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Old 05-17-2023, 12:24 PM
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Have you made any plans for the summer yet? I can't believe June is just around the corner. Summer will be here and over before we know it.

This summer my son and his wife will be staying with me while they sell their current home and buy a new one in a different town. They want to sell first, then buy so they don't end up paying two mortgages at any point in time. After being an empty nester for a while, it's going to be different to have two more people, two dogs and three cats in my space.

When they asked if they could stay at my house in between sales, I told them sure, but don't expect me to cook, clean up after you or take care of your pets. My DIL assured me they would take care of everything, which made me laugh because my son does all the cooking and animal caring, and most of the cleaning too. She works long shifts, so he gets home before her and takes care of it all. Not sure how that will translate once he is back living with the woman who took care of it all, all his life. LOL

The other big thing for me this summer is my house. My house has reached the point that it needs some updating, so I am taking my life's savings and investing it there.

I am getting all new windows, including a new patio door, new siding, under which I am adding a layer of plywood for better insulation and sound proofing, (the wind constantly sounds like it is howling at my house and it is drafty as heck) a new front door, new porch supports, having the stone work on the house repaired in places and hopefully putting on a new roof if the money holds out. The contractor is hoping to do the work in July and figures it will take the entire month to do it all.

The thought of putting my life savings towards it is scary, but it needs to happen, so it has to happen. With all the money going there, I will be spending the summer at home with my kids, the two dogs and the three cats. LOL

Feel free to share any plans that you have for the upcoming months.
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Old 05-17-2023, 12:35 PM
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Your son and his wife are lucky to have you. Having a place during the buy/sell time solves so many problems. And your house plans sound great!

We have a special needs son who during the summer gets summer school which they call ESY (extended school year) it runs for 6 weeks starting the first week of July. They really make it fun. He loves it so we try not to schedule stuff during that time. We have planned something we've never done before - a trip to the Poconos the last week in June. We read an article in the paper a few weeks ago about this place called the Rex Hotel on Promised Land State park. It is a refurbished 10 cabin hotel. There are trails and a lake to swim in. I'm really excited.
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Old 05-17-2023, 01:44 PM
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Your son and his wife are lucky to have you. Having a place during the buy/sell time solves so many problems. And your house plans sound great!

We have a special needs son who during the summer gets summer school which they call ESY (extended school year) it runs for 6 weeks starting the first week of July. They really make it fun. He loves it so we try not to schedule stuff during that time. We have planned something we've never done before - a trip to the Poconos the last week in June. We read an article in the paper a few weeks ago about this place called the Rex Hotel on Promised Land State park. It is a refurbished 10 cabin hotel. There are trails and a lake to swim in. I'm really excited.

I hope your son enjoys this years ESY. It sounds like a great program.

I love the Poconos. I've never been to Promised Land State Park, but it looks like it would be a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy it. Take lots of pictures!
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Old 05-17-2023, 06:20 PM
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I hope your son enjoys this years ESY. It sounds like a great program.

I love the Poconos. I've never been to Promised Land State Park, but it looks like it would be a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy it. Take lots of pictures!
I haven’t been to the Poconos since the 1990’s, hah! And then it was to ski not for summer trails and lakes. I’m really excited
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Old 05-17-2023, 10:21 PM
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It sounds like a busy summer with all the house repairing planned.
I so understand about the house being drafty. One of the things we regretted on listening to my FIL was to not replace the windows when we renovated this apartment, before we moved in. Little did we know that it was not properly installed and during winter, it is cold as heck! UGH.
So, we made a mental note to make sure to replace any windows and doors if we ever get a new place.

We had a few plans in our mind for this summer and Lan just could not make up his mind as to which to choose for the longest time. There were local trip to revisit Shanghai, trip to Japan, trip to Bali and meet my parents there or stay put and get my parents to fly here... I was pulling my hair on how much he kept changing his mind, because then, he will leave me with so little time to organise/book things.
However, last night, he made up his mind to just get my parents to fly here for a month, when Michael's holiday starts. Phew! Now, it is time for me to organise things for my parents; buying flight tickets, applying visa, etc.

