Current Sewing Project

Here's a sneak peak:

Any guesses?

Budgeting: June and July

Budgeting is all out of whack right now.  We were gone from June 19-July 23.  The Magician paid ahead our bills, but took some unpaid vacation, plus obviously we used less electricity and gas not being here (we unplugged everything we could before we left), etc.  So the numbers don't provide much in the way of useful information.  Other than the fact that interest rates on savings accounts are beyond lousy, but we all knew that already, didn't we?

Two highlights, though:

• Thanks to whoever bought items through our Amazon link in July.   We had NINE purchases, our highest yet!  (We don't get names or details, so we don't know who you are to thank you personally, but we appreciate it!)
• The escrow on our mortgage went up last year even though our property taxes didn't.  Multiple patient phone calls did nothing.  But this month we got a check for $350.52... It's going to get applied to the mortgage again, but this time it will be taking an extra bite out of the principle.

Croatia: Welcome to Split

This post offers a glimpse of Split, the first city we landed in.

Tired, cranky, sweaty, carrying a heavy back-pack?  No problem!  Here you see the first of many ice cream bars eaten in order to promote marital harmony, and up the odds that we would actually make it to where we were going without him having to carry her.

 I'm really glad we discovered the magical healing properties of ice cream early in the trip!

Of course, when you only have three changes of clothes for five weeks, you kinda have to avoid getting ice cream all over your clothes.

This is the courtyard of the pension where we stayed, Hostell Nikolla.  It offered free internet access with an actual computer rather than wi-fi..

And the Final Results Are.....

Good news!
The test results were negative and I am starting to feel better.

Tip: Do not Google a disease you might or might not have while you are waiting for test results.  Seriously.  Resist the urge.

A Bit of Rock Balancing

After mowing, I decided to do a bit of rock balancing in the back yard.  Nothing too fancy for now:

Don't Touch That Dial! We'll Be Right Back with More After This

Dear readers,

I'm sick.

Really, really, sick.

The doctor's office says it is not Lyme disease from the tick I took back home as an unwelcome souvenir.  But they don't know what it is.

I just know that I feel miserable.

So I haven't forgotten you.  (Staring at the ceiling waiting for the room to stop spinning has actually given me lots of cool blogging ideas......)  I just can't write right now.  But I will.  Eventually.  I promise.

Hugs,
J.

Croatia: Fun at the Airport?

Rather than give you a whopping mass of Croatia photos and memories, I'm going to post a few pictures every couple of days in addition to my regular blogging.  That way we can spread out the fun!

One of my motto for travel is: Don't neglect the little moments.

So here is a little moment or two from the airport in Ottowa, Canada.  My beloved performed some magic tricks for a couple of interesting fellow travelers.  She is American, he is French, and they met in Mexico on vacation.  (That wasn't actually the quickest jumpstart to a relationship that we encountered on our travels -- we met a couple who got acquainted on a 45 minute flight from France to Ireland, leading to a long-distance Irish-American relationship and eventually many years of marriage.)

(How did we end up talking to total strangers?  You may well ask.  I do it all the time, and it makes for a much more interesting trip.  He asked the adjacent booth was taken, I said it wasn't and threw out a harmless remark about how tiring the "travel" part of traveling is, and we got to talking.)