I just got my blood work back from Friday--good on the sugar levels, decent on cholesterol (139 overall, and 39 for the good cholesterol, which is low but higher than it was a few years ago--I need more fish oil!), but really low on vitamin D, so I'm going to go on a prescription-strength weekly dosage for the next three months. This is my first scrip ever for something that isn't a one-time-only fix, so I feel a bit strange about that. I'm getting old!!

Also, I finally visited the website for the diet guy I'm going to tomorrow, which suggested contacting my insurance to see if I could get an out-of-network referral, so that after my out-of-pocket payments get to the deductible, they can start paying for part of the treatment. I'm waiting to hear back from my doctor's office to see if that's feasible.

Oh, and that's probably good, megan. It probably means you could call and ask to raise the limit if you should need it in the future, i.e., until you get Chase paid off.

I took it as a sign and cancelled it. It was just a crutch anyway, since the credit lines on my 3 remaining cards (including Chase) are well over $50K and what the heck was I keeping it for anyway.

We're doing ours kind of wonkily; Dave Ramsey wouldn't approve. But we took the house credit and used that to pay off the music store (surprise) and my credit card. We're hitting his card next and that will only leave the big debt plus paying back the feds the house credit, both of which have no interest. Since our interest rates are so high I think it's still a good tradeoff, Ramsey's objection notwithstanding.

Well, he's not against shuffling debt, unless you do it as a way of fooling yourself that you don't actually have to buckle down and pay it.

We plan to save up to pay it as part of the snowball even though I don't think there's a mechanism for us to pay it early.

Which you clearly aren't doing.

decent on cholesterol (139 overall, and 39 for the good cholesterol, which is low but higher than it was a few years ago

Kathy, that's better than "decent" -- that's pretty darn good! Yeah, the recommendation for HDL is 45, but you're close, and apparently going up, so that's SWEET cholesterol. I envy you.

The cholesterol is purely genetic, I promise you! It freaked my mom out the first time I ever had my cholesterol done (with the fasting for eight hours beforehand), and my number was 118. But, my dad has never had his chol. number over 150, so I know where I get it from.

My brother, who works out daily and is in quite good shape, is stuck with his number hovering around 200.

Oh, and my "good" chol. count a few years back was 25, so getting it up to 39 is a big improvement!

I took it as a sign and cancelled it.

Hee. Well, good on you.

Well, he's not against shuffling debt, unless you do it as a way of fooling yourself that you don't actually have to buckle down and pay it.

True. I just know he doesn't love the 2008 incarnation of the house credit because it's government debt, and the IRS is the one organization that can enforce a debt. Our only hesitation was because if we sell the house it all falls due. But we have lots of equity in the house still, and no intent to sell, so that's probably not a big deal.

I haven't heard what he thinks of the 2009 version.

Which you clearly aren't doing.

Yeah, I actually feel pretty happy about our progress. That's the point of the snowball, I know, you feel like you're making headway right away. But so far so good.

Wonkette has a possible cover illustration for Blago's book: Blago’s Book Sure To Be Bestseller

There is only one way we’re buying Rod Blagojevich’s sure-to-be-shitty “inside story” about how he’s an “incompetent crook” and “washed-up circus clown” — and that’s if Chicago’s Lauri Apple actually provides the cover art. And the “book” is not actually written by Rod Blagojevich, and is also not about him at all. The back cover needs to be the famous “I CAN PARACHUTE ME THERE” illustration, the end.

I did what made sense to my piece of mind . First I paid off the highest debt card - it made me nervous. The lowest is almost done - and would have been gone , but for the job stuff. Once it is paid off the next two cards are pretty much neck and neck -- it will be a race. But I think Matt's first because it has a higher interest rate and mine has no minimum payment. then the oly debt will be house debt. I call this the Beth financial plan.

One problem with what the credit card companies are doing is that your credit score is based on the percentage of your total available credit you're using. That's why Clark Howard says to keep all your cards and charge a little on them each year. All my credit cards dropped my limit, and my credit score dropped like a rock. To add insult to injury, they all said they were doing it as a result of a "periodic review." Periodic my ass. I've had two of those cards for 20+ years and they've never periodically reviewed me before.

One problem with what the credit card companies are doing is that your credit score is based on the percentage of your total available credit you're using.

I don't intend to ever borrow again, so I don't particularly care what my credit score is.

To add insult to injury, they all said they were doing it as a result of a "periodic review." Periodic my ass. I've had two of those cards for 20+ years and they've never periodically reviewed me before.

Yeah, that's exactly the language they used.

Hey, 20 years is a period of time!