It is kind of a surprise for us to stay put, since we were kind of eager to have our first vacation as a family of four, but Lan's parents just sold their apartment and are in the middle of the transaction process. In the mean time, they are looking for another apartment to buy and they may end up buying a 3-bedroom apartment, to which for us to live (and then they will live in the current 2-bedroom apartment we are living in), and it that is the case, we will need all the money we save to renovate the place before we move in.

In a way I am excited of the possibility, since Lan and I have been having some thoughts that, at some point, maybe 2-3 years later, we do need a 3-bedroom apartment as the kids grow older. Though I must say that I am kind of surprised at how things evolve this year...
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Old 05-17-2023, 10:37 PM
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We're still figuring it out. Jason will be working at a camp for half of his college break and Dan will be working, but next week I plan to figure out what the rest of us will do.

I have this summer off, very possibly my last one (since next year I'll probably be on an 11-month teaching contract that includes ESY). Ben isn't doing ESY for the first time in forever, so I'm hoping to sign him up for a few weeks of either a fun camp or something that works on independent living skills. Lauren can't find anything she wants to do. Our long-time tradition of spending a week with my extended family isn't going to happen, so the 5 of us are going to spend a week in Boston instead. I'm excited--I lived there for 4 years during college, but I haven't been back since attending a wedding when my 19-year-old was 7 months. We'll also take at least one long weekend to go see my parents.
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Old 05-17-2023, 11:56 PM
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I think that's a great investment with your savings- home prices are never going to go down it seems at this point!

My daughter plays travel softball which means all summer around here. Pretty much every weekend from first of June until the first weekend of August are booked with tournaments. We try to make some of them family vacations though- We have one in Montana which I'm excited for- we will have a little time to explore. We also have a week long tourney in Fort Collins, Colorado (we went last year too!) It'll be fun to have some more time to explore that area. We also have a tourney in Utah on the way to Colorado- so better use of our traveling. Most of the places we have VRBO's with other families- so it's pretty fun to be honest!

After the last tournament the first weekend of August- we are planning to STAY home and relax at the lake house as much as possible before High School slowpitch starts and school gets going! We're hoping to take a real family vacation around Christmas, somewhere warm & tropical...
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Old 05-18-2023, 01:23 PM
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I'm jealous of your house renovations in a way, Lorie! I'm sure it's a bit scary to be spending all that money, but it sounds like it's going in to solid repairs/upgrades/maintenance that you'll be benefitting from for years to come. Our house could use some smaller improvements but there just isn't the funds for it right now.
My oldest graduates from high school next week and starts his full time welding job the next day. He did a 3 week job study there recently and it sounds like a good, stable place for him. So he'll be busy working.
My guy quit the 2nd job he took on during Covid and will finally have some free weekends on a regular basis again so I'm hoping to get out and just do more hiking, kayaking, go to the beach, etc this summer. We'll probably be able to get my 13 yr old to go along for some of that.
No real vacations planned though. We'd like to go to Yellowstone one of these summers (I've been, but the boys have not) but the floods last year and road damage have me concerned about when that might actually be feasible.
The finger lakes region of NY has always appealed to me so maybe some summer!
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Old 05-18-2023, 03:51 PM
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Good luck on the house upgrades. When I retired (after getting an inheritance), I put money into a bathroom and kitchen/dining room makeover. Also had all new floors put in. I also had an old patio torn out and a new one installed with new landscaping.

This summer I'm on the schedule to change out some of the landscaping (original plants ended up being too big for the area) and having the border changed out. The border change won't be cheap but will make things easier for the guy that mows my grass. I have stones instead of mulch in my beds (had to... my dog likes to eat mulch) and they keep getting in the grass. With the new border, they won't.

Since I'm not exactly sure of the timing of that work, I'm not planning any trips. I also have an appointment with an ENT next week so I want to see what is going on and if I have to have surgery or not.

So for now I'm not planning anything exciting at all.
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Old 05-18-2023, 08:15 PM
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Lori, it sounds like you've got a bit of a stressful summer ahead. No matter how much we love them, having someone move back home for a period of time throws things off. And house renovations are a wild thing to live through! I'll be praying it all works out and that you're able to focus some on self-care during that time.

We're kicking off our summer with a surgery. I'm having endoscopic sinus surgery #5 tomorrow. Recovery should be 7-10 days, I think. I'm just ready to have it DONE - I've had what they think is one continuous sinus infection since October.

