Today was a no spender. I have to say there were a lot of positives to my day today.

1. I packed my breakfast, lunch & snack for work & they were good!
2. I went to the gym and worked out for 50 minutes
3. I came home & immediately made a yummy dinner and packed my lunch for tomorrow.
4. I vegged on the couch in my superclean living room & played on the computer
5. I am watching good tv.
6. I have more energy from eating better and having more activity.
7. I am watching my cats literally attack each other. It should be a show on Animal TV. They could call it Battle Cats. Its too funny!

I'm trying a new thing. I always have a HUGE to do list running at any given time. And I never feel like I accomplished anything because at the end of the day, because I still had a long list going. So now, I am trying out a new rule, which I’ll call the '5 Things Rule'. Each day, I have 5 things, no matter how small that I HAVE to do that day. It can include anything from Go to work, to work out, to clean the bathroom, to put away laundry. At the end of the day, I need to have at least those 5 things done and if I do more, then it's a bonus.

Today I wasn't feeling well. I really wanted to get extra rest in, but I also wanted to get a couple of things done. So here were today's 5 Things:

1. Unclog upstairs bathroom sink drain - DONE
2. Pick up kitchen (no deep cleaning, just clutter and wiping down) - DONE
3. Pick up living room (no deep cleaning, just clutter) - DONE
4. Make a budget - DONE
5. Change sheets on bed - To be done right before bed


Tomorrow's 5 Things are supposed to be the following, but are subject to change!

1. Make a Meal Plan
2. Grocery shop
3. Walk
4. Pick up bedroom (just pick up, not deep clean)
5. Pay Bills


Also, since I spent a good amount of time on the couch today (cold meds really knock me out), I started thinking about Halloween Costumes. This year, I will be on a cruise to the Bahamas for Halloween, so I know they'll have a big party. I want a costume that meets the following requirements:

1. Frugal
2. Reusable for next year (minimal people will see it on the cruise)
3. Possibly used for non-Halloween purposes.

As I was watching a re-run of Veronica Mars, they had a scene where people were dressed up for an Around the World Party. One of the girls was dressed up in a beautiful Kimono. Suddenly, I have a flash to my local farmer’s market, where there is an Asian-inspired stand with items such as robes and fans. I have eyed the Japanese robes several times as an alternate for a dressing robe. So I'm going to check them out. Since the farmer's market is usually pretty low-cost, this should meet all of my requirements. I'll check the stand out next weekend. Here's hoping!

I've been reading my butt off lately. Tons of books from the library, from friends collections, ect.

I have a Stephen King book club at work, a sci-fi book club with some friends, and an online book club. I knew I was a reader, but I just realized how active reading is for me!

I even listen to books on tape at work. I'm currently reading (listening to) the Uglies Series by Scott Westerfield. The books are Uglies, Pretties, Specials and Extras. I just finished Pretties.

I have to laugh because its a series of teen books, but it has such adult themes, I would recommend it to anybody. Its about society, violence, Big Brother, appearance, rebellion and more. I found it through a recommendation from GoodReads.com. Check that site out if you're a reader

The reason I bring this up here is that I get hours and hours of enjoyment for free by utilizing the library and friends personal libraries, as well as online tools. Its something I really enjoy and its very, very frugal!

I'm going to keep updates of what I've been reading. I'm always looking for suggestions, so please let me know if you have any!

Currently reading:

World War Z - Max Brooks
Every Which Way But Dead - Kim Harrison

So, I've been absent for quite a while. Long story short, I had some health problems, house problems, car problems and generally a rough time lately. I've gone through my emergency fund & managed to add some credit card debt. UGH.

I should be able to pay off the credit card in the next month or two. Once I start sticking to a budget again. Some of the circumstances were beyond my control, some of the debt is from letting go of my finances and just working on getting myself back on track.

Things have pretty much gone to hell in a handbasket. My house is a mess, so I'm working to get that in order again. Next is my finances. Luckily work is NOT out of whack, so at least there's that.

