Had a really nice day yesterday with my dad. He thinks nothing of a 3-hour drive up here, only to stay 3 or 4 hours and then head back. He says he doesn't mind. Years ago, when he was teaching, he worked at least one summer as a tour gide on tour buses going to Nova Scotia. He likes being on the road.

But anyway, back to our day yesterday. He brought up some grape tomato plants, which he grew from seed, as well as a seafood recipe book which is a fundraiser for a group he's involved with in New Jersey, called "Re-Clam the Sound."

I did a bit of a garden tour with him, something he always has an interest in. Then we hung out on my porch and talked for a bit.

I often learn something new from these talks that i never knew before about family members. This time, I was surprised to hear that my grandfather used to go mushroom picking with his drinking buddies, and they ate them with no ill effect. My grandfather died when i was 16, so while i cared about him very much, he was mostly "Grandpa" to me and i never really had the chance to get to know him as a person.

Anyway, we went to lunch at a very good Italian place in town and despite being the only ones in there (it was after 2 pm) the service was very slow...perfect! We talked a lot about stuff, then headed back to the house to move an old-fashioned glider I'm giving him into his pickup. The glider is fine, but it's heavy enough that the metal legs sort of dig into my wood floor on the porch when you rock back and forth on it. He's goign to put it under his new pergola.

So I sent dad off with the glider and two plants i dug up for him (a blue milkweed and an easy growing ground cover) but totally forgot to give him the dog leashes, his belt, some fish hooks (!) i found in my washer after washing his clothes last time (for tick control) as well as a bunch of magazines i wanted to give him.

After he left, i called Kathy to let her know when she could expect him home. I think she appreciates that. Then i planted those tomato plants and mowed part of the front lawn.

I had my delicious leftover risotto and grilled tilapia for dinner.

Becus Waldo still only feels safe eating in the dark, i don't put his meal out for him until 8 pm. (I'm getting awful carpenter ants in the house, as i do every year, but leaving catfood out only makes it worses.) Although I know he likes the company (he's been confined to my office now for 3 weeks and 2 days), i can't always put luther in there with him overnight becus if waldo hasn't eaten his food by my bedtime at 10 pm, then luther can't go in there as waldo's food has meds in it and luther eats everything.

Last night, however, waldo did eat his food by about 10:30 pm so i put luther in there. (Waldo still cries most every night; i have to use a sound machine so i can sleep.) Around 4 am, Luther started carrying on at the door to be let out so i got up, groggy, to open the door. Still sleepy, i just sat down on the floor. As i often do, i left the door wide open as waldo's been too scared to try to walk out. (Don't forget, he's feral.)

I was talking out loud to waldo, directing my conversation in the general direction of the small wood cabinet that waldo stays under. It was still quite dark at that hour. Then i saw a shadowy figure alongside my computer desk. My heart leapt at first. I would LIKE to say he was moving toward me, but his real intent, i could then see, was to walk out the door and explore, but he decided against it cus he'd have to walk too close past me. He walked over by my computer desk twice. Anyway, this is actually big progress cus it's the first time he's felt comfortable emerging from under the cabinet in 3 weeks time.

He also sniffed at a snack i held out toward him last night. That, too, i consider a big sign of progress.

You may think it a little unkind not to let waldo have the run of the house after all this time, if you didn't know his history. Living in just 1 room is all he's ever known, so it's not a hardship for him. I would love to let him explore (which he did just once, accidentally, early on) but i'm afraid if i did so, it would just lengthen an already lengthy socialization process, as giving him full access to the rest of the house would just give him more hiding places so he wouldn't really have to deal with me if he didn't want to.

Once i can get him to let me touch him, pet him, he's got the whole house!

Oh, PROGRESS on my small claims case. I got a form in the mail telling me the "Answer Date," by whcih time the defendants have to respond to the court, is late June. If they do respond, they will set a hearing date; if they don't, looks like a default judgment will be entered on my behalf. So anyway, small sigh of relief there...it seemed like just a small technicality would invalidate my claim, so i'm glad that hasn't happened.

I am fascinated with retirement. I plan to retire a bit early, in 10 more years. It may seem far away to you, but not to me as there's much savings I have to do! I really feel as though i can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I crunched numbers all morning.

