
Set up will/trust Practice more self-care Fully fund Roth IRA/401k/529 accounts Read 36 (or more) books
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 26, 2022 11:11:27 GMT -5
Favorite gift given was Rice Krispie treats. We ended up with niece’s (13) Rice Krispie treat in our car after a Halloween parade, and she was so upset. She got it back eventually, but it took a few days. So she got her very own box for Christmas, and she was definitely excited when she opened it.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 26, 2022 11:01:23 GMT -5
My favorite gift I received came early. I’ve been asking DH to get our refrigerator’s ice machine fixed for several years no s, saying it would be the best Christmas/birthday/Mother’s Day gift I could receive. He finally listened, and had someone come look at it. We ended up needing to replace the whole ice maker assembly, but it works - I’m so excited! So much better than making ice in the trays.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 26, 2022 10:50:52 GMT -5
For those that celebrate, I hope you had a lovely Christmas yesterday, and for those celebrating other holidays, I hope those holidays were/are lovely.
For anyone who exchanged gifts, anything you gab3 or received you want to share?
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 19, 2022 0:36:58 GMT -5
My DH is generally a smart guy, but sometimes he’s so dense. He was at his parents house a week or two ago, and asked if they had a record player because he was going to get them one for Christmas if they didn’t (for whatever reason, he thought theirs broke). They did, and when they asked why he was asking, instead of telling the reason why (no need to keep it a secret as he wasn’t going to get them a record player since they already had one), he just said so he’d know in case he ever needed to borrow one (mind you we have zero records). So what did DH open from his parents today at his family Christmas…yep, a record player. Seriously. 🤦♀️ No idea where they bought it, so not sure what we’re going to do with it.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 19, 2022 0:33:47 GMT -5
I think Abby may be allergic and that was part of our problem. She wasn't healing right. She wouldn't listen to me about care so we let them close up. If she wants to we'll try again at 14 when it can be done at a parlor. She should be fine with surgical grade steel. If you decide to get them sooner, I know some tattoo parlors here do it at age 5, 6 or 7, depending on the place. We got M’s done at a tattoo parlor, and had a couple of options, and another couple of options if she’d be 7.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 16, 2022 0:46:43 GMT -5
Glad you saw someone, Rae! Hope you can figure out something that works for you!
Pink’s story resonated with me! During 2020 my periods started to have 1-2 super duper heavy flow days - like sometimes I feel like I can’t leave my house; or if I do, I need to be near a bathroom at all times. I was 39, and I’m still dealing with it at 41, so I should probably say something to my OB/GYN.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 16, 2022 0:44:36 GMT -5
Question on ear piercings. Anyone get their kiddo’s ears pierced (or their own) and figure out they might be allergic to some of the metals commonly used in earrings? If so, what does that look like? M got her ears pierced at the end of August for her birthday, and I think she may be allergic to some of the earrings. We’ve tried new ones a couple of times, and usually one or both ears start to get irritated and I have to start the saline spray regimen again. I end up putting back in the ones they put in her ears when they pierced them, and it gets better again. We’ve only tried new ones a couple of times, so not sure if I just didn’t leave the original ones in long enough the first time (I did the time recommended by the guy who pierced them at the tattoo/piercing shop), or she’s allergic and I’m going to have to get her gold earrings.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 6, 2022 20:50:16 GMT -5
And checking in for me. We took the kids to Disney over Thanksgiving. We flew out on Saturday, and back home on Thanksgiving day. DD(6) was ready to go home on Sunday. 🤦♀️ She will say she had a good time and her favorite ride was Dumbo, but she definitely said more than once “when are we going home?” DS(10) loved it. He and DH loved the Rise of the Resistance and Guardians of the Galaxy rides, so there’s hope that DS may be a roller coaster kid after all. Maybe. He hated Expedition Everest, so TBD.
After years of my telling DH that the best Mother’s Day or birthday or Christmas gift for me would be to fix our ice maker, someone came out to the house last week, and after a second visit after the part came in, I have a working ice maker. I am so darn excited, it’s not funny!
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 6, 2022 20:46:37 GMT -5
Scary on the medical stuff, geena, but glad it’s all doing better now!
Glad your son had a good trip and is home safely now, mpl.
And happy belated #10 to your youngest, rae!
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Dec 5, 2022 23:49:17 GMT -5
Here is my November 2022 update:
ASSETS: Checking/Savings: $219,974 House: $512,700 Retirement: $1,613,018 Brokerage: $34,445 529s: $74,097
DEBTS: $0
Total NW: $2,454,244
As usual, the list above excludes our cars, which are worth around $30k combined, but I leave them out because we're unlikely to sell, and need them to get to/from work, kids schools, etc. in the land of suburbia.
Yay for still moving in a positive direction!
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Nov 13, 2022 18:00:53 GMT -5
He has tried some of the I Survived stories - he’s hit or miss on those, depending on the topic, but will look at them when he sees them.
