I'm not as good as some of you about getting snowflakes, but I did get $2 for filling out a survey on television watching. I discovered we are creatures of habit and kind of boring as well.

I'm expecting a rebate from Miracle Gro -- there was a $2 rebate on each bag up to $20 and I sent it in for the soil we bought. It was also on sale. We actually bought more than that, so I saved the extra receipt and gave it to a friend with the rebate form and suggested she put the money in her granddaughter's savings or college fund. It was for $12 more. She offered to just give me the money back, but I thought the granddaughter could use it -- she is 3 and her folks are savers too.

I had a chiropractor appointment this week. I hate being the grumpy old woman, but I do believe that is how he considered me after our conversation.

My appointment, the first of the afternoon, was at 2. DH and I try to get to places a bit early because you never know what could cause a delay. The chiropractor had a sign on a door that he would return and open up at 2. Another customer pulled into the parking lot and went to the door, tried it, saw the sign, and then walked back to her car. It was after 2 by this time.

At 2:15 this same lady got out of her car, went to the door again to try it (stilll locked) and came over and asked us if we were waiting for the chiropractor. We said yes and she asked when my appointment was. i told her 2 and she said hers was at 2:15. Then another fellow pulls up, and he rolls down the window and said the chiropractor had called him and said he was running a few minutes behind. The minutes tick by.

It was after 2:30 when he arrived. The last man left before the chiropractor came. He took the lady with the 2:15 appointment and got her situated, then had to answer the phone and finally he was ready to work with me. I told him I was very disappointed with his tardiness and since this hasn't been the first time, it was getting out of hand. He said he was sorry, but I find it hard to believe it won't happen again.

His personal life is getting in the way of his professional one. His girlfriend thinks nothing of delaying him. This time she needed him to change a flat tire. One time was because they were shopping. Another time he was late because he needed to clean up a baby after a diaper mishap. The list goes on.

It is sad because he is a great chiropractor. However, I think he is going to ruin what business he has. I had referred him to a friend of mine and I wondered why the friend after being treated and raving about him, suddenly didn't mention him again. Well, it seems he had an appointment and he didn't show up so my friend left after waiting for awhile. No call or text to explain.

I don't understand why folks who go into business for themselves do not realize that it is a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice of your personal time to make a go of it. The fellow I mentioned before did not come back while I was at the chiropractor. i wonder if he decided not to return at all. My chiropractor has commented how he needs more business. I'd say before he gets any more, he need to take care of the clients he has.

I certainly hope I won't have to find another chiropractor. Perhaps I'm old fashioned and believe that being late is showing disrespect for the other person's time. I realize there are times it cannot be helped, but when someone is consistently late, it makes you wonder why. I try to respect other people's time and hope they would do the same for me.

I don't know why, but usually in May and June we tend to spend. A lot. Part of it when certain bills fall. Part of it is we just tend to spend. It's not like we don't have the money, we do, but sometimes it just hurts to part with the money. I hope that doesn't sound too weird.

One expenditure was not totally unexpected. I knew it was coming. We have a water softener. We've had one in this house for 19 years. Our water is incredibly hard. We put the one in 19 years ago and it has started to really go bad. The guy came to look at it to see if is was fixable and he said because of the age and the mechanism that handles how the salt is distributed, it wouldn't be worth fixing. So, alas, we put out the cash for a new one. Hope we get 19 years out of this one.

We are still purchasing materials for the bathroom remodel. I ordered a light yesterday. Our local Lowe's didn't have it nor did any other places around here. I looked it up on Amazon and they had it and then I thought maybe i should look at Lowes.com. They had it and it was $10 cheaper. It's my $10, so I ordered it from them. I wish I could have gotten it delivered to our Lowe's, but that wasn't available.

We have been watching a couch at a local furniture store. There was one I really wanted. It went on sale, but it still seemed to be more than what we wanted to spend. They were having a floor sample sale this weekend and we went in and he originally said the same sale price as before and i told him we were in here before and thought it was too much. He came down more so we bought it. The one we have is a sad one. We've had it for a number of years and it has two recliners. Well, the middle cushion isn't a recliner and it has sagged. Then the bonded leather started peeling away. I don't know why because we aren't hard on furniture. I had it covered up with a throw as much as I could, but the area is getting bigger.

