what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[W2R]

Woo-hoo! Congratulations, Lisa. That's a huge step towards your goal.

 

[Ronstar]

Paid $100k on the principal of our house today.

Goal is to have it paid off before retirement. Only $124k to go now.

And I don't want to debate on why I should have put the money to work for me, I'd rather have a paid off house as piece of mind

Congrats! - and you did put your money to work for you, and better yet a step toward piece of mind.

 

[MBAustin]

The slow deterioration our bodies suffer from aging is a real PITA, but I'll take it any day over the much faster deterioration of the recently deceased. It's good to be alive.

At a meeting this afternoon, one of the other volunteers (who's probably 10-15 years older) was telling us about her 7th surgery in 2 years. She was back with her dr. for a follow-up visit and asked him about her swollen and painful finger. He said "Gosh". She looked puzzled and he replied "Getting' older, s*** happens".

 

[HFWR]

Paid $100k on the principal of our house today.

Goal is to have it paid off before retirement. Only $124k to go now.

And I don't want to debate on why I should have put the money to work for me, I'd rather have a paid off house as piece of mind

If I had a spare $84k, I could pay off my house.

I don't...

 

[aja8888]

Kind of a shock to hear that, isn't it? I was told I would need cataract surgery sometime soon (in the next year or two, I suppose) the last time I went to get my eyes checked.

At first I didn't like the idea, but after talking to some people who have had it done, I am almost looking forward to it. Apparently this surgery can improve the vision tremendously. I am all for that! And then the idea of essentially having built in contacts would be fabulous.

DW had cataract surgery two months or so ago on one eye. Now one to go! She definately can see much better and hasn't hit anything with the car since then! She said she didn't realize how poorly she was seeing until after the surgery.

I am older than her and went to have my eyes examined in February and the doc says not trace of cataracts and at least 10 years away if they start to appear. I was surprised, based on my (older) age.

 

[NW-Bound]

Paid $100k on the principal of our house today.

Goal is to have it paid off before retirement. Only $124k to go now.

And I don't want to debate on why I should have put the money to work for me, I'd rather have a paid off house as piece of mind

If I had a spare $84k, I could pay off my house.

I don't...

And occasionally, I wished I could put my homes on mortgage to free up more cash to invest.

But people here on the forum have said no bank is willing to loan people money without a job, even if their investible assets are worth several times the home. Then, I remember that I still have 25% cash that I was too chicken to throw into the market, so what would I dare do with even more cash?

Well, I guess now is a good time as any to take some profits off the market.

 

[Tailgate]

DW had cataract surgery two months or so ago

had both eyes done this year.. love it, except the multi lens was not as advertised. I still need readers which is very disappointing after the additional 4k expense not covered by insurance.

Last night I used my CPAP machine for first time for apnea.. got a great nights sleep.. best in a long time. Wish I had done the sleep study long ago. Cheers.

 

[MichaelB]

Kind of a shock to hear that, isn't it? I was told I would need cataract surgery sometime soon (in the next year or two, I suppose) the last time I went to get my eyes checked.

Yes and no. It's my 6th visit to an ophthalmologist in the last year (sigh). I have macular degeneration as well, some retina damage already, and this complicates the cataract removal. Next visit is Monday with the cataract guy, so I need to decide before then.

There have been a couple of eye related threads over the past year or two, I'm going to reread them.

 

[HFWR]

And occasionally, I wished I could put my homes on mortgage to free up more cash to invest.

I could pay a significant amount right now, but not enough to pay it down to zero, so would just be out my emergency/next car fund, and still be making payments. So I did the next best thing: I refied at 3.75%, no cash out, thus my PITI is $700/mo, about what I could rent a crappy 1BR apartment for.

 

[aja8888]

had both eyes done this year.. love it, except the multi lens was not as advertised. I still need readers which is very disappointing after the additional 4k expense not covered by insurance.

Last night I used my CPAP machine for first time for apnea.. got a great nights sleep.. best in a long time. Wish I had done the sleep study long ago. Cheers.

We didn't go for the multi lens for DW when the doctor said it was not guaranteed to work, so we got here the single correction one. All is good, but she still needs readers. Good to hear about he CPAP result. I'm still a ways from both needs. Guess I am just lucky or have good genes.

