The ups, downs, and occasional sideways bits of trying to be mortgage free

You'd think so, wouldn't you, but he's strangely hard on clothes for a man with an office job. This coat was only two years old.

Visiting Dog goes home this evening, much to the relief of my elder cat. Younger Cat thinks V Dog is great, and happily chases him all over the garden, but Elder Cat is not having anything to do with this nonsense and has spent a week holed up in my study sulking.

We really want our own dog - have I talked about this before? - but because the laws around pet ownership and backyard breeders are so strict here (which is obviously great!) there are very few rescues, and they tend to be pit bulls with abusive backgrounds or 13 year olds with serious health problems, and buying a pure or cross breed puppy runs into the thousands. I've been on various waiting lists and rescue lists for almost two years now, and I may have to suck it up and pay $2,000 for a puppy or just accept that we're never getting a dog. I'm sad today because I found someone who needed to rehome a cat-friendly one year old dog, but someone else got in ten minutes before I did.

Mr E's repainting the lounge room today and then building a new bookshelf to replace the old one we carted across from the last house. It's going to be properly huge, with a rolling library ladder, which is basically my childhood fantasy come to life. I'm working, with Elder Cat sulking on the armchair behind me.

Scored a big bag of school uniform hand-me-downs this morning, though. And I have a friend who's saving a lot of her second hand clothes for me when I visit her city in a couple of weeks: she has a taste for very expensive clothes so this is excellent. I bought a couple of dresses from her last year, which I always get complimented on (she paid $350 per, I paid $60), and this time she's said she doesn't want any money which is very sweet. Must go through and chuck out a bunch of my old stuff, though: things that are just ripped or paint stained.

Well there's not exactly a two year waiting list for any and all rescues - that's how long I've been looking for a rescue that's suitable with cats and kids, which does narrow it down. But yeah, I do think the rules are good. One of the things that happens here is that registered breeders can only sell pure breeds if they're desexed, unless they're selling to another registered breeder. So that really cuts down a lot on accidental cross breeds, and unwanted puppies. Also, of course, if you have to spend $2,000 on a puppy, you're going to make sure you're really prepared to look after a dog and you probably won't dump it. It's all really good! But also I want a dog and I can't afford one. I'm stalking aged care facilities, because you sometimes get dogs that need rehoming because an elderly person is going into a care institution.

Anyway! Enough doggie talk. Mr E is off with the kids again today and has taken them recreational-shopping, so we'll see what comes of that. It's only bric-a-brac stores, I think, but no doubt they'll eat lunch out. To be honest, it's been so drizzly and miserable here all week that I can't blame them - they're going stir crazy just being in the house.

Lounge room painting is done, with enough paint left over (I bought 10L = $160) to do the next room as well, and it looks much better.

Mr E's been waking up with worsening back pain for a few months, and we have conceded that our mattress is well past it: it was fancy, 12 years ago, but now it's sagging. A good new one is thousands, though, so instead we swapped it with Elder Girl's mattress (she's 8, she won't get back pain!) and then bought a new mattress topper to go on top of her firmer one. So hopefully that's solved that problem for $100.

Once again, though, all of these perfectly reasonable, modest costs are going to be the difference between an overpayment and a breaking-even. Bring on the tax return!

Thank you both! Yep, I checked and kennelling would have cost them closer to $300, and you don't get one-on-one spoiling and millions of walks and belly rubs in a kennel. They're not skint, they're like us in a middle class comfortable-but-careful way, so I will accept.

It's been pouring for four days here, and last night thunder and hail - my cat was hiding behind the couch glaring at me as if it was my fault the weather was being so loud. Got up this morning to find a sleeping possum in one of the chicken's nesting boxes: it must have crept in at twilight for scraps and got shut in for the night when I locked up the hens. When I let them out this morning it sat up in the box and blinked at me. I think it's gone back to sleep, though: it's dry and dark, which is a lot better than a tree in this weather!

Spent the entire day so far doing my spreadsheets for the accountant. Not sure why I pay an accountant really, since I do so much of the prep work myself, but she helps with deciding what's allowable as a deduction and she always suggests a few things I wouldn't have thought of, which pays her fee. I'm eager to see how much she thinks we'll get back this year. Sad as it is, I've had a really nice morning with my figures and my spreadsheets.