We are in the midst of a heatwave here in Oregon...at least in the Portland area. Usually our "summer" doesn't start until July. We hit 100 today and the forecast for the upcoming week is in the low to mid 90's. All I can say is thank goodness for air conditioning.

We are wrapping up a few months of crazy entertaining and attending events. One more to go (parent's 50th wedding anniversary party on 7/14) and then we are done! June was very busy with dd2's 18th b-day, graduation, and her graduation party. The other events were luckily spread out a bit more.

I am looking very much forward to vacation on 7/24. Tomorrow I can officially see it on the calendar! I am looking even more forward to it knowing everything but our food (except lunch and dinner) is paid for. We did pay for the breakfast buffet that is offered at the resort. We hit the Goodwill yesterday and found a small collapsible cooler for $3.99 to take with us, so we can pick up sandwiches and drinks to take while we are out and about exploring and hitting the beach. That should save some money by not eating lunch out in a restaurant every day, and bringing our own snacks and drinks.

Life will be slowing a bit after vacation, and we will use that time to get back on track spending wise.

A few weeks ago, I finally decided to check out the Downton Abbey series and see what all the excitement was about. I am so glad I did! I am totally in love with it!

To start off, I watched season 1 on Netflix (we have the streaming package). I was ready to watch season 2 and couldn't find it on Netflix. After some research, I discovered Netflix didn't have season 2. In fact, they are losing the streaming rights for season 1 any time now.

I then discovered that Hulu Plus has season 2. I signed up for a free 1 week trial, and got busy on season 2. I cancelled my free trial last night.

Now, I am planning on getting a 30 day free Amazon Prime trial to watch season 3. I am, however, double checking, to make sure it really is a free 30 day trial. If so, I am on board! An Amazon prime yearly subscription is $79. That works out cheaper per month than Netflix and Hulu Plus. It also seems, they may have more tv and movies to offer. If so, we may consider switching to Amazon and dumping Netflix.

For reference, we still have DISH network. Can't see the hubby giving that up though.

What about you? Do you still have cable and/or satelite? Streaming only? If streaming only, which service do you use and are you happy with it?

The payment of $500 hit and we are officially under 3K!

May was a bit of a spendy month. Other than regular expenses, this is what was spent.

1. Storage racks for garage $1100

2. 3 family b-days $75 (3 gc's at $25 each)

3. $140 for a gps for DD2 graduation gift

4. $220 for a new spring for the garage door opener that broke on Memorial Day.

5. $160 on Friday to have furnace and a/c unit cleaned and tuned up.

6. $156 for luau for upcoming vacation.

June is looking to be a little spendy also. DD2's 18th b-day is next Saturday. We are having a family lunch and still need to get her a gift. She wants to take 3 friends downtown for part of the day to Saturday market. We will give her money for lunch and also treat her friends. She is graduating on the 13th and we will also host a small graduation party for her soon after.

In July, my sister and I are hosting a 50th anniversary party for my parents. We already have the venue reserved and my sister has already paid me back for her half. We will have to pay for coffee and punch as they will not allow us to bring in our own. We will split the cost of that, plus a nice cake. She has purchased some decorations and such so I will owe her for that. Her bday is also in July, so we will need to get her a gift card for that (she prefers gift cards for b-day's and Christmas). Vacation is almost paid for (last payment due on the 7th), so we will just need to mainly worry about food and maybe a few small trinkets. We are thinking of doing a cave tubing excursion, but are not completely sure. If we do, we will book that online and pay with the Wells Fargo cc, which will give us points.

Luckily, most of this has been planned, and we have had the funds to cover it, but I try to always be aware of those surprises that seem to pop up!