 

[footenote]

had both eyes done this year.. love it, except the multi lens was not as advertised. I still need readers which is very disappointing after the additional 4k expense not covered by insurance.

I had Inter Ocular Lens implanted two years ago (removing cataracts). I'm now 20/20 in one eye and almost 20/10 in the other.

My eye doc warned me off multi lens (so I still have to wear "readers"). But, compared to the almost-legally-blind condition my eyes were in since 3rd grade, this is wonderful!

 

[Meadbh]

I had a nice morning which included a swim in our outdoor pool.

It has been an interesting afternoon and evening. At about 1:20 pm, a small forest fire started in the hills 5 km above my home. The forest is tinder dry and this is the third small fire in the area this week. The others were quickly extinguished, but this time the wind picked up and the fire is now an uncontrolled wildfire covering 175 hectares at the last update. At the moment the wind is blowing in the opposite direction but 2500 people in the fire's path have been evacuated and a local state of emergency has been declared. A barrage of water bombers and firefighting planes has been attacking the fire all evening but as it is now dark and visibility is very poor, they have been called off for the night. I have packed my most valuable possessions and can leave to stay with a friend at a few minutes' notice if an evacuation alert or order is issued, or if the power goes out (there are power and communication lines in the path of the fire).

Kelowna was the site of a devastating forest fire in 2003 and fire is treated with a healthy dose of fear.

Gallery: The Smith Creek Wildfire

 

[Bigal50]

Picked 1/2 gallon of blueberries and a like amount of green beans from my yard


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[rodi]

Last week I posted about the demo of our driveway. This week we put in the new one. And when I say "we", I mean DH, DS#1 and DS#2, and ME. We saved between 7k and 11k (depending on the bid) by doing it ourselves. Thank goodness for vitamin I... everything hurt badly at the end of each day. Today, DH is going to run the plate compactor to vibrate in the joint sand - and I can park my car in the garage tonight. Whoo hoo.

Monday:

Wed evening:

Last Night - all done except a few cut pieces and the sand. DH just left to rent the plate compactor.

I wish W2R had been here - we moved and placed so many tons of pavers it's not funny. 13 yo son was a great worker. 11 year old quickly started whining. (We were paying them both $15/hour.) 11 year old was shocked we (DH and I weren't getting paid.) Um... hello? Who would pay us. 13 year old made enough money to buy the parts for his super-gaming PC. 11 year has enough to buy an xbox 360 and 2 games. We saved serious dollars by doing it ourselves, even with paying the kids well above minimum wage.

 

[Walt34]

Instead of the gym went to the doc. I've noticed over the past couple of weeks at the gym on the treadmill and a couple of other machines that make me breathe hard that my lungs hurt. At least that's what it feels like, to the point that I had to dial it back some a couple of times. I just chalked it up to the "ebbs and flows" of exercising - some days are easy, other days the same exercise is grueling, most days somewhere in between.

Yesterday afternoon when I mowed the "back 40" (actually it takes about 30 minutes) I was breathing hard which is not unusual because it is a steep hill, but I had to stop a couple of times. That was a first.

The light bulb went on. Uh oh, this is not good.

Called the doc's office and they had a AM appointment for me. That's good, but it concerned me too because usually it takes at least a few days to get in there.

Long interview, lots of questions from him. EKG was fine, he's going to schedule a stress test next week with some injectable dye so they can watch what's going on. He said keep going to the gym but don't push hard.

Well, at least they didn't call an ambulance on the spot so that's good.

Oh well, we'll see how this turns out.

 

[NW-Bound]

... I wish W2R had been here - we moved and placed so many tons of pavers it's not funny. 13 yo son was a great worker. 11 year old quickly started whining. (We were paying them both $15/hour.)...

Looking good.

About W2R, she would outwork y'all, but I think her labor would be quite expensive, and way out of your reach.

 

[Moemg]

Walt ,
I hope your stress test is negative . Please take it easier until then !

 

[Moemg]

Rodi ,
I can not believe how expensive pavers have gotten . I had my pool deck & patio done years ago and it was $4,000.

 

[NW-Bound]

Walt, I would not stress myself until I knew further.

