Save More, Spend Less

I scheduled my annual advisory checkup with T. Rowe Price for next week. It's just a phone call where they do a little fact-finding about my goals, and then they follow up with nicely detailed recommendations for fine-tuning my portfolio and perhaps making little adjustments to my asset allocation.

I'm always curious to hear what they recommend. I've done this before and followed their advice. It doesn't mean you have to allocate to their funds, and there is no charge if you have a certain minimum invested (again, doesn't have to be with T. Rowe Price.)

Most of my assets are now with Vanguard, but I have left my 2 taxable accounts and a small SEP-IRA with T. Rowe as I didn't want to create a taxable event by trying to transfer those monies over to Vanguard.

The guy I was counting on to assess all the hard-to-access nooks and crannies in the foundation where mice could enter, and then do all the sealing, is so busy he can't get here right away, and I'm farther out than he needs to go for new customers. Apparently, he's quite busy in his own area. He didn't say no not at all, but he said it may take a while...which means this will hold up my insulation job, and actually, the garden window job too, because I'm reluctant to spend on other things til I know just what he would charge.

I suppose I could proceed with the new insulation since cellulose is treated with boride, which repels pests, but I'd much prefer to do the sealing first so I'd be assured mice would not foul the new insulation. I'm feeling committed to doing it this year, and want to keep my mental momentum going, but I will wait...for a time... for sealer guy.

In the meantime, I have another insulation company coming later this week. I'm feeling better informed about my options now and just want to see what they say.

I'm due for an emissions test on my car, which in CT only happens every few years. Will do this week. I should be receiving a check from the auction house soon for the old books I auctioned off. The guy who gave me those books in barter has decided he wants to grow elderberries so he can make elderberry wine. And he has promised to have me up when they drink the wine! I told him I'd be happy to get a bottle of elderberry wine included in our next barter.

My Amazon Prime expires today, and I'm not too worried. Once my .99/month Hulu expires in the 4th quarter, I will investigate Netflix vs Hulu vs Amazon Prime and likely go for the most economical route.

I'm going to the town's genealogy club meeting this week, as the focus will be on researching NJ relatives. Also on my schedule this week is catching the last showing of Green Book at our $3 theater, and walking with a friend after work at least once.

I was able to do a fair amount of yard work this weekend, which included raking up all the twigs and small tree branches under the old apple tree, which was cut down, in preparation for grass seeding, which I'll do later this week.

I cut up (by hand), about 8 feet of an old picket fence to take to transfer station, and cut back the old stems on a bunch of sedums around the front yard and driveway areas. I transplanted 2 small cedar tree seedlings growing in the wrong places. Still a ton more to do, but at least I'm making progress.

Did some raking today, which made me feel so out of shape. Now I'm enjoying a toasty 75 degrees inside because I've turned the heat off and am running my kerosene heater. We may not have too many cold nights left, so I'm trying to use up my emergency power outage kerosene stockpile.

I'm still very busy getting quotes from contractors for various projects. Attic insulation is #1 on my list. The 1st guy wanted to do the spray foam for $3900. The more I read about it, the more I didn't like it, from an environmental/health point of view. And it all boils down to the technician's expertise. They mix 2 chemicals together on site, and if they get the ratio wrong, the stuff won't cure right and you'll be breathing in the outgassing for months.

The 2nd guy wanted to do rigid board foam, which would be somewhat better because these are pre-manufacturered and less chance of something going wrong. But he wanted over $7,000!

I did more research and decided I wanted the old-fashioned blown-in cellulose, which is nontoxic, a recycled product and even repels rodents because it's treated with borax for its fire retardant properties.

I had trouble finding guys who still did the cellulose, because they can all charge much more to do the spray foam, and it is, legitimately the most energy-efficient product out there. But I'm willing to give up a few points in R value for a more eco-friendly product.

After sharing my thoughts with spray foam #1 guy, he came back to me with an estimate of about $1500 for the cellulose, which he kept trying to talk me out of when he was here, but I think he realized that instead of losing my business entirely, he may as well quote me a price on what I wanted from the start.

However, he said he'd just blow the cellulose in over my existing insulation. I know the fiber glass batts I have are filled with mouse droppings, and I don't like the idea of putting brand new insulation over mouse droppings.

So....I'm trying to get a different guy out here who would do a whole home assessment to determine points of entry and then give me a price on completely sealing the home. He's not cheap. I tried to get him out here last year, and although he didn't, he said his cheapest price is $3,000. He got great reviews on Angie's List. He's not an exterminator, and appeared to be the only guy who did what I was looking for: someone to prevent entry, not simply kill them with baits or poison, which I could do myself. He crawls around the foundation, basement, roof and it's the kind of very messy, dirty, filthy job I suppose a homeowner could try to do themselves, but I sure don't.

So, although it's hard to swallow so much $$ for an "invisible" home improvement, I'm thinking I should bite the bullet, and the thousands I would have otherwise spent on pricey spray foam insulation could be applied to the house sealing instead.

I've decided to drop out of the "Mastering Aging" program. I've been to 3 classes and really haven't learned anything new. It's all very basic stuff. This past week the topic was nutrition, and the dietitian speaker said a number of things challenged by a few people in the audience. I didn't think she was very well-informed.

Tomorrow I'll be attending a meeting on building a pollinator pathway here through town. Similar to a wildlife corridor that provides shelter and safe passage for critters, the pollinator pathway is a continuous swath of native nectar sources for endangered butterflies, like the Monarch.

After a VERY busy Thursday/Friday,I set myself a few early spring yard work chores for today and finished one of them: deadheading all my sedum Autumn Joys. May not sound like much but it took 3 trips with the wheelbarrow to dump all the clippings at yard edge down at the far corner of the yard.

Now just relaxing with a cup of green tea and dark chocolate. I hope to make a transition from drinking black tea and sometimes green and white, to green and white entirely, due to the health benefits of the latter. I love my teas!

I had a contractor over this morning to look at a double-hung window I'd like to replace with a garden window, aka greenhouse window. It's in a short hallway on the first floor in kind of a dead space, with a bathroom door to the left and a closet door to the right. A garden window in this spot would receive both southern and western light and my cacti/succulents would love it (not to mention Luther), and it would free up my bathroom, which is where most of my plants spend the winter.

He's also going to give me a price on installing a pergola. Found one on Amazon (12 x 12') that was the same model as one I saw at Lowes, but $600 cheaper. It's maintenance-free white vinyl. My biggest concern is how it would stand up to the occasional high wind hurricane.

I also got prices from my mason for several different jobs, but his prices are so high, so I want to shop around, and truth be told, I'm not even sure what my priorities should be this year.

For instance, I should really beef up my attic insulation. I had an energy audit done 8 years ago and was told i had about R-22 insulation when I should have R-49. I just never got around to it.

I'll probably make that the first priority and maybe do one other thing, either the garden window or the pergola.

Took my car for an oil change at dealer, and replaced the battery.

Saw my dad yesterday and baked him a lemon pistachio quick bread at his place, which came out super dry and not very good. I've never used his oven before, plus I made several substitutions, so I'm not surprised.

Is anyone else having problems once again posting photos? I can't seem to get it to work. I get the image code but I don't see the image itself anymore.

So, as mentioned earlier, I applied for a volunteer editor job with Kiva.org, an organization I greatly admire and a group through which I regularly make micro-loans.

First I was asked to do one test, then another. I had a perfect score. Now I've been accepted and have begun editing profiles! I'm still in a 2-week training period, and there are a lot of things to learn with their particular editing platform, along with various things to look out for and style preferences, but all in all, I think it will be enjoyable.

The 2nd "fun development" is that about a week ago, the auction house that will hopefully be selling 2 old books of mine (which I received as part of a barter arrangement with my neighbor) has posted the full contents of its next auction (next week) online. My books are among the offerings.

So if someone wants to bid early, ahead of the live auction, they are free to do so. Bidders can come from anywhere in the world. I've been checking the auction site every other day to see if anyone may have placed an early bid on my books, but there were no takers, until today!

Someone has placed a bid of $200 on them. The auction guy said their value is more, but since I acquired these books without paying for them, I'll be happy with whatever I get for them. Although I admire their "look" and great age (1500s), I think I'd appreciate the cash more.

My mason has come back to me with higher-than-expected estimates for 2 of the jobs that I might end up doing this year, so anything extra to defray that cost would be good.

