My 2024 pay has posted & we received a 4.7% raise. This translates into $5,456 for the year, $2.61 per hour, and $208.80 biweekly. I will receive a step increase in June. That increase will be another $1.77 raise per hour. I'm always grateful for whatever increases I receive. I have already increased savings & contributions for the year so there are no plans to make any further increases.

Yesterday I got my paystub for my biweekly check. We got our raise as well as backpay. It was a nice little bonus. 

The market is up this week & I'm inching towards $1 million in my TSP. My high this week (before my biweekly contribution Thursday) was $979k. I am at $1.35 million in all investments.

I also hit a liquid cash high of $50k. I don't keep that much in cash as I always look to have my money invested. Even when I was saving for my first home I didn't have that much saved.

I mentioned back in May, I believe, that we got another 5% raise. Well, it takes a little while for everything to be filed. On Thursday night we got the notification in our employee file of the raise. Whether we'll see anything on this week's paycheck remains to be seen, but we should get back pay dated to early April when the raise was effective.

June 20th makes two years in my current position. I know I've said it a lot, but this promotion was the best thing for me both professionally & personally. And while I worry a lot with my mother's Parkinson's struggles, I don't have the stress at work that I did which makes it easier to shoulder the personal struggles.

It was definitely a situation where I just kept my head down & did the work and I ended up reaping the benefits. In addition to getting to work in a less stressful though busier environment, I get to work with really great people. I've had several raises & cash awards. While I won't get a step increase on this anniversary, I got one last year & will get another next year. Depending on when I retire I should be at or near the top of the salary scale. I'm so thankful everyday for this opportunity.

In health news, I have my first colonoscopy on Monday. I took the screening test, which was positive, so I now need the colonoscopy as follow-up. My mom has her colonoscopy on Wednesday. I will stay to be there for my mom. I pray it goes well for both of us. My dad definitely doesn't need anymore put on his shoulders. I am reading how some of you are dealing with your own health struggles, whether it be yourselves or your loved ones. I pray for better times ahead for you as well.

I really can't believe it, but we had another raise announced this week. It was 5% this time. I never would have expected another raise after the 16% raise we received last year & the 4% annual raise we got in January. I think we are also going to get retroactive pay for the raise back to April. What makes this better than the 10% retention is that it goes toward your pension calculation & your match calculation.

I have no plans to increase savings. If I end up with a lot of cash in my checking account - like I did last year - I will make a contribution to my brokerage account, but otherwise I just plan to enjoy the money for once. I max out my TSP & IRA every year. I contribute monthly to my brokerage & savings. This time I'm going to learn to relax & enjoy the present rather than save for the future.

Well I did get a paycheck from my PRN job, but there was a snafu at work with processing time cards so I didn't get paid at my full-time job. No biggie. I'm actually carrying a little extra cash at the moment as I've been receiving reimbursements for planning work events. And since I got out of debt in 2021, I've kept a good amount of cash on hand.

I'll get a double paycheck on the next paycheck. I'm most concerned that they get my match on my retirement contributions correct since my contributions that should have been on this paycheck will be doubled up on the next paycheck.

So I did end up having a drop in income due to the loss of the retention incentive at work. We continue to lose & gain emplpyees at our lower salary ranges, but have been pretty good about gaining & retaining staff at the higher salary levels. We hired 3 employees for a section, then lost two. Que sera sera... We are at least in a much better place than we were a year ago. We can breathe a bit not feeling like everything could crumble at any minute.

My married girlfriend dropped out of the trip we were thinking of taking this fall to take a trip with her husband. I guess that's to be expected. It's nice to have a spouse as a traveling partner. Another girlfriend & I are trying to decide where we would like to go. My younger sister enjoyed Spain & Portugal.  I keep thinking about Australia or somewhere in Africa. Something outside of Europe.

My net worth was down for February, though not as much as expected. My investments were down & cash savings slightly up.

Net Worth: $1,218,479

Change: $-27,325

I don't include cash in checking which is about $15,000 between the two accounts. Nor do I include depreciating assets like my car.

