Day of Reckoning

Wish me luck! Tomorrow I meet b/f 's parents, and siblings, and cousins, and nieces and nephews. All. At. Once. I guess it is only fair as he has met virtually all of the relatives that I seen in any given year, and some that I only see occasionally (at my brother's wedding reception).

After thinking we were going to make the 9 hour drive to El Paso, b/f threw me a curve on Thursday by showing me the airline tickets. Not that it was a bad curve ball. Just not what I had been mentally adjusting to. I had bought several books on tape, and had visions of us having nice, long relationshipy talks. Visions of one less afternoon/evening with his family :) But this will be good. He can finally try out the cool sound blocking head phones I got him for his birthday. Yes, that was in August. Apparently they work so well he can't use them at work, because he needs to hear some sounds like his phone, or his girlfriend talking to him.

And it will be good - less wear and tear on my car (he drives a totally uncomfortable truck), and less of a sore butt. Ask me again after I return from two of the most busiest airport days of the year. I may have wished we drove :)

Anyway, here it is almost 10:00 and I haven't started packing yet. Our flight doesn't leave until 1:15 tomorrow, but I still have a lot to do. But I can make it. I'm on vacation. Sort of. I will ignore the fact that I just got finished working. But at least my work gives me the laptop, so I can bring it and just surf when I need to get away from all this family togetherness. And my wireless data card will be a real life-saver as well.

I feel that if I think it will be a bad trip, then when it is fun, it will totally beat my expectations. I have a sneaky feeling that his family will be so much funner than mine, so I'm probably deep down jealous.

Oh! And b/f got me a GPS ! So now I can try to go back to Luke's Locker without getting lost the next time I need shoes. And he totally loved the gifts I got him. Two I was unsure about, but he loved them! I think if I focus and pay attention and have money, then maybe I can be a good gift-giver after all.

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! And God bless us one and all!

The snow is always snowier on the other side of the snow pile

Everytime we come to Minneapolis for business trips in the winter, we joke to our clients that they must either be crazy or gluttons for punishment for living up here (It was about 15degrees F. when we landed). And they laugh and say that while it is cold, it's not that cold, it could be worse. The people up in Delouth, off the shores of Lake Superior, are the really crazy ones. It may snow as late in the year as June. They will wear shorts as soon as it gets above 30 degrees. I wonder what the Delouthians say when people ask if they are crazy. What, -20? That's nothing. You should go to Canada. Those people are crazy!

Of course, we get the same comments in reverse in August. 30 consecutive days of 100+ temps? You must be crazy. Yes, we in Dallas are crazy, but you should try living in Houston. Oh, the humidity!

1 Out Of Every 5 Statistics Is Made Up

This month, I paid off my second mortgage! My original goal was to put down 20%, but I only put down 12%. I possibly could have put down more, but then I would have had no money to buy the cool electronic lawn mower I needed. So long story short, I took out a second loan for 8%, at a much higher interest rate, and a weird 15-year balloon term. I didn't like the terms, so I wanted to pay it off as soon as I could. Turns out that took me about 15 months. That is a bit of a relief.

So I now own 20% of my house! One-fifth. Which is about 300 square feet and some grass. I'll say it is my living room. Hands off! It's all mine. I wish I only had to clean 1/5th of the house.