Today was trying. I have a summer cold and feel blah. The high temp is going to be in the mid-90s for the forseeable future, so going to the pool is the only way to be outside, but I don’t have the energy to take the kids there or anywhere else fun, the way I feel. I’m also trying not to spend money since it’s the end of the month.

But I’m on a mission to find bedding for my daughter’s room, so I dragged them all to Home Goods this morning (I had an ancient gift card). They acted pretty horrible there, but I managed to get a plain set of white sheets, a gift for my nephew’s birthday, and a candle without going too far over the card amount. I also bought a piece of wall art that seemed cute at the time but which now seems hokey, so I might return it.

We stayed inside all the rest of the day. I got a few things done, including some wash, and I played with them on and off. My older son worked on his summer reading project. I often feel like I’m making my way through the day across a path of step stones. It’s a jump and a bit of a struggle to get from one activity to the next, and sometimes we miss a step and fall down into the abyss of quarreling and ennui. But the steps are there. Today, there were three dying bumblebees on our front steps, and they spent at least fifteen minutes studying this scene and discussing what it might portend.

Once we make it to 4:30 or so, I feel more relaxed. Dinner is in sight, and the heat usually eases up after 6. Tonight after dinner, they played with the hose and threw the football around with my husband and the kid next door and his dad.

Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I finally sat down for our Very Painful Financial Summit. As painful as it was, a few good things came out of it.

Number one, I realized in looking back through my bank account that there was no deficit. I had simply missed entering one of his deposits in my spreadsheet. So that was a relief, because I had thought we had this big deficit in April. I sort of knew in the back of my mind that there was probably a mistake like that, but I had never taken the time to look.

Number two, my husband was able to get a better idea of where all our money goes on a monthly basis. I had been getting annoyed because I felt like he was always complaining about how he thinks we spend so much money, but he would also complain if he felt like there wasn’t enough food in the house or that I should be getting my hair done or using a sitter more. So I just wanted him to see that the food costs x and the Verizon bill is y, and so on. I think that by the time we were finished, we both had a better idea of the finances as a whole. We made a few decisions, such as to slightly bump up the automatic savings amount (money that gets automatically transferred twice a month from checking to savings). This has been a great tool for growing our savings. We also talked a bit about retirement stuff, but need to do more in that area.

I also have been working on fixing some things on my credit report, in anticipation of refinancing the house.

The corn, it is still a-growing. The corn silk is a neat dark pink color.

The zinnias and dahlias are looking good too.

Dahlia

Zinnia

When we got groceries on Monday, I tried not to get too much stuff. I want to use up what we have here, eat up some garden stuff, and avoid throwing food away like I did this past Sunday:

Granted, that accumulated over more than one week. (But it’s not all the food, either, because I threw some away before taking the picture.) The red stuff is watermelon; the yellow bowl has the leftover guacamole I made. There’s some sour cream and chocolate milk in there too. Feeling a little extra guilty about food waste after reading this. At least the fruit and veggies get composted. We have eaten at home for all meals this week, except for lunch on Tuesday, when my parents took us out.

I can’t believe August is almost here. I’m skeered because in August I really have to get cracking on my sister’s wedding, PTA stuff, and back-to-school stuff…