2008

"Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.”
~Peter Drucker

This is one of my favorite times of the year because it's new! I love to plan and this is the time to do it. Today we will look over our spending plan for the year, talk about increasing retirement savings, decide what things we want accomplished with the house this year and plan some trips.

Our spending doesn't change much year-to-year so that won't take long, but it's nice to have both members of the team on the same page. W needed to use some of the emergency fund for medical expenses, so the first order of business will be to replace that.

I want to retire sooner rather than later so I need to bump up the savings in that area. I received a bit of a raise in the last quarter and want to move that amount into my IRA.

There are still a couple of "big" things we want to complete on the house: solar panels, shade for the south patio, solatubes in 2 rooms. Today we can figure out in what order and when on those items.

Travel & Trips! My favorite topic. Our vacation times will be within the parameters of school vacations now that both boys will be in school but I'm sure we can still manage to find some interesting, not-too-crowded places to go.

Once this is done I will be ready to face the year.

On the house front:

I did some plaster trim work that really needed to be done. It was one of those things that bugged me every time I looked at it but I kept putting it off. It actually took very little effort and the end result was so worth it.

This is the area way back when...


This is the present view...

The unfinished plaster near the shelf and along the side of the cabinet


...and this is the finish.


I also polished the bumpouts framing the patio door with black soap as the plaster was dusting quite a bit. It needs another couple of coats but that's the perfect job for an afternoon with a good movie in the DVD player.Speaking of good movies, we watched Once last night. What a treat! If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and rent it. Great music, great story.