Not much financial going on.

It's the first real cold and dreary weekend of fall here. I finally relented and turned the heat back on. Also, I had to get some laundry done this weekend so I ended up using the dryer for the first time since last May.

I did sell a couple CDs on eBay so I'm adding $6.23 to the challenge. My new total is $12,899.45.

Otherwise a very quiet weekend here...

We spent the weekend "window shopping" for a new house. We don't necessarily want or need a new house, but as part of the eventual move of my daughter to a private school we will most likely be relocating as well.

Right now, all the schools we're considering are not in this city because this city simply is lacking when it comes to providing educational opportunities for non-traditional learners.

The schools that do cater to non-traditional learners are all in the city where my husband works; so assuming The Midge goes to one of those schools, we will eventually move in order to save commuting costs for both my husband and myself (aka The Midge's personal chauffer...)

Ideally, we'd like to either downsize our mortgage or simply do an even swap. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is very doable. I was afraid all the houses in the other city would be way over our price range. But we did find a few that could work.

Of course, we will be giving up a lot of space, but I'm actually OK with that. I don't particularly like having a huge yard and house, and the thought of unloading at least half my belongings is oddly cathartic.

For now, my husband and I have decided to just keep visiting schools and occasionally checking the MLS so we can keep an eye on home prices. Then, by February we'll hopefully know where The Midge will be going next year and we can move forward with the house hunting.

On another note, I'm adding $29.26 to the challenge, so my new total is $12,859.89.

Of today's addition, I'm putting $6.76 toward the Vespa fund, so the new total there is $292.51.

My otherwise fit and healthy husband, recently found out that he has severe sleep apnea, which causes him to stop breathing for brief periods of time throughout the night (in his case 42 times per hour) -- plus snore so loud that the neighbors across the street can hear him.

Today, we met with a respiratory therapist to fit him for a CPAP machine. There was another patient who also was meeting with the therapist at the same time.

The first thing the therapist did was go over the cost of the machine. She informed my husband and I that our insurance would cover 100 percent of the cost for any equipment. Then she explained to the other woman that her insurance only covered 70 percent of the cost. The basic CPAP machine costs $1,000, plus the hose and mask and filters and all this other stuff has to be replaced at a minimum every 6 months. There's also an optional humidifier that you can add onto the machine, and there are certain medications they recommend if you're prone to sinus problems in our extra dry climate. All of this adds up to a lot of extra medical expense each month.

So as the therapist went over all this, I could just see the other woman's face begin to melt into that horrified look that one gets when they realize their insurance sucks.

The clincher was when the therapist explained to the woman that she would have to leave a $200 deposit today. We, on the other hand, were free to go on our merry way.

I felt really bad for the lady. This is a machine that could ultimately save -- or, at the very least -- prolong her life.

I'm assuming she paid her deposit because I later saw her in the parking lot carrying the machine and a bag of supplies that went with it.

As we were leaving, I was thinking how glad I was we do indeed have good insurance, because otherwise the only thing keeping my husband from stopping breathing 42 times an hour tonight was my elbow into his ribs everytime he woke me up with his snoring....

I know you are all dying to know what happened to my new DVD player after the 5-ton TV fell on it.

Well, I'm happy to report that it works just fine, and you can't even notice the dent and broken plastic.

On to other riveting news, I forgot to have Gil the Grocer deliver butter yesterday (guess who wasn't too awake when she placed her grocery order...), so today despite the rain I climbed on my bike and rode over to the nearest store. I also told The Midge, who is recovering from the crud, that we are skipping karate tonight. All this was not done to better my health or The Midge's health, but simply to avoid driving today.

Not much else going on financially. The booming business has me chained to my desk; so as much as I feel like shopping for some fall clothes, it's not going to happen today.

As I've mentioned before, we do not have cable. Instead we borrow DVDs from the library and have an obnoxious set of rabbit ears on our bedroom TV so we can kind of tune in to local channels if we get desperate.

The big TV is in the basement family room, which we rarely use so all it's hooked up to is a DVD player. When it's too icy to run outside, I will go downstairs to run on the treadmill and put a movie in the DVD player so I don't go stark raving mad from boredom.

However, a few months ago, the bedroom DVD player died so I moved the basement DVD player upstairs so I could occupy The Midge with a movie every now and then.

