Anyway, the really good news is that the caseworker (for Medicare? I'm not sure) says my grandmother has to go to a skilled care facility. My mom had three choices: the place she was in four years ago where the staff would leave her lying in her own feces for hours, another facility owned by the same company, and a third facility that one of the women who helps my mom take care of my grandmother right now thinks she (my mom) may actually like. I'm sure my grandmother wouldn't really know the difference. There also won't be any attempts to prolong my grandmother's life through surgery or anything like that.

So, the bottom line is, my Mom might actually get her life back. I am hoping that maybe my grandmother will die in the next few months. Nobody in my family will say this out loud, but I think they all feel the same way. My mom is 68, and may not have that many good physical years left. She's been stuck taking care of her demented mother since 1998, the year my father died.

If you're the praying or karma type, please wish for a quick and easy passing for my grandmother.

I had a meeting with our financial advisor yesterday afternoon. He has taken the humongous stack of information on mine and Deb's lives that I turned over and crunched the numbers into something meaningful.

Unfortunately, that something meaningful says that Deb and I have to save an additional $500 a month if we want her to be able to retire at 55. Now, Deb never expected to be able to retire at 55. She expected to work the rest of her life or as long as she was physically able, but I'd like to be able to do that for her. What a wonderful 55th birthday present that would be. She could stay home and take care of us like she's always wanted to.

That figure is if I retire at 62. And if Social Security is actually paying what it's supposed to pay when I retire. That's a BIG if. That's where we've sort of incorporated fairy tale financial planning. The Boomers will suck away all of my Social Security benefits long before I get to collect.

But, that just means that we should really be trying to pare down a bit. So I'm going to cancel my Netflix subscription. That's $20 a month. I'm going to try to be much much better at taking my lunch to work instead of buying it. I might be able to save $20 a week that way. The FP thinks our utilities bill is pretty high, so maybe I can try to remember to not heat the attic so much and keep the house a little colder. I can stop buying books at B. Dalton and only read the ones that Sara has. That would probably be $20 a month.

It's going to be interesting. We're keeping a list of everything we buy for a month. A spending journal. So far I've spent $3.45 on coffee, tips, and a pack of crackers. I'm going to a bar with my coworkers at 4:00, so that'll probably add $5 if I'm careful. $20 if I stand a round (which would only be polite since I didn't get them crap for Christmas).

Deb went to bed last night saying she's sore all over from work, so I need to remember to tell Jake that I will help her clean out hot tub this weekend so that Deb can use it again.

We're having our gift swap with Anat tonight. That'll be fun.