Hey, if the news services can do it, why shoudn't I? Overall, its been a better year than I expected at times.. Started out with extra medical bills from Hubby's foot surgery, and news that we had a Grandbaby on the way! Got the medical bills paid off just in time to find out that he was going to need sholder surgery, and would be off for at least three months (turned into six months). Grandbaby arrived, new parents bought a house, worked a lot of overtime, but NEVER had to dip into emergency fund! (I can't believe it!) 401K rebounded decently. Got all fired up and paid off the long suffering dentist bill, and am now attacking the family doctor bill with pitchforks and machetes (isn't that what the natives do in the movies?) I did wonder a few times, but it turned out that 2009 wasn't so bad in the end.

I have a daughter who is just starting to plan a wedding for June of'11. I have been trying to (gently) get them to pick a date, so we can shop for a reception hall. I imagine that June dates fill up fast. So, I have been doing a little calling around this week, OMG! There are four places in a reasonble driving distance, and the prices are pretty similar (expected that) they average around $1000, not including the food! Then probably another $2000 for the catering, DJ, decorations, etc. Not to mention the dresses, flowers, rings. I think that we need to have a talk about what they expect their wedding to look like. Now they have not asked for a single thing, or help, but I was planning on offering to help out, at least. The grooms Father passed away in the Summer, and I don't think his Mother is in a position to put out much financially, so I am very curious to see what they have in mind. I was laying awake earlier, my mind just whirling with possibilites. My daughter will yell at me, but I can't help it, I'm a planner. I like to put it all down on paper, neatly in black and white, it helps me feel more in control. There is nothing more to do for now, but wait to see what happens. I'm not good at waiting (already guessed that didn't ya).

Sleep? Yeah, I remember sleep, I just don't know when I got any lately. Three Christmas parties, three days in a row, and I worked every night in between. Am I a sucker for punishment, or what? I love Christmas, it was a big fuzzy blur this year. I was just thinking that nobody in our immediate family has had any kind of flu yet this winter, lucky us! I never did get a flu shot H1N1 or regular, haven't ever had one. No that's not correct, I had a swine flu shot back in the 70's, when the first big outbreak was. I never knew anyone who got it then either. Any way, happily, it had been very quiet at work, many of the residents were gone with their families for the holidays. So, I could at least sit down for some of the shift. I don't have any trouble staying awake when I'm really tired, I'm always kind of reminding myself, get up, walk around, do something else. It's when I don't really feel tired that it sneaks up on me, I catch my head nodding, my book slips out of my hands, and whoa, on my feet, find something to do! The bane of night shift workers everywhere. I can always go down to the other end of the building to visit with the med workers, at least they keep each other company thru the night, I am by myself on my two wings. And I know that they don't mind, but sometimes I think that I might be in their way, oh well, who knows. Anyway, as soon as Hubby gets out the door tonight, I am sipping down a couple of Tylenol PM and hitting the hay. I haven't been to a single after Christmas sale, I'm too tired to shop, so maybe it's not all bad!

I haven't done this in a while.....I am supposed to be hemming a dress, but here I am, playing on the computer.....I am surprised by the number of postings about upcoming tax season, my brain is barely getting around the upcoming holidays.....my hubby wants to give the kids their cash in $1's, fifty each (sigh, eye roll) only if HE intends to go to the bank.....we finally put up the Christmas tree today, I had really wanted a real one, but no time to go cut one, so we (frugally) used the artificial one that someone gave us a few years ago..... DD#3 did the decorating, her theme this year, snowmen and snowflakes, cute, we've never done a theme before.....BTW DD#3 asked to borrow a few dollars for the movies last night, she has a job??? well she spent too much on Christmas, and is broke until her payday, so that led me to my "pay attention to your budget" talk, which she sniped thru, and finally I asked her if this was MY money she was borrowing, it came with the talk!! (heavy sigh).....DD#2 has also been home most of the weekend, she must be short of funds also, she hardly ever stays home on the weekends.....I noticed yesterday that one of the basement windows was cracked, and a piece is ready to pop out, they are old windows in an old house ,and not easy to get in and out, I think that I'm just going to cover the whole thing with a piece of plywood until Spring, that should get us thru.....Wow, three bank robberies in a forty mile area in the last week, I'm surprised, or maybe not, times are tough everywhere.....snow in the forecast for the next 2 days, maybe we'll have a white Christmas after all.... I guess that I have frittered away enough time, better get something constructive done. TTFN

