We’ve finally cashed in all of my brother’s citibank thank you points (earlier post about this) for two ipod touches (8 gig for me, 16 gig for my sister); a $100 gift certificate to Bloomingdale’s for Bella (she got her white Hudson jeans yesterday); a $50 gift certificate to Macaroni Grill (had the seafood linguine – yummmmm); and a $40 gift certificate to Chili’s (had hamburgers there last weekend).<\/p>\n
To top that off we also got over $8000 back in taxes. I recommended starting two IRAs with Vanguard for $3000 each and using the rest for Thailand. Chad thought we might put the whole sum aside for a new car savings. We compromised and put $1000 aside for my IRA, $1000 for a new computer for Chad, $1000 for life incidentals for Bella (if she needs tennis lessons or decides to run track etc), and $2000 aside for a trip to Thailand!!! (That doesn’t add up I know, but I can’t remember the whole list at the moment.)<\/p>\n
Chad has decided that he does not want to spend his vacation traveling somewhere hot and crowded, so it’s just me, Christian and Bella, who are down for Bangkok. And it may end up being just me and Christian, as Bella is insisting that she needs to take a summer class at the local community college to remain a viable candidate for a UC school, and she has also been invited to spend ten days traveling with a good friend (location still undecided – her friend has an aunt who is letting her pick the travel destination!)<\/p>\n
Finally I did not recover my new camera, but Chad counted out all my stored change and there was enough for a replacement. So I’ve got a new camera again.<\/p>\n
Lots of excitement and big smiles around here (caressing new clothes and surfing the net while on the can and such).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We’ve finally cashed in all of my brother’s citibank thank you points (earlier post about this) for two ipod touches (8 gig for me, 16 gig for my sister); a $100 gift certificate to Bloomingdale’s for Bella (she got her … Continue reading