"Wings" being that my girls are growing up and flying. At going into 8th and 9th grade, we're well past the American Girl phase and even looking at pictures they've changed so much this past year. I suppose puberty has a way of doing that.

Both girls feel that their opportunities for earning money at home are limited. They receive a nominal allowance from great-grandma and they walk the dog, unload the dishwasher, fold towel, put away their own laundry, vacuum and do general cleaning. Let's fact it, I'm a SAHM and I do most everything (as I should ) They are too young for legal employment and the sporadic opportunities for earning money (walking my brother's dogs or weeding my mother's yard) are far and few between.

They put out an email to all the parents of first graders offering they're services. They tandem babysit for large families (4+ kids) and they heard back from the three largest families that they'll be calling. Then last night came an email from a mother I know from the Mother's Bible Study. She had a 9 and 6 year old and is looking for reliable babysitting from 8-2:30 two days a week throughout the summer. The girls' rate is $8. She was fine with them together or alone or whatever works for them. So my girls will be each earning $52 a week for the summer. They are so happy and have some financial goals. I am very proud of them!

DH is not happy at his present situation at work. He has some difficulties with his boss who he has had for ten years (moved with him from the old job to this job). This where the roots come into play.

The biggest impediment to our finances is our rental property. If we were to sell that, we could essentially wipe out our mortgage on our primary ($263,000) and reduce our expenses. The issue is we did a bridge loan to get into this house and have a lein against the rental property for more than it is worth. To get ourselves out of this situation, we have to do a refinance on the primary. Then we can sell the rental property outright. We've concluded that our timeframe for this is ten months. We'll need to work on the budget to determine how much we will need to set aside to cover expenses while it is unoccupied and on the market. I'm hoping to make some major progress on the bills and will have a better grasp after we see the finanical aid offer from the high school DD is going to in the fall.

By doing so, we'll definitely be setting roots down and keeping this as our long-term residence. DH is slowly moving forward on a diaconite and I think that a seismic shift in our financial life will help him make the move a bit quicker.

Oh, the things to think about. Sometimes makes me tired.