All of the high cost bills I mentioned recently have been paid, save for the paint job of the garage ceiling ($366), which will happen next week. My taper finished retaping it today, so not only has that bill been paid, but also my car, homeowners and umbrella policies and my property taxes. I used two different agents to try to get better prices fo the home/auto policies, but in the end, my current policies were more affordable. They had risen substantially, but apparently not as substantially as The Hartford or a host of other insurers would like to charge me.

So that means I have $4,107 left to live on until Sept. 12, when my IRA CD matures. SEEMS reasonable. That includes about $935 after taxes on my annuity payment this month. I already shut off the Vanguard dividends income stream since I planned to obtain income from the IRA CD instead, all in the name of keeping my 2024 income low. The CD is about $12,000, and after trying unsuccessfully to have it rolled back to my Vanguard account 5 years ago and then getting stuck with where it is now at a lower rate for ANOTHER 5 years, I figure it will be simpler to take the distribution. I called them to see if I could notify them in advance I'd be taking a distribution on it, but she said I would have to wait until the day of maturity, and then I have just 10 days to tell them what to do. This was originally a State Farm CD, and then US Bank apparently acquired this part of the business. I am anxious to get my $$ out of there.

I have a birthday coming up very soon but won't be doing anything special except for a litter cleanup with the group I volunteer with, at a beach about 35 minutes from here. On the way home, I may treat myself to lunch out somewhere, and when I get home, I'll go to the gym. Business as usual!

My cousin in PA shipped me my B'day present from Amazon, but inadvertently sent me 2 packages (an air fryer and chichuahua meds) he intended for himself. He asked me to give him a day this week when I'd be home all day, so I picked Tuesday, a day that came and went with no sight of a UPS driver to retrieve the package. Which was a little annoying becus I did have things to do that day. I rarely have a day with nowhere to go.  So looks like I'll be holding onto the packages until he makes another trip out this way.

I heard from another cousin who had been living with her husband in upstate NY, who had moved to Utah to live with their daughter/son? about a year ago. At the time, she had said everything was great, it was a big house, etc., but apparently things weren't so great after all because when she texted me a Happy Birthday, she told me they are back in NY state and plan to start house-hunting in North Carolina to be near their grandchild. Well, NC is closer than UT, and I would like to meet her someday. We discovered we were related via Ancestry.

I received a little gift from another wonderful cousin in NJ and I need to call and thank her for it.

My friend R., the baker, always bakes me whatever kind of cake I want to mark the occasion, but this year I requested dark chocolate chip and walnut cookies. Built-in portion control.