I got my cell phone bill today...and boy, was I stupid. I have been so busy lately with real estate (currently 4 deals waiting to close) that I completely ignored my minutes. $250!! My bill is usually about $47. But I have no one to blame but myself. I'll have to be more careful this month. I'm already at 250 minutes (out of 500) and only a week in.
When things like this happen, I am always reminded just how important it is to have a little extra cash around. A $200 increase in a monthly bill could really have set me back, but I have the cash to pay it without sacrificing. And that, my friends, is my wish for all of you as well - to have the security and peace of mind of an EF!

I sold a house today! It was the easiest deal I have done in a long, long time. Cash offer, no contingencies, only a few grand under the asking price - and the seller's accepted it as is, with no negotiation. Whew. That brings me to four deals this summer, one already closed and the next three to close within a month. Yeah!

Just a quick note on what I whipped up for dinner tonight (cause I just love to talk about food!). My mom brought home some nice crusty rolls. I took some salami out of the freezer (bought in bulk for about $1-2/lb.) along with some cheese from the freezer (bought after the expiration date for $1 - Sargento mozzarella and asiago cheese with garlic) and made sandwiches with roasted red peppers from the fridge. I broiled them to melt the cheese...so good. Paired with zucchini and squash (I don't have any yet, but my brother does in his garden - and he's sharing) sauteed with herbs and butter, and leftover potatoes mashed with sour cream and chives. A tasty meal without being a slave to the stove - ready in about ten minutes.
Walked with a friend today - we decided to try a challenge being given by a local county department to exercise 30 minutes every day for 30 days. If you send in your calendar at the end, they send you a gift card to a grocery store and a 30 day gym membership. We took ds2 in the stroller and he was asleep in 5 minutes. These wonderful summer days just tire my kids out

to hear about DH's job. They gave him the runaround for about a month - every day they told him to check back in a day or two, that it was down to him and one other person. Finally they told him last week that they are going to canvas for more candidates because they don't feel "his heart is in 8th grade" (the position they are hiring for), but that he might still get it if they don't find anyone better. Now we need to wait until July 24th to hear for sure. I am so tired of this - particularly because he was told that he would be getting one of the two jobs he applied for, but I guess you can't believe anything you hear until it's in writing. He did find a new job listing in the paper today that he would be great for. He's planning to put his resume in this week. Otherwise, it looks like he'll have to sub again next year since most of the hiring has already been done.
We took on a major remodeling job this week. After a month or so of shopping around, we found a good deal at Lowe's - 10% off your entire purchase with a new cc as well as 12 months interest free. We saved about $180 buying a new shower and tub, vanity and sink, two faucets, lighting, flooring, and paint. Phew. DH and my father have the bathroom completely torn apart and are working on updating the plumbing. Tomorrow they hope to get the subfloor in, then I can paint. After that, we can put down the floor and move the fixtures in. We have been wanting to do this for a long time, but finally got the push we needed when the ceiling downstairs started to leak from the shower!
Moneywise, things are okay. We did pay off the 0% cc that we put DH's tuition on last year, without ever paying a dime of interest. If we had used student loans for it, we would still be paying it off for the next 10 years. It was a little gamble that we would be able to pay it off in time, but I felt comfortable doing it since we had enough of an EF to cover it if we needed to. However, I have racked up $1500 on the Discover this month (we have to pay for DH's summer class - $1500 - plus a ton of other expenses since DH lost BOTH of our debit cards). We had all our money sitting still in checking (since we didn't have any way to spend it!), so we've been paying off the Discover as we go...but that tuition bill put us back again. We'll have it paid off before the month is up though. Thank goodness this is his LAST class. He'll have his Masters in August.
So much to catch up on...I've been too busy to write lately. Real estate has been keeping me hopping. One deal closed, and my other two deals are moving along smoothly. Plus, I have two buyers who are looking to buy immediately. We have an offer in for one, and I am writing an offer tomorrow for the other. It's a father and daughter. I sold the daughter's house, where the father had been staying since his wife passed away a few years ago, so now they both need new places.
I have back to back vacations coming up soon - but not soon enough! DH and I had planned our annual camping trip for the end of July - and then by friend invited me to South Carolina for a week in her company condo! All I had to pay for was air fare. I'll spend 4 days there, then fly to Binghamton to join DH for a week of camping. Two more weeks...just two more weeks