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Looking forward to seeing your journey. This is a great place to be encouraged and also receive guidance when needed!

I need to do this desperately. Looks like my weekend plans just got added to. LOL

Well, maybe there's hope then. I asked my DH at lunch when we were getting the fish. He had already forgotten about the deal he made with DD. I'm holding him to it though. Maybe she (and I) will get attached to the fish!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! We enjoyed the day with some friends in the country. Which was great for my DD, but it was incredibly hot. Then we had another weekend in the country for DH's family reunion this past Saturday. It was really nice, hot again, but nice. It was on a farm with cows, chickens, a horse, and the most adorable yellow lab puppies. The puppies were the big hit of the reunion. DD and all her cousins were cuddling up to the eight puppies all day. And of course, DD was very disappointed that she could not keep one. She even had it named already. Geez, I hate that I had to tell her no. Especially since secretly I really wanted it, too. Unfortunately, we have two sickly cats at home right now and it's just not the right time. DH agreed when we finished the fence around our back yard, that we could get a dog as long as it stayed outside. He is a cat person only, no dogs; so, this was a fairly large concession on his part. At the time, I refused because having grown up with dogs in the house I didn't think I could agree to the outside only part. But, now DD is 8 yrs old and she wants a dog now more than ever. I know they're more expensive and I get that they require more maintenance than a house cat. But, now DH is trying to back away from his offer. He is offering DD a consolation prize of ....a fish. You know, I went on a retreat one time for church. We had to name one person who had been there for us at some pivotal time in our lives. I named my dog. That is how close I was to my childhood pet. And I even teared up just now typing this. He passed away 20 years ago, and I still miss the little guy. My DD deserves to have that kind of bond. And I don't think she can get it from a goldfish. No offense to goldfish, it's just hard to build a relationship with something that you can't hold or touch or dress up with a cape and name him King for the Day. It's not like I have a good track record with fish either. Before I had my dog, my parents let me get a goldfish. It died within a week. Then years later I used to offer to pet sit for renters at the apartment complex I worked at. Usually it was dogs, but on two occasions the pets were fish. Both times, fish died. One time it was a massacre or more aptly a plague. Every day I went another fish was down (or should I say up). The guy told me once he got back that it wasn't my fault. That one of them was sickly when he left. And what ever it was must have been contagious. But still, it's like I'm the angel of fish-death or something. I suppose as long as they don't let me near the fish tank, the little guppies may stand a chance. They're suppose to be DD's pet anyway. We'll just have to stipulate that I'm not allowed to feed or clean the tank or generally get anywhere near them. After all, I wouldn't want one to see me and die of a heart attack because he thought I was coming to take his soul or something. Maybe if we get the fish and she shows DH that she can take care of it, he'll reconsider the dog option.

Hi, Cletc! I'm with you. I think my ultimate job would be Retiree. Scratch that. Make it Independently Wealthy Retiree! Let me know if you see any openings in that field.

Thanks, Zaga. I'll have to look into that. Forensic accounting sounds very interesting!

My DH has been struggling over the last several years to find a good company to work for that he fits in and pays him commiserate with his job performance. He's in IT and had worked for one company for nearly ten years and left because there was no chance of further career development. Unfortunately, when he left he found out just how difficult it is to find someplace to work that actually appreciates you and can afford to show it monetarily. So that last place he worked he really liked his co-workers, but he had not been granted a pay raise in the 3 1/2 years that he was there. He had told his department head repeatedly that he was due a review and felt that he was severely under paid for his position, especially considering the quality and magnitude of his work. While his department head was sympathetic his response was always that the money just wasn't there. This while my husband watched as they spent tens of thousands of dollars on painting rooms and putting in new floors and updating a conference room they didn't even use. Needless to say his boss wasn't all that surprised when he gave his notice. In December he began a position at an accounting firm. He would be in charge of all there IT needs and even some of their clients software issues. As often seems to happen, it was a baptism by fire as they were right at the beginning of tax season and had been without any IT support for several months. It was rough, but he persevered and really liked the people he was working with. Then in May they commenced their annual reviews. When it was time for him to have his review, he was shocked to find that on a scale from 1 - 5 he had received mostly 3's and even some 2's. Granted he wasn't expecting 4's across the board; but, one here and there would have been in line. So, last month at this time he was feeling very discontent and even a little worried that he wasn't going to make the cut next year. I mean, if he was giving them his best work, and he wasn't even meeting (much less exceeding) there expectations after just 5 months, what would they expect from him next year? So, I convinced him to go and talk it over with his supervisor and just maybe get a better understanding behind her reasoning. I am so glad he did. She told him that she was not basing her grading on her expectations when he came to work, but on what her expectations are for him for the future. When he pointed out that that was a little unfair, she agreed to re-evaluate him. He didn't hear from her again concerning the annual review. Then yesterday, she handed him a bonus check and told him would be receiving a raise starting next pay period! Well, as you can imagine DH was through the roof with joy. I mean, after three and a half years with no raise or bonus whatsoever, this meant the world to him. And, I can't tell you the peace of mind I feel knowing that DH has finally found a place that appreciates his hard work. So, really, this long post was just my way of saying... I AM SO PROUD OF MY HUSBAND!!!!!!!!!!!

