everything at once

Item: one furnace, 18 years old (approximately) -- crapped out while we were on vacation this winter --rewarded us with a freezing cold house on our return from a month of travel -- replacement cost (high efficiency model, for sure!) probably several thousand (that's Canadian dollars)

Item: one 1993 VW Jetta, blown transmission -- replacement cost about $2700 is more than we could expect to sell it for if it was running well & didn't need major work -- solution? used car, 3-4 years old anywhere from $7500 (fixer-upper) to $12500 (pretty good) -- he doesn't want to pay more than $10K, but I don't know what will be on the market for that!

Item: basement, sorely in need of finishing, now that we've fixed the moisture problems -- he wants to do it all himself, but I'm concerned about things like wiring & plumbing -- needs to get done before next winter since insulation will help against the ever-rising cost of heating (see the furnace item) -- looks like the summer will be "under construction"

Item: 2 interesting opportunities for travel this fall, one to a film festival in Toronto & the other to a conference in Tokyo -- both could get derailed by cost of above items plus the second hasn't been approved for funding from work yet.

I'm sure that won't be the last thing that comes up this week! Oh yes, and it's raining, as well as pouring.