About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
Side income! I happened across a side job that would fit easily into my normal schedule without having to commit to a set number of hours. That’s perfect for my incredibly limited free time! And very important for my peace of mind because we’ve got a slew of expenses coming down the pipeline.
Stacey Abrams’ debt shouldn’t disqualify her for running for governor. Point one: the life she describes – supporting her parents who took in her young niece, student loans, etc – is a hugely familiar story to me. It’s repeated over and over in my family and doesn’t mean that the person in debt is bad or makes bad decisions. It means that they feel responsibility well beyond what the average American feels to their community and they do their best to step up. Ignoring the fact that many others in our country are burdened by similar kinds of debt is shameful and stupid. Point two: people tend to assume that being in difficult financial straits will push you toward corruption. I point you to our President and countless politicians who don’t have debt and are happily lining their pockets with lobbyist money. At least her debt comes from trying to do the right thing.
Just act like a cat
Raccoon 1: “Here’s the plan, you go in the house, act like a cat and they’ll give you food?
At this point, the gluten should be all out of my system except for that one oops of the hash brown I ate with an egg, thinking that it was fried potatoes! Potatoes are GF, right?
Not these. Drat. There’s likely still some residual contamination in this week.
I THINK my exhaustion is less intense and my pain spells are maybe a little shorter. It’s still hard to be sure whether it’s related yet because I normally have irregular cycles of pain and fatigue. I do feel like there have been some minor differences in how I feel.
Day 1.
Breakfast: I defrosted a huge batch of homemade muffins for PiC and JB to eat feast on. For myself, a slice of GF bread with peanut butter does the trick, and I have half a glass of milk.
Lunch was an experiment with the millet and rice ramen that PiC found. I made up a broth with a base that I use for chicken soup, gently simmered onions, salt, a dash of onion powder, a dash of garlic powder, sliced roast pork. The ramen noodles looked really strange but they were not bad! The broth was awful, though. Next time, I’ll just boil the noodles, fish them out, and dash some sesame oil and sesame seeds on top with the pork slices.
Dinner: Leftover pork roast, coconut rice, sauteed spinach. Simple, filling, and easy! Also this reduces the cost per meal even more.
Pain/Discomfort: Medium – several joints are out of whack but I can still walk so yay for that.
This flu season is particularly terrible with a death toll. We’d all gotten our flu shots early but we also stayed away from humanity as much as possible. It didn’t save us from the common cold, of course, one of the lesser scourges of having a preschooler attending a daycare where only fevers and vomiting are stay home worthy. Generally it’s ok, we’ve gotten through the worst of it in year one but I’m still pretty cautious and don’t share food and drink with JB if ze is dribbling fluids. We’re really lucky that ze has been relatively robust, certainly more so than I am, and recovers well or has been only lightly touched by most germs but even still, those nights when ze can’t stop coughing rend my heart. Ze is having one such night so I’m sitting up cuddling a bundle of mostly sleeping three year old so that, even if the propping up doesn’t help zir breathing and coughing, ze knows I’m here and loving on zir. It’s almost more for me than zir. I miss my mom fiercely, never more so than when I’m sick or hurting to the point of vomiting, and long to lay my head on her lap. I understand now why she was sad that I didn’t do so as a young adult, when I was busy trying to carry a burden twice my size. At the time, I didn’t think I could afford to need my mom. I had to be strong every minute lest a crack in my shields break them wide open. All the more my loss. I could have gotten and given comfort that I’ll never have again. Now, with my own child, I know to hold on tight on these late nights when maybe all the comfort I can give is being a human pillow. That’s fine. As long as ze still wants me, I’m here to be zir pillow. (more…)
The focus on Vicki Robin as one of the most core referenced people (instead of FIRE bloggers who are newer to the scene and the lifestyle).
QUOTE: Missing is any acknowledgment of the privilege embedded in the ability to save 50% or 75% of your income to begin with. The FIRE movement, to a large extent, remains a culture of “very entitled white men who are very proud of themselves when it wasn’t much of a stretch for them anyway,” says Emma Pattee, 27, a writer based in Portland, Ore., who retired last year at 26 after making successful real estate investments. Many FIRE followers, she says, are already high earners who “disdain all the Midwest minions who can’t get out in front of their truck loan.”
QUOTE: Tanja Hester, a FIRE follower who leans toward the frugal strain of the movement and retired late last year at age 38 from her career as a consultant for political and social causes, realizes she’s in a privileged position. “I feel like one of the luckiest people to ever live, and if I can’t use some of it to help others, it will feel like a waste,” she says. She and her husband, who live in the North Lake Tahoe area of California, volunteer at the local humane society and plan to start teaching financial basics in their community.”
QUOTE: For her part, Robin gives back by investing in local businesses. Aside from using royalties to pay for cancer treatments in the mid-2000s, she says she’s given away a significant portion of the money she’s made over the years from her bestseller. And she still thinks our society places too much stock in paid work.
PRINCE!
Nothing Compares 2 U: Previously unseen rehearsal footage of Prince & The Revolution from the summer of 1984.
Breakfast: PiC whips up GF pancakes for me, and regular just-add-water flapjacks for the rest of the gang before we venture to IKEA to buy some gifts.
Lunch: We end that epic visit with lunch in their restaurant and an ice cream cone. (Don’t eat the cone! he warns me. I know, I reply sadly.) Most of their food has gluten but the salmon fillet with veggies plate is quite good, and GF! I feel full for the first time in days. Not sure if that’s because I’ve been inadvertently eating less or because I don’t feel full without six carbs for breakfast.
Dinner: We have leftovers for dinner again – those ribs make excellent tacos!
Pain/Discomfort: Hands are swollen badly, but I can still bend the fingers on my left hand. Cannot lift my arms above elbow level – it causes searing tendon pain. Back, hip, ankle, knee, shoulder pain is low.
I let PiC pick my new phone because he wasn’t really picking for me – he was picking his future phone. I have to learn to use whatever phones we get first so that I can troubleshoot them because I am IT, and I don’t much care about which phones we use as long as they’re functional and not Apple, now. (I refuse to give Apple any more money on principle. I find their confession to throttling older phones, and their excuse, to be fishy. Also, I HATE iTunes and iCloud and all the proprietary, frustrating as all get out software, and Apple ID, with a hot fiery passion and never want to have to see it again. Ever.)
Then again, since he inherits my now “old” phone which has quite a lot of use left in it, I’m destined to spend a few more years with them.
He was debating the Google Pixel and the Samsung Galaxy, and I decided in favor of the Pixel 2 since I would like the option to go to Project Fi in the future to save on monthly costs. We’re still getting service from T-Mobile but we’re paying more than I want to for cell service.
I don’t like buying new phones but it was originally to give us some flexibility as to our phone plans earlier on. Now, while I’m happy to sell our old phones, I am doubtful about buying used/refurbished – what if we get a lemon? Transferring phones is already a colossal PITA buying new, is buying used another layer of risk? Maybe no more than it is with a car which we DO believe in buying used.
I need to hunt down a verified reliable source for refurbished phones for the future. This time we simply didn’t have the luxury of waiting because his phone suddenly made the acquaintance of a large rock with extreme force and prejudice. Actual chunks of the screen were falling out when he got home from that run. Given the choice, I’d prefer that he temporarily lost it again but clearly the choice wasn’t mine.
Quick review: The phone is fine, though too big for my hands, but I HATE the Android WordPress app. It’s so bad that I’ve stopped blogging on it so that’s going to seriously slow down or cut into my blogging.
On Money
Week 3
Viral
Week 2