Judicious June Controlled/No Spend Thread

[MittenKitten]

Congrats SES.

I often say that DS#1 will be driving while in a booster seat.

[Deleted]

Congrats SES, what is the job, again?

[mizbear]

YAY ses!

Staying out of the carseat thing. I also fall into that class and have a constant argument with ex-SIL (who is currently not speaking to me because she told me I needed to stand up to people and- oops she was on the list) about having Niece#2 in a booster. I rode in a carseat until kindergarten or 1st grade by choice. Then I fell in front of the school getting out, the car seat started to wear out, and my DB was outgrowing his and needed mine. He got the ducttape special. He very quickly learned that is he kept his hands off the doors and the seatbelts, he didn't have to ride in the car seat.

New drama in DGM saga involving insurance, but Aunt has a plan A and a plan B already. She has a Plan C too- but we are hoping it doesn't come to that. Plan A and B both involve the house. Plan C would involve me coming back home in the role of DGMs FT personal live in caretaker, but it would also mean that the house went to me if anything happened to her. One of my uncles has already suggested his daughter for the job, but my aunt said no. She said we will let the nursing home put a lien on the house first. I love my cousin, but she could screw up a one car parade.

[muttleynfelix]

SES - Congrats

Work was a major headache today. Why is it I never have deadlines until I'm about ready to go on vacation? The deadline isn't until Tuesday so my boss (who has only been working half days do to lack of work) said he would finish it if need be, but I need to have something close.

[startsmart]

I took a few hours off this afternoon and went to see a movie ;D It was great to get out of the heat and the dogs did so well at home! New guy was inside in the crate with water and fans, my older dogs were in the garage with a fan and water too.

I saw the new x-men and really liked it! I think the other two people in the theater were fans as well. $5.50 for the matinee - not too bad.

Now I'm back to working from the couch and all 3 dogs are napping. Again.

[ses]

Sapphire-- we will see you there, working phones or not, it is a small airport. Will you need to go to baggage claim or are you just doing carry on?

[Deleted]

Good Morning ladies. The movers finish packing up my stuff today and we head to Kansas on Saturday! We have to finish cleaning and clearing our house the next few days. So much to do still. Ugh.
We had renters for our house, but the day they were supposed to sign the lease they didn't because they now can't decide between our house and another house. It is very frustrating because they gave US a deadline on agreeing to their rental offer. So now we don't know if they are going to rent our house or if we have to have the property management keep showing it. I really didn't want to have to pay my house payment here and rent in Kansas. Sigh.

Ok. Hope everyone is well. I will be coming back in July after we get back from vacation. The budget needs to be very tight and I will need all your help to stay on the wagon!

[redwagon]

SES - congrats on the job!

mizbear - Aunt has plan C but is that what YOU want?

Angel - enjoy your vacation! sorry about the rental situation - what a hassle!

startsmart - glad you got out for some fun and AC! I want to see that too.

I'm staying home from work today because otherwise there's no way I'll finish this copyediting project, and I have the days to use. Even after today I'll have 5.5 to use before end of August (or I can carry them over). I'm hoping to make good progress, but I'm honestly not sure if I'll be able to finish for Monday with the crazy weekend schedule I have coming up. I guess I should go start that. Here begins 14 hours of copyediting. A nice test for when I freelance (although ideally it'd be normal 8 hour days then). Wish me luck!

[mizbear]

Angel- Sending good juju your way.

red- I would like plan C better if my DB was not there, it will be a point of contention with him, however, I am the only one who has the physical ability to do what needs to be done- combined with the other necessary points- for instance, when my one uncle volunteered his daughter- she can't drive (too many speeding tix, has a child under 2 (needs to be watched), can't cook, doesn't clean, would want to bring her dog or cat (DGM is allergic, DM has asthma), can't keep 2 wooden nickles if she had them, etc)
I have another cousin who would be the ideal choice- she is studying in the medical field like myself, only unlike myself, stuck with an active path instead of paperwork- however, she can't move back here right now because she is almost done school and it would screw up her residency stuff, etc. She says it is no disrespect to me- but she would like to be done college by 35 (she's 18 months younger), take another year to travel and do all of her certification exams before going to work- she figures it will take at least one year to find a job.
Plan C is basically a backup if everything else goes out the door. There's a lot of stipulations to it though- all in my favor pretty much.
red- Remember to take a break!

Everybody have fun in the Black Hills for me!!!

[muttleynfelix]

Am I working on my project due before I leave? NO because stupid #@$@#@#@ Architects. UGH!! They are suppose to be starting construction on this other project and low and behold some DUMB ASS put a transformer pad in the middle of my drainage ditch. WTF people!! It doesn't take a genius to realize that WATER and ELECTRICITY are a bad combination. Not only that, but why didn't someone tell use 2 months ago when they made the change ... less than 7 days after they sent us the first revision. I know it is on us to check for conflicts, but WHY would I think they changed their @&#^%$%^# plans in a week and not think to tell us!!! UGH!!!!!

