..It's True...

Yes, I made through another year...
...another year older..another year wiser...
perhaps. Time to reflect today as I tend
to do at certain milestones like my birthday.
But I refuse to reflect about finances! :)

It is funny how as we age, we keep increasing
the point as to when we consider someone as 'old',
besides from being a state of mind. Now that I am well
over 50 'gulp' I think old may be 75 or so...yeah.....
that sounds good.

Here are some beautiful flowers my husband surprised
me with today! First time he ever sent me flowers so
yes it was a surprise. :)

Wacky Wednesday

Well after searching around the Internet at the dealerships and Craigslist and everywhere else that gave me local listings, I saw it, the perfect car for my daughter~!

There were so many pluses that we went to see it last night and bought it today! Here are the pluses:

#1 It was a local listing on Craigslist, man I love Craigslist, and so was only 15 minutes away to go look at. This in itself was wonderful as I didn't want to spend Saturday going from place to place, dealership to dealership listening to a used car salesman asking me "What can I do to have you drive off in this beautiful car today?"

#2 It was a car still owned by its original owner. It is a 1992 Honda Accord but yes, all those years it was owned by one owner.

#3 It was garage kept and hardly ever driven by a nice grandmother who didn't drive anymore. So the body is still in great shape and has a lot of shine yet for a vehicle that old!

#4 Because it was hardly ever driven it had only 44,000 miles on it. That's not even broken in for a Honda! So that was enough for me. I may have paid more than book value at $4900 but with that low mileage with the right maintenance, it should last my daughter another possibly 7-10 years depending on how many miles she puts on it.

#5 By not spending $10,000 like I thought I would have to and getting into that much more debt, we can sell her old RAV and hopefully get $3000 for it so that my total net outlay may be only $1900...okay you can really tell I'm in a financial job can't you? :)

So..you're probably thinking why the Wacky Wednesday title? Seems it should say Wonderful Wednesday. Well when we went to the DMV today in town to finalize everything it was CLOSED for the entire day for training. I had never heard of it closing and apparently it only happens once a year if that but it would have to be today. That's Wacky!

We'll get the rest done tomorrow or the next day, but I am thrilled all the same. Now I can look forward to a relaxing weekend with the family and celebrate the 3 birthdays and wedding anniversary that is all packed into September!

Tuesday Turmoils..

I want to start by saying goodbye to Patrick Swayze...I adored him in Dirty Dancing and Ghost and Road House to name my favorites. I must have seen Dirty Dancing a hundred times! What girl doesn't want to pretend she is Baby being swept off her feet by a handsome man with moves to die for..no pun intended. Maybe he is dancing somewhere in heaven or wherever the spirits go. Thank you Patrick! Watching your movies is like..having "the time of my life"...

I should have known that by taking stock of finances and debts, and concluding that there is a light I can see way ahead through that tunnel..that it would jinx me! I shouldn't say out loud or even think for that matter that I may be close to having a handle on things. But that's exactly what I did about a week ago, right before both daughters had car troubles and my youngest had to get another expensive text book for college. That was the start of my tumble back into credit card debt. Now an even more major repair was done to my oldest daughter's vehicle yesterday and we are coming to the realization with her it may be time to give up her once trusty RAV for something that won't need a major repair every other week.

Although this daughter has graduated college, she is planning on going back to grad school in a year, and she is working several part-time jobs at minimum wage but...you know where this is going, don't you? She nor her fiance'can take on additional debt let alone qualify for it, so guess who is going to go into more debt for a vehicle. Yup!

I know I could just make her suffer and tell her I just can't help. My own mother who is in her 80's and grew up in a world where there was only one car in the family and everyone could make do, thinks I should let her fend for herself. That just doesn't work as well in today's world. Different work schedules and places of employment make it pretty much impossible to make one car work. And she doesn't live in a city where you can walk everywhere.

But looking on the bright side of things which I always do to keep my sanity, her RAV has lasted her 5 years without too much trouble and we got it used with some junkyard parts and all. And these last two problems with it could have happened on a busy highway where the outcome may have been much worse, so I will manage somehow. I always do and I'd rather her be in something safe with not a lot of miles on it so by the time for the next vehicle she needs, she will be done all studies and have a good job and get it all by herself! Hey... maybe even start paying me back! ..I can dream can't I? :-)

off to start my day...

Too much of a good thing..

Okay I'm all for the rain as we needed it so badly, but let's not try to make up for the 2 year drought in one weekend. Okay?! We have a creek behind our back yard that is way down an enbankment at least 15 feet but last night we could hear the rushing water and I actually was wondering if we were going to see it crest, or rather not see it crest overnight. It finally slowed down around 10 pm, luckily. Today when I was walking the dogs I saw at least two properties with the lawn sprinklers on. I'm sure those are on automatic timers but I just shook my head at the overkill those lawns were getting.

I've been enjoying watching the hummingbirds that hang around our feeder outside my office window. Yesterday with it pouring non-stop for hours, they were just having a good old time. One would go to the feeder and stand on the little perch and then another one would come and dive bomb it to make it get off then they'd both come back then another would join. At one time there were 4 of them flying, sitting, slirping nectar, chasing, flying away, then coming back to the feeder again. It was like kids who snuck out to play in the rain even though their mom said no and having a ball despite the downpour. I tried to take some pictures of them but of course none of them came out well enough. So I can't post a picture. You'll just have to believe me! :)

It was a working weekend but I did get to touch base with both kids. One is still having car trouble and the youngest is finding out about pop quizes in college. What fun! Off to relax a few hours before it all starts over again..