First, expenses. I created a chart with my current monthly and annual expenses in all spending categories. I know these numbers are pretty accurate becus i used my actual 2008 expenses.

The chart actually has 3 parts:
1. Pre-Retirement (the next 10 years)

2. Semi-Retirement, when i'll work p/t, mainly to get affordable health insurance and partly to contribute a modest amount to my current living expenses (this is the period between age 60 and 66 and 10 months, which is the age at which I've decided I'll start collecting Social Security benefits.

You could wait as long as age 70 to do so, and instead of getting about $2,076 at 66 and 10 months, i'd get a maximum payout of $2,615 a month, but heck, i want to be alive enough to enjoy that money, so while in the past i said i'd wait til age 70, i've decided to "compromise" and start taking payments at nearly age 67. (If, as most people do, i wanted to start collecting as soon as i legally could, at age 62, then i'd only get $1,430 a month.)

3. Retirement, from age 66 + 10 months to 95.

Because I'm assuming I'll be home more, many of my utility expenses will rise somewhat, like heating oil, electricty and water use. The biggest drop will be in my mortgage payments as the house will be paid off by age 56 if i stay here, and i'll buy the condo with 100% cash, but there will be some sort of condo common charge (I'm allowing $300/month for that) and I'll still have property taxes.

So alongside my "current" living expenses, I projected living expenses for semi-retirement and retirement.

The main distinctions between semi-retirement and retirement is that I will be living solely on personal savings in my 6 years of semi-retirement while once i hit 66 and 10 months, I'll start collecting Social Security and have to dig in a lot less from savings.

I tried to be as conservative as possible becus some of these expenses i have no idea what they'll be. Like healthcare. I assume I'll want to spend much more on travel (i'm allowing $5,000 a year), entertainment (I'm allowing $1,200 a year for that) and dining out ($2,000) in semi-retirement and retirement, but less on home improvements cus by that time i should have moved into a largely maintenance-free condo.

Keep in mind i'm not trying to factor in inflation in any of these numbers. That would make my head truly spin. I'm also not factoring in investment growth. This is simply a "real time"snapshot of what things look like from my perspective today.

To give you some idea of where i'm going with this, my 2008 annual expenses were a whopping $44,141. My projected annual expenses in semi-retirement are 21% lower, at $34,572. In retirement, my annual expenses dropped just a bit further, to $32,748.

I was able to calculate how much $ in savings I'd need to live on for the 6 years semi-retired and 35 years (to age 95) after that cus i know what my average annual expenses are, so i backtracked into that figure by calculating SS payments and using savings and my p/t work to cover the balance.

Retirement Income Needed
From Age 60 through 66 and 10 months:
$33,360 annually from age 60 through 66 and 10 months (nearly 6 years) = $200,160

From age 66 and 10 months through 95:
Use of personal savings of $8,592 annually from age 66 and 10 months through age 95 (28 years) = $240,576

It doesn't seem that daunting. $440,000. Am i missing something? My goal remains, of course, $1.2 million to retire on,and that's based on the many retirement calculators I've spent time with. Would inflation account for the huge difference?

Oh, yes. I forgot to say that i was pulled over for not wearing my seatbelt on the way to work one day last week.

The very polite, baby-faced police officer nicely explained that it was "Click It or Ticket" week. He even stopped traffic for me so I could easily pull back into the road after giving me my $37 ticket. Which I need like a hole in the head, as my grandmother used to say.

Damn. My own fault. I only wear seatbelts driving FROM work becus then I don't care if I get wrinkled. Being 5'4", the seatbelt tends to wrap around my neck, hence one reason i don't like to wear it. Though I ALWAYS do on a highway. But my daily commute is all back roads.

Luther is treating the little cat condo given to me by the shelter (which Waldo took to readily) as a giant beachball. With Waldo in it (and Waldo's a large cat), Luther can use his hind legs to push the cat condo around, forcing poor Waldo to vacate every time.

Very gloomy day out there. We had a little rumblines of thunder this a.m. and they tell us there's a lot more of that headed our way this afternoon. Tomorrow, though, should be a beauty, so that's when i'll finihs mowing the lawn and visit the vineyard with my mother.

I have to call my neighbor to see if he wants to carpool again this summer. My summer hours start on Tuesday, and they will now more closely align with his work schedule.

