Maybe it's because my brain's not weighed down with refined carbohydrates, but I feel like I've got all these random thoughts swirling around in my head that I feel like writing about, but none of them really go together. So, time for a random brain dump, I guess!

***

Day four of the new regimen is going pretty well. I had a 30-min. brisk walk home after work, and did 15 min. of resistance exercises (free weights, situps, squats, etc.) For dinner, I had quinoa-tempeh-veggie medley with corn on the cob and sweet potato fries.

This morning for breakfast I tried the oatmeal without the applesauce, adding stevia for sweetness instead, and the texture was much better. I like frugaltexan's idea of adding dried fruit; may try that next week.

For lunch I had some of the leftover quinoa-tempeh mix and some of the creole blackeye peas from earlier in the week.

Tonight for dinner we're going to have to wing it; we have plenty of food left from the cook-off party, so we'll be able to figure it out. I'm thinking big salad of some kind for myself.

I need to do a 30-40 min. endurance-level workout tonight, so I'm thinking I'll hit either the pool or the treadmill. Don't think I'll be keeping a very heavy pace for that long, but I guess "endurance level" is whatever you can take at whatever level of fitness you're at!

I'm feeling pretty good; very light and healthy but not too deprived. I just need to brainstorm some other meals when I get back from our trip this weekend, so I don't feel like I'm eating the same thing all the time.

***

I got an email from our real estate agent with some good news about our local market; sales were up and number of new homes on the market was down. It emboldened me to try and assess our condo's value.

The first place I tried was Homes.com, which gave an estimate of about $162,000. I was feeling pretty good because that's $2,000 more than I currently value it at. But then I checked Zillow.com, and felt like I'd been suckerpunched. $123,000, down $8,000 over the past 30 days!

I mean, either way we're not moving or anything. But with the threat of interest rates rising because of this debt-default idiocy in Washington, I would love to at least have a fighting chance to refi at some point (we have an ARM that we've been lucky with so far; right now it's at 3.5%, lower than our introductory rate). Right now we owe $168,000 If the condo were worth $162,000 we'd break even on our mortgage vs. home value in 14 months. At $123,000, we wouldn't break even for years!

So I'm proclaiming my results "inconclusive" since there was such a discrepancy, but I have a sinking feeling Zillow might be closer to the truth. I'll look into it again in a few months and see if either one has changed.

***

NT's renters in England are moving out and the rental management company has asked for permission to redecorate so they can attract new renters. When he wrote back to say hopefully it would only be painting and such, they wrote back to say that the carpets were in pretty bad shape and should be replaced. Well, as far as NT knows, his flat had all hardwood floors, and he wrote back to say so. Of course now I'm all suspicious that his management company might be incompetent and/or trying to shake us down for unnecessary repairs, but there's not much we can do about it! At least we don't depend on the rent for anything but mortgage payments, and we have enough in UK savings to cover that for a while if things go bad. But I do like having that extra money from the rental to put into EF/future house savings at the beginning of each month; it's always painful to spend it on repairs, new appliances, etc. instead.

***

The vegan-chef-in-our-home dinner party thing is progressing nicely! The chef sent us a huge list of menu items to choose from, and we've had 5 people RSVP yes, which means with us we've got 8 of the 10 minimum we need. Exciting news on the SA front -- one of the yesses is "kashi," whom some of you old-timers may remember for having a SavingAdvice blog! She lives in Mpls and is vegan, and we're Facebook friends but have never managed to meet. So this will hopefully work out and I'll get to meet my first (albeit inactive) SA blogger!

***

This upcoming trip is going to be strange. NT and I are traveling to Ohio with little AA to a family reunion for my dad's side of the family. The plane leaves at 6:30 tomorrow. The lightrail to the airport goes right by my and NT's office buildings, but he has to go pick up AA from daycare before we leave. So he's getting out of work early to do that. We think he should bring the carseat and I'll bring the luggage; shouldn't be too much for just two nights and two days, but with a small child, things seem to pile up.

We think we're going to wing it in terms of food for her; we'll bring crackers, milk and her favorite applesauce packet treats, but other than that we'll just get what we can from restaurants and stores along the way. She's usually pretty flexible, and doesn't always need a lot of food (her appetite varies wildly from day to day, which I hear is typical of toddlers). Actually it'll probably be harder to find food for me (a vegan trying out a wheat-free, rice-free diet) than for her (can't go wrong with bananas, cheese or crackers).

So NT will pick up AA from daycare, bring her back downtown, and we'll take the lightrail together. We called the hotel and they can provide a travel crib, so that's one less thing.

NT keeps asking what we're going to eat and do for two days in Strasburg, a town of about 2,000 people. I keep telling him, fast food and reunion. Oh, and the day before the reunion we'll be at a corn festival that my sister and her family attend every year; I'm sure it's great but I can't imagine it's going to take all day. I guess we'll probably do some sitting around in the hotel rooms together. Play cards and chat. It's only a day and a half, so we'll live. I love my family, but the one and only reason I agreed to do this was to assuage my guilt and let my mom see AA; she's such a fiend for grandbabies and I know she's wistful that we don't live closer so she can see AA once in a while.

Meanwhile, AS decided to stay home this weekend. She is just really overloaded with obligations lately, both work and personal, and I think she'll benefit from a quiet weekend to herself. But it'll still be weird to be without her! We've been in different cities maybe a dozen times over the 14 years together. Separation is just not our thing.

I don't think most of my extended family knows about my unusual relationship situation. I've brought AS to reunions before so I'm sure a lot of them just think I'm a lesbian, so it might confuse them a bit when I show up with a husband and child! I've decided not to worry about it; if someone asks the right sort of questions they might get to the truth, but otherwise I just won't say much about my personal life.

***

I guess that's all my random thoughts. Oh, I realize I need to sit down with our various credit cards now in use, and make sure I pay off all the balances. But I think I can do that tomorrow. I don't like to wait the whole month since I do to-the-penny budgeting; it gets too complicated. Doing it every couple weeks works out much better.

Even after the expensive cook-off party, we have about $480 of extra money for July. Since the end of the month is going to be too hectic to have a detailed meeting about it, I suggested we just take an extra $20 each to help with the irregular eating situation this weekend, and put the rest toward student loan debt. They both agreed, so that's what we'll do!