I will check out the Mark Twain book awards list - great idea! I’ve looked at the William Allen White lists before, but not Mark Twain.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Nov 12, 2022 20:51:49 GMT -5
Just started the first Timmy Failure book with DD10. Reading level 4th-8th grade. We laughed out loud several times last night and are plowing through it. I especially liked the random higher level vocabulary thrown in. Sometimes context made the definitions obvious, and sometimes I had to explain them. Would be a great series for reluctant boy readers. It's just so quirky. Someone else's review - "With hilarious comic strip illustrations, Timmy Failure is set to be the latest hot read for 9- to 12-year-olds. Full of deadpan humour, visual gags and a twist of the surreal, Stephan Pastis is onto a winner with this new series." I randomly put this on hold for DS10 earlier today, so I hope he likes it as well! He loves reading, but we’re struggling finding new books to read. The good news is he’s always willing to grab an old favorite, but I want to keep introducing new stuff as well.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Nov 12, 2022 20:41:15 GMT -5
I like C, taz,but as others have mentioned, they are all beautiful.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Nov 12, 2022 20:38:22 GMT -5
I know. His dad and I were talking and I'm like, "It's an engineering career fair, there is no way in hell he was the only odd duck there." Please let him know that aerospace is desperate for young engineers and most of them can't dress upscale anyway. It's one of the skills I end up teaching my team Lololol! I can relate! I’m in the engineering consulting industry (we do MEP building design), and I’ve had to tell people how to dress for client meetings and site visits.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Nov 1, 2022 10:29:56 GMT -5
Here is my October 2022 update:
ASSETS: Checking/Savings: $213,309 House: $512,700 Retirement: $1,568,973 Brokerage: $30,564 529s: $70,383
DEBTS: $0
Total NW: $2,395,929
As usual, the list above excludes our cars, which are worth around $30k combined, but I leave them out because we're unlikely to sell, and need them to get to/from work, kids schools, etc. in the land of suburbia.
Yay for moving back in the positive direction again!
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Oct 20, 2022 1:44:37 GMT -5
Weird, but mostly I wouldn’t care. Except DD has a decently severe allergy to dogs, so I would hate this for her. I don’t want to have to give her Benadryl to learn in the classroom.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Oct 10, 2022 0:23:22 GMT -5
He's dressing for the job he wants. In college, I used to say that my dream job involved thermodynamics and flip flops. I got half of it in my first job (flip flops were definitely not acceptable footwear), but nailed them both with my second post-college job (maybe that’s why I’ve stayed 15 years and counting 😂🤣). That said, I definitely didn’t wear them to the interview. 😂 And way to go to your son, MPL! So proud of him (and you for the awesome pep talk) that he went in and participate!
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Oct 2, 2022 14:25:51 GMT -5
Argh, proboards ate my post. I've been trying to keep up by reading. I'm two weeks into 6 straight weeks of travel, so it's a zoo here. Thankfully, it's not a full week, but minimum of 2 nights gone each week, so craziness. My mom had knee reconstruction surgery the Wednesday after Labor Day and is recuperating and getting physical therapy up here and mostly staying at my house (a little bit of time at my sister's as well). DH has been a saint dealing with having the MIL here and helping get her to/from PT while I've been out of town. Unfortunately, she fell in our garage a week ago yesterday when my sis was here and taking her to her post-surgery ortho appointment, so big setback. After a week of no PT, keeping leg straight/elevated, etc she got the all clear to go back to PT this next week, so here's hoping she is able to start to see improvement. While I love my mom and DH and I have planned on her moving in with us at some point (in the near-ish future), I'll be honest here and say I wasn't ready for this level of care this soon. Pre-surgery she lived on her own in my hometown (about 2.5 hours away) and was able to drive. I'm hoping that she is able to get some semblance of independence back - whatever that looks like. If it's any consolation. The people I know that got new knees are doing very well and once they recovered and were through PT were getting around better than they did before the surgery. So she has actually had both knees replaced. She slipped on ice over the winter, and managed to mess up the right knee again. Instead of replacing it again, the ortho doc was able to reattach it (or something like that - but he didn’t have to completely replace the replaced knee). It is apparently a longer surgery and longer recovery time, but we took his advice that this one would give her the greatest mobility/quality of life. So I’m hoping he’s correct - and it’s probably that we’re still early and in the middle of everything that is turning my nomad pollyanna-ish self into a negative thinker.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Oct 1, 2022 21:39:42 GMT -5
I am so sorry, ely. That had to be painful to hear him say. As others said, take care of yourself right now as best you can.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Oct 1, 2022 10:00:24 GMT -5
Argh, proboards ate my post.
I've been trying to keep up by reading. I'm two weeks into 6 straight weeks of travel, so it's a zoo here. Thankfully, it's not a full week, but minimum of 2 nights gone each week, so craziness.
