Well, I haven't wanted to admit it to myself, but no matter how much I move this lump of debt around, it is still debt. I'm talking about $1400 that I've spent on my remodeling projects. I thought I was going to pay it off in a couple of big payments, but it isn't happening, so today I shifted it to a low-interest card and added the sum to my debt total. Sigh. I'll cross my fingers and hope that the investment will be worth it when I sell the house.

I came home from work today to find that the tile baseboard has been grouted, but I am somewhat disappointed at the way the edge looks. I didn't get the bullnose (?) tile for the baseboard -- I should have. My handyman obviously did the best he could but the edge looks a little rough and unfinished. Now I'm wondering if I could make it look better by adding a row of skinny little tiles on top that would have the proper finished edge. More money, of course. I don't know if I'm being finicky or if it really does look bad.

Yesterday was a friend's birthday, and she treated ME to lunch! Bad me, I didn't even know it was her birthday. She had a gift certificate that she wanted to use, and insisted upon treating me. I wanted to pay the tip, but I only had a ten and a one. She wouldn't take the ten, so I gave her the one. So I had a $1 lunch, but feel a bit bad about it, especially after she told me it was her birthday. She is very low-key about her birthday, and we're not in the habit of celebrating, but still. I was the one who came out ahead.

Well, even though I'm not doing great money-wise now, I have gotten back on my diet. (Can I only do one or the other?) I am counting calories and trying to stay below 1700 a day -- it has been going well for almost a week now, and that counts the time I spent with my son's family on vacation. They were an inspiration, in fact. My daughter-in-law wants to lose her post-pregnancy weight, and my son -- well, he's just very disciplined in his eating habits. I'm proud of him -- he didn't get it from me!