While we are making travel plans for the holidays and figuring out our budget and how much it’s going to cost us to travel, I somewhat drifted off to my past financial issues.  It use to be really bad.  I would always pay the bills late and then have the late fees, etc. etc. etc.  I was a mess that’s for sure.  I had debt collection agencies calling all the time and it was a true nightmare.

Once I got married my wife straightened all that out and now it’s in the past, at least I hope.  Getting out of debt is pretty tough these days.

Side Note: I meant to post this on Monday or Tuesday but the work and family schedule has been busy this week so here it is.  [my little disclaimer]

This weekend we decided to do some project work around the house since we actually didn’t have any major plans on Saturday.  Over the course of the last year, storm winds and erosion have pushed our back fence the other way and it had a major lean.  I talked with a good neighbor that we have and we looked at it and figured out we both could just do the work and save tons of money hiring someone to come out and do it.  So we decided that we would tear it down and clean out the post holes and then re-cement the holes and put the fence back up.

Fence Project 1

Fence Project 2

Hammer Problems

We started about 6:45am when it was getting light out and finished up about 11:30am.  It was so hot out.  Between the 2 of us we took down about 18 bottles of water.  Have to keep hydrated you know!

Saturday afternoon I had a soccer practice to attend to for about 1.5 hours and then after that Lou, our friend in our community group had invited some people over for some dinner feasting and then to finish up the night watching the UFC fights [#87].  That was a lot of fun, hanging out with friends and meeting new ones.  I had never watched an UFC fight before and wasn’t sure I was going to like it, but it was really interesting and fun.  The drawback though I was so tired and exhausted that after the second fight I was starting to fall asleep and we had to call it a night.  Overall it was a nice and exciting party.

Lately we have been pushing to get out of debt.  Interest rates are always changing and sometimes they get out of control.  And then our monthly payment goes up and up and I truthfully believe nothing is ever guaranteed.  A couple things we usually do is a balance transfer credit card.  Most often you can get 0% interest for 12 to 16 months then after that time period you get to start off with a low interest rate.  In fact we have one about 8 months into a balance transfer.  It helps us to keep from paying an extra year’s interest rates to these card companies.

Hopefully in a few years most of our cards will be paid off and we wont have to worry about making the monthly payments on them.  Now it’s time to get back to working on paying off other debts..

I love movies.  As far back as I can remember I have loved watching movies.  Over time though movies have changed and so have the prices. (lol)  As I have grown in age and watching the technology change over the years, I have been wanting to put in a home theater.  Now a number of years ago (uh before I was married) I bought a surround sound system, a dual DVD player and a (at the time) nice 32″ TV for my 1 bedroom apartment.  It was great even though it wasn’t technically a home theater but it sure sounded like it.  I would spend most of the weekends sitting around and watching movies.

Well I have really never lost that dream of one day owning a home theater.  Now of course our current home has a room that could possibly work but it’s not really designed for a home theater.  I always mention it to Leslie but in reality home theaters are expensive.  So it might be some *time* years before I get an official room to use, but I’m not letting it stop my dreams and my love for watching movies!

While I was doing some filing in the home office I ran across some quarterly reports that talked about my wife’s retirement.  After reading over the statement I came to a realization that we are technically losing money in this 403-B account that she has.  This is pretty much our only fund that we have money in.  Well I take that back.  We do have a teacher retirement account from Washington State when she worked up there and that still makes some money every month.  I do not have any 401K accounts of stock accounts.

We have thought about talking to someone we met at one of our community groups who is a financial planner and trying to straighten out some things and find out how we can make more instead of losing (like we have done the past 3-6 months).  Maybe we need to check out stocks? Mutual Funds? maybe we need to talk to a futures broker.  I don’t really know.  But we probably shouldn’t put this decision off to much longer as by the time we retire we probably won’t have social security.  lol

My wife and the entire group got back into town last Friday (couple days ago) after being in Xalapa, Mexico for 1 week.  There are plenty of stories I have heard about how wonderful this trip was and hopefully made an impact for the church they went down to help.  The group (about 40 including Next, and 2 other churches) talked with roughly 250 people in Xalapa and Coatepec, with 188 of those accepting Christ into their lives.  That is just Awesome!!!

I wanted to share a few pictures that my wife took of the area last week:

Xalapa Mexico

Xalapa Mexico

Governor's Palace, Xalapa Mexico

Insurance that is.  This week my wife is on a mission trip to Southern Mexico, so of course she is traveling out of the country.  One thing that was good to hear before her trip is that she would be covered.  And what I mean by that is she would have travel health insurance.  That way if there were any issues or problems she would have insurance with a very small deductible (better than my regular insurance) and get the help needed just in case.

For instance they were flying through Mexico City Airport and had a 4 hour layover and our church worship leader (to make a long story short) was getting a drink from a restaurant turned around, passed out and fell on his face.  They had to have medical personal come over and assist.  Good thing, he is OK and moving on with the mission trip.

After this experience (well my wife’s) I would think twice before leaving on any trip with out this insurance.

For about one year now, my mother decided to start a business (rather small) and go to little craft shows and festivals to sell her custom made jewelry.  So this past weekend she had a booth set up at Kent Cornucopia days.  (My Parents live in the Greater Seattle area)

I got an email from her this morning about how well she did since this was a 3 day (all weekend) show.  Then in the email she mentioned a shooting right down the street.  In the email I don’t this she was really sure what really happened.  So I was going through more email and I get a daily email from the Seattle area (I lived there for 32 years) and of course this was one of the headlines.

Here was the headline:  ‘Police search for suspect in youth’s fatal shooting’

A 17 year old was shot to death in the head going in to a local Arby’s restaurant.

Police have not ruled out that the shooting was gang related. During the argument, the gunman pulled out a handgun and fired rounds.

The teen’s identity had not been officially released Sunday morning.

Detectives ask that anyone with information contact them at 253-856-5800 or Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound at 800-CRIME-13.

However, no one from the festival was hurt or injured and my mom had a really great selling weekend!

Related Links:
Kent Cornucopia Days
Seattle PI Story
Weber’s Originals

I thought I should give a project update since I haven’t said much about it.  I think we finally stopped for the weekend about 9:45pm Sunday night.  It was pretty dark out, but it was much cooler than standing in the sun when it’s beating down on you.

So after we placed the border we mixed in some top soil and then some garden soil, and finally put down a weed control barrier over the whole thing.  That where we stopped!  However my wife leaves for Mexico this Saturday so if we don’t get the plants planted and the mulch thrown down, looks like tazdog will have a long weekend finishing up the project by himself :O

It’s been a somewhat fun experience and at least I’m learning some new things.

This weekend was a nice 3 day weekend.  Although we were pretty full with our schedule.

So here is the list and how we fared this last weekend:

• Workout Friday morning (first time in months) ** We went at 630am - Ouch! **
• Take Mazzie Dog to the dog park - ** This was fun **
• Go play miniature golf with Leslie’s friends - ** We also went to the Arcade after this **
• Go to Fry’s (Awesome electronic store)
• Go to Lowe’s for landscaping materials
• Go to Dinner with more friends
• Go to another friends house to watch a neighborhood fireworks display
• Soccer Practice
• Horse track to watch live horse racing or Wall-E the Movie ** Went opted for the movie **
• Landscape front flower bed (lots of work) - ** only 75% complete **
• Church
• Possible networking consulting assignment
• Probably more landscaping - ** ony 75% complete **

So needless to say we were super busy.  Pretty much accomplished every thing that we wanted to..

Hope everyone had a great 3-day 4th of July Weekend!!!

Related Posts:
3-day Weekend Checklist