DD1 had his tail amputation last Thursday. He is recovering nicely and goes back this afternoon for his follow-up to check the incision. It was a bit of a shock to see him and those first two days were really rough to watch the poor guy struggle to go to the bathroom and get comfortable.

Total surgery cost ended up being just over $1500. With that, his xrays, his annual shots/wellness visit, and my car repairs, we've managed to put $3k on a credit card that I had previously had paid off. (For those keeping track, the other tire was also patched and is so far holding up, so no expenses there...) The good news is that I think we can avoid interest on it. DH has had some very decent paychecks lately with the out-of-town work since he gets both overtime and per diem. He owed his boss $1500 that his boss had fronted him to cover expenses since they don't get reimbursed until after. We were really diligent and had that set aside from his first few reimbursements. When he handed his boss the check, he asked my husband if he needed some more time to pay it back. DH said it felt really good to say, 'Nope!' Small victories, I guess.

We have $800 overtime extra from this past paycheck, one more expense reimbursement of about $500, and overtime of about 20 hours on his next paycheck to apply to the $1500 balance that is due on the CC this month. The other $1500 (the surgery itself) will be due mid-September.

DH is slated to go out of town again starting next week for anywhere from 1-3 weeks. Other guys who have done that work said it's guaranteed 60-hr. workweeks and pretty easy work. DH is loving the new skills he's getting and hopes to be promoted by the end of the year.

The savings account still has $200 set aside. Adding $50 this month, plus $5-$10 every time I resist temptation to eat out. We're going to leave this alone and do our best to cash flow the recent expenses.

My certification studying is still going, and I'm still trying to make some progress on debt payoff while treading water. I did send an extra $75 payment to my personal loan that I was hoping would be gone by now. I also used the rent money from my brother to eliminate the interest-bearing balance on my Capital One CC. The remainder is interest free for a bit. It's painful to see 3-4 balances under the grand mark that we just can't eliminate due to life happening, but we're trying!