Today was the first day I've had the energy to even take care of stuff. So today, I went to work. Then ran errands & did chores

-Went to the vet for prescription cat food
-Acme for free Redbox dvd
-Weeded the rocks in front of my house (1/2 hour)
-Cleaned the kitchen & cleaned out the fridge (REALLY a nasty mess)
-Ran the dishwasher
-Made dinner
-Packed food for work tomorrow
-Washed out my trash can (also a nasty mess)
-Did 2 loads of laundry. Hung up one load.
-Changed litter boxes and washed them out
-Sent birthday & thinking of you cards
-Tended to my tomato plants, picked all the ripe ones. Unfortunately, I had to throw away some that were over-ripe or split Still, have a lot of good ones!
-Saw that I have 2 peppers actually growing after all!
-Organized pictures on my computer.
-Brought down floor lamp from bedroom to living room since the ceiling fan motor blew & the light no longer works either.

-Now I'm going to make up my bed, watch the Redbox movie and go through all my paperwork to set a budget & pay my bills.

I will have a working budget before I go to bed tonight and I plan on keeping you all updated. I missed you guys!

So today, I came home to a leak in my living room ceiling. I rushed to put a bucket under it and ran downstairs to shut off the water to the house.



It appears that it was a steady, but slower leak that had started fairly soon before I came home. So my timing was lucky.

Of course, after I determined that the water was not coming from the upstairs bathroom and instead from pipes in the ceiling, I panicked. It was 4:45 and the ceiling was still filling with water, creating bubble pockets of water under the paint. I poked them to release the water in the buckets and water kept coming (obviously remaining water from the pipes).

I called my sister's boyfriend (who does home repairs) and he called a buddy who is a plumber. The plumbers (the buddy & his father) gave me a heck of a deal. They cut into the drywall - which was already damaged and would need to be replaced.



They replaced the pipe and were very nice during the whole thing.



They only charged me $125.00, which was awesome since the job probably cost twice that. But they were very good friends with my sister's boyfriend and I think they did it as a favor to him.

So now I have a big old hole in my ceiling. The drywall needs to be replaced. But that'll have to wait.

So, in the midst of all this, I cancelled my plans to meet friends out for our normal Tuesday outing. Instead I am now sitting at home with a glass of Captain & coke, full of dinner I just made and am settling in to watch a library movie. I just need to relax.

This doozy of an evening comes at the tail end of a biospy procedure that I had yesterday. I ended up not packing food yesterday & today for work and was feeling a little guilty for spluring on food out when I had a fridge full of food at home.

So tonight I'm taking it easy, having the rum & coke, watching the movie & heading to bed early. I've already pre-packed food for tomorrow, so I'm back on track

Just my luck - I had the day off on Friday & got a nice migrane.

So I slept in - which was enjoyable at least.

I got veggies from the farmer's market. Then I took the cat to the vet - $140.00. Poor little guy had a panic attack in the car - fun.

I did go to dinner with my parents and nephew and they came over afterwards so that I could take a migrane pill and we all watched a library movie - Hotel for Dogs. Very cute movie - especially for animal lovers.

Yesterday, I got gas in the am, took a walk in the park with a friend. Had a dull headache, but by the end of the walk, it was back to migrane status. Walking was probably not the best idea.

Yesterday afternoon, I went with a friend to a graduation party. Free catered food and a chance to catch up with some old friends. I ended the party early & headed back home in time for another migrane pill.

Today I am sitting around, and doing my best to get rid of the migrane. part of my problem is that I should have just stayed in bed Friday & Sat and I wouldn't still have the headache today. Its my own fault. Oh well.

My only two goals for today are to pack food for work tomorrow and to make a budget since payday is tomorrow. Definately doable

CNN has an article talking about Obama's Pay as You Go Plan and they quoted him as saying,

"Paying for what you spend is basic common sense," Obama said. "Perhaps that's why, here in Washington, it's been so elusive."

Please let me know what you think! I find it pretty on point with what we talk about here.

And to be honest, this pay as you go plan reminds me of that movie Dave. Anyone remember that one? The guy impersonates the president who was medically incapacitated?

The best scene was when he invited a friend to the White House. The friend was an accountant and they balanced the budget in one night over sandwiches!

So last week, I realized I couldn't find my driver's license. However, I felt that it was likely in my house somewhere since I switch purses and sometimes just keep my license in my back pocket (not the best idea, I know!)

So I cleaned and organized and check piles of papers, went through my purses, went through my car, checked my pants, the washer and dryer. Finally, I gave up.

