It seems like all we've done is spend lately!!

- I like to shop Staples and do the free after rewards deals. I've shelled out a few bucks there lately! I flip it back into cash with free after rebate deals, so no harm done financially.

- DH's truck failed inspection. We knew it would. He took it to get inspected using that to diagnose the problem. He replaced all four ball joints on Saturday, but there are still front end problems. He'll do the sway bar end links and the pittman arm this coming weekend. Then maybe it'll pass inspection?

- Our dog had his surgery last Tuesday - $650 for surgery/biopsy. Eek. That's after the $200 we shelled out for the previous appointment and pre-surgical screening. The tumor ended up being a hemangiopericytoma. Malignant, but at 15 it's more likely something else in life will take him out before this thing grows back. 8 more days until the stitches are out and he can stop wearing that awful cone...

- I'm learning Wordpress and getting into blogging more. Trying to at least! I signed up for a free blogging class and got a free 1 year of hosting through godaddy. All of a sudden I had four more things I needed to log into! So I organized all my website info in a spreadsheet - then sat DH down to do the same with his. This involved reassessing domains and hosting for him. We are transferring one domain to a different registrar and cancelling his two (why?) hosting accounts. We then signed up for 3 years with another hosting service and transferring an expiring domain to them. One domain comes with the package, so that saves a few $$ since we don't have to pay to renew that one.

We did absolutely NOTHING yesterday. Well, aside from the website stuff. I'd still say we did nothing! I can't remember the last time we had a day like that. 2010??

We had a little money roll into the house too. Three $50 Amex cards arrived from the gift chain promo. We received two $20 Amex cards the previous week. We also got two $20 MC cards from another promo: Spend $200, get $20. I registered two cards for that and made payments on our car insurance!!

My mom confirmed she got her $50 Amex card. She quickly went from thanking me to getting MAD that she couldn't buy anything fun with it and had to buy her medicine. *sigh* I give up...

Look at that - another blog entry. I think as I go along I might get better about this. I just have too many places I want to blog! I'll get things under control eventually. I hope.

Eh, why not? Figured we'd give them a try and see if we liked them. Hey, every dinner should feel like we're at a fancy restaurant now! They should go so nicely with our vintage 70s corelle plates...

I love this time of year and hitting the after Christmas sales! That's how we ended up with the napkins in the first place. We picked up a few gifts for next year, as well as a few things we can use now. We are good at thinking outside the box with clearance items. My mom still wants a new Christmas tree, but I haven't found a price I like yet. Still looking...

We made it through Christmas ok. It was rather quiet and not too many gifts - just how we wanted it. Got to meet my brother's new girlfriend. Wow, she didn't seem crazy. Very polite and nice. That's quite a change from the ex-wife.

Other than the holidays, it's just been life as usual here. Always something. My dog has to have surgery on Tuesday to remove a LARGE tumor/cyst from his rear leg - up toward his butt. He started chewing at it during our road trip to see DH's family, and it's been nothing but a bloody mess since then. We went to the vet on the 19th and the earliest they could get him in for surgery is January 3rd. It's been a LONG couple of weeks. We finally have him in a soft e-collar and he is miserable. I figure we have at least another week or two of collar wearing. Poor thing. He didn't need the collar after his last surgery, so I have no idea how this one will go. He's a 15 y.o. neurotic mess - quite unpredictable. So we get to start 2012 shelling out a nice chunk of change. His health is "perfect" otherwise, so this is really affecting his quality of life at the moment. He starts biting at it no less than 5 minutes after the collar comes off. Yes, it must go.

We thought something was wrong with the beagle too! That seems to have cleared itself up. She was limping when she first got up from laying down, then she would walk it off and walk normal. We suspected arthritis, but I think she just hurt her leg somehow. Seems fine now.

I'm trying to get caught up on some things this weekend. As usual, too much I want to do and not enough time to do it. Oh yeah... I also have WORK to do. The joys of working in HR this time of year. I have just a few changes I need to get into the system by Tuesday. Losing two days for holidays this time of the year really does not help matters. Fine in theory, but I don't entirely get to enjoy the days off if I have to work.

Happy New Year everyone!! 2011 was such a difficult year for us. I need to see some good things happen in 2012.