I've also pretty much decided not to repeat the organic cedar oil sprayings in my yard for ticks this year. Last year, I think I did 3 or 4 sprayings at $110 a pop. Most times I found a tick in my yard shortly after the spraying, and they did return for a repeat spraying as advertised, but I still have to wonder if any amount of sprayings actually decreased the population.

Equally important to me is not inadvertently killing other insects. Given the state of the environment at a global level, I don't want to make it worse in my neck of the woods. But ticks are also a serious problem here, so it was a tough decision to do it. And now I've changed my mind about it. So although it was "organic," I won't spray again.

I successfully grew 2 young milkweed seedlings last year from seed I collected, and I am hoping they survived the winter. They're planted in a large brushy area where my 3 white pines were taken down, and I hope to plant more perennials attractive to pollinators there this year.

I still have 3 black swallowtail butterfly chrysalises I overwintered in the back of my garage. I don't want them to emerge too early in the relative warmth of the garage, so a week or so ago I put them outside in a shaded area of my driveway that stays cool.

My neighbor and his chain saw guy came by last weekend to do the cleanup of many big white pine branches that came down in an ice storm from another white pine I have. I pitched in. My neighbor himself can't do that kind of work anymore because he hurt his back. I was glad to get the cleanup done, but I am still left with some raking to do of much smaller debris, which I'm hoping to do tomorrow as it should be up to 60 degrees!!!

At some point, a winter storm brought down another branch in the backyard that nicked the side of my tool shed and knocked 2 small shutters off the shed window. I am hoping that with a ladder I can put them back up, also tomorrow.

I'm actually really looking forward to some early spring chores. There is so much to do. Get a metal rake and pull out all the old compacted leaves clogging a storm sewer on the road right by my driveway. Cut down a sapling in the wrong place by the mailbox. Cut back all the sedum heads from last year.

In my 2nd "Mastering Aging" class, they had some representatives of Union Bank there talking about a variety of finance topics. I've been a little bored so far as I'm not really learning anything new, but I'll hang in there and hope that changes soon. The 1st class was really just an orientation of what was to come.

I've gotten in the habit of picking up groceries for my dad before heading over there, and then bringing something for lunch too. He is getting physical therapy only twice a week for 2 weeks, and then they want him to go the facility, where I think they can do more for him. His apartment doesn't really have much space for him to practice walking, and I'm afraid that when no one is there, he tends to sit around. At the same time, I would be very worried if he started venturing outside without anyone there to make sure he's safe. He's still using a walker and moving very slowly.

I also vacuumed for him, watered a bunch of plants on high shelves (you actually need a ladder to get to them), and generally tidied up. My natural impulse is to do as much for him as possible, but I think I need to hold back just a little and let him do things that are in fact doable, because he needs to move around more and regain his muscle tone.

His therapist arrived while I was there the other day and I thought he made a lot of good observations, correcting various things he saw my dad doing as he put him through his paces (shuffling more than walking, and relying on his arm strength too much when he leaned on the walker to rise from a seated position, instead of putting his full weight on the leg that had the surgery).

I have to say I am loving my p/t work schedule (this is my 2nd year doing that). Each day is different and filled with interesting activities. I am always on the lookout for new and interesting things to do. And I am so thankful I can make extra time for my dad, who never complains and maintains his good spirits.

Today I made a dairy-free coleslaw as well as a sun-dried tomato hummus. I'd include a photo, but once again the photos don't seem postable.

Yesterday I had an appointment with my neurologist. I mentioned earlier how his staff insisted I needed to see the doctor (new to me) every 3 months, even though I said I was feeling fine and not having any problems. It was "protocol," they said.

He peppered me with a lot of questions while reading my charts simultaneously, and followed that up with a brief exam, after which he declared, I'll see you again in a year. I guess his staff was a little overzealous. This caused me to go off my meds, because they wouldn't refill the prescription until I saw him again; all I could do was move my appointment up by a few weeks and cut into work time to see him. savethelastdance4rosie@yahoo.com

As I was checking out, he rummaged around and gave me a 2-week supply of the meds to tide me over until the prescription can be filled. This is not unusual for many drugs, but the one I take is exceedingly expensive. It can take a week to get the mail order prescription going again. He pointed out the prescription expiration date was December but said it was probably still good. I agreed. Hey...a 2-week's supply at retail would cost me about $1,500.

Yes, since the patent expired, the price has actually been going up, not down. There are some generic versions now available for about one-third less money, but my doctor recommended I stick with the brand drug since the generics don't legally have to be identical. Same ingredients, different amounts.

I very carefully chose an insurance plan this year that would ensure my med would be covered. Although I now have a $250 drug deductible to pay, and my cost to see any kind of specialist is going to be $115 per visit instead of the $50 I paid last year, it is still worth it to me to pay this for as long as I continue to be on this particular medication.

I continue to believe that the best health plan involves paying attention to diet and exercise to improve your chances of not having to see a doctor in the first place.

This morning is the 2nd "Mastering Aging" class I'll be attending, and then I'll be returning to the same library with a friend for the "Best Public Gardens in the Northeast" program. She wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I dropped off some herbal remedies for her and will check in with her later today.

This afternoon I'll be back home and putting in an extra 4 hours of work time, from home. Yesterday I learned the person who shares my job was going to be out the rest of this week and there seemed to be some miscommunication and no one seemed to know about it. So I volunteered to pick up the workload today, and possibly tomorrow, if I can squeeze it in around some other things I need to do.

I want to spend some time with my dad, who is still convalescing at home now. He is in good spirits, at least when I am there, but he did express a longing to "be a productive member of society, if not for others, at least for myself." Which was his way of saying he didn't want to end up just vegging out at home and requiring others to look after him.

I tried to assure him as best I could on that account, explaining that it can take many months to completely recover from surgery. With my own surgery from 10 years ago, they told me wait at least 6 weeks before returning to work, which I thought was nuts. I returned to work after 3 weeks but found that by noon I was really lagging and just plain running out of energy. Fortunately my employer was very understanding and let me work half days for a period of time until I regained my strength. And of course, I was half my dad's age.

I wrote earlier about doing the little test Kiva.org sent me after I volunteered for an editorial position there. I admire the work they do and thought it would be interesting to volunteer edit a few hours a week. So I did the test, which took about an hour. I found out recently that I aced the test, scoring 100. Now they want me to do another, different kind of test. It's due tomorrow, so I need to make time to do that today also.

The little clump of snowdrops given to me by a friend, which I planted around the base of a large white pine, are now in bloom and slowly spreading.

My daffodils and tulips are also a few inches above ground. So great to see!

I made another Kiva microloan today to Nino, who lives in Georgia, in the Caucasus region of Eurasia, so she can finance her second semester toward earning a bachelor's degree.



When the loan is eventually repaid, I can reloan the money to another deserving student or entrepreneur seeking to improve their life.

Women in other countries just don't have the same opportunities as we do. Helping someone complete their education is probably one of the best uses for my charitable dollars.

I greatly admire the Kiva organization. A year or so ago, I applied for a volunteer editor position there. Lo and behold, I got a note from them recently asking me to take a little test measuring my ability to read and review some sample portfolios. If I am offered a position and then undergo their training, I'd be expected to work at least 2 hours a week for them for at least 6 months.

Tomorrow I begin a free 10-week course at a local public library on "Mastering Aging." It covers the whole gamut, from Social Security and retirement saving to issues surrounding housing and social aspects for people approaching retirement age. I'm looking forward to learning more and am hoping it's not too basic and that it holds my interest.

I also volunteered to write an article for the local newspaper as part of an Earth Day series of stories; my article will focus on sustainable shopping. This Saturday is the group's first litter cleanup of the season. I'm happy to be getting busy with this group, although I still, for the most part, won't likely be able to attend many of their meetings since I usually work late on the nights they meet.

This Friday I may also attend a youth climate march in Westchester County. I think it important to demonstrate, with numbers of bodies on the streets, support for stronger action in the area of climate change.

I have a relatively new neurologist I'm seeing; last year, I had to leave another doc I'd been seeing for about 20 years because they were no longer in network with my insurance. But I discovered today that my new doctor expects me to see him every 3 months, even if I'm not having any problems. My old doc, in comparison, only required me to come in once a year, and then he would renew my meds for an additional 12 months.

On the face of it, it would seem the new doc is just trying to generate extra income for himself, but for me, the additional 3 annual visits would mean paying $200 in copays each year instead of $50.

What's more, his staff would not renew my meds, which need to be refilled, until I go there to see the doc. They don't know I have a small stockpile of meds to cover me in just these kinds of situations, but it really bothers me that they think this is OK. The appointment is scheduled for next week, but they still won't renew the meds, so they're basically holding me hostage until I see him.

