September 15, 2012
Doggle is finally learning to play a little bit.
- I’ve been chasing him around the yard when we travel to places that have yards, and he chases me in turn. Hilarity.
- He is crap at visual recognition. He couldn’t figure out that he’d knocked his toy under a piece of furniture and in his panic to find a toy, any toy, he ran to a pile of towels and tried to pick them up. No, dear, those aren’t for you.
Once in a while, I fondly look at my husband and wonder: how did we end up together? We’re so different.
- He loves Groundhog Day. I haaaaate that movie. I didn’t have an opinion on Bill Murray until that film and to this day, I have a near-allergic reaction to his character’s smarminess.
- His love of Coming to America baffles me just as much. But it doesn’t bother me.
- He’s a compulsive cleaner. I’m comfortable with cyclical cleaning or cleaning as stress relief. I did grow up stomping about barns, after all.
The new horizon is so bright and shiny. It was hell on the innards traipsing my way to the conclusion and Things To Come. But so worth it.
- A new thing to learn: pacing myself. I am so very bad at this.
- I have added at least one, sometimes two! walks to my day. That’s pretty good for a new routine where I could have backslid into none.
Finances feel neglected. Not like they’re dwindling while I’m off playing or working necessarily, just that I’m not 100% on top of every detail.
- This is true because I missed a credit card bill. Called to have the late fee waived but not within minutes.
- Karen, regular reader, tells me that HSBC notified her of intent to implement a $12 inbound transfer fee which we both think is crap. I’m not a customer though I was considering opening an account there – wonder if they followed through.
- Very happy about the salary bump though not ready to start the calculations of how far away we still are from a refinance and a small yard.
I suspect I just have brain overload at the moment – too many commitments and for the first time, my survival doesn’t depend on knowing where every penny lives. My gut still doesn’t love that idea though so it’s taking note.
January 30, 2010
Hey hey, it’s Saturday! We’re reminiscing, updating and swooning over puppies today. You’re welcome to join!
My last report of getting better was a bit ambitious, I still sound like a warthog. I imagine that a warthog rumbles and coughs something like this anyway.
Remember when ….
phone calls at a phone booth only cost a quarter?
Or are you from the dime generation?
I’m from both. (35 cents)
Updates
Round One: Unemployment has run out this month, and I’m still in post-application, post-interview limbo, so Extended Benefits FAQ say:
Once you have exhausted your entitlement to your regular UI claim, you may be eligible to file the first extension. If you are eligible to file the first extension, EDD will automatically file the first extension and send you an additional Continued Claim Form, DE 4581. No action is required on your part.
Meh, I’m not terribly enthused about relying on someone else to take care of my business, but I don’t believe in universally painting everyone on the government payroll with the same brush so I’m going to shet up and fill my wait period of ten days landing a job so I don’t need the extension.
Settling accounts today …
Some invoices have been paid, others have not. Just in time to log some income on this month’s ledger before I show up terribly in the red!
Chegg didn’t deliver one of the books I’d ordered and it turns out I don’t need it anyway so that order’s canceled and a return processed ($56).
Meet the Boerboel South African Mastiff puppies [Ustream live here]
July 19, 2009
I returned home to a 10-inch stack of mail: unemployment claims forms, credit card fraud validation forms, a few bills I’d already seen online. A new credit card to replace the canceled one, instructions from the EDD to register for work on CalJOBS or else, porting forms for life insurance, the all important instructions for COBRA.
And a check for overtime in the amount of $800. I can’t believe I’d forgotten about that! Speaking of forgetting things, I almost forget to add the rent check to the pile of envelopes to be sent out.
Depositing that check and a small wad of cash from my trip fends off the spectre of being a non-earner for another week or two; the lack of earned income bothers me at an intellectual level but it hasn’t really hit me in the gut yet thanks to these little infusions of income. I’m still nervous about California coming through with unemployment but that remains a mostly nebulous fear; pretty sure I’d hear all about it post-haste if that were to fall apart.
I’ve waded through most of the forms by now, but there remains the life insurance porting and COBRA. The former requires a call to the benefits administrator before it can be completed and mailed: some genius decided to fill out all the “annual salary at time of termination” blanks with “$110,000.” Wishful thinking on both our parts, pal.
The latter is just too much fine print to read tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Oh and the CalJOBS application. *sigh* I hate online forms that require the laborious filling in of text boxes and drop down menus. It’s all on the resume!
April 22, 2009
These are the best CD rates Citibank’s offering right now:
What’s even sadder is that the 2.25% APY is still marginally better than my regular savings accounts which hover just around 1.5%. Yay. P’raps it’ll be worth my while to lock up about 10K in the one year CD. It’s certainly not worth my time to hunt around for slightly better rates if I don’t want to open up yet more bank accounts. (I don’t.)
October 9, 2008
Savvy at $ out of 15 cents posed an interesting question: Could you survive on half your pay?
I’m almost always up for a challenge, but that one gave me pause, and made me sit back a little.
Do you think you could do it? What would you have to do to make that happen? Have you already done it (like FB)?
Single Ma’s discussion of unemployment and this question are right up my alley. Just this morning, I was wondering how much unemployment I might draw if politics go badly and our entire office is laid off/closed. This is a possibility and a colleague and I have been preparing for the worst for a few months now. (Hence my major push to beef up the defenses.)
If I were laid off? Apply for unemployment, devote myself to applying for jobs full-time, try taking on freelance work to supplement the emergency fund. I’ve already cut out just about all splurges so that option is constantly exercised.
If nothing else, being aware of the possibility/employment environment is highly critical. I know someone who didn’t read the signs in her place of employ and bought herself a new car when her old one died recently. She’s been struggling with her mortgage, and was suddenly let go last week. Really rough.
June 26, 2008
Boston Gal’s posting of this WSJ article about folks who are cutting back on their retirement savings made me feel guilty.
I know that I had a perfectly good reason for doing it, but it still stings that not only did I cut down, massively, on contributions, my account keeps dropping like a rock and doesn’t even reflect the amount of contributions I’ve been making since the beginning of the year. At this rate, I’ll never crack $25,000! [I’m not talking about overall, just between the 401(a) and 403(b).]
Ok, that’s not guilt I’m feeling, I’m just disheartened.
The important things to remember:
1. The reduction is temporary. It does not affect my match because I’m maxing out the 401(a) which is the only account that is matched.
2. Finances have to be flexible to accommodate when life happens. Obstacles are inevitable, and stubbornly stashing hefty amounts in my retirement fund while cash flow suffers does not make sense.
3. I’m simultaneously working on reducing all expenses so as to narrow the gap between expenses and income. This reinforces the temporariness of this solution. I’d like to see the gap closed in a matter of months, but it’ll take some more mathing, when I have time.
February 9, 2008
As it turns out, I didn’t properly track my non-W2 income in the form of bonuses and supplemental income as well as I thought I had.
All the paperwork is here in front of me, and I may very well be getting soaked on my taxes this year. Let’s see, nearly 30% of my total income was paid as “miscellaneous income” documented on a 1099. Since I didn’t anticipate this, I’ve only paid approximately 8% on total income this year, and only have my filing status as Head of Household with 1 dependent to help keep the tax bill lower. Yikes!
I’m not eager to find out what the real bill will be, but not knowing is making me a bit itchy. Guess this means I’d better get this paperwork to the accountant and let him work his magic soon.