I just got around to buying a new DVD player for the basement last week and my husband graciously was hooking up the DVD player for me this afternoon when the TV fell on the new DVD player -- and sort of on him, but not enough to hurt him.

After we righted the TV (which, by the way, weighs more than the two of us can easily lift...), we discovered the plastic around the DVD drawer was broken and the DVD player itself was slightly dented. However, the power still comes on and the drawer still opens, so hopefully the DVD player itself is still useable. (It's still questionable because my husband is still downstairs working on it. Did I mention that I'm the one with the technical skills in the household?)

If it doesn't work, another DVD player purchase is definitely in my future before the snow hits....

On to other matters, today is going to be a no-drive day. But no such luck with the no-spend day since I did have my groceries delivered this morning. Plus, I rode my bike to the grocery store to get some veggies for a last-minute dish I added to the menu, so more money spent there.

Then I got home and realized I forgot potatoes. After running 4 miles and then biking another 3, my legs were rubber so I was ready to give up on the last-minute dish until I happened to be talking to my neighbor, who said she was going to the grocery store. I asked if she wouldn't mind picking up some potatoes for me, which she was more than happy to do. (I love my neighbors....)

Back to my husband, he bought all our plants for the landscaping project he started last week. $300 later, the corner that usually resembles a weed-laden crack house finally looks decent.

We still have to rip out a dead evergreen by our front door (hate evergreen and/or pine anything). Then we're going to lay a bunch of mulch down and let everything settle over the winter (including our spending plan) before extending our front patio a bit next spring.

Finally shipped off this week's eBay stuff and I ended up making a mere $10.74, which I'm putting toward the challenge so my new total is $11,780.16.

Of that, I'm only putting $1.52 toward the Vespa Fund because I used the rest on stuff for The Midget's birthday party, which is coming up in a few weeks, so I now have $304.35.

After a no drive/no spend day yesterday, today has been a whole lot o' driving and spending.

First thing this morning, I had to drive downtown to get an x-ray of my esophagus taken. Let's just say that a barium swallow to start the day is NOT FUN!

After that trip to hell and back -- plus a whole lot of water to wash away the barium taste -- I took my car in to the tire place, where I was informed I needed two new tires to the tune of $200.

I also need to order The Midget's new karate uniform today and the infamous Beauty (of Beauty and Beast fame) is off at the groomer's, so that will set me back at least $36 as well (plus Beauty and her boyfriend, the Beast, need their special bank-breaking dog food so I'll be buying that while I'm at the vet/groomer's as well....)

For the most part, this weekend was spent puttering around the house.

I managed to get caught up on all my coupon filing. I had coupons from June that I needed to get clipped and put away, so everytime I sat down this weekend I grabbed a handful and went to town. I finally finished with that project around 9 last night.

Yesterday I also had four eBay auctions close and made some money. I still need to ship stuff off tomorrow -- my errand day -- so I haven't figured out how much I'll be adding to the challenge yet.

Today I'm anticipating a no spend/no drive day. Speaking of which, I ended up with 6 no-spend days in August and 4 no-drive days. Not bad, but I could definitely do better.

Over the weekend, I also made The Midge try on a closet full of fall clothes that were leftover from last year. Despite having tons that she outgrew, she still has a whole wardrobe -- or two -- that fit her. (Of course, her birthday is coming up so we're anticipating even more clothes from her crazy aunt and grandma....)

Today I'm trying to get a bunch of the clothes that didn't fit posted on eBay. I'll have to post a link once I get that done.

Someone in my neighborhood spent this morning either painting or staining something. Because I'm overly sensitive to smells, I've been struggling all day not to close the windows and turn on the AC.

However, my sensitivities finally won out and I have since sealed up the house and cranked the AC.

Grrrr....

On to other financial-related matters, I posted four pairs of my daughter's jeans on eBay today. They are in perfect condition (just too short for her) and three of the pair came from Gymboree (don't worry I didn't buy them for her). I'm hoping I get some bids on them after my good profits last week with eBay.

I have to take the sprouting Midget to karate later so I'll be driving. While she's learning how to kick butt, I'm walking two doors down to the natural food store to pick up some odds and ends that weren't available with my regular grocery delivery.

Since my husband is working late tonight, we may give in to that Chinese food craving I had last week now that there's money in the spending plan -- or we may just come home and eat Ramen noodles, which is about all I feel like cooking now that the stench of paint/wood stain has soured my mood....