Thankfully they were able to get me scheduled fast enough that I'll be fully recovered before we take our big road trip. Our close friends that we vacation with regularly are spending their summers in Maine (and the rest of the year in Phoenix) and they encouraged us to come stay with them for a bit. It's one of the few states I've never visited, and I'm dying to photograph some lighthouses! So we're doing a road trip from Dallas to Maine at the end of June - three days to get there - and then spend the first week of July with them, including July 4th. I love how they celebrate Independence Day in the northeast, so I'm super excited about that. And then we're going to try to do the drive home in just 2 days. It'll cause me a fibro flare, but I'll sleep for a couple days when we get back anyway. Worth it!

Then I have my annual Chick Trek girls' crafting retreat in late July. At some point, I need to go to Missouri to visit my brother and his family - I haven't seen them since before the pandemic! And I'll probably do a couple trips to San Antonio to visit my parents and work with them on several Santa projects.

So much coming up, so I just want tomorrow's surgery over and done with so I can get back on my feet!
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Old 05-18-2023, 08:26 PM
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We're kicking off our summer with a surgery. I'm having endoscopic sinus surgery #5 tomorrow. Recovery should be 7-10 days, I think. I'm just ready to have it DONE - I've had what they think is one continuous sinus infection since October.
I'm sorry you're starting off the summer with another surgery! Hoping that you recover quickly and can enjoy your trip to the east coast - which sounds amazing!!
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Old 05-18-2023, 08:27 PM
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Since I'm not exactly sure of the timing of that work, I'm not planning any trips. I also have an appointment with an ENT next week so I want to see what is going on and if I have to have surgery or not.
I hope you will find surgery isn't needed so you can enjoy your summer!
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Old 05-18-2023, 08:28 PM
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We are celebrating our 42nd anniversary next month by staying in the mountains of NC for a week. Excited to get away and relax!!
After that we will be spending as much time as we can with our grandkiddos over their summer break. Lots of memories to be made!
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Old 05-19-2023, 11:46 AM
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So happy to hear of your summer plans. It sounds like many of you will be busy! I hope that this summer treats us all well.
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Old 05-21-2023, 10:10 AM
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My son spends all of June at an acting school. He loves it. Then through July and August, he will spend 4 weeks working as a camp counselor and one week as a camper at summer camps. He only has the week of July 4th and the week before school starts back up free. We will use the one week to spend a long weekend on the North Shore of Minnesota. I am also taking my niece to her first concert in August (P!nk). That's the only plan since my son is so busy. I am hoping to figure out some sort of vacation on a school break, but the prices get so high when school is out.
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Old 05-23-2023, 09:57 AM
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Our oldest graduates on the 4th! We'll be spending most of June getting the house and yard ready for her graduation party.

The hubby & I have a concert in Cleveland to go to in a couple weeks.

We always go to my inlaws cabin for the week of 4th of July with them, my SIL and nephews.

And that's pretty much it. We did our big trip in February to Disney, so not much else is on the agenda for summer.
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Old 05-23-2023, 11:31 AM
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We are celebrating our 42nd anniversary next month by staying in the mountains of NC for a week. Excited to get away and relax!!
After that we will be spending as much time as we can with our grandkiddos over their summer break. Lots of memories to be made!
Happy Anniversary!!
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Old 05-23-2023, 11:33 AM
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OMG summer is just around the corner. We have a lot of 5th grade promo activities leading up.
I am taking 3 weeks off!! They will be filled with staycation type activities.
We have sports, out of town tournaments, local pool club, my mom's cabin and my oldest turns 16!! She wants to go to Disneyland. In September (that is still kind of summer) we have a soccer tournament in Tahoe. The past 2 years it was canceled due to fires so I am not getting my hopes up.

I also made a list of scrap projects I want to get done.
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Old 05-23-2023, 01:25 PM
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Goodness they are definitely lucky to have you and yes I agree, sinking my savings into repairs sounds scary....
good luck with both situations! lol
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Old 05-23-2023, 02:21 PM
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How awesome you have them staying. I am jealous over you reno...we need to tear up carpet and paint. The paint is a pain bc we have 14ft ceilings.

