Toting Up the Small Stuff

It's Spring Break around here...but Husband, who works for the school district, can't take time off. Three reasons: some important work that needs to get done, still-lingering bills from his hospital stay back in September, and the worst cut of all -- when the district made budget cuts a year ago, Husband was in the rank of employees who automatically lost any kind of paid vacation.
   That makes for a lot of days staying in the office, working -- even though you'd love to be anywhere but there. And the break would do you good.
    He feels restless. Heck, I feel restless. There are so many little things to finish up and take care of...and I would rather be hanging out on the beach in Panama, or heading to Ireland. Why in the world are we still acting like responsible adults -- when we would both much rather cut and run?


    It helps a little to go through the bits of progress we've accomplished over the past months:

*all our bills paid (except the hospital one, which we continue to whittle at)
*regular payments (not huge, but regular) toward Daughter's college loan, and an IRA
*payments to the missionaries we support, as well as our 'son' through Compassion
*the tires and computer we needed to buy -- all paid for. Ditto car repairs.
*enough in the emergency fund to cover a month's expenses
      (I would rather beg for nickels on the boulevard than touch this money)

On the small side, we have plenty of food...including just-purchased packs of yogurt which were close to free, thanks to marked-down prices plus doubled coupons. (Score!) The garden's begun -- and if Charley can keep his paws out of my newly-planted spinach, we should have fresh greens in a few weeks.
    A beautiful tapestry club chair, snagged during the local thrift shop's 50% off sale -- $17.50 total. A down jacket, high end label, found during same:  $5. (You'll find some especially helpful thrift shopping ideas here, including clearing away your own flotsam and jetsam.)
     A huge batch of incidentals, including a metal display case ($5) and electric stapler ($2), gathered during the last day of the Great American Quilt Factory's sale. (I haven't stuck with my recent 'no-buy' resolve...but it's been due in part to incredible sales like this.)
    Steady book sales from Brickworks. Especially Hanky Panky, with many customers ready for the soon-to-come sequel. (Nothing to sneeze at -- whenever we have any kind of national disaster or world catastrophe, our sales automatically go down. Katrina didn't just devastate the South.)
    Both Husband and yours truly are currently healthy. We don't need any new clothes or shoes. Our families are reasonably ok right now. No one's in a crisis, or trying to borrow money.


All good things -- and in the long run, comforting. But I would still rather be in Panama.
How about you? Are you feeling the same way?