Goal 2009 Update #12

We were able to pay $4,000 extra principal with the July 1 house payment. That brings us down to $38,243. The really notable thing though is that if we had only paid the regular payment with no extra principal, we would still owe $268,184. Think of all the interest that we have not paid!!

Thought for the Day:

Well done is better than well said. - Ben Franklin

A Conglomeration

Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson is dead at age 50 and you would think something important had happened with all the media hype. He was a popular singer 20 years ago. Since then he has been a weird recluse who appears occassionally to have facial surgery or to be sued. I guess it has been a slow news week and the media need something to stir things up. TSM said that CBS devoted the entire evening news to it; glad I don't have television.

Hummingbirds
I think we only have one resident hummer this year--at least, I only see one at a time--a beautiful Ruby Throated. He comes to the feeder frequently and sometimes I see him working the salvia blooms. I wonder if the drought is the reason that we only have one this year.

Record Heat
It is hot, very hot--104 on Wednesday. 95 days until cooler weather...

Thought for the Day:

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists of the elimination of non essentials. Lin Yutang

Busted

by Edward Andrews.
A NYT financial writer loses his mind, leaves his wife, buys a house he cannot afford, moves his new soulmate in, racks credit card debt up the gazoo, and tries to borrow his way out of debt. (I told you he had lost his mind.) Actually, he writes the most clear and understandable explanation of the mortgage fraud/crisis that I have come across. It is only when he writes about his and soulmate's personal financial disaster that I just find it hard to believe that someone could be so stupid.
It's a good read but I came away shaking my head at the unbelievable mess he and soulmate made of their finances. I also came away wondering Did he and soulmate ever get their finances straightened out? Did he and soulmate stay together or did the financial strain break them apart?

Thought for the Day:

Many people lose the small joys in the hope for the big happiness. Pearl Buck

Fly, baby, fly!!

Our back porch baby swallows flew for the first time this morning. Mom and Dad were swooping around giving encouragement and flying instructions. The babies didn't look all that enthusiastic about actually getting off the ledge. There are two babies; the first one fluttered around and more or less crash landed on the hummingbird feeder hanging about 6 feet away. The second baby saw what happened and hopped back in the nest. Baby #2 eventually got out of the nest, fluttered around, and landed (not too gracefully) back on the ledge. Flying doesn't seem to be a problem but the landings definitely need some work. Darling baby swallows!!!

Sewing machine drama

In 1963 my mother bought a brand new Singer sewing machine in an oak cabinet. She bought it to replace the sewing machine that was ruined when the house flooded in Hurricane Carla. That sewing machine made dresses for me through high school and college, it made the dress that I brought TSM home from the hospital in, and dozens of quilt tops and so much more. I was using it until last week when it stopped. It just stopped. I was sure that it could not be repaired. I could never throw it away--more likely, if it were truly dead, I would want it to be buried with a funeral and gravestone. I found a Singer repair shop and took it in this morning and joy of joys, it looks like it can be repaired!! JMM is going to bring it home Thursday so this weekend, it will be back home with me. Almost like a member of the family home from the hospital.

Pleasant View Schoolhouse

There have been no blog posts, no journal entries, and very little else done since I discovered this beautiful weblog. I've been giving myself a treat every chance I get to partake of the life and times at Pleasant View Schoolhouse. It is a visual delight and a balm to the soul. (If you get started reading it and get nothing else done for the next 5 days, don't say you weren't warned.)

http://pleasantviewschoolhouse.blogspot.com/

Budgeting

JMM and I just celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary and a lot of why we were able to do this is because we have always lived under our means. I am the family bill payer and budgeter but JMM is always part of the planning. We always have a plan because the fact of the matter is that if you don't tell your money how to behave, it will rule you, make a shambles of your marriage, and ruin your life.
I don't mind paying for goods or services; I'm not out to get something for nothing. The thing I really don't like paying is interest. We pay our credit card off every 2 weeks. JMM's truck and my van were paid off withing 6 months of purchase. Our previous house was paid off and this house will be paid off less than 6 years after building. I keep an emergency fund of $6000; the thing about emergencies is that you know that they will happen, you just don't know when or what.
This year's goal is to finish paying off the house and get the emergency fund up to $7000. Next year's goal will be to save up the money for a new vehicle and raise the emergency fund to $8000.

Thought for the Day:

“Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.”
Ambrose Bierce quotes