This complicates my life, so I called my old doc and learned that he now has office hours at a certain center one day a week, and that med center, at an area hospital, accepts all insurance, including mine.

However, that location is less convenient, and since i work on the one day he's there, I'd have to take off from work, which I don't like to do because I can't easily make it up.

For the time being, I'm planning on keeping the appt with the new doc for next week. If he insists I see him quarterly, as his staff did, I may try proposing twice a year, instead of once a year, as a compromise. But 4x a year when I'm doing fine seems a little excessive to me, and I'm not sure my insurance would even cover 3 so-called "follow-up" visits? If he insists, I will probably stay mum, to make sure he doesn't renege on refilling my prescription, but then not return to him and go to my older doc instead, next time around.

I would probably just make a point to always schedule an appointment with the old doc 1st thing in the am to minimize time lost from the job. I start work later than most people, so this is mostly doable, although I'd be driving in 2 totally different directions...not ideal, but quarterly visits kind of irk me. There is also the risk that the old doc, who is now working at this MS center, might have to follow certain protocols of that center, and maybe he would no longer let me slide with once annual visits. I guess I may just have to find that out.

The end of the road, during one of my workweek lunch break walks.

I did my investment report a day early, and I like what I see....my investments have continued to rebound nicely. In fact, my net worth is the highest it's been since Feb 2018 (which was my all-time high).

The macro look at the month of February shows that year-to-date, I've spent about as much as I've earned. I was ahead last month, but in February I had 2 big expenses that wiped out the January surplus: a $650 state tax bill and $448 to pay for this season's CSA organic farm market share.

I happened to get out of work early last Tuesday, which gave me the opportunity to attend the meeting of a local environmental action group in town. It's something I wanted to do for a long time but I rarely get out of work in winter early enough to make their meetings, but now work is easing up a bit (as it usually does for the summer).

I was promptly tapped to manage the group's litter pickup days, which they do monthly all season long. So today I'll be driving around to the town's parks, schools and other public places to do a trash inventory so I can organize the next cleanup. I'll also write a press release for the paper and Patch to invite public participation.

I've also decided, on a personal level, to no longer purchase single serving beverages. Not that I buy water, soda or other sugary drinks, but I did on occasion like to buy a case of Bai, which is sweetened with Stevia. I wrote them a letter but otherwise will just stop buying it.

Seems like a nice group. Two of their other big issues have to do with eliminating plastic grocery store bags and the pollinator crisis. I think they're also talking to local restaurants about plastic takeout stuff.

I was inspired by a recent story in The Economist (about the connection between rising education of women in undeveloped countries and falling global fertility) to more narrowly focus my future Kiva loans to women seeking money for their education.

I've made a few "seed" donations which, when repaid to me, I reloan out, so the money is continuously being repaid and then reloaned. But I get impatient waiting for the repayments! There are so many deserving young women on the Kiva website.

I finally got my taxes filed today. So glad to be done with that for another year. I wound up with a small $18 refund on my federal taxes but owed about $650 on my state taxes. I think it's mostly due to having done a backdoor Roth IRA conversion. So I'm not going to fiddle with my CT withholding yet.

It's late winter now...time to call my favorite mason. I scheduled time to meet with him next week on this year's projects. I have 3 in mind that I'd like to do, but will only do 1 this year. I'm also thinking about bulking up my attic insulation and replacing the garage door.

We've had a few good weather days for walking, so I'm trying to take full advantage. I usually get some sort of walking in, but it's harder to squeeze in 10,000 steps.

I recently decided not to renew my Amazon Prime account since the cost rose from $99 to $120. I buy from Amazon very frequently, partly because I earn $20 a month in Amazon gift cards by participating in a credit card forum that doesn't take much time. But without too much trouble I can still time my purchases to qualify for free shipping.

I used to also rely on Prime a lot for my TV viewing, but now that I have .99 a month Hulu through November, it seems like unnecessary overlap and I'm watching just as much stuff on Hulu as I am Prime. So between now and April, when the Prime membership expires, I'll try to catch up and view any "must see" movies on Prime.

I think it's better not to get too attached to any one subscription, or a discretionary spend gradually becomes a necessary one in a way you might not even notice.

The past week or so has been more or less routine, save for my father's recovery, which is mostly forward-facing but which still poses some issues of concern.

I'm hoping to file my taxes tomorrow, provided the missing IRS form magically appears on their website.

Otherwise, it's business as usual, and I'm not really complaining about that.

This was a shorter-than-usual workweek for me because I worked from home yesterday due to snow/ice storm, and I get clobbered whenever I work from home since I'm supposed to bill for actual time worked. When I'm in the office, I get paid for time spent there, regardless of what work I do.

So I worked 13.5 hours this week. I have time to make it up; as long as I average 20 hours weekly for the year, I'm in good shape, but I don't want to fall much below that. Luckily there shouldn't be too many more snow days.

I'll be seeing my father again tomorrow and perhaps, as a rare "treat to self," tomorrow night I'll be catching a subtitled movie at our local town hall theater with its $3 seats. ("Becoming Astrid")

I did apply for 2 bonus credit cards and was rejected for both before realizing I should have temporarily suspended the freeze I have with all 3 credit bureaus. So the card issuers couldn't check my credit. I will probably call them tomorrow about that to see if there's anything I can do at this point. I wish I'd remembered that...

I plan to try a new pizza recipe this week which calls for hummus, caramelized red onion and roasted red peppers.

I'd like to declutter/clean my downstairs hall closet.

I'd like to contact my mason to get bids on 3 separate jobs I'd like to do (not all this year).

I've been doing some copy editing for my neighbor, who will be self-publishing his book soon. I knew he couldn't really afford to pay me, so I asked him to do some very simple chores in my yard, like cut down an ailing apple tree, or cut down some old wood posts that pose obstacles for my lawnmower, all that remains of an old picket fence that long ago rotted away.

My neighbor decided to throw in something extra: 2 very old books, one written in Latin and centuries old. One is about Aristotle and was published in 1576; the other is a history of wars in the Netherlands and was published in 1643. Each book is pocket-sized.



These are interesting to look at and admire (for a moment or two), but since I can't read them (despite 3 years of Latin in high school), I don't really have much use for them, and I am on a decluttering kick.



My neighbor told me when he gave me the 1st one that I could feel free to sell it if I wanted, and that's what I've decided to do.

He apparently has a small collection of old books and he once had plans to build a library to house them, but he has since abandoned that idea.

There is a nearby auction house, so I emailed them some photos of the first book, and he said the book "certainly has some value." So I brought both books (along with a loose page from another old book with hand-colored botanic image, which my neighbor had also given me) to the auction place yesterday.

The first book, on Aristotle, was in an "8," condition-wise, auction guy said, and the Netherlands book about a "5" or "6." He will sell them as a lot together, and expects they could fetch from about $400 to $600 for them. Aside from condition, their value is entirely dependent on how much appeal the subject matter has.

He did not take the loose page because even though it is also very old, it doesn't have much value separated from the book; maybe I'll end up putting it in a frame and using it as a decorative object.

He shone a light under the paper and told me they were made using "laid" paper, confirming their authenticity. You can see a screen-like pattern of vertical and horizontal lines in the paper.

According to Wikpedia, before the mechanization of papermaking, the laid pattern was produced by the wire sieve in the rectangular mold used to produce single sheets of paper. A worker would dip the mold into a vat containing diluted linen pulp, then lift it out, tilt it to spread the pulp evenly over the sieve, and, as the water drained out between the wires, shake the mold to lock the fibers together. In the process, the pattern of the wires in the sieve was imparted to the sheet of paper.



I used to sit in on auctions at this auction house but they don't really do that anymore since they can attract many more bidders electronically in a much broader pool of potential buyers worldwide. So I can "watch" the bidding take place online, on the day of the auction in March. That will be fun!!

Since I did not pay for these books, I'll be happy with whatever I get for them.

In other news, I finished my federal taxes but was unable to submit electronically because one of the forms I needed to file, Form 8606, was not yet available on their Free Fillable Forms website! I will have to wait at least another week or so before filing, and only then will I proceed on to the state form.

Because I was slightly overpaid for the healthcare subsidy, my $200 refund has now shrunk to about $17. I am hoping I don't owe anything on the state side.

My father is doing better now that his pain med dosage has been lowered. He continues to make progress, but he's moving very slowly, all the same. He's not yet back at the point he was before his fall.

