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
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December 11, 2007
I came home from work, mentally exhausted and still sick yesterday, to find my mom looking like a pufferfish. No, she hadn’t eaten one, she just looked like one. Apparently she was having some crazy allergic reaction to some hair dye or some such thing and had been swelling up and itching all day.
*shaking head*
You’d THINK they’d tell me earlier in the day. No, of course not, she just suffered all day and was wild with discomfort and actual pain by the time I got home.
$5 worth of diphenhydramine and three hours later, she was sleepy and no longer itching like mad. Diphenhydramine was what we used to give at the clinic, in injection form, to doggies with beestings and other random allergic reactions. The doggies would come in, fat-faced and miserable, and get a couple of shots to relieve the swelling and itchiness. It’s Benadryl, basically. I just didn’t bother to pay double the money for brand name Benadryl because the store brand stuff is exactly the same.
There’s not much you can do with that sort of allergic reaction if you don’t know what caused it, but I sent her and Pa off to the emergency room anyway in case there was something else wrong.
It turns out that she’d gotten an infection from scratching, so they have to pick up a prescription for an antibiotic today.
Lessons for the day:
If you’re swelling up, itchy and can’t think of any reason why, I don’t necessarily recommend self-medicating, but DON’T WAIT to get some help!!
If she’d told me earlier, we would have tried the diphenhydramine in the morning, she wouldn’t have been so miserable all day, and we would have saved the money on antibiotics as well as several hours in the emergency room in the middle of the night.
Selfish as it may sound: I honestly cannot take any more drama. Especially any more hospital or health related drama. Please take care of yourselves, everyone, and we can return to our regularly scheduled, drama-free, finance-oriented postings. It’s for the greater good, really.
December 10, 2007
or was it Easy Spirit? (I think that’s a shoe, actually.) Did they ever sell it in stores, or was that some ’80s by-mail phenomenon?
I ask because amid the hustle this weekend, my sleepover guest had an unexpected errand: a stop at Target for some deodorant.
While we browsed the aisles, I was struck by the selection of deodorants and how many of them were more than $3 per stick! Prices ranged from $2.89 up to a whopping $7! Can you believe that? Whatever happened to the cheap deodorant that teenagers used back in the day?
Honestly, of all the things to spend our hard-earned money on, I can’t believe that deodorant can be such a large expense.
(I picked up a 97 cent sample of Ban for my purse just in case, since I was there. I’m a sucker for trying new scents, even if I’m so congested I can’t actually smell right now.)
December 7, 2007
I shall sally forth to contend with the all day private family memorial services, hoping that I don’t infect anyone else with my cold . I get the impression from BoyDucky’s harassed sounding phone calls that this moment of peace I have with you, blogger family, is the last bit of quiet I’ll be having for the rest of the day.
Wish me luck!
December 6, 2007
Seriously. The value of regular, good rest is just underrated.
In advance of the holiday season, I’d like to take this chance to remind everyone to be careful amidst all the holidaying that I’m sure is beginning (or has already begun). Please be safe!
I’d like to blog about end-of-life preparedness soon, but I’m going to need to get some rest, all these funerals attended, and some more rest before I can get to that.
December 4, 2007
As we search for photos of A, I realize that I have so few photos. Not just of him, but of the past several years. At some point I stopped valuing the memories as much because I didn’t want to spend the money on a camera. I always thought it wasn’t a big deal; someone would take pictures, probably, and I could look at theirs.
Over the weekend, A’s college friends came by with a beautiful photo album they’d made containing photos from the last few years, from his trips to other countries and most recently to Hawaii, and it made me so wistful.
How I wish I’d sprung for a camera years ago and continued my photographing frenzy from high school and our first year of college. During college, it was a big joke among my crowd that everyone always had a camera, and with eight to ten photographers, I assumed we’d have duplicates of every picture.
Eventually, the picture taking dwindled in the face of greater distances, fewer gatherings, and seemingly less intense comradery. It took this tragedy to remind me that there are times I’d regret not spending money.
I didn’t need a digital SLR, but a simple point and shoot would have preserved so many of our experiences and I wouldn’t have to rely just on fond reminiscences.
| Retirement Savings |
Rollover 401(k): $1,571
Roth IRA: $3,677
401(a): $ 1,938
403(b): $11,236
Total: $18,422
|
| Emergency Savings |
$11,754
|
| Goal Oriented Savings |
Car Maintenance: $641
Savings for BT repayment: $16,760
Savings for taxes: $3,929
Total: $21,330
|
| Investment Loans |
Prosper-ish: $12,630
Personal Loan: $5,000
Total: $17,630
|
| Total Assets |
Non-Liquid: $18,422
Semi-Liquid: $17,630
Liquid: $33,084
Total: $69,136
|
| Debt and Liabilities |
Truck: $7,372
BT (Brother): $16,760 due 02/08
Total: $24,132
|
I’ve some small gains in my retirement accounts, but that’s because the market ticked up just in time for my monthly round-up. It’s been up and down all month, and mostly down for three of the past four. It would be tough on more than just morale if I depended on it for income in the short-term.
The liquid savings was knocked back a little because the truck payment is draining my expense account every month. So far I haven’t been forced to pull money from savings to pay it yet, but I am taking savings out to pay for the costs of the NY trip as I mentioned before. I’d really like to sell it soon, but it turns out I still need the convenience of a third car at home during this difficult time.
Pa was recently downsized so if he doesn’t get a new one soon, we won’t need three cards for three people and I’ll sell the truck in January.
Overall, the assets increased by 1.5%.
Debts are decreasing steadily as well, and by equally small amounts. Due to the recent events, and all the nights I’ve spent with BoyDucky at the hospital, I haven’t killed off the BT debt to start a new one yet. I have, however, taken credit limit increases across the board for all my Citi cards in anticipation of the new BT. That increased my total credit line available for a future BT from 18k to 24k. I took advantage of Citi’s credit limit increase feature on the website to avoid any hard pulls on my credit.
December 3, 2007
Thank you, everyone, for your support and kind words. Thank you, Sense to Dollars, for the mention.
Has anyone ever had any experience in setting up Memorial Funds? I’m in charge of A’s and BoyDucky’s dad’s Memorial Funds. I was going to set up an account for each of them through Obopay so that those who are far away can donate online, but does anyone have any better suggestions?