He works 8 to 6. With my summer hours, I'll work 8 to 5:30 pm. (Normally, I work 8:30 to 5:30 pm) Last summer when we carpooled, on days he drove i would use that extra half hour at day's end to walk a mile closer to him on the road we both work at. On days i drove, believe it or not, the traffic is always so bad on that same road that by the time i pull into his parking lot, i only have to wait 10 minutes before he gets out.

So the earlier hours for me mean i'll get alternate Fridays off. He doesn't get anything like that. I have mixed feelings about carpooling. On the one hand, gas prices aren't too bad now and i prefer my own company and the flexibility to run different errands if need be (though i rarely do.)

On the other hand, gas prices are bound to go up and my only opportunity to carpool with him is during the summer, so why not save a little money while I can?

I think he liked doing it last year cus he drives an old gas-guzzling truck.

In addition to my nesting bluebirds and wrens, i've now discovered a robin building a nest in the rhododendron outside the front door. I disturb him when i go in and out, so will have to get in the habit of using the garage door when i can.

I mowed more of the front lawn, but still arent done with it. That's because i let varous portions of the lawn go unmowed for weeks because such nice flowers were coming up; it looked a lot like a spring meadow to me. But i've begun mowing now to reduce inssects near my veggie garden and of course, to keep tick habitat to a minimum. I weed-whacked, too.

Went to my favorite garden nursery/gift shop and got 3 cucumber seedlings which i promptly planted. It's gotten quite overcast and i'm waiting for the rain to come.

I have two serviceberry trees in the front yard i got at least 5 years ago. They've been slow to grow as they're browsed by the deer plus every spring some insect lays its eggs on their leaves and little green worms curl up in the leaves, decimating the trees, which are now only about 8 feet tall and spindly. But this year, finally, the 1 tree is looking healthy with lots of blooms which will turn into black berries. The other one's leaves are probably 95% filled with those green worms, which i spent some time picking off today and yesterday once i discovered them. You have to be careful not to rip the leaves; the whole tree is quite unsightly, but the funny thing is that only the one tree is affected this time, not the other, though they are just 4 feet apart.

The same, or similar little green worms also do a number on my gooseberry, but i checked that plant this a.m. and it seems ok; no sign of worms.

I would love to be able to pay for my sunroom (about $5,000) without having to withdraw from my emergency fund MM, but i don't think that'll be possible. I thought perhaps if i just stop contributing the $700 monthly to the emergency fund and keep that money in my checking, i could build up some money, but probably not enough paydays before the time the builder does it. He only wanted $1,000 up front, and i've got that now in the checking acct; by next Friday (payday), I'll have another $700 i would have otherwise directed to the emergency fund. Builder said it would be a few weeks before he started as the windows are on order.

My dad's coming up next week to pick up an old-fashioned glider i no longer want.It seats two. It's metal and heavy enough that it digs into the wood floor on my porch, and that's why i don't like it. It would probably scratch the bamboo mat i have in there, too. (I sold him on taking it becus i otherwise would not be able to get rid of it unless i gave it away as it wouldn't fit in my car.)

He'll also be bringing some grape tomato plants for me. That will complete my veggie garden for this year. Everything else is now planted.

I did a 2nd load of laundry and am air-drying it now. Spent a lot of the day hanging out with Waldo here, and I created cat pages for both him and Luther on caster.com. If you're a cat-lover (or, for dog lovers, there's dogster.com) you'll have fun creating a profile of your pet(s).

On the agenda this weekend: a little trip to a vineyard in town with my mother, and maybe the Creamery ice cream place if the weather's ok. I was also hoping to get a bike ride in. I have no errands i have to run aside from filling up my gas tank.

I have enough food in the house. For lunch i made a yummy and oh-so-easy cold salad consisting of tri-colored pasts, flaked crabmeat (or imitation crabmeat/pollock), chopped red onion, chopped red pepper, baby peas and a little salad dressing of your choice. It's very good.

Tomorrow i'll make a pasta shell and sun-dried tomato salad.

So, it's been 2 weeks that i've had Waldo now. One reason I haven't blogged much lately is becus i didn't want to disturb him, as his space for now is in my office.

I would like to say we've made progress. Small progress, but for a feral cat, you learn to take things slowly. For one, he's eating now. Still just one meal daily, and only after dark, but he's eating. That's after FIVE days of not eating at ALL when i first got him. I was on the phone daily with the shelter volunteers. I was afraid he would die in my office. It was pretty scary becus since he didn't trust me, there wasn't much i could do.