Capital One paid my promo bonus of $100 for opening my savings account, so I took out another $10k to open a second CD while the rate is at 5.00%. I didn't want to pull anymore until I was sure that I would earn my bonus. 

My paycheck tomorrow will be my last paycheck with the 10% retention bonus. I will be fine financially, but it was a nice boost while it lasted. I'm happy that we're now recruiting & retaining staff, and we now need to focus on recruiting & retaining other positions. On the bright side, if things go as proposed we will get an 8% boost in January. Yes, it's a while away, but it's nice to know it's in the works.

I don't know if you recall, but about a year ago my medical center signed a 10% retention bonus for my occupation because we kept losing people. We later received a big boost after a salary survey which equates to a little over 16%. We've been able to hire some employees since then so I expect that the retention bonus will lapse this month. This year we also got a 4% annual increase & they are already discussing an 8% increase  for next year. 

The extra money was very nice, but I think I'll be fine without. Of course, I wouldn't turn it down! With it, I've been able to accumulate more than $40k in my cash accounts which is the highest I've ever seen, plus add another $5k to my brokerage account at the end of last year. Now I'd like to give more to church & charities. 

It's a federal holiday so I'm off. Not really a true long weekend as I worked at my PRN job. I slept in, then got a text from my co-worker a little after 8:30 asking me to call him. He had gone in to work on an annual report & encountered other issues. We spent 45 minutes on the phone going over how to pull reports in our server & other miscellaneous things.

Then I had my cup of coffee and my favorite cheese pastries from Trader Joe's. I tried to make a TJ run yesterday after I got off work, but they had closed early due to a Mardi Gras parade. Speaking of, Happy Lundi Gras as well! 💜💛💚

The only other things on my agenda today is to mop my floors, fold some laundry, and maybe see the new Ant Man movie. 

I contacted Mint & realized why my CD wasn't linking. With Capital One you have to authorize the linking of each account, so when I opened this account it wasn't going to link. Easy fix. Now my accounts will be ready when I do my end of the month assessment.

I noticed that my new salary posted yesterday. It's an approximate 4% increase, though I expect to lose the 10% retention pay next month. So overall about a 6% loss, but I know that I can make my budget regardless. 

This week my co-worker & I changed our shifts because we needed to come in to accommodate the night shift nurses. Tuesday & Wednesday were fine. We worked 5a-130p. Then Thursday & Friday we worked 430a-1p. Somehow that half-hour earlier wrecked my schedule. I got off track with my walking, was taking naps in the afternoon, & was just tired in general. The small change was necessary as we were running into the nurses getting busy when we came in later, but I'm surprised what a difference it made in my body. I'm glad that I don't have to do that often.

Wednesday I leave for vacation! I feel a little guilty as there's never a good time to go on vacation. We are always so busy, but I am again in use or lose territory with my leave and the year is quickly winding down. Next weekend it will be October already!

Wednesday I fly into Manchester, NH where I will stay for 2 nights. Then I travel to Rockland, ME for our 4 nights on the schooner. Then I stay in Portland, ME for 2 nights before flying home. I'm so excited. Maybe a little less excited about the boat as it's a little "roughing it" for me. The scenery & food will be wonderful though. As is time spent with friends.

I walked into my office Friday morning & the first thing my co-worker said was that we got our salary increase. It turned out to be a little over 16% which is better than I expected. I had hoped for at least 10% to make our current (temporary) retention pay of 10% a permanent increase. Once we start being able to fill vacancies due to the increased pay, we'll lose the retention pay. The increase to salary is more important as it impacts your retirement pay, matching for retirement contributions, and more. I am very excited & so thankful. 

I had made some stretch savings goals when I started looking at my budget for next year. I am going to be able to meet that & more. People that were looking to retire are also reconsidering as their retirement pay is based on their high 3 years of salary. We'll be able to retain employees when we've been losing them. Everyone seemed to be in a jolly mood all day.

