Off to Mom's: I'm heading off to spend a couple weeks at my mom's ... all of my siblings will be there at least briefly (the 3 sisters all live in different parts of the country). Of course my darling brother (who lives with my mom) will be there the whole time, and I am looking forward to spending time with him as well as with Mom. I will be doing my utmost to NOT talk about personal finance while I am there, since my mom & I definitely do not see eye to eye. (I have refrained from blogging about mom's finances because it would probably turn in to a long and ugly bitch-fest.) What I do plan on doing is filling in some of the information on her "Letter of Instructions." I have printed out a blank copy and packed it in my suitcase. I agreed to be the executor of her estate when she passes, and I asked her to fill out the LofI for me. She said she would but it has been several years and she has yet to do it. I feel woefully unprepared to deal with her estate, and for the sake of my brother (who is developmentally disabled) and for the sake of my own sanity when that time comes, I feel I must get some information from her (including the mere basics such as the name of the attorney who drew up her will). I am telling myself to tread lightly ... I will be saying the Serenity Prayer frequently, I'm sure.

San Diego Plans: DH & I have worked out a temporary plan. He will head off to San Diego shortly after Thanksgiving and spend about 4-5 days househunting. He will narrow the choices down to 10 or so, and I will go out for a day or two to see those 10 houses together with him. If all goes according to plan, we will put an offer in on one of those houses (tho we will also decide on 2nd and 3rd choices as backups in case the negotiations on the 1st choice falls through). We have heard from several agents, both here and in Cali, that the buying process on a short sale is quite lengthy ... as long as 16 weeks. We don't know that we will be buying a short sale house, but given the market conditions in that area right now, odds are pretty high that we will, so we are allowing plenty of time for a lengthy negotiation and closing in the spring. In the meantime, we are doing lots of "window shopping" on the internet.

Austin Sightseeing: I have checked "Cavern Tour" off of my list of things to do before I leave Austin. It was very cool. Will try to write about it later, but now I must go finish packing.