Vacation

Obligatory Pictures of Rocks

Yesterday the kid and I were supposed to take a road trip to a state park we’ve never visited, just to have a look and hopefully a swim (with every intention of staying in the car if it wasn’t possible to keep a safe distance from people) but she woke up too anxious to even […]

Obligatory Pictures of Rocks Read More »

A Paean to YNAB

For most of my adult life, I lived like that—$20 and half a gallon of gas away from the edge. Sometimes I had a little more margin for error, a few times there was a lot less room to misstep. I’m not ashamed of that. A lot of people live there; I was in very good company. But it’s one thing when you have a variable-hours, minimum-wage job, a disabled husband and a small child. It’s something else when you have a decent job but just can’t figure out how the heck to stop living on that edge. When you have more money and less responsibility (disabled husband having passed on, child having grown beyond the need for paid child care,) you should be able to pull out of debt and make progress, right?

A Paean to YNAB Read More »

oh em gee, I needed that

oh em gee, I needed that

So I didn’t even mention here, but I went away for a week. The kid, the roomie, and I all ran off to marvelous and beautiful Sedona. We got home today. I’m way tired because I drove nearly four hours, after getting up early and packing, and then unpacking and I’ve got laundry and the

oh em gee, I needed that Read More »

whales!!!

I have a ton of stuff to do today (due to too much slacking off yesterday) so let me get right to the point. First–Dana Point, California. Between LA and San Diego, absolutely beautiful, and WHALES. Whale-watchers are seeing record numbers of gray whales migrating this spring, and I was lucky enough to go see

whales!!! Read More »

Headline: Obligatory Vacation Picture Post Turns into Rant

So we’re back from Pinetop. Here are some obligatory pictures. Not too many, because I didn’t take a ton and also I’m too tired still to put a lot of work into posting. The child met a squirrel. This picture is from after she petted it. I did the dutiful mom thing and yelled at

Headline: Obligatory Vacation Picture Post Turns into Rant Read More »

Our Journey Begins!

Before the horror fades into fond memories of adventure, let me warn you off going Greyhound if you can possibly avoid it. We were to leave at ten a.m. June 5. The bus we were to get on, however, broke down, and they just canceled that route. We waited until almost two in the afternoon

Our Journey Begins! Read More »