I don't usually blog about "money issues," but finances have been my primary focus for the past couple of months. Of course it's "tax season" and for Us that usually means a refund, or in other words, some extra money to pay off some bills!! So why am I not excited? Well, despite paying off three "high interest" credit cards with our refund, we don't seem to have gained ANY ground in the budget area:( I just don't get it. Usually I'll pay off one of our "emergency" credit cards, so the money goes to good use throughout the year, whether it be emergency car repairs, medical bills, etc. However, this year I decided to heed the counsel of the Finance Experts and pay off our highest interest credit cards. Where does that leave us? I'm not really sure. What I HAVE noticed is that the "extra" money that would have gone to paying those 3 credit cards each month is nowhere to be found! In addition, I feel like we now have no "safety net" . . . no "emergency" money. I KNOW that we should have SAVINGS for that "emergency" money, but we don't. I've NEVER been good at saving money, in fact I've HATED it Forever, at least ever since my mom made me put half of every paycheck into savings (that $4.25 an hour didn't add up very quickly, so it was torture to have to give up Half of it to savings). Anyway, lets just say I haven't had any substantial savings since I moved out on my own 20 years ago. So, here I am, looking over and over my budget, wondering how to make it work, calculating it paycheck to paycheck, and just getting frustrated. Something has gotta give . . . just not sure what . . . yet!
Onto other things. After Years of thinking Alexia has been suffering from allergies and asthma, with chronic runny nose, congestion and cough, we found out that she is actually NOT ALLERGIC TO ANYTHING!! So what's the deal? Apparently she has AERD (aspirin exacerbated respiratory disease). We've known for years she has a sensitivity to aspirin/ibuprofen, as it would trigger her asthma, but apparently another component of this disease nasal polyposis. We knew nothing about this until very recently when Ashley noticed what looked like a Big Booger in Alexia's nose. It was not a booger, nor was it any sort of foreign object, but it turned out to be a nasal polyp. After a trip to the ENT, we were referred to the Allergist, assuming that such a large polyp was the result of major allergy irritation. Fortunately/unfortunately the allergy testing revealed No Allergies, and the diagnosis of AERD was made. So back to the ENT, this time with surgery recommended. A CT scan was done showing Alexia's nose and sinuses throughout her face are totally blocked with polyps. So, nasal/sinus surgery is scheduled for March 23rd. I don't know a lot about the surgery, but basically they are going to go in there and cut out all those polyps. A few weeks after surgery the allergist wants us to return for aspirin desensitization. I guess the sinus surgery isn't a fix-all and the polyps will come back, requiring future surgeries, but with aspirin desensitization they can slow them down a lot, giving her maybe 10 years between surgeries, instead of 2 years. After the desensitization she will be required to take aspirin daily forever, but they will try to reduce it down to the minimal effective dose. It's kind of a lot of responsibility for a preteen, but I think she can do it and I'm hoping it will be maximally effective!
As for me, I finally got my long-awaited surgery for my post-child bearing stress incontinence. I am really looking forward to being able to do some aerobics again . . . just walking on the treadmill can be Really Boring! I have my 2-week postop check tomorrow, and if all is well I should be back at the gym in just 4 weeks (and BOY do I need to get BACK to the GYM!!)
Addie is enjoying kindergarten and has a new best friend. I'm really glad that she has someone that she gets along so well with, and we can trade play days with, and who does not live too far away. The tough thing now is that she wants to play with this friend all day, every day, before school, after school, Saturday afternoon. As soon as she gets up in the morning she is asking to call her friend to play, and she does NOT Give Up!! Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't want her to play with this friend everyday, it's just . . . complicated. It would be great if they lived next door or across the street, and the girls could run back and forth and play, but we're not, so sometimes I wonder. It also seems like we're ALWAYS the ones calling to play . . . I'm not sure if that's just because they don't get a chance to call us because Addie always calls first, or if maybe they would just rather not play quite so often. I know I would probably prefer not to play so often, especially since playing over here means trying desperately to keep two 6 year olds quiet while Ryan is sleeping during the day, but at the same time I'd rather work on keeping them quiet than listen to Addie whine for 3 hours before school! It's just been tough in general, since all our neighborhood kids have morning kindergarten and Addie goes in the afternoon. One more reason I'm looking forward to first grade next year!
I am really not liking Ryan's work schedule these days. He either works 6 p.m. to midnight or 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Either way, we don't see him much. I don't really want him to be working 60+ hours a week, but at the same time I HATE that he has NOTHING productive to do when he gets off work at midnight and is awake until 8 a.m.! Sometimes he will try to go to bed when he gets home at midnight, but is only able to sleep for a couple hours and is then up the rest of the night, going to bed when the rest of us get up in the morning. It hasn't been so bad for him to sleep all day while the kids are in school, but I am dreading this schedule come summer break when the kids are home ALL DAY!
Well, I could probably go on for another hour about the rest of the family, but it's getting late so that's all for now. Just know that Ashley, Andrew and Austyn are all healthy, happy, and keeping busy. I'll write more about them next time:)
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