Often in the evenings I'll watch the Dave Ramsey show on YouTube. On today's show they had a young postal worker from LI, NY named Patrice. She was there in front of the live studio audience in Tennessee to do her debt-free scream. She was absolutely amazing with her go-getter attitude. I loved her mindset that she didn't want to be like everyone else. I always admire people who aspire to be true to who they are & embrace not being ordinary. Patrice from Long Island definitely inspired me today. 

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 plugged in my numbers into the H&R Block calculator because I was anxious about having to pay a lot this year due to increases in income. It looks like I will owe less than $100 to federal, maybe a couple of hundred to state. It doesn't seem to calculate state taxes so I'm only going off my own rough calculations.

I didn't realize that the state income tax rates went down last year. That's a huge thing as they've remained unchanged for as long as I can remember. I don't know how I missed that news. Our high sales tax rate remains unchanged.

I received my W-2 for my primary job as well as one of my 1099-INT forms and was able to upload it to the H&R Block website for my dad to work on later. I don't think he can do my family & friends tax return until after the rush anyway.

I don't know if I'll post again before z Christmas, so I'm wishing you all a Merry Christmas today. My sisters both flew in Wednesday. One to New Orleans and my other sister & her family to Baton Roufe. Currently in the car writing this as my sister drives us to BR for the day.

I think I'm all done with shoppibn. I may pick up a restaurant gift gift card for my parents. I always try to give those to save them some cooking. I used to get a great Black Friday deal at an upscale Italian restaurant, but my dad let slip that my mom doesn't like much on the menu so I didn't get it this year. The deal was good, but a $100 gift card and get a bonus card for $50, but it's not a great deal if they don't find much they like on the menu.

I also want to confess that I have spent way too much at the Kate Spade sale site. In addition to the first 4 purses, I bought a couple more purses, wallets, card holders, and wristlets. My New Year resolution is to stay away! I am gifting the wallets that I bought this year to my mom, sisters, and niece. My niece will be 13 in March so she is getting to the age that I can gift her things like wallets. I used to carry around a purse when I was much younger than her & my relatives would be so tickled by it. She is much more into soccer than purses, but everyone needs a wallet, right?

Today I got my last paychecks of the year. With a $500 contribution to my TSP I have maxed it out for the year. This is the 15th year in my 15 years of federal service that I have maxed my TSP. I hope to keep it up until I retire. I have 12-15 more years before I can retire.  I have not seen anything about President Biden signing the budget which sets our pay raise for next year. Last year he signed it on the 23rd.

Not surprisingly, I did not switch anything with my health insurance. When I tend to waffle with a decision I usually just stick with the known. I did up my FSA to $1300 for the year. If I stay on Ozempic I'll have no issue using the money.

My birthday was on the 5th and I had a very low-key day. I accompanied my mom to a doctor's appointment, we had a nice brunch, went grocery shopping, then my dad & I decorated their Christmas tree. 🎄

That weekend I also had attended a sweets Christmas event at church as well as saw the musical Six, which I loved. It's an interesting musical as it is only 80 minutes with no intermission. But it was entertaining & fun, with great songs & costumes. 👑 

I ended up not changing anything with my health insurance. I stuck to the same plan & increased my FSA contribution. I also didn't opt back in to vision coverage which I had thought about doing since I am considering getting LASIKS again.I'm not a fan of glasses, especially when I have to wear them all the time now. 🤓 

I did increase my TSP contribution to $875 per paycheck for the new year. I really wanted to go to $900, but that would have me top off at paycheck 25 and I would miss out on my match for the last paycheck. Maybe the following year I can move to $900 per paycheck. 

I will resume monthly IRA contributions as well. Doing a lump sum contribution felt like a bad move this year what with the market falling afterwards. I'll contribute $500 monthly then another $500 to max out.

I almost forgot! I got notification of my performance award which is $1,050 this year. A nice little year end bonus. Plus we can expect a raise of around 4% in the New Year.

I'm looking forward to family being home for the holidays. Even without having kids of my own gift-giving & the holidays can feel stressful, so I'm just trying to focus on time spent together. 🎁 

I haven't done much because I shop through out the year, but so far I have purchased 2 books for my mom and a FitBit for my day. These expenses are shared expenses as we'll split the costs between me & my sisters, and my mom for the gift for my dad. The books were about $20 each and the FitBit about $160.

My mom had asked for Michelle Obama's latest book, then I also purchased Viola Davis's autobiography as I read so many positive reviews. The FitBit fitness tracker for my dad was my mom's idea.