Then I went online to check what was needed to get a new license. I need $10 and basically a bunch of documents that I could NOT easily get my hands on.

My mind was running through how long it'll take to get the stuff and what are my chances of getting pulled over without my license? It would have been EXPENSIVE!

So in the end, after I started getting the paperwork together, I did one last check of my purse - which I'd already gone through several times. And in between a bunch of checks in my checkbook - there was my license!!!

So crisis adverted - but I'm still going to get that documentation where I would be able to use it quickly. Planning ahead never hurt anyone

So I may have mentioned this, but after the carpenter bees created a hole under my roof, a bird moved in and had babies.

Seriously.

Babies! I hear their chirping right now. Normally, I enjoy the sounds of wildlife, but it panics me to know they are up there and going to the bathroom. The babies possibly could wander and even fall into the walls. Ugh.

Ok, on to better news ... THREE day weekend! I left work at about 3pm today, ran errands, grabbed groceries and came home to sit on the deck, admire my container garden and enjoy some sun.

I plan on enjoying the holiday at home. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

I'll be honest, I was putting off researching options on changing phone service and lowering my cable to the very very basic plan.

I have a lot options and I guess I'm moving out of my comfort zone with cancelling it, so I decided to hold off one more month.

I'm going to start researching the best options for switching phone plans. Verizion would only be $6 less than Comcast, but there has to be a better deal out there. All I need is local phone - no call waiting, caller ID, voicemail. Just plain ole local.

Also, I requested to have 2 coupons for the digital converters to come to my house. I only have 2 tvs and I hope to try them out soon. Then I can skip the very, very basic cable altogether, which would save me about $12.00.

So basially, I chickened out. Crazy how cable feels like a necessity even though I KNOW Its not. I almost want to get rid of it just to prove I can live without it. But I would like to keep channels 3,6 & 10. So I'm gonna hold out for the converters & go from there.

I'm a superdork at times. I keep a spending spreadsheet, a budget spreadsheet, a grocery spreadsheet and a meal plan spreadsheet for each week/pay period and/or month. I feel that they keep me in focus & its truly not a time consuming activity.

Today I spent money for groceries only. Tomorrow I have to get some gas, but my goal is no other spending til either Tues or Wed night when I'm meeting up with some friends.

Out of my $74.04 grocery budget (odd number I know, but I work a zero based budget), I spent $19.87. I didn't get a few things that were on my list, but I'll pick them up later this week if I still find a need for them.

And, I can't believe it, but I only spent $5.00 out of my entertainment budget this weekend. I truly had a good weekend and don't feel deprived in any way! I spent time with friends, with my family, and time at home with the cats. I went to a birthday at a bar, played shuffleboard, went yard sailing, watched my nephew's Little League game, watched movies from the library, read a book, worked out, cooked and enjoyed my container garden. I even got a nap on the couch in this afternoon

I also enjoyed a half hour on my new elliptical machine. I have to say that also I'm a frequent walker, this machine was challanging

Every work day between the 1st of May and today, I've managed to pack my breakfast, lunch and snacks for work. My friend and I have managed to do very well for our little challange. I think he'll actually make it through to the end of the week as we orginally planned.

I plan on continuing the challange through to the end of the month. Getting in the habit of packing food is easy, but once you stop, its hard to start up again

Today I spent $3.00 at the dollar store. I bought 1 three pack of toothbrushes and 2 large cans of tomato sauce.

Tonight, I have friends coming over for the LOST finale. I'm making spaghetti for dinner. I had all the ingredients except the sauce

Hope everyone has a good night!

Well, yesterday would have been a no spender. Especially since I left my purse at home for the work day. However, my family asked me to go to the batting cages with my nephew. We had a blast and I spent $2.00. Very reasonable for an hour or so of fun!

Today is day 3 of the Work Lunch Challange. I packed breakfast, lunch & snacks. Tonight I'm going to a girls night out. I'm planning on keeping my spending under $10.00.

Well, I left my purse at home today. I'm at work without my cell, wallet, ect. At least I won't be spending today! And boy am I glad that I packed my lunch. Otherwise I'd be begging off of friends

Today, I spent $1.90. I packed my breakfast, lunch & snacks for work. Bought nothing all day.