Shipped off some eBay stuff and made a $5.04 profit so my Challenge fund is now up to $11,410.03 and my Vespa fund is $302.83.

There's a big convention coming to town next week and one of the "events" is this thing called the "American Presidential Experience." I humored my husband and let him drag me there today. I should have stayed home and continued nursing myself back to health....

Not only am I now feeling worse (thanks BA), but we also spent $40 to get into the thing, which was worth more like $4.

I did manage to stay home yesterday and not spend money so I logged another no-spend/no-drive day. The Chinese food craving has passed, so I think I'm safe for now....

I'm home alone today working (as usual) with no real plans to spend money or go anywhere, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking "Hmmmmm... Chinese food sounds good."

I'm trying to justify it by telling myself:

1. I've not been feeling well (thanks to the virus BA sent me)and Chinese would make me feel better.

2. It's the end of a long week that saw The Midge head off to 2nd grade and she loves Chinese food so it would be a nice treat for her.

3. The Midge is having hot dogs for lunch at school and our dinner plans tonight called for grilled burgers and dogs, so this way she'd get to eat something different for dinner -- plus something healthier.

On the other hand, the rational, smart, thrifty side of me is saying I should stay home, grill the burgers and tofu instead of hot dogs, and thus have a no-spend/no-drive day.

Someone STOP THE MADNESS please....

I sold a pair of my daughter's shoes on eBay. After shipping and PayPal fees, I made $9.78 to put toward the challenge and the scooter fund. So:

Challenge Total: $11,070.88

Vespa Fund: $21.73

My dog came home from the vet today. She's incredibly perky considering she had major surgery yesterday. The vet showed me the stones they took out of her and it's amazing she didn't have symptoms earlier. All the stones combined were the size of my fist, which is the exact size of her little bladder.

She'll be on antibiotics for the next 2 weeks and is now on a special doggie diet, but otherwise seems just fine.

I transferred the money to cover the surgery this morning. It was money well spent as far as I'm concerned.



I'm still waiting for the gym manager to call me back to discuss why they haven't been debiting my checking account for my monthly membership fees. I called him again today and he was in, but his computer wasn't on to access my records so he was going to call me right back. That was three hours ago....

You would think that if someone is willingly calling you to give you money, then you'd call them back as soon as possible.

I'm think I'm about done with "doing the right thing" here.



I am now taking my daughter out to the garage to paint 18 birdhouses that we got for $20 from Oriental Trading Company. My plan is to let the little Picasso go at it using some old paint and brushes I have from various past projects. Then she's going to give each of her uncles and aunts a birdhouse for Christmas.

The dog came through surgery just fine. Her bladder was almost completely full of stones, so the vet said he thinks we'll "be seeing a totally different dog soon." Since the only sign of illness was her incessant need to pee before, I'm hoping the big change will mean my carpet won't be stained anymore....

Because she'll be spending the night in the hospital, I haven't actually paid for the surgery yet and ended up with a no-spend day today. Kind of a nice little treat considering tomorrow I'll be shelling out $1,400 to the vet.

My mom met my sister and brother-in-law here this morning. They're going gambling for the day and then we're all meeting up later for my mom's birthday dinner at a local restaurant.

Aside from bringing Spud, her Shi Tzu over so I could watch it (and give it a bath since it managed to fall in the mud in the mess that is my garden...), my mom also brought over rice/fish cakes for lunch.

MMMMmmmm.....

Tomorrow morning Beauty, the Bichon (still not her real name) is going to the vet for her surgery. She'll spend one night in the hospital and come home on a special diet so hopefully she won't develop any more stones in the future.

My husband was completely against getting Beauty at first. He didn't want another dog since we already had one, but now she is "his" dog.

I thought he'd not be happy about using the furniture fund for the surgery since we were saving to buy a new mattress at his request. Instead, he's fawning all over Beauty and keeps saying we should do whatever it takes to make her "all better."

Oh, and the gym guy did leave a message yesterday telling me to call him back to discuss why they haven't been charging me for membership, so I guess the free ride will be over soon....

So I called my gym to see why the monthly payments haven't been coming out of my checking account and I got nowhere.