He has a steady stream of visitors, between the 3 of us, as well as phone calls from others. He also has a bunch of new audio books to listen to from the Library of Congress, a free service for the vision-impaired. My sister and I keep bringing good food for him to eat. And he has 3 doc visits coming up this week with his urologist, retinologist and the surgeon, who will take his stitches out.

My sister said she will get a chair lift installed on the outside stairs. Progress.

I spent 5 hours on my federal tax return yesterday, and I would have been done had it not been for the fact that the ACA/my state healthcare exchange has not mailed me their 1095-A form yet. I should receive it this week.

I completed everything else including a multitude of schedules and forms. I itemized my deductions, which came to "just" $11,200, so I wound up taking the standard $12,000 deduction instead. It looks like I'll be getting about $200 back on the federal, which tells me I did a good job of calculating the impact of certain things I did during the year, like a small ($7K) backdoor Roth IRA conversion and fairly significant healthcare costs.

I figure my taxes without any special software; I just print the tax forms and closely use the IRS instructions. It's an excruciating process, but I feel more assured I'm doing things correctly this way.

Looking forward to a walk with my friend this afternoon and also plan to ensure the rest of the ice is gone from my driveway slope when the sun softens it up.

Dad seems a bit more like his old self each day I go see him. I brought him some black bean and sweet potato soup I made in a thermos to keep it hot, and when i was headed for the elevator going home, my sister comes in with her own homemade pizza. So at least dad is eating well.

I really dislike the rehab place he's in, although I think it's probably no different than most other places. It bothers me he gets no physical therapy on the weekends, simply because it's the weekend, while all the other staff is there 7 days a week. It just slows down his recovery process and it's not good for him to be sitting in a chair all day long.

When you walk down the hall, people may look at you but then quickly look away, or avoid eye contact entirely, because I think they don't want to be bothered by you asking questions. Even my dad observed early on that "everyone is in a hurry." And when you do get someone's attention, invariably they say they aren't the right person to ask. With a revolving group of staff that changes with each shift, it's really hard to form any connections with any of dad's caretakers.

Dad also made the observation that the staff will do what's most convenient for them, not what's best for the patient. After a few hours of sitting in the wheelchair, it gets uncomfortable, and at one point while i was there dad asked to lay down on his bed. The aide wouldn't do it because lunch would be coming soon and then she'd have to get him up again.

I reconnected with an old friend on Facebook. He was from CT, someone I knew in my 20s, but he has been living in southern Vermont for years now, with his wife, on 20 acres on which they have built a "Resilient Cross Generational Neighborhood."

Fully occupied, they will have 18 or so people there, each living in their own "tiny home" enjoying a close-knit, rural lifestyle embracing all ages. They are living off grid; he has a successful solar panel business and so all the homes have solar, plus backup generator electricity. You pay $30K for new construction and then just $130 a month, which covers things like water and firewood. There's a greenhouse and garden, and gray water and composting toilets. Coming soon is a wind generator, pool and hot tub, plus a lodge house.

I am so impressed. He has found a way to put his personal beliefs into action.

The stock market rebounded nicely, at least in terms of my bottom line, which is now back up $30K. It hasn't fully recovered to where it was, but it's not too far off.

Hey, there...saw this story and instantly thought of you!

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/this-millennials-company-makes-millions-buying-from-walmart-and-reselling-on-amazon-151213013.html

I've been able to do the following decluttering since last fall:

1. Got rid of some books when I painted the family room floor:

2. File cabinets: getting rid of old medical bills and other unneeded or unwanted paper files. I'd hoped to winnow this down enough that i could get rid of a 2-drawer filing cabinet, but that didn't happen...yet.

3. Kitchen cabinets: Donated some old dishes and other stuff taking up room.

4. Four under-sink cabinets: Set aside some very old cleaning supplies and duplicate items for my town's next Household Hazardous Waste Day. I must have a 10-year supply of rug cleaner and scrubby sponges.

5. Various "junk drawers."

6. Went through a pile of tablecloths, dish towels and place mats kept in a cabinet in the dining room.

7. Random articles of clothing: I find this one of the harder categories to do as I can always justify holding onto something in case I lose weight, etc.

8. Two linen closets (towels and bedsheets) have been tidied up.

Each time I tidy up a storage space and make everything neat and tidy, I feel very satisfied. However, what I take out is somewhat modest, and I feel I could thin things out more aggressively. I'm always fighting my natural frugality and desire not to waste things that "could" be used.

I'm not sure what's next. There is still the issue of the many hundreds of my mother's slides of each piece of art she created. I need to convert all these into jpgs, and I did buy a little gadget to do that, but never really learned to use it well, and it was very time-consuming and tedious to use.

My basement could also use a look-see.

So, after 4 or 5 nights at the hospital following hip surgery, dad was transferred to a local rehab facility close to my sister's.

I saw dad there today for the first time since he was transferred, and I have to say, he was pretty cranky and unhappy. He had been in pretty good spirits at the hospital, what with 2 or 3 of his kids there every day.

Why was he cranky? First, someone walked into his room, woke him up and brought him breakfast, but he was supposed to be able to order what he wanted. The bed is not as comfortable.

Then, he was supposed to have 2 physical therapy sessions daily, and he didn't get the morning one.

I inquired about both these things at the nursing station, and for whatever reason, he did miss the morning session but then they did 2 back to back sessions in the afternoon, which he probably didn't realize. The PT people seemed pretty nice.

He complained that everyone seemed to be in a hurry, and that one aide moving him in his wheelchair bumped his leg, which could have been painful though it wasn't.

All relatively minor things, except that, for better or for worse, this is his life for now, and I can totally understand how jarring it must feel to be in a second new environment which is very institutional, and where they have a definite system for doing things.

I reminded him that you can get more flies with honey. I brought the evening paper and read him the headlines, and offered to read whatever stories he might be interested in, but I don't think he had a strong interest. He did have me look up the stock prices of a few companies.

Earlier today I also ordered 3 new audio books for him, which come in the mail. This will also help occupy his time there, so I had to guess at topics he'd be interested in; I picked out a history of Jeff Bezos and Amazon, the history of the NJ Pine Barrens and another audio book about Oak Island, which he's been watching on TV. Unbeknownst to me, my sister also ordered 2 titles for him, too.

I stayed there a little longer than I intended, and when I left, the weather had noticeably deteriorated and it was snowing. I was glad to get home, up my slippery driveway and into my garage with the car for the night.

It will be down to zero overnight and I'll have water dripping from each faucet to help ensure nothing freezes.

The silver lining in my headline has to do with my sister. My dad's injury has forced us to talk to each other, something we've avoided doing for the 3 years since my mother's death. The subject, of course, is how to best meet dad's needs and the myriad little issues that are coming up. After snapping at me for something at the hospital earlier on, her mood has improved, and we are both striving to do what's best for dad. This is exactly the kind of cooperation and joint effort I hoped for when my mom was ill, and it does still make me incredibly sad to think of those times. My sister chose not to be involved. It's ancient history, but various things are happening now with dad that are bringing back memories, mostly not good ones, of how institutionalized care works.

One other silver lining: I actually lost a few pounds during dad's earliest days at the hospital. That first day I saw him there, I stayed 9 hours with him, and didn't eat til I got home that night; the next day, a somewhat shorter stay, but again I skipped lunch. So the weight loss was nice. I'm now just 2 pounds shy of what I weighed 9 years ago.

I spoke to some people at the nursing station on my way out, and I was surprised to meet a nurse familiar with my last name; I didn't recognize her at first, but she was someone I regularly saw for my MS, for years. She was the one who finally prodded me to go one of the so-called disease-modifying drugs and that's when I started Copaxone, in 2000. Anyway, she now works for the hospital and was doing rounds at this rehab facility. While also doubles as a nursing home and is generally a depressing place to be.

I pushed dad in his wheelchair to help him get the lay of the land on his floor, and we explored a lounge area and a dining room before going down the other end of the long hallway; that other end seemed to be reserved for the nursing home patients, and when we both heard 2 elderly people randomly calling out, dad told me to "put it in high gear," meaning, let's get out of here...and we did.

My sister will see him tomorrow afternoon, I'll return Friday, if not tomorrow, and my brother will be there Saturday. I hope he settles into the routine of the place more and experiences no further difficulties with meals and scheduled PT.

I love my dad so much, and it pains me to see him have to stay at this place, and everything else. I hope his stay is relatively short-lived.

