Small win: Late addition because I couldn’t think of one for a while. I saved $40 on Seamus’s pain medication because he and I were prescribed the same meds, so I shared mine with him instead of getting a new bottle of pills from the vet.
I tackled the question of whether our investments were optimized for taxes but decided in the end that maximizing our income is more important than worrying over a tax haircut. Mr Tako’s approach is similar.
This Gail Simone thread is why I don’t trust people until they’ve proven themselves to be trustworthy, and won’t tell JB “never fight/hit” but rather “don’t hit people unless they start it with you”. Horrible racists look just like anyone else. I also don’t disapprove of what she did. Those kids were all awful and that kid that caught the jump rope was choosing to bully smaller, younger kids. If the bullied little kid fights back, you deserve every welt. I have never understood the “turn the other cheek” thing because I was a tiny target for many bullies and darned if I was willing to let them get in another shot if I had any say about it. I mean, I do wish she’d been able to beat the crap out of the high schoolers who did hurt her and Dana but this kid was vile too.
Small win: I continue clearing away the jungle that is our yard. I filled a 96-gallon green waste bin all by myself!
*flexing muscles* Just kidding, I destroyed my forearms filling that bin in a day and I have many many regrets.
What were your small wins this week?
***
The goodness of Mr. Rogers. Where did this kindness go? (A friend blew my mind, recently, suggesting that Lin-Manuel Miranda is our generation’s Mr. Rogers.)
The wolf population in Wisconsin could be stabilizing. This should happen naturally without human intervention so once again, I don’t understand the need for trophy hunting. Hunting for food, yes. Trophies? Not even a little.
I’d never heard of spite buildings before but … This makes sense.
I knew very little about Wilt Chamberlain aside from the occasional pop culture reference but this look back at his history made me nod with approval: For example, Wilt’s rookie season in 1960, he threatened to retire. (In exchange for more money, he didn’t.) And after the Philadelphia Warriors were moved to San Francisco in 1962, Wilt again threatened to retire. (In exchange for more money, he didn’t.) Eventually, in 1965, the Warriors’ new owner, Franklin Mieuli, wanted so badly to cut ties that he traded Wilt back to Philadelphia, where a new ownership group had purchased the franchise in Syracuse, moved it to Philly, and dressed it up with a new moniker, the 76ers. Wilt threatened to retire, and because of a man named Ike Richman, in exchange for more money, he didn’t.
Small win: I transferred cash being held for large expenses throughout the year, and my small pile of accumulated rental property profits, over to Ally’s online savings earning 1.75% APY. Those accounts need to stay cash and liquid since they’re all going to pay bills this year, but at least the money can earn its keep in the meantime.
Still making slow progress with the weeding – I’m making it a point to get out there at least a few times during the week, and we’ve cleared a small patch that’s safe for Sera to do her zoom-zooms.
Small win: JB and I started venturing out to the garden-jungle this week to pull weeds. We hacked out a small but appreciable clearing free of weeds together and I yanked out an armload of weeds sprouting along the perimeter. Not so good for my hands (or back, hips, or knees) but I still feel mighty. I’m tempted to take photos every day as I do a small bit to create a little time lapse video.
I was awfully tempted to make my own flame weeder in the form of a tiny Bic lighter but I’m pretty sure that setting your yard on fire isn’t either frugal or ecologically sound.
Do you dress your age? I never did in my younger years and now I’m not sure where I land. It’s only rarely occurred to me to buy the whole outfit and honestly, I think it makes more sense to than not.
And that feeling of impending doom (not just in politics but on a personal level for friends in very tough personal and professional situations) is why I love Penny’s new series of Money Wins. Featuring yours truly in the first post, and Aitza in the second post.
I wasn’t familiar with Mitch Landrieu (former mayor of New Orleans) but some of the thoughts shared in this article were interesting. It feels a lot like no one’s thinking about the deep fissures cracking across our society right now and seeing those fissures addressed by someone who could pursue office again may or may not be a hopeful thing.
I had lots of male friends growing up but I’m grateful that I was not called on to fix them. Perhaps because I wasn’t the most well behaved kid in addition to being somewhat antagonistic. I do reach out to some of them from time to time sharing articles I think they need to know about though, and I know it’s not always gratefully received but such is the privilege of being my friend.
Small win: I’ve converted my Alaska card into a different BofA travel card without an annual fee for the moment to buy some thinking time on what we want to do next on our card churning.
What were your small wins this week?
Femme Frugality in Osaka. I’m dreaming of taking a really cool trip to Japan one of these days.
I’m very curious what made this particular individual’s Fiverr gigs take off to this extent because I’m guessing this is not the typical experience of other writers who take $5 per gig.
If you need a laugh, I always do, Sam Sykes trolling Myke Cole pretty much always makes me laugh. He’s dedicated to the cause. I can’t tell if he’s ever passed on an opportunity to troll Myke on Twitter and possibly also in person. From my observations, so far, no.
Do you do five year plans? I haven’t done one in a while, I’m in a season of rest for a little bit.
A friend found this site that solicits bids for services for you, no charge to the consumer and no commitment required. She crosschecked this with Yelp reviews and it seems pretty solid, at least on the East Coast.
OMG PUPPY
This is Nala. She discovered a new passion today. 13/10 would catch her at the bottom (IG: nala_thegoldie) pic.twitter.com/Yprl8EYexg
Small win: I made an amazing cottage pie with sour cream mashed potatoes for dinner. JB loved it and declared: mama, I am going to eat ALL MY FOOD!
Also, though I hate phone calls with a passion, I returned some calls about the LTC policy application that we’re considering. I’m really not ready to go through the fine print and make a decision so I scheduled the exam for late July to buy some time.
What were your small wins this week?
***
Ruth and I lost our mothers too young, she younger than I, and it’s left scars. I still remember the exact moment I got back to my desk at work and getting her message that her mom had passed; I remember it as clearly as when I got the call that Mom died suddenly. She’s written something you should read.
Small win: I found a new next size up bathing suit for JB for next to nothing!
What were your small wins this week?
***
If the separation of parents and children also breaks your heart, and you can donate to one of these causes linked in his tweet to help the kids, show Dr. Linus your receipt – he’ll match up to $10k, however long it takes. UPDATE June 21 10:53 am PST, he’s down to the last $150. Good job, y’all!
At least one very popular PF blogger is an asshat who think that it’s ok that migrant children are being separated from their families because they still have food and shelter because it’s far more concerning that children in Syria are living in dire circumstances. A) Read up on the lifelong consequences of familial separations, well known since after Operation Pied Piper in WWII. B) Both things are terrible and we should donate to help both horrible situations. C) Our government is materially contributing to the crappy situation in Syria just like it’s materially contributing to the separation and internment of babies and children. This all needs to stop. D) I don’t know about that blogger but I do have the capacity to care about more than one group of people and they don’t even have to look like or be like me to deserve it.
This is one of my nightmares: losing one of us when our child is young. We do have our life insurance and our wills, our trust, and I’m still working on pulling all the pertinent information into one handy Life and Death folder.