So he is eating now, and that means i can at least get a half a dose of the meds the vet gave me for his absessed tooth. (He's supposed to get it twice daily.)

The other small bit of progress is that he doesn't seem to have quite the wide-eyed, terrified look he had whenever he saw me that first week or so. He is still hiding and i haven't touched him, but I leave the radio on for him when i'm at work and i try to spend as much time as i can with him at night and on weekends, just talking to him, playing with Luther and so on. Luther does whatever he can to get Waldo to interact/play with him, but Waldo for the most part is quite stoic and doesn't move unless he has to. Luther will mock-charge him, paw at him, roll around in front of him and stretch his paws out, etc. I think they will get along fine, once Waldo settles in more.

I decided to move forward with plans to turn my screened porch into a sunroom. I finally got an estimate from this builder whom a former co-worker highly recommended, and in fact his price is quite reasonable, or let's just say, it wasn't sky-high.

So the final plan is to put in 6 high-energy, double-hung windows which will qualify me for the 30% federal tax credit, plus my state will waive sales tax, though i can't be sure the builder, since he's ordering the windows, will pass that sales tax savings on to me. It's all just part of his total cost.

Also getting a single French door. The porch door i have now is smaller than normal, so we're going with a standard sized opening, 36" wide, which means he'll have some cutting to do. All windows and doors will have tilt clean functiona and have the grills inside the glass so they're easy to clean. There'll be an 18" high wall below the windows; on the outside, will be stone facade; on the inside, I'm having him construct a built-in bench along both walls under all the windows. The side of the bench will be covered in either beadboard or 4" wide paneling, which should look nice. I'll get cushions to fit the benches, and the cats will be able to jump up and look out the windows. I think it'll be a nice touch.

When the porch is done, i'll go ahead and get a nice ceiling fan as it gets real hot in there now. May even get a venting skylight, too, to let all the hot air that builds up in there escape.

I'm pretty excited about the projects. The windows are on order now; it'll be a few weeks before he starts.

Oh, and i got my small claims case mailed off about a week ago. Will wait to get the court date.

Bluebirds are nesting in one bird box and today while mowing i saw a wren fly out of the other one i thought was still vacant.

We got out early from work today, so got home at 2 pm. I picked up some annuals and planted them in containers, then mowed part of the front lawn. Also planted string beans, wax beans and zucchini in the garden.


In the foreground, right, you can see 2 rows of potatoes, doing nicely, although i've already seen some cutworm damage so i had to wrap all the stems in tinfoil. Except that as they grow taller, you're supposed to keep mounding dirt on the plants as that's where the potato tubers grow. So i guess i'll need to keep running tinfoil up the stemps each time! The poles in the back are for tomato plants and some pepper plants which you probably can't see. The black dripper hose was given to me as a gift some 25 years ago. It's really going to come in handy now...

Let's take a walk around the yard...


These are alliums (onion family) in bloom. Arent' they beautiuful? Best of all, deer won't touch 'em.


This is a doublefile viburnum. It's one of my favorites, partly because i planted it when it was little more than a 12" high twig. It's one of my best success stories. Birds nest in there.


I have a lot of ground phlox. It grows and transplants so easily.


Lily of the valley makes a nice ground cover. It's growing in my lawn and i'd like to move it all to a better location, though this patch here is under a rhododendron.


I've also found that ferns, which grow wild on my property, also transplant easily.

I arranged to take yesterday off from work so i could pick Waldo up after the traveling vet saw him.

I thought it was going to be a routine thing, shots and a dental check. When i got there, the vet spoke to me and said he had an abcessed tooth that woudl have to come out, but to give him a few weeks to adjust to life with me first becus it wasn't that bad.

If I'd had time to think about it, i might've said maybe you should keep the cat and i'll pick him up after he's had his tooth out. It's just that i got done nursing a sick cat and my work schedule makes it difficult to make runs to the vet to pick up meds, etc. Of course i would do it if my cat got sick, but the difference here is that this is a FERAL cat and is scared to death of me.

Well, anyway, i didn't have time to think about it. Everyone there was so thrilled i was taking him. Being feral, his window of best adoption opportunity had come and gone long ago. So instead of the normal $75 adult cat adoption fee, they only charged me $25 and told me to buy him lots of toys.