I first called the registration desk and was told I had to talk to the front desk. The woman who answered the phone said I better talk to the manager so she transferred me to him. He wasn't in, so I left a message explaining the situation and asked that he call me back.

Still no phone call, so I figure I've done my part and now the ball's in the gym's court.

I haven't been posting much lately aside from the occasional notice saying I was adding the challenge or selling something on eBay. (Summer with a kid will do that to you....)

I'm going to try to be better about it, beginning with the results of a phone call to my gym tomorrow asking why they haven't been taking my monthly $65 payments out of my checking account for the last three months.

I noticed it back in May, but thought it was a fluke. But this week I realized they still haven't taken out any payments.

I could just let it slide and keep going to the gym for free, but then karma would probably come back to bite me in the butt in the form of some outlandish bill down the road so I'm going to fess up.

(By the way, that's $65 for a family membership, not an individual membership -- and we need it for swimming, which is big in our household.)

My lawn service just sent me a notice saying they're adding a $3 gas surcharge. They only come out every few months to fertilize and/or aerate but suddenly doing those things myself isn't looking too bad....

In lieu of paying a couple hundred bucks to see our Major League team play baseball this weekend, we drove down south Friday and saw the minor league team an hour away. Tickets for the minor league game were $30 for all three of us, plus they put on a great fireworks display afterward.(I thought of you, Gamecock.)

We then spent the next two nights in a bed and breakfast in a nearby town. Thanks to the huge breakfast each morning and a late lunch (and some carefully thoughtout snacks of popcorn, cheese, crackers, pepperoni and fruit that we kept in our cottage), we spent very little on food so we were able to enjoy a trip to the local zoo and then took a cog railroad up a mountain peak today.

We packed the rest of the snacks from our cottage to eat on the train, but did treat my daughter to homemade doughnuts and hot chocolate at the mountaintop snackbar.

We, in turn, were then treated to a woman with four kids having a meltdown over the price of the two trays of junk food her family had loaded up on at the snack bar ($92 worth of pizzas and fries). I was terribly embarrassed for her kids, especially when their mom dumped everything on the counter after yelling at the teen cashier and turned around and left it all.

Overall, though, it was a very good -- and low cost -- weekend getaway.

Today is a free day at our local nature and science museum. I had planned on taking the Midge, but after spending yesterday driving 50 miles to the hairdresser's, tennis, the store, etc., I decided the round-trip to the museum (about 30 miles) is just too far to venture out for when you consider the cost of gas. Instead, after the Midge's art class, which is about 1 mile away from our house, we're headed to the pool (another mile from our house) and then karate lessons this afternoon (less than a mile from our house).

The high-cost of gas is definitely making me rethink our daily outings....

Despite all attempts to stay at the beach, I have returned.

We had a lovely time here:



We did a lot of this:



And saw a lot of these:



And ate a lot of these:



And I am proud to say the trip was paid for entirely in cash and I actually came home with money leftover, which I put back into our vacation fund for our next adventure.

So someone (I'm not saying it was me) forgot to take into account the time it will take to get through customs on our return from our upcoming vacation and booked the second leg of our flight home a little too close for comfort.

Oh, and that second flight is the last flight out of Dodge for the day. So, if we happen to miss it because we're standing in line in customs for longer than the 1 hour and 7 minutes that certain someone allowed between flights, we'll be spending the night in the Lone Star State.

Anyone in Houston got a couch we can crash on?

I went on the airline website to see what it would cost to fix this little boo boo and found out it will cost a whopping $300 to change all three tickets.

Uh, no thanks.

I'll just take my chances; and if we do miss the flight home, I'll be playing dumb at the airline counter and hope all I have to pay for is a really cheap hotel room for the night.

Hey, but good news: I had another no spend day yesterday.....

I called in sick to the "office" job today. I'm down to my last 30 days there and the motivation is just not there most days. I woke up dizzy -- seriously -- so I decided it was grounds enough to stay home. That means I won't get paid, but it also means I'm not leaving the house and won't spend money. I haven't had a no-spend day in a few weeks, so it'll be good for me.

By the way, did I mention that I really AM dizzy? I'm not sure what it is. I have no other symptoms, but every now and then a severe wave of vertigo hits. Probably a good thing I'm not driving today....

In case you missed it, I very briefly posted a link to my other secret blog with a warning that the post would expire very soon. Sure 'nuff, it's gone now. Back to just me and my boring ol' financial life....