My only other purchase was more printer tape for the label printer I gave my dad. He was using the Avery paper labels, but I gave him my Brother label printer so he can label his wine & the fruit he grows for tea. You can also make jam with it, but the name escapes me at the moment. Red something or other.

So I mentioned that I was planning to move to a health insurance that I could invest in an HSA. Well as I started to research my options they indicated that if you use your plan on average that you should stick with my current standard plan, while low use was recommended for the HSA plan. So now I'm torn. I probably should have chosen the HSA plan when I was younger, healthier, and rarely went to the doctor. Now I'm almost 45 and diabetic. Granted my diabetes is well-controlled now with the help of medication & exercise, but I wonder if it's better to just stick with what I have. Decisions, decisions. 

This year I am again thinking of making the switch to a health insurance plan that is eligible for an HSA. I may also opt back into a vision plan as I am contemplating getting LASIK again. I really don't care for wearing glasses. The contribution limit for a single person is $3,850. It's another great vehicle to save for retirement as well as medical expenses.

I have never in my life been collections, but on November 6th Sunrise Credit reported me as in collections due to owing $112 to AT&T U-Verse DirectTV. Thursday I got the alert from Mint. I remember that I disputed a bill over a year ago and after discussions with the company they agreed to dismiss the debt and they even sent me a Visa card for $91 my trouble.

Recently collectors called & I explained that we settled the issue. They kept calling even after I explained the situation so I started blocking & hanging up on them. Then I got an alert that I had a collections account opened up. I immediately filed a dispute with Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. Experian & Transunion have already deleted the collections from my report.

I also emailed the company directly & they said that they don't have a collections against me on their books & I should contact AT&T. But it was Sunrise Credit that reported the debt so I didn't understand that response. I responded why then was I just reported as being in collections by Sunrise Credit? They didn't respond. I also complained that they didn't send me a Notice of Debt which has been the law since November 2021.

It looks like this will be fairly easy to resolve so far. It also makes my decision to leave AT&T, my cell phone provider for approximately 2 decades, easier. I've been wanting to move to Verizon as they seem to provide better coverage post-hurricanes, but I due to loyalty & a federal employee discount I had been reluctant to leave AT&T. No discount however is worth seeing my nearly perfect credit card drop by over 100 points in a day.

In other bad news, I tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday. I'm already feeling better, thankfully. I had spent Thursday night with my parents' and when I woke up feeling awful at 4 am I took one of their home tests. My first symptoms were actually sneezing, which had me thinking of allergies. I had slightly itchy, watery eyes. Then Thursday morning my nose started running, then by that night I was coughing. I went to bed then woke up with chills and feeling very unwell, which prompted my taking the test. I'm still recovering at my parents' home. I wanted to go home to isolate, but they didn't want me to be alone. Last summer we lost my cousin that was younger than me by 2 years due to Covid-19 & I think it made me parents more anxious.

I'm doing much better & will head to my apartment tomorrow for the rest of my recovery period.

Roughly 10 days out from the November election & it can't come soon enough.

There's a certain very popular radio personality that I l just got back to listening to in the past couple of years. I had stopped listening to him over a decade ago because I got tired of his political rants. Well with the upcoming election he can't seem to stop making comments about politics. I think I'll take a break from the show until the election is over. 

One of my pet peeves in life is people who think that everyone wants to hear their political opinions all the time. I listen to him for financial advice, though I certainly don't always agree with his. It's probably  more like 50-50 with this particular money guru, but I still enjoy the discussions. What I'm not interested in is hearing his political opinions.

Just vote how you want to & be quiet. I'm pretty well set on my political leanings & I only discuss politics in certain venues. Other than alluding to having some strong feelings after the 2016 election I try not to discuss politics here.

I am in a TSP group & the administrators are militant about no political posts. I love it. If there's even a hint of politics in a post it gets taken down. There's a certain group of people that get mad, but I think it keeps the focus on the group's real intent. 

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.

After President Biden's announcement about student loan forgiveness my former college roommate posted on Facebook about her situation. I graduated from college back in 2000, I think she took a year or two longer to finish. She still has over $25k in student loans. I was shocked. I know that she came from a single parent home & they didn't have a lot of money, but I was surprised as I thought our college was pretty reasonable to attend back then. She said that she has paid more that she initially took out & then some. She has deferred when she was unable to pay.

I am very sympathetic for those that continue to be bogged down with student loan even though I was able to pay mine off. I had only $5k for my undergrad due to having scholarships, then $20k for grad school. I got some repayment funds from the federal governmentfor my grad school loans. I think something like $4k in exchange for committing to continue my employment for a few years. I had every intention of retiring from the VA & still do so it was a no brainer to commit at the time.

