I sent the check to Toyota and am looking forward to seeing what the new balance is once the check clears. DH and I were talking last night about what to do with the car payment once we no longer have a car payment. He asked if I was thinking about sending it to the mortgage. I said that I hadn't been, but now I'm giving it some thought. We have a little over 16 years left on the mortgage. Sending an extra $200 a month would take about 30 months of payments off the mortgage. So instead of having it paid off in the neighborhood of April, 2023, we're looking instead at October, 2020. Sending an extra $300 each month would shave off 41 months of payments, with a payoff around November, 2019. Looking at the numbers like this is inspiring. Even at $300 extra a month, we still have money leftover from the payments we're currently making for the car. Of course, none of this is going to happen until the car is paid off, and that is still about 18 months out. Still, it's fun to look at the numbers and picture a time when we own this house free and clear.

I've been home today with my daughter, who's sick. Trying to get her to rest has been the challenge of the day! I have to keep reminding her to settle down and let her body heal. She's got a pretty bad cough, and I'm hoping she'll be on the mend by tomorrow.

It has made for a no-spend day, as we haven't even left the house. I've been doing some laundry, watching movies with DD and just hanging out with her. She got a

magic garden kit for her birthday so we got that started today, and it is pretty neat. The trees have started "blooming" already.

DH made some fresh-squeezed orange juice this morning for DD with oranges from our tree, and I told her I'd make her some more this afternoon. I'm trying to keep her hydrated, so it's been OJ, water and soup much of the day.

Even now, as she moves about the house, she's trying to sneak in some pirouettes when she thinks I'm not looking! "You need to sit down and rest, honey." This is what I keep reminding her.

We finally sold our old car this week. Tomorrow, I'm mailing a check to Toyota that will basically cut our loan in half. That, combined with now sending an extra $100 each month, brings our payoff date to about 18 months. It will be nice to have the car paid off as soon as possible and start making other plans for that money each month.

In other news, yesterday was my daughter's 7th birthday. We had a small party here and it was a nice day all around. Later today we're going to a matinee ballet performance, and we'll go somewhere for lunch beforehand. This is a double birthday celebration, as mine is in a few weeks. It's going to be a wonderful day. Can't imagine things being much better, and it's nice to have the extra money available to do something that will be so enriching.