My wife and I recently finished up a home improvement project at our house. The entire downstairs area of our bi-level style house has popcorn ceiling. If you don't know what popcorn ceiling it, just go ahead and Google it for a second.
Are we on the same page now?
While popcorn ceiling was all the rage back in the 80's, it's time has passed, and 
I've worked with drywall in the past, and I had a feeling it was going to end up being a lot bigger job than she thought. I suggested she start in the downstairs bathroom because it was a relatively small room. Guess what....
I remember her calling me two summers ago crying because the faux finish wasn't separating from the ceiling the way it did in the videos online. She got the majority of it off, but the ceiling was a hot mess. I knew I was going to have to mud it and sand it and I hate working with drywall, so I let it sit for over a year.
Fast forward to this summer, and I finally got the ambition to start working on it. I mudded the ceiling and then sanded it and it turned out to be just as messy as I had guessed. I talked to my friend after the fact and he actually said I should have thinned down the drywall mud a bit, but I was so frustrated we just painted over it and called it good. It's a hot mess, but it still looks better than the popcorn ceiling did.
Of course if you are drywalling and painting the ceiling you may as well paint the rest of the bathroom too right? Plus, if you are painting, why not pull out that old vanity and put a new cabinet and sink in... Like the title says... Scope Creep.
This ended up being a lot bigger job than I had planned, and while it honestly kind of looks like crap, I was able to do the whole thing for maybe around $300 to $400. I did have to have 
It is time again for another Finance Friday/Friday Finance. This is a series I started where I talk about random bits of financial stuff that I have seen, gathered, or experienced during the week. I hope as a reader you find it informational, entertaining, or both. I also hope it can generate some good discussion and edify the community.
I've been pretty open about the fact that I work for a public school district. Sadly, it's become a bit hard to find people who are more widely despised by the general public than school employees. I think two of the biggest complaints are that we get our summers off (we really don't), so we get a full paycheck for only working part time, and for the most part we get a pension.
I guess pensions aren't as common as they once were. Unless you are in a union or some kind of public service job, they are pretty rare.
Honestly though, if I had the choice, I'd rather take a DIY approach to my finances. Salaries in the public sector have always been woeful compared to the private sector. We get a pension though and that has always been the reasoning for why there is such a gap.
You know what, pay me more and let me handle my retirement. I honestly feel like I wouldn't do too bad of a job investing myself. In fact, I still invest myself anyway because I don't like betting on the fact that this shared pool of money is going to still be whole when I need it.
I've been investing for years under the assumption that Social Security is going to dry up and for whatever reason our pension is going to go away. I want to be in a position where I don't have to count on that money for anything.
As I said, I'd be more than willing to take the money they are taking out of my check before taxes and invest it myself. At least that way, if it all goes to crap, I at least have a bit of control over my fate.
I was scrolling through my Instagram feed the other day and I came across this pretty cool Michigan State commemorative coin. With only 5000 being made, I was ready to pull the trigger and buy one (after doing a bit more research of course, you should never just buy something off Instagram or Facebook).
Sure enough, I was pretty disappointed to find out that it was merely silver plated, not pure silver. I've been part of the #silvergoldstackers community long enough to realize there are better opportunities out there. If it's not at least sterling or .999 percent pure silver, I'm honestly not interested.
It still looks cool though. It would be neat if one of the mints did a US Universities series or something like that. I'd definitely be picking up the Spartans one.
September is shaping up to be just about as crazy as we had expected. The SEC continues to fumble along. I heard the other day they accidentally posted some speech that Gensler was supposed to give on their public webpage. I also heard Gary is getting sued by someone else now for something, I don't know, probably for being a feckless piece of crap.
As for me... I'm finally at a place where I think I can start investing outside money in crypto again. I'll probably ramp my monthly buys back up a little bit, my traditional investments will stay the same, and I look forward to the large end of the year infusion that will hopefully happen from dividends, capital gains, and employer contributions. We will see!
All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or