One year ago today is when I started this blog. As I recall, I was busy digging under the couch cushions for spare change and rolling coins last year.

I've definitely tightened the spending belt considerably since then. I gave up cable, trimmed my grocery bill from more than $100 a week to $50 a week and generally turned into a frugal fanatic -- while still managing to enjoy my life.

If you'll look to your left, you'll notice that I've managed to carve $12,000 from my debt while socking away an additional $15,000. Not bad for one year.

Gil the Grocer came back with my missing bag of stuff. He felt bad that he messed up the order so he threw in some extra tater tots. Funny, because I never buy things like tater tots, but I wanted to make a tater tot casserole to see if Mini Me would possibly like it (she hates everything resembling food....).

My tooth is feeling better, so I might be able to hold off on the dentist a while longer.

And, I did manage to get six things listed on eBay today. I still have plenty left on the dining room table, though, so I'll get back on it later this week.

I was sitting here thinkin "Hmmmm... I wonder when our tax refund might be showing up???" So I went down into the scary, dark basement and then into the even scarier domain known as my husband's office to dig out a copy of our tax return.

After quickly grabbing the tax return and running back up the stairs like I was being chased by a creepy guy wearing a hockey mask and wielding an axe while scary music was playing in the background (think Halloween), I logged into the

IRS site and clicked on the link that said "Where's My Refund?" (Personally, I think the IRS needs to lighten up a bit by changing that link to "Where's My Refund, Jack?" or something else along those lines....)

After entering a bunch of stuff, I was told the refund should be deposited in the checking account on March 28. Hmmmm... isn't that like coming up???? Wait, that's TOMORROW!!!!

Life is good -- at least until I have to go back into the scary, dark basement to clean up the scary playroom later today.....

That pink streak is back ...



... from the art museum, which is one of the many stops we made yesterday while celebrating my birthday.

Mini Me had fun doing kid-friendly activities from an art pack we borrowed from the museum.

The pack was a "randoseru," which is a Japanese backpack for elementary-age children.




Mini Me loved it so this morning I went trolling on the web for one since her backpack is falling apart (you can actually see daylight if you look through the bottom of it). The best I could find was one on eBay for $119. I don't think soooooo......

Back to ME, ME, ME. ... Before we hit the art museum (where

the pink streaks were taken as Mini Me hopped around trying to "pop" bubbles projected onto the floor in the contemporary collection), we went on a tour of the U.S. mint. It was a free tour so even though I thought Mini Me wouldn't be that into it, I figured it was a bargain worth checking out. Surprisingly, Mini Me loved it. She was particularly excited to see millions of unpressed coins being fed into presses, which then spit out shiny new pennies. (Sorry, no pictures. They strip you down to nothing before you go into the joint....)

Way before we hit the mint, we went to the local REI store with my dividend check and the $50 from my mother-in-law. I was able to get water shoes for myself and Mini Me with the dividend check, and with the $50 I got two wicked "wicking" shirts to workout in/sweat my way though the jungle beach vacation in.

We followed that up with a stop at Qdoba, where I was treated to a free lunch thanks to a coupon I got as part of their birthday club.

Fast forward to after the mint and museum, and Mini Me and I could be found at a Starbucks downtown snacking on mini scones and my favorite tea (plus a tall strawberries and cream with NO whip) -- all free with the gift cards I got in the mail the other day.

We then stopped in a local kid's clothing store where I bought two baby outfits on sale for a shower that I'm going to Sunday. The cost: $21.

We then continued our stroll down to an excellent seafood restaurant where we met up with my husband, who treated us to dinner and a flaming baked Alaska for dessert. (Cost unknown since he paid for it and I just sat back and ate my way through a mound of crab, lobster, shrimp, oysters and mussels.)

Overall, a very nice day.

Wondering what that pink streak is? I'll tell you tomorrow when I'm done celebrating my birthday.

The Easter bunny showed up at our house last night around 11:30, which is when Mini Me ran into our room because she thought she saw an Easter basket in the living room. We assured her that it wasn't Easter yet and that there was no basket in the living room, so she went back to sleep. About 20 minutes later, the Easter bunny snuck into the living room and relocated the Easter basket in case Mini Me decided to investigate further. Fortunately, she didn't and this morning she had no recollection of the incident, so the lore of Easter was preserved for yet another year. (One of the benefits of having a kid with memory issues....)

