Odds and Ends

Thank heavens, my father got the external pins out of his foot today. They put on a full cast and told him it was healing faster than anticipated. His humor was good, which I find amazing considering his normal seasonal grumpiness and the fact he's been out of commission for two months. He goes back in 2 weeks. I hope he's back to being fully functional soon. I hate that his shop's been closed since November, but at least this is a normally slow time of year. Now the sooner he's about to get back open the better.

We did some random shopping today where I racked up on half price gift wrap and ribbon. I'm going to be so excited next year when I pull out my Christmas stuff and find all these items that I will surely have forgotten I bought. We were only stopped 3 times by people wanting to look at the cute baby. She slept through the entire trip, including dinner.

I don't want to take down the tree. Not so much because I dread the process, but because I think it turned out quite pretty this year and I like it when it's lit up at night.

We paid off the van this week, making us officially 100% debt free for the second time. We never would have financed half the van in the first place if I hadn't been 5 months pregnant and parinoid about potential complications generating big medical bills. Thankfully nothing went wrong and we were able to go ahead and make the payoff. We also opened up a savings account for Kaycie, which will eventually lead to an ESA and investment account. We've worked too dang hard to get here, I want to make sure her future is secure and we continue to practice the financial behavior that we'd like to see her follow one day when she's making her own choices.

Greg goes back to work next week. I have no words for how much that sucks. And he likes it even less. I suppose that's the down side of taking 8 weeks of man-ternity leave. I would, however, like to express my deep, deep gratitude that I don't have to go back to work next week. I think dropping Kaycie off at daycare on Monday would be the death of me. I know most of you do it or have done it and survived, and I would too, but by the grace of God and a fantastic husband, I don't have to experience it firsthand.

Now that we're settling into a routine and things are becoming more normal, I hope to start being social again. I'm meeting some fun folks for lunch tomorrow and have a tentative plan for lunch with another friend next week. I'm open for other invitations in upcoming weeks!