November!! brrr....

Hey all,

Can hardly believe how fast this year is going! Soon it will be the holidays...I've got my kids' gifts (money) but not anyone else's yet, so I'm working on that!

Finally got my house sold and lease signed! I'm very grateful that it is finally done and over. I think once Bruce gets the title, we will have to do a couple of things, but the main part is over. Bruce will be sending someone over this coming week to cover up the swamp cooler for the winter. I had Kevin lined up to come do it, but now that the sale has gone through, Bruce can have his maintenance guy do it. I didn't make any money on the deal and actually had to come up with the 4 months of payments that I didn't make on the house so that he could finalize the deal with Greentree. I signed a year lease @ $725 month. That includes the water/sewer, so not a bad deal at all. I am saving about $55 a month. I know some of you can't understand why I would not want to own the home, but I figure, it's getting older and things will start to break. I cannot afford to buy a new furnace or fridge or what have you, if it goes out. This way, Bruce can fix anything that happens and I can sit back and save some money. If I ever move, I won't have to worry about the house at all. Just trying to think ahead, you know. :)

I leave for Seattle on Thursday evening for a quick weekend trip. We have Friday off at the bank due to Veteran's Day, so I thought I would take advantage of that and go see the sights up there and Reuben and his mom. I also got a VERY cheap ticket on Southwest, so couldn't pass it up! Still haven't told Tyler yet, that I'll be gone. I guess I better!! :)

My Jeep is going in the shop on Monday. :( It has a noise underneath and after several inspections by mechanics...I finally got my friend Buddy to look at it and he found the issue in 2 minutes!! It's the right front outer differential bearing. I've got Brian from AutoDoc lined up to fix it. He fixed Kalyn's car before she left and also Tyler's wheel bearings, recently. He also owns the Coffee Booth that Ty works at. I like to give him business, apparently. The Jeep has been making this noise for quite awhile, but more recently getting worse and worse. I'm not even driving it this weekend cuz I'm afraid!! People keep telling me i should not be driving it. I drove it to Albuquerque last weekend and by the grace of God, I made it there and back and didn't even realize how bad this was!! So, Merry Christmas to me, cuz it's going to be expensive!! I swear, this year has been the worst for spending money on fixing things. But, the good news is that in 2012..I shouldn't have to spend any now that everything will be fixed!! LOL

Today at home, I worked on finishing up the Xmas cards and got them separated for the ones that just get mailed and the ones that will go with gifts, etc. I think I've got everything figured out as to who is getting what. It won't be much, but it will be the thought that counts. :) My kids always want money, so that is easy. Kalyn will just have a deposit put in her account so that way I won't have to mail it and Tyler will get his early cuz he wants to buy a new mini laptop. His is WAY old and slowly not working anymore.

Jobs are going well. I got a raise of 25 cents an hour here at the gym starting in November and I got a raise at the bank last month. I'm doing ok financially and hope to start saving again after all these expenses. I paid for all of Kalyn's moving and box shipping up to Minnesota too. I'm just glad I was able to make it happen. I didn't want her struggling and asking for money and this way, she can live on what she has until she starts work. She should find out this week if she got the job at Caribou coffee. She starts school March 20th. So proud of that girl, she even painted her whole room by herself up there!!

Well, I suppose I will end this. You all take care and write when you can! I keep up-to-date on all the blogs on here, even if I don't make a comment. Love you all, until next time....