[sapphire12]

Morning ladies -- 3 more sleeps until the Black Hills.

SES -- Congrats on the job! My mother works a part-time job since her retirement. It's been good for her, a little extra money and she's healthy and she has enough flexibility to do all her activities. We will have carry on bags; however, depending upon the size of the plane, our luggage may have to be gate checked.
azmom -- my co-worker just returned from Tucson. Yesterday, the staff was like oh you're going to miss the hot weather tomorrow. It's supposed to be 110 today. I think it was just 100 the previous days. I've been to Tucson before, but I asked her which was worse. I think she thinks, DC weather is worse, even though it's only 76 degrees when we first wake up, the humidity is brutal and perspiration comes as soon as you take 2 steps outside.
mizbear -- hoping that your family situation works out for you and your stress levels go down.
red -- I don't have little ones, but I have friend whose son is extremely light weight that he is still in a booster seat at 10.

[dakota4600]

Need prayers/good juju. DH needs to have hernia surgery. It is small, but has gotten bigger over the last year. It has been bugging him and he went back to the surgeon who said it is quite a bit bigger than it was a year ago so they are going to go in and fix it. Before they needed to do an ultrasound to see it, but now the surgeon was able to find it right away. DH didn't schedule it because he wanted to talk to me first (I'm not sure what we needed to talk about.) So he is going to to schedule it for the week of 4th of July, that will give him a month to recover before going back to teaching. I'm not too worried his dad had this type of hernia and rode is bike cross country 6 weeks later. DH said the surgeon told him he could start taking walks for exercise 2 days after surgery. DH though thinks I should plan to take 2 days off to take care of him. I told him I'd take the day of surgery off and I'd have his mom come over the day after if he needed someone with him. (I'll actually plan to take 2 days off, but I really don't think he'll need me home the 2nd day.)

Muttley- Sorry about the changed plans.

SES- Congrats

MizBear- Hope things work out in a way that doesn't cause you unneeded stress.

[startsmart]

ses- congrats on the job! how do you feel about going back to work after a few years off? do the kitties know yet?

red- there is no 'typical' in freelance lol. I'm working all day today too so if you need a mental break hit me up on IM

dakota- yeah, get the hernia taken care of now. I believe my grandpa died last oct of an ulcer + stubbornness. he was in the hospital with gout and didn't tell anyone his symptoms. three days later he's back in with a bleeding ulcer and it was situated next to a major artery. they pumped blood in, it flowed right back out. his blood supply was replaced twice in a week. I know hernia's are different but letting a problem go unresolved is a bad idea and bad habit. makes me wonder if we would still have grandpa here.

[shanendoah]

Yesterday was a Gas Only NSD.
Tomorrow, I'm having DH go with DC to get the oil in her car changed and buy new wiper blades. If I'm going to be driving her car for 5 weeks, we can pay for those things, even if its only to keep me safe.

mizbear: *hugs*
dakota: good juju going your way
angel: Good to see you. Best of luck with the renters
red: get back to work

[muttleynfelix]

dakota - Good luck to your DH. My brother has had a hernia repaired twice. Once as a child and once when he was 20. The one when he was 20, he knew he had it and kind of put off telling mom and dad. Finally, he and his girlfriend sat down with mom and dad and said I've got something to tell you. You can just think where my parent's thoughts went. LOL.

[redwagon]

startsmart - Well if I did this full-time I'd get the same three weeks to finish a job and would be able to time it out better. Due to a backlog of work I'm now trying to do this project in a week, which means longer days. But ideally I'd have only enough work to have me working 8hrs a day. I do not want to be working 12 hour days all the time!

dakota - good luck to DH!

shanen - yes'm

[azmom]

Hey All, I don't know if I mentioned it but DH has been out of town on a business trip. He left early Monday morning and returned yesterday evening! He has cash left over from his trip so instead of being responsible and putting in savings, he took us out to eat! I couldn't resist because it was in the neighborhood I grew up in at THE best Mexican restaurant that exist. We rarely get back on that part of town but because it is relatively close to the airport we went for it. As a bonus we swung by the only Mexican Bakery I will eat from and picked out a few treats. Anyway, I am soooo happy he is home. I am also so proud he was choosing from his company to go and be part of this convention. It was cool to have his plane, hotel and most of his food covered!

I am going to turn in my final paperwork for FAFSA today (the appeals form). I don't have a printer at home so I needed to wait for DH to print it out at work for me. They say it takes up to 30 days. Ugh, I never been very patient. Wish me luck.

SES: Congrats!

Saphire: It was like 113 here yesterday with a Heat Advisory. It is scalding HOT. The kids can't play outside not only because it is too hot but any equipment out there will burn them. The go outside and get wet when the sun is starting to go down and get their outside time then. It stinks to be on Summer break and be trapped indoors!! I always here people compare the DRY heat to the Humid weather and if given a choice I pick dry heat. I went to San Antonio for a wedding and spent an hour straightening my very curly, unruly hair and within five minutes of being outside it was kinky again!!! Not to mention I would rather not be a wet sweaty mess.