We federal employees should get a 4.6% increase in January. It will be slightly less for us as we are on this special salary scale, but that is another added bonus. I'm glad that retirement contribution limits are increasing so I can take advantage of this increased income to save for my future.

During the month of August they are having Coolinary in New Orleans, which is much like Restaurant Week where they have prixe fixe menus at restaurants throughout town. My sister and her friends were in town for a few days so I met them for dinner at Commander's Palace. I tried a couple of new things this time, but stuck with the bread pudding souffle for dessert. For appetizer I had the creole gumbo (wouldn't order this again) and for entree I had the boudin-stuffed quail which was very filling - almost too filling since I still had dessert so I got my entree to go. 

My friends & I never split a check, just pay our own meals, but the waitress asked if we wanted to split it so we did. I'm not complaining, but I see why people like myself who never order alcohol or extras, object to splitting bills equally. When we went to NYC last fall my friends always had a drink at dinner while I never did. Since our reservations were so late - after 8pm - dinner lasts a good 2 hours at this restaurant, I was plenty tired already for the quick drive home. I didn't think it would be a good idea to add alcohol on top of that. Especially since alcohol does nothing for me except make me sleepy. I'll occasionally have a drink at home late at night, but it's pretty rare.

I'm having a bit of a career dilema. I've been asked if I would be interest in taking on a supervisory position. Since it doesn't add anything to my salary it seems like a crazy idea to even contemplate. I'm already at the same grade as a supervisor based on the specialized work I do. I honestly don't relish becoming a supervisor again. I honestly don't want to get stuck with a bad employee again. It always seems that the good employees are free to move on as they have plenty of opportunities, while the bad employees stick around because they are in a job where they are protected. It's something to think about...I hope that I am at least in a position to be able to ask for an increase in steps. I always think it's a good idea to make yourself as valuable to your organization as possible so when you have an ask they have good reason to want to say yes. At least that's my theory.

I was just sitting here this evening, thinking how content I am. In the last 13 months, I took a new position, moved to a new city, and sold my condo. My life is so much better for it. Yes, I miss & worry about my parents, but all things considered, I'm in a much better place financially & professionally. My new position is constantly changing, we're always busy, I'm never "done", but I absolutely love it. It's so nice to work with hard-working people that just do their best to care for our veterans. No matter how crazy it gets, I don't get stressed. I really am so grateful that this door opened for me at just the right time.

I went home last weekend for the combined Father's Day/Juneteenth holiday. As a federal employee I was off on Monday.

I didn't plan Father's Day well. I thought we would go to the movies on Sunday since I figured the restaurants would be busy, then to a restaurant for lunch on Monday. We ended up doing the opposite. When we showed up to the theatre on Sunday I realized that I should have bought tickets in advance because the seats for Top Gun were sparse and not in a good location.

We ended up purchasing tickets for the next day, then getting take-out from Texas Roadhouse. My parents love Texas Roadhouse and order from them often. I avoid restaurants on busy days because of course, they forgot the butter and sour cream for my loaded baked potato. Also, my steak was a little undercooked. And my dad's baked potato was black through half of it. A little disappointing.

We loved Top Gun. I thought by waiting 3 weeks we would avoid crowds, but I realized that many were seeing it for a second time. I could definitely see it again myself. I think my parents thought it was a bit too long. My mom has pain when she sits for too long so she kept going back and forth between reclining and sitting upright. She still enjoyed it & was excited to tell the kids about the movies afterwards. I don't think their parents will let them see it until an edited version comes out. They are very conservative. Understandably so. 

And to make this blog financially related, I got a nice surprise on my paycheck yesterday. The 10% retention incentive did increase with my step increase. They told me that it wouldn't increase with any future increases, but would stay the 10% of my salary at the time. This is promising if we get a special salary increase this year. 

So much good news, that I forgot to share this! Last fall when we were having a lot of staffing shortages (still do) we were offered shift incentives for picking up extra shifts. Well leadership stepped in & made it difficult for our managers to get the incentives processed so we never got paid...until now!