At this very early stage post-surgery, dad is doing well: he is fully cognizant of what's going on, had a good first try at sitting up and standing with a walker and is, God willing, going to heal well.

I'll be headed over there later this afternoon with a salad I made for him full of antioxidants: red bell pepper, beets, walnuts and wild Alaskan salmon, along with a green smoothie I made for him using kale, fresh pineapple, probiotic cashew yogurt and a ripe banana. And because pain meds cause constipation, a small container of prunes and some dried apricots.

But the "rumble" I was referring to relates to how he will live after a few weeks in rehab. Right now, and for probably about 4 years, he has been living in a separate apartment on my sister's property. However, the question of his safety is once again glaringly obvious. He has a double set of outside stairs leading to his apartment (on my sister's property) above a barn. That is not where he slipped and fell; that occurred, I believe, on a grassy, sloped area between his place and my sister's house. He was out there at night with a flashlight and slipped on ice.

When my dad moved in there 4 years ago, I told my sister he should have a chair lift for the stairs. I guess he was 81 at the time. She said they would "take it as it comes," which means doing absolutely nothing to ensure his safety.

My dad loves all 4 of his children, and he seems wedded to the idea of "helping K. out" by living there, since he pays her rent. I believe K. loves him too, but she never gives anything away for free, and always needs to get something in return.

So when I brought up my concern about the stairs yesterday, she said she would look into leasing or buying a chair lift. I'm pissed, to be honest, that it took her 4 years and a fractured hip to come around to that way of thinking.

I thought to myself that we'd need to have it installed when he's ready to come home, so I offered to help research how much it cost and who would do that locally. My focus is wholly on helping dad with what he needs, and I was trying to lift the burden for some of the things that will need doing from my sister. We're in this together. But she got angry with me and said, "It's my house; I'll take care of it." And then, inexplicably, she told me I make her feel like I'm shutting her out of decisions.

Meanwhile, my dad also has 2 sons, 1 of whom came up to see him yesterday and will be back tomorrow. All 4 of his kids are ready and prepared to have him live with them. It's clear that of the 4 choices of residence, my sister's place is probably the least safe in terms of the stairs and the walk she allowed him to do several nights a week to get to her house for dinner. And since she works full-time, he spends long periods of time on his own. I do things with him occasionally on Thursdays/Fridays, and then again on Saturdays.

I, on the other hand, am the only one who is not working full-time and thus would have more time to spend keeping an eye on him. My brother does have his mother in law living there (built-in babysitter), but she is older herself, and I'm not sure how good her English is since they are Chinese immigrants. Also, the activity and noise level with 2 little kids might be more than my dad would prefer.

My brother and I both agreed that we will need to observe dad's progress in the coming weeks before coming to any determination, and of course we'll talk to him to see what his preferences are. I am quite sure that NOT living where he is now with my sister is not something dad has yet considered, and I think he will be reluctant to leave there because again, he is "helping K. out" with rent/mortgage.

I have to be really careful how we proceed because my sister is easily angered and becomes defensive over the littlest things. My brother, on the other hand, is unaware of dad's commitment to help my sister financially, and how much she'll want to keep it that way. God forbid she suspects I'm colluding with my brother to move my dad out of there.

Wednesday afternoon I called my dad to try to talk him out of going to NJ for his dentist appointment the next day. I already said I'd drive him (safer, with his vision problems) but they forecast heavy rain all day, and its 3 hours of driving.

As expected, he poo-pooed my concern, so I dropped it. Better I drive than he drive, and that's what he would do if I didn't want to go. He's so stubborn!

Later that night, dad went outside, slipped and fell on the ice.

He had a hairline fracture of the femur and was considering not doing the surgery, but he was in a lot of pain when he moved and in my mind, not doing surgery was just not an option. So with a little encouragement (done in a roundabout way so he thinks the idea was his), he chose the surgery option.

My sister and I were with him in his hospital room waiting for it, for 9 hours. Even the surgeon came in around 3 pm and said he wanted to get going, but they didn't have any room for us yet. Finally, they took him, so he only waited 24 hours since he was brought to the hospital. My research came up with a clinical study showing that the quicker you have hip fracture surgery, the greater the survival rate, and that surgeries delayed for more than 48 hours result in worse outcomes.

The hard part hasn't even started. The most important role I see dad's 4 kids playing is cheerleader, ensuring he doesn't become depressed, discouraged or give up with the physical therapy. Because springing back from surgery at 85 is not easy, and the stats aren't pretty.

Well, if you want to know the most important tips I've practiced, here they are:

1. Living beneath my means, including the home I live in and the car I drive

2. Savings: a) Diligence in saving, b) making it automatic, eg, automatic payroll deductions and c) always maxing out both IRA and 401k contributions whenever possible.

3. Prepaying my mortgage right from the start, which cut my total payoff time nearly in half.

4 Tracking all my expenses every month, every year, for probably going on 20 years now, has been enormously revealing as far as identifying my spending patterns and really seeing where the money goes. It really becomes an ingrained habit after a while and is not as big a deal as some think.

5. If I could add one more tip that I did NOT truly practice but which I think is enormously important for anyone, it would be to always make a big effort to get the biggest raise you can get, and along the same vein, work very hard to maximize your salary when negotiating a new job offer. I think I could have done much better in this regard. Some lessons take a long time to learn. I often accepted what was offered to me without really trying to kick it up a notch. Often, after a period of unemployment, I was just relieved to get an offer, let alone push for more money. Just a few thousand more a year could really become significant when invested.

Those just starting their careers will no doubt really be helped by the new law that went into effect at the start of the year making it illegal for employers to ask prospective employees how much they made in the past. I can't remember now if this is a state or federal law, but women, especially, who tend to get underpaid, should really be helped by this.

Not a very exciting list, and probably not much different than what others have said, but to me, these are the most important things I've done over my lifetime to assure my financial well-being.

Now if you asked me what were some of the most creative or unusual money saving tips I've used, well, that would be an entirely different list.

I worked from home today due to weather, but there wasn't a whole lot of work to do, so I:

1. Decluttered in the kitchen: I realized I was now ready to part with an old set of dishes that was put aside over a year ago; in truth, I've been using the dishes under houseplants. The set of 4 big plates, dessert plates and 4 tea cups I will pack up for Goodwill as soon as I can get a box.

I can also easily part with a ceramic casserole dish which I think I earned through some kind of points system decades ago.

2. I wrote the summary of my neighbor's book, which he'll use to show publishers what the book is about. I had been procrastinating about this for a while. So glad it's behind me now.

He has another book for me to edit, but he hasn't finished doing the yardwork chores I've asked him to do as a barter. I'll wait for him to catch up before I do anything else, just to make sure it gets done.

3. I scheduled a service call for my furnace humidifier, which hasn't been working. I've been running my little portable humidifier in the bedroom, but it's not enough. Will have to bite the bullet to pay $110+ whatever they decide the problem is.

And generally I just "hung out," enjoying an unusually toasty warm interior of 68 degrees (that's warm for me), just in case I lost power...at least it would be a little warmer and cool down more slowly. But the good news is, I haven't lost power, a great relief...just a ton of tree cleanup to do.

4. I scheduled a guy to come and price out the cleanup for me later this week, just in case my neighbor remembers he has a bad back and says he can't do it, as he said he would.

The storm that started on the West Coast arrived here last night, and while it only left an inch or so of very heavy slush, a brisk wind has developed and temperatures are expected to reach -3 tonight, with a high of 11 tomorrow.

I shoveled the whole driveway, which wasn't easy, but I wanted to get as much off the driveway as possible so there's not a thick coating of ice. There will be ice for sure, but maybe more patchy, less like a skating rink.

I also shoveled my front stairs.

There was major damage to my large white pine in the front yard. Limbs were dropping all day, preceded by the ominous cracking of tearing wood. I see there's also a large branch of my sugar maple that came down in back, knocking off both shutters on the shed.

The cleanup will be quite a job, buy my neighbor S. told me he would take care of it. Probably because he wants me to edit his 2nd book. I'm not sure how he'll do it since he has a bad back, and he hadn't seen the scope of the damage before he said he'd take care of it.






Everything is encased in ice.






Northeast view.

I'm feeling a little leery about going to work tomorrow because they're calling for wind gusts over 40 tomorrow and my lights have been flickering on and off all day today even before the winds.

If I do lose power, I want to be home so I can fire up my kerosene heater; otherwise, I could wind up coming home to a very cold house that's impossible to warm up again, and I don't want frozen pipes.