DH and I have both had career changes over the years. He went from retail management to state clerk to IT whiz. My changes were not quite as drastic (apartment manager to accounting clerk to small business bookkeeper). I have now past the magical milestone of "40" and am looking at my life wondering do I really want to do this for another 25 years? It's not that I don't like my job. I do like the work at the company I am with currently. But its a small business with a single owner who is looking to retire in the next 5 years. He has no children interested in running the company and only one employee who might be interested. So essentially, it is time for me to start looking for my next job. But the more I think about it, the less I want to continue this same line of work. Of course, the next question would be...well what do you want to do? The short answer..I don't have a clue! You would think being a mature self-sufficient adult, I would have some thought on what I'd like to do. Maybe I should join the circus. (Of course there is my mild phobia of heights and clowns.) Or perhaps, I could be the next musical sensation. I like to sing and play the piano. (Nevermind my DD in the background begging me, "Please, don't sing, Momma.") The truth is most things that seem interesting to me either would take more schooling (and therefore money) or talent (that unfortunately I am lacking). I love animals and would love to be a vet. While that might not work due to the massive amounts of money and time for vet school, maybe I should look into vet offices that need non-vet help. Maybe even bookkeeping help, something I'm actually qualified for. So there are possibilities out there. I'll keep brainstorming. I welcome any other ideas. Along with my love for animals and music, I also enjoy reading and solving puzzles. I know... I could become a professional jigsaw puzzle put together-er! Surely, there's a market for that, right?

Okay, I don't write blogs. I just don't like to put my thoughts down permanent like. But here goes nothin'. Maybe this will kick my rear into high gear. I have been trying to follow Dave's plan for around three years now. I have made it to BS4 only to willingly step back to BS2. (stupid, stupid, stupid.) We are now back in BS3 but have been for nearly a year and we have gotten nowhere real fast. In case you are wondering, "we" includes myself, my DH, my DD(8), and two elderly and ailing cats. Some of our setbacks have been caused by medical expenses for DH and the cats. But, those alone did not get us to this point for sure. We also managed to fund a trip to WDW for DD, myself, and my aunt. It was suppose to include DH, but he started a new job at the last minute and with the trip already paid for we asked my aunt instead. Since DH was unable to attend, in my guilt ridden state, I told DH he ought to go ahead and buy the new 3DTV he had been wanting. I mean it was on sale and everything. (Like I said before....stupid, stupid, stupid). The funny thing is he wouldn't have bought it had I not practically begged him. He was actually on board for once on the whole Dave plan and I'm the one who caved. So at any rate, here we are. Still on BS3 and despite a substantial bump in pay with DH's new job. We keep going over budget. I really want to take FPU in some form or fashion. But DH is not on board with that. He wants to let me handle the money, because I'm good at it. Okay, well, while that might be true in some sense of the word. I'm just as bad as DH at SPENDING money. Our biggest budget problem (and by problem, I mean overspending) would be food. You would think we were a family of 10 with the amount of money we spend on food and eating out. And one of the worst things for me to admit is that I'm the main reason. We eat out a lot, because (one) I hate to cook and (two) I love to eat at restaurants. I'm spoiled I like getting to choose whatever I want from a bevy of choices instead of getting stuck with whatever we can all agree on. And you don't have to clean up afterwards! But I make this pledge here and now, that I will cook more and eat out less. We will not use the debit card to eat out, once the budget limit has been reached. The next largest expense that is negotiable would be our internet/phone/cell/cable bill. I used to have a tracphone (which I liked btw) but then we won two iphones. Well now I'm addicted to the darn thing. My contract is up and has been, but I just can't bring myself to give up my iphone and go back to tracphone. And it's not even the phone part that I like it's the apps. Maybe I should look at an ipod touch or ipad for the apps and go back to my tracphone. Just some things to consider. I also wouldn't mind lowering our uverse TV amount. But that's hard to get DH to back since he has his cool new TV. In fact he's mentioned a couple of times that he was interested in getting the HD package. Thankfully, he agreed it wasn't smart to do at least for now. So while I'm not sure how often I'll post entries, I thought maybe this might help to keep me focused on NOT spending money. I really want to live like no one else, so I can live like no one else. Maybe next post I'll have the nerve to make this public.