The car ride home was uneventful, thank god. I let the cat sit in the carrier, in my office-turned-Waldo's-room, for 2 hours, just to let him collect his wits about him. Then i quietly went in the room and left the door to his carrier ajar, then left again. When i checked again, i could see he'd quickly gone to the closet i set up for him. 2 drawer file cabinet taking up half the closet, with a blanket on the other side as a bed. A large box on top of the file cabinet with another blanket inside that, for higher elevation security.

I haven't seen him since yesterday when i brought him home, around 3 pm. He's hidden ever since. I can hear him jump down from the file cabinet when i'm not in my office but as soon as i open the door, he jumps up in the box. Since it's turned sideways for greater privacy, i can't see him in there.

The problem is, he hasn't eaten since Thursday. They didn't feed him Friday a.m. cus they knew he's be getting anesthetized for his dental. She said don't feed him til 10 pm friday night so the anesthesia can wear off or he could choke on the food. But he didn't eat last night, or today.

I spoke to Nancy at the shelter, she said she meant to warn me about that. Not to be too concerned. When they moved him from 1 room to another at the shelter, he didn't eat for days and it took him about a MONTH to get used to the new room.

I've been somewhat freaking out as time goes on. I check in on him every few hours or so, and the food's still there. And i was in here for a few hours doing some freelance work and also now, when of course he won't come out.

Nancy was reassuring. She said she thought he would probably eat tonight, when everything was dark and quiet.

I sure hope so. I can't tell you how anxious this makes me. It's very frustrating, becus i want to help him, but he's scared to death of me.

Nancy suggested maybe it was time to let Luther in the room. The vet had given him a dewormer that didn't require a 2nd dose and no risk of infection to Luther, if in fact Waldo had worms, which they didn't really know, but were trying to be cautious.

So let Luther in the room with me here just a little while ago. I could see he smelled Waldo and was very carefully sniffing the carrier. He ate his food (which had meds in it for Waldo's tooth infection) and rolled around in the catnip i put on the scratch post. Then he wandered in slowly to the floor bed in the closet, where i'm sure waldo's scent is very strong. I don't think he REALIZED that Waldo was directly above him in the box.

So Luther nonchalantly walked back out and was goofing around. Then, while i was typing here, i hear Luther jump INTO THE BOX. I waited with bated breath to see if there'd be cat screams. Nothing. Luther remained in there for a few minutes, then came out and just as nonchalantly walked out the room.

Now I'm PRETTY SUIRE Waldo is IN the box. I can't see him and becus he is so scared of me, i don't want to walk right up to the box and peer in. I'd have to get u pretty close to do so.

But isn't that the darnedest thing? Either he and Luther should get on fine, or Waldo is somewhere else in the house, a remote possiblity but is possible since i've had the door to my office open while i sit and type. Waldo could've slipped out while i was doing so, but given how timid he is, i highly doubt it.

Considering that Luther hissed once at Waldo when he was still in the carrier, i would find it amazing Luther could be so casual about having another cat in the house now.

I just really want this cat to eat.

I'm having family over tomorrow for Mother's day and since downstairs toilet is leaking and out of commission, they'll have to come upstairs to use that bathroom, and i wish they didn't have to do that since people walking up the stairs will scare Waldo. I think my typing scares Waldo.

Nancy reminded me that all these sounds are new to Waldo. He's never heard a toilet flush, or typewriter keys. We have a long way to go.

Here's Luther, enjoying the porch today.
Notice the adorable old man hair growing out of his ears.

OK< i just heard noise coming from the filing cabinet. I thought Waldo was jumping down, but he must've just shifted position inside the box. So he IS in there.

I will leave the door to the office open tonight so maybe when it's real quiet, he'll explore the house. Too much to ask for maybe, but that's what Luther did.

Wish us all luck. As Nancy told me as I took Waldo home, "He'll never be a lap cat, but he'll be a good friend to Luther."

I think she's right.

Oh, 1 more thing. After bringing the cat home and getting his meds (separate trip) i went to get some Chinese and brought it home to eat. My fortune read, "You made the right decision. Everything turns out for the best."

I feel like i've made more progress in preparing for my small claims case, mainly by reading up on the Secretary of State's website.