I got another update to my employee file last week, but I thought it was a duplicate update of my retention incentive so I forgot about it...until another employee contacted me that people were getting notices of cash awards & she didn't receive hers. So I checked my file & sure enough I'll be getting a $600 bonus on my next check! This has been a very fruitful time for me. I'm very thankful.

The TSP website went down on May 26th to switch to a new management company & upgrade the site. Normally if this has happened on the 6th, rather than the 26th I wouldn't be bothered. But I like to chart my investments at the end of every month as you well know. Some people have been able to get into the new website, but many others including myself, are still having issues. I am trying to be patient & wait for the busyness to subside. Few are able to get through the helpline.

I am looking forward to seeing the new website. They have taken away one feature that I loved which was the historical look back. You used to be able to search to see your balance on a particular date & I hear that is gone. So I guess I won't be able to get my balance as of May 31st. Bummer. Hopefully the Daily TSP app has that feature when I can link my updated account again.

June 6th is my anniversary date for my new position so I'll be getting a step increase with the pay period starting tomorrow. $1.33 per hour or $106.40 biweekly will buy me a couple of tanks of gas so I'm thankful. ⛽️ 

We finally got paid our retention incentive & as a bonus they even made it retroactive! So in addition to receiving an extra 10% for this paycheck, we also got back pay for the 5 previous pay periods. It was a very nice check, even though they took out a lot in taxes. I am grateful for this added income over the next year. I want to make the best use of it.

I have mentioned that we signed a retention incentive agreement back in the beginning of March. It still has not been paid. This week we all got our personnel files updated with the retention incentive document & it looks like it will be paid retroactively. However, they forgot to put a percentage so now it's in question whether we will actually get it.

I can laugh about it, because I'm not struggling to pay my bills, but it's such a calamity of errors that occurs sometimes. For all the benefits of working for the federal government, the amount of bureaucracy is astounding. I understand we need to be accountable, but sometimes the costs seem to outweigh the good.

I've had two weekends of theatre going. Last weekend we saw two ballets: Swan Lake & Don Quixote. This weekend we saw the musical Mean Girls. The Covid-19 numbers are picking up, but I'm vaccinated and boosted and I'm trusting that if I catch it my body will be able to fight it. Of course, I'm also hoping that I don't have to find out how well my body can fight it. 

I bought an air fryer! I'm not a big cooker & it's been sitting in the box for a few weeks now as I contemplate whether to keep it. What do you make in your air fryer? 

So for the first time in a very long time I did some portfolio re-balancing. I've been using my contributions to slowly change my target allocations the past few years, but that is a slow process with the size of my portfolio versus the amount I'm contributing. With the market down I decided to make some changes. Long story short I went from 71% domestic allocation in my mutual funds to 78%, and from 29% to 22% international allocation in my mutual funds. This will still keep me on target for the 20-40% international stocks that most recommend. I had changed to a 60% domestic/40% international allocation back in 2017. Slowly I drifted from that allocation just due to US stocks outperforming international stocks. I was at about 34-35% international when I just stopped contributing to them entirely, then it had drifted down to 28% by the end of 2022 first quarter. I know that I wanted to get it closer to 20% so I just bit the bullet & did a re-balancing this week. Right now I'm just contributing to the S fund in my TSP and VTSAX in my IRA, though I still hold C,S, and I, as well as VTSAX and VTIAX. I also hold VHYAX in my taxable brokerage account. That is the money from the sale of my condo for a future home purchase. It is holding nicely despite the downturn. I'm actually still up from when I invested back in September.

In income news I still haven't received the 10% retention incentive that we signed for back in March, and the salary survey for our special pay scale has been completed, but mum has been the word on that. We shall see. Despite not doing any OT, I am still making extra at my PRN job. It would be nice if I can start contributing to the brokerage account regularly. I could scale back my monthly savings contributions and maybe split them between cash savings and the brokerage fund. I'll probably finish out this year of fully contributing to cash savings, though. Then maybe get back to investing in the brokerage account in 2023. I'm trying to get close to being able to pay cash for my next car and with these car prices, that could be a pretty penny!