After a quick Easter egg hunt in our living room this morning and digging through a basket of snorkeling gear that the Easter bunny left Mini Me (the Easter bunny is nothing if not practical....), we went off to our annual Easter brunch at a nearby resort. (Yes, we are heathens who only go to church for funerals and weddings. Get over it. ...)

In addition to the great food at brunch, face painting, balloon art, and a visit with the Easter bunny himself, the resort held another egg hunt for kids. Being an old pro at this, Mini Me managed to load up her basket with candy in less than 3 minutes. Then she promptly shared her treasure with a set of twins, who arrived late on the scene.

After Mini Me's good deed for the day, we then trudged home where the rule for the afternoon was "eat all the candy you want, but let mommy and daddy rest for a couple hours." This went over well -- along with the Hannah Montana video mommy provided shortly before passing out in a heap on the bed.

By 2:30, though, we were up and on the road again. This time to pick up the crazy grandma who was returning from her Vegas getaway. Crazy grandma apparently spent 6 hours lost in the Venetian hotel yesterday. Fortunately, she was staying there with her other daughter (my sister) and son-in-law, and had plenty of quarters to feed into the slots while security was scouring the hotel grounds looking for her. Once found, rumor has it she insisted she wasn't lost and wasn't budging from the slot she was playing because she was sure it was going to pay off at any second.

After retrieving crazy grandma (my mother) and her entourage from the airport (where my sister tried to ditch crazy grandma again....), we all retreated to a local restaurant for a tasty Italian dinner. Still stuffed from brunch, I ended up bringing most of my dinner home to eat later this week. Plus, crazy grandma gave Mini me three shopping bags full of "stuff" -- including a big box of Ethel M chocolates -- and a quart-size Ziploc bag full of change that she hadn't gotten around to playing during her 6-hour slot machine binge yesterday while "lost."

With crazy grandma and her dog now safely reunited back at my childhood home, Mini Me is now in official sugar "quarantine" here at home. No sugar shall touch her lips again for the next 24 hours. She is downstairs playing in the basement Toys 'R Us (hate them....) while mommy is contemplating lying down on a heating pad (bad back aggravated by too much running, swimming, water lifting and kitchen cleaning).

So, happy Easter everyone. Hope your day was as fun as mine.

I didn't spend any money today. In fact, I saved $5 by complaining to the grocery store about a messed up delivery order and they agreed to refund half the delivery fee.

After going into the "office" job today to see what was going on, I'm now rethinking the whole quitting thing. Right now I am telling myself to give notice May 1 and be officially gone before the end of May instead of sticking it out through June.

I think I'm going to experiment the next two months by immediately pulling my paycheck from that job out of my checking account when I get paid and pretending I'm already down one income. This will help me figure out where I need to tighten the belt.

My husband and I have been having an ongoing discussion about whether I should quit the "office" job. (He wants me to quit....) We can easily meet our monthly income requirements between his job and my booming side business, and all our "benefits" are through his job, so the "office" job isn't a necessity.

Emotionally, I'm ready to quit, but mentally I keep putting it off because I like having that extra money each month guaranteed -- as opposed to having to go out and pimp myself to more clients for the booming side business.

If/when I do quit, a number of our expenses will go down. For instance, I won't have before- and after-school child care expenses (which is only averaging about $60 a month, so it's not huge but still a savings.) I also won't be paying for as much dry cleaning since the booming side business doesn't require even getting dressed if I don't want to. I'll be driving slightly less, so that means slightly less gas costs. And, Hazel the Housekeeper most likely will be let go since I'll need something to break up the days working at home, so pushing a vaccuum again might be in my future.

Not working at the "office" will allow me to have a life again. The booming side business has kind of consumed everything, so without the "office" job I can start working more regular hours at home instead of piecing together work hours here and there. I also can go back to being an anti-social/agoraphobic curmudgeon who rarely leaves the house, which is when I'm at my best.

I am now telling myself that I will give my 6 week notice on May 1. I'll be gone for about two of those weeks, so that's really 4 weeks notice. I could give them less notice, but I did tell someone I would help them out the last week of June so I figure I should stick to my word there.

Of course, I could come up with a thousand excuses not to quit between now and May, so this may all not come to pass but a girl can dream....