I may email my boss tomorrow, but I risk losing a day's pay if they don't want to send me work from home. It depends on the project sometimes.

My neighbor, who is on disability after the school bus he was driving was t-boned, invited me to check out a Habitat for Humanity store in a nearby town. While we didn't see anything interesting there, we also hit an estate sale I heard about. Everything was way overpriced, but when I asked the price on this unmarked wreath, he said I could have it for $6.



I just liked it for some reason..because I like birds, and there are 7 of them here on what's made to look like barbed wire and bittersweet vine.

After that my neighbor treated me to lunch at a local Chinese restaurant. I know he's very bored sitting home. Both he and his wife are both very extroverted people who like to be around other folks, and they're both very interesting to be around.

Much of our lunch conversation centered around what we would do if we won the Lotto. (He bought us each a ticket when he filled up for gas.)

When I heard last Tuesday they were going to blow up the old Tappan Zee Bridge that morning, I quickly called my father as I remembered he was headed across that bridge for a doctor's appointment. They were closing all ramps leading to the bridge in both directions, and there would be major traffic delays. I got him on the phone but he sounded noncommittal. I know when he gears up to do something, he doesn't like to change plans. Luckily, though, he cancelled the trip and rescheduled for one of my days off so I can drive him there in a few weeks.

So when I got to work that day, I watched on live TV all the viewing parties going on, on either side of the Hudson River, people drinking Bloody Marys at 10 am and making it "an event." Then when it imploded, it was over in about 9 seconds.

I had my heating oil tank filled up today at a pretty good price, $2.44/gallon. Many places have a minimum 150-gallon fill-up, and now that I was down to a half tank, I wanted to fill up while prices were still reasonable. Bad weather and subzero temps this weekend will surely raise prices as early as next week, so this was a good time to buy; this fill-up should last me through end of February, possibly longer.

We're expecting some really nasty weather here Saturday night into Sunday. Lots of snow and/or freezing rain which will make driving treacherous. So I'll be spending a good part of the weekend hunkered down, cooking, cleaning and shoveling. And hoping I keep my power on.

I may need to work at home on Monday.

For those of you looking for ways to earn a little extra cash, check out SaverLife.org. I enrolled last year and earned $40. This year they have a different "Scratch and Save" program where I should be able to save something just by ensuring that I save more than I spend in my checking account from one week to the next.

In line with my resolution to eat a more varied variety of foods in 2019, I found a big bunch of dandelion greens in the salad section at my local Big Y a few weeks ago. I was curious to try it in a salad, and it wasn't bad. I want to get some more tomorrow, as I've read very good things about dandelion greens.

I also bought a large fresh papaya at Trader Joe's, but it's still mostly green; hopefully it will ripen soon.

Not much new in Patient Saver's world, but I've always appreciated routine and structure.

The crazy hours at work seem to have abated last week, and this past weekend was the first one in a while where I didn't have to work. I'm not sure we're completely in the clear now as I heard some people had to work on Saturday, but I guess I'll find out more when I go in today.

I am anxious to get all my paperwork together to do my taxes, as I may end up doing them twice....with and without the new standard deduction...just to understand how that might affect my bottom line. I'd love to just make it easy and take the standard deduction, but I want to make sure I'm not needlessly leaving money on the table.

I have already noticed longer daylight hours. Have you? There's still a little light left in the sky at 5 pm, and that's an improvement from the darkest days of December. We haven't even had any major snow yet, and I'm already pining for spring! Wouldn't it be grand to get through the winter with NO snow? Alas, weatherman this morning said some kind of significant snowfall may be coming this weekend. Thankfully, it won't happen on my scheduled workdays.

My local library has begun a yearlong Reading Challenge; each month, you need to read a book in a given genre; they have a recommended list if you don't have anything in mind. Once you read the book, you get your form stamped at the library and are rewarded with a small gift.

The January gift is a library tote bag, so I'm going for it! I checked out a book called Wave, written by a woman who entire family perished in the tsunami wave that hit southeast Asia in 2004. My first choice had been Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, but surprisingly, my local library didn't have such an important book. I will have to save that read for a time when I can wait a week or so to have that book sent here from another area library.

I am SOOO interested in decluttering and have been taking baby steps in doing so. A few articles of clothing here, or some paperwork in my desk drawer there. Really small stuff. I admit to having an overflow of office supplies, but these I can and do use, so I'm not disposing of them. Clothing, too, I hate to throw out, even if it doesn't fit me now, because I DID lose 10 pounds last year and believe it's doable to lose a few more, which would mean some very nice clothes I have may fit.

My weekly pay is fairly variable, and it makes it hard to estimate a year's worth of income in advance. I was surprised when I put down an annual income number when doing the online application for ACA healthcare that my monthly premium rose by about $20, and I realized later, after determining my gross for this year, that I greatly overestimated my income for next year.

So once I get my paycheck this Thursday, which happens to be for exactly 20 hours of work time, I will take the occasion to modify my account at ACA, with the paycheck as backup documentation, if necessary, and this will likely lower my monthly premiums.

I have wound up doing nothing at all with the Christmas gift of money I got from my father. It is nice just having that extra cushion available, and it makes me a little less worried about spending a little more on quality food, for instance. Yet I still feel myself procrastinating about calling the HVAC company that installed my whole house humidifier just a few years ago, because I realized it has not been working this season. It's very, very dry in my house (around 37 on the barometer), which is not great for my dry eye syndrome.

I think my inherent frugality is borderline cheap, sometimes, when I frown on paying $150 or more on a service call to fix something like the humidifier. I guess I will cave, eventually, but first I want to take a closer look at it and make sure it's not something real simple, like maybe the tube that carries the water is connected. The water valve is open and the switch at the control is on, so I don't know.

So my neighbor friend is working more hours at her p/t job, and she took me up on a casual offer I made to OCCASIONALLY walk her dog on Thursdays when she's at work; it was something I said after she told me she was worried about the dog being left alone for 3 long days in a row. (She also asked me if I'd be willing to walk the dog Saturday as she had plans to go into the city with her niece, and I agreed to that.)

As far as the walk during the week, she asked if i could let her know the day before if i could walk him so she could in turn let her sister know she wouldn't have to come to let him out in the yard. I was a little leery of doing that because I wasn't ready to commit to walking him EVERY Thursday, just on occasion when the weather was decent and I had time to do it. I think she wanted to give her sister a break from coming over, too.

I didn't want her to totally depend on me because I doubt I would want to do it every single Thursday; I don't like to walk in very cold weather, I might have more important things to do or I might just not feel like it. I wanted to do it, on occasion, just as a favor to her.

So I suggested she just have her sister keep coming , and if i was able to walk the dog on any given week, to just consider it a bonus for the dog. She reluctantly agreed.

I haven't been able to do it for a while. If I make changes to it, I click Save but it doesn't take.

Happy New Year to all at SA, and may your financial resolutions come true!

It being January 1, I took a peek at my investment portfolio to assess the damage.

It actually wasn't TOO bad since my portfolio mix has been 45% stocks/45% bonds/10% cash for a while (an asset allocation I wouldn't recommend for most people under 50.)

Most recently, in October, I moved another $8,000 of stock shares to 'safe harbor' at the persistent recommendation of my late friend, R. I will surely miss the many frank conversations we had about money. He was very supportive and full of praise when it came to that, and he provided many positive affirmations about what a great job I've done managing my money. He knew, more than anyone, what it took to accumulate those savings!

Getting back to my portfolio: I'm down $22,000 compared to a month ago (ouch) and down 3% compared to 1 year ago. However, I'm still up 9% compared to 2 years ago. It's really just a matter of how you want to look at it, from a short- or long-term perspective.

To be honest, the milestone that is more important to me is one I haven't reached yet: millionaire status. I came closest to that goal in February 2018, when my investments stood at $993,984. I thought hitting the $1 million mark in a month or more would be easy, but that's when the market started going sideways, and today I'm even further from that goal at $935,741.

Counting the value of my home, my net worth stands at about $1.2 million.

My only financial resolution for 2019 is to stay on the path I've mapped out for myself for the next 6 years: pay as close to 100% of my ongoing expenses with the income from my p/t job. Last year, as mentioned in my previous post, I covered 96% of all expenses with earnings; theoretically, covering all expenses this year should be easier to accomplish because I got a raise to $34.50/hr.

To further ensure I can do this, I plan to more closely watch money spent on capital improvements to my home; I'm thinking $5-$6,000 at most. Looking at my Home Improvement Wish List on my sidebar, I think I can easily tackle at least 2 items on the list; which ones exactly, I'm not sure yet.

