Not sure if I'm grousing or laughing or both

Generally when I write here, I like to write interesting things. I like to talk about medicine or food that I'm cooking or something cool that happened, or even the occasional post of a new column for Skunk Magazine. This one is different. This one goes out to all the dads and moms and grandpas and grandmas who work to get ahead only to discover that there were a million things ready to eat that couple of grand right up.
    I came home about Feb 6 from a trip to Peru. It wasn't much of a money making trip but it was a working vacation that paid for itself and i had a great time and the guests I took out to the jungle were fantastic and all that jazz. But I had a couple of freelance writing checks waiting when I came back, and a couple of work checks from Fort Worth Weekly, and two months worth of book and kindle sales and a little of this and that. I thought I looked relatively golden. So golden that I gave my son Italo $500 of the last $1000 I owe him on the 2000 Lincoln Sportster I bought from him. And I didn't even mind when my 1998 Ford Ranger needed a little work: Italo bought $220 bucks worth of parts, I gave him $150 for a day's work and next thing you know, it's running beautifully again. Except that it also needed a new battery for $150 or so and registration for $65, and then an oil change with a new air filter for $58, bringing that up to over $600. Okay, I could live with that. But then the tax assessor reminded me that I owed the final $600 on property taxes for the year, and the home insurance company reminded me that I owed $677 for the quarter. And then the Lincoln needed two new tires at $200 each. And then the microwave went out and needed replacing. And then I needed to rent the equipment to get the carpets shampoo'd and then I had to pay various doctors a total of $400--despite now being old enough to cash in on my Medicare that I've paid into since its inception. Then the blood pressure pills needed upping and Walmart just happened to take both pills off the $4 list and one is now $58 while the other is $121. And now the Lincoln needs registering and an inspection.
     And none of it will kill me, of course. The speed and quickness with which my money disappeared surprised me: Quicker than a snake strike, perfectly aimed at my wallet. The fantastic thing is that I had the monies to take care of it all, along with the regular bills, living expenses, funds for Madeleina, away at college, and for my wife/ex-wife Chepa and the girls, and dog and cat food. So I'm not really grousing. These things need to get paid and I guess normally I'd just be a couple of months late with everything. This time I'm not.
     But then today, I went to cut the lawn and neither lawn mower worked. Now I'm starting to get riled...
     But I'm still grinning and I hope you are all laughing at whatever straits you happen to find yourself as well.