We are traveling as usual...June is swim team and swim meets. Youngest also has camp in June so hubby and I are taking a long weekend to go to a small town about 3 hrs away to explore some state parks, a cute bookstore etc while he is at camp

In July we are heading to West VA to New River Gorge NP and Shenandoah NP, then VA to see family before heading to beach on East Coast for a few days. We will leave the youngest behind and head back home for a couple of weeks. Hubby and I are then heading to Utah to explore for a long weekend (Bryce Canyon, Great Basin NP etc). We will head to Logan Utah for a conference for hubby and girl time for me. I have some friends that I met through scrapbooking there...we get to hang out for the week.
We will then fly back to VA to visit family again and pick up the youngest before heading back to get ready for school...BUSY but family time is the best.
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Old 05-23-2023, 03:00 PM
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Lori, your renovation sounds like it will be amazing when it's finished! I really love the way people are upgrading older homes these days. It's one of my favorite things to watch on Instagram.

We just got back to the Philippines after being in the US for a year, so we are just trying to get back into the swing of life in a sauna for now. Joel and the kids are going to camp in Indonesia next month, leaving me alone for 11 days, and I am just giddy about it! I'm sure we'll end up at the beach at some point.
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Old 05-24-2023, 05:48 PM
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Ugh, it's not fun to watch all that money go into house updates, but the end product is enjoyable!

I'm up to my neck in summer plans.
-Still wrapping up a few things for homeschool for my kids (they both need to finish out their math & grammar books)

-My husband's retirement ceremony is coming up... I've been working on a surprise gift for him, my parents are coming from out of town, and wanting to sew myself a top & skirt. Lol because why would I just buy something from the store when I have 1,000 things going on instead of making it 1,002?!

-Movers are coming three days after retirement ceremony. My husband is determined to make our final military move a crazy one So I'm sorting and purging, but mostly just shuffling & avoiding. Ooops.

-After a few weeks in place here on base in our camper, we'll be heading out on our 'epic adventure'. We'll be traveling for 45 days, then recouping at my mom's house for a few weeks before taking our last 3-5 days getting to our house. Between Alaska & South Carolina, we're stopping in 2 Canadian provinces & 12 or 13 states. We plan to visit13 or 14 National Parks along the way. And when I say "we plan", I'm doing all the planning, mapping, reserving RV parks, etc. Right up my alley, but still exhausting.

-Getting new floors put in before we get to our house. Our renter is awesome and will get this started for us.

-Oh, and I'm doing a data analytics course that needs to be completed by the end of September.

Did I say I was up to my neck in summer plans? I think I'm actually up to my eyeballs!
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Old 05-25-2023, 08:53 AM
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We just got back to the Philippines after being in the US for a year, so we are just trying to get back into the swing of life in a sauna for now. Joel and the kids are going to camp in Indonesia next month, leaving me alone for 11 days, and I am just giddy about it! I'm sure we'll end up at the beach at some point.
All of this sounds wonderful! Enjoy your time alone!
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Old 05-25-2023, 08:55 AM
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-After a few weeks in place here on base in our camper, we'll be heading out on our 'epic adventure'. We'll be traveling for 45 days, then recouping at my mom's house for a few weeks before taking our last 3-5 days getting to our house. Between Alaska & South Carolina, we're stopping in 2 Canadian provinces & 12 or 13 states. We plan to visit13 or 14 National Parks along the way. And when I say "we plan", I'm doing all the planning, mapping, reserving RV parks, etc. Right up my alley, but still exhausting.
This sounds amazing!! This is something I dream of doing although planning something like this is not my jam.
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Old 05-29-2023, 06:34 PM
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Dominic has spent the last month working on things for the house: wallpaper, painting, staining, etc. He's also been freshening up the yard (we have an acre) and attempting to put together a pergola (spoiler alert: he has to find another physically strong human to help him with that task!).

The kids get out of school this week. My youngest is 9 and has tons going on: baseball, multiple camps, playdates with friends, etc. My oldest is 14 and has to be coaxed out of their room with treats. As usual, I'll come up with a summer schedule so that they're not on screens all day when they're with me (and especially when I know they're on screens all day long when they're at their dad's house during the summer). They're going to their uncle's lake house in TN around FOJ but otherwise we just have staycation-type things on our agenda for the summer. We have some fun one-off things going on: a viewing of "The Princess Bride" with a Q&A with Cary Elwes, reservations at The Golden Girls pop-up restaurant in Chicago, & my 25th HS "alternative" reunion.