According to Mint I am down $138,880 over the past month, but still holding well over $1.111 million in investments.

I've gotten in the bad habit of waking up in the middle of the night, in which case I end up on my phone, like now.

Still no retention bonus on our checks. I believe that once is goes through the process that we will get retroactive payments, which will be nice. We were under the impression that it could happen a lot quicker than it actually has so that leaves people feeling frustrated. 

I'm still not quite sure how I would like to allocate this money. I am saving $1,000 cash monthly already. I'm not sure that I want a lot of cash on hand, but at the same time I feel like my cash reserves are minuscule compared to my investments. Perhaps I should keep building it for a future car purchase? It's either that, or fund the brokerage for a home purchase.

In hindsight I do have a little regret about front-loading my IRA in January, right before the market started tanking. Maybe next year I'll go back to monthly contributions. If only we had a magic ball to predict these things!🔮

This month has had some big spending due to work expenses, most of which as being reimbursed for our laboratory's recognition week. I also paid the first installment of next season's theatre tickets.

I'm excited about the season which includes: Six, Moulin Rouge, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lion King, Tina, Pretty Woman, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Fiddler on the Roof. I passed on the season option of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I've seen it before (as I've seen many of these shows) and the holidays are busy enough as is. If the Christmas show was White Christmas I probably wouldn't pass it up. I love that movie. ☃️ 

Our Easter was nice & quiet filled with good food and beautiful spring weather. I love this time of year before it gets crazy hot. I am trying to think of a getaway before the temps start rising. I would say Maine, but we already have our trip to Maine booked for this fall. I am looking forward to it, rustic as the trip may be. I have been wanting to visit Maine for a while. Maybe I will venture further north, like Quebec. 🇨🇦 

We have not yet received our retention incentive, but I continue to work overtime and my PRN job. This month is also a 3 paycheck month, so yay! I'm not making any big money moves right now, but I may get back to adding to my brokerage account for a future home purchase. Right now it stands at $75k.

Another payday and I had forgotten how nice it is to have the ability to bring in extra income when needed. This Saturday I'm going in to do more training at my PRN job, then Sunday I'm working OT at my FT job. My weekend partner - I'll be working the weekends opposite her - is on the schedule to work weekends through the end of April. That's great because it means plenty of training time for me, as well as I don't have the obligation to work Easter Sunday. 🐣🐰

Our incentive pay wasn't on this paycheck, hopefully it will get coded in time for the next paycheck.

I am home today awaiting a furniture delivery. I ordered this furniture in August & it was supposed to arrive back in October/November. They still have to replace the damaged furniture delivered in October, but I just got another notification for a delivery next week. I wish they could have gotten it all coordinated for one delivery, but I'm just glad to finally have everything taken care of. My sister had to just sleep on a mattress when she came to stay with me at Christmas. 

The market has been up, but who knows for how long in these times of uncertainty. I had been avoiding news, but when at my parents' this week I watched the news with them. It's horrifying what's happening in Ukraine. I pray that this conflict & others come to a swift end and that justice is done to those that perpetrate violence. 

We are experiencing a staffing crisis at the hospital so we got offered a 10% retention incentive to commit to a stay a year. That's a much bigger raise than we see at any other time. Add that onto my step increase due in 3 months & it's a nice increase in income. Almost $1k a month. We are also awaiting the results of a salary survey which we hope will bring an additional adjustment. 

I'm not on the schedule yet at my new job. I'm still in training mode. Actually more like orientation mode as I'm just trying to get through the online trainings. Tomorrow I think I will actually get to start training on the bench. I'm told that the job isn't stressful at all, which is nice to know. Everyone has been very nice.

I unexpectedly already got paid this Friday. For some reason I thought my paycheck would be on the opposite Friday for this new job. It's always a pleasant surprise to get an unexpected deposit in your bank account.

The market remains down. I'm not worried about it, but as I mentioned earlier it would have been nice to hit that $1 million mark in my TSP before everything started dropping. It was sooo close. My one fund that hasn't dropped significantly is my high dividend yield fund which I bought at the end of September.