However, my nephew's 2nd grade class is reading a book called Flat Stanley. Its about a boy who has a bulletin board fall on him & flatten him. Its about how Flat Stanley goes through life and travels by mail to many places.

So I received a flat version of my nephew I had a week to take him around, show him my life, take some pics. It was actually quite fun and there were several places where people recognized Flat Stanley! Very fun.

So today, I spent $1.90 to purchase 10 pictures of Flat Stanley and me to send back to my nephew's class. This project was a LOT of fun!

For the 3rd day in a row, its raining. Although now its pouring! There goes all plans that required me to be outdoors.

So today will be made up of doing all the things on my to-do list that require me to stay indoors. Which are:

- Clean the house top to bottom
- Do my nails
- Go through photos that I collected from my Aunt's house after she passed
- Try a new recipe for dinner Sunday
- And I'm going to add split & prepackage meats purchased. Make ahead meatloaf & sloppy joe for the freezer

The weather went from hot & sunny in the mid-80's to cold, rainy and 60 in only 1 day. As a result, I woke up this morning with a really nasty sinus headache. I pushed myself and headed to work, arriving at 7am. By 8:15, I was so ill, I went home. Looks great to come back from a 4 day weekend, work a day & then take a sick day. But it was necessary as I was getting nauseous and really, really didn't want to get sick on the office.

So I headed home & slept for 4 hours. Now I have a bad headache still and all I've eaten is crackers. Oh, so fun!

On the bright side, I went out with friends last night and I was given some bday presents - including yellow roses! I am so lucky!

And the one good thing about the weather is that I had the air on yesterday when it was 89 degrees. Today the air is off, the windows are closed and its 70 degrees in the house. Pretty comfy. Which is good since I can't open the windows and let the damp air in, it makes my head worse.

I'm enjoying a 4-day Birthday Weekend. Last night a friend took me out for Mexican and a margarita! Very nice dinner.

Then I came home and lazed around on the couch in front of the tv.

Today I have the day off, I'm enjoying the mid-70s weather with the windows open. I plan on cleaning the house and spending the day giving myself a little pampering.

This afternoon, I'm heading to a birthday happy hour with work friends. A local restaurant with an upstairs balcony to enjoy the awesome weather!

Tomorrow, I'm going to some Horse Races with a friend, who is going to treat me to a pedi after & maybe head to a martini bar. Fun birthday stuff!

Sunday, I'm going to sleep in, head to my nephew's baseball game and hang out with the fam.

Monday is my actual bday. I have the day off from work and I am planning on doing whatever I feel like. Which will probably be sleeping in, doing stuff around the house, taking a walk & enjoying the sun.

I'm hoping to keep the spending down. I'll be spending at happy hour tonight, at the races tomorrow. But Sunday should be a no spender - except maybe groceries. And who knows what Monday will hold. Should be interesting!

Still lots of work rumors flying around. I think if anythings going to happen, it'll be in the next week or so.

Things are a little tense, but I actually feel pretty optimistic. Worst case scenario is layoffs, but I have the feeling that the true 'worst case scenario' for my team will be being offered to go back to being non-exempt. The reason that I think that may happen is that the department that I work in currently is becoming less necessary and they may transition us into other departments.

I'd be ok with that change, although the work wouldn't be as challanging or entertaining. There would be an opportunity for overtime from time to time, which I could definately use.

Oh well, nothing I can do until things start happening.

In the meantime, the weather's starting to get nicer. I am probably going to be able to leave the heat off & my windows open by tomorrow. Yeah fresh air!!

I picked up some books & movies from the library today & I have tons of container gardening reading to do. So I'm set this weekend.

Tomorrow, there is a work happy hour that I will go to. Its another departments, but as a partner that works with them, I was invited. Great chance to network and I'm not gonna miss the opportunity to put my face out there for higher ups. Should be fun.

Saturday, I'm going to a flea market, the farmers market & a nursery with some friends. We'll probably do lunch.

Saturday night, another friend is having a Rock Band party. I'm going to bring veggies & dip & I figure my cost is gonna be around $8.00 altogether.

Sunday, I plan on heading over to my sisters (my parents house) I"m going to help her with some packing. She's been ill again lately and has no energy. SO she's gonna need all the help that she can get.

