I found out today that my electrical bill is going down $11 on the budget plan next year. I've been working on my budget for 2007 so I adjusted that category and added the surplus to clothing and miscellaneous household expense (printer cartridges, towels, etc.)

DD's flute payment= $22.26
CC#2= $110.09
Prescription= $5.53
Gas bill= $83.00
Angel Food= $41.00
Groceries= $14.51

Total=$276.39

DH and I have had some good talks over the past few days about the Debt Reduction plan that I set up in Quicken. He has never really been involved in the finances much, and with the news of my brain cyst we realized that that needed to change.

We discussed how much debt we have, and that even though to us it is a lot and overwhelming, it really could be much worse. I explained to him more about the Debt Reduction plan and how if I keep making the same payments as I'm making them now, it can all be paid off by August of 2013, and that that figure is without any extra we might be able to pay it down with faster.

So he is excited now to jump on the bandwagon and get this done.

My only fear now is if this cyst turns out to be a big deal, that I won't be able to work and it will add more expenses to the debt.

Right now, I am taking $50 of his overtime and putting that on the debt each week. I think for now the rest of the OT will go into the emergency fund since we don't know what expenses will be coming up as far as travel and lodging for trips to specialists. I would just feel better with a cushion there and it not being added to the CC, especially since it's only $1500 from its limit.

I'm not too worried about the actual medical costs themselves because I am covered under my plan at work and DH's insurance also covers me. So usually I end up not paying for anything but my co-pays on medicine.

Gasoline= $15.00
Lunch= $19.65 (went directly from church to the movies to use DH's passes he got for Christmas last year that were going to expire on 12/31/06)

I don't remember if I listed it here, but one of my wishes for 2006 was to finish the year with under $80,000 in debts. I made a payment to CC#2 tonight that puts us JUST under! Now to maintain (or lower) that balance.

Gasoline for car= $20.00
Lunch while picking up DS#1 from college= $26.50

Total= $ 46.50

Gas & groceries CC for month= $505.31
Car insurance= $231.40
Tithe= $134

Total= $870.71

Well, wasn't yesterday quite the day!

After finding out that I have the cyst on my brain I called DH and he immediately came home to be with me. We talked for a while and then decided to get out and do something so we went out for lunch (DH's treat), grocery shopping and then DH's eye exam and ordering new glasses.

We waited last night until DD#1 came home from college for Christmas break and then told the 4 kids (still have to tell DS#1 when we pick him up at college tomorrow). They really took it pretty well. We were honest with them about what was going on and gave them all the information that we know now. We told them that it could be something that the doctors just want to keep an eye on or it could mean much more serious things. We just don't know. DD#1 asked a lot of questions, but the rest were pretty quiet.

We explained that it's not a tumor. I didn't want them to think that I have cancer. I'm really glad that DD#1 is home because I think that will help DD#2 to deal with it better.

After the family talk I called my parents and broke the news to them. I gave my mom the job of informing the rest of the family. With having an aunt that had a brain tumor a few years ago and gained a lot of weight from that, it's not going to be a new experience for the family. One of my brothers called last night and left a message since we'd already gone to bed. I know everyone is concerned.

Now the plan is to decide where we want to be referred to and see what the experts say. I do know that one very important thing is to keep the blood pressure down. So that's going to be a challenge. The new medicine has been working really well up until yesterday. So obviously I need to avoid all the stress I can. Easier said than done.

DH and I had a long talk about finances and how stressed I am over them, so he's a lot more understanding about spending and how it affects me. I told him that one thing I'm really worried about is what all this is going to do to our finances. I know that health is much more important, but it does worry me. Makes it even more important to pay off as much as we can. I told him that I want to continue to do the finances because I enjoy it and because I would stress more if he did them. LOL! He tends to put things aside until later and I'd always be worried that we were bouncing checks or not paying bills.

School lunch account= $10.00
New glasses for DH= $88.00
Gasoline= $16.68
Groceries= $104.92

Total= $219.60

I went to get blood drawn today for more tests and was told that they weren't drawing blood today.

My MRI results show that I have an arachnoid cyst in the left side of my cerebellum. It's probably been there since birth and we don't even know if it's the cause of my problems I've been having but they want it looked at by a specialist.