In other news...

New Year's Eve was just another quiet night at home. I had to work yesterday and didn't get home til about 7 pm. My friend had invited me over to watch a movie, but I know I'd be getting sleepy in just a few hours, so instead we'll be doing the Inaugural 1st Walk of 2019 this afternoon.

Earlier this year, I wanted to downsize my job from full-time to part-time, and I wanted to see if I could cover most or all of my ongoing living expenses working part-time.

The answer is YES, I covered 96% of my expenses, which this year totaled just $38,822. There was a shortfall of about $1,600.

UPDATE: The agency paid me my last paycheck for 2018 on 12/31; the paycheck was late because my boss failed to sign off on my timesheet on time with the holidays and all. So that added an extra $897 to my income, and bottom line, my 2018 expenses now exceeded income by only $690, not $1,600. So I actually covered 98% of expenses!!

I didn't start this little experiment until March, so my income this year had the benefit of 2 months (January and February) of full-time income. So I anticipate that in 2019 it will be harder, unless I rein in my spending some.

Of my Top 10 Expenses:

7 increased from last year (property taxes, food, out-of-pocket medical/dental, lawn & garden, maintenance, heating oil and gas for the car).

1 category stayed about the same ("Household").

1 category (health insurance) decreased by 35%. This is my 3rd largest expense, so I'm happy about this!

Here's a rundown of my Top 10 biggest expenses this year with some extra analysis thrown in:

1. Stone patio, $9,200: It's beautiful, and something needed to be done in back, although yeah, awfully expensive. I had a party last summer to celebrate it and hope to enjoy it more this summer with various friends and family. This was a one-time capital improvement, and the most expensive one on my radar, so not having this one expense could by itself fix my current income/expense disconnect.

2. Property taxes: $6,294. Not much I can do about this unless I move.

3. Health insurance, $4,098. I'm happy to say that this is a 35% decrease from what I spent in 2017, when I was still paying for COBRA.

4. Food, $3,900: This is 16% more than I spent in 2017. I had hoped to wrestle this number lower, but truth be told, I feel that eating quality, wholesome, organic food is important.

5. Out-of-pocket medical/dental, $1,722: This represents 69% more than I spent in 2017, and it was mostly due to about $745 incurred in doctor visits when I scratched the cornea of my eye. Because I have dry eyes, I am much more careful to not sleep if I think there's something in my eye. And to use eye drops more often than I do now.

6. Lawn & garden, $1,547: This is 43% more than I spent in 2017, and I'm unhappy with this number! I thought I could keep it down by having my mower do the lawn for every other week, but I also spent some money on these neat little acrylic shelves with suction cups I bought for my growing cacti/succulent collection. I also had to spend $200 to have someone clean up a crab apple tree that was damaged by a storm.

This year I'll continue bartering with my neighbor to do some yard work I can't do, in exchange for my editing services.

7. Household, $1,394: This is my one "catch-all" category for items I don't know where to put; usually, routine things for the house fall in this category.

8. Maintenance, $1,303: This included some new outlets in the garage, new ceiling fixtures wired indoors and new fixtures on either side of the garage.

9. Heating oil and furnace cleanings, $1,236: It is what it is....heating oil prices really fluctuate. I was able to take advantage of one promotion where if you wrote a review on the oil company's Facebook page, the 1st 50 people got .10 off per gallon.

10. Gas for car, $1,025.

So I heard about a promotion Hyundai was running where they pay you a $50 visa or amazon gift card if you take one of their vehicles for a test drive.

Why not, I thought.

I fell in love with their IONIQ SEL, a hybrid hatchback that gets 58 mpg with heated seats, heated side mirrors, blind spot assist, LED headlights and various other things. I really like the cargo space, which is much more practical/usable than my small Honda Civic trunk, which my bike no longer fits inside becus they shrunk the hole between the trunk and folded down seats. As a result, I haven't done much bike riding in the last 5 years.

Hyundai also offer LIFETIME replacement of the battery (as long as you get your servicing done at the dealer); as some of you may know, the battery would likely need replacement after 200,000 miles and costs several thousand dollars, so it's not an insignificant expense. They also provide free oil changes and the price of this car after the $1,000 rebate was around $21,000, which, compared to any other hybrid, is fantastic.

I was basically regretting I purchased another sedan ever since buying it in 2013, and I wished I'd taken a little more time to research it and get a Prius instead.

Not long after I came home, my dad called and told me he wanted to stop by, which he did. We chit-chatted, and I told him in detail about the car I'd just test-driven. After I had finished, he said, well maybe this will help you make up your mind about it and he handed me a check for $5k. Talk about timing!

My dad is not in the habit of giving Xmas presents, and this is the first time I've received one from him in probably 15 years. So I was quite surprised. (My 3 siblings will also get the same thing.)

He encouraged me to get the car because, he said, I'd mentioned a few times now how the sedan didn't really fit my needs. And he likes to trade in his vehicles after about 5 years' time.

But, after feeling excited about the whole idea, I've pretty much chosen to just rein in my impulses. (And I recall how in 2013, before I bought the Civic, I also "fell in love" with a Ford Fiesta and even signed the purchase contract which I was fortunately able to undo the next day.) My current car runs perfectly and has just 60K miles on it, and I typically keep my cars for 10 or 12 years.

I suppose the IONIQ will still be around in another 5 years' time. The dealer did also say they'll be introducing a hybrid SUV in 2019, and the big appeal there is that it will have all-wheel drive, though with a substantially higher price tag I am sure.

So I just deposited dad's check and will let it sit there for the time being. There are probably better uses for that check. And I have to say that my expenses have exceed my income this year by just about....wait for it....$5,000. So by banking the money (or most of it), I should be in the black, or close to it.

After my boss asked me a few weeks ago if i would be willing to work full-time through early January, things have not been all that busy. I did work an extra 6 hours this past week, but that will pretty much be wiped out next week since Christmas falls on a Tuesday and the office is also scheduled to be closed Monday, which is also one of my scheduled work days. So next week if I get no extra work hours, I'll get all of 4 hours of work.

But just now someone at the office called and wanted to know if I could work TOMORROW...Saturday. Very late notice, but that's how it usually works around there. I had some things planned but I could use the work so will have to drive to the office tomorrow; she said i could expect to get in close to a full day.

I asked her how the Christmas dinner was last night, which I didn't go to. She said she heard it was nice. I said oh, you hadn't planned on going? She told me 3 or 4 of them had to stay back and work in the office while everyone else went to dinner!

I had a UPS delivery of my meds scheduled for today, which I guess because of the Christmas rush, has now been scheduled for tomorrow. In summer, I like to be home when they arrive so they're not sitting out in the sun all day (they're packed with ice paks) but in winter I also don't want it to freeze, either. It's inside a styrofoam container so I sure hope it will be ok.

I wanted to go to yoga tomorrow but now with work I can't. Every Saturday there is something that prevents me from going.

After going over my YTD income again today, I went ahead and did a Roth IRA (back door) conversion for $7,000. I could have done quite a bit more, but I was concerned that if I converted too much, it could boost my taxable income enough that I could end up paying a penalty for under-withholding.

For lunch today I made a big pot of pea soup, which I'll bring to work with me tomorrow.

It was a strange week, one that started with a funeral and ended with a party.

The funeral, well, I got through it. I went alone and wound up sitting with my friend R.'s best friend, who gave a great eulogy, one that brought many smiles to my face because he so accurately depicted the R. that I knew. I also said hello to many other lifetime friends of R.'s that I haven't seen in 30 years, along with the woman who ran the driving school where R. taught kids how to drive, and a bunch of people from the helicopter museum where he volunteered. I think he would have been very pleased at the turnout.

Another female friend of R.'s approached me at the funeral; I had seen her last at R.s wedding 3 decades ago, and she reminded me that a year or two ago, R. had tried to orchestrate a dinner with the 4 of us (me, R., she and her husband) but it never happened because she said that's when R. got sick. We briefly talked about possibly doing that dinner now, after the fact.

R. wrote his own obituary, which started with the announcement, "R. XXX kicked the bucket on (date). He had an irreverent sense of humor. He also prepaid for a pizza lunch for everyone after the burial.

I would have liked to go, but I had told my boss I'd be in to work right after the funeral.

So it was an emotional day.

I am still wondering if R.'s niece is going to contact me about doing something R. asked me to handle: clean out his condo and work with a realtor to get it sold, so his family wouldn't have to. I know he talked to his niece about it.