NExt week, I'm planning on getting more exercise in. My goal is to walk at least 3 times and do 2 work out tapes between Sunday and the following Saturday. Definately doable

Last night I had 3 friends over for drinks & LOST. I served snacks, leftover beer from the party & made strawberry daquiris. Total Grocery spending: $9.00

Just realized its been 3 years on this site. Its been a great time, thanks everybody!

Its been a crazy week and weekend. I had the party last night and the last guests left at 3am. I had two people crash on the couches and today I spend the day with them & one other friend. We had brunch out, then came back and hung out on the back deck in some really awesome weather!

I have been really off budget lately, not keeping track of things. SO I'm setting tomorrow night aside to get my financial house in order. Wish me luck

My nephew is on Spring Break & I'm taking him to the Zoo. Last summer, I bought an annual pass for about $5.00 more than what an individual adult & child ticket would cost. So we're going again & I've made my money back. Should be fun!

I'm bringing my camera, so there will be lots of pics!

Busy, busy day. I've been sick all week, spent Friday night on the couch, vegged all day Saturday & when my Sat night plans were cancelled, stayed on the couch then too.

But I'm having a party next weekend and really needed to clean, clean clean. So today, while STILL not feeling well, I got to it - just took a lot of breaks.

I did 3 loads of laundy, cleaned the living room, both bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, the hallway & part of the basement. I vacuumed furniture for cat hair, wiped down baseboards and door frames. I even polished all the wood furniture.

So everything is pretty set. I'll need a quick dusting/vacuuming the day of the party & I'll need to wash the kitchen floor and sweep the basement (where I'm setting up beer pong).

The only other thing that needs to be done is food & beverages, which I will handle purchasing on Thursday.

The evenings this week are pretty busy, so the residual cleaning & food prep will occur the morning of the party.

Today was rainy to start out, but warmed up & the sun came out. I was able to turn off the heat & open the windows all day. The house smells great! I feel like I've accomplished a lot

Finally got off my butt and got some stuff done around the house. Borrowed my parents mini-van and headed to Lowes. Bought some planned items and non-planned items.

- Pantry door
- Primed Shelving board cut to specifications
- 6 foot rod for spare room closet
- Brackets and screws for hanging rod
- Hanging Plant
- Table plant
- Pot for plant

I used a $50.00 gift card and spent around $30.00 out of pocket.

I went to lunch with my mom (I treated for letting me borrow the van), helped her seal some meat that she got a good deal on. And came home with a pound of london broil. (Thanks Mom!)

Tonight I installed the shelf in the spare bedroom closet. I'm holding off on the rod. Then I went to work on the pantry door. I had to remove all the old tracks and had some fun knocking it out since it was all painted over. Then I installed the new track and door. I am SO proud of myself!

Here's 2 pics of the door:





And here's pics of the plants. I'm excited about these cause they really brighten up the place.

I've had some busy times lately and some stress at the job and in my life. Including the passing of a very good family friend that was fighting breast cancer. So I've been feeling a lot of tension and I've been looking for easy ways to relax.

I've been doing the following:

Working out
Reading (library) books
Watching movies (library) and tv
Taking long baths
Napping
Painting my nails

Mostly no cost activites, which is well within my budget

Yesterday the snow & ice hit. By the time I was heading to work (7:30), it was coming down as sleet. Roads were slick & it was a rough drive. Then 3/4 of the way to work, my driver-side windshield wiper just QUIT working. In the middle of an intersection, with sleet coming down and dirty slush flying up from other cars' tires.

So I couldn't see out the windshield. There was nowhere to pull over and the passenger side wiper still worked, so I leaned into the middle of the car & drove that way. Literally, there was nowhere to pull over because there were a few accidents on the side of the road.

I made it all the way to work safely. Thank goodness! My dad came out in the afternoon and confirmed my diagnosis... the wiper motor was broken. So then I left work early (using 1/2 vacation day) to drop the car off at the repair place. By this point it was just drizzling, so it made sense to drive the car then. No way I could have driven that car much further in steadier rain.

$88.00 later and the motor and both wiper blades were replaced. Just in time, cause it was steady pouring at that point. I have to say I feel REALLY lucky that I didn't get into an accident!