In reading about it, I have very few of the symptoms listed, so hopefully it's just something to keep an eye on.

Credit card payment= $44.95
Dr. visit for DS#2= $15.00
Family pass for kids' sports events= $50.00
Year plan for DH's cell phone= $137.79

Total= $247.74

DH and DS#2 are both active in the volunteer fire department and ambulance association.

A couple of nights ago DS#2 woke us up about 11:00 p.m. wanting to know if he could go to an ambulance call. DH had heard the call and knew from what was and wasn't said that it was either a suicide or domestic violence, so he said no.

I just found out today that it was an attempted suicide and was a kid that just graduated with DD#1 this past summer and a friend that DS#2 attended Vo-tech with. So it is someone he knows well. I am so glad that DH told him no.

I know he wants to be a paramedic but to have your first "heavy-duty" call be an attempted suicide and be someone you're friends with would have been extremely traumatic.

I have a possible diagnosis of what is wrong with me. They think I have gout.

I was doing some searching on the internet yesterday afternoon and for some reason put "uric acid high blood pressure" into Google. Up came all these links for gout. I didn't really know much about it so I began to read and was shocked when I read these symptoms:

-severe pain suddenly in a joint causing inflamation (swelling, feeling warm, skin red, tight, shiny)
-fever
-chills
-general sick feeling
-rapid heartbeat

I have had severe elbow pain since July. I have mentioned that several times to the doctor but it kept getting passed off as a minor concern with everything else going on. Just my sleeve brushing on it makes it feel very tender. It quite often feels inflamed.

The other night when I was feeling so badly, it all seemed to radiate from the elbow. I had been telling DH for the past month that I felt like my elbow was sending poison throughout my body. Maybe I was right!

So I'm on 2 different medications for it. Already today the elbow is feeling better. I can only feel the arthritis-like feeling a little in it.

Now to find out if the swelling is related to this? I have noticed small twinges in my kidney area so I'm wondering if it's gone on long enough that there is some kidney damage and the swelling is resulting from that?

School lunch accounts= $20.00
Medicine= $16.28

Total= $36.28

I just recently renewed my subscription to Fitness Journal, an on-line software that helps you keep track of exercise, diet, and various other fitness related things.

Today I received a hand-written thank you card and 5 tickets for a 30-day trial of the site. I have given away 2 but still have 3 available if anyone would like to try it out. I don't know if there are any strings attached or not. It doesn't say there is.

If you're interested email me and I'll send you the ticket number and the discount code.

I'm wondering if I can get my debt total to under $80,000 by the end of the year? I only need to pay $192.57 to get it there! I'm just afraid that as soon as I do DH will have to charge something and it'll go right back over the $80,000 mark.

Hmmm....good thing to strive for anyway!

My paperwork for disability insurance from Zander arrived today. I haven't had a chance to really look at it yet, but I see that it requires another paramedical exam. My first thought was that I am probably wasting my time applying because of all the health issues I'm having, but then I got to thinking that with all the medical tests the doctor has done lately he hasn't found anything, so they probably won't either!

So I guess I'll get started filling it all out just to see what happens.

The past couple of weeks have really impressed to me the need to have disability insurance. If I had to quit work right now we'd be in trouble.

This morning I will be having the MRI of my brain to see if the health problems I've been having are caused by a brain tumor. The only reason they're checking for this is that I mentioned to them that about 4 years ago one of my aunts suddenly gained a LOT of weight and was very swollen. The cause was a tumor on the front of her brain. She also had extreme headaches and seizures though and I have not had that.

Last night after studying I sat on the couch from 7:30 to 10:00 and my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. I got up and took my blood pressure and it was 103/73 (which is very good) but my pulse was 89. Just sitting on the couch! Something isn't right and they need to do something soon. I can't keep feeling like this all the time. If DH hadn't already gone to bed I would have had him take me to the ER.

clothes for concert for DD#2= $20
car payment= $298.98
Tracfone year plan= $137.79
Dollar General= $5.85
McDonald's= $1.58
Gas for car= $20.00

Total= $484.20

I am a huge fan of McDonald's sausage biscuits. Not the McMuffin or McGriddle- it has to be the biscuit.