Net Worth $1.257 million 

On January 31st I interviewed for a PRN job. On February 1st I got a call from the recruiter that they were offering me the position. On February 1st, President's Day, I went in for a few hours to speak to my new supervisor & read over SOPs. I'll be going in tomorrow morning to start my training. I've heard that it's not too stressful of a job & the pay is better than my last hospital PRN job at 28% more per hour. The weekend shift differential is just slightly less.At my last hospital PRN job I also worked alone in my department while at this job there will be 3 working in my section. That is nice to have. I'll be working every other weekend with some flexibility if I have plans. While I did enjoy working just one job, I'm looking forward to having a little extra income to play with.

My investments are down over $100k from the high in November. I'm not worried, but I was sooo close to hitting the $1 million milestone in my TSP. A little disappointing, but I'll know that I'll get there eventually.

I am praying for the people of Ukraine and for peace. It's a very scary time for many people.

I see the website has been upgraded in my absence. I like what I see so far!

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. Ours was quiet as usual. We continued our new tradition from last year of Rock Cornish game hens instead of turkey, along with ham, cornbread dressing, carrot soufflé, and my homemade cranberry sauce. I usually do the fresh snap beans with potatoes & bacon, but my dad said to just cooked the stir-fry veggies we had in the freezer. Fine by me! Everything was delish & I'm eating my leftovers today. 🍗🍖🥕

My last two paychecks have had OT on them & that adds up quick. I'm always surprised by how much of an impact it has, but at a rate of 1.5 pay plus the shift differentials, it is significant. Much better than my pay when I had two PRN jobs. Work is about to get busier as my lab manager retires at the end of the year & I am the assistant lab manager. 

I traveled for the first time since 2019! My friends & I met up with my sister in New York. We had a great time. We saw 4 shows, ate great food, & did a ton of walking. 🍎🚖🗽

I have two more trips booked: Nashville in January & Maine next fall. 🎸🪕🦞⛵️ It is also my parents' 50th anniversary this summer so we may do a family trip.

I thought I might hit a million dollars by the end of the year in my TSP, but then the market pulled back due to Omicron. It still may hit those elusive 7 figures in 2021, we shall see. 

Yesterday I went to Hobby Lobby & Michael's looking for a Christmas tree. I had thrown my tree out last year as it had seen better days. I got a 7.5 ft pencil tree at Michael's and a tree skirt at Hobby Lobby. Michael's was much less crowded than Hobby Lobby. The pencil tree will take some getting used to, but it's decked out in rose gold, gold, & silver this year. It's a very pretty color combination, if I do say so myself. 🎄

My birthday is next week & I will probably have a quiet dinner with my parents. 🎂

Last week the IRS announced new limits for remitrement plans. The increase to $20,500 was already anticipated. I will increase my deduction in December to $800. That will give me 25 paychecks contributing $800, then my last paycheck will be a $500 deduction. I can also contribute $789 to get me to the max, but I always like a nice round number to contribute. Plus, it gives me a little extra cash around the holidays.

For 2022 I am planning to contribute the full amount to my IRA in January. My plans is to save $500 monthly in order to contribute the full amount again in January of 2023, and so on.

I've been working OT this past week again. It's good to have a little extra cash around the holidays, whether to spend or to save. I've continued to put money in my brokerage account from the sale of my condo & that has been doing well. All of my investments are doing well, actually. Knock on wood, I may get to $1 million in my TSP by the end of the year if this continues.

My investments are almost back to the high of September 6th. Today they stand at $1,300,918 which is almost my entire net worth with the addition of my car & cash savings. 

I applied for a PRN position (you knew I couldn't stay away from a second job for long!), but turned it down when they told me the per diem rate, which was the same rate I was paid in 2008. You'd think with all these healthcare shortages that they would up there rate.

This past Saturday I did some OT at my hospital and that rate is more than twice the per diem I was offered. Our ENW supervisor, who is desperately short-staffed, asked me to work as much as I could so it looks like I'll be pulling some OT. One good thing about my promotion is that by losing my supervisory status I can make time and a half overtime, whereas I used to just get comp time. I am always in use or lose territory with my annual leave by the end of the year, so I don't really need to earn more time. 

