Happy thoughts ...

Happy 4th of July! Mine is definitely not the most fantastic uses of the holiday, I'm afraid. Buddy is working and I'm not doing much of anything. I've been reading one of my books, enjoying the sights, sounds and tastes of Starbucks while doing it.

We're at the tail end of a pay period (payday is Friday) so funding for extracurricular activities is limited. That is actually fine by me. I've spent some of this morning looking at my retirement projections and reading financial planning advise. We really aren't in a settled place where I would like us to be.

What I read this morning was telling me that I should have about three months salary in my savings account. As of now, I've got about 1/3 of that. While we look like we're going to be fine on money after we both get our anticipated raises in September, that is good for day-to-day living. I'd like to have that rainy day reserve built up for when the unforseen creeps in to reality. Fortunately for us, we bought the last of our necessary furniture with my last bonus check. That means future bonuses can go directly into the savings pipeline.

Speaking of new furniture, I'm so anxious for it to arrive! We are expecting it'll be here sometime soon after Friday. We got a beautiful oak table. It is bar height with four tables. We also got a new recliner. That's really what I'm anxious to get. It will be nice to end the nights of eating dinner on the sofa, but comfort for my bum as I lounge will be even better. :) Besides, the new chair will go with our overall color scheme much better than the free chair from Granny & Paw-Paw. It's really on it's last leg.

But anyway, we were hoping to do a three week trip to Europe in two years but I doubt that's going to happen with my newfound urge to save our money. Also, since my bonus is effectively being cut in half, I don't see how we are going to do that in two years anyway. That won't stop me from doing all the same reading and learning I was going to do to prepare for the trip. If I can't take an actual vacation, at least I could take short, daily mental ones into other parts of the world. Doubtless, my learning adventures through books and language software will take a dent out of what I can save, but whatever.

Russian became very difficult for me to continue learning because I had nobody with whom to interact in the language. I learned a lot and it's very fascinating, but without the ability to really practice and put the new skills in place, I find it very cumbersome to make any headway.

But with our shared desire to go to Europe, Buddy seems intent to learn a new language. Unfortunately for the efforts I've already made, it isn't Russian. We've decided to make an investment into using the Rosetta Stone software, we're just trying to figure out which language with which to begin our journey. The debate at the moment is between Italian and French. French would probably be the most practical, but that's why I think we're going to choose Italian. We seem to be anything but practical. Anyway, doing it together will allow us to practice with one another. Among benefits like being able to grow intellectually as a couple, it'll be SO much easier to gossip in public without fear of retaliation. ;)

Ok, a really scary man just sat down next to me at Starbucks, so I think I should go. He's wearing a sweatsuit but he seems to think the shirt is a belly shirt. He is also seems to find himself in the false understanding that his sweatpants should not actually cover his ass, but give a full view of it. *sigh* I need to wash my brain.