Yay Fay's OK!

Just went shopping at my local mall and lucked into clearance sales--for less than $150 total I got a pair of khakis for work, a pair of jeans, and three shirts to replenish my sorely deficient summer work wardrobe (all at Lane Bryant) plus a new pair of shoes for my new home workout program. (Which basically entails popping a workout DVD into the player, and will start as soon as I've cleared a large enough spot of living room floor, decluttering the house being another project of mine I'm trying to get off the ground.)

I'd forgotten how fun it can be to just shop. We've been pretty damn broke ever since 2004, so for years now I've only been shopping when I really really need something specific, which all too often leads to tears and frustration. Anyway, thanks to frugality and the gradual effects of me working again, we've gone from damn broke to just broke, so I was able to shop today with a lighter heart than I have in a long time and actually get something beyond the two pieces I desperately needed (the khakis and the shoes). Granted, the massive clearance sales helped, but it feels good to feel like we've dug ourselves partway out of our hole. Assuming the inheritance comes through we'll be all the way out, but I'm glad we were able to at least make a beginning on our own.

yay Susan. I just had a neighborhood kid help me in the yard--and I had talked to his folks telling them I was going to pay him 10.00 an hour. It is a lot. But way less than the professional gardeners. But I figure I want to keep him helping me all through high school. And plus - he does what I tell him to do. He also wants to be a kindergarten teacher. If he stay in Ca, he could probably have 3 or 4 people that he worked on their yard and still have a leisurely summer.

I seem to have just dyed my hair pink. Huh.

On purpose?

Well, yes. But I didn't know I was going to do it this morning.

hooray for purposeful yet un-premeditated pink!

Yay pink!

t meme

So ND and I just spent an hour combing around various travel sites and have come to the conclusion that we can't afford to go to CT this summer. It's the right thing to do, and I'm proud of us for not just charging it, but I'm bummed, too. It's been almost a year since I've seen either of my parents, and I know that they can't afford to come out to see me, either. I haven't seen my dad's side of the family in three years, and they've been sending me sweet, "We miss you! Come home!" messages. And the capper is that my mom's mom is turning 95 and my dad's mom is...89 or 90. They aren't going to be around much longer. If one of them passes on before I am able to come home, I'm going to feel awful. Also, also, I miss my friends back there. And New England. Especially the Atlantic.

But between the F2F--which we'd booked before we reached this conclusion--and all of the unexpected expenses of these past couple of months, it just isn't going to happen. We have frequent flier miles, but none we can use in July for this particular location.

I will likely get out of CA for a week or two at some point since ND has another Florida business trip at the beginning of August that won't cost us much at all (everything would be paid for except my plane ticket, which we can probably use FF miles on), but I'm feeling a little sad about the situation.

t /meme

Jessica, yay pink! I heartily approve.

I approve of pink too! I just wasn't sure if you were aiming for another color and ended up with pink instead.

We need pictures!