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In a great place

October 9th, 2005 at 01:57 am

Man, did I have a great vacation. It was exactly what the doctor (would have) ordered! We went to the Jersey Shore and had the most incredible weather I have ever seen the first week of October! Highs were 75-80, lows in the low 60s, no rain until Thursday, and the ocean was 71 degrees! We managed to get to the beach, and the kids got in the water, every single day! We were also close to a park that we went to every day but one. And because it was "off-season", there was nobody there!!! We looked up and down the beach, and aside from a few surfers, and some regulars, we were it! I thought we might have a few overnight guests during the course of the week, but that didn't pan out, which was fine, because it meant more downtime for the four of us. My sister and her boyfriend were staying at another house close by, so we did manage to get together with them twice for dinner. All in all an amazing, relaxing, fun family vacation.

And the best part, I came back today in an absolute downpour. It's supposed to rain all weekend and be cold next week, so I definitely picked the right week to go!

As expected, I did pretty well financially down there. We ate out more than I anticipated. I don't have the exact totals yet, but I think dining out/takeout was about $200. Groceries for the week totalled about $50. And we bought gas (and of course, NJ tolls!). Not too bad for a week away.

We finished off the vacation mode tonight by going to a burger place for dinner, and picking up the kids' Halloween costumes. I saw the lead story when you first get on this site about the amount people spend on Halloween and I believe it; the store was packed!

Tomorrow, hubby is taking the kids to his mom's for the day, so I have a day completely to myself! I need to get some groceries for the week, as well as to pick up dry cleaning, but that should be it. I'm off on Monday for Columbus Day, and Tuesday is my normal at home day, so I plan on tackling some things on my to-do list.

Another thing that has put me in a good mood: I realized that I have a couple of sources of "income" I forgot about: 1) NJ is direct-depositing a $300 property tax rebate in my account (small potatoes compared to the $7700+ I pay in prop. tax each year, but I'll take it!), 2) We put down a $750 security deposit on the house we rented last week. (We did this in June so I completely forgot about it). They take a $25 fee out for their troubles, but I should get the rest back in a few weeks. 3) Finally, we got a TIVO recorder at Circuit City last month (using my discounted gift cards) for $100. Direct TV was giving away a $100 rebate if you bought it. I finally got the forms from them right before I went on vacation, so I'll be filling them out this weekend, and hopefully getting the rebate in 4-6 weeks. So that adds up to about $1100 that I forgot about/already paid, etc., and will be treated like found money! It will go a long way toward our 4th quarter expenses, including both kids' birthdays, Christmas, car insurance, etc.

Hoping this good feeling lasts...

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