I'm still worried about SecretarySavings. I hope she is okay....

I recently moved a large amount of money...about $95K from two Vanguard funds, a domestic and international equity fund...into my Vanguard money market. I hope I won't regret it. I did it at the urging of a close friend of mine who reminded me that there are many indicators of a sharp correction coming. I've known this all along but had merely increased my bond holdings, even while knowing that bonds got clobbered the last time we had a stock market correction.

Before the transfer, I was holding about 55% equity exposure, which is a bit on the aggressive side for someone in their late 50s. So now I'm at about 45% equity exposure. It gives me some peace of mind of safety in the event of a correction, but of course I'm dealing now with "opportunity risk." Losing out on high market days with that $$ sidelined.

I haven't done much today. I was going to do some much-needed yardwork this afternoon, but then it clouded over (remnants of Harvey coming) and it's so chilly I just lost my enthusiasm for it.

I spent all morning updating my employment history on a state website, which is required of me. I also have to show up for a meeting with them in 2 weeks time with proof of job search activity, etc. I even used my account here to figure out exact start and end dates at various jobs, because while I am accurate on months and years, I don't usually track the exact dates, which many job application forms require.

I managed to save over $500 in August, thanks to living frugally, and $2,000 for the year-to-date ending Aug 31. I really need to watch spending in September as well, as both my car and homeowners insurance bill will come due then. As in the past, I plan to apply for another upfront bonus credit card so I can pay for home/car with that card and earn the $200 or so bonus with a single charge.

I recently went "shopping" for gift cards by redeeming the $200 bonus I earned from using my Wells Fargo credit card. I got gift cards from Amazon, CVS, Lowes, Macys and Staples and they should arrive soon. I earned it 3 months ago but they made only awarded it now.

I watched an interesting b/w film last night on Amazon depicting racism and feminism among Mexican salt miners in New Mexico. Racism against Mexican miners earning less than their white counterparts, and feminism when the Mexican miners fought so hard for their rights without considering the women.

It's been so chilly at night here that I had to take in all my succulents/cacti. I've decided to try overwintering them and inducing dormancy in my unheated family room on a large folding table I got from my mother, placed in front of an east-facing window. But right now, they're in the sun room, to take advantage of south and west-facing windows until it gets too cold at night even in there. It's also unheated but it has some small vents near the ceiling that let in a lot of cold air. I'm not really sure how cold it gets but plan to use the thermometer in the family room to guage temps in there. I think it mostly stays in the 45 to 55 degree range in there (?) which would mostly be okay. (Fifties is probably better.)

My regular houseplants, like the wandering jew I got, will remain in the main part of the house. I have an alocasia and mistletoe that both like humidity and misting, so they'll stay in the upstairs bathroom. And there are other plants scattered around the house. I guess I would have to say that the mistletoe and zebra haworthia are my favorites.

I may start dispensing of my outdoor cucumber plants as they won't grow in this chillier weather. There's still all of September, but they are looking rather spent. The tomatoes won't be far behind.

There's another large paper hornets' nest developing high in the branches of my doublefile viburnum. I did warn my mower about it, even though it's too high up to be jostled, but otherwise will just let it be. It's too bad it wasn't within reach as I have always wanted to collect one (frustrated naturalist) after hard frost.

This past week I was able to scrape, sand, putty, prime and repaint the front part of the little roof held up by 2 columns at my front entry. It was peeling badly and looked like an eyesore (if you happened to glance up). I used the new/used ladder I bought on FB to reach it. It doesn't look perfect, but at least it's not peeling now.

There's one strange section of interior peeling paint on the ceiling at the top of my stairs to 2nd floor. It's the same spot that was peeling roughly 8 years ago. Why this area peels, I don't know. But I want to fix it this fall while I can still air out the house when it's drying. Maybe this week...