T.G. I. F.

Guess what? It rained last night and it rained today. It rained and rained. We needed it really badly but it was too much too fast and some of the streets were flooding. I picked up my mom to meet my sister for lunch and thought I was on an obstacle course dodging deep puddles in the road as best I could. We got there in one piece but my mom, poor thing was soaked by the time we got in the restaurant, even with an umbrella! I told her to roll her window up! ;-) Just kidding (she got soaked just getting in and out of the car). At least we got some much needed rain. My hub called me and told me that he saw several frogs outside that were playing in puddles like kids having a ball in a swimming pool for the first time. Hm...wonder if that is where frog stroke came from? :)

We had a nice lunch and my sister was telling me about odd aches and pains she has been getting lately including a traveling bruise that she feels on different parts of her head at times. Weird thing is I get that too! I would think I feel a bruise and try to recall banging my head gettting into my car or something, but that did not happen. We were cracking ourselves up comparing our latest ailments with each other. It is probably all just part of getting older, like when I sit on the hard floor for a while and think nothing of it until I start to get up and then a sharp pain appears from nowhere in my back or legs because I am just plain getting older. It never used to bother me if I sat on the floor for a while and then got up. But I try to take it all in stride. That's life!

On a serious note, today is a day of remembrance of the tragic events of 9/11. I wonder how many were in a great mood celebrating their birthday on that fateful day like my youngest daughter was. She was handing out cupcakes to her classmates when the news hit her school. She turned 18 today. It took her a few years to not feel guilty for celebrating her birthday when everyone else was reflective and somber. But I told her, she was special and everyone deserves to celebrate the date they were born to this world. And so Happy Birthday dear daughter! Here's to many, many more!

The Blooming of Late Summer

Here is those pictures I said I'd take earlier of the flowers (from bushes) around our shed.

~ Thirsty Thursday ~

Okay there are clouds all around me, but I still do not know if it will rain here today. Weatherman says there is a 50% chance. It always seems to rain all around us but not here. Wish I could reach way up and squeeze one of those clouds like a sponge. This ground is thirsty! The earth is so parched that some patches of ground in my back yard have cracks in them like overly dry skin. All I can do is keep praying for rain I guess. There actually was some rain that fell a few nights ago and since it has stayed below the 100 degree mark the last several days, flowers are blooming! It is more like Spring than late summer. I'll take a picture of some of the flowers around our shed later.

So Ellen is going to be the 4th judge on American Idol. Simon must think the show is getting too serious and needs a comedic angle. I like Ellen a lot but that must be it, because she does not have a huge singing/musical background - other than the shower singing she does on her shows. ;-) I was going to watch American Idol again this season with or without Paula Abdul since I just love to sing and I find it to be entertaining. Oh, I actually pulled out my guitar and played/sang for a break yesterday. It was great but my fingers need to build up strength again. I forgot how sore they get holding down the notes on the frets. That is okay though it was worth it! I vow to start playing more again! I really missed it!

I cannot end this post today without saying a few words about the situation with the Health care and Obama. First I do have to admit I did NOT watch him last night as I am also a huge fan of So You Think you can Dance since I have two dancers in the family. I am no expert as to what the health care solution is but I will say that I am totally for some sort of better health care system and one that does not penalize for pre-existing conditions.

We had a horrible experience with crappy health insurance a few years ago when my husband suddenly went blind in one eye. Totally blind, black, nada. But his sight did come back within 5-10 minutes. I called the general physician the next day who recommended he contact an eye doctor. We were able to get a hold of an eye doctor who after explaining what happened told him to come in RIGHT AWAY. He examined my husband's vision, etc., and told him he was way too young to experience this sort of thing. He pretty much put the fear of God in us that he really needed to get a full work up, and MRIs to check for any blockages. He went to the local hospital (as that was the fastest way to get checked) for the work up and tests, and then within a few days got a series of MRIs done. Luckily there was nothing found. The only conclusion was that it was a fluke. While we were very grateful that he got a clean bill of health, the only explanation for what happened was that a platelet blocked the vein at his optic nerve that supplies blood and therefore ability to see (I don't know all the terms that were used) in that one eye.

That was that until the bills started coming in. Keep in mind there was no hospital stay (although in hindsight I think more would have been covered if he was admitted), no day long exams, nothing like that. The total bills for the MRIs, hospital, tests, eye doctor were over $10,000 !! Yes that is 4 zeros. Our coverage?.. $300 that is it! $300 for each occurrence was how they worded it. All these bills were from one occurrence and it was not considered an emergency. I was so angry!! The worst bill was the MRI tests and I pleaded with them and explained the lousy coverage we had and that the eye doctor stressed to get that done immediately. I got them to lower that bill but still....it was a horrible experience with health care insurance that is sorely lacking! Those bills took close to 2 years to pay off. Now we have Blue Cross and Blue Shield but I am not convinced there wouldn't be some loop hole when we ever need to use it in again.

So I agree, something has to be done to improve the health care system at least for us self-employed people. Okay...off my soapbox, for now.