Finances.

This isn't a full-blown financial post, with my breakdown and everything (that's long over due, I know, so i'll just throw one up at the end of March and we can all party down), but I wanted to share one thing with you, my faithful readers -- I actually bought stock!

I'm an investor now!

I mean, I guess I technically was an investor when I opened my IRA three years ago, but I FEEL like an investor now.  I can say at fancy cocktail parties (which I have never attended but everyone always brings them up like they're commonplace events), for example, "I own shares in DRI -- oh, you don't know what that is?  That's Darden Restaurants, Inc.  They own Olive Garden, ya know."  Okay, and when I say I own shares, I mean I own like, a half a share.  BUT.  I'm an investor!  I'm out there, investing!

I didn't choose any fancy formula to pick stocks, by the way.  Sharebuilder.com has this portfolio builder program where you input your risk tolerance level (mine, for example, is much higher than my dig a hole and put money it in husband) as well as your goal for the money, a time frame, etc, and then out pops a few suggestions - the boring ones that are tied to the market as a whole or whatever.  Then I added DRI, since I wanted at least one fun stock to watch.  I was going to add AAPL (stock in Apple, for the uninitiated -- teehee, teehee) and, of course, TGT (TARGET !!) but I don't have enough money to invest in all of those at once, so I figure, a few months with the Olive Garden, then a few months with Apple, and close out the year with a few months with Target.  Then I'll have shares in all my favorite companies.  Well.  Most of my favorite companies?  And since I view this more as a learning experience/fun entertainment type past-time, I'm not going to really worry about money I lose.  Sure, I invested in some serious stock, but it'll be interesting to see how the serious stuff does next to my fun stuff over the next year, ya know?

I think that maybe when I get another windfall of cash, I'll buy Lillie some stock in Disney (a must have for every kid, of course) and maybe when baby (Alice Audrey Dolly Parton whatever) comes out, we'll get her stock for her "birth" day.  Then the only non-investor in the family will be D.

And he's happier that way.   So be it.