Angel: I hope the renter situation works it self out. Keep your eye on the prize. Soon you and your DH will be living in the house once again. So happy for that,

Muttleyn: ((HUGS))

Dakota: DH had a hernia surgery oh 6 years ago. He scheduled it for AFTER our big snowboarding trip to Whistler Canada! His was pretty messed up, it took the surgery a bit longer than plan but it was successful. I think men in general take a little longer to heal (even if it may be in their mind). DH had a "swelling" problem after his surgery that landed him in the ER. Just be on guard for that. He was able to walk around soon after but it was a very slow, gingerly kind of walk. Plus he was always on guard because the kids, at the time, were as tall as the surgery spot and would run right into him! Prayers for you and your DH..

SS: yea for taking a break!

[redwagon]

azmom - yay for splurge night out! I need to find a good Mexican place near our house. I can sympathize on DH being gone. Blue has been gone since Monday and comes home tomorrow night. I'll see him maybe 10 hours over the weekend and then he's gone next M-F again. Boo to that. the cats obviously miss him because they are being SO affectionate this week. Or maybe they are just aware that I miss him and want to comfort me!

Okay, back to work. Making progress...

[startsmart]

I'm making a lot of progress today myself. It does help to have background noise so I'm in the office and it's cool, the puppies are sleeping on the floor and I've got a movie on.

Still managed to get through a ton of emails and get a lot completed. Now I'm working through the bulk of my leads list and preparing emails. Thankfully it's much cooler today!

[muttleynfelix]

Sometimes my boss rocks. He had to leave early, but we were going over what was left on the project and he said, well it looks like you are close. I got my list out and we went through it and he says get the things on your list done and then print it out and then go home. Woohoo. Turn the Walkman up and lets rock n roll and get out of here!

[azmom]

Okay so at the risk of revealing just how clueless I really am: I returned my appeals form and the lady said, assuming you are approved you are looking at maybe $500 in financial aide (my classes cost a tad bit more) but you have the option of applying for student loans. Here I thought they were on in the same. Is there a difference between Financial Aide and Student Loans? If so, please break it down for me like a five year old. Please...

[startsmart]

yay! dog crates are here, set up and both puppies are inside sleeping quietly. already worth the cost! I took an hour off and ended up cleaning the garage lol - so much for my time off! Still have a ton to do tonight and over the weekend but with the slightly cooler weather I have a litle more energy.

The only sad thing is that I keep seeing the hours left on my laptop battery (6:40) and thinking it's the time.

[redwagon]

Plugging along on freelancing. Luckily it's well written and it's just cleaning up the files (references, citations) for the most part. Still not sure how I'm going to finish for Monday...

Got the order number for our pool robot. Was told that we couldn't return it since we missed the window (it was a very small window). I sent a pathetic email explaining how we didn't know we'd need to return it until very recently, and Deepika Majoju, wherever he is, has taken pity on me and is letting me return it. We'll get a $475 amazon gift card, but I'll take it. Better than the $250 or so i would expect to sell it for on eBay! So relieved. Now, to figure out how to return the pool pump... not sure Leslie Pools will be so accommodating...

[mizbear]

azmom- In a nutshell, Financial Aid does not have to be repaid usually (I won't say at all since I have been out of regular college for a couple years).
Student Loans accrue interest like regular loans and have to be repaid.

[mizbear]

HUGS for everyone.

Ex#3 had to have hernia surgery. I'm leaving it at that.

[3catslady]

18 NS/CSD. 5 EO. To keep to my goal, I cannot eat out any until next month. That is going to be hard because I want some Chinese food. I guess I could buy some frozen and go that route.

[MittenKitten]

azmom: Usually the financial aid package can consist of grants, scholarships (neither of these need to be paid back it is free money) and loans. I was fortunately enough to get enough financial aid in grants and scholarships where I didn't need any loans.

Have a lot on my to do list before the Black Hills done. Tomorrow I will do laundry so I can pack for DS#1 and myself, return some books to the library, pay a couple of bills, run to the grocery store for final supplies for the trip. Saturday I will load up the cooler and van so I can be ready to go early Sunday morning.

Dakota: Good juju for DH. Bummer on the needing surgery but at least the timing was pretty good.

[muttleynfelix]

Got my work at work done before 5 even.. now DH and I are scrambling to get things wrapped up around the house. I probably won't be posting the next 5 days. Although I will have access while on my phone, it is a little hard to read and all I really want to do is chill for the next 5 days. Enjoy the Black HIlls those who are going. Hopefully, sometime we can join you. Or next year we can do the Ozarks and ya'll can come here.

[DVM gone riding]

just realized I didn't spend any money today so that brings me up 7nsd for the month and a handfull of low spend days. but either way I did stay on budget so far. 7 more days and I still have over a 1/3 of the money for "cash expenses" left for the month!

[mizbear]

Hoping the wasp nest is gone from the attic when I get to DGMs- if I get there. Nieces don't want to be cooperative this morning...