Lily is back at the vet's. Based on her symptoms, the vet believes she either has pancreatitis or something (bad) wrong with her liver. She wanted us to take Lily to a well-outifitted animal hospital for an ultrasound and biopsy of the liver. Hubby and I discussed the cost, how much we've already spent (around $800 in the past two weeks), logistics of getting her to and from another town, and Lily's age. He spoke again with the vet and decided to go ahead with treatment for pancreatitis to see if that helps her. If it doesn't then we'll probably go with the high-tech place (which will be another $350-$400 just for the ultrasound), knowing what she has will likely be lethal.

I hate to sound like it's all about money. It's not. But we are very tight right now. We finally, FINALLY paid off both credit cards in February with our tax return. I thought we'd be able to focus on building up our savings account/emergency fund.

Then our primary car needed $2K in repairs, finishing off the tax return, followed by Dad getting sick and my trip to visit him. Then we got the bill for Bean's overnight hospital stay, requiring a payment plan. The boys currently have more in their little savings accounts than we have in ours.

We had to add the in-patient vet care to the card.

Hubby and I had a couple of heart-to-hearts about the way we spend money and that it needs to change. We must cut our grocery spending. Our personal spending must be for needs and not wants. A couple things he wants will have to wait until he can save up for them. I hate it. I'm always the "bad cop" saying "no". I'm the one who forgoes my fun money when we're short. I'm resentful about that part and it's something I need to work out (charting last year's spending and comparing his personal stuff vs. mine was an eye-opener).

We make decent money and should be able to follow our budget with a small cushion for emergencies, but we don't.