I had a really awesome weekend. 2 friends and I drove to a nearby city to visit a friend staying at her boyfriends for the weekend. They made us a really great dinner of Beef and Bok Choi and homemade sushi. Very very good!

Then we took a 15 minute walk in the freezing weather (and survived) into town. We went to this really nice jazz club, saw a live band and had some drinks. Afterwards, we stopped by a pizza place (2am) and crazy types of pizza. I chose Buffalo Chicken and Waffle Fries, Bacon and Ranch.

We spent the night at their apartment and came back home after stopping for brunch at Perkins. It was a spendy weekend, but SO much fun!

Now its snowing a little and I did some laundry. I am going to go & pack lunch for tomorrow and head to bed early.

Hope everyone had as great a weekend as I did!

Well, I'm still feeling ill. I'll be heading back to the doctors on Monday, but in the mean time, its rest and sleep for me!

Anyway, because of being sick (and still going to work), I've been eating out at work and not going to the grocery store.
Well, at least today I went and got some groceries finally. And I am taking the down time I have today & tomorrow and working a meal plan from stuff I have in the freezer or is easy to make.

I'm back 100% on weight watchers and some people in work are going to do a little contest starting Monday. It should be fun and it'll be an encouraging environment at work as opposed to all the bad food pushing that usually goes on

I've been playing with the new camera and loving it. Please bear with me while I share!


Here is a picture of my older cat. She's a sweetie



This is her doing a Jabba the Hutt impression!




This is the little guy that I rescued back in March.






I was playing with the zoom on the camera. Here is a picture of the trees in my back yard.



And here's a zoomed in picture. I'm loving the zoom on this camera!

I've been sick again. Making it into work, but am sleeping pretty much non stop. And if I'm awake, I have NO energy. Which means I've been buying food instead of preparing it. I'm hoping to feel better by tomorrow or Friday. Once I get back into the swing of things, I'll get on with my packing all food challange.

On the bright side, my new camera came in today. I'm waiting for it to charge & then I'll be taking some pictures. Since its dark out, I'm probably going to be taking lots of pics of the cats and the house

I like to see photos of other people's places, so I think I'd really like to share mine!

Yesterday I made out like a bandit. At work, we had an employee appreciation lunch, so I had a free meal, drinks & desert. I also ended up with 2 extra cans of soda & a bottle of water.

And as a gift, they handed out ice scrapers to everyone. Which isn't that fun a gift, but I needed one

The last few weeks, my boss has been handing out goodies she's gotten from her husband who works for a pharmaceutical company. Apparently, the laws have changed and all the companies are no longer able to hand out swag to doctors & hospitals. So the companies have warehouses of stuff that they've been handing out to their own employees.

I've gotten several things from them - a universal cell phone charger, coffee mug, shoulder bags & more.

Yesterday, she handed out a small lunch bag. Made for the fridge, it will definately come in handy when packing my lunch.

Then last night, I attended a holiday party with my dad. He's a food/beverage manager and apparently one of the only managers liked by the employees. They invited him to a employee organized holiday party at a bar. My mom wasn't going to go & he wanted to pop in for awhile, but didn't want to go alone. So I agreed to go, had a good time and got a free drink, free soda and free food. YUMMY!

Today I have a day off from work. I slept in all the way to 11. Which never happens anymore and was very much needed. I'm spending part of the day cleaning up the house, catching up on some tv, and playing with the cats.

Tonight, I am picking my nephew after school. We'll be having a sleepover. We're taking his WII to my house, playing some games, watching a kids movie, having dinner & basically having a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to it!

Tomorrow, I'm going with friends to get a Christmas tree. I'll be decorating on Sunday. Monday I'm off work and will be doing absolutely nothing until I got to my Weight Watcher meeting that night.

Nice relaxing weekend planned. Just what I needed!

My good friends are moving and have been working to get stuff from one house to the other all week. In the process, I've been given a few things.

First, a spaghetti bowl & 4 plates. Made for spaghetti, they're like plates, but with rounded edges that make it easy to turn the pasta with a fork. Very good idea!

Second, I was given a salad spinner. It's been on my wish list for quite a while. It turns out that they had 2, so they gave me 1. Thanks guys!