Back to my friend, her loans were largely from undergrad though she attended and didn't finish grad school. Her undergrad degree was in education, but she was never able to teach because she couldn't pass the exam. With the teaching shortage I think she would be able to get a job now, but I'm not sure she is interested after all these years. She is hoping, and I as well, that she'll get the $10k loan forgiveness.

It's back to the grind tomorrow. I took off all a last week and enjoyed spending time with my family. My sister stayed the night with me Thursday, then flew back home Friday morning. We enjoyed low-key family time, talking, having lunch, watching movies. It was so relaxing. 

I had a terrifying experience on the spillway Monday night coming home. There was a tanker trucker that came up behind me, no headlights, with hazard lights flashing. I didn't know why his hazard lights were on. Had he lost his brakes? He was so close that I got over as I was scared that he was going to run into me. Then he started coming into my lane & blaring his horn. It was terrifying. He had plenty of time to get over before he was on my tail, which was why I moved over. I really should have called the state troopers. He had no business driving so haphazardly without headlights at night on a dangerous over-water bridge. I was in tears by the time I got home, but so thankful that there was no accident. My heart felt like it was going to come out of my chest during the incident.

In better news, after 3 weeks of diet changes, exercising, and weekly Ozempic injections my blood sugar is running consistently within range. Three weeks ago no matter what I ate my glucose was high. I was worrying that I would never get it under controls. I get my labs again in 3 weeks so my doctor can make sure there are no advisers effects from the Ozempic.

I had my semi-annual primary care appointment on Tuesday. I decided to ask my doctor about Ozempic & if I qualified. Many people seem to be taking it. I qualify due to being diabetic & overweight. And full disclosure, I have not been taking care of myself as I should the past several months. After seeing my weight gain & lab results I started back walking this week. It's so hot outside, but if I go after 7:30 in the evening it's not horrible. I'm getting well over 10,000 steps daily. The last two days I've been over 13,000 steps.

I requested the Ozempic prescription to be filled. It was $1,250 before insurance, $200 with insurance. My doctor put me on the injection, which is supposed to be more effective than the pill. I'll try it & see. Taking care of your physical health is an important part of financial health. I definitely got a wake-up call this week.

It is August already! This summer is flying by. I don't like to wish time to pass, but I always enjoy the autumn. It is my favorite season. 🍁🍂🐿

I'm looking forward to our trip to Maine at the end of September. I am encouraged to read that airline tickets are decreasing in price. I need to book my ticket to Boston or Portland soon. 🦞⛵️

In June my investments & savings were down $83,439. For July I gained $90,928. I read this article this morning & a BoA executive predicts we're still at least 6 months out from an economic recovery. Who knows? I am glad that at least my cash savings, which isn't a huge amount, are getting more in interest. It can't combat this rapidly rising inflation, but it's something.

Net Worth $1,221,187

My parents celebrated their golden annoversary this weekend. They were married on July 8,1972, 50 years ago. 💛

Friday afternoon they arrived at my apartment. We sat around & chatted. They had a few snacks as they didn't have lunch. We didn't want to spoil our appetites for dinner. I think took them to The Roosevelt to check-in. The Roosevelt is a historic hotel in New Orleans. All of the staff were wonderful & very accommodating during their stay. Their room was lovely. I had upgraded them to a superior room which had a nice sitting area with pull-out sofa. My mom wants to stay there when the kids come home during the holidays.

I went back to my apartment, took a shower & got dressed. Then I traveled back to New Orleans to pick them up for dinner. We went to Commander's Palace, another historic New Orleans restaurant owned by the Brennan family and the restaurant where Emeril Lagasse really found acclaim. The food & service were outstanding. 🥂

The next day I went to pick up their luggage & meet them for lunch. We had lunch in an Italian restaurant at the hotel, Domenica. The food & service were very good as well. My parents then walked the short distance to the theatre while I parked the car. It was their first time seeing Hamilton, my fourth. They thoroughly enjoyed it. The only negative was the amount of up & down during the performance. Some people don't understand that live theatre isn't like attending a movie. I think one of things that makes Hamilton stand out is that every song is memorable, which is what makes it such a spectacular show. Others kind of have filler songs, but with Hamilton every song stands out on its own. ⭐️

After the show we came back to my apartment where they were able to relax for a few minutes & get ready for the trip back home. It's a little over an hour drive. My mom said it was the best weekend ever, which made me feel good. I was very anxious planning everything, making sure that my mom was accommodated with her Parkinson's. Everything went off without a hitch! 🙌🏾

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. 

I wrote a blog earlier this week regarding my car maintenance & it seems to be lost. That's so frustrating.

