My now 6 yo was diagnosed with a significant phonological impairment back in June. When he learned his phonics, he learned the letter sounds that he made with the letter the word started with. (Example: "five" he said as "bive" and learned to associate the "b" sound with f instead of "f") Anyhow, he is doing great with his speech therapist and is learning to say correctly the right sounds with the right letters for single sounds. However, his ability to read and spell has been greatly impaired.

He attends a Catholic school which has pretty rigorous academics for 1st Grade. I had wanted him to repeat kindergarten, but his test scores didn't support that, despite my fighting with the teachers.

Well, the 1st grade teacher wanted a conference. I was convinced she was going to suggest tutoring which I can't really afford at this point (plus I pay a lot of tuition for my kids to go to their school).

The meeting was today and it went well. We came up with a plan that should help him work independently - which is remedial compared to what the rest of the kids are doing. The good thing is once he masters the basics, he shoul catch up by the end of 2nd grade. He'll have a modified spelling list with two syllable words and I have an additional reading book here at home. He is right on target with science and math and loves school in general.

One money concern down ...

I was admittedly lazy yesterday after the party on Sat. and the overnight guests that we had.

Today I am returning two chafing dishes that I borrowed from my mom and brother. So glad that I didn't have to buy those, and I borrow them frequently (at least once a year).

We have leftover salads and chips and rolls, so I need to get to the deli section of the store and it will be sandwiches tonight and tomorrow.

Strike two days off the menu plan!

Back to the mundane ... general clean up and no non-essential money spending!

DD10 had a volleyball game at 1:30 today, having to be there at 1:00 for pre-game practice. Because this was several suburbs over and parking was scarce in the area, I found a place and we all went in together.

There was a single student desk outside the gym door with the prices stated: Child $1, Adult $2, Family $4. Because we were the only people on time for the 1:00 delivery of players, we went in and found seats near the net line. It was a solid 15 minutes before the rest of the players started straggling in on both sides. We were the AWAY team.

My daughter who is 9 thought that I should have gone over to adult manning the desk who turned up at 1:20 ten minutes prior to playing time to pay our admission. I said that I figured that if admission collecting were that important to the school, they would have had someone there collecting admission when the players needed to be there. This has been the case at all the different schools we have watched games at. Her response: "I guess it always pays to be on time."

And I then pointed out that if the admission collector had walked around and asked for the $4, I would have paid it. I'm not opposed to supporting anyone's booster club, but if someone isn't there to collect the admission, I'll be keeping my four dollars, thank you. What would you have done? I do want to set a good example for my daughter and was kind of stumped as to whether or not I did the right thing.

We hosted a big party yesterday to celebrate a combined birthday for two of my children. The big splurge was the Moon Jump ($150 for eight hours). I was smart and did get two parties out of it - the first grader had a small get together with some school friends earlier in the day and the Moon Jump was a hit. I spent another $60 at The Dollar Store for favors and paper goods and other stuff (silly string, wrapping paper, etc). The menu wasn't too bad as I preshopped and got buy one, get one free on shredded pork for barbecue sandwiches. All the chips and things were get one free as well. I made all of the salads from scratch which saved a lot versus deli prices.

The boys got some badly needed new clothes for the Fall and PJs, plus a fun assortment of games and books. Nothing over the top, just the right amount for a new round of entertainment to last the next few months. They did get money for their college funds as well.

My inlaws were in from their recent move to two states north. They took back one of our dogs with them. This was slightly traumatic to two of my children who are more attached to this furry friend than the other. The nice thing about the dog going with family is we will see her again. Life will be less complicated (this dog has a jumping/climbing penchant and would roam the neighborhood consistently). Mind you that our lifestyle here is hectic (as with most families with multiple kids) and I need a dog that I can count on to go out and do her business and then come inside.

DH is working the side job doing apartment painting today, and I have a volleyball game excursion for DD10.

With the money that I have spent lately on party things and kids activities, I am looking forward to a quiet money month and getting back to the basics and the grindstone by tracking expenses and economizing!

DH and I had an interesting conversation this AM. It boiled down to simply this: being happy with what you have because there will always be someone with something bigger and better.