A man I knew got tired like that. He went to his doctor, and the EKG was good. He still felt not OK, so got sent to a cardiologist for a stress test. During the test, he fell off the treadmill, and was taken by an ambulance directly to the hospital. They found a vessel on his heart being nearly completely blocked and immediately put in a stent. He could be a goner!

 

[REWahoo]

Walt, I would not stress myself until I knew further.

A man I knew got tired like that. He went to his doctor, and the EKG was good. He still felt not OK, so got sent to a cardiologist for a stress test. During the test, he fell off the treadmill, and was taken by an ambulance directly to the hospital. They found a vessel on his heart being nearly completely blocked and immediately put in a stent. He could be a goner!

Yeah Walt. If NW-Bounds story doesn't make you relax and not stress about it, I'm not sure what would...

 

[W2R]

Last week I posted about the demo of our driveway. This week we put in the new one. And when I say "we", I mean DH, DS#1 and DS#2, and ME. We saved between 7k and 11k (depending on the bid) by doing it ourselves. Thank goodness for vitamin I... everything hurt badly at the end of each day. Today, DH is going to run the plate compactor to vibrate in the joint sand - and I can park my car in the garage tonight. Whoo hoo.

Monday:

Wed evening:

Last Night - all done except a few cut pieces and the sand. DH just left to rent the plate compactor.

I wish W2R had been here - we moved and placed so many tons of pavers it's not funny. 13 yo son was a great worker. 11 year old quickly started whining. (We were paying them both $15/hour.) 11 year old was shocked we (DH and I weren't getting paid.) Um... hello? Who would pay us. 13 year old made enough money to buy the parts for his super-gaming PC. 11 year has enough to buy an xbox 360 and 2 games. We saved serious dollars by doing it ourselves, even with paying the kids well above minimum wage.

Wow, BEAUTIFUL driveway, Rodi!! Also, just think of all the exercise you got, and for free. No gym fees. All that, and you still saved money compared with having it done professionally. I think your kids did pretty well, especially considering their young ages.

 

[NW-Bound]

Er, physical stress, I forgot to add...

 

[REWahoo]

As I was driving into town mid afternoon today to get a haircut, I topped a hill and something in the distance caught my eye. We had thunderstorms and heavy rain overnight (whoopie!) and it was still very cloudy but no more storms. What caught my eye was a thin serpentine shape snaking down vertically beneath a dark cloud a couple of miles away. I followed it up and saw it was attached to bottom of a dark gray funnel-shaped cloud.

I didn't believe my eyes at first and looked again, and then looked a third time to be sure. Yes, it was a tornado. By the time I found a place to pull off the road to take a photo, it had almost dissipated. And the time I got out of the car, fumbled with my phone to get it focused, it was gone. First time in my life I've ever seen one - wouldn't you know I couldn't get a selfie with it.

 

[splitwdw]

......my lungs hurt. At least that's what it feels like, to the point that I had to dial it back some a couple of times. I just chalked it up to the "ebbs and flows" of exercising - some days are easy, other days the same exercise is grueling, most days somewhere in between.
Yesterday afternoon when I mowed the "back 40" (actually it takes about 30 minutes) I was breathing hard which is not unusual because it is a steep hill, but I had to stop a couple of times. That was a first.
Called the doc's office and they had a AM appointment for me. That's good, but it concerned me too because usually it takes at least a few days to get in there.

Walt, "Lungs hurting" can be from a lot of things like allergies, chemical fumes, medications. Has it been very humid in your area? I do wood working, metal work, enameling, gardening, decorative cement work, pyrography and they all have fumes that can effect your lungs. Heck, have you ever gotten a whiff of some of those bathroom cleaners. My sister doesn't have bad allergies and had a problem a couple of weeks ago in a certain section of the park where she runs. The pollen was heavy there and she was fine once she got out of that area. I've never had a reaction to any medication and last month the antibiotic I was put on gave me shortness of breath. What was weird, I thought shortness of breath was something you felt in your chest/lungs, this was in the back of my throat. I was told not to worry that the shortness of breath that it would go away within 48 hours but it took almost a week. So maybe your "lungs hurting" could be something similar. Sorry for the long post.
Doctors usually bring you in ASAP if it's lungs/chest pain. Don't read anything into the fast appointment.
Please post back when you hear something from your test.

 

[Cassie]

Nice job Rodi, what an accomplishment!