Money, cash money

Hey all,

This is going to be a very short blog.
I am off today and watching all the kids for the weekend. My wife has left to the beach to have a girls weekend.
This is way out of my comfort zone. I mean I can do this but....
I usually end up losing it and screaming at kids that don't deserve it.

I am suppose to be running 20 miles on Saturday at 4am.
I have my mom coming over tonight to sleep here so I can leave.
I am having a carb loading pizza party tonight for my running group and some friends.
My daughter is going to Disney World tomorrow morning at 7am with her best friend.
She doesn't sleep over people's houses well so my mom is going to have to get her up early to get ready.
Sunday means getting four kids up and out before 9:15 to church.....NO PROBLEM, I got this.

Topic de jour....

Have you ever heard of a Red Neck Savings Account (no I am not talking to all you Crimson Tide fans)?
This is where you pay Uncle Sam too much on your taxes and you get a refund check.
Well the Gammichia's apparently are rednecks because we just sent in our taxes from 2009 and we overpaid by a lot.
Now don't get me wrong. If I did not over pay we probably would not have been disciplined enough to save it so I am kind of glad.
The story goes that about 2 months ago we knew that we were going to be coming into this money.
So many things go through you mind. What can I do with this money?
Man there are so many things that, because of the economy, we have neglected.
When the money is flowing in it seems like you have enough for being smart and being stupid.
So when the money stops flowing and you stop buying stupid things and when the money is even tighter you have to even cut back on the smart things.

So instantly I start thinking about what I am going to do with this money. The first things I think of are all in the stupid category.
The devil on my left shoulder says, "LIVE A LITTLE YOU BIG WUSSY". I can really use a TV out on my back porch. The carpet is a little worn and I am just sick of the color.
Then the angel on my right shoulder says, "Come on, be smart. You can pay down a lot of debt with that money. Or how about getting those new tires on your truck since you have been spinning out in the rain a lot."
So for two months this went on. Every time I came to something in the yard that would look nice I would say, "Don't worry, when we get that check I will be back to buy you."
A week ago we signed and electronically sent our return. Now the battle between devil and angel began. I knew the money was coming but I was thinking it would take a month or two.

The trees need trimming. We need some painting done in the house that I really don't want to do. I really am thinking about getting a new car soon (my truck has a 167,000 miles on it).
I really do want a LCD TV outside.
Man this is going to be awesome when I get that check. Everything is going to be a credit card swipe away.

Well, today I got that check. It is almost paralyzing. It was easy to think about getting that money and what to do with that money when I finally got it but it was kind of like a game.
Now it is a reality and I kind of want to go back to not having it.
As it turns out we are probably not going to do anything.
We paid off some bills that were current.
We bought our airline tickets to Chicago for the marathon.
We are going to buy an alarm system for the house (we have lived here 6 years with out an alarm or fire/heat alarms either....stupid I know).
But really what will probably do is sit on it. We will pay down debt and maybe pay school off in advance.
So the tires are going to have to wait (I mean really it only rains EVERYDAY here).
The new car is going to have to wait.
And as much as it pains me the TV on the back porch is going to have to wait (I can see the living room TV from the porch if I really squint).

Being smart is so boring. I hate it.
But it sure was nice to dream about doing not so smart stuff. REAL NICE.

What would you do? Are you smart/boring like me or are you like my red friend with horns and a pitch fork?

Have a great weekend.
Think of me tomorrow at about 3:30am when that alarm goes off.
John

See you Wednesday.