I redeemed my bonus points at American Express yesterday. Monkey Mama was right; they all say you won't get the points awarded for 6-8 weeks, but I found that as soon as they received payment for my third month's statement, the points showed up online.

I didn't think Amex Premier had as many interesting store gift cards as some of the other credit card companies. For regular gift cards, they had all high end stores like Bloomingdales, Sharper Image and so on. There weren't that many "regular" stores, but they did have Walmart, so I got a $50 WM card, where I can really stretch my dollars (not that I prefer their merchandise). I also got e-gift certificates for Kohl's ($150) and Home Depot ($50). I always seem to need something at Home Depot, and it will be a treat to buy some nice clothes at Kohl's.

I am also working on another $25 GC from the Cit Thank you card and am petty close to earning it.

If you include the imminent Citi thank you card gift card plus the $108 value of the Citi Forward card promo, which pays for a year's Netflix subscription, my 2012 YTD credit card rewards total $983!

I have an $800-odd homeowners insurance bill due end of month, and I want to shop around elsewhere for a better price; Met Life routinely increases the bill every year by 15%, even with no claims by me. I can't wait to get rid of Met Life. Once I do, I'd like to have another credit card deal lined up so I can charge this big bill to the new card. I may have to settle for a $100 promo. I haven't even touched the Capital One cards...yet.

I really need to close one of the cards and can't decide which one. Any suggestions on which to ditch? Here's all the cards I have:
A green Amex card: lousy rewards, but have had it 10+ years so i will keep it.
USAA Visa: same as above; no rewards, but have had a long time.
Citi forward: Most recent acquisition and will keep to enjoy the free netflix 1-year membership
Amex Premier: This has an annual fee after the 1st year so i will positively cancel it but feel funny doing so so soon after redeeming my points, so will wait a month or so....
Chase Freedom
Citi thank you: Close to earning another GC on it.

Today I'm going to the Lutheran church fair and tag sale. I may do a bit of grocery shopping; I saw $3.99 a pound Atlantic salmon at Caraluzzi's. And I really need to walk!

This morning for the 5th consecutive day, I got a mouse in the trap. They seem to love this one area near the chimney in the basement, which I can access thru a little trap door at the top of the basement stairs. Exactly how many mice do I have??? While it's distasteful to deal with disposing them, it's better that I get them instead of the cats, who like to bring the mice upstairs. No, no no!

Yesterday was a pretty productive day. I made granola, mowed the back lawn and recaulked the bathtub, something I'd been wanting to do for ages. Yesterday it reached 80 degrees here; tomorrow, temps will get into only the 50s.

Let me ask you a personal question: how often do you clean your bathtub? I was just wondering, cus it seems i need to recaulk the seal between the tub and the tile wall every year. It gets disgusting mold on it. I must admit, cleaning is not my strong suit. I rarely clean the bathtub. Does regular...does it have to be weekly?....cleaning with Tilex or something really keep that stuff off? I wonder if it's just my tub, which is enclosed on 3 sides.