Expenses!

It's the time of the year for us when we spend a lot of money! Seriously, why does everything have to be paid for NOW? Let's see.....there's B2's gymnastics beginning back up, both B1 and B2 take some extra softball lessons/classes, and Bruce's car just needed a new battery, windshield, and alternator (about $800 total). Not to mention that if we want to go in on Cardinals post-season tickets (an option available to us since we share season tickets with a group), we can pay for those now too and Blues tickets are going on sale here soon. Oh, and the insurance on our vehicles is due by the beginning of September. Yes, I do ralize that all of these but the car repairs and insurance should be considered "luxuries" and are totally not necessary. We declined the Cardinal tickets and instead of getting any kind of a major Blues package, are going to purchase a small pack of games, which are mostly on weeknights. They are the cheapeast seats out there. Ugh. Money. We are NEVER moving! I will suck it up and live in this house for the rest of my life. It's just fine for us and so what if we are a little crowded?.....I don't want to be house-poor and not be able to do this other stuff! Plus, our girls won't live here forever and we will have a little more space once they move out someday. If we get too old and can't make it up and down the stairs for laundry purposes, we can have some plumbing work done and somehow move it upstairs! Just the thought of packing up all our stuff, moving, and unpacking it all again makes my stomach hurt anyway.....so much work!

The beginning of the school year has gone well. B1's softball team is off to a good start and my classes seem good so far. I swear, this year is going to really be a breeze as compared to last year. I have done NO school work this weekend at all! It's awesome!

We went to the Illinois State Fair yesterday. We love the fair. We all have our favorite parts about it. For me, it's getting an order of cheese curds to share with B1, the butter cow, and seeing the decorated cakes that won ribbons. For Bruce, it's walking around to all of the tents and getting freebies. For B2, it's the rides and milking a cow, and for B1 I think it's the cheese curds and Ethnic Village. We saw Selena Gomez in concert last night too in the Grandstand. I think this was the first concert we attended specifically for B2. Mitchel Musso opened for her. All in all, it was a good show. The line at the souvenir stand was crazy long all night. B2 got a T-shirt which she plans to wear to school tomorrow.

That's about it for now. I'll probably post some pics of B1 playing ball for TMS here soon. Have a great week!