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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
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Spending money

Captain's Log, Supplemental

I’m over at Faithchick today talking about my horror alarm concern about my monthly spending.

Camy here, a little depressed after itemizing our expenses over the past five months.

Okay, let me start off by saying that I don’t normally do that. Itemize, that is. I’m doing it in order to get a better idea of monthly expenses for our financial advisor.

But the amount of money spent is just a tad alarming.


Click here for the rest of the post!
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Unknown said…
Very timely. Goodness knows I need to be more mindful of monthly expenses in order to cut out wastefulness.
Thu Jun 11, 05:20:00 AM 2009
Lynn Squire said…
We took the Dave Ramsay's course for Financial Peace. Highly recommend it - he comes at our finances from a biblical perspective.
Thu Jun 11, 06:02:00 AM 2009
WriterGirl said…
I hear you on this one! I definitely need to improve in this area. The Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover is a great tool.
Thu Jun 11, 01:57:00 PM 2009
Karin said…
My hubby and I have switched to a cash basis for two things:

1) Groceries
2) "Fun Money"

We were spending hundreds of dollars a month on food (groceries and eating out). Now we have $50/wk to buy food. Our "fun money" is $20/wk and goes toward eating out and anything else (snacks here and there, unnecessary shoes).

I'm amazed at how much we save when we do this!

(And I think it's a Dave Ramsey thing too...but I don't remember)
Thu Jun 11, 05:49:00 PM 2009
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