I can't do much more until Monday, when i need to call that office to find out if the company in question is an LLC or not. If they are, I sue the company; if not, I then call the town they're located in and the town clerk will give me the owner's last name, and that's who I sue. I need to know to fill out the form. I have a signature on my contract, but I can't read the last name and even after scouring the phone book couuldn't find the guy's name in it. All i can say for sure is that it has 5 letters and starts with a "P."

It's just $35 to file the claim and if i win, that would be paid back as well. If i get a judgment, i can file a request that they garnish his wages, and i intend to do that to make sure i get repaid.

I wasn't sure how much i should sue for. Paint is visibly peeling on 2 sides of the house, multiple locations, but i'm guessing it's more extensive than what i can see standing on the ground, so i'm inclined to sue for the full amount, $3570. The judge (attorney magistrate) can always reduce it, but i can't hike it once i file, so i think i should go for the full amount, since i'd have to get the whole house repainted, not just 2 sides. I'm guessing the sun fades the color somewhat.

Actually, if i did win the case, i would put the money toward getting vinyl siding on; trying to keep the house always painted is a thankless pain the neck task; i had tried to do this once before, but the guys were reluctant to put vinyl siding on top of other shingles but i didn't want the hassle and extra expense of removing my asbesthos shingles. They're no longer classified as a hazardous material, HOWEVER, they must be disposed of in a specially designated hazardous waste place, so that's what makes it costly. Maybe i could find someone this time who could attach siding on top of siding. They'd just have to use masonry nails/screws or whatever so they didn't crack the asbesthos tiles.

I took more pics of the house and have to see if they came out; it's a little hard to show paint lifting up from the siding; the lighting has to be just right.

I also printed out the comment on an online review site of someone who said he used to work there and how badly run a company it was, so i think that would support my claim, along with the letter i got from state consumer protection and the BBB (neither of which succeeded in doing anything).

I'm hoping i can just mail the form in with the check, but if i have to, i'll take a day off or go to work late in order to hand deliver it to the court. It has to be notarized.

Didn't do much this a.m. as it was damp out, but it turned sunny by early afternoon, so i mowed the back and did some yardwork.

The bluebirds appear to have commited to the box; i see them in the front yard frequently, though not necessarily going in the box. It's possible the female is already sitting on the eggs.

Never really know what i'll end up doing in terms of yardwork, whatever grabs me. In this case, it was yanking out a lot of blooming wild mustard, which is unattractive, invasive and self-seeds profusely. I also pulled out a lot of bittersweet on the south side of the house and dead-headed (already) a bunch of daffodils. I think the warm weather really shortened their bloom time.

I picked 2 asparagus shoots, which is all i'll get this year

Talked to my dad this evening...i was thinking of buying my own electric chainsaw so i wouldn't be so dependent on others to help me out when i have tree issues. He thought i could handle the electric chainsaw and i had done some online research on good, lightweight models, but then started getting nervous reading about the dangers of "kickback" and how to stand so you're not directly behind the saw, and thinking, maybe using a chainsaw alone in my yard wouldn't be such a smart thing to do if, god forbid, something happened. Of course, i've said that same thing to myself many times when i was halfway up a ladder cleaning out gutters or something. I would definitely make a point to bring my cellphone with me and have it on in case i needed to use it, quickly.

I was able to put in some quality reading tonight, not a magazine, but a book, something i rarely get to becus i always feel i should keep up with the more current magazines first! The book, "Deep Survival," is quite interesting. It's all about what determines who survives in emergency situations, like accidents in mountain climbing, people in sinking boats who must survive until they're found, and people lost in the woods. Basically, the book is saying that the survivors often are NOT thoe macho survival type guys who are all into braun and muscle, who tend to try to make the environment adapt to them, when it should be the other way around.

Survival is, above all, about your mental attitude, and the survivors are those who can fight back fear and panic and think through what they need to do to survive. It's also about accepting your situation instead of denying it, or saying "Why me?" or freaking out.

The author uses all kinds of examples, including 9/11, the accident by the authors of the Into the Void book and other cases. It's a good read.

If anyone's noticed on the Walgreen's site, it does indeed appear they aren't continuing the monthly rebates they had, as i had read on someone else's blog a month ago. Big bummer. I really made out well with tons of makeup, shampoos, etc.