Oh, and I'm wrapping up wedding planning for our big day in September. That's also part of the reason that we're not going anywhere this summer but we'll all be going to FL on Fall Break and on a proper family vacay next summer.

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Old 05-31-2023, 11:14 AM
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We just returned Monday from our Weekend Surprise trip for the girls! They knew we were going somewhere, but didn't figure out where until about 1.5 weeks before we left (my husband was sending different clues every couple days and they finally figured it out!)

We went to the Sight and Sound Theater to see Moses in Lancaster, PA. Then we spent a day exploring Gettysburg. Our final day we went to Hershey,PA and bought CHOCOLATE! It was 2 of our girls 1st times fully experiencing PA.

That was our only major getaway for the summer, since our Summer plans revolve around college move in and move out and everyone is home (for now) for the summer! My 2nd oldest leaves Sunday to be a counselor at Camp. Aside from a few things here and there (VBS, family get togethers, Birthday celebrations etc) we have ZERO plans until the end of Aug when all the college girls need to start getting ready to return!

College students with breaks that do NOT overlap, and are spread all over the US, do not make it very easy to do vacations throughout the year! So I will just have to scrap past vacations this year to "travel" through past memories and the rest of you!
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Old 05-31-2023, 12:08 PM
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We just returned Monday from our Weekend Surprise trip for the girls! They knew we were going somewhere, but didn't figure out where until about 1.5 weeks before we left (my husband was sending different clues every couple days and they finally figured it out!)

We went to the Sight and Sound Theater to see Moses in Lancaster, PA. Then we spent a day exploring Gettysburg. Our final day we went to Hershey,PA and bought CHOCOLATE! It was 2 of our girls 1st times fully experiencing PA.

That was our only major getaway for the summer, since our Summer plans revolve around college move in and move out and everyone is home (for now) for the summer! My 2nd oldest leaves Sunday to be a counselor at Camp. Aside from a few things here and there (VBS, family get togethers, Birthday celebrations etc) we have ZERO plans until the end of Aug when all the college girls need to start getting ready to return!

College students with breaks that do NOT overlap, and are spread all over the US, do not make it very easy to do vacations throughout the year! So I will just have to scrap past vacations this year to "travel" through past memories and the rest of you!
How many kids do you have in college at the same time? Putting one through just about broke the bank for me.
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Old 05-31-2023, 09:05 PM
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How many kids do you have in college at the same time? Putting one through just about broke the bank for me.
We have 3 all at Private College in 3 different states- MI, IN and CA

We are managing, but will be so thankful when we no longer have to make payments. Each of the girls took out loans (even though we didn't want to, we feel it was needed. And we are limiting the amounts they are taking out so that it will be manageable once they graduate. I personally don't think you should take out a loan for more than you will make later). They have also gotten different grants and scholarships which has made it doable.
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Old 05-31-2023, 09:24 PM
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We have 3 all at Private College in 3 different states- MI, IN and CA

