I've been getting most of my new books from little free libraries although I did just put one back after reading like a quarter because it was so bad. Like, I wondered if it was too racist to put back out into the world and maybe I should just throw it away.

I have been spending like crazy but without going into debt.

Garage door and gate project, t-shirts, a few books and audiobooks, plants, planters, birdseed/feeders, bras, work clothes, so many fake nail sets, lots of take-out food.

Our biggest financial thing is making sure we have the right amount of life insurance, and also disability insurance, and then shoring up our emergency fund/retirement accounts (such as they are). Financial planning gives me the cold sweats, because my parents were lousy at it and I didn't have any good model of how an adult responsibly manages money. But Tim and I survived our money discussions without actually fighting, so that was heartening.

His heart surgery was in January, and at the hospital that morning he paid a $400 copay. So far he's gotten one bill, for $150, from the home healthcare service that sent a nurse to our house 3 times while he was recovering. Literally no other bills have come yet. And tomorrow is August, which is 7 (seven!) months after his surgery, and I'm really just waiting to get the bill for the balance of his surgery, after his insurance's portion is paid. Because no one has heart surgery for $400. (Or else Tim's employer provides fucking platinum-plated Cadillac insurance. And while the insurance seems pretty good, it cannot possibly be heart-surgery-for-$400 good.) But the bills sure are taking their sweet time getting here, which is driving me nuts. We can't plan shit financially if we don't know what we owe on his surgery.

When I cleaned out the refrigerator at my old apartment, I found five (!) bottles of wine I'd forgotten about. Now if I could only find my corkscrew ....

Dammit, Tep, now I'm filled with anger over the whole stupid charging people for needing medical care system we have. It's based in wrongness and implemented terribly in just about every way it possibly could and I hate it so much! Argh!

My life insurance bill is due next week and I am unsure how I'm going to pay it (I think I pay it annually, but possibly semi-annually, but maybe I can switch it to monthly because while it's not a lot out of my annual salary it is a big chunk out of my paycheck) but now is NOT the time to be letting life insurance lapse, right? It's a pretty small policy, just meant to help my heirs (that sounds so fancy for the people who will have to deal with my debts and sell my house) cover short-term expenses (like the funeral I still haven't arranged although I have the burial plot and the headstone...), it would be REALLY IRRESPONSIBLE for me to not have it

Score, Toddson! Corkscrew~ma. I actually got a free corkscrew from a travel agency that I visited on my last public outing before shelter at home (that is to say, the last time I attended an organized public thing, not the last time I went out in public at all) and it has come in very handy

The big spend items this summer have been a new HVAC system after ours burned out and medical bills. Fun times.

My crazy purchase was a 1:300 Lego-knock-off model of the U.S.S. Enterprise (WWII not Star Trek). To put together this week while I am on vacation.

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I also bought some new underwear, but one of my dogs has taken bites out of most them so I also got a hamper and more new underwear.

Whoa, that lego Enterprise is awesome!

Oh, Tep, I hear that - my parents were (and are!) a shining example of "how not to be" around money. Have you or Tim received any "explanation of benefits" statements online from your insurance company?

I inherited none of my mother's financial skills. A depression child, she was incredibly frugal. My dad worked for the state as a civil engineer, so middle class, but not big bucks by any means, and mom didn't work for income. Still, they put 4 kids through Catholic schools, had 2 homes and 2 cars all my life. She canned fruits and vegetables, bought half cows and froze stuff. When dish soap was on sale she got a dozen, and so forth. Dad did have good health and retirement benefits so that wasn't an issue. We never really wanted for anything and they had a comfortable retirement.

That said, I inherited none of her sensible habits. At all.