It's been quite a while since I've gotten one, but by the time I got to work today I was already hungry and had no breakfast items at work so I thought I'd splurge and get a sausge biscuit. When I used to get them regularly they were $1.06. I always had the exact amount ready to hand the guy at the drive-thru.

Imagine my surprise today when I pull up to give my order and the number that pops up on the screen is $1.58! What!!! The cost went up 52 cents in just a couple of months! 67%?!!!

Guess I won't be getting my beloved sausage biscuit very often!

Ah yes...the famous lyrics of REO Speedwagon's hit. But yesterday it took on new meaning to me as I sat working on my last accounting lesson:

DH was cleaning out the pellet stove when all of a sudden the shop vac made a terrible noise. You know, that sound that motors make when they're dying? Yeah, that sound.

Immediately my stomach went into knots. That sound means spending more money and lots of it! Ack! Not what I needed right then when we're working on getting my blood pressure down.

That sound made me even more determined to climb out of the depths of debt so that when things like that happen I don't automatically have an anxiety attack just wondering where the money is coming from.

The war rages on!

The only money spent yesterday was for dinner. Yes, we could have had pb&j but DH had worked hard all day getting all the Christmas decorations and tree down from the garage apartment and set up. He only let me decorate my computer desk. He's been babying me all week to try to get my blood pressure down. So when he was done I suggested we get a warm dinner from the food place a block away.

Total for 4 of us: $15.45

#1: $1,000 in EF for bare minimum
#2: pay off at least half of CC#2
#3: pay off furniture
#4: pay off DH's truck
#5: look over DH's 401K investments and determine if we should change the mix
#6: max out my IRA contributions
#7: get disability insurance on me
#8: hopefully have the term insurance process finished soon!

I now am the proud owner of 3 on-line accounts: Amboy (5.13%), Emigrant (5.05%) and ING (4.5%), all of which make MUCH more interest than our local bank (a little over 1%).

I have the most in my Amboy account, which is my EF fund. I use Emigrant for my $20 Challenge money, and I decided to use ING to save for DS#2's graduation expenses.

I have until June of 2008 before he graduates so I've decided to put money aside when I can to save toward that.

I have been trying to think what my financial goals will be for 2007. When I get some concrete ideas I'll post them here.

A no-spend day. Finally!

Just got back from taking my last exam for my accounting course. Now all that is left is reading 1 chapter and writing a report. Hurrah!

Looks like I won't be contributing to my $20 challenge money for a while. The doctor has put me on light duty so I am not allowed to do any book deliveries until my blood pressure and health are back to normal. Who knows how long that will take! I know that I wouldn't be able to do a delivery anyway.

Yesterday instead of going to work my boss told me to just go to the library here in town where I used to be the director (1 block from my house) and help them with their barcoding. DH dropped me off while he went grocery shopping with DD#2. They picked me up when they came back and I was wiped out. All I did was peel barcodes and stick them on books! I came home and took a nap and then went to the church to run off the bulletins. I was ready for another nap when I got home from that. Pathetic, just pathetic.

I won't be going to church tomorrow. I'm to avoid any stress and honestly, that's the biggest stress in my life right now. So I'll stay home and probably curl up with a good book and sleep.

I got a call from Vanguard yesterday that I needed to call the company that my SEP IRA is in now and ask them to liquidate the holdings so that they can be rolled over to Vanguard. I did that, called them back to let them know it is done and asked what to do about this month's contribution since it will come out of the next paycheck. They said my account is open and gave me the address to mail it too. So this Friday I'll be making my first contribution to my Vanguard Target Retirement 2030 fund.

I got my results back from the term insurance health exam. About the only results I understood were the negative findings for cocaine and marijuana. That's good to know. LOL! I never dreamed this process would take so long! I thought maybe a month or so. I'm itching to cash in the whole life insurance to put on CC#2!

Valu= $41.17 DH bought smoke alarms and assorted things for the house
Home Depot= $165.77 DH bought tile to put down so he can bring the coal stove into the kitchen addition (kitchen has been staying at about 50 degrees. Brr!!)
BJs= $119.01 for groceries

Total= $325.95

I have my last accounting exam tomorrow morning and I am nowhere near prepared for it. With not feeling well, I have not studied at all. I'm trying to do it tonight but really battling with not caring. I just don't feel good and don't feel like studying. Ho hum....