DH and my father returned from their 36-hour trip to Ft. Lauderdale, FL to look at the yacht - 83 foot Berger yacht available for purchase at the price of 1.6 mil (went up $200,000).

The complete disconnect with this scenariio is I do not live the life of anyone with a silver spoon in my mouth. Rather I am the product of a broken marriage between a working class girl and a spoiled brat boy. Spoiled brat boy kept his silver spoon. I am well aware of the reality of life in old clothes and mac and cheese for dinner.

I have one sib who thinks that he has the proverbial silver spoon. Can't really rely on himself and is counting on an inheritance.

For once, my attitude is one of gratitude, grateful that I have a house over my head (and a plan if I can't afford it), grateful that my children go to a Catholic school where they are learning values that support our lifestyle and academics, glad that I have dependable transportation and the money to pay for such repairs. Yes, I tend to get frustrated having to come up with money for multiple things and I have to prioritize things. I was proud of myself for resisting the want/need for new carpeting. After time and energy, my Bissell and I pulled off some spiffy rennovations.

Above all I am thankful for healthy and happy family members, though the extended family mostly suffer from the "gimmee gimmee want want" monster or are paralyzed by fear of lack of money.

I am happy with what I have.

If my happiness was based on materialism, there would always be someone with something bigger and better and newer. And as the song goes, I would be in pursuit of happiness that was illusive and I would never be satisfied.

I have weathered the fear of the big picture of the financial reality the US is facing. Worse case scenario, I will sell the big house, move to the smaller house used as a rental property. My family will eat mac & cheese, I will have to volunteer all day/every day at the school my kids go to in exchange for free tuition. Bottom line: My family will not starve, be homeless, or be unable to educate our children as we see fit.

What is getting to me is the amount of money going out in dribs and drabs from the extra curricular things:
$4 to Booster Club to see DD play volleyball
$12 for same daughter to attend pizza party for Homecoming and cost for tie dye T-shirts
$35 fee for Tiger Cub scout
$25 Party fee for the school for all kids (missed that one in the original set of papers/checks in August)
$8 annual dues for mother/daughter book club

I understand that there is a cost involved for all these things. Bottom line is my $200 extraneous money for things like oil changes/dog grooming/classes for kids may need to be inflated.

I remain busy, watching the money, looking forward to Monday when there can be a ban on spending (big party here on Saturday, need to shop and decorate, etc).

I decided to stop lamenting about how gross my carpet is and do something about it ...

My first course of action was to seriously contemplate putting in new carpeting in the main living areas of the house (living room, dining room, family room, and stairs/hallway). Because I had the totally unrealistic idea to have it done within a two week period (we are hosting a big party next Sat here). I had planned on $1.50/square foot with $200 installation at Home Depot. There was a three week turn around for that.

That brought us to Olsen Rugs which would install the next day. Price per foot was $3.50. Absolutely cannot afford it - period - zippo - that was double what I planned on spending.

Well, DH suggested we give our gross and disgusting carpet a thorough cleaning using our carpet cleaner (Bissel heat pro x2). I bought two high traffic spot cleaners on sale for $4 and sprayed them - one in the famiy room and one in the dining room. I spent about 1-1/2 hours going over and over and over the high traffic areas and am pleased to report that the dining room and family room are looking better - spiffy and totally not gross!

I still need to tackle the living room which is the cleanest of the rooms. And while I want new carpeting - it isn't really this desperate obsession anymore.

I may have won this battle and might be able to tolerate this carpet a big longer!

The area that needs to be recarpeted is about 1300 square feet - so the amount saved is at least $2,600.

The forwarding order from our previous address expired some time ago. I thought I had updated the address at all pertinent places, apparently not.

Last Saturday my FIL noticed that the license plate sticker/registration on our minivan expired 7/08. I don't pay attention to those stickers - should, but don't.

I took the registration with the old address to the state's DMV and tried to get a new sticker. Apparently I could not renew my plates until my car passed the vehicle emissions test.

The car went to the vehicle emissions place and FAILED! Not surprising - it is a 1998 Ford Windstar and the engine light has been on for eons. It passed last time by some fluke. I am not happy that I am polluting the air, but it isn't one of my high priorities.

