Tuesday, July 5, 2016

A Bit of This and That

To my American friends...hope you had a lovely 4th of July weekend.  Ours was pretty quiet as a whole.  Bossy participated in the Color Guard for scouts as part of the festivities, and then we stayed to watch fireworks.  Since this was our first year here, we weren't sure how everything worked.  We thought the ceremony would be longer, so we didn't bring drinks/snacks for the pre-firework waiting (we did bring camp chairs).  Next year we will know.  We sat with other "scout" families in an attempt to make some new friends.  Bossy played soccer with some kids.  Sassy refused to join anything because she was too shy to just go up and introduce herself....however once one of the girls came up to her and invited her to hang out....she was more than happy to go.  Oh Sassy....we really need to work on your socialization!

G-man's car has been making some noise for awhile, and he was sure he could fix it on his own.  Nope.  So now we are on the hunt for a muffler place.  We have a few hundred dollars in our car maintenance account, and I hope it will be enough.

I am having to jockey money around a little this month.  August is our 3-paycheck month, so the month before and after are always a little wonky.  Luckily, G-man and I are on opposite week pay schedules, so we have money coming in each week.  My plan from back in February (our last 3-paycheck month) to pay all the bills on the first of the month is working well for most of the utilities (electric is higher now due to the A/C and I didn't have enough of a buffer for that....so I had to pay that when it was due, and then again on the 1st to build up the buffer).  Each paycheck and I am putting aside money for the bills, and I am hoping to be able to add one more bill into the cycle. I am really trying to get back to the point where we are able to create sinking funds for kid activities and expenses (which are WAY higher here than in CT), Christmas, and the cats.

G-man is taking a few days to go cabin camping with some guys from work.  He is looking forward to a few days off away from home.  When he is home and we don't have a formal plan, he feels like he should be doing SOMETHING, so he rarely relaxes.

School starts 6 weeks from today!  Need to start paying attention to back to school supplies that go on sale.  Schedules come out on July 29, so orientation should be the first week of August.  High school....where did the time go????

The TV is still scheduled to arrive at the store on July 12.  G-man will be out of town until the 13th.  Oh well.  I am not going to mess with it.

I have some work news to share later.  Need to update my totals.

But I will leave you with a "funny" from my parents.  They called on Friday...July 1.  They were going to invite us over for 4th of July....but decided not to.  Maybe they will have us over in a few weeks.  So I ask you.....why on Earth would they call to tell me that???  If you decided not to invite us over, then you just don't mention it!!!  And they wouldn't commit to a future date....mostly because they probably won't ever invite us over.  And for the record....we have lived here 7 months and they have never had us over.  I invited myself over for a brief visit on Mother's Day, which ended up with my dad annoyed with me because I set boundaries.  Sigh.

11 comments:

  1. Glad you are settling in. Your parents sound interesting :).

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    1. Yes, settling in. That is another post. :)

      And my parents....yeah....there was more to the conversation that didn't make sense. Welcome to my world.

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  2. Just wondering, have you invited them over to your place yet? Maybe you should offer the olive branch first.

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    1. Oh yes. In January....Dad came and Mom cancelled 3 hrs before. Dad's bday was February and when I asked him what he wanted for dinner...his answer was "wow me" so I made a huge spread. In March they cancelled because it wasn't a good day. I skipped April because I was mad about something. I went over for Mother's Day....even though it was only a few days after they blew off my birthday. And June....I had them over for Father's Day.

      I think I have done my part....

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  3. I think you've done more than enough, time to move on and pretend you don't live near them. Sounds like the kids are starting to settle in, that's good. Good old air conditioner, can't live without it. It's much cheaper to air condition than it is to heat.

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    1. I love central air.....15 years of window units make me appreciate it even more.

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  4. At least Sassy was receptive and happy with the other child's overtures. Maybe is she had something with her, like a soccer ball, she would feel it was easier to go up to another person. Okay, so maybe not a soccer ball, but you get the idea.

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    1. I totally agree with you, but Sassy just won't put herself out there....ever. One of my biggest parenting mistakes.....not socializing her better when she was young.

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  5. I somehow can't believe you've been living there for seven months already. Time really just move faster every year. I think I agree with Mac n' Janet, you've done your bit. Let's face it, if you're going to get grief from them it might as well be for not making an effort to contact/visit them, at least that way you don't have to invest more time or energy into contacting/visiting them. Christmas and Easter maybe? :-)

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    1. I waiver. They are trying in some respects that I haven't shared....but they want things on their terms and when I disagree with them it gets ugly.

      Holidays....hahaha. My parents don't celebrate Christmas....and I won't do Hanukkah. Should be interesting.

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  6. I saw school supplies going up in a store and I was so happy I am beyond that phase. Hit the sales girl.

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