My mom had knee reconstruction surgery the Wednesday after Labor Day and is recuperating and getting physical therapy up here and mostly staying at my house (a little bit of time at my sister's as well). DH has been a saint dealing with having the MIL here and helping get her to/from PT while I've been out of town. Unfortunately, she fell in our garage a week ago yesterday when my sis was here and taking her to her post-surgery ortho appointment, so big setback. After a week of no PT, keeping leg straight/elevated, etc she got the all clear to go back to PT this next week, so here's hoping she is able to start to see improvement. While I love my mom and DH and I have planned on her moving in with us at some point (in the near-ish future), I'll be honest here and say I wasn't ready for this level of care this soon. Pre-surgery she lived on her own in my hometown (about 2.5 hours away) and was able to drive. I'm hoping that she is able to get some semblance of independence back - whatever that looks like.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Oct 1, 2022 9:51:23 GMT -5
Question for this group (and not trying to brag - I know the ridiculously fortunate position we are in - both DH and I come from parents with very modest means, so not something anyone in our family can give helpful advice on). We have contributed the max to each kid's 529 account that we will get a state tax deduction on ($6k/kid). C is a 5th grader and has $39.5k in his account (was $46k a couple of months ago, but stock market), and M is a 1st grader and has $27.4k in her account. We plan to keep contributing the max we can get the state tax deduction on until they graduate, and as they get closer to graduation, will move the money into more conservative investments in the 529. In our shoes, would you go ahead and add more to the 529 (especially right now since stocks are "on sale"), or just keep adding to the brokerage account and use that/cash flow anything the 529 doesn't cover?
FWIW, DH went to a nearby state university and I went private, but planning to send our kids to state university unless they have enough in scholarships and 529s to cover private as we should be able to cover state. I was able to get out of private school with minimal student loans because neither of my parents had a 4-year degree, lower income so I got a ton of grants, and scholarships. My kids will almost certainly not be eligible for any grants (which I don't have an issue with, just making it clear).
It feels like adding to our brokerage account is probably the right move, but wasn't sure if there was something I may be missing.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Oct 1, 2022 9:41:19 GMT -5
I did mine, and similar to MPL, I'm going to check monthly regardless, so I may as well post.
Here is my September 2022 update:
ASSETS: Checking/Savings: $230,924 House: $512,700 Retirement: $1,466,875 Brokerage: $20,916 529s: $66,985
DEBTS: $0
Total NW: $2,298,400
As usual, the list above excludes our cars, which are worth around $30k combined, but I leave them out because we're unlikely to sell, and need them to get to/from work, kids schools, etc. in the land of suburbia.
All I can say is yuck - down over 6.5%, and looking at what the 401k website says for both DH and I, performance of both accounts YTD is around -30%.
In positive news, I realized I hit my 401k max contributions for the year, so going to chase the $10k (max my company plan allows) I can contribute in after-tax bucket. And probably need to look at DH's - I think he's going to max soon, so make sure I switch his over to put in the after-tax bucket as well once he does. I also threw some money from our too-bloated e-fund into the stock market earlier this month and set some more up to transfer on Monday, so trying to remind myself we're buying on sale.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Sept 15, 2022 21:51:11 GMT -5
I clearly can't get my act together to post earlier in the month, though I did update my spreadsheet on my normal timeline. Oh well.
Here is my August 2022 update:
ASSETS: Checking/Savings: $228,113 House: $512,700 Retirement: $1,627,148 Brokerage: $17,890 529s: $74,704
DEBTS: $0
Total NW: $2,460,556
As usual, the list above excludes our cars, which are worth around $30k combined, but I leave them out because we're unlikely to sell, and need them to get to/from work, kids schools, etc. in the land of suburbia. In weirdness, though, I did update the value (I track it on our spreadsheet) last month for the first time in over a year, and somehow our 2018 CRV went up in value. Crazy used car market.
And after one month of positive gains, we're negative again - it was down a little over 1.6%.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Sept 14, 2022 18:08:47 GMT -5
Yay - glad everyone liked it!
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Post by tcu2003 on Sept 11, 2022 3:37:10 GMT -5
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Sept 7, 2022 18:58:51 GMT -5
I like that azucena - I will definitely try this on C when he starts into the woe is me, worst life ever, etc theatrics.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Sept 2, 2022 15:48:34 GMT -5
My baby girl is 10 today! September 1st is the 'cut off' date for school so she's the absolute youngest and thrilled to finally be double digits. I'm taking her and her bestie for a baby sloth encounter on Saturday to celebrate. She's sloth obsessed! Happy belated birthday to your DD! I hope she has an amazing time at the sloth encounter!
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Aug 31, 2022 12:42:18 GMT -5
I read Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore - The Complete Screenplay and First: Sandra Day O’Connor (by Evan Thomas). Both were in interesting reads for me.
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