I had readily agreed at the time because I wanted to help R., but now that he's gone, it does feel a little funny that the family wouldn't take care of that themselves. It is not a small thing, and his condo is 40 minutes away from here.

Well, it is their decision. I am still prepared to do it.

And the very next day after the funeral, my cousin from PA arrived for a 5-day visit. My dad and I took him out to a great dinner that night at a new, trendy restaurant which we all enjoyed. The next day, we hung around my home for the afternoon with a great chili, cornbread and salad I made, with an apple crumble dessert.

The next day I drove us out to the northeastern-most town in the state of PA as we wanted to show him it was possible to move much closer to us here in CT (cutting his drive time by more than half) but remain a PA resident, thereby still enjoying state tax-free IRA distributions and Social Security (unlike here in CT).

It's actually a cute little town in the Poconos, a little touristy, but with the short daylight hours, we couldn't stay long because while I was driving, I didn't want either of them driving back to dad's place in the dark after I drove us all to my home. They both have vision issues. (My cousin took a wrong turn each time he's come out to visit, which added 2 hours to his trip this time around.) So the drive to Milford was 1.75 hours each way, and we had just enough time to have a nice lunch, poke about in 2 shops and do a quick drive through the downtown area. And plenty of time to talk in the car. We can always return in the summer, I guess.

Yesterday morning after breakfast we did our gift exchange. He gave me a very nice set of 3 ceramic knives, along with a sharpener for non-ceramic knives. He had asked for (and got) an atomic clock.

Last night I went to my friend, walking partner and neighbor's party around the block, and since my neighbors behind me were also invited, they picked me up and I rode with them.

There were about 10 people there and it was a pleasant few hours. I'll be returning there on Christmas day for lunch; I must be one of several "orphan" friends she has with no particular place to go on Christmas. My dad travels to NJ for an overnight stay at his brother-in-law's house (from his 2nd marriage) so I don't usually see him. So thank goodness for the Xmas lunch; my only other plan that day is to open presents with another NJ cousin over the phone together.

The "busy" time at my office has started, and they called me yesterday to see if I'd be able to do some work this morning for them. It was from home, so it was a pretty painless 4 hours ($138).

I decided to skip the office Christmas dinner at a restaurant we went to last year. Part of the reason is that it takes place on one of my days off this week, and it's a 50-minute drive.

I happily remembered recently that the agency I work for offers a 401k to its long-time employees, and you're eligible to participate if you've logged at least 1,000 hours in a year. I checked my last paycheck and I logged 1,019 hours, so I just barely qualify!

The benefits person hasn't returned my call yet, but I'd like to find out some details about the plan. I highly doubt my employment agency (technically my employer) offers any kind of match, and I'm wondering what the fees are.

It might not be a slam-dunk decision, but I'm also thinking it might be smart to contribute part of my pay to a tax-deferred account and then draw from some of my taxable accounts to pay ongoing living expenses. Not a good time to draw from taxable mutual funds, given the market, but I do have $21,000 in online money markets with another $25,000 in taxable CDs maturing at different times within the next 4 years. However, this essentially serves as the bulk of my emergency stash, so maybe I'll have to limit any 401k contributions.

Today was a pretty productive day. I'm preparing for a very busy and somewhat stressful week ahead.

My friend R.'s funeral is Tuesday. I hope I didn't make a mistake by telling my boss I'd be into work right afterwards, but this is their busy time and he just asked me to work full time for the rest of December and early January. I couldn't really say no since I just got a raise.

I'm sure the funeral is going to be very upsetting. I knew all of R.'s close friends and family, and just seeing them all as upset as I am, is going to be too much. His best friend asked me to say a few words in the eulogy, but I chose to decline.

The next day after the funeral, my cousin J. is traveling from PA to visit for 4 days. I didn't want to defer his visit because the weather will soon be getting dicey and it could be hard to find a relatively benign weather pattern soon. Christmas traffic should also be better now than later, and I think it might be good to be distracted from thinking about R. for at least a little while.

So today I put some green garland around both the columns outside at the front entry, and it looks pretty good. I always wanted to do this but never got around to it.

I also vacuumed and cleaned the downstairs, did some laundry, dusted, and went grocery shopping for everything I need except a few things I'll buy Wednesday, and decided on a menu for one of the days he'll be visiting. We'll also be taking him out to eat at a new restaurant my father and I discovered, and I reserved the private room with fireplace.

This was a butternut squash and feta cheese flatbread I had there that was very good.



I wanted to make something easy so I decided to use both my slow cookers: a chili in the big one (it's one of J.'s favorite meals) and an apple pumpkin crumble in the small one. Also will make some cornbread and a salad. I'll have to get the chili going by 8 am at the latest, and then the dessert, but after that I can "relax."

I have all my Christmas shopping done. I really just had 4 people to shop for, and J.'s gifts are wrapped so he can take them home with him. He's also getting a calendar.

He'll be leaving Sunday, but I'll be saying goodbye to him Saturday as I have a Christmas party to go to at my neighbor's and walking partner's home. And she's also having a Christmas lunch on Christmas day that I'll be attending.

A casual friend of mine wanted to stop by Saturday night as they were going to a party in my town, but I was busy prepping for my other visitor, so I told her I'd have her and her husband over another time during the holiday. Now that the house is decorated, I'd like to entertain, and she is Filipino so the whole American Christmas experience is no doubt fascinating to her.

I also recently heard from R., a different old boyfriend, with whom I share an unusual similarity: we both had a parent who was a professional artist. While my mother achieved success, R.'s father was on a whole different level, and was actually one of the most prolific equestrian artists in the country. He's in the process of selling and gifting an even larger inventory of work than my mother had, and he offered me a choice of several signed prints, so although I have absolutely no wall space left, I am happy to get one of his father's works, as it kind of reminds me of my boyfriend as well. I'm not sure when he'll be coming up to drop it off, but hopefully around the holidays.

So I actually have quite a full plate of visitors and places to go in the upcoming weeks.

I went against my dad's wishes and bought him something for Christmas, but it's not a "thing," it's an experience, so that's my excuse. It's an hour-long massage. He had one a while ago and he really liked it, so that's what gave me the idea.

After dinner, I think I'll spend some time reading, which is something I rarely do at home and feels like a real luxury. I always have other, more pressing things to do.

My boss gave me a rather expensive bottle of wine for the holidays, so I'm looking forward to cracking that open with my cousin and father. I also bought a very cheap but great-tasting bottle of wine my friend shared with me, so we'll play a little game and see if my guests can figure out which is the expensive wine and which is the cheap wine.

Me and Ron, Luzern, Switzerland, 1987, in front of the famous Lion of Luzern.

Today around 5 pm I got a phone call on my cell, but since so few people have my number, I mostly don't answer, because it's spammers, usually.

Then I saw it was my friend's niece. I called her back, thinking that my friend R. had been in really tough shape when I saw him Friday.

She told me he died. The rest of what she said was a blur; I'm not even sure if it was today or yesterday. I guess it was the pneumonia, not the cancer, because he was having a lot of trouble breathing, even with the oxygen tube.

I feel very sad that in the end, a nurse held his hand in the hospital. None of his family was there.

He was one of those larger-than-life people, and he had such a big impact on my life; that's why it came as such a shock that he died. Even though he's been fighting metastatic prostate cancer since his diagnosis in 2008, I thought he would pull off a recovery and hang around a while longer.

He was always the one to take charge, run the show, step up to the plate, organize the day or a trip to Paris. Intelligent, witty, a great conversationalist with a soft spot for old people and his one and only dog, he spent much of his time in retirement volunteering at a helicopter museum and teaching kids how to drive. He spoke fluent German, which really came in handy during our trips abroad. Once, when we were disembarking from the plane and headed for the terminal, fatigued and glad to be on US soil again, he broke out singing God Bless America, creating ripples of laughter among the other passengers. He could wow a crowd with an impromptu stint at the piano.

Years ago, when he picked me up one day for a date, he suggested picking up my grandmother and taking her out for a drive in the country and an ice cream cone. She loved him for it, and so did I. More recently, he organized several day-long road trips with my dad to show him what Connecticut looks like after dad moved up here from New Jersey to be closer to me and my sister. During one of those road trips, he thoughtfully arranged a stop at a summer German festival where we enjoyed schnitzel and sauerkraut while watching the polka dances.

We often clashed and had disagreements, but we always found a way to tell each other "Friends forever." And so we were.