Anyway, I spent $281.42 on my scheduled 70,000 mile maintenance for my 2015 CR-V. That included some extra things like patching a tire with a nail in it & replacing windshield wipers which were badly in need of replacement.

I guess you would consider this a splurge as I always get my maintenance done at the dealership. When I bought my first (used) car I used to get my service done at Wal-Mart, but since then I have always gone to the dealership. I think it's worth it in the long run. I don't have any problems with my car & I'd like to keep it that way.

When I was almost to work the tire pressure light came on. I was frustrated because I figure they either didn't correctly patch the tire or they just forgot to check the tire pressure on all tires. The service rep gave me his card with his cell phone number so I called him. He said to just reset it. I didn't think of that since the light didn't come on immediately, but only after driving several miles. Anyway, it worked. Lesson learned to always just reset the tire pressure even if I don't think it will change anything.

I was worried that my tires were worn & needed replacing. They checked the tread as a part of service & they are fine for now. I'm glad that they do that as part of their checklist because I forgot to ask, even though it has been on my mind for a while.

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. 

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.

Happy New Year! I wish you and yours happiness & health in 2022. I meant to post at least once in December, but with the busyness of the holidays time got away from me. 🎄 

I celebrated a birthday last month. I celebrated by going out to lunch with my parents. They rarely eat out since the pandemic began & with Omicron I doubt they'll be doing it again anytime soon. 🎂 

My sisters came home for Christmas. It was so good to see my niece & nephew for the first time since Christmas 2019.  My younger sister flew home, while my older sister & her family drove from Virginia. We had an outdoor Christmas Day gathering with extended family. For once I was thankful for a warm Christmas! The high was 80 degrees here on Christmas Day. ☀️ 

I leave Wednesday for Nashville. There's a 40% chance of snow there on Thursday. I'm looking forward to my trip. I ordered some KN95 masks to wear. While I wore cloth masks in New York & was fine, with this new more contagious variant I thought it would be good to get more effective masks. Where we are going is requiring vaccination for entrance & I'm thankful for that. 😷 

I did my budgeting this morning since it's the first of the month & year. Nobember & December were high-spending months. I appreciate the cash my parents have me for my birthday & Christmas. My investments grew over $56k last month. I placed a trade for $6k to my IRA today. I was going to do $500 monthly contributions, but got inspired to go all in today. 💰

I get an annual raise of 2.2% in the new year & I will get a step increase in June. I have increased my retirement contributions to meet the $20.5k limit this year. I decreased my FSA contributions & I hope I don't regret that. It's always a gamble as you never know what will happen. I appreciated when they allowed us to change our allocation mid-year. 

Net Worth $1.388 million 

Investments $1.340 million

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. 🎂

Yesterday I got my both my CV19 booster shot as well as my flu shot. I went to bed early last night. Woke up just before midnight with all the symptoms of coming down with something. I am achy, chilly, tired, have a headache, & my arm is pretty sore. Then this morning they started working on the roofs before 7. I hope this banging won't be going on all day long. 🤕

Today is a 3 paycheck month. I'm going to transfer some more money to my brokerage account for investing. At least $3k. The market is a little shaky with talks of a government shutdown, but I know it's best to stay the course.

Thursday afternoon my apartment complex got back power. I was so grateful! I never realized that I could sweat so much doing absolutely nothing. And then to add insult to injury, it would be hotter inside than outside! I now have all my creature comforts back: air conditioning, hot showers, & internet to binge on Netflix. When I moved I got rid of cable & got first an antenna (tried 2 & returned both) then I got a Fire Stick. I loved it so that I am getting one for each television.

The day before I got power I had met with a friend that came into the city. She does insurance claims so she was deployed to New Orleans. She had been in Lake Charles still working on Hurricane Laura claims. I borrowed a battery fan & lantern from a mutual friend of ours. She also lent me another lantern & several batteries. I was so thankful. Tuesday night I would wake up as soon as I fell asleep due to the heat. Wednesday I finally had a restful night. But I'm happy to longer need any of it!

My closing has been rescheduled for this coming Friday, the 17th. I hope everything goes smoothly over the next week.

I was scheduled to close on the condo this Friday, but it has been delayed due to the lender not having everything accounted for. I'm disappointed as I was looking forward to closing that chapter & getting some cash to invest, but I have no other choice but to be patient. It was a rather short closing date target to begin with, maybe a little too ambitious.

I came back to the city yesterday morning. My apartment complex has few residents staying here. It makes me feel a little nervous, but I don't get out after dark. We are still under a curfew from 6p-6a.

Last night without power was miserable & it looks like it may be a week or more longer before I get back power. Outside my window is the Jefferson Parish office buildings which ran on generator power all night. So close, yet so far away. I was envious to say the least.