Just a little early morning whining, hopefully just a little. I had to write a check for school lunch money this AM. Now, I realize that this is a normal everything thing, why the fuss? Well, the fuss is because I didn't expect to write that check this week. Two years ago, our school district passed a millage to pay for building and technology upgrades, one of which was a computer/telephone system that could launch the shuttle into space. You get computer generated calls, texts and emails about every tiny detail of school life. Absences, late starts, school delays and closings, cancelled practices, school board meetings, every athletic and scholastic event you could think of, low grades, missed assignments, and....lunch account balances! In fact, they made a big stink last year by refusing to serve lunch to some ELEMENTARY students who didn't have enough money in the account to cover their lunch that day. (not one of the superintendents finer moments!) So, you are supposed to get a notification when there is less that $15 dollars in the account, and every day after that, until you put more money in. So, DD#3 says this morning, don't forget to write a check for lunch money, and I say, well I didn't get a call yet, how much money is left in the account. About a dollar. WHAT? No call, No email, no text! I wrote the check, and then called the school! Well, says the lunch lady, sometimes the system misses a student here and there. Did we(the taxpayers) not spend like way too much for this phone thing, and it doesn't always work? Wouldn't it be nice if things and people would just do the things that they are supposed to, when they're supposed to, and I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore! I could cross off my list, all of the things that are supposed to be someone/something elses problem, no double checking, no return reciept, no fuss no muss! It's like a giant info-mercial, you know it sounds too good to be true, but you order anyway, just to prove yourself wrong, and whammo, the mole has whacked you again! AHHHH....I feel better now.

Is worth two in the bush! No birds today, but CASH in hand! Our bonus at work finally came thru! There has been big speculation at work about whether we would get a holiday bonus this year. This is only the second holiday season that I have worked there, and last year there was a big controversy about the bonuses. Apparently, there has been a bonus given every year since the home opened, based on a combination of seniority and hours worked during the year. I got about $100 last year, and was completely thrilled, I had only been working about 11 weeks. This year, the boss announced at the October staff meeting that everything was on track for the bonus this year, no problem. Well, you know that just about the time you figure that there is no problem, there is one! Then the rumor went around that the head corporation isn't making any money, and there would be NO bonus this year. The next week it was supposed to be , so many dollars for every shift you worked for part timers, and some amount of cents for every hour for full timers, very confusing. Well,, when I went into work last night, there was my check, for about $400!!! Still much grumbling, some of the old timers had been getting 2 or 3 times that much, but I am HAPPY!HAPPY! My first thought was more Christmas shopping, but Hubby and I have it planned out pretty well, so I think that I'm just going to sit and think on it a while. I am very tempted to pay on the Dr. bill, but I have the payments all planned out, and it's going fine so far. I'm just going to let it sit quietly for a while, you never know, something unexpected might come up. HA, who am I kidding, something is always unexpectedly mowing down my checkbook. At least this time, I have a little insurance. We do have an emergency fund, but it has to get pretty bad for me to take money out of there, it takes forever to replace it sometimes. So Mums the Word now!

My Grandpa used to say that. I don't know if it's a line from a song or poem, or something he made up, but its kinda cute. Been gone for a while, computer was on the fritz. We had our Thankgiving meal on the Sunday after, it was a great time with all who came. I finally talked myself out of making enough food for the 6th fleet. We usually have enough leftovers that I'm begging people to take some home, and than it occured to me that I was wasting a lot of my money. That sounds kind of cheap, but we all bring dishes to pass, why should I presume that we will run out? We still had enough that we were dividing it up for everyone to take home something, and that was fine. I ended up spending a lot less than usual, hooray! Hubby and I went to a food bank Saturday morning. He started volunteering there when he was off work after his surgery, and it was nice, we had a chance to talk while we were doing our thing. We decided to give the kids a small gift for Christmas, and then some cash. Thay all buy each other a small something, so there will still be things under the tree. I used to encourage them to make each others gift when they were younger, but they are all working, and don't have as much time now. I hope that they get back to the homemade stuff later on. It was so much fun, they found the most interesting things to make for gifts. One of my favorites over the years was a deck of decorated cards. My son got this for Christmas when he was in high school, maybe ten years ago now? Anyway, his sisters all got together with a new deck of cards ,and a package of sharpie markers, and they embellished the cards! It was crazy! Some of the face cards had little bubbles above their heads, where they were making comments. The other suites turned into dancing bugs, or martini glasses, or anything that they could think of. He used to have some of his buddies over for cards, and they spent so much time looking at the cards, they couldn't concentrate on the game! It was wild! That's the kind of Christmas memories that I want them to have, cute, simple things that they did for each other, and still laugh about now. All you can do is try, and teach them to knit! They all can, even my son.