We are managing, but will be so thankful when we no longer have to make payments. Each of the girls took out loans (even though we didn't want to, we feel it was needed. And we are limiting the amounts they are taking out so that it will be manageable once they graduate. I personally don't think you should take out a loan for more than you will make later). They have also gotten different grants and scholarships which has made it doable.
I agree on everything you said. Make sure their degree is in something they love doing and can make money at. My kid has a master's in English and recently left his teaching job because he was miserable at it and there isn't any money in it. I am not sure what he is going to do next, but I personally spent 40K on his education and he has loans despite my contribution and scholarships, so he needs to do something with it. The other day he was talking about going back for an IT degree. I said nothing, but was thinking that I am glad he is his wife's problem now. LOL
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Old 06-01-2023, 03:30 PM
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I agree on everything you said. Make sure their degree is in something they love doing and can make money at. My kid has a master's in English and recently left his teaching job because he was miserable at it and there isn't any money in it. I am not sure what he is going to do next, but I personally spent 40K on his education and he has loans despite my contribution and scholarships, so he needs to do something with it. The other day he was talking about going back for an IT degree. I said nothing, but was thinking that I am glad he is his wife's problem now. LOL
Lol, I'm glad you are letting his wife deal with it now! I don't know that there is a lot of Money in what they want to do as careers, but I do know that their hearts are in what they are studying. One is studying to be a professional writer (she will be able to be an author, editor, or even write for companies/websites). One is studying Social Work. And the last one is studying to be a Set Designer (create sets for plays, movies, queues for theme parks, sets for broadway, cruises etc).
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Old 06-01-2023, 03:59 PM
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Lorie, it sounds like you have a busy summer! Home improvement projects can be taxing but it's always worth it when you think of the final outcome. I would love to see photos once you get the projects completed!
We will probably be home most of the summer with a few trips here and there with our retro camper, Betsy. I am hoping to get to go to Gatlinburg some this summer as it's only a few hours away and we can take our dogs. We stay at a really neat rv park and our dogs love the dog park in town,
I hope you and all the ladies in this group have a wonderful summer!
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Old 06-02-2023, 06:10 PM
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Lorie- I get the feeling of putting all of your savings into the house updates! It's scary! We updated almost everything in this house at this point... the windows, doors, garage door, appliances, A/C unit, dry wall, re-wiring, new bathrooms, roof, tree trimming, sod for the yard, put in a paver patio... Lordy. The only thing we haven't done is the flooring in the main areas of the house and the kitchen- which I wanted to update immediately when we bought! Sighhh. Oh! And we just discovered termites in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Home ownership stinks. LOL Hopefully the equity in our investment will fill our savings again someday!
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Old 06-03-2023, 09:50 PM
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Lorie- I get the feeling of putting all of your savings into the house updates! It's scary! We updated almost everything in this house at this point... the windows, doors, garage door, appliances, A/C unit, dry wall, re-wiring, new bathrooms, roof, tree trimming, sod for the yard, put in a paver patio... Lordy. The only thing we haven't done is the flooring in the main areas of the house and the kitchen- which I wanted to update immediately when we bought! Sighhh. Oh! And we just discovered termites in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Home ownership stinks. LOL Hopefully the equity in our investment will fill our savings again someday!
Home ownership is tough! There is always something that need to be done.

I've been doing smaller projects through the years, got new floors through the main floor a few years back. Redid the family room--painted, new floors and added pocket lights to it. It's in the basement and really needed some more lighting. Also got all new furniture, except for a table that I have had forever. It is all ready for when the grand babies start arriving. LOL

I got new appliances in the kitchen a while back, after the door fell off the oven. LOL I was determined to hold out until I could pay cash for them and I did.

I have had two new garage doors because two fools have hit my house. How people run into a house is beyond me, but it has happened twice now. Because I am the last house on the road, people like to turn around in my driveway and although it is long enough, one of them managed to hit my house. The other was my son's high school girlfriend who I had told like a million times not to park in the driveway, but she did. When she was leaving she hit forward instead of reverse and took out the back end of my car and shoved the front end into the garage door, taking that end and the door out. I can still hear my son say, "now mom, try to be calm, she didn't mean it." I barely held on to calm, believe me.

I have redone two guest rooms, the guest bathroom and my bed and bath. Painted every room but the living room so far and some I have painted twice because the first color was not what I hoped it would be. (Okay, my son painted them all; I hate to paint. LOL)

The floors were expensive but nothing compared to this one and when it is over, I still have a list of things I need and want to do. A big long list that includes a new roof.

It just never ends, does it? But termites? Just the word scares the you know what out of me.
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Old 06-04-2023, 03:23 PM
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Home ownership is tough! There is always something that need to be done.
I totally agree, but having lived most of my life in rented apartments, I appreciate every dollar I have put into my house over the last 10 years. I changed out the flooring everywhere except the bathrooms, painted every room, finished an unfinished room, remodeled the laundry room (it's huge) and the entryway, added custom closets to every closet (except the spare room), replaced my fridge, fixed a failed window seal, replaced a broken window, fixed a basement leak, landscaped the yard, replaced the roof, replaced the back deck, added an above ground pool, put up & took down a huge swing set, added a french drain to fix drainage issues, and replaced the front door. So much money.

I'd still like to replace my countertops, add a backsplash and rehab my cabinets in the kitchen, remodel the primary bath, replace the flooring in the downstairs bath, finish the garage, add storage under the deck, add a paver patio, and I'll need to fix the driveway and sidewalk in the next 5-10 years I am sure. Good thing we plan to never sell.
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