Monday, rain, rain, go away!

     It poured all night long!  The deck is afloat and I cannot get out to weed and plant.  Look at those sad flower pots just begging for new soil and color.  Oh well, I do have work to do inside. I just want to soak up some sunshine!

     We had dinner last night with a cousin of Hubbies, his wife and two small boys.  Actually it would be a second cousin.  They were really nice.  He is an engineer and his company is opening a new office here.  They are a little older than our oldest daughter.  The company has sent them to look for a house.  They have  to rent for a few years because they had to short sale their home to take this job.  I did not go into the details with them but the Boise/Nampa area of Idaho was really over built and crashed dramatically.  Houses are worth 1/2 what they were sold for.  We did not have a crash here.  Houses over $300,000 lost but nothing under really did.  I am so grateful I am not in the situation.  We told them they are welcome to stay here until they find something.  We do have 2 large bedrooms and bathrooms we don't even use.  We will see I am sure they want to find something of their own asap.

     We made summer vacation plans over the weekend.  We will be going to the Oregon coast.  We are staying at Netarts Bay.  We will be there about a week so I need to start a vacation fund.   We will get a kitchenette.  Our oldest daughter and her family will join us for part of the week.  They will have the room next to us.  We have spent many summer vacations at this little dive of a town and love it.  Just what the ocean is supposed to be.  No tourist crap, just the ocean.  Love it there.

     I am also going to take a small trip to my oldest daughters house next week.  It is spring break for us and Son-in-law has a sister that is getting married in June.  Three bridesmaid dresses need to be made (one for daughter).    I don't want to wait until after my recital, as I know my younger sister will be flying me out to St. Louis to landscape her new pool.  My mother also wants to see daughters new house and her great grandson.  So I will drive to Montana and pickup Mom and then over the pass back to Idaho to Twinfalls.  We will stay a few days and then return home before Easter.  I figure the trip will cost about $500.00.  So I need to go see how much is in my slush fund!  Also how much can I earn this week.  There is hardly anything in the shop.  I think I will try to leave on Friday. So I can have a weekend with daughter.  I also want to get back for Easter.

     Busy, busy.  I need to pay bills today and then deposit a check.  Hubby will not get paid until Thursday but I will do all bills and then hold until Wednesday to pay.  I am also going to get a letter out to dance parents about upcoming fees.  Tuition is still due on the 1st of April whether we are on break or not.  I still have bills to pay.  Parents will try to pay when they get back on the 9th and 10th and then will forget and I am supposed to be okay with that.  Now if they do not pay by the 10th they will get a late charge.  So a nice little reminder note is in order.  I was not able to go anywhere for break last year because no one paid tuition on time.  Now they all went on very fancy breaks or at least a lot of them did and then paid me the third week of the month.  I was pretty pi%%$# off.  It will not happen again.

     Am I getting too hard and greedy?  Or am I becoming a better business woman? I worry that people will get angry if I am too forceful.  Someone slap me!

Have a great and productive day!

Kim