My friend is an insurance adjuster & she got into town last night. The Air BnB where she is staying got power a few hours after she got into town. After work I went by & picked up a battery operated fan, batteries, a couple of lanterns, & some hurricane snacks. So thankful for her & the mutual friend that lent her the fan. I am now shopping online looking to buy the same to get me through the next hurricane. 

if I don't get power back by Friday I will head back to stay with my parents for the weekend. I can sleep in peace for a few nights & wash my clothes.

My loved ones are all okay. We lost power for less than 24 hours at my parents' home. My apartment is without power & under a boil advisory for the foreseeable future as is most (all?) of Jefferson Parish. I am back at my parents' home after venturing into the city to check in at the hospital. After I learned of the water situation I requested leave for the week. I hope the situation will be better in a week, but as I understand it, it could take up to 6 weeks to get the power fully restored in Jefferson. With a boil advisory I would need power for my apartment to be habitable. There is also a curfew from 6p-6a daily. I just left my apartment at 6p yesterday, after picking up some things & cleaning out my refrigerator. There was no way that I was staying the night. I'd rather risk getting stopped, but thankfully it was smooth sailing all the way back to BR.

New Orleans had a total black-out after the storm blew through & the mayor is asking people who evacuated to not return. I was told there was some looting going on, which is another reason I wanted to leave before dark.

It's still hard to get gas in Baton Rouge, but it is available if you're willing to wait. I don't plan on going anywhere until maybe Laber Day so I'll wait. Hopefully it will be more readily available. 

This truly was a devastating storm. Thankfully there were not many lives lost, but the damage to infrastructure is pretty significant. The (huge) bright spot is that our levees held.

I will see if anything gets postponed with my condo sale. I went by yesterday morning after the storm & all looked well.

We have a hurricane headed this way. It is expected to make landfall Sunday as a category 3. I am prepared as I am going to be at the point, but I will make one last trip to the store & gas station when I get off work this afternoon. Hopefully it won't be too crazy. I just want to grab any last thing that I can think of. Stay safe with these fires & hurricanes out there! 💨🔥

I was off on Monday. Tuesday morning we had a supervisors' meeting then I met with my supervisor to discuss updating a policy. My mom called & left a voicemail during the meeting. Then my dad left a text message to call them. I excused myself from the meeting then as I knew it was something urgent. When I called my mom told me that my cousin had passed away. She & her fiancé had tested for Covid-19 & were recovering at his home. She lives with her parents, but once they tested positive she moved out to quarantine. On Monday she started to feel bad, then that night she started to have issues breathing. By Tuesday morning she was gone. It took her just that fast. She was 41.

My aunt & uncle lost their youngest daughter at the age of 30 only 3 years ago. Two of their three children gone in just 3 years. It seems unbelievably cruel. My uncle had C19 last fall & was hospitalized twice. Once for the virus, the second time for getting a blood clot due to the treatment. He was taking all precautions & had no idea how he got it.

I last saw my cousin on May 1st when we had an outdoor birthday party to celebrate my aunt's 70th birthday. She was beautiful inside & out and had her life ahead of her. Her doctor recommended she not get vaccinated due to having Crohn's disease. I don't know what concerns her doctor had, but hindsight is 20/20. I wish she had been vaccinated.

I am off this coming week because I was preparing to move as I have been for weeks. The funeral is Wednesday night in New Orleans. I will attend, but I'm nervous about my parents attending even though they are both vaccinated as am I. I will drive back to Baton Rouge that night, attend the gravesite service in the country the next morning, then head to New Orleans to start moving into my apartment. 

I pray that you & your loved ones remain healthy.

I notice that employers are trying hard to recruit employees. Costco upped their minimum wage to $16 & Wal-Mart has a minimum wage of $11. McDonald's is starting at $10 and is even advertising paying workers daily.  Last time I went to Wal-Mart there were signs advertising $13-21 for overnight stockers. These are really good wages for my area.

It seems employers are going to effectively raise the minimum wage even if the government can't seem to find consensus. And the more they raise their wages the less $15 as minimum wage seems a pipe dream as it once did. I think a split between current minimum wage & $15 should be easy to pass now. 

As for my own wages, the President has proposed a 2.7% raise for federal employees, which would be nice. If I get a promotion that will be a nice bump on top of that raise with another step increase to come in a year's time. I won't be making 6 figures, but I'll be close enough with working just one job.

My investments are up $8k this week. I hit $1.3 million net worth and $1.165 million in investments. I should hit $15k in savings this month before I quit my second & third jobs. I already sent off my resignation letter for my weekend job at the hospital.