April 9

Knock at the door during our dinner...looked out the window, and it was the familiar face of one of the village police officers. ..turns out they were looking for a specific person...didn't recognize the name.....apparently, the person left the scene of an accident, and they have a partial address. Wish I could have helped them out...we'll probably hear about it in the papers....speaking of dinner, ham & pea soup...stopped at Adams on the way home, and Alan made himself a nice concoction from the salad bar...

Oh food.....black cherry ice cream in the office yesterday, today someone brought in donuts, and then my weekly campus tour launched with cookies and hot chocolate......Oh my! One never goes hungry at DCC!

WHAT ELSE?? Actually....BUYING ON MY MIND....you know that I would rather work towards being a creator not a consumer, and I would rather stick a needle in my eye than go to the mall, but recently my mind has been corrupted with thoughts of buying, buying, buying...I guess I am discovering what greed looks like on me...(today was a handcrafted Indian kurta!).

New car? If I could only walk to work...how happy I'd be!!! (and fit too!) Toying with buying a new car, only to make my 1 hour and 15 minute commute to school/work much easier. (Do I really spent 2.5 hours in the car a day!)

We are a family with a fleet of 3 vehicles already...I recently bought my parent's used car, and I have a perfectly workable Dodge Stratus "off road" in the driveway, and our van is fairly new, so it seems like an extravagence to have yet another vehicle...But this morning, I did put the Status up for sale again. It’s a well-running vehicle, so whomever buys it will be getting a great deal if you can look past the cosmetic issues (air conditioner needs re-charging, small dent, rust, front seat rocks a bit.) Fielded two inquiries already. We'll see.

LAP TOP?? - Waiting to see just what the newsletter with the UU will entail. Maybe I will use this as an excuse to buy a new computer, and I can enhance the work we do for Heritage Music as well. Or I might just buy "Publisher" and use our existing computers ( we have a laptop, netbook, and actually we just disassembled the desk top)....maybe I'll rejuvenate my resume-writing business again, or the public relations business, and write press releases and newsletters!! (in my spare time LOL)....I still haven't used my 2010 DCC voucher yet (the college gives me $350 a year to buy whatever I want...camera, computers, books, software, etc)....Last year, this money went to our new netbook. Maybe I'll give that to Alan, and use someof the $ to get myself a new laptop.

REAL ESTATE?? Yes, I've been bitten by the real estate bug! Oh My! Don't even know where to start with this one. Keeping the dream alive!

PRIVATE SCHOOLS?? Don't want to name them specifically, but way too expensive!!! But it was fun to look...Hopefully a Rhinebeck education will serve my son's intellectual curiosity...I'll keep on saving for his college education....maybe I'll have him bridge his senior year of high school here at DCC. It's actually not that far away. 10-11 years and I'll have him explore bridging....BTW, tuition here is free for children and spouses of DCC employees! He told me the other day that he didn't want to go to "sleep away" high school. This gave me a chuckle, and explained the educational system and the different types of colleges. Yes, this was with a 5 year old. It was fun putting on my college counselor hat with him....FYI, when we start the college search, I'll remind him that he didn't want to go to a "sleep away" school, and we'll see how much that changes! LOL

$$$$$Hey, the most important thing about these thoughts of buying buying buying is that at least I have my debt in check, a budget, excellent credit, and can move forward by making informed choices. So that gives me the ability to dream about $$$$ without feeling guilty! It's important to balance keeping your dream alive with being responsible. Live the life you love!

Just processing all of this is keeping my spending in check.

ON THE HOMEFRONT - I've stolen a few moments to write this and it's after dinner as I ramble on....Alan wants to watch a movie now, and Bob is playing banjo. We'll see how the evening progresses. No matter what, I am happy in my hoodie with my hair pulled up with a pair of mismatched aregyle socks! Very cozy.....