I'm thankful that this month (and again in October) i'll get 3 paychecks, not just 2. That should help becus i think my current savings plan (detailed at left) is a little too aggressive and is slowly depleting my checking account. I had to switch back to a non-interest bearing checking acct recently so as to avoid the stupid monthly charge ($8) if your balance falls below $1500, which mine did for 3 days last month. So i don't have to worry about that happening anymore, and it certainly wasn't worth it for .25% interest, which worked out to about .69 interest each month! How laughable!

Still, if my checking balance keeps dropping too much, i may have to pull back a little on my savings rate.

That's what I always say.

I had to reschedule having my friends over for lunch tomorrow (the 2 who got laid off by my employer last December) because one of them is sick. It's just as well, I guess, since it's expected to be mostly rainy and i thought they'd enjoy a garden tour here. It gives me a reprieve from house cleaning.

Since it was also rainy on my lunch hour today, i went to Stop N Shop, less than a mile from my office, and picked up a few groceries, so i now have NO NEED to drive anywhere this weekend.

Since i worked at home one day this past week, my gas tank is a bit more than half full, which is all the gas I need to get through all of next week.

I was feeling again like it's been all work and no play so i called H. from work and was thinking of getting a bite to eat with her, but what she thought were allergies the past few weeks is apparently not that. I'd rather not go out with her and risk getting sick.

I FINALLY finished scraping the darn wallpaper backing off my bathroom walls. I've put work off on repapering the bathroom for soooooo long, since last summer. I've tried to break it all down into little segments to make it more doable. So the next "little segment" is to SAND the walls lightly to get off last remaining bits of wallpaper backing and smooth everything over. After that, prime the walls, paint the window trim and cabinet an ivory color which will match the new wallpaper and then, of course, the trickiest part, measuring, cutting and applying the wallpaper. BUT, i've done it before, with some success. All i want to concentrate on now is SANDING the walls. I will wear a dust mask, for sure.

The other big thing i really want to make progress on is researching my small claims case against the house painter. It's just $35 to file but i need to find out by calling the state (Monday, i guess) to see if they're registered as a business or not. The trick is figuring out who to sue. Since i don't have a last name or any way of getting a last name of someone who works there, suing the business would be a whole lot easier. I honestly don't even feel like thinking about it, it's just one big drag, however, I simply can't afford to let the $3570 i spent on the paint job be wasted. I estimate it's peeling on like 25% of the house (2 sides), probably more if i could get up on a ladder to look at the walls more closely, so we're talking a minimum of $1,000 i stand to get back, if not more.

Anxiously waiting to get the price on enclosing my screened porch. Naturally, the guy hasn't called me back; i left him a message this a.m. I hope he's not yet another one of these guys who doesn't follow through. You'd think in this economy they'd be delighted, but this is Fairfield County, you never know. There's always a lot of money to be made it seems.

I was sort of in the mood to do some cleanup in the attic, maybe shred some old bank statements. Just getting rid of unwanted stuff makes me feel good and there's a lot of stuff up there that's simply sat there for 13 years. No doubt i will likely pay to haul it all with me should i ever move, unless i make the hard decisions and get rid of some things.

I'm thrilled to see my emergency fund now stands at $10,687. It hasn't been easy, but i've religiously contributed $350 every payday by doing an online transfer to Dollar Savings Direct.

I'm taking next Friday off so i can FINALLY pick up Waldo from the shelter.

Everything's in bloom here. Outside my office window is the antique ivory colored dogwood blossoms and behind that, bright white apple tree blossoms.

The crabapple trees are also in bloom, but i discovered, after walking around one night in the dark with a flashlight, that one likely source of my carpentere ant problem (could be more than 1 source) was the one crabapple tree, which i'm sorry to say, is experiencing serious rot of major limbs. I'm surprised it's blooming and as healthy looking as it is, given the rot, and the ants that are crawling around the trunks. I sprinkled ant bait there one night, and the next day i noticed WITH GREAT SATISFACTION that some ants were scurrying around carrying the ant bait, hopefully to share with their buddies.

Altough the label says the ant bait is safe to use indoors, it has a kind of earthy smell and i don't trust Luther not to try eating it, since he eats anything readily. I have sprinkeld it in places unaccessible to him, inside some kitchen cabinets and another spot in the kitchen, but that's about it.