Wow it's been a while! Been so busy around here I don't usually know what day it is. I think today is the first day I've been able to sit down and tie up some loose ends. It's almost 1 pm and I have gotten so much done today - without injuring myself! Last Saturday I killed my back mopping the floor. Guess I don't use those muscles often enough. Had me out of commission the rest of the weekend and then some. So far so good today!

We've talked for months about "canceling" cable and the last straw was last night. DH has ADD and I just CAN'T compete with the tv anymore!! Between stresses at work and dealing with my mother, sometime's I'd like to have a conversation with my husband!! The price went up last month and is going up AGAIN next month. More and more channels are being moved to the digital lineup and is there really anything worth watching anyways? I sure don't watch it. It's on mostly for background noise and I know I'd enjoy music better. DH happily flips through channels for hours, but he finally realized it just not worth the money we pay for it. We're not getting rid of the internet though. So it would cost us $39.95 + tax to drop all cable - or $39.65 + tax to have internet plus basic cable. HUH??? Well, done deal and billing stops as of today. I do have to pay a $13.95 fee (#!@@$#) for them to send a tech out to make this change. That should be on the 26th and the tech can pick up the box then. Good, saves us a trip. Well this will cut our bill in half and seems like the best we can do with what we are willing to give up. This is being done for sanity reasons more than anything else...

As for the XM. My car I got in June came with an XM radio. I wanted to try it out, so I found a code online for free activation and three free months. It is GREAT to have when we travel to visit family! Other than that, just not thrilled with the service. It's more distracting than anything when I'm in rush hour traffic. Plus I can't believe how much the DJs talk over the music!! Why would I pay for this? Well I opted to keep the service for one paid month so we could have it while travelling for Thanksgiving. Then I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to call in to cancel! Well, since they REALLY don't want to lose me as a customer - they're giving me 3 free months to reconsider my decision. That ends April 11th so I'll have to spend another 15 minutes on the phone to cancel again. Ok, that's worth it!

In other news:

- It was great to see my brother for Christmas. Didn't get to spend much time with him, but that's ok. He got to spend time with his wife and two step-daughters. They've never really had a lot of time together since he got married while stationed in Afghanistan. He's back in Iraq now and should be home this summer.

- My mom has to have more surgery - unrelated to the breast cancer. She had just gone back to work in December (after radiation) when she found out she needs to have a hysterectomy. Surgery is scheduled for mid February and I am taking a few days off work to go up there. Neither of us has any idea what this surgery will be like for her and what sort of care she'll need afterwards. Need to see what I can learn about this before then.

Ok, enough for now! I still need to go over my finances and do more housecleaning. Snow tonight may ruin my plans for later.