I love tax season.

It's no secret that Vickie and I have been terrible with keeping our finances in order, but we have striven (is that a word?) to get on top of things. I've been religiously reading a number of websites dedicated to organizing your life and things are finally coming to fruition. For years now I've been tracking my finances with Quicken, and I've always been able to look at the projected bank accounts and see that in just a few months we'd be on top of things... well, it was always that way - salvation was always just a few months away but things kept popping up that pushed it back. In 2006 it looked like things would be clearing up quickly when an old ghost of a credit card decided that they wanted ten grand in ten days or they'd start garnishing my wages. I politely thanked them for calling (I believe my exact words were "fuck you") and filed bankruptcy in 2007. It was an expensive maneuver, but it cleared away a number of old fears - consequently, everyone that I didn't file on came knocking immediately knowing that they'd had me in a corner, so 2007 was a brutal year to the bank account. But we kept at it (what else can you do) and started budgeting money and the "salvation in a few months" became "salvation in a few weeks". Last month, January, was a week that was monumental. I saw that the next paycheck, a tantalizing three days away, was going to be the one to put us on top. But Christmas, the assault on bank accounts that it is, threw us a curve ball and we had few debits bounce, each one was happy followed by a $37.50 fee from the bank. It infuriated me to be three days from salvation to see it all get pushed back.

Then there was February. I woke up and checked the accounts on Thursday morning (as is my way) to pay bills. I secretly love paying bills, I just wish I could do it more often (not more bills, but more money with which to pay them!) and saw that, with the exception of the car payments which are perpetually late, everything was on top. That was the day that I picked up my final W2. The next day we did our taxes and thank goodness for Jim Sheldon at HR Block, somehow our return came back in six hours (when we'd only paid for the 2-3 days).

(Yes, I know that a lot of people eschew paying to have taxes done, but honestly we were running very low on propane and needed it quickly. I've known Jim since I was in elementary school and for the past few years he's done our taxes for us under their "friends and family" allowance, but this year we needed it quick and I'm perfectly happy to be a customer of his when we don't really see him much the rest of the year.)

Well, that quick return was just in time and Vickie and I received what I call the Bibble Baker Bonus. I'm not going to be so crude as to say how much we got back, but suffice to say, we are on top! Holy Christ, we are finally on top!!! Cell phones are back on, utilities are fully paid, car payments are pacified and credit cards are finally under the overdraft limit. I've plotted out a spreadsheet that details my plan to kill our debt using a debt snowball and by the end of this year all of our credit cards will be paid off, leaving only a car, a personal loan (for the wedding) and our college loans to pay off. All of this will be happening while accumulating savings for a home mortgage which will be ready in mid 2010.

I really can't express how good it feels to be on top of these things, and I encourage (or even beg) any of you who are struggling from paycheck to paycheck to go read the sites I've linked to and give it a try.

The past week has been brutal. There's a 24-hour cold/flu/disease/death that's going around. First Vickie got it, which laid her out for a weekend. Then CJ and I came down with it. Tori caught a light version of it but her allergies went berserk anyway. Now the Bibbles has it. Wow, I've never felt so helpless and crushed as last night watching my poor daughter cough with a force that just shouldn't be coming from a six-month-old. She was miserable and her nose was so stuffed she couldn't use her pacifier - it was really heartbreaking. Her fever broke last night and she's feeling better, but she's still not a healthy Bibbles yet. She was feeling better this morning and smiling as big as she could - this baby smiles at all times, she's just such a happy girl ---- anyway, yeah, Daddy loves his Baby.

Hey, Misty Wilger: I miss your website. And John, you need to start posting more stuff too, things besides Ruby excerpts. It's rare anymore that all the old blog-buddies I used to read every day post anything personal anymore - Yeah, I know that's the Pot and the Kettle, but I'm trying to get myself back into the habit.

Okay, just so you guys know, there are things coming up. I plan to get full on into planning the next Piqnic this Spring, so expect some movement in that direction. Next, Vickie wants me to start up a paintball game - I told her sadly that I found out first-hand over ten years ago that my body doesn't react well to running around in the woods, but still, it's not a bad idea, especially if everyone else is as out-of-shape as I am! Vickie and I have finally rearranged our schedules to make sure that we are at home more for the children (although, consequently, less for each other) so we'd like to start having some friends again. Some cook-outs would be nice, or whatever, just now that the wedding-pregancy-baby cycle has passed we'd like to resume our social life.