I had a tree limb come down and hit the neighbor's power line breaking the service pipe to his house. I paid him $850 out of pocket for the repairs, then hired a tree service to clean up the mess for $1200. Lynn's stimulus arrived the day before they started.

Tally: Minus $850

My stimulus arrived.

Tally: Plus $350

Then we immediately had to take one of our cats to the vet for an emergency surgery ... another $850!

Talley for our stimulus money: Minus $500 ... all within a few days!

At least I used it the way it's supposed to be used ... to stimulate the economy. I just wish I'd had the option to "stimulate" it in a different way!