But my arm is still sore from where I got the tetnus shot. Can't wait to get the bandage off of my thumb; I never realized how valuable thumbs were, especially on my right hand! I'm having a tough time writing, tying shoes, etc. Oh well, only a few more days.

This has been a pretty good week so far. Received the first of my 2 replacement credit cards. I feel so much better knowing one is in my wallet. A crutch maybe? I don't know. On May 2, I sent off the form to Washington Mutual to begin paying my property taxes/insurance directly instead of using their escrow account. They said it could take up to 60 days for them to process the request, but I'm hoping they come through faster, along with the check for my current escrow balance. In the meantime, State Farm sent me a check for $464.78 after they processed my cancellation. I'm going to deposit both checks into my (relatively) new ING account, where I'll continue to put my monthly property tax and insurance contributions. As soon as I get going with that, I'll see how much I really need to keep in there and use the rest to pay down my HELOC.

I fought a charge from the hospital from last November, when my son broke his finger. They wanted me to pay $30 for the visit with the doctor. I already paid my $15 copay, so I called up my insurance company (Oxford, they're great), and they told me that they submitted a check for $8.10 (the contracted rate) and I don't have to pay a dime. So I called the place back and straightened that out. I also got a rebate check for $4 back. It's not a lot, but it goes into the fun-money account I set up to show hubby that these little $5 and $10 savings are worth it, and it's already up to $566.17!

Then, one of the links on the side of this page (under "Partners") is for a "Personal Finance Blog". It then refers you to another site called fatwalletforum.com. I started surfing through it one day, and found a deal where Chase will give you $75 to open a checking account (minimum $100 deposit, need to leave it open for 6 months, expires 6/1). I was pretty excited about this because I received an offer in the mail from them to open a checking account and get a $50 bonus, but it expired on 4/15 and I never got around to it. (It's that whole disorganization thing). I was a little disappointed that I missed it, but now I'm psyched becuase it's for $25 more! I'm going to use the money from my fun-money account to start it and get the bonus. Yay!

So far it's been a pretty spend-free week. Went to Dad's yesterday to do his shopping, and added some of my stuff to his cart (he's pretty good about that). I forgot bread and yogurt, but that's all I need to pick up this week. Also, I didn't have time to stop at the flower place, so I didn't spend any money there (yet). We took the kids out for ice cream after T-ball, but that's been pretty much it. Today and tomorrow should be more of the same. I don't have any bills to pay until payday on the 15th.

Have a great day!!!