I am setting into my new apartment. Furniture keeps trickling in & I am doing a little updating in my decor. I had some rowdy upstairs neighbors, but after a few complaints it looks like they have settled down. The leasing agent said she would contact the dad. I guess that worked. It's super annoying to be kept on weeknights by kids who have their daddy to pay their rent. The rest of us have to get to work in the morning!

Thank you for the kind condolences on the passing of my cousin. It still feels unbelieveable. We had the funeral on a Wednesday night & the gravesite dismissal the following morning. Immediately following the dismissal I got on the road to pick up the key for my new apartment. I had packed my car with some cleaning supplies & some important papers that I didn't want transported by the movers. I made it back to my condo that night.

The following morning I was up at 5 to finish last minute things. I still wasn't finished when the movers arrived after 8, but I was done well before they had everything moved. They didn't have the additional wardrobe box on the truck like I requested, but other than that things when pretty smoothly with the exception of a little damage to my footboard. The entire move took 8 hours. My mom thought that 5 hours would be too long, but I was actually surprised that we got it done it only 8 hours.  I had a lot of boxes & moved from a 2 story condo to a second story apartment. In August. In south Lousiana. It was hard work. Many of my boxes were books. I gave away plenty of books prior, but still had a good number of them. Maybe before my next move I can let go of even more of them. 

So move day was Friday. I was hurting so much the next few days that I couldn't turn over without groaning. Then Sunday I was back at the condo to clean before pictures & pick-up more items that I had left at the condo. I still didn't clean as well as I'd like & the carpets needed a good cleaning, but we got the pictures done Monday morning. Tuesday morning I had the carpets cleaned & Thursday morning I had a lady come in to clean the condo, including the refrigerator & oven. Thursday evening my realtor had the first showings scheduled. Friday afternoon I got an offer at full asking price, waiving an inspection & not asking for any of the repairs that I was trying to get approved through my insurance. What a relief! I was so estatic, especially considering that another unit had been on the market for almost 2 months. That same weekend the other unit also went under contract. I believe it was one of the buyers that viewed my unit. I think that commission should go to my realtor as she was really hustling so to speak to get my unit exposure. Closing is scheduled for September 10th.

I've been busy getting settled into my apartment. The grounds are beautiful with a creek, fountains, and gazebos, as well as a beautiful pool. It's a nice spacious 2 bedroom/2 bath with over 1300 square feet. The carpets are new & the walls freshly painted. I finally have enough room in the kitchen for more than one person & enough storage to get all the appliances off of the counters. I made a coffee & tea bar in the kitchen, which I can't wait to invite guests to use. The living room has a large sitting area off of it where I will put a desk. It's got a lot of closet space which I have made use of: a coat closet, walk-in closets in each bedroom, very deep linen closets in each bathroom, and another closet off of the sitting area where I am storing all of my Christmas stuff. The washer & dryer are a huge upgrade from my set, which I included in the sale of the condo along with the refrigerator. I am planning to purchase another bedroom set as I sold my nearly 30 year old guest bedroom set to my friend's daughter. She's in college & just got her first apartment.

My new neighborhood is full of shopping & restaurants. The shopping center adjacent to the apartment complex includes Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, Ashley furniture, and a Starbucks. Then across the street is a plethora of other big box stores and restaurants. The parish office building where I can register to vote & conduct other business is also across the street. Everything I need is in a very short radius from my apartment. On moving day when I was looking for a gas station to buy the movers some Gatorade I found the post office which is also very close. There is the same family of hospitals that I used to PRN at in the neighborhood as well. I don't plan to pick up another job at this time, but it would be convenient.

The commute has been great as well as they have an express way into the city which keeps me off of the interstate. I'm very happy with my relocation so far in all aspects. Getting on the interstate to head back home is convenient & I've already been back a few times since my move. I'm looking forward to my family staying with me from time to time when I get my guest bedroom furnished.