We had a little scare last week too. A few months ago we bought a new car and traded in a car. When we went to transfer insurance, we thought it was all taken care of. We get the premium notice on what should be the new car (we paid the premium on the car we kept, or so we thought.) Anyway, seems they cancelled the policy on the car we kept and kept it on the one we traded in. I have been driving without insurance for almost two months. I was just nauseous thinking about that and all the things that could happen. We went in and got it straightened out last Monday morning, but they kept telling us they had it fixed to begin with. There's a reason I don't trust folks. Anyway, as soon as they send the premium notice, we will pay that as well.

We have visited with two different couples and they ask us what we are up to. I guess we are boring because other than volunteering and living day to day, we haven't done anything spectacular. One couple has to tell us about all the places they have been running to and shopping they have done. The other couple was telling us about the trip they are going to go on to the ton of many thousands of dollars. Funny thing about both couples, neither one has the money to do any of this. It is either put on credit cards or using loans. I will admit, after hearing about the grandiose trip, we kind of wondered what we were missing out on for a bit. Then we realized we really don't like to do lots of major traveling nor do we want to spend the money on a trip right now. We had a minor pity party and then realized we are happy with our lives at this point and we really aren't missing out on stuff. I think we forget that people like to brag about this and that to make themselves feel important. I'd much rather lead the boring life we lead, save money and have it when we have spend times. Then when we do something out of the ordinary, it remains special.

Here it is May 10th. Can't believe it is almost a year since I retired. I've enjoyed it and I love the life I have. I have been so blessed to be able to retire and not have to do without things.

DH and I were talking. I guess we have become used to a somewhat frugal lifestyle so we don't have huge things on our want list. Well, we would like to get a new driveway and we are saving for it. A couple of summers ago when we met with our financial guy, he wanted to see our budget. I have all these different accounts...money market, savings which is our home improvement account, vacation, Christmas club, and then regular checking. I thought sure hew as going to tell me these accounts were ridiculous, but he asked me about them and we told him that we save up for stuff. For example, the savings account is for home improvements. We put in a set amount every month and have a goal in mind. Back then we were working on a new roof because we knew we would need one. Last May we had that new roof put on and paid for it with cash. He said that was wonderful because so many of his people want to take money out of their investments to buy a new car or do home improvements.

The saga has continued with the neighbor and the kickball. It came to a head last week when I saw the kids playing, so I opened the front door and stood behind the storm door and watched. He saw me, kept looking up to see if I was still there, and when he thought I wasn't watching, kicked the ball right into our yard. I went out and told the kids that this kid's dad needed to come over and get the ball. The dad refused. DH and I walked it over there (dad was working the garage) and explained that this is not the first time the kick ball has wound up in our yard and many times it has been in the flowers and the vegetable garden and we don't want kids tramping down the plants. It isn't like the ball can roll into our yard. We sit on a bit of a hill so it has to be an upward kick aimed at our yard. The dad didn't say too much except they were done playing today. I just said my husband works way too hard in the yard and garden for it to be torn up. The little boy never apologized or anything. I finally commented that I knew he was watching me in the doorway and it just makes me wonder what happens when we aren't home. I suspect I know because there have been plants broken off and one of our solar lights has been crushed. Anyway, for a week no kickball and then this week the kids gathered to play basketball. That's how it starts. Then they get tired of basketball and start kickball. So, I had a little yarn project so I sat out on the front step for an hour and a half working on my project. No kickball that night! I'm sure this kid thinks I'm the meanest thing on two feet, but I feel I have to be the adult here since the parents apparently don't want to be the bad guys.

We have started purchasing the materials to update the master bathroom. Let me tell you, master bathroom is certainly misnomer because it is tiny...the only thing master about it is it is right off the master bedroom. We ordered a new vanity and medicine cabinet and had them custom made by the Amish. They are beautiful. I need to order a new light. We bought a new countertop and faucet and I've decided that I'd like new towel racks and shower curtain rod. I realized the last time we updated this bathroom other than the floor was over 17 years ago. Fortunately the shower surround and stool are OK. We did update the floor a couple of years ago with a piece of leftover vinyl from another project. I'm kind of excited about having some new stuff. I realized my toothbrush holder is over 18 years old. There's nothing wrong with it, but I'm kind of tired of the color. I paid $1 for it. I think we got our money's worth as far as it goes. The current vanity and medicine cabinet are still OK as is the countertop and faucet so we plan to donate them to one of the thrift stores. We did that with the other ones from the hall bathroom and they sold within a couple of days. They aren't the highest quality, but they look decent. We try to take care of things.

Health wise I have struggled with allergies and asthma the past few weeks. I think the mold and tree pollen are high and with not having a super hard freezing winter, I think a lot of stuff didn't die off.