There was a print-out with the error codes that should fix the problem.

$688.00 later, my car should be ready for a retest. Mind you, I have expired plates. Granted I am armed with all of my ammunition - proof of test failure - registrations - receipt for work done, etc. Now I am supposed to drive the car another 50 to 60 miles before it is retested. That will take me over a week - my plates are still expired.

Lesson learned: Be diligent about sticker deadlines. Had I been timely, I wouldn't have had to jump through these hoops and I would be $688.01 richer. At least I am living by the law of the land and am no longer contributing to the pollution in my state.

In the midst of the busyness of the school schedule and things in general, I have been off the computer for awhile. A brief update in general:

Still sticking well with the prepaid gift card program through the kids' school. Only negatives thus far: (1) when phone lines are down at a store, gift cards cannot be used. (2) if there is more than one shopper in the family, there will be a handful of cards with unknown balances on them.

I transferred some Rxs for my DD and got two $30 My Way gift cards to be traded in for retailer of my choice (yay!) and one $25 CVS.

DH repaired the dryer at the rental property. Cost of part ws $27 (paid for cash) and two hours of frutration. All in all, happy with the results.

Haven't used the credit cards at all lately. Just finished paying real estate property tax.

I am on the tuition payment plan at school and that is working out with the new budgeted allotments.

Paying cash for extraneous things: $44 car repair, $38 car part (lost key led to replaced lock/ignition).

Parting with one dog due to a multitude of reasons.

Hope all is well with all of yoU!

Well, I have had my share of glitches with things (broken dryer, problems with computer's server, etc). My dryer remains broken (still carting laundry over to my mother's though this is getting very tiring), but after unplugging everything and rebooting the computer I at least fixed that problem!

DH's trip to FL to look at yachts with my father was postponed due to Gustav, Hannah, Ike and Jenna (I think that is the J name I heard). He is crankier than ever because the work just keeps going and going and going. Broken dryer at rental property was a belt that needs to be replaced. There was a problem with the soffit at one of the office buildings that was added to the list. And then there are the showings of the apt available to prospective tenants (and unfortunately the crop of those applying is really suffering - read as, if you are being evicted from your present apartment for nonpayment and you can't come up with security deposit and first rent for this place, my father will not rent to you.)

At least we are settling into a school routine with an early bedtime and waking up easily in the morning. The first grader no longer cries and is always happy when I pop in and spy on him. The 3 year old started the preschool program at the Y (well, one day a week) and he cried on Friday (his first time) but when I spied on him 40 minutes later he was an active participant in the story circle. Yay! The scheduled activities are ridiculous - we now have volleyball games on the schedule in addition to soccer, etc.

Well, we are sticking to the budget A plan so far (OK, one week now). My spending that was extraneous came from the $109 cash in the jar on the fridge:

$32 on used ice skates and blade guards for the skating daughter - cheaper in the long run than renting them at $3 a week)

$5 for wooden bird house for 1st grade son who loves arts and crafts (used a 40% off coupon),

$9 on groceries (my total was $59 and rather than using some of my $25 remaining gift card, I used cash to pay the difference)

$10 at Home Depot to buy a mirror for one of my father's apts - a quick fix to cover a whole in the door

$7 for additional contribution to church basket for kids

Remaining balance is about $35 plus some odd change. We will replenish this today with the laundry profit from the coin operated washer/dryer. And today is the Ice Cream Social two towns over that my dancing daughters are entertaining at. They are each bringing a friend so I will have to buy ice cream for seven children at premium price. Thankfully this isn't that often, and my oldest two offered up their allowances. I told them that it wasn't necessary, and I appreciated the offer.

From the budgeted amount (prepaid gift cards), I spent:
$62/$100 for groceries
$50/$50 for gas

I did redeem bank reward points and received 2 $25 Target Gift Cards. I'm still waiting for 1 $5 Panera card. This week I had a $2 rebate on Sparkle glass cleaner and a free coupon for Rinaldi's pasta sauce.

Summation: Doing well with budgeted amount thanks to surplus and diligent spending. Extraneous/cash spending is holding its own. Need to work on conserving the cash.